• I started the diet on Sept. 26th 2009. I weighed in at 274.8 lbs (not my highest ever) I wore size XXL shirts, and size 44 jeans.
• On my weigh in on December 22nd (87 days after I started) I had hit  229.2 lbs. My pant size was down to 38, and I had moved to mostly L shirts.
• On March 18th I weighed 204.4 lbs (173 days) I am now wearing size M shirts, and my pant size is down to 34.

The details of the plan I used are as follows: I was first turned on to the idea of a low carbohydrate diet when I read this post on Tim Ferris’ blog. After which I picked up two books, “The 6 Week Cure to the Middle Aged Middle” by Dr’s Eades, and “Good Calories, Bad Calories” by Gary Taubes. When the books came I almost immediately started weeks one and two from the six week cure, then stayed in weeks 3 and 4 throughout the first 90 days of my diet. Basically, trying to keep my carb count as low as possible every day. I would weigh myself every day and in times where my weight would trend up, I would do a couple days of shakes, and get back on the meat weeks again. Also, if I didn’t have time to make breakfast I would often make a shake as it was fast and easy to do.

Some introduction to a low-carb diet:

• What is a low- carb diet? -Wikipedia knows!
• Do I have to eat meat all the time? -If you look at this low carb food pyramid you can see that you primarily eat veggies and proteins. You can get protein from lots of places, most easily from meat, like red meat, fish, and eggs, as well as from nuts and beans and such.
• Didn’t Atkins die of heart problems? -This is a myth. Check out this interesting article about low carb diet myths here.

Now before you start getting after me about how low carb diets will kill you or that they are patently unhealthy, first,  watch this. Gary Taubes explains that not only is a low carb diet not unhealthy, but in fact the ideal way to live a healthy life (See his book above and also see “Life without Bread“). Through my reading I had to fundamentally change my thinking about 3 things:

• The human body does not use food like a car uses gas. It is not as simple as calories in, calories out. I tried this method for two years with no real success. You gain weight because of insulin and other hormones.
• When your insulin levels go out of whack you get a lot more than just fat, in fact I had more than a dozen issues that we cured by the low carb lifestyle.
• A low carb diet will not kill you, or the planet. I had a friend who started this same diet after hearing my story. He was not fat, but had very high cholesterol. After doing the diet for 6 weeks, his cholesterol dropped and was able to come off his prescriptions. For details about how this works, see Taubes’ book above. To see how eating meat is actually not destroying the planet, read “The Vegetarian Myth“.

As a self-declared scientist I decided to really put this diet to the test and not do any exercise while on the plan. I did not workout at the gym, park on the far side of the parking lot, take the stairs, or anything out of the ordinary. In fact I was probably less active the first 90 days than I had been in years.

Before I started I was afraid of the low carb plan. I loved and craved sweets frequently and was worried this would be constant battle to stick with the plan. As it turned out, this was one of the easiest diet plans I have ever followed. The first day of the shake week I was sure I was going to be starving, but in fact, I was so full, it was hard to eat all my dinner. By the 3rd week my cravings for sweets and carbs almost completely dissolved away. After a meal I wasn’t craving sweets anymore, bread lost it’s hold over me, as did pasta. It felt miraculous.

When I was overweight I felt awful. I did’t fully realize how bad it was until I was looking back after week 4, but it was bad. I was tired all the time. I would come home after work and just feel exhausted I didn’t want to do anything. I wasn’t sleeping well and my skin was in terrible shape. I would get sick easily and just feel bad all the time. Also, since my teenage years I had small pimples that would persistently live on the top of my forehead, and my skin was oily and pale.

Four weeks into the plan, I noticed dramatic changes. My pimples were gone, and my skin felt great. My neck and checks also tightened up a lot even though I had not lost that much weight. In fact looking at older pictures, my face is less puffy now than it was when I was 20 lbs lighter in my engagement photos. My energy levels shot through the roof, and I felt amazing. I slept better at night and my overall health improved dramatically. I was quite surprised how this change made this much difference in such a small amount of time.

As an experiment during Thanksgiving I gave myself permission to eat whatever I wanted, and learned two valuable lessons. First, coming off a low carb diet is not something one should do overnight. And secondly, the things I thought I missed on my low carb diet, were not as good as I thought they were. Potatoes lost their pull, as did pies, rolls, pasta, and many of the other carbs I thought I would miss.

The day after Thanksgiving I came to the realization that I felt more amazing on a low carb diet at age 30, than I had when I was 20. I knew that low carb was going to be my permanent way of life. I wasn’t going to stay on the “Meat Weeks” forever, so after losing 45 lbs, I switched to a maintenance mode. I included nuts and beans in my diet, and occasionally eat bites of desert, and I still kept losing weight. I don’t feel like I am depriving myself of anything, and I have been able to cut down to 204 lbs (from 284.8 in this picture). On top of that I feel better than I ever have in my life.

I cannot express in words how much of a difference there is being on this low carb diet to where I was before. It has improved my life in almost every way. Going shopping after losing so much weight one of the funnest things I have done in a long time. At work people saw my weight loss and started following suit and they are losing weight like crazy. If you are overweight and want to lose weight, even if you don’t have a weight problem but feel tired, sick, or otherwise unhealthy, you owe it to yourself to try this out. Check out the books I have listed, and follow the plan. If you have questions, or need help, feel free to contact me directly:

Nacho
(801) 987-0695 call or text
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P.S. While I did not workout during this experiment, weight training can be a huge part in losing weight and getting in shape. This summer I am riding my bike and doing a slow-burn style workout to continue my progress.

Through the years I have come up with many answers to this question: I’m good at sales, I’m good at learning new things, I’m good at working with people, I’m good at computers, etc. But none of these was really the answer. It wasn’t until this morning when it finally hit me, “I am a scientist”. Not in the sense that I wear a lab coat or write out long mathematical equations on a chalkboard. Instead, I experiment with things much closer to home.

In work I experiment with all aspects of my job like verbal communication, trying different approaches, methods, and even words to make sure the message gets across. In my leadership positions I try different coaching and motivational methods until I find out what really works. To deal with my ADD I spent years working and perfecting an organizational system what worked with my scattered brain. Most recently, I finally discovered a major key in being healthy and losing weight. Looking back over my life I realize the reason I have grown so much is because I experiment with life.

I am a scientist in pursuit of the truths of life. Sure, it’s not looking at the origin of the universe, curing cancer, or fixing a hole in the ozone layer, but I think that the pursuit of improvement and truth in the areas of health, relationships, and business are of just as much value.

I could hear my shoes shifting the small grains on cement on the sidewalk. It was so still and peaceful as I walked to the bus stop. I stood under the only working streetlight on the street and shifted my weight onto the back of my heels, settling in for a wait. I took a long breath of the sweet summer air and exhaled slowly. Staring out down the street I waited for signs of the headlights to appear on the horizon.

I was completely unaware of the man crouched in the shadows behind me. He moved in slowly, in complete silence.  When he was within reach he stood up carefully and quietly, lifting the steel pipe behind his head. He paused for a moment, but not in doubt, no he was sure of what he was doing. He only paused to set his body into the proper position, to ensure a hard clean blow.

After a deep, silent breath, his arms swung forward sending the pipe hurtling full speed toward my head. You could hear a faint whistle as the pipe’s motion cut the air. CRACK! My skull split open as my body whent tumbling face first to the floor. I felt the blood gushing down my hair as he continued his assault down my spine, legs, ams and feet. When he was done he threw the pipe behind me and turned to walk away. I struggeled to turn my head to catch a glipse of my attacker. I peeled my eyelids apart and was just barely able to see him, to recognize him.

“Hello Morning,” I said, “I wasn’t expecting you so early.”