I am 60 years old and I have been overweight all of my adult life. I have tried a lot of the same things that most folks try to lose weight and ended up in a vicious circle of dieting.
Eventually, I was morbidly obese at about 380 pounds (6’2″ tall). In early 2016 I was at about 355 pounds and fell hard in our living room in the middle of the night and had to crawl on bad knees to the couch so I could get up. That was the last straw and I told my wife in the morning that I was going to lose weight. I explored a lot of options including surgery and ended up on the Ideal Protein program, which is a low carb and low-fat Ketogenic diet. It is medically supervised, which was required by my doctor and I had a coach who I visited weekly to help me stay on track.
It worked well for me and I lost 165 pounds in about a year! I have been maintaining my weight for the past 10 months while trying to figure out how I want to eat for the rest of my life. After doing way too much research? I settled into a keto/ low carb lifestyle and it is working for me. I am not strict keto, but rather in what Mark Sisson calls ‘the keto zone’. I keep my carbs around 50g (total) per day, but some days are lower, others are higher.
After reading on FB about Intermittent Fasting and it’s benefits I have been also doing 16:8 IF and enjoying it. As expected, I have a fair amount of loose skin after my weight loss, so I am hoping that autophagy will help clean some of that up.
Some of the things that I have noticed after losing so much weight:
- My clothes are cheaper ??
- I no longer need a seat belt extension on airplanes
- I have dropped my diabetes medication (Type 2) and high blood pressure medication and should be getting rid of my last prescription med (a statin) at my next doctor visit in a couple of weeks
- Eating real food can actually save you money! I am no longer buying junk food or eating at fast-food restaurants, and I am saving money on medications.
One follow up – I went for a DEXA scan this week. I still have some “loose skin” from my weight loss. Yeah, I know that it is really stubborn fat, so I wanted to get a benchmark so I can work on getting rid of it. The scan showed that my overall body fat is 21.7%, which falls in the middle of the ideal range for a 60 year old man. That made me feel pretty good, but I know that I can do better!
Wow! That got longer than both you and I expected, but if you made it this far, thanks for reading! I hope that my story can inspire even one person to take the leap and change their life!
1. What tactics did you employ to help you get to your goal? What did you find helped you get to your goals best?
I have learned that I do better with someone to hold me accountable, someone who is not my wife 🙂 She is supportive, but having a third party works well for me. As part of the program, I had a coach who I met with weekly and that is a big factor of my success.
2. What is the most impactful change you’ve made to your diet and why do you feel it’s been the most important?
Eliminating junk food and processed food. I have transitioned to real food and my blood sugar (A1C) is better, blood pressure is down and inflammation is much better
3. What is the best single piece of advice you can give to someone that is just starting out?
Mindset. It doesn’t matter what you do, it won’t work unless you commit. Figure out what it is that motivates you, and use that to help keep you on track.
4. How do you feel your life is now that you’re at your goal?
I am so much happier. I was making excuses for myself and avoiding things that I couldn’t do because of my weight. Now, I have so much more energy and can do so much more!
5. What do you consider the biggest change in your day-to-day life?
Everything? I have more energy, things are much easier for me to do, I exercise, so many changes.
6. What did you do to find support throughout your journey?
Having a coach to work with and keep me on track was great. I also used FB groups for additional support and information.
7. What do you currently do to manage your day-to-day diet?
I am following a “primalgenic” lifestyle, as Nora Gedgaudas calls it. It is primal one day, keto the next. Mark Sisson talks about metabolic flexibility in The Keto Reset Diet and I am pretty much in that zone. Low carb, moderate protein, higher fat, whole foods. I am also grain-free.
8. What is your favorite keto recipe from www.ruled.me that’s become a staple?
I have made quite a few and enjoy them all, but the Low Carb Flax Bread is probably the one that I have made the most.
9. If there is one thing that you could do differently during your journey, what would it be and why?
Knowing what I know now, I would have skipped Ideal Protein and gone keto with the help of a health coach. Ideal protein worked, but it uses a lot of questionable foods, and I feel that I could have gotten the same results using healthier foods following a keto diet and paying a health coach for support instead of buying the Ideal Protein packets. Not knocking IP, but there are other ways.
I have also just completed the Primal Health Coach program and am now a Certified Primal Health Coach and am in the process of starting a business based on that. My plan is to provide assistance to older adults who are facing the same struggles that I faced and help them become healthier and happier!
