So I wrote an article yesterday (Part 1) about my story and how excited I was to lose 20 pounds in 3 short months. Now you may think “Wow he did it all on his own!” well I have something to confess. I had a lot of help from my wife, Carla. Although I must say that she was skeptical at first. Wondering in her head “is he serious” and “how long will this last” but after a few weeks of me pushing away the potatoes, rice, pasta and other carbs she started to catch on that I was serious. And boy did she catch on! That is when she went into superwoman, mega wife, ultra cook mode and started making awesome dishes like low carb bacon cheese cauliflower soup, stuffed peppers and zucchini lasagna. Yum! She has worked with me in coming up with foods that are low in carbs and high in fat. Reworking recipes to include different ingredients and planning new ones that will work with our family.
I am so thankful for how she has helped me reach my goal of feeling better (and losing weight in the process). While I could do it without her I know that it would be much more difficult. Thank you Carla!
I wasn’t looking for it, I hadn’t planned for it and I certainly didn’t want to do it but I’ve started a lifestyle change.
Maybe you can relate. Everyday I woke up starving. I felt hungry at 10:30am, 2:00pm and 8:00pm and was never satisfied with just a snack. I wouldn’t feel energized after eating. After a large lunch I was unmotivated to continue the day often getting distracted from work tasks.
Then I listened to a podcast from Steve Gibson that changed my life (of all places on the amazing SecurityNow podcast). He talked about not being hungry, having more energy and losing weight. I thought this was to good to be true. He mentioned a couple videos (see below) he and Leo Laporte had done specifically about what he had been trying. I watched the video podcasts not expecting anything. But it happened. I was convinced that if I didn’t change my eating habits not only was I going to spend the rest of my life hungry, unmotivated and energy depleted but overweight. I knew I had to make a change. Steve mentioned a couple of books but ultimately I settled on The Rosedale Diet as a good well rounded start. I didn’t have time to devour the kindle book immediately so I checked out the Rosedale diet website. It had the full list of what to eat and what not to eat. I think the most important part for me was I didn’t start cutting all carbs immediately but began one meal at a time. Cutting out small things like snacking on candy, chips and the like that is always in the house because of the kids was an easy start for me. As I got more familiar with foods that are low in carbs and high in fat I started to incorporate more of those foods in my daily diet. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the high fat part of the Rosedale diet. Good fats can help rid the body of the bad ones but keeping track of what is good or bad fat is a work in progress for me at the moment.
I started digesting all this info around January 10, 2012. It has now a little over 3 months since I really started to cut out carbs and introduce more fat into my diet.
Currently I have lost about 20lbs. Going from 196-200 down to 176-178 has been amazing. However weight loss was never my goal. My main motivation in this life change was to feel better and have more energy. I now feel like getting work done in the afternoon after lunch. I want to wake up in the morning. I want to play with the kids in the evening. I literally feel like a new person. You can feel this way to. Everyone is different but if nothing is working for you then follow the steps below that I made to make a positive change in your life today.
Change your attitude towards you. You are worth it. Make a statement to yourself that you want to change. I love the verse in the Bible that says “Love your neighbors as you love yourself” (Matt 22:39). You have to first love yourself before you can love others. So true.
Start slow! Don’t over do it. One meal or snack at a time. I started by substituting cashews and almonds for snacks instead of chips. Then moved to eating low carb, high fat one meal at a time.
Read and research. Knowing more about how your body works helps you make decisions about your own health. I read The Rosedale Diet and in the process of reading The Art and Science of Low Carb Living (which has some great smoothie recipes in it!)
Keep going even if you fail. I failed many times but kept going. There were days when I ate cookies because I really wanted them. Eat the cookies and move on.
Start a life change. Not a diet. The term diet makes me cringe. A step by step process on how I should each everyday. That just doesn’t work for me. Start taking positive action to change your behavior not your diet. That revelation made my world change.
One thing to note isI have done little to no exercise. Yes you heard that right. I wanted to experiment with my body and see if I could feel better with diet alone. Understand I do have 3 kids who I play with in the yard and I play the round of golf here and there. So while I’m not a bump on a log I do not go to the gym, take time out of my day or otherwise expend energy on purpose.
Hopefully my journey will have inspired you to make a life change and help you feel better about yourself. Stay positive and as always post comments with questions or insights to help everyone out. Thank you!
Update: For some reason my math was off when I calculated 4 months. January 10 to April 17 is not 4 months only 3! So I updated the title but not the site link as it is already on other sites. Oh well. Measure twice cut once fail on my part!
