2016 — The Year I Reach My Weight Loss Goal
In 2012 I was the heaviest I have ever been. My doctor was on me about my weight, blood pressure and was having that “Diabetes is in your future” conversation with me. I had just started my new career as an Insurance Agent and I had 100% control of my day. I could plan my meals and exercise when I needed too. No excuses. I did like anyone these days and turned to the internet and I found Dr. Ron Rosedale — The Rosedale Diet and it changed my life.
It is a low carb diet. Sure, there are many variations these days and most are converging in my opinion but I try not to split hairs. The Rosedale Diet model spoke to me at the time and it worked for me. It is a high fat, moderate protein (appropriate for you)and low carb (sub 50g) diet. The details can be found around the internet or you can leave a comment and I will point you to some resources because I do not want to get distracted in this post. The point is I read the book, put it into practice and it worked. 70 pounds rolled off me in the first year.
The Feedback
It went from “What is the weird diet you are doing” to “Wow you look great” to “Keep it going you inspire me” to very few comments and now it is 2016. 2014 and 2015 I stagnated. And all those comments stopped. And instead of feeling like I accomplished something great — losing 70 pounds — I feel like a failure because I did not complete the journey.
The hell with that feeling of failure. What use is that negative self talk? It is worthless. I merely had my journey on pause. Sometimes you want to stay in a place for a while. I did that. It was good. But I want to get this weight loss done and 2016 will be my year. But how? What am I going to do different that will allow me to reach my goals? I am glad you asked!
Less Choice
If I had only one food to take with me to a deserted island …it would be sardines packed in olive oil. They are high in good oils including omega-3 and omega-9, a good source of protein and contain almost no carbohydrate. — Dr. Rosedale — The Rosedale Diet Chapter 6
There are a ton of recipes and food ideas for a low carb diet on the internet. That is great because it helps with creativity. But for me when I need to get out of the gate strong and establish some quick success I like to buckle down and limit my choices. It takes the thinking out of the process. Open the package and eat. Done. Plus essentially these diets are are ketogentic diet and to get into ketosis you need to really limit your carbs and get your body into fat burning mode. That way I am burning fat for fuel as much as possible and hopefully eating less and allowing my body to use my fat stores. So in an effort to kick start this 12 month process I am going to eat a restricted diet for the next 31 days mainly consisting of Sardines!
My Sardine Diet For the Next 31 Days!
What I will eat for the next 31 days.
*Sardines — 1 can per day. I love these from Costco $1.80 per can.
*Pesto — from Costco, for added flavor. Sometimes I just add some lemon or Tabasco as well.
*Cucumber or Red Bell Pepper — to add some crunch with my Sardines
*Coffee with Heavy Cream (2–3T per day)
* Tea I am really enjoying hot tea these days.
* Vodka — It will be limited but if I am out and I want a drink this is what I will drink. I am partial to the flavor of Tito’s Vodka on the rocks.
Control Measures
I am going to use Lose It! to log my food and my weight. Here are some sample screen shots of what my food log and nutrients look like. You can follow me on this app to see what I am doing or follow me here on Medium as I will be doing updates here and on Periscope — Search my name on both — Terry Grier.
Today — Jan 1, 2016 I am 266 pounds. 366 days from now I will be 199 or less. Read that again. again. I will do this. I will be a fat burner and get my health back in order.
For the record, I am writing this for myself and sharing just to have it “out there” So follow along if you are curious. Thank you for reading and your support. I will leave you with this quote from Dr. Rosedale on how he defines Health.
Health and life span is determined by the proportion of fat versus sugar (carbs) people burn throughout their lifetime. The more fat your burn as fuel, the healthier you will be. The more sugar you burn as fuel, the more disease ridden you will be, and the shorter your life will likely be. Dr. Rosedale Chapter 1.
