בס"ד
Bert Newmark was my wife's grandfather. I just called him Grandpa. He was a bona-fide war hero, serving as lead bombardier on daylight bombing raids over Germany in WWII. I held immense respect for that man and loved him dearly. In one of our last conversations, Grandpa bluntly asked me, "Joel, How much do you weigh?" I told him I weighed about 300 pounds. He said "That's about what I figured. You've got to do something about it. Your family needs you and I want you to be there for them."
Not long after that conversation, I received word that Grandpa had become very ill and was dying. I flew to Oklahoma to be with him. I literally moved into his room for 6 days and never left his side. He couldn't speak, but he could still teach a thing or to about determination and the strength of the human will. The time that I spent with him had a tremendous impact on me. I promised him that I would turn my life around and get healthy.
When I returned home, I stepped on a scale and recorded my weight on a calendar. The date was Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010. I was 38 years old, I weighed 314 pounds, I had severe back and joint pain, crippling gout attacks, sleep apnea and probably undiagnosed type-2 diabetes. This was the day I began to fight for my life.
In the beginning, I could not run at all and I couldn't walk for more than 10 minutes. I began a regimen of walking and calisthenics. I almost entirely eliminated processed foods from my diet. If it wouldn't go bad in 2 weeks, I didn't eat it. I allowed myself relative freedom on Sabbath and 1 "bad" meal during the week (usually falafel or fried sushi).
Following this method I lost 65 pounds in 6 months. I held strong, maintaining that weight until my July 2011 trip to Walt Disney World. I expected to relapse on that trip and regain some weight. But when I came home, I never got back with the program. 6 months later, I had gained back half of the weight I lost.
The good news is that I never stopped exercising. Even with the weight gain, I am still much stronger and healthier than I was. I walk regularly and have become an avid hiker. All of the health problems are gone and I've never felt better. I have stopped gaining weight and I have an improvised plan to lose the weight and keep it off this time.
It's common knowledge that most people who lose weight fast, tend to regain it even faster. I've always believed that his was a result of slipping back into bad habits. But new research suggests otherwise. I've been reading several articles about a recently published study that indicates that the human body responds to significant, rapid weight loss with not only a metabolic slowdown (which is well known), but also an increase in the production of hunger hormones that lasts up to a year or more. Up to a year after significant weight loss, hunger hormone levels are up to 20% higher than pre-weight loss levels!
To avoid triggering this hormone imbalance, the standard suggested weight loss rate is 1-2 pounds per week. I have found this to be difficult. If I eat correctly and exercise, I can easily drop anywhere from 5-12 pounds per week. I know that sounds crazy, but anyone who saw my weekly Facebook weigh-in posts knows it's true.
So as strange as it may sound, I have to find a way to slow my weight loss. I'm not going to exercise less. If anything, I'll up the exercise. The only solution I can think of is to increase my caloric intake just enough to lose 1 pound per week, and for the last 3 weeks I've done just that. However, this week I've dropped 5 pounds without even trying and I actually need to put a bit of weight on before my weekly weigh in.
It's counterintuitive, but I'm hoping that increasing my caloric intake with more good foods will fool my body through slow, steady weight loss. If I want to lose a ton of weight quickly, I've proven I can do that. That is no longer my goal. My goal is to be healthy and to permanently lower my body fat percentage.
This blog will monitor my progress and give me an opportunity to share what I've learned. Feel free to offer advice and please, keep me in your prayers.
