Note: This will be part of a series.

Buzzwords. Which camp are you in? I've been in both. I am in both.

How the Lifestylers view the Dieters, for the most part

A little backstory.
As a kid, I was always skinny. It didn't bother me until late high school and into my early 20's. Oh, if I only knew how things would get later in life. During high school, my buddies and I would work out in Brian's basement.  Brian's house was the central hub for our gatherings. He also had a great weight bench, with attachments for leg exercises, cables for arms, rest for preacher curls. It was the shizzle. We'd challenge each other and tease, only to encourage growth. Some of my favorite memories are in that little 'gym' area we had. 

These sessions made me chase being bigger and stronger, of course. I started researching by the way of looking at weight lifting magazines, on the rack and going to GNC being mesmerized by the ads. I wanted to gain weight.  "If I gained weight I would be bigger and with the lifting - yes it would be perfect", I convinced myself.  I settled on some Joe Weider vanilla-flavored chewable tablets. Yummy.  Imagine chewing 5 - 10 chalkboard chalk tabs. Designed to lure you in with their scent. Vanilla, you say? I'm all in. These wonder tablets were not the delicacy I hoped for but was determined to let them work the magic.

Even though I hated it, I did it. I was committed. Committed to achieving the end result of being bigger and stronger. After all the brutal ingesting for a good 60 days, I gained a total of zero pounds. What the actual f*#$?  Zero pounds, are you kidding me? All of this self-inflicted torture, commitment, and dedication to receive nothing in return? 

This experiment soured me. I didn't realize how much it soured me toward my eating habits until much later in life.  It did teach me how much 'grit' I have. When I commit, I am in. I may stumble, and often do, but I am going to keep pushing.  Sometimes too long and too far (nobility - another topic for another day), to a fault. Again, I didn't recognize this nugget at 15 years old. As I continued to get older and experience life, this trait, shows up time and time again. I like to think I am wiser about my commitments. When am not, my wife is where the answer rests. Having a partner that has my back (vice/versa) is one of the greatest gifts I have been given. I give her the shoutout for me being wiser about my commitments.

Back to being soured. At 15, that experiment came and went. I went on to continue being skinny. I was fit skinny and then college came along. During college is when I became a dad at 23, my junior year. My focus quickly shifted to being about someone else other than myself. I had a new drive. This drive was to be the best damn dad I could be while graduating, getting a job, getting married to his momma, and living the dream. That is what I set out to do.  All the wonderful intentions I had, I was neglecting myself the majority of the time. All aside from pleasures, at least. My eating and drinking (especially Beer) habits became atrocious. Pretty soon I went from my 135lbs to 185lbs. This was all within about 1.5 years. 

This is when the diet/lifestyle roller coaster began for me. I was at the ripe old age of 24. I began trying anything to lose weight, except paying attention to my diet. That is not entirely true. One time I purchased this book, I think it was called Body for Life.  It was extremely appealing.  The guy on the cover was JACKED.  Handsome and Jacked.  He had it all.  Like a magnet, my arm grabbed the book, flipped a few pages.  I saw exercises, meal plans, recipes, and beautiful photos.  Without hesitating, I strolled up to the Border's Books checkout counter and paid for my answers.

The book was great.  At the time I had not seen anything like this.  Nothing inspired me as this book did.  I intended to stick to that book.  I did, for a week.  Once in a while, I would pick it up again and make a recipe or do a workout and then put it back down.  I probably had the book for a decade before finally placing it in a cardboard box, filled with books, headed to Half Price books.  I liked taking them here too because I could trade in $200 worth of books for a $3 store voucher.  It was a win/win!

Throughout my 20's, 30's and sadly 40's I have been on the diet/lifestyle rollercoaster.  Once, back in 2014, I was bending over to tie my shoes and my breath escaped me.  It was hard to reclaim it. I couldn't believe how ridiculous I felt. I knew I needed to make a change. 

I went on a journey, an extreme one, but I was committed.  I went straight up Vegan and cut out all added sugar, including alcohol.  I discovered a gluten sensitivity at this time and also went Gluten Free.  It was insanely restrictive.  I do not know how I pulled it off! I stayed on this madness train for 10 months solid. Physically I felt great.  I lost 50 pounds. I went from 208 - 158 pounds.  It was wonderful.  The energy I had was nothing like I had experienced before. Even as a kid.  I also had mental clarity, like never before. One day that clarity lead me to a glaring ommission. I wasn't joyful inside.  I hadn't been for a while. There were some other things going on at the time, which contributed, but overall I am a joyful dude.  I decided I wasn't having fun, enjoying anything and I deserved to.  So I did the obvious, I began to eat and drink as I did before, thinking this was the ticket back to joyfulness.  It was for a little while.  I didn't blow up overnight but slowly and surely, I'd gain.  Stop, make a few changes, lose a few, spin around only gain those plus a few more.  Damn that cycle sucks.

I blew back up to 219lbs.  It was my all-time heaviest.  I was uncomfortable sitting, standing, sleeping, walking.  It was hard on my body and mind. I knew this but kept marching on. This may or may not seem like a lot of weight to you, for my body it is too much. The weight wasn't the only issue I was having.  I was diagnosed first with sleep apnea. Hello Mr. C-PAP machine. Then came a high blood pressure diagnosis, paired with high cholesterol. Dr's orders "take these meds and keep watching your diet and exercising."  Frustrated and defeated after leaving each visit.  I was doing these things.  I was even mostly vegan again.  Nothing was changing.  I was exercising, intermittent fasting, you name it. I was a complete failure. Here I am at 48 about to turn 49, freshly married, and welcoming a baby bouncing boy in February 2021.

Before my next appointment, I was directed to get blood work. When I arrived for my visit, the results were in. I gained 7lbs up to a new high of 226lbs and was also blessed with the gift of Type 2 Diabetes! Yay me. As you'd expect, I was prescribed another medication to take. Three new medications in the same amount of months.  I was NOT winning here.  Now what?

It was time to get committed again.  I was not about to feel sorry for myself.  All the good intentions, even thoughtful eating habits and exercising were not helping.  Change needed to happen STAT.

Carbs.  Mother-effing Carbs.  When I learned of the diabetes, I thought OK, no sugar. I did not correlate that to carbohydrates. I was eating good carbs anyway, nothing wrong with that. Lots of veggies, fruits, and beans. I started moving more, resistance training more, and eating leaner.  Wasn't working.  I was hungry and exhausted. I felt trapped.  Like I was in a bubble.  The world around me was moving and progressing and I was stuck here.  Was anything ever going to work?  My diet and lifestyle were on point, right?  Wrong again.

I purchased a blood sugar testing, device, from Amazon.  Started testing and could quickly see what was happening when I consumed certain things. Blood sugar highs, lows, and in-betweens.  I specifically started researching best eating habits for type 2, especially to reverse it.  I am at the very low end of A1c for type 2, thankfully.

At the beginning of July 2021, I decided to give Keto (my friend has an incredible resource here: https://www.ketology.co) a try, along with my wife.  I cannot explain the impact this has had on both of us.  The experience has been all positive.  We are currently keto as a diet/lifestyle and we do not do it perfectly.  We do 90% well.  We stumble on occasion and can't wait to get back to the feeling of being healthy.  I like throwing our bodies a curveball once in a while.  I feel like it wakes it up to do what it does best.  

Your body does it differently than mine.  Keto may not work for you.  I am happy it is working for me.  I do not expect to be on this strictly indefinitely.  I see this as a nice rest from the old way of eating only to be hungry and thinking about eating, even when I am already eating.  I am eating about one full meal a day, with little keto-style snacks here and there.  I am not hungry.  It is great.

I will talk more about the now-in entries.  I wanted to provide some helpful backstory so you can see the before and after.  I will give you a preview of what is to come.  So far I am down 34lbs, reversed high blood pressure, high cholesterol and my A1c is falling.  

It doesn't matter what diet/lifestyle camp you have your feet in.  Experiment.  Your only competition is you.  Start today and tomorrow be a little better than you were today.  You got this.

Cheers to Health!

-DB