Thanks, Facebook, for showing me how far I’ve come

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2014v2016edge2There’s a feature on Facebook that has been a great motivator in my weight loss journey: the “See your memories” feature. This past week, the picture on the left is what popped up as a memory.

What a huge difference.

I remember feeling happy, whimsical, and really enjoying taking the picture. I wasn’t always the sad fat guy. In fact, in terms of how I felt as a person and about myself, I was pretty happy. I was able to drown out the difficulties and challenges with being fat quite successfully, and the photo on the left is the embodiment of that success. What was hiding, however, was the fact that I pushed myself to be the happy guy by ignoring or looking past those difficulties and challenges until I was unable to do so any longer.

I’ve written about my reasons for changing my lifestyle to get healthy and fit on more than a few occasions. The tl;dr version is that my body was beginning to show the detrimental effects of being morbidly obese and I was tired of feeling that way. I had to make a change, and I was fortunate that my wife was willing to make the changes with me. Together, we have been successful and have come a long way from where we began a mere fifteen months ago.

Many of you are just starting your weight loss and/or fitness journey. I recommend you take some full-body photos of yourself now. I know it’s difficult to do, and you don’t want to see them now, but trust me. When you lose the weight, they are great motivation to keep going, to keep eating right, and to keep exercising. When you see how far you’ve come, it will give you extra fuel to keep going.

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Some people think these pictures are too much information. I don’t. I see them as proof, motivation, and a record of my hard work. I’m proud of the progress.

Been blogging here for over a year, now

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2014v2016edge2I started blogging a little over a year ago, but today is officially the day that I made this site the primary source for my Paleo lifestyle and journey. I made the announcement on Facebook that all my posts here would be cross-linked to my Facebook profile page for PaleoMarine and not my personal Facebook page.

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In that time, I’ve lost about 65 lbs and started running. My waist went down 6 inches and my shirt size from XL to M/S (depending on the shirt). The biggest change has been that I am now a runner. I run every other day, and soon may even add recovery runs to those off days. I’m also in the process of joining the National Guard.

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This blog has allowed me not only the ability to talk about my Paleo lifestyle and fitness journey, but has also helped inspire others to get healthy. I’ve helped old friends and made new ones find a lifestyle that works and has been successful in bringing them to new levels of health they thought were unattainable. If that’s the reward for posting every day (as close to every day as I can!), then I’m grateful and happy!

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I look forward to the new year and all the changes it will bring in my health and fitness. I am hoping to bring my run times down and increase my distances. I am adding sit-ups to my fitness plan as it’s part of the Army’s physical fitness tests. I hope to lose a little more weight to get down to 165 lbs. There’s no timeline on that, but it’d be nice to hit it sooner rather than later.

Paleo? Live like a caveman? Why?

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So, this is something that comes up every now and then. I am a huge fan of the Paleo diet, but not the diet of cavemen. I don’t, for a minute, believe that cavemen were healthier than us because they ate less beans, soy, dairy, sugars, etc. What I do believe is that this diet that is called Paleo hits upon some food restrictions and recommendations that work for me. They have allowed me to get healthy and, in a roundabout way, get fit.

I know that what I’m saying here is sacrilege to those who came up with the idea and many who wholeheartedly believe in it. I’m sorry. I just don’t believe that part of the origin story of Paleo.

I heard once that Paleo is a good diet but a terrible religion, and that’s how I feel about it. I follow the diet, I believe in the diet, but not necessarily in the origin story. I don’t think I am healthier now because I live like a caveman. I believe I’m healthier now because I live a low-carb life without sugar, dairy, grains, soy, and legumes. That’s all.

What’s in a name, anyway, if it works? It seems so many people get offended by the name of the diet or the idea behind eating “Like a caveman.” Heck, I’ve even seen people shy away from the Paleo diet because of their religion not believing in evolution (therefore, Paleo man was not human). I don’t really care what it’s called. You could call this the PaleoMarine Diet if it makes you feel any better. I won’t be offended.

Run Report: January 11th

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file_000-77Last night’s run was actually pretty decent. I set out with a good pace and was able to keep it up pretty much the entire run. It wasn’t my fastest time, but I only missed that by a few seconds each mile. The more important part to me is that I felt good through the run, and near the end, my legs felt completely invisible. What I mean by that is that I didn’t feel them: no pain, no burning, or anything at all. It was like I was gliding along the sidewalk.

The distance was 3.55 miles and my pace was <10 minutes which is my current goal. As long as I can get an average below 10 minutes/mile, I’m happy. The next goal is to keep each half mile split under 10 minutes. I had two half mile splits that went over 10 minutes by 11 seconds; I will work that down.

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Focusing on What is Right

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file_000-39I recently found Dr. Andrea Dinardo’s Blog and it is full of a lot of great information! There was one thing that stuck out to me as being incredibly profound and important as it relates to getting healthy and fit: Focus on what is right.

A lot of us get to the point where we realize we need to diet and lose weight to get healthy and do some exercise to get fit. That’s kind of obvious. What many of us fail to do, however, is to also focus on what’s right. Using my example, here are the things I felt were right and that I was able to harness in my journey to getting fit and healthy:

  • I had great information from my cousin Sarah and my friend Matt. This information was like having a road map out of a strange and foreign city.
  • I had the love and support of an incredible woman who took on the journey with me and helped hold me up when I was weak.
  • I had the motivation, dedication, and perseverance to succeed.

So often, people focus on the things that are wrong and get lost in the details of how wrong things are. It’s easy to obsess over what’s wrong. For some reason, our brains are like a marble in a funnel that turns tighter and faster as it gets to the bottom. Focusing on what’s wrong seems to be a magnet for a domino effect of more negative thoughts.

I’m not saying ignore what’s wrong. Once you’ve identified what’s wrong, formulate a solution and then focus on what’s right and build on it. It’s easier to build on what’s right than to cover up what’s wrong.

I hope I got that right, Dr. Dinardo!

How Marines Motivate Each Other (and my secret weapon for success in weight loss and fitness)

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When I graduated USMC boot camp, I weighed 138 lbs.

There is a difference in how Marines motivate each other and how civilians treat motivation in the workplace. I learned this first-hand as a young Marine who worked part-time off-base at a store in Irvine, CA.

Marines are challenged by any new Marine who is attached to the unit. If that Marine starts to out-shine the others, the Marines see that as a challenge. They look into their own motivation and find it lacking and raise their level to meet that of the new Marine. Marines won’t let another Marine out-perform them and carry all the weight. If the new Marine raises the operational pace, the rest of the Marines will match it. We rise to the challenge. It’s drilled into us and we are trained to perform this way. That’s why the all-in attitude is something I can take on with relative ease.

Civilians treat challenge from new colleagues in an entirely different way. If the new employee starts by working hard and out-performing the rest in the department, someone (or sometimes even a few of them) will take the new employee aside and tell them to slow down and not make everyone else look bad. You see, it’s easier to slow down the new guy than for everyone else to step it up and match the new person’s operational pace. (I want to add that not all civilians do this. There are many fine people out there who work hard and accept a challenge by stepping up to meet it. However, these people seem to be rarer than they are in the Marine Corps. Again, just my personal observation.)

On this blog, I talk a lot about discipline, determination, motivation, and perseverance. These are concepts I didn’t learn in the Marines, but were taken to a new level of understanding through boot camp and NCO school. Anyone can learn these concepts, but it’s up to you to truly embrace them and use them. These are my secret weapons. These are the tools I used to be successful in regaining my health and fitness. You can harness these same tools. You just have to want to do it badly enough.

Post-Run Report: Monday, January 9th

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file_000-75I have been thinking about what to do with this post, and it took me longer to decide than I thought it would. I’ve decided to move all my post-run reports to this blog instead of posting them on Facebook. Just like when I decided to move my Blog cross-posts from my personal Facebook profile to my PaleoMarine Facebook page, I think that my friends have had enough of my run photos.

With that said, I had a really nice run last night after work. I decided to run after work for two reasons: first, because it was cold in the morning and I didn’t want to run in the cold again, and second, because I stayed up a bit later than I normally like to when I am running the following morning. My pace was the fastest I’ve run since November (not counting the 5k I did in the second week of December), and I felt really good while running. I hit a good pace and kept at it the whole time.

My nipples decided to get sore on the last mile, but I think I’m going to tough it out and let them get used to the shirt rubbing against them. I could wear a compression shirt whenever I run, but I think I’d rather toughen up.

The distance wasn’t really shorter than my normal/usual runs. I ran the exact same course that typically yields 3.52 miles, but today the GPS decided to only give me 3.33. I don’t know where the other .2 miles went, but that’s fine. I’m happy with my time, pace, and the distance was over 3 miles, so that’s good.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it swim

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ej5kNobody changes anything about themselves until it becomes apparent that the change is necessary from either a practical or survival standpoint. Alcoholics and drug addicts describe this as hitting rock bottom; the point at which they realize that either they make a change or they will die without. As a person who had an unhealthy relationship with food and didn’t have enough self-respect to care for my health and fitness, I had to hit a certain rock bottom of my own.

I made a change in my life because I felt I needed to. I was ready. Everything about the way I felt and the way I was living was leading me to an early grave. My weight was phenomenally high and my fitness level laughably low. Something needed to happen quickly. I had come to the realization that the change needed to be immediate and severe.

When you get to a point where a severe change in your lifestyle is better than any other alternative, you know you’ve dug yourself a pretty deep hole. I was so far under that looking up, the sky looked like a period on a black sheet of paper. I knew it was going to be a struggle to climb out, but I set a goal for myself to accomplish it with no regard to any obstacles in my path. I would not sabotage myself, and everything I did would be to the benefit of my progress.

I adopted an all-in mindset that those who have never been in the deep hole of despair can never understand. Advice from well-meaning friends and family fall upon deaf ears when they haven’t ever been in a hole so deep. Some may have advice that may even be helpful, but in my experience, most of it isn’t realistic for the situation I found myself in. How could it be? Regardless of the math, losing 10 lbs is much easier than losing over 100 lbs. It’s not just 10 x 10 lbs. It’s an exponential factor of difficulty. I know: I did it.

When you hit your rock bottom, you will know it. You will FEEL it. You will feel the fire growing within you to make a change. That fire will grow and consume you and push you to make the changes you need to make, no matter how untenable you think those changes may be. You will do what it takes, and you will reach your goals.

Will you get healthy and fit? Not until that switch inside you is flipped. The dark and secret truth about that switch: only you can flip it. The question then becomes: how long will you go before you flip the switch, and is your body able to hold out that long before irreversible damage is done?

 

Whole 30 Week #1

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Sherry is done with her first week of her 2017 Whole30. Me? I failed accidentally early on and have decided to eat the majority of my meals Whole30 compliant (and all of them if they are with her) but I will stick to my Paleo food. I’ve not been eating enough again, and I need to fix that more than any other bad habit right now.

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Ok, well it’s been a short week, but I’m feeling a lot better.  Way less swelling, more energy, and generally feeling more like myself.  Down within a couple of lbs of my pre-holiday weight now – and not suffering too much from lack of sweet.

All in all, not a bad place to be.

Here are some of the dishes we enjoyed this week:

  • Paleo Tex Mex Casserole – a perennial favorite.  We have this one about once a month or so and it’s still really good and filling
  • Slow Cooker Butter Chicken with Indian Style Cauliflower – wow, this one was really good, and I think will be one of our new favorites.  As a slow cooker dish, the chicken is really easy and the flavors are pretty awesome.  The cauliflower is pretty simple too but the spices really blend well
  • Roasted Pork Loin – I basically followed this…

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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.