Category: Scoop

How many soldiers do you know who are 51 years old with 12 years of service? Not many, I’m sure. Most people my age who are in the military are either very close to retiring, or are very senior. I am neither.

I got out of the Marine Corps when I was 31 years old. I left for many reasons; first and foremost because I wanted my kids to be home and close to their grandparents. After I was discharged from the Marines, I worked an office job and I gained a lot of weight. I literally doubled my weight within 10 years. At age 48, I decided that I had to change something drastically or I would not live very much longer. A year after that, I had a crazy idea: maybe they’d let me rejoin the military to complete my 20 years of service. Fast forward two years, and here I am, a Staff Sergeant in the National Guard Field Artillery.

I have to say, I love it. It’s really a lot of fun, very rewarding, and fulfilling in a way I didn’t appreciate when I was younger. What’s even better is I’m a living example of what discipline and perseverance can do for you. It doesn’t matter how old you are: if you set your mind to getting healthy and fit, you can do it. I had diabetes, nerve damage, circulation issues, and horrible dental health related to the diabetes, yet I reversed ALL of them (and I am no longer diabetic!) through diet. Notice I didn’t say diet and exercise because I did no exercise to lose the initial 130 lbs. I only started exercising once I decided to join the National Guard.

I enjoy being a motivator. I enjoy helping others achieve their dreams and goals. I take my role very seriously, and I realize that while it’s a role I bring on myself, it’s one that is very important. It motivates me, and it keeps me honest. When I screw up, I post it. When I don’t live up to my own standards or expectations, I beat myself up and write about it as a way of keeping myself accountable.

If you’re over 40 and you think that something is out of your grasp or impossible, think of the 51 year old Staff Sergeant and the journey he took to get to where he is today. If he can do it, you definitely can.

That’s what artillerymen are called. That’s what I am able to call myself now: Redleg. After three weeks of non-stop, seven days a week training, I’ve graduated from Field Artillery Fire Direction Control military occupational specialty training school (phew! That’s a mouthful!).

While I was at “The Gap,” as Fort Indiantown Gap is known by the soldiers who are stationed here or who visit here, I ate as well as I could, I ran every other day, and I did my very best to be mindful of my food, fitness, and overall health. I will find out Friday morning whether I gained any weight (or more likely, how much I gained) because the food at the DFAC (dining facility) was not quite as Paleo as I’d like, although I made the most mindful choices I could. The other issue is that I likely ate too much; the portion control was just not that good, and when it’s on my plate, I eat it.

I had a great time here, although at times it was very tiring or stressful (or both). The days were sometimes long, and sometimes filled with a lot of mind-numbing attention to detail, but in the end, I’m glad to be through it, and I look forward to applying my new knowledge and skills to my job in the National Guard.

It was also a good experiment on how to deal with diet and fitness while on active duty in the military, as I was on active duty for the past three weeks. I now know what to expect when/if I have to deploy, and based on what my weight comes in at on Friday morning, I’ll know how to adjust next time.

Nothing is easy about making something valuable. Take a sword. To make one that is not only tough and durable, but also attractive takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of heat, hammering, and honing to get the steel to become a blade. The process is time consuming, difficult, and requires discipline to do correctly. The result, depending on the time spent and the effort taken, is a beautiful and useful tool.

Your body is the same. If you are overweight, out of shape, and you want to lose weight and get fit, you will have to go through a lot of work to get there. Like the sword, you will have to use discipline to eat right, and if you want to get fit, you will have to do a lot of physical work (which will make you sweat as you feel hot). It is a process that takes time; it cannot be done overnight. However, like anything valuable, the results are worth the time and effort.

Don’t look for the quick fix. There is no effortless way to get fit, and losing weight takes great discipline and perseverance. Anything worthwhile in life takes time to achieve, and good health and fitness, after years of not taking care of it properly, will take time. Be patient; it’s not a race.

Life is a roller coaster ride, full of ups and downs. Recently, I suffered the loss of a fellow soldier that I worked closely with, and while I’m not done processing it all yet, I feel that I’ve gotten through at least the initial shock of receiving the news. I couldn’t keep from thinking about him even though I needed to concentrate on my school work and on my diet and exercise. I decided to make a few decisions about how I was going to handle my grief over this loss.

First, I was going to honor his memory by sticking to my fitness plan and running. Heck, while on my runs, as I thought of him, I ran harder and harder. He was very physically fit, and he and I had many discussions and conversations about fitness. He was always motivating and pushing me to do more, and I figured that’s what he’d want me to do if he were here with me.

Second, I was going to stick to my diet as closely as possible. The temptation for many dealing with grief is to turn to comfort foods, but for someone like me who is a recovering food addict who had a very bad relationship with food, eating a bunch of bad foods to comfort my grief would be the worst possible thing I could do. Emotionally, since I typically feel a lot of guilt over not eating right if I go off-plan, the possibility of bringing on depression is great. I decided it’s best to not even give myself the option of going off-plan. I didn’t give myself permission to eat anything.

It will take a long time to get over the loss, if there is such a thing as getting over the loss of a friend. While we weren’t very close, we were colleagues who were friendly to each other, and I enjoyed talking with him, working with him, and learning from him. He was very highly regarded among our soldiers, and this loss will hurt all of us for a long time to come. To give into the grief and to stop exercising and eating right would be contrary to some of the very things he was so strong in. To honor him, I will continue to be strong and remember his smile, his words of advice, and his motivation.

I feel relieved. After the crazy food-fest that was Saturday, I wanted to be able to run yesterday. The weather was conspiring against me, however, and it appeared that I wouldn’t be able to run due to non-stop rain. Fortunately, the weather gave me a break at around 7:30 pm, and I took that opportunity to get a 3.3 mile run in. I even had the best pace of my time here at Fort Indiantown Gap! Better yet, I felt great afterward!

I’ve been trying to maintain my 3+ runs a week since falling off that routine last year, but things like some minor injuries, vacations, and activities have gotten in the way. Fortunately, I’ve had ample free time after my classes here to get my runs in every other day, and my body is rewarding me with getting fitter, faster, and stronger.

The other benefit is that I’m burning more calories on the days I run which, in turn, hopefully is burning some of the excess calories I’ve taken in on those days. The food here has been healthier than I expected, but my portions have been bigger than normal, and while I don’t have a scale here in the barracks, I expect to be up as much as 5 lbs when I get back home later this week. I plan on getting right back to my home-cooked meal routine quickly and sticking to a very strict portion-size Paleo diet when I get home.

Running is great. I never thought I’d say that, let alone think it, but I truly believe it. It’s free (with little expense in shoes and socks), can be done just about anywhere, and is something that can be done in 30 minutes three or four times a week. I highly recommend people work up to being able to run for 30-minute stretches if at all possible. the difference in my mood, mental acuity, and in the quality of rest I get on the days I run is noticeable.

So, how did it go in Philly? It went great for tourism and for seeing the city, but as for my diet? Not so well. I ate so much bad food, that I am certain I will be feeling the effects for at least three to four days.

I started the day with two sausage links (small ones) and some scrambled eggs. Good enough, right? Well, when we got to Philadelphia, I had a cheese steak sandwich (which was AMAZING by the way!). I followed that up with a dinner consisting of fried chicken and waffles that I coupled with a chocolate shake that had Creme de Menthe in it. DELICIOUS!!! For dessert (yes, there was dessert!), I had a chocolate mousse cake.

Do I feel bad? Emotionally/psychologically, a little bit. I worry that this will make me gain some weight. But logically, I know it’s all temporary water weight, and it will go away in a few days. Also, I plan on running later today, weather permitting. If it’s raining, I may go to the gym on base here and try to run on a treadmill (which I hate, but I have to do SOMETHING).

So, in short, I had a great time, but now I will have to pay the piper. But it was worth it!

Today, I’m headed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We have a rare day off, and we’re using that opportunity to go to Philly to check out the Revolutionary War Museum, the Liberty Bell, Constitution Hall, and a place that’s important to Marines: The site of Tun Tavern (where the Marine Corps was founded in 1775).

While there, I have decided that I will have to try some Philly Cheese Steak, and a cheesecake. I know: they are DEFINITELY not Paleo, but at age 51, this is only the second time I’ve been in Philadelphia, and the first time I’ve actually had time to visit, look around, etc. I’m sure as heck going to try some of the local cuisine the city is famous for.

I’m going to make sure every other meal is strict: it’s all about mitigating the impact of some bad foods on my overall diet and health, but I’m willing to take the detour to experience the city. This is what I always recommend: take the chances, go off the path, but mitigate the impact as best as you can.

I was excited to get orders to go to school for fire direction control in the field artillery, but I wasn’t very excited about the prospects of having to eat at the Army Dining Facility (aka DFAC). I had memories of the food they used to serve us when I was on active duty in the Marines, and I had heard horror stories about the carb-heavy offerings.

To say I’ve been positively surprised would be an understatement. At every meal, without exception, I’ve been able to find options that would fit nicely into a Paleo profile, or even into a Keto one if I wanted to. The food has been delicious and plentiful.

Tonight, I had grilled chicken breast with Brussels sprouts and green beans along with a side salad and an apple for dessert. Most of my meals are similar, but with different meats like Italian sausage, fish, pork, beef, etc.

So, I’m doing well with the food here. I’m actually enjoying it, and not suffering (like I thought I would be).

We all get there. We all reach it at some point: the plateau. When our weight loss stalls, and we reach a point, typically 10-15 lbs shy of our final goal, where no matter what we do, our weight won’t go any lower. It’s annoying. It’s aggravating. And while it may be all of these, it’s something more important: feedback.

It’s our body telling us that what we’ve done to that point has been great to get us to where we are. But to get a little more, to lose a little more, we need to do more. We need to really think about that goal. Is it realistic? If we are at a healthy equilibrium, is it a good idea to reduce our food intake below a level we are currently comfortable at to reach an arbitrary number?

I had to face this realization recently. My goal weight is 165 lbs. I haven’t seen that since last year. My weight has hovered steadily between 168 and 172 lbs. In the past month and a half, it’s been upwards of 175 lbs. I know why: I’ve been eating larger portions, I’ve allowed myself to drink alcohol at social functions, and I haven’t been as strict with my diet as I used to be/should be. I’ve accepted all of those things, and I am slowly reigning myself in to get back down into my comfort zone of the 160’s.

When I was 160 lbs for a few days back in 2017, I was being VERY strict with my Paleo, not allowing myself to drink alcohol at all, never varying from my very strict diet, and honestly, I missed out on a few things. Was it worth it? At the time I thought it was, but in retrospect, not really. While I look back at the photos of myself from that time and think I was probably at a weight I’m most comfortable with, the level of deprivation was pretty high. Maybe too high.

Really think about what your target weight is, and why you set it to that. Think about how you feel at your plateau weight, and if it is something you still really want to get past, think about what you need to do to lose more weight. Typically, it will mean eating less, and being more careful with your macros. Every time I’ve hit a plateau, I’ve been able to break it by analyzing my food intake in not only amounts, but in makeup as well as fitness level and (this is my secret ingredient) sleep amount.

I have many interesting conversations with people about health, nutrition, and fitness when they find out I lost 150 lbs and went from morbidly obese to being within the military height and weight standards. Just today, someone quipped that it must have been helpful to be in the military to help me lose the weight. I smiled and asked them, “What do you mean?” They replied, “Oh you know, with all the PT we do and stuff, it probably made losing weight so much easier.” I explained to them that I had to lose all the weight before I was able to join the National Guard, and further, that I lost all the weight without a single drop of sweat or raising a finger for exercise.

I see friends and others join extreme fitness programs, purchase gym memberships, and go through all sort of fitness leaps to try to lose weight, yet they are all missing the most important ingredient: Diet = weight loss, exercise = fitness. I write about this often in an attempt to educate people about it, yet I keep seeing friends starting programs that are not going to help them lose weight. It will make them sore, it will make them tired, and when they don’t lose the weight they want to lose, they will get discouraged, quit, and they will mistakenly think that it’s impossible for them to lose weight. That somehow, for some reason, they’re not meant to ever be thin again. I know this, because that was me. Many times over.

Don’t get me wrong; fitness is GREAT for you! I just ran 3 miles today after two days off (normal rest interval for me), and while I took it easy and slow, it was still a good workout, and I felt great afterward. Heck, there were times when my legs were burning from running up the steep hills here in Pennsylvania, but it was exhilarating! But did it help me lose weight? Nope. Eating well is helping me maintain my weight. Exercise is keeping me fit, making my heart and legs strong, and keeping me in shape to pass my Army physical fitness tests.

I didn’t lose my weight due to the military; I did the military because I lost the weight. I didn’t start any exercise program to lose weight: I started exercising to get fit. I used diet and lifestyle change to lose weight and to keep it off for almost three years now. If you are one of those people who recently started or are thinking of starting some sort of boot camp, P90X, or fitness program, please also change your diet. Without it, you will not see the results you’re looking for, and you will become tired, demotivated, and quit because all you’ll be doing (without having changed your diet) is make yourself very hungry, tired, and worn out.