355 Pounds - The Starting Point

I'm starting this journey at 355 pounds.  Sure it's a big improvement over the 471-pound behemoth I once was but I definitely need to lose more weight.

I'm anxious to see how Paleo and I get along.

A Totally Different Set of Rules

My daughter became my informal "Paleo Coach" as she had a very good knowledge of what to eat and what not to eat.  The crazy this about Paleo is that it defies everything I have ever learned about dieting to lose weight.

A rule of thumb with Paleo:  think of primal man wandering about the plain, forest, woods, whatever, hunting and foraging for food.  Would he come across a croissant or a baguette? Would he find a diet Coke or block of cheese?  I think it's safe to assume that our primal friend would only find various edible plants as well as small, medium or large animals with edible flesh.

The overall concept is simple:  try to eliminate anything that causes an insulin response.  This prevents fat from being stored in the body.

First, A Little Background

I'd like to share my weight loss journey with anyone who will listen.  I'm 55 years old and I've been a software developer since I was 20.  I was never overweight in my 20's and 30's.  In fact, I was in pretty good shape, running a lot and lifting weights.  In the 80's and 90's I ran road races regularly along with couple marathons and a few sprint triathlons here and there.  I'm just shy of 6'1" and my true 'fighting weight' is around 205 pounds.

As I entered my 40's I found that I was becoming much more sedentary and I began travelling quite a bit for work.  The travel caused my exercise patterns began to fade and, thanks to a generous expense account, I found myself eating rich restaurant food on a regular basis.  I gained dozens of pounds in an 18-month span.  Before I knew it I was 48 years old and I was just shy of 300 pounds.

But it got worse.

Even though I began to travel less and less, the eating pattern continued.  I had to abandon scales that maxed at 350 pounds and opt for a 'bariatric scale' that handled up to 500 pounds.  At 51 years old I had passed 400 pounds and then some.  My doctor gave me a lecture at every visit so I avoided him whenever possible.

At 54 years old I reached my highest weight of 471 pounds.  I felt like crap 24-7.  I couldn't sleep, I couldn't walk more than 25 yards and every joint in my body hurt all the time.  In a word - I was miserable.

I had a few scary health situations that motivated me to lose about 100 pounds.  Basically I stopped drinking alcohol and ate only non-processed foods.  I felt a lot better but my weight seem stuck in 350 - 370 pound range.

For the past year or so one of my daughters had been telling me, "Dad, you have to try Paleo".  I finally paid attention and started Paleo about 3 months ago.

And so the journey was underway.