I have officially gotten my shit together

[You, sir, name?]

Previously, on you, sir, name?:

I'm a pretty tall guy (194 cm / 6'4"). So the weights are probably going to sound like more than they are.

In 2010, I was 24 years old, chronically sleep deprived, obese, heavy smoker, semi-alcoholic and had serious doubts I'd make it to 30.

In 2011, I was 25 years old, chronically sleep deprived, obese, non-smoker, and had serious doubts I'd make it to 30. I weighed 140 kg (310 lbs). According to my doctor, I had the blood pressure of a 70 year old. This was me:

Spoiler:

Ye olde facebok profile picture

314674_10150302928267605_1700352247_n.jpg (14.17 KiB) Viewed 5688 times

-- that's a 3XL shirt.

In early 2012, I decided to go on yet another diet I had found on reddit. To my surprise, I was able to stick to it, and I lost a lot of weight. Down to something like 110 kg (240 lbs).

In 2013, not much happened in terms of weight. I did a bunch of cardio because I actually could for the first time in a long while. Mostly bike rides. But also some walking. Although, my healthy habits were offset by unhealthy habits. Net result in terms of weight and health was bupkis.

In early 2014, I decided to redouble my efforts, since it was frustrating to hover so tantalizingly close to being of normal weight. So no more restaurant food and weekly boozing. I cook my own food. All of my own food. On top of that, I've continued my biking habit. So on a squeaky 3-gear bicycle, my record distance this summer is 43km (slightly longer than a marathon). I averaged about 100 km/week during my 4 week vacation.

Anyway, today I woke up and found the scale reading 95 kg (211 lbs). 45 kg down, or 99 lbs. Either way. Wow. Great success!

This was me yesterday:

Spoiler:

Ye newe facebok profile picture

-- the oversized shirt is an XL. But even L is starting to feel a bit roomy for me now.

You may notice the presence of such features as: A neck. And collar bones. And cheekbones. Cool stuff I haven't had in a long while Also, not featured in the picture, but featured on me: Visible veins and palpable ribs. Used to be when I needed to leave a blood sample, they'd have such struggle finding a blood vessel I walked out of the clinic looking with a heroin junkie. Now you can see that fucker clear as day.

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So in summary: Diet is in check*, I no longer smoke, my blood pressure is healthy (125/85), I exercise regularly, and I've also started taking sleeping a lot more seriously. 8 hours per night (what I need to be rested) is pretty much sacred to me. I don't know what I was thinking burning the candle in both ends like that. Makes you feel like shit all day long D:

* still keto/low-carb. I cook all my own food, usually from scratch. No booze. No snacking. No sweeteners. I've found this a highly sustainable lifestyle. But I guess that's probably going to be highly individual what works.

[BattleMoose]

I am excited, awesome stuff! It seems like you have it figured out. I am a strong proponent of high fat diets and as far as I can tell there isn't any substantive evidence to suggest its unhealthy (quite the contrary).

[You, sir, name?]

I am excited, awesome stuff! It seems like you have it figured out. I am a strong proponent of high fat diets and as far as I can tell there isn't any substantive evidence to suggest its unhealthy (quite the contrary).

I think which diet is right probably depends a lot on where you are at in terms of metabolic health. If you, like me, have fucked up your metabolism with years of sedentary living and eating sugar-laden junk food, low carb/high fat (a.k.a. keto) may be the ticket. I can eat something like 1400 kcal/day without hunger or lethargy on low-carb. Something seems to have broken in my appetite regulation when it comes to high-carb food (I assume it's insulin related), on such a diet, I'm pretty much always hungry, no matter how much I eat. I've quit smoking cold turkey, which was pretty straightforward compared to the herculean feat of willpower it takes for me to maintain a healthy calorie intake on a high-carb diet for more than a couple of days.

However, for people with a less fucked up metabolism, it probably doesn't matter what you eat. As long as you limit your calories and avoid the worst junk food.

[BattleMoose]

What probably happened (or at least is what usually happens), is that with your previous diet, you had high blood sugar levels. Having high blood sugar is of itself not good so your pancreas responds by producing extra insulin. Insulin being the hormone that basically tells your body to get that glucose out of your blood, it has two options, to be stored in your muscles or into fat. If your muscles are already full of glycogen (energy storage) then it has to be stored as fat, urgently. If your muscles don't take much of this energy then they themselves will start to become insulin resistant, and will only absorb energy with increasingly large levels of insulin, pancreas works harder to make it. Leptin is the hormone that makes you feel full, and its function gets distorted with elevated levels of insulin. When this continues, each time you eat, because so little of the energy is going into your muscles, your blood sugar spikes, your body panics, fuck fuck fuck, insulin, insulin, insulin and a short while after you are hungry again. At some point your pancreas gives out. On a high carb diet you never really had a chance.

But high fat diets do work, very well. And are even being used to treat diabetes. They don't spike your blood sugar like a high carbohydrate diet does. And with a bit of exercise, can start improving insulin sensitivity of your muscles. You don't get the blood sugar spikes, don't get the insulin spikes and leptin can start working again and you can start to feel full/satiated!

But is it just a treatment or actually a better way of living? I personally think its the latter and try to eat a high fat diet but struggle with the convenience of carbohydrates.

(Not a doctor, and this is a pretty gross simplification and there is a lot of discussion, research going on trying to figure out all these interactions. But what is abundantly clear is that high fat diets work.)

[Izawwlgood]

Well done and keep it up. That's great progress!

[poxic]

Good on ya. Taking ownership of yourself is some of the best feeling in the world.

[nightbird]

You, sir, are awesome. I have no idea what it takes to lose that amount of weight but I imagine it's a bit of a struggle.

[EvilDuckie]

Good job man!