My "Low Carb" Journey - Where's the BEEF!!!

January 17, 2021

For those of you who know me, you know that I am not a small guy. 5’-10” and anywhere between 230 – 270 pounds. Depends on what day of the week it is. I have struggled with my weight for years – it goes all the way back to high school. My eating habits throughout my university days were terrible. I ballooned up to 250 pounds. Before my first wedding I made a vow to drop some weight and got down to 220. Since that time 1990, I have continually been on the roller coaster to my max of 275 lbs about 2 years ago. I felt terrible about my body image. To top it all off I had type 2 diabetes. Something had to be done.

As a side note, my doctor tried just about everything (drug wise) to control my blood sugars. The drugs seemed to keep my blood sugars in check, but my weight was out of control. I needed to do something, but it was always a challenge. I am of Ukrainian Heritage and just love the perogies and cabbage rolls, breads, pastries - I just really love food. But something had to change. It was my "attitude".

My wife (bless her heart) started looking into this low carb diet thing. One program was the Keto diet. The Keto diet drastically restricts the intake of carbohydrates which puts your body in to Ketosis and therefore uses your fat stores for energy instead of carbohydrates. Lots of information on this on the internet and on TV. They can do a much better job of explaining how this ketosis works – biology wise.

Ketosis is a process that happens when your body doesn't have enough carbohydrates to burn for energy. Instead, it burns fat and makes things called ketones, which it can use for fuel. Ketosis is a word you'll probably see when you're looking for information on diabetes or weight loss.

The “Low Carb” diet, which is what I tried, is just that – low carbohydrate intake. It is the same process as the Keto diet, but a lot less restrictive. As they say – you still need to enjoy life. I still like to have wine, but I know that a glass of red wine has 5 grams of carbs which will take away from my daily limit of 30 grams. So I can have breakfast or 6 glasses of wine. 😊

A low-carb diet limits carbohydrates — such as those found in grains, starchy vegetables and fruit — and emphasizes foods high in protein and fat. Many types of low-carb diets exist. Each diet has varying restrictions on the types and amounts of carbohydrates you can eat.

So, we started eating low carb in October of 2019. We cut out all bread, pasta, rice, starchy vegetables like potatoes. This was tough as these were all a regular part of our diet. Looking back, it wasn’t that tough. Change out the potatoes for some broccoli at dinner. Have a good steak, chicken, or fish. And I could still have a glass of wine with dinner.

There are some great "apps" out there that can help you track your food intake and track your carbs / fat / protein. With the technology available, the low carb diet can be achievable. If you have a FitBit, it has this option as well and will track your calories based on your steps and activity.

It was a slow and steady process and as of July 2020 I had dropped 30 pounds to 245 and had to buy some new clothes. It was great. I switched from the low fat / high carb diet (which, by the way is recommended by the Canada food guide) to the low carb / high fat diet. It’s counter intuitive.

You may ask what about exercise. I thought I was pretty active, but it was nothing out of the ordinary – no 5K or 10K runs for me. We would take the dogs for a walk once a day maybe twice. I was golfing maybe twice a week, but always took a golf cart. I really didn’t change my activity level to warrant a 30 pound reduction. Life was good.

Then I got cocky. We started going out for dinner more, I started cheating – having French fries with dinner instead a salad. I was doing well on the program and rewarded myself. Then it was the holiday season. We ate, drank and were merry for about 4 weeks straight. Again, I was doing well and rewarded myself. Bad idea!!!

It is now the end of January and I am back up to 255 – gained 10 pounds back. Again, it was a slow process and every day my weight kept inching upward.

Last night we watched a show on PRIME called Fat Fiction. After watching this show, I am determined to get back on the program. If you are at all interested in this topic you should watch it. It does a very good job of explaining the low Carb diet and how the government agencies and big industry have created an obesity epidemic. (mostly in the USA, and I don't have enough information to argue against it)

Someone said that the solution is: “Everyday people – Ignoring the Guidelines – Restoring Health”.

As mentioned earlier, I must give all the credit to my wife who has been diligent in sitting down every Sunday night and creating a meal plan for the week and giving me the grocery list so that we are prepared for the week. One thing for sure, if you don’t have a plan then you will go to the fridge and grab the easiest thing there is. Which is probably the worst for you.

There is so much information available on-line it is overwhelming. I did find this short video on what is a good carb. Even though we don’t want to eat a lot of carbs, most foods have them, so we need to chose wisely. Good carbs verse bad carbs.

I could go on and on, but enough for today. I am fascinated by this lifestyle. The goal for me is to get off all of my meds. From time to time I will post an update to how I am doing and what my meal plans are.

Have you had weight challenges? Blood sugar issues? Let me know what has worked for you. What hasn’t worked.

My weight challenges affect my blood sugar levels which affect my over all health which allow me to enjoy my retirement which I still don’t really know what I am doing as per my previous post on retirement. It all flows together. 😊

That’s is for now. Let’s hear what you have to say.

Ronco 😊