My year of living carblessly

While on Holidays in January, I set out on a Kayaking trip with my son Dave and my wife Sue.  

It was a miserable experience.  I couldn’t sit straight in the little seat and kept sliding forward.  Why? Because I was too big!  Truth is; I had been feeling pretty unhappy with my weight for a while.  It was making me feel uncomfortable, tired and short of breath.

At the doctors I weighed in at 125kg (276 pounds) .. not good, something had to change.

I also realised that this was one part of my life that need to be brought under control.  I definitely felt under conviction.  As a Pastor I was not setting a good example.

So at my birthday dinner with Sue I told her I was going Carb Free and she said “so am I”

And the next day we began and now, in November, we look and feel very different.  Both of us have produced dramatic results. Sue has reached her goal weight, I am already down to 85 Kilos (186 pounds), with a final goal of another 5-8 Kilos. That’s 40 kilos in 10 months and no Jenny Craig or weight watchers!

While this programme worked for me, do talk to your doctor, read everything and other people who have tried it. And don’t give up. 

The biggest thing is to learn to say NO!

A few weeks after the dinner came my birthday present.  An Apple Watch and with it a commitment to an exercise programme.  So I have closed the circles every day for now over 265 consecutive days.  I love my watch for not just the support it gives for my exercise, but also although other great things it does.

To say I feel better would be an understatement.  I feel healthier, happier, fitter and more energised.  But quite a lot poorer given that I have had to spend quite a lot on a completely new wardrobe.

So what was my programme?  To be honest it changed as I have gone along.   I have refined and changed, particularly as I learned what worked best.   Every Kilo lost has been a victory of sorts.  I just kept seeing new goals as each was attained.

One of the main things to learn is that we do not need to eat as much as we think we do 

So here is my programme as it is now.

FOOD

Breakfast – 2 eggs boiled (occasionally add bacon, with eggs fried sunny side up) – No bread!

Lunch – a protein bar, with an apple added 3 times a week

Dinner – A reasonably normal meal, with the exception of carb items listed below.  Protein and Veg or salad, cooked in a variety of ways.  We enjoy curries, roasts, BBQ in fact a good variety helps To keep us on track.  But smaller portions are good, we don’t need to eat as much as we think we do.

The new me

Not included on the diet list

Potato, sweet potato (kumara), rice, bread, noodles, flour, avoid sugar.  No desert, no beer, an occasional glass of wine as a treat.  No snacking between meals (I did have nuts as a last resort, but don’t really need them now).  Sue is now able to enjoy some of the things above as she has reached her goal, but still in moderation.

I also found that often when we are hungry, we are really thirsty, so I drink a lot of water, I put natural sweetener (Natvia) in my flat whites and have always drunk my tea without sugar.

Read labels

A lot of the carb content of in food is sugar.  Did you know that light milk has about twice the sugar content of normal milk?  I also discovered that the right type of fat is OK.  Be careful with oil, Olive oil is great! Butter is better than margarine.  It appears that everything we used to think was right (low fat etc) is not quite as we thought.

AND LEARN TO SAY NO!

EXERCISE 

Most days I walk 6 kilometres, which I try to do in 50 minutes to an hour.  Once a week I take that up to 11 Kilometres in under 2 hours.  I haven’t found that at my age exercise help much with weight loss, but it does help keep it off.

The old me

It took me a while to work up to my current programme.  I did what could and built it up bit by bit.  Now I love my morning walk, such a great way to start the day.  I have the  “NIV live” app downloaded on my phone and walk along listening to the Bible being read to e as I walk.  So far I have listened my way the entire Bible 3 times.

Keeping it going … well that’s my plan.  Sue and I are heading off to Europe for a couple of months in Jan/feb while I am on study leave, so there are challenges ahead to stay on track, but I am determined  to hang on to what has been achieved and to improve on it.  My year of living carblessly may just turn into 2 years and beyond!