Did you gain weight in 2009? Start living healthy for 2010 today

Weight gain is a call to action, not defeat

We have now officially made it through the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays yet again and how many people are willing to stand up and say they stuck to their low-carb lifestyle 100 percent every step of the way? Anyone? Well, I know some have and I congratulate them for their persistence in their healthy lifestyle change. It is certainly a place where many people would like to be.

But for others, maybe you’ve added on to the weight gain you had prior to the past couple of months and you’ve decided the time is right to do something about it. Welcome to the next chapter in your journey to better health and I hope to offer education, encouragement, and inspiration to you as you begin this great adventure! It’s not always gonna be a smooth ride, but you’ll never regret going down this path for yourself.

When you’ve been livin’ la vida low-carb for quite a few years and lost a significant amount of weight like I did in 2004 shedding 180 pounds, people often wonder if your body weight just magically stays the same year after year without any fluctuations at all. Oh, don’t I wish it worked that way! The reality is that even when you are doing everything you know to be “right” that helped you lose the weight to begin with, sometimes the weight will begin to creep back on again ever-so-slowly. It’s not a sudden thing just as weight gain doesn’t happen overnight.

But what if you seem to be doing everything right and there’s no weight loss? Or even worse — WEIGHT GAIN! Is it the end of the world? Do you just pack up your efforts towards living a healthy lifestyle and say the heck with it all? It can certainly feel that way at times and I can personally attest to the frustration that comes with gaining back some weight.

As I documented many times in 2008, a sudden 30-pound weight gain just refused to budge and come off of my body no matter what I seemed to do. In fact, the issue continued in 2009 and got even worse with another 20-pound weight gain for a total weight gain of 50 pounds over the past two years. What the heck is going on here?! This isn’t supposed to be happening.

I’m having a full thyroid function panel run using Dr. William Davis’ Complete Thyroid Profile Home Blood Test Kit to try to find out some answers to this. But until the results come in, I am working on making a few subtle changes to tighten up my low-carb lifestyle here and there by doing those things that have produced the best results over the past couple of years of tinkering. I started back today drinking protein shakes, cutting way down on my overall fluid consumption (something suggested by Dr. Robert Su during my visit with him last week in VA), and being extra careful about the carbohydrates I am allowing in my mouth. These are all things I recognize I need to work on that may help turn the tide of what is happening. Beyond any medical reason that we find, I know what to do when it comes to healthy low-carb living.

Of course, I will always STRONGLY believe in a natural, grass-fed and organic whole foods-based diet that is consists of a high-fat, moderate-protein, low-carb nutritional approach with a level of calories that keeps you from being hungry. That will never change for as long as I will live because I have seen too much good that has come from it. Maybe some people have a tendency to consume more calories than are necessary because old habits begin to creep in again, but that doesn’t mean anyone needs to go to drastic levels under 1200 daily to make weight loss happen. That’s just not necessary.

Speaking of health, that’s the one bit of good news in this whole scenario with my weight being elevated. My LDL cholesterol particle size is primarily the large, fluffy kind, my HDL “good” cholesterol is well above 50, my triglycerides are below 100, and a CT heart scan of my arteries a few months back showed zero plaque buildup! I still don’t take any prescription medications anymore, although I love taking my supplements that are working with the foods I eat to do my body a lot of good: CoQ10, iron-free multivitamin, fish oil, magnesium, acidophilus, vitamin D3 gel caps, MCT oil, and EGCG.

So, while it is a bit dismaying to see the weight creeping up a bit and the clothes fitting tighter than before, I’m not giving up or losing hope. Not now, not ever! Although I will admit it is frustrating for this to happen, the thing that keeps me going is knowing that I am being pro-active about this and taking every measure possible to bring it under control. Sadly, many people go back to eating sugar, flour, and all that other carbage that they just don’t need when the scale stops cooperating. But I know better and am motivated by my stellar health.

Regardless of where you are in your low-carb journey, keep your chin up. You might have been knocked down hard in 2009, but that’s okay. It’s time to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and begin anew on your own personal journey to a healthier YOU. There will be a lot of messages trying to entice you to do this, that, and everything else in between over the next few weeks to shed the pounds, but I say don’t even put the focus on the weight loss. Start living healthy and the nice side effect of weight loss will spontaneously happen. You are worth it and deserve nothing less than the best. Be encouraged to NEVER GIVE UP no matter how hard it may seem.

Despite my setback over the past couple of years which I’ve talked about openly here at my blog many times, I’m still jazzed that I’ve kept off a triple-digit weight loss and still care enough about what I’m putting in my mouth to keep the junk out and the nutritious stuff in. Whatever 2010 has in store for me, I can feel confident that I will continue making those better choices for myself even as I try to figure out what may be happening with my weight gain issues. I’ll be interviewing former Biggest LoserSeason 3 winner Erik Chopin next week who knows a thing or two about weighing over 400 pounds, losing a significant amount of weight, and then gaining most of it back. I hope to squeeze that one into the podcast schedule in late January 2010.

I had Christine take a couple of photos of me today without my shirt on to show you what I look like now. You’ve been fairly warned:

By the look on my face, you can tell I’m not a happy camper right now with how my body looks. UGH! That gut is so repulsive to me and it seems to be the place on my body where I’ve gained most of the 50 pounds. Some of it is still the excess loose skin from my original weight loss in 2004, so it looks worse than it could be. But I’m not satisfied staying this way and am taking appropriate measures to bring my weight back down again. I will not be assigning any kind of “goal weight” or other such nonsense like that because my weight is not really important to me.

Being healthy, feeling great, staying active, eating nutritious high-fat, low-carb meals, and looking good all play a role in this equation. If that means a 50-pound weight loss to get me there, then so be it. Maybe it will be 60, 70, or even 100 pounds. I’m not gonna put this in a narrow box and expect to accomplish what I have set out to do. The sky is the limit and I’m ready to take it on. Won’t you join me on this journey that will never end for the rest of your entire life? What a ride it will be and you’ll be better off as a result.

Now that I’ve thrown it all out there (LITERALLY!) for everyone to see, I’d love to hear your feedback. Have you struggled with your weight and find yourself in a similar predicament of wondering what’s going on? Have you overcome a situation like this before and want to offer up some friendly advice for your fellow readers? I also welcome your feedback via e-mail anytime if you don’t want to share publicly. I understand what you are going through and am right there with you when it comes to dealing with the reality of weight management. Together we will beat this one pound at a time!