How I lost 50 pounds this summer.

Okay, 49 pounds, but close enough for the headline and I need a blog post.

Short version, I got really fat, but I’ve recently lost a bunch of weight with:

A. Intermittent Fasting
B. Low Carb
C. Caloric Restriction (not really on purpose, but because of A and B.

Long version:
I’ve always been a big guy. I’m 6’5″. In college I weighed 270, but that was with a lot of muscle mass. After I started doing an office job, I went up to 300 and stayed around that for a long time. I was comfortably plump, but still big and strong enough that I didn’t look super fat.

But as I got older, that weight started creeping up on me. A couple of years ago I started lifting weights again to stay in some semblance of shape, which was nice, but then at the beginning of 2018 I injured my elbow badly (It turns out when you’re 42 you can’t do a bunch of fast reps curling a 75 pound dumbbell in one hand like you did when you were 22. And yes, I was doing it to show off to my teenage son).

I had to stop lifting and go to physical therapy. Unfortunately, I kept eating like I was still lifting weights and I kind of ballooned up. When I got on the scale at the physical therapists office, instead of being just over 300 like I’ve been for a very long time, I weighed 335! That was a shock.

My dad passed away last year after having a ton of health problems for a long time. He was only six foot even, but at one point he weighed over 400. He collected heart attacks like some kids collect Pokemon. Hell, he had one heart attack and WALKED IT OFF (Correias are remarkably tough).

But with my dad in mind, and realizing that I was getting super fat, not getting any younger, and being mostly unable to do my favorite forms of exercise because of my stupid arm (weights and punching bag), I knew I needed to do something.

Then one day I met John D. Brown for lunch. He’s another author and we’re working on a science fiction novel together (it is going to be awesome. Think space pirates who steal giant fighting robots for a living, get sucked into a revolt on an awful colony world). John’s another big guy, normally built like me, but he was looking really fit. He said it was because he was doing intermittent fasting.

I hate hate hate dieting, and I love food. I looked intermittent fasting up online. The idea there was to skip breakfast, and do all your eating between like noon and 8. That way your body has a 16 hour fasting period to burn fat.  It’s supposed to burn fat and lower insulin levels.

I’m not much of a breakfast guy anyway (but I do love to snack) so I gave it a shot.  The hardest part was not snacking during the morning or drinking soda. You’ve got to understand that writers love snacks. Most of my books have been created by a steady supply of potato chips and Coke. Man, I love me some chippos.

At the same time, everybody is talking about how bad carbs are. Okay. I know from previous experience that if I eat less sugar and bread, I lose some weight. So I decided to go low carb too. Not zero carb mind you, because A. That sounds really hard. and B. My wife still has to cook dinner for the whole family, we have four kids, and that would be a nightmare for her.

So I drastically cut down on the carbs. I quit buying chips and cookies. So now I don’t eat at all until 11 or noon. Then I make myself lunch (and it’s all meat and vegetables). Then at dinner I eat whatever we are having for family dinner, and I try to go easy on whatever the carby parts are. Then nothing after dinner until lunch the next day. And since you’re asleep for half of it, it doesn’t even seem like that long.

The last part of this is that because I’m only eating two meals a day, and no snacking at all outside the 8 hour window, I’m also eating fewer calories overall. That doesn’t really feel like dieting. It’s more like a function of time, and I still get to eat good and be full, just in a narrower window.

I started this in May weighing 335. This morning I was 286. My goal is 270 because that’s what I weighed in college (and I have a wager with my wife). Only I was far more muscular then, so when I get to 270 now I’ll have to assess if I want to keep going.

It hasn’t been too bad either.

First off, lunch. We’ve got a good local butcher shop. So basically I just go there once a month and buy a ton of meat. Usually frozen sausages. And they’ve got like 30 kinds. Then for lunch I have a couple sausages (different flavor every couple days) on top of a bag of frozen vegetables. It’s fast, I eat a bunch of protein, and go back to work.

But because I keep switching up the sausages of the world, I haven’t gotten tired of it yet.

I’ve dropped close to 50 pounds over 4 months, but during that I’ve had LibertyCon and GenCon. Now when you go to a con, you’ve got travel/flight days, where your schedule is all weird. And then you’ve got the actual event days when you are on a goofy schedule that runs for weird hours, and you basically eat whatever is available whenever you’ve got an open space in your schedule. So for nearly two weeks of the summer I didn’t fast, and I ate a lot of carbs.

(oh yeah, and one pizza and ice cream date, because Bridget and I wanted to be bad)

Dinner I still eat whatever we are having, but Bridget has been mixing a bag of salad every night too for filler. Then I go light on the rice/potatoes/noodles etc and try to fill up on whatever the meat is. Most of my carb intake now is from things like peas, green beans, and whatever sauce I put on the vegetables to make them not horribly boring. (man, vegetables suck, but luckily meat is awesome).

I’ve also cut my soda intake. A couple of years ago I switched to Coke Zero instead of Coke, but I was still drinking about a two liter bottle a day. That sounds like a lot, but you’ve got to realize that writer’s brains run on caffeine. I know very few writers who don’t have some form of massive caffeine intake.

But I’m now down to one cup of diet soda a day after lunch. And if you try to take that from me, I will cut you.

I tried to cut soda cold turkey a few years ago, but my family had to have an intervention and tell me that I was being a cranky bastard. However this time I’ve been able to cut down because I discovered the miracle of “squirty juice” (I think it’s actually called Mio) and you put a few drops of this stuff in a big cup of water so it has a bit of flavor and isn’t boring. So you don’t feel picked one because you’re drinking it instead of a proper Coke.

Since the skinny pictures of me have been floating around, people have asked me if I’ve been exercising. Not particularly. I go on brain storming walks maybe once or twice a week, but that’s a couple miles tops. My arm is healing nicely (I actually had to shoot with my left hand for a few months. It was good practice) and my plan is once I hit 270, to start pumping iron again.

I’ve gone from size 44 pants to size 38.  Keep in mind the size 44 waist was baggy because I carry a gun inside the waistband. But they had gotten so tent like that my pants started falling off whenever I walked. I went to 40s and was using a hole on my belt that I’d never used before (like hey there little fella, haven’t seen you before). That lasted all of a month before my new pants were falling off again. I’ve gone to 38s, and have had to poke a new hole into my belt.

So I don’t know if it’s the fasting, the calorie restriction, the low carb, or the combo of the three, but this is best I’ve felt in a long time. I’ve not weighed this much since my 16 year old was born.  I hit 270 and I’ll weigh what I did when I was a buffed college student and my 18 year old was born.

I know now why you cry, K Tempest Bedford Forrest, but it's something I can never do.
August Update Post

92 thoughts on “How I lost 50 pounds this summer.”

  1. My grandfather had a bunch of heart attacks too. His treatment regimen consisted of a shot of whiskey, then back to work. He died before I was born at age 59.

    1. So, not an effective plan then. Too bad he didn’t take 2 aspirin w/ the whiskey: he might have made it to retirement age…

  2. Nicely done, Larry and good for you. We want to keep you around for a while. Purely selfish reasons, of course.
    I dropped 35 pounds a year ago, doing pretty much the same thing you’ve done. It works, and I’ve found it to be maintainable.

    John Brown’s books are great, looking forward to that collaboration.

  3. When I was 42 I showed off to my little ones on a jungle gym/monkey bars how I used to pretend I was Tarzan. I smashed my elbow so violently I hurt my shoulder. I’m now 45 and I have bursitis in my elbow and shoulder and all because I completely misjudged my abilities.

    1. @Woelf Dietrich
      In MMA training I tapped too late and had my elbow hyperextended. I’ve also popped floating ribs on both sides, injured both shoulders, and injured both knees.

      It’s possible to come back from all of it. Physical therapy, ice, and consistency work wonders. I have some creaks but no everyday pain.

  4. “hey there little fella, haven’t seen you before”

    …you talking to the hole in your belt or to something a little lower?

    1. Actually, dropping the weight can get you the physiological equivalent of being younger.

      I would not be surprised if Mrs. C is looking at Larry and thinking she’s seeing the version of Larry she married X number of years ago.

  5. Congrats, that’s a lot of discipline.

    If you really want to quit caffeine, I did it by going on a silent meditation retreat for 10 days. No caffeine, no alcohol, all vegan diet. Day 3 was deeply unpleasant. After that, I’ve been caffeine-free for almost three years, down from a pot of coffee and four diet Cokes a day.

    You do have to hang out with a lot of lost hippies for the 10 days, though.

    1. Sounds like an excellent splatter-movie concept – THE PATCHOULI SLEEPAWAY MASSACRE, with a camo-painted Larry looming out of the woods over an unsuspecting guitar-wielding hippie sitting at the campfire, ala the poster for GRIZZLY.

    2. No caffiene, no alcohol? That’s not a retreat, that’s Mormon boot camp! Vegan? My ancestors didn’t spend 2 million years biting, kicking, clawing & burning their way up the food chain just so I could eat what food eats! Obligate carnivory doesn’t sound so bad; pretty much the best part of keto diets, IMO! ;-D

  6. For drinks, try Jocko White Tea – find it on Amazon. 100 for 20 something $, delivered. Heard about it on jockopodcast.com

  7. No Sugar No Grain, a la Vinnie Tortorich. Had feet problems that, once solved, left me 350 (my optimal weight is 250). I’ve been doing the low carb (NSNG) thing for awhile and I’m back to 280. Been floating around here so I need a little exercise back in this programmer’s life.

    As long as you’re not a huge pussy who can’t be without their little pussy ass carbs, this is the diet. Just set up regular goals (like every 10lb less you weigh) and have a cheat day/weekend/week. Go load up on whatever you loved. Make yourself sick eating it. You’ll feel awful, which will help you stay on the diet.

    My last cheat was to buy a loaf of a particular style of bread I love. Toast SOAKED in irish butter (like dripping), and mayonnaise-fried cheese and bacon sandwiches until I passed out. My first was to eat a couple bags of chips, some ice cream sandwiches, and a bunch of pizza. I learned my lesson never to do that again.

    Side note, the name and email fields on the comment form were filled in with Cameron McCurry’s name and email address. Methinks you have a website problem, sir. And so does Cameron, as he’s going to get some interesting images in his inbox soon.

    Very interesting.

  8. Low carb is like magic. Once you adapt you don’t have to count calories at all, and intermittent fasting just happens sometimes. Because you just aren’t hungry.
    Paratrooper weight (30 years ago) 145lbs. (5’11”)
    October 2017 weight, 242lbs.
    216 this morning at the Dr. (I don’t own a scale capable of measuring more than 10lbs or so, so I only weigh at the Dr).

    I have eggs, cheese, and whatever mystery meat is handy for breakfast. (bacon or sausage, but in a time pinch a chopped hotdog or some pepperoni will do just fine).
    No lunch
    Meat and veggies for dinner.
    If you want something that pretends to be a starch, cauliflower rice works. Doesn’t soak up the gravy the same as a potato though.

    Yesterday I had “dinner” about 3pm. Had fasting lab work this morning, so no breakfast, went straight to work after. Not dying of hunger, so I’ll have gone 27ish hours without eating when I have dinner tonight.

    And I still get the occasional milkshake (but only at the place that makes the good ones).

  9. Larry, congrats! I list 30 lbs these last few months same way. I started low carb (ketogenic diet) and fell into intermittent fasting because keto makes you feel full all the time. Did a 4 day water only fast (not so hard) and was super successful in healing. Look up Dr Jason Fung online. His interview with Dr Mercola on YouTube is facsinating. Good luck and stay healthy. I need periodic monster hunting input or I wither.

  10. Congrats on the weight loss (as a fan, I want you to stick around for a long time!) Yeah, I’m a middle-aged female, and weight loss is really hard for us. I’ve always felt better on low carb, but it’s intermittent fasting that’s really made the difference on weight loss.

    But the biggest difference this time is that I’m eating fats. I’d always done low fat before, which is really awful and boring. Being able to do healthy fats now has made all the difference in feeling satisfied with what I’m eating – veggies taste so much better when you can smother them in ranch dressing! And coffee and tea are almost desserts when you add cream and a sweetener.

  11. Congratulations! I lost a bunch of weight last year using an elliptical and walking. But then I gave myself two weeks off at Christmas and that turned into six months somehow. Time to get back on the dinosaur.

  12. Once, years ago, I did some temp work on second shift. I slept through breakfast, ate lunch at a diner or at the house, and supper at the plant’s cafeteria. I lost weight without trying, so I can see where’re you’re coming from. Of course, I was in my twenties.

  13. Way to go!! I’m doing much the same thing. I went from 233 to 205. I’m targeting 200 so almost there.

  14. Congratulations on the weight loss.

    I lost about 30 lbs years ago, and the biggest change that I made was to eliminate soda and desert from my diet nearly entirely.

    If you’re looking for other (effectively) no calorie beverages, cold brewing coffee and tea in the fridge is a great way to go. I have half gallon jars of half-caff coffee and decaf iced tea in my fridge at all times. There is no better way to wake up than a pint of cold brewed coffee, and the tea is my any time of the day drink.

    For the coffee, I recommend a filter basket that drops in the jar for the purpose (I got mine from Amazon and it is dishwasher safe). For the tea, I use “family sized” tea bags, which winds up being 2 to a jar instead of 8.

  15. Good man! This is how I stay in shape. The exercise is probably only 20% of it . We both gravitate toward the sausages and microwave veggies – they’re cheap and effective, and let you get back to what you were doing.

  16. Great job I am also losing weight and I’ve gone from 335 pounds and a 50 inch waist last October to 258 pounds and a 42 inch waist today . I did so by changing from a 1250 calorie fast food meal to a 460 calorie 6 inch sub at Subway before work and eating fruit at lunch at work. I also went from five to six 20 ounce sodas to bottled water with 5 calorie mix in sticks similar to the Mio that Larry uses. I’ve still got a way to go since I’m 5 inches shorter but one of the biggest benefits I have had is my blood pressure has gone from 300 on the top line to 138 on the top line. I wish Larry the best of luck in his endeavors losing weight and I hope everyone keeps me in mind as well because I can use all the good wishes I can get.

  17. Trader Joes has a great Black Kettle tea that gives lots of caffeine, and 0 carbs.

    It’s unsweetened, but, for me, the taste is actually enjoyable

  18. I didn’t know I had always been an intermittent faster until that term became more well known. Even though I retired from the Marines almost ten years ago, I’ve maintained my weight (more or less) by maintaining the eating schedule I’ve always had. Lord knows I didn’t maintain my exercise regimen.

    Your routine sounds similar to mine – restricted carbs, and no greater than an 8 hour consumption window, but usually 6 hours. I’m frequently asked how I’ve managed to keep an athletic-looking build without working out.

    Congrats on finding/trying the secret.

  19. Heh….

    Diets suck.
    Make IF and low carb a lifestyle (with occasional exceptions) and it is just something you do, instead of something that you can’t wait to end.

    The odd splurge – like when you are a guest or have that special date – isn’t a problem, because you “know” it isn’t normal and you just go back to eating great-tasting meat.

    I’m not worrying about weight any more. If I can see ribs and abs, I’m happy. Plus I can still walk up mountains at 54.

    Being a farmer, I kill my own sheep. Being a bachelor, I like my cooking uncomplicated. So I slow-roast big chunks of sheep. Eat hot roast mutton, then cold roast mutton…… then stew or curry the leftovers.

    Love your work. Long may you keep writing.

    Cheers….. Peter.

  20. Its frustrating how carbs can really do number on some of us but on others it’s just bussiness as usual. Be prepared to keep this lifestyle if you want the changes to stay permanently. Its worth the adaption. But if you hit your mark and back off the diet it will reverse faster than it came off. Permanent results require permanent change. Take from some one 216 lbs down. You also might be suprised how low you can go on carbs and find you don’t real really miss them that much because you feel soooo much better.

  21. Good Onya! But how in hell do you manage with that much blood in your caffeine stream? It can’t be good for you.

    1. *chuckle* I found myself having to cut down on caffeine – mostly because there was a point where it stopped working and instead of keeping me awake, I’d fall asleep. As in, I could not stop it.

      I can’t do low carb, and I cannot cut out sugar or salts (I have low blood sugar naturally — 4 or 5 normally– so it will crash hard if I don’t actually keep eating, and I’ve been penalized hard by physical results if I try low sodium. I’ve had extended arguments with fitness buffs who get upset that I pretty much eat whatever I want – once I got my metabolism back post anti-depressants.

      What I did as not really a diet either; I ate breakfast – large, but early in the morning; lunch was regularly a sandwich made with Turkish bread, and dinner wasn’t a large portion of whatever we were all having that day – because I just wasn’t as hungry in the evening.

  22. Brainstorming walks. That sounds like a great idea to try myself, at least when it’s not -30 here in the Great Frozen Northland.

  23. This is wonderful news! Glad to hear that you’re feeling better and having success with the new plan. Congratulations and good luck with the next 16 pounds. I agree with the other posters that we’d like you to stay healthy and keep writing entertaining books!

  24. Well Larry, I am embarking on the same issues. I will look up the whole intermittent fasting things. But dam good for you brother. I love all your books very much, and something happens well NOBODY WRITES LIKE YOU AND MY DAYS WHEN I LISTENING TO YOUR BOOKS WOULD JUST NOT BE AS GOOD AS THEY ARE WITH YOUR STORIES IN THEM.

    SO Keep yourself healthy, I love to listing and keep up the good works on your health …cheers.

  25. You should have come with us to the Brazilian Barbecue place at LC – a.k.a. the meat faucet. No carbs, all meat, and all you can eat. Guaranteed to put you into ketosis.

  26. Well, the first part of that sounds awful familiar – 6’3″ and 260 out of college…315 at 40…from 36 waist to 44…and getting ready to start a diet very similar to what you describe. Hoping I’ll see similar success!

  27. One thing to be careful about (and probably talk to a doctor about), is a potential side effect of rapid weight loss: gallstones. I’d ask about an ursodiol supplement, as it’s often recommended for someone who’s dropping pounds as quickly as you are.

  28. If you liked the yellow stuff, but want to go without the sugar…

    It’s almost seasonal and regional, it seems as a canned or bottle product (you can also find it in Coke Freestyle machines), but Mello Yello Zero is one of the few diet drinks I can tolerate (I can do Coke Zero, but while CZ tastes a lot like Coke I really don’t care for Coke much in the first place – A&W Ten tastes good but gives me headaches and of course doesn’t have caffeine).

    I also know people who have lost weight replacing their chips with either pork rinds or jerky.

    1. Huh, I’ve been trying to replace chips for awhile now. Jerky is great but too damn expensive for what you get. Never thought of pork rinds though, I’ll have to give them a try as long as they aren’t too salty (I’m on a low sodium restriction).

      1. Try out a can of Blue Diamond almonds instead. Protip: the habanero flavor is actually less spicy than the jalapeno variety.

        I hardly buy chips anymore other than tortilla chips. It’s hard to make nachos work without tortilla chips.

  29. Glad you are losing weight. I too am overweight and am struggling to lose weight. I lost 25 pounds and want to lose 75 more. I do love soda but have cut it out. I buy plain seltzer and then Ocean Spray 100% juice Cranberry juice, (don’t get the other varieties, they are too sweet). I put in around 2 ounces of 100% Cranberry Juice with around 12 ounces of seltzer. That is low calorie and it tastes good with no artificial sweeteners. So the drink is around 20 calories. I too have gone to eating more meat and I do love veggies. I just love carbs (good bread/pizza/pasta/rice) and I have reduced them but that is hard. I met you are the Half Price Books, book signing in Dallas.

  30. Congratulations on the weight loss, and thanks for the post on how you’re doing it. I had heard the phrase intermittent fasting off and on recently, and always just assumed it meant going one or two days a week without eating at all. So now I know I’ve been doing it for the last six or seven years without knowing it. Cool, I was trendy without knowing it.
    On low carb – when my wife developed type 2 diabetes we had to eliminate most carbs from our diet; she’s trying to manage it mostly through diet, and quickly discovered that most carbs sent her blood sugar through the roof. She did a lot of research and discovered a brand of pasta called Dreamfields that claims to be low (or at least lower) carb. Looking at the numbers on the package it doesn’t seem that much lower that any other brand, but they claim that they have some process that keeps you from absorbing or processing it like normal carbs. In any event, it’s the one brand of pasta she can eat with no effect on her blood sugar levels. For someone whose favorite meal is spaghetti, it’s been a life saver. (I have no financial interest in the company, I’m just a fan). If it’s available in your area you might want to check it out.

  31. Crystal Light has caffeine ones that aren’t bad. They’ve helped keep me further away from sugar.

    Though I was told at the VA to eat something with a little sugar to counter diabetes when I drink/eat “sugar free”.

  32. Aw man… Larry weighs less than I do! How did THAT happen?!?!

    Congrats man. Losing weight is always difficult but it looks like you found the thing that works for you. I’m going to look into it and see if it works for me too. I recently weighed myself and wasn’t surprised to see the needle just short of kissing 300. No surprise there, because my 44 waist jeans were starting to become a little snug (I bought them when my waist was 42, to make room for whatever I wanted to carry).

  33. Excellent results, Larry.

    I do much better when I eat salads to replace one meal. Problem is, I fricking hate salads. Smoothie is the answer there, works nicely.

    Caffeine replacement for pop, cappuccino. Buy the -good- cappuccino maker, aka the more than $1,200 one, (mine is a Rocket, it is -awesome-) and your caffeination is assured. I restrict my intake to three per day, keeps the synapses nicely oiled. Its fun experimenting with different coffee beans and different roasts too. My brew would make a Starbucks barista weep with envy.

    1. Re: Lifting with elbow injury.

      I’ve still got tennis/golfer’s elbow, mainly in the right arm but some traces in the left (I know those conditions are opposite sides of the elbow–tennis to the outside, golf to the inside, I believe it is, and I’ve had both of those) and can still lift by doing some different exercises. Look at Zercher squats, ditch pullups in favor of light cable or band pulls with a neutral grip, dumbbell instead of barbell bench presses, dumbbells all around for presses, and either dumbbells or a trap bar or both for deadlift variations using a neutral grip. Also, look at not gripping with the index finger as hard or as much. You have to go lighter and adjust the movement, but neutral grip and center bodyline (or as close to is as you can get) for movement line can get and keep you going again. And there are ways to keep intensity up even with light weights.

      If it’s something different than medial or lateral epicondylitis, ignore everything I said and do what the therapist tells you to do.

  34. Listen to the Joe Rogan Podcast with Gary Taubes, or read his book Why We Get Fat, and/or listen to any of the several podcasts Rogan has done with Dr Rhonda Patrick and Dr Peter Atilla. Beware of Patrick and Atilla, they get deep into the science of nutrition and diet and make my brain hurt but they keep it interesting. From all that it seems like 50 g carb/day or less is/should be the goal but YMMV.

    I loved Coke Zero but stopped drinking it when I read that the artificial sweetener in it shuts down the body’s ability to burn fat.

    Last, always remember that Joe Rogan has cheat days, Dwayne The Rock Johnson has cheat days. Cheat days are good. When I’m on vacation, I figure I’ve earned it. Don’t know how much weight I’ve dropped, don’t own a scale, but my belt is 7 holes to the right.

  35. The low carb/caloric control thing is no joke. I was diagnosed with diabetes a few years ago, and the doctor gave the customary pack of “what is diabetes” and diet info along with my metformin prescription. But to his surprise during my follow up, I actually followed the diet. In less than a year I dropped 40 pounds, my energy level skyrocketed, and in just over a year my levels dropped and BOOM!… No longer diabetic.

    But I gotta tell ya… that soda is slowly killing you, bro. Diet or no.

    Glad to hear your doing well.

  36. Grats Larry!

    Yeah, it’s amazing how much better the knees, hips, and back feel when you drop those pounds.

    Your high protein and vegetable, low carb diet is pretty close to what the Weight Watchers folks recommend. I think your way is better because it avoids hanging out with a bunch of older women talking about their problems for an hour plus each week.

    Another way to get the veggies without getting bored with them is turning them into various types of salsa. There’s a nice recipe for a roasted squash and roasted onion diced with some kind of fruits that’s heavenly when thickly layered on a nice juicy steak.

  37. Good for you! My wife did something similar and lost a bunch of weight and feels fantastic. She did quit Diet Coke. That was tough. She misses the convenience of it most of all. However, she has switched to green tea and there are Sonics all around us that sell it when she is on the go, which is a lot.

  38. Congratulations!
    Once it becomes a part of our lifestyle, that’s when it makes a difference.
    Thanks for sharing, I appreciate it.

  39. That’s awesome dude!

    I think I might have to give that a try… although I really love breakfast, so that might be my undoing. Of course it could just as easily be carbs that cause me failure as I’m genetically predisposed to anything potato.

    On a more immediate note, I’m really looking forward to seeing you at Dragon again this year!

  40. Weight is about calories, nothing else. Body composition invites exercise and more specifics as factors. You have consumed less energy than you have used over the course of a day, for a sustained period of time. That’s all there is to it.

    Wonderful job!

  41. I have a family member who is chronically ill and in and out of the hospital all the time. It’s all downstream of her being severely overweight most of her life. She’s lost 100 pounds in the last two years but the damage has been done. She’s diabetic, has pulmonary hypertension, bulging disks, the list goes on and on. She takes a drugstore’s worth of meds every day. And it wouldn’t have happened if she hadn’t been obese for so long.

    Good for you, Larry, for pulling it together at a young age. You’re doing the right thing for your family. Oh, and my hubby has lost 50 pounds as well, only he went 100% no carb along with the intermittent fasting. He’s going to ease back into carbs with salad and veggies once he’s lost 10 more pounds.

  42. Larry,

    Congrats. I know how tough it is to lose weight especially at middle age. Glad you’re taking steps to improve your health. It’s also heartening you categorically reject the #Healthyatanyshape crap. Obsesity kills and it’s just not worth carrying that extra weight.

    1. Yeah, healthy at any shape is feel good nonsense. If you’re super fat, you’re super fat, and it’s going to cause problems.

      1. Yup. As a kid I was the one who easily ballooned and with some family history mixed in I had and have to be very vigiliant. Recently, a lot of people keep asking me if I’ve lost weight but I tell them nope 🙂
        So congrats again. You’ll find your back and knees hurt a lot less

  43. Working on tracking down the weird commenting thing where it’s preloading the last commenter’s info. (This is test one.) Please reply to this if you see this behavior going forward. Thanks!

    1. It’s saving my information when I post a reply but as you see up above, someone decided to post under my name.

    2. Just noticed it with Joe in PNG, when I’d reloaded to comment on the new post. Will keep that up and unchanged, and can correspond by email, if you prefer.

  44. Inconceivable, your real world results must be discarded. They do not support the beautiful religion of many small meals throughout the day, preferable whole whole grain and vegetarian. This intermittent fasting is a slippery slope, the next thing you know you’ll try multi day fasting and start looking into vegetable oils and heart disease. It could even lead to consuming locally raised meat and raw milk, just think of the suffering that could inflict on MegaFood Inc. and your friendly department of federal nutritional guidelines.
    On the other hand if one was interested in this fasting heresy. Dr. Jason Fung’s presentation “The Two Compartment Problem” (available from youtube) is a decent explanation on how/why intermittent fasting works and why the “a calorie is a calorie in or out” theory is about as useful as phlogiston.

  45. I’ve been trying to diet but hasn’t been going well. I love bread too much! Not plain bread, but like really meaty sandwiches. I’ll try out the intermittent fasting, that sounds workable.

    1. Me too.I luvs the bread 🙂
      Dad the retired doctor suggested I eat the flat breads: tortilla, pita etc. The advantage is that you can fill them with meat, fish, veggies etc and the caloric intake+carbo is less than the loaf type breads.
      I’ve seen recipes for breakfest wraps that include egg and bacon 🙂
      He also recommended me to buy the whole/multigrains.

      Give it a shot and see if the flat breads can be an option for you.

    2. I forget why, but there was a reason why I went with Turkish bread. There’s something in the za’atar that helped, I thnk. Nothing wrong with the sandwich; I ate those daily, kept breakfast, kept bread (especially flat breads) and found myself not hungry at the late evening (so 9pm onward, I didn’t find myself hungry; thirsty yes, not hungry.

  46. Awesome and well done. I’d suggest kettlebells, because it’s almot cardio, but more weights. Plus they’re about the size of a basketball (More room for guns)

  47. If you want to cut out soda, but you still like caffeine, you should try StrikeForce. It is a tasty tiny little pouch that has a nice kick of caffeine, some flavor so your water isn’t boring (Original, grape, orange and lemon), and best of all ZERO Calories. It was created by some military guys who wanted to be able to keep up the high optempo without the hassle of carrying cans of energy drinks. You can buy packs of this yummy water enhancer at strikeforceenergy.com. If you want to try it out, use the code AFLJAMES1858 and you get 20% off of your purchase. I’m former Army, and I work with military, and I keep my entire office stocked so they can keep on doing their thing.

  48. Awesome! Wish I had your access to quality sausages! I too am a Jason Fung fan, and it seems like you just recapped his book The Obesity Code. Type 2 diabetes runs in my family and my husband’s dad died of a heart attack in his early 50’s, so I feel like we are keeping the demons at bay here too. Since I went low carb/ keto I’ve been waiting for it to catch on in the writing community. I keep waiting to find it in someone’s interstellar missions…

  49. Hey Larry, you’re a book guy, so I know you’re not afraid of a little light reading [heh. ] Anyway, I found myself in a similar situation as you last year, when I’d been blissfully ignorant of my increasing weight [which I knew was already obese for my 6’3″ height at 240#] when one day I happened on a scale & saw I’d somehow got up to 270! Yikes! Immediate action required! Found a book called “The 4 Hour Diet” [which was by the same author who wrote “The 4 Hour Work Week” & obviously wanted to trade on the success of his earlier work.] Anyway, this is the 1st [& probably *only*] diet book I’d ever heard of that is an enjoyable read! That’s right; can you imagine? A diet book that’s not actual torture to read *before* the real torture of the diet itself begins? And get this: the diet itself [a modified keto plan] isn’t particularly hard to follow [altho’ he does warn, you *will* get bored with it in due course.] Anyway, bottom line, I dropped the 30 pounds I’d put on over the course of about 6 months, when I stopped following the diet closely [too much other stuff going on, had to move, vehicle troubles, yada yada.] Have still managed to keep the weight off w/o much trouble just by maintaining a loose adherence to principles. All this *without* exercise: really looking forward to getting back on track & incorporating a regular workout schedule once this current evolution that has derailed my progress is behind me… Best o’ luck to you, but I strongly recommend the book, even if you’d just like to examine his writing style & see what you think of it!

  50. My brother’s doing the keto diet, and while it sounds counterintuitive on principle (a diet higher in fats doesn’t sound good, but paired with GET THEE BEHIND ME CARBS!), I knew it wasn’t something he was coming up with on his own, and more importantly, he’s lost something like 30 pounds with it so far.
    On a different note, I’ve noticed some other commenters saying that they’ve seen another commenter’s username and email preloaded into the boxes. On that note, I just wanted to say that it wasn’t doing that to me.

  51. I’m 5 feet tall and weigh 104 lb. The most I’ve ever weighed is 130, when I was hugely pregnant with a 9 lb baby. Are you sure we’re the same species, Larry? XD

  52. I discovered Dr Jason Fung April 1 and in the next 2 months lost 20 lbs, I’m now at my 1990 weight, and working towards my 1980’s weight which I kept until I was about 30.

    I’ve been doing the low carb for a long time, but the intermittent fasting was the magic that I was missing. I’m enjoying traveling back in time on my weight!

    I’ve been reading Larry since MHI #1 and love his blog postings.

  53. About the only way I could lose 50 pounds in four months is to play poker in the UK. I have managed to lose about a pound a month over the last year (actually 10 pounds a year). I’m 64, about 5’5″ (used to be 5’7″ cartilage compression), and weigh 217 and hopefully dropping. I wear a 40″ waistline want to get down to a 36″ (34″ would be nice but let’s be real). Bought an El Paso Saddlery belt a while back. Had to have an extra hole punched to cinch it tighter. good job and you are an inspiration to me.

  54. As someone who went from 285 to 225 in the span of six months, gonna tell you now. The more weight you have the easier it is to lose. At one point dieting won’t help that much and you will need to do some jogging. Not easy sprints either. Like 30 minutes on the treadmill. Also the faster you lose weight the easier to get it back is, so if you want to keep it off you will need to take it slower. At the speed you have been losing it, some of the weight loss may be muscle.

Leave a Reply to Shadowdancer Duskstar / Cutelildrow Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *