Paleo Marine

Both Whole30 and Paleo say you can and should eat fruit. Whole30 says to eat as much fruit as you want because it’s healthy for you. So, I agree with them for the most part, however, much of what you learn on a Whole30 is how your body reacts and responds to different foods. My experience has been that fruits high in sugar slowed or halted any weight loss progress I was making and allowed the sugar cravings to linger longer. It is true that natural sugars are better for you than processed sugars. However, it’s still sugar, and eating them with abandon is still a bad idea.

The largest factor I’ve noticed between my results on my Whole30’s and after adopting the Paleo lifestyle and the results of others is that I eat very little in the way of fruits. It’s not because I don’t like them, but because I’m avoiding all the sugar. Like I said earlier, I’ve noticed a very distinct slowing of weight loss progress or even stopping my progress completely whenever I eat foods that have lots of sugar in them. I am not eating anything with added-sugar, processed sugar, or cane sugar, so it’s not that. Bananas will stop my weight loss for days.

Sweet potatoes has a lot of carbs, yet doesn’t stop my progress. Why is this? I don’t know. Part of the problem is that everyone’s body is different, and while I have heard of people who ate beans the entire time they lost a large amount of weight, I could never do that because my body strips every bit of sugar out of the beans and puts it right into my gut.

What’s good for the goose…

I have tried to hammer this point home on my blog since day one: my results are based on my experience with my body, genetic material, and environment. Your results will vary from mine. My wife, who has a different genetic makeup (but surprisingly similar, it turns out), has experienced many of the exact same successes and challenges I have with the same foods. So, for us at least, if it works for her, it’ll likely work for me and vice-versa. On the flip side, what stalls her weight loss typically stalls mine as well.

So, what about you? Can you eat a bunch of fruit and lose weight and have success on a Whole30 or Paleo diet? Possibly, but that’s because there are so many other factors involved. Like I wrote in this post, the amount of food and the type of food are both factors (along with sleep and physical activity) that will affect your progress toward a weight loss goal. If you eat a lot less meat and more fruit, it may work out for you. Remember, in both Whole30 and Paleo, you don’t count carbs, calories, or anything for that matter. You eat good, whole foods that you make yourself from natural ingredients that don’t include grains or dairy. If you get lots of sleep and get some physical activity, you will be healthier. If you eat in proportion to your activities and get solid rest, you will make progress and likely even lose weight.

But I’m kind of obsessive about losing weight right now, so I monitor many areas and watch my data points for trends so I can adjust the inputs to continue to lose weight. Why?

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

My body at 190 lbs is not the same body I had at 290 lbs. It works more efficiently now, has lower caloric needs, and because there is less damage the body is fighting, even the metabolic processes are working more efficiently. For me to make steady progress, I need to constantly evolve my inputs to ensure I continue to lose weight. This is where a lot of people fail on diets. They figure, “Well, I lost x number of lbs doing y, so if I stop losing weight, more y will make me lose more lbs!” This is flawed logic, but unfortunately, a natural conclusion to come to. If we are driving a car and we press the gas pedal and get to 35 mph but want to go 55 mph, we press on the pedal more. Makes sense to me, too.

Except it doesn’t work that way. That’s not how any of this works. Our bodies are complicated machines that are performing complex chemical reactions every second. These processes make up what we are as living beings: taking in fuel, processing it into energy, using that energy to get more fuel to process into more energy, etc.

Another thing I’ve noticed now that I am at a lower weight is that smaller inputs have a greater impact on my weight. This makes sense to me. When I weight 250 lbs, eating a banana may have only slowed my weight loss. At 190 lbs, it stops it for three days. This tells me if I want to eat bananas and continue to lose weight, I need to maybe have half of one. That is, if I really want bananas, which is rarely true. I love banana bread, and bananas are good and all, but I can’t say I’ve ever been a banana-hoarder. Now strawberries and blueberries are another story. I love those!

The point here is that for Sherry and I, fruit are a part of our diet, but we’ve limited them and eat more in the way of vegetables. On a Paleo diet, you’re supposed to have protein, fats, and carbs. The carbs we eat are supposed to be good carbs from fruits and vegetables. However, fruits are more dense in carbs, and ultimately, too many can throw your balance out of whack. If you’re into Paleo for healthy living and not for weight loss, this will be much less of an issue. I plan on incorporating far more fruits into my diet once I reach my final weight loss goal, but until then, I have to keep them limited to ensure a steady rate of progress.

We have a new Twitter account! Instead of using my personal Twitter, I’m now using my @ThePaleoMarine account. You can follow me by following this link.

Also, our giveaway is in full swing! You can win one of three Paleo Cookbooks just by following on Twitter. If you don’t have a Twitter account, you can open one quickly, easily, and it doesn’t obligate you to anything at all.

Click here to enter the giveaway!

Thanks to all who have already followed me!

In my talks with people who have tried and gave up adopting a healthy lifestyle, they cite lack of motivation as one of the key reasons they were unable to keep it going. People assume that because I’m a Marine, it’s easy for me to set my mind to something and just do it.

That’s true.

Just kidding; it’s not. It was just as hard for me as for anyone else to keep my head in the game and stick with it, work through the hunger pangs, or the pain. The path of least resistance is to just give in to the cravings and eat or to just eat whatever I want at mealtime (or have as many mealtimes as I want!). But that wasn’t acceptable to me. I had set my mind to being successful at weight loss and at adopting a new lifestyle for the rest of my life.

The keys to adopting a healthy lifestyle

I think that was the first key: “Dedicate yourself to it for the long-term.” You have to be all-in psychologically. You have to really want this just like you have really wanted anything else difficult to accomplish in your life. The more you want it, the more you will sacrifice to get it done. Changing your diet will bring about some discomfort and even pain. It’s easier to get past that when you know what’s on the other side. That’s where the next key comes into play.

The second key was to read as much as I could from people who were doing what I wanted to do. For those of you who read Reddit, this subreddit for progress pictures was very inspirational to me and led me to learning more about Paleo and Keto. Seeing all these people doing so well, making such amazing progress really inspired me and kept me motivated. On those days when I felt like I wasn’t seeing or feeling any progress, I’d go to /r/progresspics and look at the pictures. Seeing other people make progress over 3 months, 6 months, a year, etc really helped show me that it was going to take time, but that time and effort were worth it.

A third key was support. I talked about support from a partner or spouse, but it could just as easily be friends, or through social media: forums, subreddits like /r/paleo or /r/whole30, Facebook groups, or a local gym. Any group of people doing the same thing as you is always going to have a different angle on the same process and can help you get through some of your tough spots. Interaction with these people can be key to keeping yourself motivated through the rough patches.

There is no fourth key.

A fifth key is to accept that you’re human and that every now and then, you will have to eat something not in your lifestyle. The main point here is to:

1. Limit the amount
2. Limit the frequency of these non-lifestyle meals
3. Don’t beat yourself up for it afterward

It’s hard enough to be on a new lifestyle while breaking free of the old habits and the stranglehold the bad foods had on you without making things harder on yourself with guilt. I know so many people who have had a day when they went off the rails and they felt so bad about it, they quit the diet or the lifestyle. It happens; just get back up, brush yourself off, and make the next meal a good one. And the one after that. And so on.

We are all motivated in different ways and for different reasons. The trick is to find yours. Some people need someone yelling at them. Others find the quit and calm inner peace to guide them to a goal. Others yet find motivation by reading what others have to say (I love those people!). There are those who are motivated through rewards while others are motivated by deprivation. Whatever your motivation jam is, find it and rock it. Once you identify that, you can do anything.

I know; easier said than done. If it were so easy, we’d have all finished everything we’ve ever set our mind to. But I don’t think that’s true. I think if we never really got motivated to do something, it’s because ultimately, it wasn’t that important to us. Anything truly important I’ve ever wanted to accomplish, I’ve done. I am sure you’re the same way, too. So find it, that reason that you need to get healthy or to lose weight. Is it for your spouse? For your kids? Grandkids? Want to see grandkids? Want to be able to go mountain biking, hiking, skydiving, or just take a walk around the block without pain? Then use that and motivate  yourself with some rewards, or do what I did: set smaller, periodic goals. I had little celebrations with each goal I reached. No, they didn’t involve cupcakes or rum, but they were great motivators to keep me going.

Never underestimate the power of a goal met. It’s contagious, and you will look forward to achieving more of these milestones as you reach them.

Anyone who has embarked upon a journey to lose weight has encountered the dreaded plateau. That dreaded place where, regardless of how well you eat, how well you sleep, and how much exercise you get, your weight stalls at a certain weight (and in some cases, inexplicably goes up!). How do you stay motivated through it?

I consider all the other factors involved with getting healthy and put the goal of losing weight to the back of my mind. There are many measures of good health including blood test results, flexibility, mobility, fitness, clothing fit, and clarity of mind, to name a few. When I am on a plateau, I think about these things and when I do, it makes me realize that I’ve come a long way, that my health is better now than it has been in over 20 years, and that just because the scale isn’t moving, it doesn’t mean that changes aren’t happening in my body. They are.

I’ve discussed in previous posts that for me, I either lose size or weight; very rarely do I lose both at the same time. Now that my weight is approaching my final destination, I find that the weight is coming off more slowly and that my size is reducing equally as slowly. This is okay, as the amount of weight I have to lose is much less now, and while the number of pounds I have left to lose may be small, the rate at which I’m losing weight is still pretty consistent when taken as a percentage of the whole. Where losing 20 lbs in the first month was a great weight loss rate, now that I’m 100 lbs less, losing 5.8 lbs in a month is still pretty darned good. Considering I have less than 25 lbs left to lose, I’m okay with this. Would I like a faster rate of weight loss? Sure! But I want to do this in a healthy manner, and so far, my body has been doing a great job of adjusting to the new weight.

I’ve been asked many times if I have a lot of extra skin now that I’ve lost all this weight. I have a little bit in some places, but not nearly as much as I thought I would, honestly. I have seen photos online of people who have lost large amounts of weight and I was afraid of the spare skin problem, but frankly, it hasn’t really been an issue for me. For one, I have only lost 100 lbs, and also, it was over 10 months’ time. Most people with lots of spare skin have lost over 100 lbs and typically in a shorter period of time.

Plateaus are never fun when you’re trying to make progress, but by looking at the bigger picture, you can find aspects of your health to motivate you. As long as you’re eating good foods, eating the right amounts, getting solid sleep and getting some exercise, your plateau will end.

If a plateau persists after a few weeks, perhaps take a look at the inputs and see if something needs adjusting. Maybe portions sizes crept up, or sleep amount has declined. Maybe that dinner treat that has a lot of fruit in it is the culprit. Remember, fitness and weight loss are like a formula. Sometimes to get the result we’re looking for after a plateau, we have to adjust the variables in the formula. I’ve had to do this a few times with the amount of food I was eating and quickly saw the results I was looking for. Also, once I added some physical activity into the mix, I was able to jump right off that plateau and back into progress territory.

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

Near my maximum of 311 lbs.

Recently at 191 lbs.

This is something I came to the realization of months ago, but never really thought much about it. Fat doesn’t just happen. It’s the result of a flawed lifestyle. When Sherry and I decided to do something about our weight, we decided to take a different approach from any we had tried in the past. We tried South Beach, low-fat, and even moderation, and all of our attempts failed. We also tried exercising it away, but that obviously wasn’t enough to counteract the flawed lifestyle of eating whatever we wanted in whatever quantity we wanted. We needed to change the basis upon which our nutrition was based. We needed a new lifestyle.

Here is where it gets real. Sorry/not sorry if you are offended by the following.

Look; I don’t care what got you here. I won’t tell you you’re dumb, stupid, or lazy because you’re none of those things. If you’re here, it’s because you recognize one or more of a few basic facts.

• You’re fat and want to not be fat anymore
• You have health problems that aren’t serious yet, but can get there if left unchecked
• You’ve tried to lose weight before and failed
• You’ve lost weight before and gained it (and then some) back
• You want straight scoop on how to get healthy. Losing weight is a bonus.
• You searched Google for “Really sexy Marine guy talks about Paleo.”

Ok, so that last bullet probably accounts for 0% of the people who visit this site, but I’ll keep thinking it in my mind. Some delusions are fun.

But seriously, if you’re searching the Internet for information on losing weight, getting healthy, and Whole30 or Pale0, you’re taking the EXACT SAME FIRST STEPS I DID! You are already on your way! THAT’S EXCITING!!!!

Bring it on!

The next step is planning. Plan on starting by setting a date. Look up some recipes and find some that appeal to you. Then, put together a grocery list. This will take some time and will be strange because some of the ingredients are very different than what you’re used to and may be difficult to obtain. Amazon is your friend in this regard; a lot of what we use in our Paleo cooking can be found there. Surprisingly, many Kroger’s, Aldi’s, and the more obvious Sprout’s or Whole Food Markets have lots of Paleo ingredients. Once you have your ingredients together, clear out the bad foods from your refrigerator and pantry. Set the date a week or three from now and use all the added-sugar or high-carb foods up. No need to waste ’em, and you won’t really do any more damage to yourself in a few days. Or, start sooner and donate any unopened foods to a local food bank or give unused food to friends who would use it.

Then, GO! DO IT! Eat good food, eat regular portions, go for a walk (if you are able), and get the right amount of sleep. It’s that simple.

Make the foods, package leftovers for lunches, and make sure you get lots of sleep. It’s important to adopt the entire lifestyle for maximum efficacy (which is a fancy way of saying to make sure you get the most out of it).

The title of this post is Fat doesn’t just happen. Well, losing weight doesn’t just happen on its own after you’ve gained it (unless you’re ill, and in that case, please go see a doctor). You need to work at it, and by work, I mean do some good eating, solid sleeping, and get on your feet and do some walking or any exercise you can do, even if it’s a little. A start is a start, regardless of the size step you can take. It’s a step in the right direction; you getting healthy and losing weight.

Don’t forget to enter the drawing for the free Paleo Cookbook!

Adopting a new lifestyle is tough, but it’s even harder when you’re one half of a team that doesn’t want to adopt the same lifestyle. For so many people, this is a very real situation. It’s the second most cited reason I hear from people who explain to me why they can’t go Paleo or do a Whole30. Having to cook one meal for dinner is hard enough, but two? And then multiply that by two for breakfasts and dinners? Add to that lunches for the Paleo person? That’s a lot of extra work, and can be a pretty huge reason to just not do it.

I was facing the same battle. Although Sherry got us into eating better and adopting what we believed at the time were healthier ways of eating in the past, after our multiple failures, I think she had given up and resigned herself to a life of being heavy. When I mentioned to her that I wanted to do a Whole30, she scoffed and told me I was crazy. When I suggested Paleo instead, she thought it was ridiculous. I kept reading and looking for options for me, but the more I read, the more I was led back to Whole30 followed by Paleo. Finally, one evening, I had a very frank discussion with her.

“If we don’t do something, anything, to help me lose weight, I will be dead within the decade.” I wasn’t being passive-aggressive, nor was I using hyperbole. This was what I was being told by my doctor based off declining medical markers. I was at the precipice and my health was still at a point where the damage could be reversed. Another year or two? I would be doomed with conditions that you don’t or can’t come back from.

I told her, “I will abide by whatever you want to do, but I want to be around for a long time to molest and annoy you. I want to see grandchildren. I want to be a part of their lives. I don’t see a way for me to do that if I continue on the path I’m on now.” It must have hit home with her, because she relented and said she would read into it and strongly consider it.

Let’s do this

After a week or so of reading, and Sherry is a voracious reader, she came to me and said, “Okay, we can do a Whole30, but we aren’t starting until after my birthday.” This was in late July and her Birthday is at the end of August, so that meant we had a month to prepare. We stopped buying foods with added sugar and started getting rid of all the foods we had on-hand that had added sugar or forbidden ingredients in them. We also went to restaurants and ate food we would no longer be able to eat. Sort of our “Goodbye to Bad Foods Tour of 2015.” We would indulge in these high-sugar foods and reminisce about how much we loved the foods or about the memories we had associated with those foods, and then we said farewell to them. We might visit them again sometime in the distant future, but only in strict moderation, and only after we’d reached our goals in weight and health.

When we started, the day after her birthday, we were filled with doubt. Not so much in our resolve, but in the efficacy of Whole30. We were incredulous, but hopeful. We had both read at length about what to expect on our Whole30, and sure enough, we were going through the classic symptoms. Our mindset was good, though, and we supported each other when one of us was faltering. There were days when Sherry would feel like no progress was being made, or that she was feeling far worse without sugar than she did with it, and I would have to encourage her. There were days when I really, really wanted pasta. I have Italian DNA in me; it’s a thing. She talked me off the ledge more than a few times.

I think one of the major breakthroughs in her mindset fully adopting the healthier lifestyle was when she stopped drinking milk and noticed she was less inflamed, or “puffy” as she called it, than she was before. She used to start her days with a glass of milk. The last time she lost weight, she lost 40 lbs but was still always “puffy.” This time, after losing just 10 lbs, she looked thinner than after losing 40 lbs. She felt great. She had more energy. Her mind felt clearer. The only thing she changed aside from getting rid of the sugar was dairy. When she tried to reintroduce it, her body swelled and her joints ached. She had learned, thanks to Whole30, that she had a dairy allergy that she had been unaware of. It wasn’t serious enough to cause easily recognizable symptoms, but now she was certain.

For me, I knew we were onto something good when I started feeling better, more energetic, and my mind seemed clear early in the mornings, even before my coffee! I no longer awoke in a fog. My mind was sharp and I was able to concentrate and think while in the shower, something I hadn’t been able to do in many years.

Where do we go from here?

As we completed our Whole30, we looked for what to do next. Whole30 is a way of eating that can be sustained, but it’s very limited. Something Sherry and I were both adamant about is that whatever healthier lifestyle we adopted, it had to include food that was delicious. We finally understood that food is fuel, but that fuel should at least be tasty. We thought back to our pre-Whole30 research and found that Paleo was the logical next step. We decided to try it and see how it went. Never in our lives did we expect it to work so well.

I’ve talked about the benefits, how our experience has been with Paleo, and even the effect it’s had on our friends. What I only touched upon in the past, however, was just how important it was for my wife to be on my team.

As I stated earlier, we pick each other up when the other is down. We continually cheerlead each other. When Sherry has a bad day on the scale, I remind her that she looks amazing and that while the scale may not be her friend that day, the fit of her pants sure are! When I beat myself up for having eaten a bit more than I should have, it’s Sherry who reminds me that it’s likely because my body was craving more calories. She reminds me that I still look good, and that the scale is still rewarding me with results. When I am up in weight, she asks me how my pants are fitting. When I tell her I’m down a belt hole, she smiles and reminds me to stop worrying about the scale.

Venus and Mars

It’s a constant give and take, and it’s that support that makes the lifestyle not only successful, but possible for us. It enriches our lives, and I have to say that an unexpected consequence of this is that we have grown closer in ways I never thought possible. We are both more engaged together in our meal plans and execution. We discuss our fitness more, our health, and anything out of the ordinary. We talk about our successes, but also our challenges as we look to each other for ideas and solutions. Heck, the fact that my wife solicits solutions from me is a huge step.

So, how do you get a partner to engage? This is a difficult question to answer, because each person and each relationship is different. What worked for me may not work for everyone. There are many different tacks you can take when addressing this with your partner, but one that is very hard to argue against is, “I need your full help and support to be successful at this.” It is the passive-aggressive argument and really brings a lot of risk with it. The implications of someone who refuses this argument has larger consequences than adopting a diet plan or lifestyle, so it should be used with caution. If you’re using this argument, you should be prepared for the emotional backlash of your partner refusing to help you. That’s something I risked, but I went into it with the knowledge that I may have been asking too much or have been too selfish, and that she may have had just as valid a reason for not supporting me. It was a gamble for me that paid off.

An option is to join a support group, forum, subreddit, or online community of people who are on the same path. While this won’t help with the double meal prep or having to watch your partner eat foods you can’t eat (or at the minimum, shouldn’t eat), it will help keep you motivated and moving forward.

If you’re having to make meals for or with your partner who refuses to go Paleo with you, perhaps you can make meals that incorporate Paleo elements that can easily be removed and eaten without the non-Paleo components. Grilled chicken sandwiches: your partner can have the bun while you eat the chicken without. Spaghetti and meatballs; you can eat the meatballs with sauce and perhaps spaghetti squash while your partner eats the pasta and garlic bread.

What if they threw a war and nobody showed up?

The last option is to just make Paleo-friendly foods without telling them. Why fight about something that doesn’t need it? There are so many options and alternatives that can fool most anyone that are tasty and filling that you may be fighting a battle that doesn’t need to be fought. At our last holiday party, my wife made a Paleo chocolate tort and some non-Paleo cupcakes. Many of the people were shocked and surprised to find that the delicious, moist, and amazing tort was Paleo. If we hadn’t told anyone, they would have never known that it was Paleo. The same is true for many of the dishes we serve our guests.

Help and support are important to everyone; patients in recovery, people training for marathons, and college-aged kids, for example. Adopting a new lifestyle like Paleo is no exception. In many ways, I think it may be more important than most support situations; eating goes to the core of who we are, is a large part of the human experience, and is the root of our culture. We are changing something that is very intrinsic to how we see ourselves and literally what we’re made of. Going about it alone is difficult at best. Get a partner, a buddy, or at least a person in your corner to help you and to answer questions when you have them or to pick you up when you need it. If that person can’t be a partner, engage someone who can help. It may be the difference between success and failure.

So, according to this study, it is believed that Diabetes reversal after bypass surgery is linked to changes in gut microorganisms and not directly due to weight loss. They believe this is due to bypass surgery improving glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity.

“Our research showed that duodenum-jejunum gastric bypass (DJB) surgery may be applied to cure diabetes of both genetic (mutation) and environmental (diet-induced) origin,” explained lead investigator Xiang Gao, PhD, of State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and MOE Key Laboratory of Model Animal for Disease Study, Model Animal Research Center, Nanjing Biomedical Research Institute and the Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, Nanjing University.

This is pretty interesting. Both Sherry and I were Diabetic before losing our weight but now we both have normal blood sugar levels yet neither of us had gastric bypass surgery. We lost weight by doing a Whole30 followed by adopting a Paleo lifestyle.

I guess it is possible that by not eating processed sugar, grains, or anything with added sugars has changed our gut flora. Basically, we changed the diet of the microorganisms in our stomachs and evicted the bad ones while attracting the good ones in the same way changing the menu in a restaurant will change the clients who come to your establishment.

Regardless of how it happened, it did. I no longer have blood sugar problems, nor do I need to monitor or take medicine daily. This has been a huge improvement in my life, and my body is healthier for it.