Category: Motivation

You can lose weight and get fit. Yes, you!

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Anyone can do it. Even you.

Stop laughing.

Listen. I know it’s hard to believe. Look at the picture below. Look at it.

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That was me. At that point in my life, I thought that there was no way I could ever lose weight and be healthy again. Ever. Being fit? That was even more laughable.

Then, my amazing cousin talked to me about Whole30 and Paleo. She was never as heavy as I was, but she had struggled with weight and knew that it was difficult to just lose weight. That she shares a lot of my genetic background lent further credence to her advice. I decided to give it a shot and I was met with results beyond my wildest dreams.

Was it easy? Yes and no. I’ll elaborate. I was able to lose all the weight (110+ lbs) without a single bit of exercise. That’s right (and no, I’m not kidding or exaggerating); I did it all without running, yoga, weight lifting, cardio, or any kind of exercise at all. What I did use was a healthy dose of determination, discipline, and perseverance.

I did have to avoid foods that made me gain weight: foods with sugar, grain, beans, soy, and pre-processed foods. No fast food. No pasta. No pizza. No bread. Was it easy to give up foods I have loved since childhood? No, it was not, but the alternative was an early grave. Yes, my health was in dire straights, and unless I changed something (and fast!), I was destined to die young.

I hear people say all the time that they can’t give up food x or food y because they love it too much. To these people, I say that you really have to evaluate whether your life and existence means more to you than the temporary and short-lived gratification of eating a certain food. For me, the answer was clear as day: I choose life! Fortunately, there are Paleo alternatives to nearly every food I love, so the transition has been easy and delicious (and needless to say, much healthier!).

I’ve seen criticism of Whole30 and Paleo, calling them “Fad Diets” and saying that any diet that restricts entire food groups raises some sort of alarm flags as being unhealthy. What I find unhealthy is the incessant insistence that we eat food from “every food group.” This is out-dated and poor advice and is not rooted in any real science (which these same people claim to cling to). The food triangle? Pure fantasy.

I eat meat and vegetables. I sometimes have some fruit. I very rarely allow myself any treats, and I don’t allow myself to go off-plan for so-called “Cheat days.” I view those as sabotage days, and I will never willingly sabotage my progress toward being fit and healthy.

If you’ve read this, and you are still trying to decide whether you can do it, ask yourself this question: Have you ever accomplished anything difficult and time-consuming in your life that you had to wait months or even years to complete? High school diploma? College degree? Professional certification? Military boot camp? If the answer to any of these is yes, then you can do it. I’m not saying it’s easy. It’s not. But it’s not hard, either. It just is. If you can set your mind to accomplishing anything, you can set your mind to do this. I know you can. I was sitting in your seat not too long ago. You just have to take the next step and commit. Then, make it happen. It’s within you.

Lose weight or get healthy? What’s your real goal?

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File_000 (39)I was afraid I was going to die young due to poor health. If things kept going the way they were going, it was going to be an early end for me. I decided that I wanted to get healthy, and weight loss factored into that for me. I didn’t set out to merely lose weight. It was a big part of it to be sure, but it wasn’t the main goal.  The main goal was to not die young, get healthy, and maybe even get fit.

When we start a diet plan for the reason of losing weight, we tend to watch the scale very closely for feedback and we base our success or failure on the numbers. When the numbers don’t match our expectations, we are much more likely to give up and fail in adopting the new diet or lifestyle. That’s why I always say that the scale is just one measure of our health and progress. There are many times when I go through days or weeks (and in the past few months, bunches of weeks) without any loss of weight. But during these lean times where the scale didn’t reward my good eating habits, my waist did by losing almost 4 inches, and my overall fitness levels have been rising as I’ve been running now for over three months.

I have friends who are using many different methods to get healthy. Some see great weight losses and others see the loss come at a slower pace. We all have our own journeys, and we can only truly commit to them when we are able to come to terms with the sacrifices required. That’s totally okay. That Sherry and I were able to commit to a much more rigid lifestyle than others doesn’t mean we are any better at it. It just means we set our minds to it to a different level; nothing more. You have to be comfortable with your level of commitment or the change in lifestyle won’t work for you. Again, like I always say, do whatever program you want to do, but do it to the best of your ability.

With that said, for 2017, I recommend setting a goal of getting healthy, not losing weight. Weight loss will be a healthy and welcome byproduct of getting healthy. Our bodies are made to be thin, so getting healthy will bring your body back into balance, and you will get weight loss. Just don’t look for weight loss to be the only measure of success. There are so many ways to look at it, and your body will give you constant feedback in different areas. You just need to know where to look.

I’m not perfect; please don’t expect me to be (or yourself!)

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I make mistakes just like anyone else. I take the occasional shortcut. I allow certain ingredients in my foods sometimes. I try to be as good as possible without allowing it to drive me crazy.

I’ve lost a lot of weight (100+ lbs in 12 months) and I am now running over 3.5 miles on every run, but that doesn’t make me perfect. Far from it. I don’t run daily, and I eat food every now and then that may have some dairy or other non-Paleo ingredient in it. I could probably do more, and better.

But I’m human. And you are too.

So don’t worry about being perfect. Nobody is, nor can they be at all times. Do your best. Give it your all. If you get off track, get right back on. Don’t wait for another arbitrary day or date: do it right now. Your very next meal. Your very next opportunity to exercise.

Don’t set a goal for perfection. Doing so is setting yourself up for disappointment and failure.

A Message from PaleoMarine to Those Who Ate Too Much Today

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file_001-8It’s Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas.

Get back on the horse tomorrow. Today, eat, drink, and be merry. Celebrate with family and friends if you can. If you can’t, know that someone, somewhere loves you and wishes you were spending Christmas with them.

Don’t concern yourself with your weight today. Just have fun and make smart decisions where you can.

And if you can’t? Big deal. Christmas comes once a year. That horse is still waiting for you tomorrow to get back up onto it.

Go All-In or Go Home

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That’s pretty harsh, I know, but I’m PaleoMarine, not PaleoBeatAroundTheBushGuy. I get tired of seeing people working out so very hard without making a commitment to eating right and then seeing these same people complain that they can’t get skinny because they have “Fat genes.” Seriously. Someone actually told me that.

Weight loss is 85-90% diet and only 10-15% exercise. Tops. I lost over 100 lbs without lifting a finger! Since I started running three months ago, I’ve lost maybe 10 lbs. I can’t really attribute that weight loss to either exercise or diet, but I know that at this point, it’s got to be a combination. I continue to be very careful with what I eat and how much I eat. I still do not allow myself cheats (or as I call them, sabotage meals) and I very rarely allow myself any indulgences (holidays and special events are exceptions, and even then, I try to be careful).

When you are really heavy like I was, you have to go all-in. You can’t half do this. You have to commit. If you don’t, then you’re setting yourself up for disappointment, failure, and surrender. There is no place for any of that on my journey, so I stay the course. Even when I’m stalled, I take solace in knowing I’m doing what is right, what needs to be done, and that I will see a return of progress. At the very minimum, I’m not gaining anything back, so there’s that.

Currently, I’m at my lowest weight in over 30 years: 177.0 lbs. These last 5 lbs have been VERY slow going to lose, but I’m losing them. The biggest change has been losing over 2″ off my waist. I am now into 32″ trousers, and even these are starting to feel big. I can wear size medium shirts and jackets, and more recently, all my new shirts and coats are smalls.

If you endeavor to lose weight, go all-in. It’s hard at first, but if you use some of your ample willpower and motivation (you know you have it in you; you just need to tap into it and USE it), you will get through the hard part and make it into the phase where you lose weight and make steady progress. I’m not saying you will lose weight fast, but you will make progress. Remember, progress isn’t always just what’s on the scale, either. But commit. Go all-in. Do it right. Don’t waste your own time. Each day we burn? We don’t get those back. Make the best of each one you get.

When you finally hit that low point

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I was very close to my breaking point here at nearly 300 lbs.

I was there. I woke up one morning and rolled off the bed into a sitting position to put on my shoes. As I bent over to tie them, I found I couldn’t breathe. I had to hold my breath to tie my shoes. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me and my weight. Something had to happen.

Of course, one strand of straw won’t break a camel’s back. There has to be a lot of other blades before that happens. For me, it was the discomfort of being heavy. The health issues were beginning to pop us; all of them weight related. The discomfort of sitting in an airline chair and being unable to open the tray table to put food onto. The discomfort of telling a hostess at a restaurant that I can’t sit in the booth because I don’t fit. The embarrassment of being unable to buy a t-shirt at a concert because they only go up to 2XL (and that was too small). The discomfort of being out of breath after going up the flight of stairs in our house to talk to my kids in their bedrooms. Being unable to take part in just about any physical activity without getting winded and my heart feeling like it was going to pump out of my chest. All these things and more added to the impetus for changing my life.

As they say, the first step is admitting that you have a problem. My problem was my weight and the behaviors I engaged in to get me to that dangerous position. I ate too much. I ate because I liked to eat. I ate because it was entertaining and it made me feel good, so there was probably an emotional element to it as well. I ate foods that were high in sugar. I ate if I was bored. If I was eating, there was a good chance that I was planning my next meal already. After a snack, of course.

I was fortunate in that I was able to recognize that I had a problem. Only after years of discomfort, embarrassment, and pain did I finally reach that point. Before then? There was no way I could give up my favorite foods. God forbid I exercise. There was no way I was going to do any of that. Until I broke.

When you break, you will recognize it. It marks a fundamental shift in your priorities and how you see your life and what you want out of it. Like they say, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. I was told time and time again what I needed to do to change my situation, but I never thought any of it was tenable. Until Whole30 and Paleo.

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My wife and I in November, 2016.

I don’t care what you do as long as it’s healthy. So, I’ll forego the Paleo talk here. The important part is that when you get to that point where you want to make a serious change in your life, do it. Make that change. Do the research and then commit to it like you would to breathing after being underwater for 30 seconds.

You can’t succeed until you want to

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Me in 2014 vs 2016: the difference 120 lbs makes.

It seems simple enough, but this fact seems to elude so many people.You can’t succeed at weight loss until you really are willing to commit to it in a serious way. Like anything worth attaining in life, it takes dedication, sacrifice, and work.

I once read an article about motivation and there was a passage that resounded with me: you have to want success as much as you want air when you’re under water for more than 30 seconds. You have to make it not only your top priority, but it has to become your top 5 or more priorities.

Think about successful business people, athletes, or performers. Each of them have sacrificed and worked hard to get where they are. They didn’t just focus on one aspect of their career; they had to cover many aspects spanning different skills and areas. Weight loss is the same. You can’t just focus on one thing: you must focus on an area of things.

You need to learn about self-control, changing your relationship with food, the types of foods you can and can’t eat, how to buy them, how to cook them, how prepare meal plans, how to have a successful prep day, how much to eat, how often to eat, and how to avoid snacking and emotional eating. And then still, there’s even more to learn and dedicate yourself to. Then, within each of these areas are even more sub-skills and things to learn that you can see how it becomes all-encompassing.

The good news is that once you’ve learned a lot of the aforementioned areas, you can scale back your time spent learning those things and let your life get back to normal, but unless you are willing to take the time and do the work, you will not be as successful as you possibly can.

I’ve walked this walk. I know it’s not easy, but I can also say it’s not hard. It just takes a serious commitment. I wanted my weight loss journey to be successful. I accepted no failure, and I did not accept sabotage. I stuck to the plan completely, and the results I got were great. I can’t guarantee anyone results, but I can guarantee that if you commit fully, you will give yourself the best chance for success. Anything less is hampering your ability to fully succeed.

Recovery and Running after an eight day break

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Making my best Billy Idol face after a successful run after not running for 8 days.

As anyone who follows this blog knows, I’ve been sick for the past week. I had a very bad cold and sinus infection which took me a long time to recover from and kept me from running. While I wanted to run each and every day I was sick to keep from losing the progress I’ve worked so hard for, I was too weak, felt too badly, and was suffering from a lot of pain. I also didn’t want to stress my body to the point where it lengthened the duration of my recovery or made matters worse. So, I did the smart thing and waited it out.

I will admit that each day I didn’t run added some anxiety. I thought about how bad my legs would hurt when I finally got back on the road. How they would feel like concrete. How my joints would ache, and how I would feel like quitting after every step. I worried about my ability to get back on the road and run a decent pace and not have my heart jumping out of my chest. I mourned the loss of all the time and effort I put into getting to where I could run a comfortable pace for a decent distance without over-exertion. I thought it was all lost.

It turned out that I worried for nothing.

It wasn’t my fastest or longest run, but it was close to my fastest. I decided not to look at my watch for split times and just run; let my body dictate how fast I ran. I wanted to be able to get back to it without trying to push too hard. I was surprised at how fast I was able to run with comfort. I think I know how horses feel when they transition from a trot into a gallop. At a few points during the run, I didn’t actually feel like I was running. I felt like I was gliding on a pair of legs that were beneath me without being really attached to me. It was kind of surreal, and I liked it.

In the end, I finished my 3.51 mile run with a 9’48” pace overall with a time of 34:30. I’m very okay with this result, and I am no longer worried about lost progress. Turns out, the body bounces back pretty well if you allow it to heal. Also, there’s a chance that the week off from running helped my legs heal up a bit. Not that they were hurt or injured, but I’m sure the muscles had a chance to rebuild and prepare for my upcoming runs a little better. I was also able to start with my 50 push ups. I was worried I would have to bump back down to 40, but that wasn’t the case. I actually feel like I can bump it up a bit next time.

It feels good to be back on my feet again.

Mad Respect to the Ultimate Fitness People

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After my great run this morning; I really enjoyed it. What is wrong with me?

Crossfit, marathons, body building, triathlons, biathlons, etc. People who take part in those have my utmost respect. I have said in the past that I can’t be someone who does those things, yet I find myself creeping ever so slowly into their camp.

No. Not yet. I said creeping. Please keep reading.

This morning as I ran, I found myself not wanting to get going. I thought about stopping a few times not because I was tired or wore out or even in any pain. I just didn’t feel like doing it. After the first half mile, I still wasn’t into it, but I kept going.  Then, something crazy happened. I not only felt like finishing the run, but I actually added an extra mile to it. It felt good. The last half was a little tough and I started to feel it in my muscles, but then after the last mile was done, I went for another quarter of a mile. Why?

Because I could.

I can’t say I pushed myself with my pace this morning, because I didn’t. I didn’t set out to break any records or make any personal bests. I just set out to run on this brisk (43 degrees!) morning to continue my journey in getting fit. What I found  was that I started getting a good feeling from exceeding a past accomplishment.

This is new.

Since doing my first Whole30 and going Paleo, I’ve been pretty adamant about not needing exercise to lose weight. I still maintain that it is not necessary, and that’s super-important for those who are physically unable to exercise or who are like I used to be and just flat-out refused to exercise. That’s okay: you can still lose weight! But then, it isn’t enough. You lose weight, but you find that you are weak and that you want something more out of your body. You start doing something to get some exercise. The next thing you know, you’re adding miles to your runs and feeling GREAT afterward.

So I get it. You people who do the extreme physical activities; you’re not weird. You’re not so strange to me anymore. You’re just way farther ahead of me in this journey, and far more dedicated. I don’t know that I will ever get to exactly the same level as you super-people, but I am finding that I am enjoying being able to be physically active and to push myself a little here and there.

It feels good. And dammit, I never thought I’d be the person saying this, but I’m glad I started running. It’s one of the best things I’ve done in the past 10 years.

Move. Do something. Anything.

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Me after a great run recently having accomplished many personal bests.

My sister used to tell me this. “Don’t set out to run a marathon on your first day. Just get up off the couch and move. Do something. Do anything. Just don’t sit your life away waiting to die.” I used to think she was crazy. Why would I want to be uncomfortable and sweaty and work hard for something I don’t care about, anyway? What’s the benefit of being fit if we’re all going to die, anyway?

Well.

Let’s go over some of the benefits of being fit.

  1. Comfort. Life is more comfortable when you’re fit. I can bend over, reach my shoes, run up a flight of stairs, play with the dog, and have “Mommy and Daddy time” without as much effort anymore. Seriously; life is so much easier when you’re fit.
  2. Clothing. I can shop off any rack in any store now. The mainstream clothing stores stock clothes that look nice for people who are “Average,” and I’m “Average” now. The clothes not only fit better, but look good, too.
  3. Self esteem. Yes, this is a real thing, and it does matter. We all try to say it doesn’t, and that we all feel fine when we’re fat. I used to tell people all the time that I was completely fine with the size I was. I lied. Every damn time. I wasn’t fine. It hurt, I was sore, I was tired, and I felt horrible because I didn’t look anywhere near what I wanted to look like. We can’t change our faces or who we are, but we can change our body size and health through diet and exercise. Being fit helps you feel better about yourself which makes it easier to eat right and make health and fitness decisions. It also helps you with social situations. When you feel better about yourself, you’re more confident, etc.
  4. Health improvement. I know, most people would put this first, but who in the hell cares about health improvement if they don’t want to exercise in the first place? I mean, if you cared so much about improving your health, you’d already be exercising. We all know without being told by some ol’ Marine that exercise improves your health. If you don’t know that, you are probably still in the second grade and should stop reading the Interwebs and go out and play with your friends now. Go on, get out of here!
  5. Not dying. Seriously; this is better than a health benefit; it’s an existence benefit. I have stated before on my blog the dire condition my health was getting into. Now, I’m literally fit enough to rejoin the military. I call this a huge bonus.

My friend Steve has started walking and riding his bicycle since downloading Pokemon Go! onto his iPhone. He gets exercise walking around, hatching eggs and catching Pokemon. He said to me that it wasn’t much compared with what I do, but he enjoyed it. I told him that it doesn’t matter what I do, and it’s not a competition. Do what you can do. Do what you enjoy. Just do something.