Paleo Marine

This past weekend, I was engaged by someone online who said they were, “Worried for me and my health.” Being that it was someone I’ve known for a long time, I humored them and listened to their concern. “The diet you are eating is not good. You need to eat grains. It’s one of the major food groups! You can’t be healthy and not eat from all the food groups. Also, you eat so much bacon! It’s going to kill you! You should be eating low-fat turkey bacon if you can’t stop eating bacon.” I’ve discussed in previous articles why this is all such bad information, but I’ll hit the main points now.

“You need to eat grains.” No I don’t. They are super-dense in carbohydrates and anti-nutrients.

“It’s one of the major food groups!” The entire food groups concept has been disproven time and time again. We don’t need to eat from every food group to be healthy.

“You eat so much bacon! You should be eating low-fat turkey bacon…” I do eat a lot of bacon, but I do it because it’s good for me. Low-fat is one of the worst ideas presented to us in the history of nutritional science and is regularly being disproven as a concept. Even saturated fats are being seen as not being harmful in many studies. Soon, you will see a turn-around in what is considered healthy and what is considered unhealthy.

I asked the person, who is obese, what they have done to lose weight. They told me that they’ve lost over 100 lbs eating low-fat and counting calories, but were it not for a few setbacks, they’d have kept it off. I asked what these setbacks were, but my questions were left unanswered. I countered with this: “I am going to say something with the utmost respect, and I mean nothing by it, but my diet has allowed me to lose 110 lbs in 12 months and 150 lbs overall within 20 months. I’ve kept my weight off for over a year after losing 100 lbs. I did that through cutting added sugars, grains, soy, and dairy. It works. I did all that without exercise and without starving myself. On the other hand, you’ve been on countless diets, using countless diet products, have done exercise plan after exercise plan, and yet you are still the same weight after how many years?” Fortunately, they weren’t insulted and answered with this: “I just don’t think the way you lost weight is healthy. You lost weight too fast. You probably have a bunch of skin hanging off your body which is a sign you lost weight too fast.” I sent them this photo:

No real skin hanging off me there: just some extra skin on my sides, but nothing alarming. As far as I’m concerned, this is a great improvement over the belly I used to have when I weighed 312 lbs, and considering the amount of skin it took to cover that big belly, this looks GREAT.

They said that I’m just lucky, and that my genetics allow me to lose weight quickly and easily while everyone else has to struggle and work at it. They further told me it’s impossible to lose any weight without exercise. Again, I reminded them that I did no exercise for the first 12 months of my weight loss, but was met with, “Yeah, you’re not normal, though. Us normal people can’t do what you did.”

Sigh.

Everyone can do what I did. What I did is what happens when a normal person eats clean, whole, healthy foods. Cut out the added sugar. Cut out the grains. Cut out the soy. Cut out the dairy. You WILL lose weight, and you will do it without hunger, cravings, or having to exercise like a madman or madwoman.

My point here is not to make anyone feel bad or to make myself appear superior. To the contrary: I’m just a regular guy who lost a lot of weight through a very simple plan. I’m not implying it’s easy, because it took a lot of determination, motivation, and perseverance to get it done. But anyone can do what I did and get the same results. It just takes discipline. Respect yourself and get it done without cheating. The results are SO worth it!

I reached an important decision this morning; I no longer care what the scale says. My body fat is typically around ~10% which is pretty darned good. There is no visible fat on me anywhere; just skin, and even that is getting thinner as time goes by. I am very fit by anyone’s standards, and my weight at this point is holding steady between 165 lbs and 167 lbs consistently. Even if I eat a bit too much, or non-Paleo foods, it stays right between 165 lbs and 167 lbs.

What I have also found is that my trousers fit great. Whether my weight goes up a little or not, they fit perfectly. And honestly, I don’t want to get thinner. If I do, I’ll have to start shopping for clothing in the Young Men’s departments because I would have shrunk myself out of men’s clothing.

On top of that, I am both healthy and fit now. My doctors, the National Guard, and everyone who knows me and has seen me in my Speedos has told me that I don’t need to lose anymore weight. I didn’t listen, and I didn’t agree with them before, but like I said, I had that, “A-ha!” moment this morning. As I looked at my abs in the mirror and I could see the muscles working under my skin, I realized that I am trim. There’s no fat for me to lose. At this point, I’m nearly all muscle with a healthy amount of fat to get me through the day. To lose any more would be unhealthy.

I will continue to weigh myself every morning, and after every run. It’s a data point I will continue to use to gauge my overall health, but it is no longer near the top of the list of importance. It has fallen right down to the bottom of the list and is now nothing more than a barometer. If I see a trend of increasing weight, I will analyze why and adjust, but only if.

You know what? It feels good to wave goodbye to the scale.

Since getting healthy and fit, it feels like the excuses I used to make for not exercising and eating right have fallen like dominoes. I had a lot of excuses. Here are among some of my most-used and favorites from days gone by.

Why eat healthy if you can’t enjoy life? I used to believe that the only way I could enjoy life was through food. This is laughably dumb on many levels. I was looking at life through the eyes of an obese man who couldn’t enjoy many other activities requiring mobility and fitness, so its easy to see how my view was so myopic.

A life without delicious food is a life not worth living. This is a good one, too. I mistakenly thought that healthy food was not delicious or filling. I’ve learned so much in the past 20 months, and the main thing is that most of the foods I find to be the most delicious are actually pretty healthy. Sure, pizza, hot dogs, and cake aren’t among the healthiest of foods, but there are often Paleo analogues that are close to being as tasty (or in the case of cake and chocolate chip cookies, even better than the originals!). I eat lots of tasty food, and honestly, the stuff I can’t eat isn’t missed.

I can’t exercise because I’m too heavy. This one was actually true. My doctor was very adamant about the fact that my joints, muscles, and more importantly, my heart was not up to the task of exercising. That leads me to an important point: not all excuses are fake. In this case, I was too heavy to exercise. The only way I was able to start exercising was to lose 100 lbs. When I lost 110 lbs, I started running. I’ve lost 40 lbs more since then, but the weight loss was due to me sticking to my diet. What I’ve gained through running and push ups is strength, stamina, and better heart health.

I could never give up foods with sugar. I remember a good friend of mine and his wife did a sugar detox. I remember when he told me, I told him, “I’m glad my wife isn’t making me do anything that stupid.” Less than a year later, I asked Sherry to do a Whole30 with me. Adapting to a life without sugar has been one of the most liberating experiences of my life, and I don’t ever want to go back to eating foods with added-sugar in them. I feel so much more energetic, I’m free of cravings, and I’m much healthier because of it. Besides, foods with fats are just as tasty, if not tastier than foods with added-sugar.

I hate exercise. I won’t do it. This was a very true statement, but I used this as a crutch to keep from even trying. Sure, I had doctor’s orders to not exercise when I was at my heaviest, but even as I lost 100 lbs, I would tell people that I wasn’t going to do any exercise. Once I decided to join the National Guard, it became apparent to me that I needed exercise to make my plan a reality. After running for a few days, I decided that I needed to start enjoying my runs and to like exercise or I was in for many years of drudgery. I am fortunate that my mind hack worked, and I can honestly say that I enjoy exercise now. Sure, there are still days when I don’t feel up to it, but typically, once I get started things just fall into place. I always feel better after every session, and sometimes, I cling to that when I don’t want to get started.

And the list could go on, but I think you get the message. We all have excuses. All it takes is to tip one of them and the rest will come crashing down behind them.

Today, I was told no fewer than three times before lunch that I look fit, that I look healthy, and that I am an inspiration to men who want to get healthy and fit. It’s weird. I love hearing it (who doesn’t like compliments!) but at the same time, I always feel a little shy or embarrassed. I’m not sure if it’s cultural or something I was taught, but while I strive to be a leader to the soldiers in my National Guard unit and leading by example, being told that I’m an inspiration to my face is another thing entirely.

I talked about my reasons for getting healthy in previous articles, and I even discussed why I got into fitness. I never did it for anyone else to notice me, nor did I do it to become an inspiration, role model, or example. Yet, here I am. I do, however, take this new status seriously, and I endeavor to be the best version of me I can possibly be.

So, it’s pretty cool to receive compliments based on the hard work I did to get back into shape and to be healthy. It’s also a little sad that being fit and healthy is something worthy of a compliment instead of being the norm, especially for a guy my age. We need to make it the norm, to where 50 year-old men are healthy. 50 is too young to look like an old man, to be overweight, and waiting for death. 50 is the new 30. Take back your health, feel young again, and get fit!

When I decided to change my lifestyle and get healthy to lose weight, it never occurred to me what some of the positive side effects could be. I thought I was going to eat healthier foods and then my weight would drop and that would be it. What I didn’t know was what would follow. Often, when people think of ways being healthy changes their lives, they think of things like mobility, being able to fit into smaller seats on airplanes, or being able to go up a flight of stairs without being winded. I used to look at it that way.

Fitness

I waited a year before I began running, and another ten months before I began working out with kettlebells. I never expected to become a runner, let alone enjoy running. I currently run at least three times a week for three miles minimum. I also start each run with a minimum of 80 push ups, regularly getting up to 95-100. As of this week, I’ve also added a kettlebell workout called Simple & Sinister by Pavel Tsatsouline. His book has opened up an entirely new area of fitness to me and also confirmed an idea I had about how to safely get into fitness (my slow and steady method seems to be preferred by not only Pavel, but many other professional athletes).

Finances

This is an area I did not expect to improve in, but being healthy has changed my mindset about how I even look at my finances. For the first time in a long time, I’ve prioritized savings and eliminated excess spending in many areas. Coupled with no longer eating fast food and treats, this savings has ended up being a windfall for me that I enjoy

Professional

I find that at work, I’m more responsible, responsive, and a harder worker. It’s easy to work harder when you are not distracted by aches, pains, hunger, cravings, and other physical limitations.

Military Service

This is not something everyone who gets healthy will do, but getting healthy allowed me to join the National Guard 20 years after I left the Marine Corps. I always enjoyed my military service, and it’s been a pleasure and a gift to be able to return to it now 20 years after I left the Marines. There are additional challenges being a 50-year old soldier, but I embrace the challenge and I have become a better person for it.

Personal Relationships

I have become sort of an example to my close friends for what Whole30 and the Paleo Diet can do for one’s health. It’s allowed me to help my friends, people I love, to become healthier and in some cases, even more fit. It’s nice when your friends share your diet, but it’s even nicer when they care enough about you to encourage you, and in turn, look to you for inspiration when changing their own lives to get healthy. It’s a responsibility I take seriously, and I am honored that they respect my opinion enough to ask for guidance from time to time.

I feel that my life is better now than it was two years ago, and it all started with a Whole30. I never thought I’d be a person who works out 6 times a week voluntarily. I also never expected how much richer my life would become after getting healthy. It’s all been worth it, and I never want to go back to my pre-healthy days.

It's simple enough, yet so many people get it wrong. I see post after post on Reddit and other places where people, mostly my age or close to my age, are asking, "What exercise can I do to lose weight and get fit?" When they see people explain that it is in fact diet that makes you lose weight and exercise makes you strong, they often get indignant. "That's now how I did it when I was young." Well, when you're young, your body will allow you to get away with things your older body will not.

I used to be able to exercise away a bad diet because my muscles put up with a lot more abuse when I was younger. I could exercise for longer duration, put in more effort, and do it with less recovery time because I was enjoying the benefits of youth. Now, as a fifty year old man, I realize that there are limits on my abilities. I can overcome a lot of these, but only through careful and thoughtful exercise.

Want to lose weight? Change your diet.

Want to get fit? Exercise.

Want to lose weight AND get fit? Change your diet and exercise.

It's that easy, but it's also that difficult. You can't really exercise away a bad diet. There are some who say they have lost weight through exercise alone. I did this when I was a young Marine. But it's not something sustainable, and it's not safe when you are 50 or more pounds overweight.

Do yourself a favor. Whole30. Paleo Diet. Keto. Running. Push ups. Kettlebell swings. Pick one of those diets and pick one of the exercises. I did a Whole30 and transitioned into the Paleo Diet. I then started doing push ups which led to me adding running to my exercise routine and recently, I've started kettlebell swings and get-up drills. The different in my fitness level between now and a year ago is astounding. And the best part? With my method, I have no soreness the day after.

But back to basics. I will repeat it once again:

Want to lose weight? Change your diet.

Want to get fit? Exercise.

Want to lose weight AND get fit? Change your diet and exercise.

There is no other way. There are no shortcuts. There is no magic pill that will make you lose weight and no effortless way to get fit. You have to do the work. Just get it done.

I am not about body shaming, fat shaming, or making anyone feel any less special because of their weight or how they look. That's just plain stupid, and anything done to make anyone feel less than awesome is not something I want to do. However, saying that obesity is not a problem, or celebrating obesity as normal is not something I see as healthy for our society and its people.

I understand models being plus sized. So many people in the US are plus-sized, that to market effectively to them, plus-sized models need to display plus-sized clothing and wares. I think that since so many people in the US are obese, products and goods marketed to this often ignored and overlooked segment of our population should be represented accordingly. That doesn't mean I condone obesity.

To the contrary, I have declared all-out war on obesity. I am doing everything I can to educate, inform, and help people who are obese and no longer want to be that way. I write these blog posts daily in an effort to put information out there on my diet, motivation, and to let people gain a glimpse into what it took for me to lose 150 lbs and to go from being obese to being thin and fit.

Celebrating obesity is something I believe is far more harmful than beneficial. Like I said when I started this article: fat shaming is bad. But celebrating obesity as something that's normal and to be accepted is another thing entirely. Obesity is not a natural state for humans to be in, and obesity is responsible for an increase of 40% to 80% in risk of dying from cancer among both men and women. If we normalize obesity, it will cause more people to believe that it's okay to not concern themselves with living a healthier lifestyle and losing the weight which will lead to an earlier death.

I've mentioned in an earlier blog post about how our own government is behind the times and still recommending a low-fat diet and espousing the fallacy of whole wheat grains being heart healthy. The media doesn't do people any favors when they create click-bait headlines like "Coconut Oil Is Unhealthy According To The American Heart Association." The fact that most nutritionists consider coconut oil unhealthy as compared to the average American speaks more to the fact that the diet and nutrition industry in the US is still very far behind the times in regards to the latest research in nutrition science than to any alleged ignorance on the part of average Americans. While average Americans may be mislead and misinformed on the harmful effects of low-fat diets, grains, and sugar, at least they understand that coconut oil is healthier than vegetable oil.

Obesity isn't something to be ashamed of. I was obese, and I felt embarrassed and ashamed, and I felt that way because of the glares I would receive when out in public. I felt ashamed of what I had allowed myself to become, and that led to me even more harmful habits like not going outdoors as much, and not wanting to get exercise by walking. Instead, we need to help obese people by treating them as people with a health problem that can be tackled through diet. I know there is a small segment of the population that has issues that make them obese, but that number is very, very small. The rest of the obese people earned their obesity honestly: through a carb/sugar rich diet. Through some good information, guidance, and support, we can help obese people get healthy again, lose weight, and to live healthier, more fulfilling lives.

My wife, the amazing cook that she is, made some treats for us to eat while watching a season premiere recently, and it caused me to eat A LOT more than normal. Even though it was all Paleo, I ate a ton. I ate so much, my stomach hurt. That led to some emotional distress that faded the next day.

What kinds of yummies did she make for us? She made a Paleo brownie with blueberries in it and they turned out to be delicious, moist, and so good that I had to have seconds. I also had some Paleo chocolate ice cream with it topped with blueberries, strawberries, coconut, and some Paleo chocolate sauce.

She also made some lactose-free cream cheese and jalapeno stuffed shrimp wrapped in sugar-free bacon. I ate a bunch of these as well. I can't say enough good things about these little shrimps.

Coupled with the Hungarian Potato Soup I made (with potatoes which are not really Paleo, but with galuska/nokedli aka noodles that were) that I also had two servings of, my stomach was very sore afterward. Heck, the next morning, I still felt full, and only ate breakfast because I need the energy.

Now that my weight has stabilized and I run regularly, I'm able to eat a little more or a little off-Paleo every now and then when a special occasion hits. This summer, it feels like those occasions have been spaced closely together, but fortunately, the next few months seem like they should be relatively special event-free.

Starting today, I will be attending my first Annual Training as a National Guard soldier. I am a little nervous but also excited. It’s been over 20 years since I’ve been in the field with the military, and there’s a certain rustic element to it that I enjoy. I don’t know if it’s the hardship or the environment (likely both), but there’s something about it that I am drawn to. I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to be serving at my age, and I work hard to earn that opportunity and to bring value to the unit, the state, and the Army.

The one area I am concerned about is nutrition. Military food tends to be very calorie and carb rich, and for good reason: most field work is very physically demanding, and sometimes meals only happen once a day. That means those meals need to be able to sustain soldiers for an entire day’s worth of calories. I will be working had to ensure I don’t eat too many carbs, but I don’t know how successful I will be able to be. I am taking RX Bars, some Epic bars, and other Paleo-friendly treats with me to help me on those days when the meals are unacceptably carb-rich.

I won’t be able to run every other day, either. Well, to be more clear, I won’t be able to run at all. We are not going to the field to perform unit PT; we are going there to practice our jobs. I was hoping to be able to run a little each day, but I was told that we will not have access to daily showers.

I don’t know if I will have Internet access. I’ve been told that we will have cellular service, so it’s a possibility, but it’s also spotty. Therefore, all my posts for the next two weeks are pre-written and will not be reflecting my experiences on Annual Training. I will try to write while I’m out there, but they will be saved to a laptop I will have with me and the articles will all be uploaded once I get back. They will then be released on the same schedule my current articles are posted: one daily at 8 am.

I will miss my wife, my warm bed, and ready access to showers. I will miss AC, home-cooked food, and the Internet. But I will be gaining experience in the event I ever have to deploy, and that is very important to me and my job in the National Guard. I’ll be okay, and I look forward to writing my articles back at home in the AC on my iPad.

I’ve lost 150 lbs. When I weighed in at 161.8 lbs, that officially put me at having lost 150+ lbs. Now, my actual weight is fluctuating between 163 lbs and 167 lbs depending on what I eat, bowel movements, and water retention, and sometimes after a run I can weigh as much as -5 lbs from what I weighed in the morning. I set a final goal for me to weigh 165 lbs, and I hit it (and then some). Staying in the vicinity of 165 lbs makes me feel good, and every now and then when my weight dips below it, I smile a little bigger.

What motivates me each and every day is getting out of bed without struggle. I can pull my body up, rotate on my butt, and firmly plant my feet on the ground. I catch a glimpse of my leg muscles: they look amazing. I can’t believe these are my legs.

Stepping into the bathroom, I catch another glimpse of myself in the mirror and see my torso. It’s trim. I can see my oblique muscles, and my abs are trying to poke out from behind the extra skin I’m still dealing with. My legs are muscular and amazing. 

Then, I step on the scale, and while sometimes the numbers get bigger, sometimes they also get smaller. As long as the gain isn’t too big, I know what the reasons are for the weight the scale is showing me, and if it makes sense, I don’t get upset. It’s just verification of certain facts I’m already aware of. 

Then there is how my clothing fits me. When I pick it up off the hanger, it looks small to me. Impossibly small, even. I think to myself, “This must be a mistake. This shirt is too small to fit on me.” Then I put it on, and it fits perfectly with even some room to spare.

I walk over to the kitchen where Sherry has typically put out breakfast for me. It’s a serving of either two eggs sunny-side up with three slices of bacon or a slice of egg casserole. Again, I see this and think to myself, “That’s not enough food,” yet when I finish it, I am full. Comfortably and pleasantly full.

Sitting in my car, being able to look down and not see my stomach, having room between me and the steering wheel, and being able to get in and out of the car without struggling.

All of these things motivate me before I even get to 8 am. I can’t say I’m tempted or challenged anymore on a daily basis, but for those rare moments when someone offers something I would otherwise enjoy eating, it’s a nice reservoir of motivation to pull from when I decline and say, “No, thanks.”