90 Day Weight Loss Journal

Distracting yourself from urges is not recommended. That will just let them grow in the dark until they overwhelm you. Better by far to tackle those urges directly, exposing them for the lies that they are, and replacing them with the truth. Focus on the truth instead of the lie. A sleepless night spent in victorious battle is to be prized over a fitful sleep mixed with thoughts that entertain PMO.

 

90 days complete! Goal achieved -- and a new way of life has begun!

Highest Weight: 247.0 lbs, BMI: 35.4, SBMI: 51/70 (2017)
Starting Weight: 230.6 lbs, BMI: 33.2, SBMI: 48/70 (Jul-01-2019)
Goal Weight 1: 204.0 lbs, BMI: 29.3, SBMI: 43/70 (reached on Aug-12-2019)
Goal Weight 2: 192.0 lbs, BMI: 27.6, SBMI: 41/70 (reached on Sept-09-2019)
Current Weight: 189.2 lbs, BMI: 27.1, SBMI: 40/70 (as of Sept-30, -1.2 lbs from last week)
Lowest Adult Weight: 187.0 lbs, BMI: 26.8, SBMI: 40/70 (2010)
Goal Weight 3: 184.0 lbs, BMI: 26.4, SBMI: 39/70
Ultimate Goal Weight: 170.0 lbs, BMI: 24.4, SBMI: 36/70

I have struggled with an unhealthy weight and eating for comfort for most of my adult life, going all the way back to some difficult times in my early 20s. Since then, I have carried 50-75 pounds too much weight for me to be considered healthy.

I am now 46. Over the last 20 years, I have tried every diet known to man, had good short-term results on nearly all of them, and always ended up putting the weight back on (and them some!) over the course of the following months. I have tried different sorts of exercise, none with any significant impact on my weight.

With only one exception, my grandparents have all lived into their early nineties. My parents are both a very young-looking 70+. So this year, when I celebrated my 46th birthday in February, I decided I was officially at about my "halfway point" in life and that it was time that I got my health under control. I started an exercise program in March that I have stuck with every week since then and that I really enjoy. I have gotten stronger as a result. But my extra weight was really holding me back from feeling as good as I knew I could feel and preventing me from doing all the things in life I wanted to do.

Thus, ninety days ago, on July 1, I committed to submit myself to three months of intensive change in my diet. I had read an interview with Penn Jillette about his 100-pound weight loss (which he has sustained for 3+ years), and in it he spoke about the advice he had received to drop weight quickly, something to the effect of "do the hard thing." That appealed to me, so I decided that I would commit to "do the hard thing" for 90 days, no matter what. I established accountability to help support me along the way, and I started searching for a "hard thing" to do that I could sustain for 90 days and that would have good long-term results with regard to my weight.

Penn ate only potatoes for two weeks, so I thought I would do something similar to get started. I committed to two weeks of eating only green lettuce salads with olive oil & vinegar dressing. After the first week of this, I was just about ready to throw in the towel! I started reading about other options and stumbled across The Obesity Code. I had originally read it when it first came out a couple years ago but, for whatever reason, did not act on it then. I probably found the idea of ongoing fasting to be too difficult! But, this time around, I also found the Obesity Code Network support group on FB -- and I joined up right away.

I was immediately encouraged to "fat fast," and the appeal of ditching my salads for a big omelette and some bacon was too great to pass up. I made a huge omelette that day and began my first fat fast. This lasted just 2-3 days before I was ready to quit eating and just fast for a bit. I began working my way toward the 3x42 protocol right away. Within 2-3 weeks, I was able to get through a 3x42 with relative ease, and I have been following this protocol ever since. On my eating days, I have been following a fairly strict keto diet, and I have eliminated sugar from my diet completely. As someone whose sweet tooth has recently resulted in five cavities (while my children had none -- alas!), this is perhaps the greatest change of all, and something I have never achieved before in my life.



In this 90 days, my weight has dropped by over 40 pounds. My waist measurement has gone from over 42" to about 37". I have replaced my XL shirts with L ones, and I just bought two pairs of 36" waist pants this past weekend, because the 38" ones I am currently in are just about falling off of me. I am almost at the lowest weight I have ever been in my adult life (187 pounds). The pain I had in my joints has been completely eliminated. My hands and feet are even smaller! And I have discovered that a magnesium deficiency was behind my chronic battle with constipation. I have made tremendous progress and learned several life-changing things in so short a time.

Even better, and what is magnificently different this time around, I have also acquired the knowledge of how to sustain my weight loss to continue to work toward a healthier weight and how to maintain that weight once I reach it. I have proven to myself that I can indeed "do the hard thing" and learned along the way that it is actually not as hard as I thought it would be. With the encouragement of a supportive community and good feedback from my own body, I am excited to keep on going. My 90-day experiment has turned into a new way of life. I am a changed man over these past three months, and I am greatly anticipating who I may become over the next three -- and beyond!

I am eternally grateful to Dr. Fung and the OCN group on FB. The future of my physical and mental health has never looked brighter. I am so proud to call of you my friends and be counted among your number. Onward -- together!