My 2 weeks became 3 weeks in the cardiac unit of a hospital with
my father. It will change your attitude about food, weight and life.
Recently my 77 year old father had to have a valve replaced
in his heart and also had another valve that was leaking repaired. Due to complications the 5 to 10 day hospital
stay became a 20 day stay. I was lucky
enough to have enough time saved up at work that I was able to be there with
him all day every day. While my father’s
issue was genetic (I have been tested and do not have the issue). He may have
been the only person on the floor that was not grossly overweight. The recovery
from open heart surgery is long and painful. While there we saw many patients
come and go. All had the same struggles to walk again and the pain of relearning
so much.
The majority of the patients had cardiovascular disease as a
direct result of years of poor diet which caused obesity. I looked at myself and reflected on my
life. I have been morbidly obese most of
my adult life. I have had huge weight
swings because I went on a “diet” and then went off the “diet” when I reached
my goal (or as I got close or whenever a temptation came along). I cannot tell
you how many mornings I woke up and said today is the day and ended up eating
shit by lunch.
Walking around the hospital looking at the patients, sitting
with my father and looking at myself I became motivated, I chose to stop
following fads, I chose to stop selling myself short and I chose to raise my
quality of life. I listened to Mark Sisson’s interview on the Joe Rogan
Podcast, I had already read most of the book and even lost a few pounds on it
but was not fully committed to the lifestyle.
One of the things he said that struck me is… When dieting most people
try to figure out what they can get away with on a diet. He chose to figure out
what he could live without. I have used
this and it works.
The trip was life changing for me. I spent 2 weeks eating whatever I wanted,
drinking beer and just “enjoying myself”.
I rationalized it by thinking when I get home THEN I will be back on
track. However as the 3rd
week started I felt like absolute shit.
Also, after listening the above podcast along with seeing all the cardiac
patients made it easier for me to just stop all of it. I quit wheat I quit most added sugar (down to
less than 20 grams of added sugar a day). I found Whole Foods and ate off their
food bar. I stopped drinking beer and
switched to vodka with Perrier. I did not work out… I got home weighed myself
and I lost 7 lbs while I was there. ALL
of it was from the last week. I lost the bloat from the weeks before and felt
great.
I have been back for almost 2 weeks I have lost another 6
lbs. I have remained off the wheat and
added sugar… my big down fall has been drinking diet soda I struggle to give
that up, but I am will. I am really proud of the fact that I have not slid back
into old habits, I continue to lose fat and inches. In fact I have dropped a pant size dropped 2
from September when I was in Memphis.
I want to go further into a lot of subjects so here is an
outline of stuff I will be talking about.
- Taste buds changing
- Improved ability to exercise
- Lack of bloating
- Eating correct is simple but takes planning
