“So, what if I had ribeye all the time?”
“I can’t recommend it, but it wouldn’t matter. You’ll still lose.”
At that moment, about 100 lbs. ago now, I knew I could do it.
Moments of insight and clarity arrive so suddenly that they are hard to distinguish from someone whispering in your ear. Mine came a couple of months previous to that interaction with the nurse practitioner at a local local low-carb diet clinic as my son Finn was placed into my arms.
“Your health is your family’s health.”
Three months previous to that, I lost my mom to complications from series of strokes. A year before that, I lost my father to a massive stroke. The years previous to that included a Parkinson’s Disease diagnosis, sextuple bypass surgery, and a heart valve infection and repair for him.
I myself was put on high blood pressure medication in my early 20’s and told quite bluntly I would never get off it it. I couldn’t survive without acid blocker medication. My blood pressure was showing signs of coming out of control, even under current medication which would have required something more powerful.
I was 36, obese (279 lbs @ 6’3″), with a litany of nagging medical issues and rapidly eroding health, and in danger of rapidly following my parents. Quite simply, I was in no shape to chase a high energy infant around.
I then did the thing that so many men find impossible to do. I reached out for help.
I swallowed my pride, and at the urging of some of those friends who had been down my road already, I ended up at the low carb weight loss clinic. Then things started to happen.
…235 lbs. – The acid blockers were stopped.
…225 lbs. – Blood pressure medication cut in half.
…210 lbs. – Blood pressure medication cut in half again.
…200 lbs. – Blood pressure medication removed totally.
…190 lbs. – Total normalization of blood pressure (120/74).
…185 lbs.
…to today. I’m 179 lbs. as I sit here and write this. This is the leanest I have been in my adult life, which includes my career as a collegiate swimmer.
You often hear of people accomplishing things that are amazing and seemingly impossible for them through a clear vision and purpose, and I have come to believe in that due to my own experience. My mind lost 100 lbs. that first day, and my body has spent a year catching up.
One of the things people who have lost tremendous amounts of weight will tell you is that after a certain point, it’s not about shedding your “dad bod” to look better in a bathing suit for summer.
The difference is not simply cosmetic. It’s life-altering — what you gain and not what you lost.
A long, healthy life with your children and wife. Energy to start a new business. For travel. For…ribeyes.
That is the sort of transformational change it has brought to our life together here. My health truly has become my family’s health.
This site was started to share the food and experiences from a year (and counting) of being a father and unapologetic carnivore living a healthy low-carb life and starting a BBQ catering business with my growing family. Stay tuned and hungry…