1/19/2018 Update

It's the first update of the year! I know! Slacker! The good news is, I haven't been slacking in losing and staying on the plan. I went off for Thanksgiving and again for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Boy did I suffer the consequences. I gained no weight after Thanksgiving. But I gained a whopping 8 pounds after my Christmas follies! I couldn't believe it. I figured it would all come off quickly, but it took the better part of three weeks to get all the weight off again. Since then I am down another 3 pounds. So in the end I am down to a new low of 270. I am through the holidays and the worst part of my year for work and now can concentrate on healthy eating and adding exercise.

I continue to use intermittent fasting as part of my regiment but now mix it up a bit more. Before I was pretty much on a schedule of 8 hours of eating and 16 hours of fasting most every day. Trying not to eat until 10 AM and finishing by 6 pm. Now I am adding in a longer fast on Sundays periodically and some days not fasting at all. I think it is good not to let your body get too comfortable in any one thing.

I continue to add new recipes to the mix, this month trying a new cheesy cauliflower recipe and brats in a blanket. We are still gathering recipes for our cookbook but we are getting closer to putting it together. I have also started exercising this week, finally. I have heard many good things about HIIT workouts so I decided to give them a try. It was tough, but really got my heart rate up. I think it will be exactly what I need. HIIT stands for "High Intensity Interval Training." The basic concept is to go as hard as you can for a short burst then rest then go again. I think once I get back into some kind of shape and can add in some resistance to it I will really see more results. For now it will be good for cardio. As usual, most likely due to water retention, I gained a pound the next morning.

Here are the happy numbers

Weight - 270 lbs, started 367 lbs

Chest - 47 Inches, started 60 inches

Stomach - 48.0 inches, started 64 inches

Waist - 40 inches, started 54 inches

Mid Thigh - 20 inches, started 25 inches

Total pounds lost - 97 lbs, Total inches lost - 37 inches

Goal weight - 195, 75 Pounds to go

Just 3 more pounds to go until I am down 100!

11/4/2017 Update

It's milestone November and I am excited! As of this morning I have now lost 90 pounds!! That last pound just wouldn't come off. I have been waiting for 6 days for it to come off. That always seems to be the case when I am on the cusp of a new milestone. This last week I have been to 2 different parties with candy, treats and garbage being offered at every turn. It always helps to be close to a milestone at these times. But even if I wasn't I am enjoying this way of eating so much I don't want to indulge in the crap. This has also been one of the most stressful weeks of my professional career. I am not a person who stresses needlessly. I don't stress eat. That has never been my relationship with food. But this week would have put all of that to the test if any could have. Instead, I felt comfort in my Keto foods. I felt energy during my fasting times, and I had no trouble saying no to the many treats that would have been my downfall just 15 months ago.

Speaking of fasting. I have implemented intermittent fasting into my regiment the last few months and it has not only worked, it has accelerated my weight loss to a level I could only dream of before. As I looked back at this blog I realized I had lost only 25 pounds from January to the end of August. I say only knowing for some that would be a victory. But with more than a hundred to lose I considered it a snail's pace. At that rate I would be more than three years to my eventual goal and I want to get there a lot quicker than that if at all possible. I watched a wonderful video by Dr. Berg on Youtube about intermittent fasting with Keto and decided to give it a try. The idea is that whenever you eat, no matter how few carbs, you cause a release of insulin in your body which stops your weight loss. By limiting your eating time to a smaller window and going longer stretches in between eating, you allow your body to burn fat for fuel longer and even emit growth hormone which is great for both weight loss and healing inflammation. This helps with clogged or closing arteries and will reduce your bad cholesterol as your body will not need as much cholesterol to fight the inflammation caused by plaque from eating sugars and processed carbs (which are converted easily into sugar). I have been doing a 16/8 eating schedule for two months and so far, here are the results: first, I find it very easy to wait to eat until later in the morning, IF (Intermittent Fasting) works best when you don't eat for at least four hours after waking, I eat at 10 or 11 most mornings, then I eat a light late lunch and make sure to have dinner before my 8 hour window closes, usually around 6 or 7 p.m. in the evening. I make sure to follow my macros, which are 75% fat, 20% protein, 5% carbs (mostly from veggies). Second, I find I don't get the late evening cravings any more. After my last meal my system now shuts down for the night, knowing it won't have to work again until mid-morning. I don't feel tired or a lack of energy at all. In fact, I find I don't need as much sleep as I used to, which can be annoying. I find myself waking up very early in the mornings raring to go. Third, and perhaps most important for now, I have lost 14 pounds in the last two months since starting IF!! Considering the previous 8 months were only 25 pounds, needless to say I am thrilled to have found this secret to unlocking rapid weight loss while eating Keto. Someone on medications or with a history of eating disorders should probably avoid IF. And if you are losing at a good pace without it I would say to hold off and save it for when you hit a plateau. This is also best used only while in ketosis, otherwise you are just starving yourself. The power of IF is in the fat burning of ketosis. If you have questions about this please come join my Facebook group. Search for Robb's Keto Club and click to join. I'll add you quickly. Now for the happy numbers.

Weight - 277 lbs, started 367 lbs

Chest - 47 Inches, started 60 inches

Stomach - 48.0 inches, started 64 inches

Waist - 42 inches, started 54 inches

Mid Thigh - 20 inches, started 25 inches

Total pounds lost - 90 lbs, Total inches lost - 44 inches

Goal weight - 195, Pounds to go 82 pounds

I am now past the half way point of my journey. I started off with 172 pounds to go. I now have 82 pounds left. Considering I have lost 90 pounds already, I know I can do it, I already have. It is now a matter of when, not if.

10/11/2017 Update

It has been another successful month on Keto. I continue to watch the scale descend. I continue to feel my clothes fit better, looser and in some cases right off. I've made a few trips to donate my old plus sizes already and pants I bought just this summer are already starting to feel baggy and starting to sag. More even than the scale, these #NSV's (non-scale victories) are really important to me as I continue on. I continue to study and research as I proceed down this path, taking in studies and documentaries on what the food industry has been doing to us for the past 40 years and even beyond. As the world has switched away from real food to the processed, easy, stripped down garbage we are consuming, we are entering a health crisis the size of which we have never seen before. Yet, the medical professionals seem to be stuck in the past, (at least the majority of them) still preaching low-fat, low calorie diets and prescribed pharmaceuticals as the way to fix this epidemic. In other words, we need more of exactly what has caused the problem in the first place. I shudder when I think of what I fed my family for the past 24 years. Cereals made of processed flour so devoid of any nutritional value that they have to add synthetic vitamins back in. Look on the box of your favorite breakfast cereal, see if it says it is "fortified." That is a fancy word for "we had to add in some vitamins so we could call it healthy." Yet, there is nothing healthy about cereal. Shredded wheat is just as bad as Fruit Loops, perhaps more so because at least with Fruit Loops there is no deception.

I highly recommend the documentary on Youtube called, "What's With Wheat," it was an eye-opener and showed me what has happened to the staple food in the world's diet today. Our wheat today is not the same as it once was. It is a hybrid that has been modified for yield, not nutritional value. Then we take it and process what little nutrition there is left out of it and call it flour. After watching this documentary I walked through the cereal aisle of my grocery store and felt like I was walking through a den of vipers, trying to poison me. I don't shop in the middle section of the grocery aisles barely at all any more. I shop around the outside where the real food is.

So here is the good news! I am down 4 more pounds since my last post, or in other words around a pound a week. I like that pace. I'm not setting any records, but this is sustainable and I feel terrific. The inches are also coming off as you'll see below.

Weight - 283 lbs, started 367 lbs

Chest - 47 Inches, started 60 inches

Stomach - 48.0 inches, started 64 inches

Waist - 42 inches, started 54 inches

Mid Thigh - 22 inches, started 25 inches

Total pounds lost - 84 lbs, Total inches lost - 42 inches

Goal weight - 195, Pounds to go 88 pounds

I lost 7 inches this month!!! 3 off my chest and 4 off my stomach! I know that's a lot of exclamation points but I can't help it. This is why I measure as well as weigh. The scale doesn't show everything that is happening. I incorporated some lifting and exercise bike into my routine so I know that helped. You won't always see your progress on the scale. Sometimes you won't see any. But the tape measure and the before and after pictures will show the difference and the results of your work. Although I have to admit I don't consider this work any more. This is easy, it's fun. I love eating this way and these inches and pounds are gone forever. I'm never going back!

9/8/2017 Update

It's been a very busy summer so I apologize for not posting for more than 2 months. The good news is I have not only stayed on plan, I have discovered some amazing new ideas that have made this way of eating so much simpler. As I mentioned in my last post I have switched to a keto lifestyle which has more of an emphasis on healthy fats, moderate protein and low carbs. It was a subtle shift, but I like the way If feel and although slow, my weight loss is steady. I am losing about 3 pounds a month right now. That isn't sexy, it isn't going to set any records or win the Biggest loser competition, but it is working. I have been doing a lot of research on the keto way of eating and finding so many other health benefits to this over and above losing weight.

Keto has been shown to reduce the effects of dementia in Alzheimers and pre-Alzheimer's patients. The following is taken from a larger article found here about Keto and Alzheimers Ketosis for Mental Decline Although research is still needed on the subject of ketosis and mental decline, there have been a number of small studies done in around the last decade showing how a state of ketosis can provide value for patients who are cognitively impaired: A study with 20 people who had Alzheimer’s disease or mild cognitive impairment were given a placebo or medium-chain triglycerides (MCT). After 90 minutes, ketone levels were increased in those given the MCT. The higher amounts of ketone levels correlated with greater improvements in memory [1]. Five years later, another longer and larger study was done with 152 patients who had mild Alzheimer’s. Those taking a ketogenic compound showed improvements in cognition 45 days later [2]. We also know that ketones themselves have been shown to be neuroprotective [3], which is a good sign when it comes to prevention of mental deterioration over time. In addition, inflammation, diabetes, high cholesterol, and other poor health signs are all major risk factors for developing Alzheimer’s. These are all conditions that can addressed with a balanced, well-planned high-fat and low-carb ketogenic diet.

In addition to mental disorders, Ketogenic diets have been proven to reduce and even reverse type 2 diabetes, lower risks for heart disease, starve out some forms of cancer and reduce inflammation of the arteries. Cardiologists are now admitting that the low-fat guidelines published in 1977 are killing us. Look what has happened since those guidelines were published. An obesity epidemic, type 2 diabetes spreading like a plague across America and an increase in heart disease, inflammation, and Alzheimers despite years of low fat foods, low cholesterol products and food pyramids preaching the gospel of high carb, low fats diets as the healthy approach to eating. This is also despite the fact that cholesterol levels can be lowered through statins today to almost any level we want. Yet those lower cholesterol numbers have not lowered the incidence of heart disease or people dying from heart attack at all. In fact, those numbers have increased as fat consumption and cholesterol numbers have come down.

So what does all of this mean? It means that science is not always right. Science knows what it know for now. What I can tell you is that I feel better than I have in years. I feel full, satisfied, energetic and, oh did I mention? I am now down 80 pounds since I started this journey! I know this is the way to eat for the rest of my life. Cutting out sugar and processed foods has made me healthier, happier and more healthy than ever before. I now feel like I can live well into my 80's and 90's with a quick mind and a body that can sustain me. This way of eating is not only saving my life, it is presenting me with a better quality of life for the years I have left. What a blessing to have found it!

Weight - 287 lbs, started 367 lbs

Chest - 50 Inches, started 60 inches

Stomach - 52.0 inches, started 64 inches

Waist - 42 inches, started 54 inches

Mid Thigh - 22 inches, started 25 inches

Total pounds lost - 80 lbs, Total inches lost - 37 inches

Goal weight - 195, Pounds to go 92 pounds

6/27/2017 Update

My one year mark has come and gone and I am going strong. In fact, stronger than ever. My weight loss had stalled for quite some time but I stuck with it, wondering if I had reached the point where I just couldn't lose any more with Atkins. I began looking into modifications of the low-carb lifestyle and found a better way. Since my last update several things have happened. First, on a bad note I realized my scale was malfunctioning. I thought I was losing but I wasn't. When I finally got a digital scale to replace my broken one I realized it was off by more than 18 pounds. I was very discouraged to have to start back up at such a high number again and get down to what I thought I already achieved. The thing that kept me from giving up though, was how good I continue to feel. I feel so much better than I did a year ago. I look at that picture right next to this post and remember the 3 hour naps after lunch and waking up feeling like I needed another nap. None of my clothes fit. Tying my shoes was an ordeal. I sweated for no reason and the thought of climbing the stairs was torture. My back hurt, my knees hurt. No thank you on ever returning to that again. So I put on my big boy pants, (which are 5 sizes smaller now) and got to work. I began researching a keto approach to eating which has more of an emphasis on good healthy fats, not as much protein and simple ingredients. I can't say the results came right away, the weight loss was slow, but it did come. But as of this morning, 15 of those pounds I thought I lost but hadn't are really gone now. I weighed in this morning at 293. This week I have been cutting back on my dinner time portions and including a fat bomb or two at dinner to make sure I have plenty of healthy fat for the evening. Boy has it worked! I've lost 4 pounds in the last 5 days! I don't expect that kind of progress going forward, but I'll take it as long as I can get it. I've set a goal to lose another 26 pounds by the end of the year. That would mean I've lost a hundred pounds since I started. At that point I would still want to lose nearly 75 more, but I will be well on my way. Right now I am down 74 pounds since I began. I have lost the equivalent of my ten year-old daughter in a little over a year. Pretty amazing stuff, especially considering I haven't even begun to exercise at all yet.

Weight - 293 lbs, started 367 lbs

Chest - 51 Inches, started 60 inches

Stomach - 54.0 inches, started 64 inches

Waist - 44 inches, started 54 inches

Mid Thigh - 23 inches, started 25 inches

Total pounds lost - 74 lbs, Total inches lost - 31 inches

Goal weight - 195, Pounds to go 98 pounds

4/24/2017 Update

2 more weeks gone and I'm down another 7 pounds! The weight is melting off right now and I wish I could put a finger on exactly what I'm doing. All I can say is, I feel terrific. I have no inclination to cheat or eat off plan for even one day. And every time I step on the scale it is good news. Right now I am losing a pound every other day. I don't know how long this will continue, so I am taking advantage for as long as I can. I still have a long way to go to get to my goal, but the goal gets smaller by the week. When I started out I had a daunting 172 pounds to lose. now I have 95 to go. It's so nice to say I have less than a hundred pounds to lose. On the other hand it is hard having come so far to still look ahead of me and think I am not even half way there yet. this process is nearly 99% mental. For example, this weekend in my household we had 3 birthdays, which meant 3 cakes and so much garbage food everywhere I looked there were cookies and candy bars and ice cream and cheetos and you name it. We had a funeral of a sweet lady from church this week and they even had extra cake from the funeral they decided to drop off as well. It's like the entire world wanted to send me cake. I didn't touch any of it, but there were moments this weekend that I realized that the me of just a few months ago would have caved. I have thought long and hard about how a person can survive all of the pitfalls of this process to finally get to the mindset needed to get where I'm at. I'll be giving this more thought as I move forward. I have been kicking around the idea for a book if I can get this weight off so I can help others do what I am doing. At this point though, I need to concentrate on ensuring my own success. But if I can get there, and help others in the process, then this whole journey will have been worth it.

Yesterday on Facebook there was a video of my daughter's wedding day since this was her 1 year anniversary. In the video I am there hugging her at the biggest weight I've ever been. It was so hard to concentrate on my daughter when all I could see was my huge self bursting at every seam. That was 77 pounds ago. It's hard to believe I ever let myself get that bad. If I ever feel weak again I just need to dig up that video and watch it over and over again. I will say this. Once I said say no to eating off plan on those special occasions that were derailing me before, it becomes easier and easier. I look at food in a much more healthy way. I don't see chocolate double fudge cake as fun, I see it as poison that will taste good for a few fleeting moments and then will make me sick. With all of the substitutes I have found, If I really need cake I am sure there is a low carb substitute anyway. Before I close this post I will repeat that the most important component of this lifestyle is the mentality. You have to go from the place where you say, "I can't have that," to a place where you say, "I don't want that!" Until you get there you have to hang on by your fingernails every day and get a good support system in place. Someday I hope to be a part of that support system for people. But for now, I just hope anyone reading this and struggling as I have knows, you can do it!"

Weight - 290 lbs, started 367lbs

Chest - 51 Inches, started 60 inches

Stomach - 51.0 inches, started 64 inches

Waist - 44 inches, started 54 inches

Mid Thigh - 23 inches, started 25 inches

Total pounds lost - 77 lbs, Total inches lost - 34 inches

Goal weight - 195, Pounds to go 97 pounds

4/10/2017 Update

It's been a few weeks since my last update and things are really going well. I lost 7 pounds since my last update! That puts me into some fun territory. First, I am now down below 300 pounds for the first time this decade! How cool is that? Second, I have now lost 70 pounds! I keep looking down at my belly and it is getting smaller and smaller. I love this feeling. The smaller I get, the more motivated it makes me. I continue to find wonderful new foods to add to my growing buffet of available low carb options. I can't believe all of the things I can eat now. I have this amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe that is so good, I really can't believe it's legal. This week we made egg fritatta's in muffin pans for breakfast and they were so good we made them three more times. I even froze a few to see how they would survive, and they were perfect after just 2 minutes in the microwave. Several of my non low carbers in the house had them and wanted more. We also found a wonderful chocolate zucchini brownie recipe with frosting as well as a cinnamon roll recipe. Keep in mind, all of those treats were during a two week period where I lost 7 pounds! How is that for dieting? As always it is so important to understand this is not a diet. I am not doing this to lose weight so I can return to eating 'normal' at the end. This is my new lifestyle. I am now eating this way for the rest of my life and I am excited about that. I hate the way I feel when I eat off the plan. And I'm not just talking about the extra pounds that fly back onto my waist. I hate the lethargic, drugged feeling I get when I am loaded down with carbs. The food industry is poisoning the American people with processed grains and sugars. I am wearing that poison around my waist to this day. But 7 more pounds of it is gone now!

Weight - 297 lbs, started 367lbs

Chest - 51 Inches, started 60 inches

Stomach - 52.0 inches, started 64 inches

Waist - 46 inches, started 54 inches

Mid Thigh - 23 inches, started 25 inches

Total pounds lost - 70 lbs, Total inches lost - 31 inches

Goal weight - 195, Pounds to go 102 pounds

I have some fun numbers coming up. First, once I lose 3 more pounds I will have less than a hundred pounds to go! Of course I want to lose 30 more pounds and be down 100 total. Then it's on to other marks. My 1 year mark will be June 6th. I'll see where I am then and make a new set of goals at that time. My initial goal was to lose 100 pounds my first year. I don't think I will get all the way there but I am pushing to lose as much as I can and get as close as possible. Right now my immediate goal is never to go above 300 again. I thought it would be fun to do a before and after picture this week to see how far I've come after reaching this milestone. Let me know what you think in the comments.