Paleo Marine

This past weekend was another National Guard Drill weekend which means I always have too many carbs. Mostly, it’s in liquid form, and this weekend was no exception. I was able to keep the food carbs limited with the exception of one evening: Saturday night’s Habitat for Humanity Fundraising Gala.

Sherry and I had a wonderful time helping to raise money for a charity we both believe in and support, and while most of the food was actually quite Paleo-friendly, the bread and dessert certainly were not. I did partake in both; they were delicious, and this was one of those “Life events” I encourage others to enjoy. And enjoy, we did!

I haven’t tallied the damage yet; I didn’t step on a scale all weekend or this morning. I will weigh myself after my run this afternoon and I’ll know how many steps backwards I took. My trousers didn’t feel too much tighter this morning, so maybe it’s not so bad. But, I did have the sweats last night, and I do feel a bit bloated. But the run will help even that out quickly.

I know I can’t drink every night, so I typically don’t. I know I can’t eat non-Paleo foods without ill effects, so I typically don’t. It’s always a good feeling to return to my normal diet after a drill weekend. I’m looking forward to eating my healthy foods this week. I can always feel the difference, especially in the mornings.

I’ve been slacking for months. I’ve been allowing myself to be dissuaded from running by apathy. The problem with having lost 150 lbs is that I know I can do it. I know how easy it actually can be. So now, as I struggle to get back down to the 170’s, I allow myself to be lazy. I allow myself to think, “It’s not that hard. I can do it anytime I want.” Well, that time is now.

Starting this afternoon, I will exercise a minimum of 3 times a week. When I did that, I was in the 160’s. Easily. Now, I struggle to stay in the 180’s and have to skip breakfasts and do IF. I miss my bacon and eggs! So, when I get home today, I will run. It will be slow, and likely not very comfortable, but when I’m done, I will take comfort in the fact that I’m back in charge of my exercise, back in charge of my fitness, and being actively involved in getting back to a more comfortable weight.

Nobody can do this for me. No amount of reading or planning will get it done. Only putting one food in front of the other will do it. My time to put words into action begins today.

When I look back at photos of my great-grandparents or even great-great-grandparents, I’m struck by something amazing: they all appear fit. None of them were overweight or struggling with obesity. Only when a few of my ancestors reached past the age of 70 did any of them gain appreciable weight, notably my great-great-grandmother, but outside of her, everyone appeared trim and fit. As for longevity, each of them lived well past 70 years old with very few exceptions. How is that possible when there were no 24 hour fitness gyms available?

Some people mistakenly believe that our ancestors were thin because life was harder then. They posit that everyone was in a day-to-day struggle to survive, eking out an existence through manual labor. However, this is patently wrong in the case of my own family. The vast majority of them were teachers, engineers, officers, chauffeurs, and even a royal guard. None of these people did what could be considered heavy labor. My great-grandfather was a forest ranger, and sure, that entailed a lot of walking, but that’s not enough to keep a man thin. There has to be another reason.

Oh, that’s right. There is another reason: the diet. What did my ancestors eat that is so different than the diet of people today? If my grandmother’s memories serve as any indication as to the makeup of my ancestor’s diet, and if she is to be trusted (and why not?), then meals consisted of 100% home-cooked meals made with 1/4 meat, 3/4 vegetables, and a side serving of bread. There were no desserts, as these were reserved solely for holidays and very special occasions. The occasional snack only took place when doing something that required a lot more energy than normal; cutting some wood, for example, would warrant eating a peach or a plum (or two).

Aside from athletes, most people before the World Wars didn’t exercise for the sake of fitness. The only exercise they got was from walking (which, admittedly, they did likely do a lot more of than we do today) and any tasks requiring physical labor, but to think that everyone was a subsistence farmer or working incredibly hard to merely survive is completely wrong and misses the most important lesson: it’s the diet, dummy.

It’s been a few weeks since I posted here, and it has turned out to be the longest break I’ve had since I began this blog over three years ago. What brought this break about has nothing to do with my resolve and my work toward staying healthy and fit and more about a hectic turn of events which, while good, left me with little time or energy to post here.

My new job is great. I have, for the first time in a very long time, found a job that I not only enjoy, but look forward to. This makes me far more productive than I have been at any job I’ve held in a very long time, but this also makes me expend a lot of mental energy during the day which results in me not able to post during the day, and it keeps me from my computers, laptops, iPads, and any available means for posting to this blog in the evenings. I used to write a bunch of posts on Saturdays and Sundays and have the queue up for the week, but my position in the National Guard coupled with weekend plans with my wife have kept me from being able to write my posts. That lead me to the position I find myself in this morning: explaining my absence.

Can I promise that I will be here more often? Not really, because I never know what my jobs and wife have planned for me or what will come up, but I can promise that I fully intend to resume my daily postings.

In the past few weeks, I’ve had a business trip for a week in Las Vegas (and didn’t gain any weight), a weekend at Fort Hood (didn’t gain any weight), and Easter (didn’t gain any weight). I didn’t really lose any weight either, but honestly, based on my lack of consistent hard exercise, I fully expect that my weight will hold where it’s at right now as long as I eat well: 185 lbs. I have about 12-15 lbs of excess skin on me, so that’s about right. When I run 3x a week, I can drop my weight by 15-20 lbs, but I haven’t been willing or able to put in the work. My knee is only recently healed up, and I’ve been taking it very slowly and deliberately to get back into the swing of exercise. My plan was to run three times this week, but a little pain kept me from running on Monday, and I gave blood yesterday, so that took me out of running yesterday. I’m still on the fence about whether I’ll run today or not. I may ride my bike instead, but it will depend on how I feel when I get home.

I did have a few thoughts and revelations about health and fitness over the past few weeks, and I will be posting about those in the coming days. Some are a bit controversial, and I know some people may get salty about them. But, I’m the PaleoMarine, not the PaleoKindergartenTeacher. I can be blunt sometimes with my statements, ideas, and people don’t necessarily like that. It is what it is. It comes from a good place, though, and I promise that I’m careful to not judge anyone for their decisions. But don’t be surprised if I call someone out over making bad ones.

With that said, I offer my apologies if you are someone who regularly follows and reads this blog. I know my absence was long and there were no warnings beforehand. Normally, I know when I’ll be out and I say something about it. I’ve punished myself with push-ups and I promise to be better in the future.

I’ll keep this one short today; I had a fun weekend going to a theater production and a classical symphony performance of Carmina Burana, but that also meant I had alcohol on more occasions in a weekend than I typically have in a few weeks. So, that means I’m a bit puffy (inflamed) and over last week’s weight. BUT, I will be running today after work, and I will continue to eat well again this week, so I will be back down to my new normal weight by Friday.

It’s annoying, but I don’t regret it at all. Life is for living. I am at a healthy weight/size, and although I want to weigh less, I’m still doing the right things: eat well, make our own food, and exercise (getting back to that more consistently).

Someone mentioned to me on Saturday that the reason they gain weight after losing it is because they allow themselves just a little bit here and a little bit there, and eventually, it all adds up to a lot here and a lot there and the next thing they know, they’ve gained all the weight back. It’s a slippery slope, and he said that the best thing to do is to never allow even a little bit of slip. I kind of agree with this, but as someone who has lost a large amount of weight and has managed to keep it off for three years, I can say that allowing yourself to have a good time here and there, even with foods and/or drinks that are not Paleo, is completely acceptable. It’s not something to do all the time, but as long as you get right back on that horse and keep eating well and staying away from alcohol, foods with added sugars, and grains (and all the other Paleo rules, of course), then you will be okay.

I’m still in decent territory. I want to get back in good territory, but for now, I’m okay. I continue to stick with it and move forward. It’s the best I can do, and it’s all I can expect from myself. Anything more would be unreasonable and setting myself up for failure.

If we take the time to listen to what our body is telling us, we can learn a lot, and in the process, keep ourselves from further pain, injury, or more. This week, I started running after a two-month absence due to a minor knee injury. I wanted to give my knee time not only to heal, but to get past the possibility of an easy re-injury. I think I got there, and my run on Monday was really good. However, while I didn’t push the pace, I pushed the distance, and as a result, I have excessive muscle burn. Some people thrive on that feeling; I’m not one of them. To me, there’s nothing worse than sore muscles (beyond a point). I was planning on running on Wednesday, but the pain was still too much, and I decided to run on Thursday (not remembering that I had a show scheduled with my wife that precluded running). Then there’s today, and I have plans with friends. I may still have time to knock out a run before they come over, but it will really depend on what time I get home. But I digress.

What did I have to gain by pushing through the excessive pain? In past experience, when I’ve done that, one of two things happens: either I’m able to get past it and the pain goes away, or I develop an injury because I run in a way my body isn’t used to, and I end up pulling a muscle, ligament, or tendon. I wasn’t willing to risk it, so I decided to sit it out. While I didn’t get the benefit of exercise on Wednesday, as I sit here and type this, I am not injured.

The same holds true for hunger. Since I cut out added sugars and grains, I haven’t had to cope with cravings or false appetite. What that means for me, however, is that when I get hungry, I have to listen to my body and feed it. It’s also feedback on the size of my meals. Last week, when I had an exceptionally large lunch, I wasn’t hungry again until the next day at lunchtime. I skipped dinner that night because as I was getting ready to prepare a meal, I realized that I was still not only not hungry, but stuffed. I listened to what my body was telling me, and the next morning I went into my regular Intermitted Fasting (IF) routine without issues. I was hungry about an hour sooner than usual, but it was fine. I ate a little early that day, but ended up having no ill effect.

Every time I eat, I make note of not only what I ate, but the volume so that I can make adjustments to later meals. Feedback is worthless if you ignore it. Our body is telling us things all the time, not only through muscle pain or hunger, but also through things like our weight, our size, how our skin looks, the bags under our eyes, etc. There’s a lot to take in and consider if you just open your eyes and allow yourself to see it. Don’t ignore those feelings. Don’t ignore the data. Use it all to analyze where you are at, how you’re doing, and use it moving forward to monitor your progress and guide you to your goals and beyond. Our body wants to help us: we need to listen.

I am asked this every now and then by people my age (50+) because as we get older, it gets harder to maintain a high level of strenuous physical activity. I have found this to be true, but I also didn’t exercise for a 20 year stretch. However, I know some people who maintained a daily exercise regimen well into their 80’s (my grandmother swam daily in the Atlantic Ocean year-round until she was 84).

My own experience has been that an every-other-day plan works best for keeping me relatively healthy and I’ve been able to keep away from injury and excessive soreness. The only time I’ve been injured in the past three years has been when I pushed it too hard or too fast. This is because as Clint Eastwood says in one of his movies, “A man’s got to know his limitations.” I know them; I need to abide by them.

How much exercise is too much depends on a lot of factors. Age, weight, overall health, fitness level, and goals. When you take all those things into consideration, you build a criteria for your limitations. Staying within them will generally be helpful while exceeding them won’t necessarily mean a bigger payoff. In my case, it led to a knee injury.

When I began my exercise journey, I started with push-ups. Nothing more. I did somewhere around 7 or 8 on my first day. I didn’t push myself until I couldn’t do anymore. I just stopped when my arms started feeling stress. Then, I took a day off and did the same thing the next day. That day, I did 10. Fast forward three months and I was up to 120 push-ups in two minutes. The crazy part is that I got to that level without any arm pain or soreness. It was a very natural progression. Could I have made it to 120 in two minutes in less than three months? Possibly. But the probability of injury was also greater, especially considering my age.

Don’t overdo exercise. Take it easy. There’s no reason to push yourself or to lift until you can’t lift anymore. Unless you are wanting to be a bodybuilder or Olympic weightlifter, there’s no reason to push to failure. Get that 30 minutes in every other day. If you can do it every day, more power to you. Just know your limitations and abide by them.

One thing I am adamant about is making sure people understand that you don’t need to spend hours a week in a gym to lose weight. That’s one of the top fallacies when it comes to weight loss that most people fall prey to. Gym memberships are, in large part, due to this misinformation. What makes it especially sad to me is when I see people working out, doing good, solid, hard work and then not seeing the results they crave. Most people give up and stop trying, while the persistent few keep going and going. Some in the last group will even see some success because they continue to raise their level of physical activity until they see some results only to eventually realize that the extreme amount of physical activity is not sustainable. Then, they succumb to their poor diet and gain the weight back (and in most cases, even more than before). That’s why I advocate changing your diet; it works.

I lost 130 lbs in a year without a single step of exercise. However, for me to get the last 20 lbs, I needed to do some exercise. I ran for 30 minutes three times a week and did a single set of push-ups prior to each run. That’s it. That got me 20 lbs more lost.

What happened to my weight when I was unable to exercise due to a knee injury? It went up 20 lbs. Literally the extra weight I lost with exercise came back. It seems that with a lack of physical activity coupled with the amount of food I feel comfortable eating, my weight will hover in the low 180’s. But that’s not where I want to be. I like the 160’s better (and so does the military, whose standards I need to adhere to).

Enter physical activity. Coupled with a GOOD diet (in my case, that means low-carb Paleo), losing weight happens readily. In my case, adding physical activity back to my daily routine has already given me the results I’m looking for and even a bonus: better sleep. I typically sleep well, but the nights after a run, I sleep solid through the night. I don’t wake up at 3 am looking at the clock and wondering why my brain won’t stop. I sleep WELL.

As for my weight loss, I am scheduled for another run today after work. My legs are VERY sore, as the three-mile run I did on Monday was likely too far too soon, but the pain is just muscle soreness, not actual injury pain, so I’ll try to run again this afternoon. If I make it past 2 miles, I’ll be happy. In the past, running with sore legs typically starts off rough but after 1/4-1/2 mile, the pain goes away until after the run. I’m hoping for that today.

But please understand: you don’t need to exercise to lose weight, but exercising with a good diet will lead to better/faster weight loss, and in my case, it led to weight loss+.

I dislike the title of this article, but it’s meant to reach the most number of people trying to get healthy by way of losing weight. When I began this journey, I did so with the mindset of losing weight. Only along the way did I change my perception of what it is to be healthy and focused on being healthy vs being lighter. Don’t think for a second, however, that being thin means being healthy. I have relatives in my family who were all thin and died before the age of 65 from maladies associated with being overweight: high cholesterol, hypertension, and cancer. None of these men were anywhere near what could be considered overweight. Heck, they’d be described as, “Thin as a rail.” That’s why focusing on being healthy is so much more important than being lighter or thinner.

With that said, what makes advice worth listening to? Some people go to the gym to seek assistance with losing weight because most of the people who are instructors at gyms tend to be in good physical shape. Most of these people were never overweight, and if they were, only slightly so (notice I said most, not all. I know a few instructors who were obese, but they are the exception). Just because someone is thin does not mean they have healthy habits nor have they had to go through the labor of losing the weight. The same can be said for millionaires. Just because someone has a lot of money doesn’t make them an expert at making more of it. Some people inherit it while others started with nothing and made fortunes. Which of these two individuals has better advice to give?

I used to get nutrition advice from a good friend. Everything he said to me made sense, but I have to admit I never really let any of it sink in. Why? Because he was always thin. He was never obese, never struggled with overeating, and never had to deal with taking on a lifestyle that is drastically different from the one he was used to. Or so I thought. While it is true that he was never obese, he did have to change some habits due to health concerns, and it was those very changes to be healthy that led him to the knowledge he was sharing with me.

When my cousin talked to me about the very same concerns my friend talked to me about, I heard much the same information from her, but this time I listened. What was difference? My cousin always struggled with weight, and when I saw that she had conquered the problem, I thought that I might have a shred of a chance of doing the same. I listened intently and worked hard to learn as much as I could about Whole30 and Paleo. Over three years later, I’m in maintenance mode and much healthier in every regard.

I’m not writing to this to say that I am smarter, wiser, or more knowledgeable than anyone else on the subject of losing weight or getting healthier. I’ll be the first person to tell you that you shouldn’t listen to just me. But I was obese. I did lose the weight, and I did so without starving, using patches, pills, products, and any weird programs. I did so while eating natural, healthy foods, and my health has greatly improved and allowed me to live a life that was only a dream to me just four years ago.

Stop believing the mainstream nutrition industry. They are there to make money. They want to sell you as much as they can, even if that means selling you products that are only marginally effective (if at all). There is a lot of good, peer-reviewed science out there about the benefits of low-carb diets, and more than a small mountain of anecdotal evidence that it works. I am living proof it works, and I’m a regular person just like you. The only difference is that I have this blog, and I started over three years ago. You can do this, too! (I’m not telling you to start a blog, but journaling was actually something that has helped me through the journey from obese to healthy).

It finally happened: I was able to get out there and run three miles yesterday after work. Yes, I was very slow, and yes, it was painful near the end. While running, I even contemplated shortening my run to 2 or 2.5 miles, but I haven’t run less than 3 miles in over two years, so I kept going and when I hit 3.01 miles, I stopped.

I walked another 3/4 miles as a cool-down, and yes, when I sat down, my muscles ached. But what didn’t hurt was that tendon on my right knee. Yes, it does hurt a little this morning, but that was to be expected. It’s been two months since my last run, and I made sure to not push it too hard, but I did expect a little bit of soreness.

I will take today off as a rest day and I will run again tomorrow. If the past is any indication, tomorrow’s run will be even slower than yesterday’s, and I’m okay with that. My goal right now is to get back to 3x a week running and to hit 3+ miles every run. I don’t care how slow I am or how long it takes; I just want to get back to a rhythm of running 3x a week. When I ran 3x a week two years ago, I got down to 160 lbs. It felt great, I looked great, and running was easy! I’m 20 lbs heavier now, and my legs feel it when I run. I want to be back in the 160’s, and I believe that through my diet and running, I’ll get back there.

Oh, and there’s this matter of the new Army Combat Fitness Test that’s replacing the current Army Physical Fitness Test. If that plan goes through, then I will have a lot of work to do to be able to pass it. My goal is to pass, not ace. I’m too old to ace it now. But as of this moment, I couldn’t pass it. That will change.

So, I’m happy to be back to running. I can’t (and won’t) say it was a pleasurable experience to run yesterday, but it wasn’t bad either, and I felt accomplished afterward.