My Weight Journey

I am one of those people who has struggled with weight most of my life. One major reason is because I didn’t understand biology and nutrition. Most people don’t. Especially back in the 60s, growing up dirt poor, we ate what we could afford.

Actually, up until I was a teenager, my weight was not something I thought about. I was average. I remember getting a family picture taken and I was aghast to see myself in a picture at 160 pounds. How did this happen? 

Over the years I tried a series of fad diets and some worked for a while but it was always hard work. In 2012, I moved to Arizona and started riding my bike everyday. I lived on bananas and peanut butter and got down to 136 pounds. I’m 5 foot 8. 

In 2013, I got a full time job as a fire lookout and was not able to ride everyday. I put on a few pounds over the next year. In 2014, I moved back to my hometown of Spokane, Wa. I discovered craft beer and ballooned up to 200 pounds within a year. I was also going to school full time and got addicted to sugar and went up to 220. Not only was I fat, but I felt sick and tired all the time. I went to see my doctor and he said, “try to lose some weight.” No shit, Sherlock.

Then one day while surfing the internet, I saw an ad for some pills that would help with the “Keto” diet. I had never heard of this so I did some research and decided to try it. I think the pills were MCT oil. These pills, in combination with cutting out ALL carbs, I started to see a decrease in my weight every day. Maybe it was just a half pound or even a quarter pound a day but my weight went down consistently every day. I ended up finishing off the bottle of pills although I probably didn’t need them. I think I would have lost the weight anyway. 

I started putting a teaspoon of MCT oil in my morning coffee everyday and I made chocolate snacks to eat when I felt hungry. They were made with coconut oil, dark cocoa powder and stevia. After eating a small square of that, I wasn’t hungry for at least 4 hours. I also had to come to grips with my relationship with food. I would eat when I was stressed or bored or depressed or whenever I saw food on TV. I had to figure out if it was really hunger I was feeling or something else. A person can go 7 days without food so if I thought I felt hungry after 7 minutes, it was not real hunger. After a few months I added some salad to my diet because lettuce has like one calorie per cup. It had no effect on my weight and I felt I needed the nutrition and fiber. After a year and half, I was down to 130 pounds. I had lost 90 pounds.

That’s when I thought I should add some fruit to my diet. I started eating apples because they taste good and are high in nutritive value and fiber. After a few months, I noticed I was eating 5 to 6 apples a day. My weight quickly increased to 160 pounds. I had to get back on track. Being 63 years old, my metabolism is basically nothing. I realized I cannot eat more than 700 calories a day without gaining weight. So, I cut out the apples and any other fruit. I really had to cut calories. Exercise has really had no effect on my weight. 

All during the 18 month weight loss journey, I never exercised once. Currently, I am riding my bike at least 30 minutes per day. Maybe it helps a micro amount, maybe it doesn’t. However, it doesn’t hurt (figuratively). At 64, I feel like I need to do everything I can to stay as healthy as possible. That means working out 6 days a week and having goals.

I have been doing well at maintaining 130 pounds give or take one or two.