November of 2003, I achieved my goal of being under 200 pounds for the first time since I was in Marine Boot Camp. At that point, I decided to take a victory lap. Thanksgiving and Christmas was upon us and I went completely off my diet and started gorging on things like pumpkin pie, egg nog and cookies. I couldn't imagine getting through the holidays otherwise. So I put the bathroom scales away and decided to reward myself for a while. I figured that after the New Year, I'd get back on track again.
You can probably guess the rest. I never did weigh myself again and though I did try to watch what I ate, familiar foods like pizza, pasta and even bagels started making their way back into my diet.
However, I kept up the exercise. I loved to walk, even in cold weather. The iPod was still a new gadget at that time and I would look forward to going on long walks with my iPod and re-discovering my music library and I also got into audiobooks.
So it wasn't like I zoomed back to over 300 pounds overnight. I actually kept most of the weight off for several years, and I attributed this to the exercise I was doing. I figured that the whole low-carb thing was unnecessary. So long as I exercised and kept in shape, I'd stay somewhat slim.
But I was only fooling myself in the long term. The weight did start creeping up again and increasing my exercise didn't reverse it. But I felt great and I was in good health. So I figured what's the big deal about being a little chubby so long as I'm in such good physical shape. So I started buying clothes in larger sizes and by 2008, I was back to 250 and headed up.
In 2012, I had my physical and weighed 275 pounds. I was shocked to see I had put all that weight on but doctor told me I was otherwise in good health so I didn't worry too much and I kept on eating the way that I was and even started adding in processed foods again like Fig Newtons, candies and tortilla chips. However, I was disappointed that I didn't pass for being slim anymore. People that had originally used me as an example for weight loss stopped talking about me.
My biggest shock however was my last physical on Nov 19th. I skipped my physicals in 2013 and 2014 because I was busy with my career and spent most of 2014 relocating here to Connecticut and in the process, lived out of a hotel for several months. Of course, that meant dining out 2-3 times a day. And since the company was paying most of the time, I ate rather well and I always had appetizers and dessert.
Not only did I find myself well over 300 pounds (above my initial starting weight in 2003) but my blood pressure was high and I had signs of "metabolic syndrome" which is basically a nice way of saying I was headed for diabetes, fatty liver, heart disease and worse.
So November 19th was very much like April 1, 2003. I stopped what I was eating cold turkey and immediately switched to what worked for me before. Which is not "Atkins", "Paleo", or any other of the named fad diets; but whole natural foods.
Since November 19th - which was just 70 days ago - I have taken off 36 pounds and this time, I've set my target at 185 pounds, which is about right for somebody of my height. So I have almost 100 pounds left to go.
This time I'm not a nut about the exercise, but I do get out for a nice long walk 3-4 times a week. I do try to get in at least 10,000 steps a day which I do most of the time. But I don't sweat it if I don't.
I just watch what I eat and I used the MyFitnessPal app and record everything I eat. I stick to the whole natural foods only. The beauty of it is that I never feel hungry or like I'm denying myself. I stay away from anything labeled "low-fat" because fat is good. When it's low-fat, it is likely that sugar or salt will be added to make the food palatable and that's not good.
It makes me angry that the government all these years has been giving us such bad advice about nutrition. Like for instance that egg yolks are bad and you should eat egg whites only. Or that margarine is better than real butter. And don't get me started on that obscene food pyramid with the 8-11 servings a day of grains at the bottom. They are fattening us like a farmer fattens cows!
So here is how my typical day will be food-wise.
Breakfast will be a container of whole-milk Siggi's yogurt - which is much more healthier than the "low-fat" varieties that are loaded with added sugar. Siggi's is actually a "skyr" closer in consistency to cream cheese than yogurt. But so filling and healthy. I mix in about a 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries (Wyman's) and it's delicious and filling. I also have a hard-boiled egg. After all that (just 208 calories) I'm full until lunch. In fact, I'm often not even hungry at lunch and need to force myself to have it. Usually a couple servings of nuts like raw almonds, hazelnuts or pumpkin seeds. Or maybe a piece of wild caught salmon or some sardines.
Dinner is always decent. Steak, turkey, chicken or fish with vegetables like brussels sprouts, broccoli or even a sweet potato, with butter or olive oil. Or a homemade turkey or chicken soup with onions, garlic, celery, turnips and other great stuff added to it.
Point is, I'm never hungry and the pounds are slipping away. I completely avoid bread, pasta, rice and baked goods. Not as hard as it seems. I eat virtually nothing that comes out of a package, especially if it has a bunch of ingredients. That's always the telltale sign of bad food - a long list of ingredients you can barely pronounce.
I love beer but I've cut back on that and will never have more than two bottles - when I do have it. Usually though I'll stick to a glass of red wine which has many health benefits.
Another thing I've done different this time and I posted about it here recently, is that I drink my coffee black. No sweetener and no creamer. Now this is an acquired taste but once you acquire it, you never go back. It's also nice to walk into coffee shops and just order black coffee you are in and out of there in a flash. No fussing with sugar and creamers.
The only "sweet" I have is dark chocolate, which is actually a health food loaded with antioxidants and micronutrients, and I'm talking dark chocolate that is at least 85% cacao. I currently eat 88% cacao and it's only 5 grams of sugar a serving (and I only have half a serving at that). It's bitter but also an acquired taste. Once you cut out sweets, a few squares of dark chocolate tastes very good.
Well I can go on and on but I'll summarize my experience this way. The human body was designed to acquire and hold onto fat. The trick is to get your body to burn that fat instead of storing it away. When you restrict sugar (carbs), you force the body to burn fat. So all these "low-fat" diets have it backwards. You should actually eat MORE fat (and protein) and much less sugar (and in fact no "added sugar"). I'm not a doctor so forgive me if I could have worded that better but I now know from personal experience that this "whole food" diet works like a charm. We need to stop obsessing over things like removing skin from chicken, eating egg whites and eating low-fat yogurt crammed with added sugar disguised as "fruit on bottom" and EMBRACE the fat!
Maybe those who are interested can get a ping list going about this subject. I would be interested to hear about other people's experiences with obesity and how to overcome it.
I loved reading your diet and exercise story and feel you are on the exact right track. I’ve also been learning how much effect our gut bacteria have on all our health issues. Clean foods, healthy fats, definitely, but it seems fermented foods (you’ve already got the yogurt — and if your beer is natural it may also count) are important as well as some form of good starch (resistant starch) — makes the gut bug population stable as well as happy. And when they are happy we are happy. Your good starches can be your potatoes, both sweet and white. Both are good wholesome foods. They’ve gotten bad raps too.
If you do a ping list Please add me. Thanks.
Thanks so much for taking the time to write up about your past and current weight loss. This is great encouragement.
I started today. I’m gonna kind of do my own version of things. Things that work best for me. Not strictly low carb, but definitely cutting back in that area greatly. Cutting back signiicantly on sugars and HFCS. I don’t buy pop or a lot of sugary snacks anyway so I shouldn’t have too much trouble there. My goal is 50 pounds. Well actually 47 now. :) I will assess after 50 and move forward from there.
I love your idea about the dark chocolate. I was familiar with Green and Black prior, but had never tried their dark chocolate until I saw your thread about the coffee. I tried it after that. First I tried Lindt...not a good taste to me at all. Green and Black is much smoother and less bitter It’s great when you just need a small taste of something. I’m doing it in moderation.
Also, I’ve been trying coconut oil (internally and externally) lately as I have read recently and prior it has a lot of good benefits for health. One has to be careful though as it can have a laxative quality to it so it’s best to start out in moderation. I have had no trouble so far with it myself.
And tonight I’m going to buy myself a basketball. I never played on a team, but I was always good at shooting hoops. I’ll force my kids to go with me to a court. :) It was very good exercise when I used to play one on one with a friend years ago.
My goal is also to buy an outdoor fitness machine this year. I found it online in the Fall after seeing a lady on the trail with a different, more expensive brand. I used to jog years ago and this machine mimics that, but no stress on the knees.
I started walking for a time in September until about October this past Fall, but petered out when things got cold. I lost 11 pounds at that time. This is something I can do during the day, though.
Also, I think it’s really beneficial, in more than one way, to increase water intake. I need to get on the ball with this. I always get water when out and about, but sometimes forget at home. I should just keep some ready to go in the fridge. I like to put lemon in mine to freshen it up some.
And lastly, here are two threads I posted recently to IMGUR about the health benefits of coconut oil and dark chocolate:
Use your coconut
http://imgur.com/gallery/IT1F6
The darker the better: Why chocolate is good for you
http://imgur.com/gallery/HK3yi
P.S. I could help run a weight loss ping list on FR if there would be interest in it. I’m pretty good at researching/finding news things and see weight loss success stories at IMGUR all the time...just caught one a few seconds ago as a matter of fact. I find those stories to be very inspirational.