A picture of me popped up on Facebook yesterday... it was from 4 years ago. I weighed about 165 Lbs in that photo. It is my "ideal weight" according to the charts... I hated that weight, I remember that picture.. it was the picture that motivated me to actually put some weight on. That picture was the start of my "midlife crisis" that improved my life so very much. I drank a lot then, I was recently single.. and I was living life hard... I was two people at that time.
One of me was dad. I was a coach, I spent time playing catch. I was a pillar of the community, a solid roll model for my boys. The other me, was the 50% I didn't have my sons in my custody... I was a party guy. I would be out at the bar most nights. And didn't care where I spent the night. I was a mess... I knew I had to be happier, I knew I had to start making right choices. I started running shortly after, it may have even been the next day. Running gave me focus, it was a form of meditation that was second to none. Running also kept me at home at night, and it kept me eating healthier. I ate tons of protein eggs, meat etc... I stayed home alone more nights, which is a good thing. I started to put on weight, healthy muscle weight. I got up to about 180 lbs and was in the best shape I had been in 20 years. I had so much confidence!! This is when I met my gal... She and I were both in a running group in facebook. Long story short, we fell in love... she moved closer... we ran a marathon together... then we stopped taking care of ourselves... I don't know what happened, we were and are very happy.... but we stopped doing the things that made us happy... we stopped working out and eating smart. I hope at the some point in this journey we figure out what happened, because I don't want to repeat it... I slowly worked my way up to 230 lbs and beyond.... At 547 days, I can no longer blame the quit. I need to own my life!! My happiness is MY responsibility!!
sorry... back to the story...
Earlier this year, some of us were in a weight loss challenge... I couldn't find a way to break through the 220 lbs. I was stuck...
I kept saying "I'll exercise when the weight comes off" I keep trying and failing... you can see my name all over the getting my act together thread... If wishing could loose weight, I would be skinny again...
I've seen the results of PMILS weight loss from KETO. Since the last time I saw him, I've been trying. But it's so hard to know where to start. Do I dump out all the food in my house? Do I "meal prep"? Do I need to stock up on bacon?? I started on page 1 of the keto thread... but it seemed all the information can, at times, be overwhelming..
My gal and I were talking about weight loss, we both are nowhere near a comfortable weight. So, we started messing around with this KETO diet stuff last week. We didn't have a clue what we were doing, we just knew carbs are bad, and to avoid anything that is boxed or bagged... I didn’t really track anything the first couple days. I spent some time just reading labels before I ate it. When you read a bag of chips while trying to pronounce what is in it... you realize how far down the rabbit hole you are. Then we watched “the magic pill” on Netflix... That was a huge push to at least try it!! Some days I didn’t do well, we had a company picnic, and we had to travel a bit... but most days I try to focus on simply keeping my carb counts as low as possible. and making small changes, where we can. We had spaghetti one night... yes, the tomato sauce is from a jar, and had carbs. But we used zucchini instead of pasta noodles. Little changes have made a huge difference. I have no idea if I am in ketosis, and I really don't care. I still have no idea what I am doing, but I know it is working. I am down 9.2 lbs overall and down 3.8 lbs already this month. I've been weighing myself nearly every day... That is to much... but I love seeing that number move closer to 200.
I know this is a nicotine cessation forum... but it's my journal, and I can write what I want 'na na'
Basically, we took the KTC approach and just started... we still have no clue what we are doing, and that's OK. So I post this here, first to pat myself on the back (I'm down 9.2 lbs!!!) and second... to encourage anyone to just try it... start reading the labels, and stay away from carbs!!
But most importantly, I post this for accountability... accountability to myself.... I do not need to eat crap every day. I can be full and happy, and still loose weight. I can't eat potatoes every day... I can't drink a beer every night... but I can have all the bacon I want, and CHEESE!! I get to eat so much cheese!!
