Paleo Marine

It’s funny to me when people say I lost weight “So quickly.” Actually, 10 lbs a month is a pretty decent/safe weight loss with an average of 2.5 lbs a week. My weight was lost by eliminating added sugar, soy, carbs, dairy, and legumes. I did no exercise. Those of you who have been reading for a while know all this; I state it again for newcomers.

I peruse the progress pictures subreddit regularly for motivation as I have since before I began the Paleo lifestyle (even before I did my first Whole30) and I am continually impressed by people who have lost 100+ lbs in under a year. One person who posted today lost over 176 lbs in 11 months! Now THAT is impressive!

I never treated my weight loss as a race, and you shouldn’t either. Weight loss will happen if you do the right things: eliminate the foods that cause you to be overweight, control your portion sizes, and get 20 minutes of exercise a day (which could be as simple as walking). Heck, I lost my first 100 lbs without any exercise, so if that’s too much for you now, skip it. That’s right; skip it. It’s not necessary to lose weight.

The rate of weight loss is dependent on many factors including your starting weight. Someone over 300 lbs will lose weight more easily than someone who is only 20 lbs overweight. It comes down to percentage of total body weight, total body fat to be lost, and your ideal weight. I’m very close to my ideal weight now, and my weight loss is very slow (actually, it’s stagnant again right now). I’ m not concerned about hitting any goals in a set period of time. I’m just working toward the goal without stopping.

Yes, quick weight loss is impressive, and we all want to reach a goal with as little effort or time as possible. But the reality is that sometimes, it will take more time. Don’t worry so much about how fast you lose the weight but with the fact that you are losing or at least doing the work to lose weight. If you’re doing the right things, it’ll come. If you’re not losing weight, analyze what you’re doing and make adjustments until the weight loss comes back.

It’s not okay. It’s not the new normal. It’s not something you are doomed to for the rest of your life. I used to feel like there was no way out of being overweight. I thought that since everywhere I looked there were fat people, I just fit in. I began to believe it was normal. I told others and myself that I was okay with it. That was all until one day that I decided that enough was enough.

It came after months of people talking to me, imploring me to do something about my health. These little tips came from all directions: family, friends, and even gaming friends online I’ve never met in person (thanks, Johan!). It came after being uncomfortable, being embarrassed over not being able to sit in a booth in a restaurant, or feeling the stares of the “normal” sized people around me. It all came crashing down and I finally decided to do something about it.

The bottom line is that I stopped accepting being overweight. I began to set my mind to getting healthy. The best benefit of eating healthy is that my weight came down naturally, and surprisingly fast. I wasn’t in a race to lose weight, yet I lost weight quickly. I set aggressive goals for myself, but these were more of a means to an end than a single goal. I knew that losing size was just as important as were getting better results on my blood tests at the doctor’s office and getting fit (after I began running).

If you are overweight, unhealthy, or unfit, then it’s up to you to stop accepting your condition as okay and normal. Only you can change your habits and lifestyle to get healthy, to lose weight, and to get fit. Being fat is not normal. Being fat is not okay. Being fat is not conducive to having a long life.

Fat people need love too. They need someone to tell them like it is. They don’t need people sugar coating things (ha!) or making false promises. They don’t need quick-fix promises. They need to know that nutrition is the key, and that exercise is what gets the heart healthy.

What makes me an authority on Whole30, Paleo, losing weight, or getting fit? That’s a good question, and I hope that you question the credentials of all people who offer information about any topic you are seeking guidance on.

Here are my credentials:

• I was a US Marine (the Marine part of my name here, PaleoMarine) from 1986 to 1997.
• Upon leaving the Marines, I gained weight. A lot of weight. I reached a high of 312 lbs.
• I tried various diet plans and exercise plans to try to lose weight. They all failed.
• I cut out sodas in 2013 and lost about 10 lbs/year until 2015.
• In September 2015, I started Whole30 and broke my addiction to sugar.
• In October 2016, my wife and I began a Paleo lifestyle.
• Through Whole30 and Paleo, I have lost over 110 lbs.
• I began running in September 2016 after not running since 1997 (on active duty in the Marines).

Here are my uncredentials (I totally just made that up):

• I’m not a nutritionist.
• I’m not a doctor, nurse, PA, or medical professional.
• I’m not a personal trainer or fitness instructor.

With that said:

• What worked for me may not necessarily work for you.
• Doing exactly what I did may not give you the same results as quickly.
• I don’t have all the answers.

You can (and should) take everything I write with a grain of salt. This is all based on my observations and experiences through my own journey. I can only speak for myself and the experiences I have and have watched my wife have. As they say in car commercials, your mileage may vary.

I’ve gotten really good with resisting the temptation of foods that are not good to me (pasta, bread, cake, sweets) but every now and then, temptation rears its ugly head and makes things difficult for me. Last night was one of those nights.

My wife found a chocolate bar that she brought back from NYC for me. It’s dark chocolate, so it’s considered okay in Paleo since it’s over 70% chocolate and the sugar content is very low. However, I can’t just eat a small piece. If I were to break into the package, I’d end up eating the entire bar. So I stared at it. It stared back at me. We stared at each other fora  long time. In the end, I won. The bar is still there, intact, sitting on my desk.

The point is that we control how we handle temptation. We need to remember that WE are the captains of our destiny. I know that temptation is powerful, but with each temptation we avoid, we show ourselves how strong we are. It makes future temptation easier to resist. Resisting temptation is like exercising a muscle: the more you do it, the stronger it gets. The more you resist temptation, the easier it gets.

But yes, it still rears its ugly head from time to time.