If you’ve worked on eating healthier and exercising at any time in your life, whether for weight issues or some other condition, I’m guessing you know what I mean by my title. Beginning. Again. I won’t go through all the details. It’s a long list of excuses. Bottom line: external events played on my internal weaknesses and I find myself once again mustering the motivation to do the right thing.
I’ve been overweight my entire life. Up until the last few years I’d bought in to the low fat myth. All that got me was fatter and well on my way to diabetes. While I don’t have the dreaded condition yet, my pancreas has been working overtime to churn out far more insulin – like 12 times what is normal – just to keep my glucose where it should be. It’s a little thing called insulin resistance or hyperinsulinemia. Some people call it pre-diabetes (some don’t). Even more call it Metabolic Syndrome. Whatever. It’s not pretty. With a teeny bit of genetics and a whole lot of hedonism, I’ve backed myself into a corner that only I can get myself out of.
Early in 2008 some health issues fired up my motivation and over 14 months I lost about 70 pounds by eating (mostly) Paleo. I found my nutritional groove through trial and error. In the early months, I didn’t even know what to call my strange new way of eating until I ran into Darren and Frank. Label or not, it worked.
I was cranking along eating only meats, nuts and vegetables with a few extras thrown in when my father was diagnosed with an aggressive form of lung cancer. So I gave myself permission to eat grains, sugar and dairy again. Poor me. I deserved to have a little treat now and then. Meaning about 5 times a day. Screw the health issues. And you know what happened, right? Yeah, my weight loss came to a screeching halt and I started losing and gaining the same 10 pounds over and over again. My insulin and cholesterol figures crept back up. My PVCs (premature ventricular contractions) reappeared.
I’ve battled with my inner demons for the past year. I’ve judged every action and every morsel as some sort of moral success or failing. Thursday when I “treated” myself to a death plate of cheese pierogi and kielbasa swimming in alfredo sauce, I felt my generous bottom hit, well, bottom. Hello Paleo. I’m back.
So here’s the deal. I’m going to go back to avoiding most dairy, shunning grains, pretending sugar doesn’t exist, and sending legumes packing. I’m going to be all about animal protein, nuts, other healthy fats, vegetables and some fruit. I hate organ meats, mostly don’t like fish and have some weird intolerance to seafood in general so don’t expect to see that in my reports. I’m going to commit a little more time to exercise and conditioning.
I’m a huge believer in each individual finding what works for his or her body and in remaining flexible as external and internal conditions change and things need to be readjusted. I’m not a Paleo pusher or a Paleo purist. I’m not a trainer, a nutritional expert or a doctor either. So remember that I’m only sharing my experiences, not telling you what to do.
I invite you to ask me questions, challenge my assumptions and share information. If you want to hear more or less about anything in particular, just tell me and I’ll do my best to adjust.
By the way, did I say that when I’d finished losing that 70 pounds that I had another 80 to go? Yeah. 80. And that my insulin level dropped to only 6 times normal? Ready? Here we go!
I’ve been overweight my entire life. Up until the last few years I’d bought in to the low fat myth. All that got me was fatter and well on my way to diabetes. While I don’t have the dreaded condition yet, my pancreas has been working overtime to churn out far more insulin – like 12 times what is normal – just to keep my glucose where it should be. It’s a little thing called insulin resistance or hyperinsulinemia. Some people call it pre-diabetes (some don’t). Even more call it Metabolic Syndrome. Whatever. It’s not pretty. With a teeny bit of genetics and a whole lot of hedonism, I’ve backed myself into a corner that only I can get myself out of.
Early in 2008 some health issues fired up my motivation and over 14 months I lost about 70 pounds by eating (mostly) Paleo. I found my nutritional groove through trial and error. In the early months, I didn’t even know what to call my strange new way of eating until I ran into Darren and Frank. Label or not, it worked.
I was cranking along eating only meats, nuts and vegetables with a few extras thrown in when my father was diagnosed with an aggressive form of lung cancer. So I gave myself permission to eat grains, sugar and dairy again. Poor me. I deserved to have a little treat now and then. Meaning about 5 times a day. Screw the health issues. And you know what happened, right? Yeah, my weight loss came to a screeching halt and I started losing and gaining the same 10 pounds over and over again. My insulin and cholesterol figures crept back up. My PVCs (premature ventricular contractions) reappeared.
I’ve battled with my inner demons for the past year. I’ve judged every action and every morsel as some sort of moral success or failing. Thursday when I “treated” myself to a death plate of cheese pierogi and kielbasa swimming in alfredo sauce, I felt my generous bottom hit, well, bottom. Hello Paleo. I’m back.
So here’s the deal. I’m going to go back to avoiding most dairy, shunning grains, pretending sugar doesn’t exist, and sending legumes packing. I’m going to be all about animal protein, nuts, other healthy fats, vegetables and some fruit. I hate organ meats, mostly don’t like fish and have some weird intolerance to seafood in general so don’t expect to see that in my reports. I’m going to commit a little more time to exercise and conditioning.
I’m a huge believer in each individual finding what works for his or her body and in remaining flexible as external and internal conditions change and things need to be readjusted. I’m not a Paleo pusher or a Paleo purist. I’m not a trainer, a nutritional expert or a doctor either. So remember that I’m only sharing my experiences, not telling you what to do.
I invite you to ask me questions, challenge my assumptions and share information. If you want to hear more or less about anything in particular, just tell me and I’ll do my best to adjust.
By the way, did I say that when I’d finished losing that 70 pounds that I had another 80 to go? Yeah. 80. And that my insulin level dropped to only 6 times normal? Ready? Here we go!
No comments:
Post a Comment