Hello! I'm Justin, and you could say I'm your Average Joe. But...
Seriously though, that's how I used to describe myself and how I viewed myself. Average. High school? B-ish student. Sports? I polished the pine on my 9th grade basketball team. I was 3rd string singles on my high school tennis team (I totally didn't lose every match). I knew I could be better, but never really put in the effort.
Then there's the whole weight thing. You guessed it, average again. I've always been "skinny". My teenage years I was the typical super skinny kid who could eat a massive amount of food at once and not be phased. Transition to my 20's and I started slowly putting on a few pounds. I got married in 2008 and it was a steady increase to LB town. At 5'11, when you have no muscle, 185 pounds isn't flattering. It wasn't all that much weight, but when it all sits in your gobbler neck and your mid-section, you look like a bloated beast. At 25 years old in 2010, my self-image was incredibly negative.
We're talking holding pillows in front when I sit down and constantly pulling the neck of my shirt up to cover my neck and non-existent jaw line. Always sucking in to hide how far my belly stuck out.
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| Close to my heaviest |
I know what you're thinking: "but dude-bro-man-guy, you aren't even big!" Right? Our minds are a crazy trip. Who knows why I thought the way I did about myself, but it wasn't healthy. And it got my wife down. Who wants to hear their other half talk about themselves that way? Or always talk about losing weight but never doing anything about it? Good grief.
So, in 2010 I enlisted in the UTANG - Utah Air Nation Guard (Air Force). And this is where the bromance with Cody first sprouted. Cody and I went to basic training together. Sharing that experience is enough to form a bond stronger than my will to want to eat an entire pizza in one sitting. Cody and I have been best friends ever since. We shared in so many emotional and physical quandaries in our time together in the Air Force, and post-military life, too, that we can't seem to get rid of one another.
The military changed nothing for my self-image, sort of. I gained a confidence that we in the biz call a military bearing. You just learn how to hold yourself and how to act in the presence of superiors. False confidence? Maybe. But sometimes faking it can lead to it being real. After 6 years in the AF, I got out. Ready to start anew. Thankful to have complete control of my life again. Aaaaaaaaand of course nothing changed. Still ate junk. Still had that extra weight - you'd think I'd lose some of it in the Air Force but whaddayaknow that didn't happen.
Fast forward a whole bunch. Thanksgiving 2018 and I weigh 209 pounds of pure fluff. Again, it's all in the mid-section and my neck that is slowly becoming wider than it is long. Which brings us to the reason for this blog and this post: keto! Ketoooooooooo!!!
After talking about losing weight for an eternity, I decided the only way to it is to do it. So I started the ketogenic diet the Wednesday after Thanksgiving 2018 at 209 lbs. By Christmas 2018: 188 pounds...
Yup. 21 pounds down in a single month. Whaaa? How? I didn't track a single calorie. I tracked carbohydrates. I stayed below 25g net total carbs and ate as much healthy fat and protein as I wanted. I ate until I was full but not stuffed. I never felt like I was on a diet. Meat, fats, vegetables baby! By January 14th I hit 173 pounds. I felt incredible. Seriously incredible. I slept good. I got my jawline back. I was full of energy. Even though my 3 year old keeps me in a pretty decent state of sleep deprivation, it didn't bother me. It also completely cured my heartburn. It also got rid of the arch pain I had in my feet for about 3 years. Which means decreased inflammation and that's always a good thing. Bowel movements were better and controlled... yeah, you heard me. I could actually hold it until I had time to go rather than suddenly having to go because it was coming out!
I hit my goal weight of 165 pounds around July or August 2019 and I have been maintaining ever since. It was around this time I realized I no longer had a negative self-image. I looked at myself in the mirror in all its naked glory and thought hey, this is a body I'm proud to have. I still had my skinny arms and legs, but that was accompanied by a definitive jawline, a much smaller waist, and some real bonafide confidence. So what's the one thing here I haven't mentioned? Exercise. I didn't exercise once. Don't get me wrong, you need exercise. But you don't need exercise to lose weight. GASP! That's what is brilliant about keto. You stay below your daily carb goal and it becomes crazy hard to eat enough calories to gain weight. Combine keto with daily intermittent fasting and you just concocted a fail-proof plan to lose weight. But exercise is important, okay?! You need it. Anyway...
Fast forward again to today, March 2nd, 2020. I have been off my diet for a few weeks. I don't feel well most of the time. Lots of bloating and being uncomfortable. Super duper low energy - but that's partly due to that sleep deprivation I mentioned earlier. Every day is a battle. Every day I think about what I should be doing because of how it makes me feel. Today is my public commitment to take it one day at a time and get back to eating the way I truly enjoy. The way that helps me to be truly happy. Here's a more recent picture for comparison:
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| At goal weight of 165, just after a 5 mile run |
If you made it this far, I salute you! You earned a cookie steak and some cheesy broccoli! Post a comment and let me know what you think or ask me any questions or let me know of your own experience. Or connect with me on social media with the links in the side bar.
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