I have been thinking about diets, dieting, forced exercise, and just being plan active. I am 70 years young and I have seen a lot in my day. I grew up on a working farm, that we ate what we grew and very little else. My great grandparents, grandparents, and my parents and myself were not over weight. I fact I was the skinny kid. So when did I get fat? Believe it or not when I went in the Navy and was eating the food that was there for me to eat. The day I went into Navy bootcamp I weighed 168 pounds, the day I graduated from boot camp I weighed a whopping 210 pounds. Sure some of that weight was muscle, but most of it was fat around my belly that I have carried for the rest of my life. So why did I gain so much in bootcamp I want to say it was for the most part being force feed, and also the foods we where fed. Before bootcamp we ate mostly farm fresh veggies, fruit, and meat. Sure I had some grain in bread, and a few desserts. But I was never fed cereal, rice, not that many potatoes, and never bread the way we had it in bootcamp. I also ate way too much, and too often. The rest of my time in the navy, I managed to keep my weight at about 210 by only eating 2 meals a day instead of 3. I also did not eat in the chow hall that often. But that a lot of times meant that I was eating pizza and other junk foods. At just over 4 years in the Navy I married and my first wife did cook for us and I even lost a little weight for a while seeing I was eating mostly real food again. While I was in the service after I got married I was traveling a lot and very busy on the road. There would be times that I would eat a very quick small breakfast or maybe no breakfast and not even have time to eat until evening. I managed to not gain and maybe lose a little more.
Then I got out of the Navy. I took a job as a field service person. But before going in to the field I had to sat in a class room 8 to 10 hours a day for about 5 months and there was always food for us and drinks heavy with sugar. Man oh man did I gain weight in those few months. Then I went in to the field and was very busy but doing a lot of work at night and sleeping in the day when I had time to sleep and you would thing I lost weight but no I gained even by not eating that much, but I was not eating that great when I ate. Also my stress level was very bad and it caused my blood pressure issue. I was put on medications that caused me to gain weight even more. Then I lost that lost that job due to the company giving up and just died off. I managed to get another job in short order but stressed and ate too much while looking for a job. The new job meant that I was on the road at about 5 am to get to work by 7 am., then I would work 8 to 12 hours a day sometimes 7 days a week. I was again not getting enough sleep and there was always the wrong types of food around to eat. And I started gaining again and I got acid reflux.
Then about 1979 or 1980 I read about the Atkin’s Died and my wife and I both went on it, I believe when I started it I was about 230, and over about 9 or 10 months I went down to 163, but life goes on and I could not continue the diet mostly due to my wife having real issues with it on her health. So I went off of it and I gained all of the weight back then some.
Fast forward to 1999 I left a job that was stressing me out so bad that my doctor was even telling me the job was not worth it. So I found a new job that I wanted so badly but again it was a stressful job but rewarding in that I was helping people with their problems. I was on the phone 8 or more hours a day. Some weeks 4 days a week 10 hours a day, and some weeks 5 days a week 8 hours a day my day would start a noon and go to 9 or 11 at night. There was alway food to eat most of it donuts, and soft drinks or pizza. My weight was climbing again my acid reflux was there again. This continued for way to long. Then boom 2002 my first wife and my first love was killed in a car wreck, and my kids were all out of the home. What else was there to do but eat, and work. I did not even want to be home. When I was home I would have the TV on and something to ease my pain there to drink. For me luckily one of the kids I knew asked me to take his mom to the homecoming game, he had lost his dad the year before and his mom just did not want to go to the game by herself. I called Linda my wife now, and we talked about it we had always treated each other as brother and sister and had never thought about being really together. I took Linda to the game and after the game we sat in the car and talked for a very long time. We were both scared of the thoughts of dating and dating each other even scared us more. Then I walked her to the door to say good night. I am not sure why but a voice told me to give her a good night kiss so I kissed her on the cheek and I believe we both felt something at that same time. The next day was a parade in town so I called Linda the next morning and asked her if she wanted to go to it with me seeing I just did not want to be home alone, and did not want to go to a parade alone either. She said yes and the rest is history. We have been married for over 15 years and we have never regraded it. I believe it was God’s voice that night that told me to kiss her.
Why that information? Linda is the reason for me losing my weight and keeping it off. She is a very good cook and she loves cooking and knows how to cook for someone with weight and health issues. Now I did not lose weight at first I even gained a lot more weight due to life and jobs and stress. But on our birthdays in 2010, it was also Thanksgiving, I could not fit into my dress cloths and I made my mind up then to lose weight. And even with it being the holidays I managed to lose 10 pounds by the first of the year. How was I doing it portion control only. I was not eat different food, I was just cutting back on what I ate. It was March of 2011 that I gave up diet coke finally, and I started walking, only a quarter mile at first. Then the end of July 2011 I found Loseit and calorie counting that carried me forward to lose down below 200 pounds for the first time since the Atkins diet. By January of 2012 I was down below 200 and I managed to keep at about 200 or less until the end of 2013, then I started slowly gaining, and I had not changed what I was eating and I had not increased my calories. So what happened? I will try to explain it to you. I was snacking almost all day trying to eat very small meals. This was screwing up my insulin production and my digestive system. I have only figured this out over the last month or two.
So I am going to explain something to you that goes against the lies that our food industry, even our doctors, and government are telling us. We should never snack all day. We have to give our digestive system time to rest. When we eat to often we are increasing our insulin levels and too much insulin in our system makes the fat that we carry around. It is not eating fat that cause us to be fat. In fact eating good fat can cause us to lose the fat we are carrying around. Also, I am going to say this calories in and calories out is true and not true at the same time. The calorie is only a theory. Over the last month I have stopped counting calories, but I am logging what I eat, I have not gained any weigh but I also have not lost weight. I have also stopped snacking. I am only eating 2 meals most days and every now and then I will eat a 3 meal at lunch. I fast for about 14 hours a day from the end of the evening meal to the next days first meal. No bed time snack, no in between meal snacks. I am giving my digestive system time to digest the food I eat then have time to rest. I am feeling so much better. I have more energy, and my thinking is so much clearer. Also as I have said before I sometimes have issues with low blood sugar, I have not had an issue this last month, and my blood pressure is down to the point I no long need the medication. My belly and thighs are down a couple of inches too. I am very active but not forcing my self to exercise the way I was. I do some resistive training which I am finding I am enjoying. My chest and my shoulders have increased by about 2 inches, and I have even noticed my skinny arms are up about an inch. This is not fat it is solid lean muscle.
I am planning to do longer fast in the future but more than likely I will not go over 18 to 24 hours as I really do not see the need. I am neither really overweight or diabetic, so I do not need to force myself that far. Fasting is not starvation by any means. And it is very good for the body, mind and soul. Why do you think it is being done by religious groups. No you will not hear about it on TV due to fasting does not make the food industry, the diet industry or even the exercise industry any money.
So what am I eating? Real food for the most part. I do eat lots of veggies, and small amount of protein, in the way of all types of meat. I eat nuts for the extra fat I need. I drink whole milk and not low fat milk. I also mix whey protein in my milk for breakfast. I eat eggs, bacon, ham, and every now and the I eat a slice of bread. I also eat pasta, at times. I do eat a small amount of potatoes and rice at time. I do not drink diet soft drinks or other soft drinks. I drink water, and unsweetened tea. Mostly I am doing protein control. I stay away from as much refined and processed foods as possible. And I stay away from fast foods almost completely now.
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