Health

My Year with Keto 2018-2019

What a year it has been!


It’s New Years Day. It is a time for people to start on their resolutions they made. Like millions of people around the world, I will be joining them. My resolution, like many others, is to lose weight. Not just 20 pounds, but a lot. Enough to save me from having to go the weight loss surgery route.
A few months back, I had some bad test results. This worried my Doctor enough that she said “I believe this calls for immediate change in strategy.” A phone appointment later, and she was talking weight loss surgery.

My Day 1 in My Journey to a Healthy Me

This was my day 1 last year. I was worried about having to get surgery done. I have previously lost weight, and gained it back. This last trip was even worse, and my body wasn’t having it. I absolutely could not live any longer being that heavy. I also need to not go back this time. Time to keep pushing forward!

I stuck to my goals in general, and they worked out well for me. I didn’t get to exercise as much as I wanted, but that is on tap for 2019!

Keto really helped me this last year. Just for a fact it doesn’t feel super restrictive to me, and I don’t feel as hungry all the time like I use to. I still have plenty of days where I want to eat everything in site, but it is much more manageable now.

Being in Ketosis doesn’t mean you lose weight

I know, very weird headline after I am praising Keto. The thing is, you can eat too much on Keto as well. It didn’t seem to matter as much at first, but I went though a couple of months trying to figure out why I just wasn’t losing weight.

Keto is definitely a helpful tool for me on my Journey to get healthier. There is the appetite suppression that helps. A part of this was me actually cooking healthier foods as well. No more trip to get all the fast food. I still do from time to time, but most of it just tastes bad. Just not worth the calories.

As a Type 2 diabetic, Keto has been amazing. 3 weeks into my journey last year, I had to get off of ALL my diabetes medication. It was actually lowering my blood sugar too much. My Doctor ended up wanting me to stay on some satin drugs, but in the end I stopped taking those too. I did not like how they made me feel, and my blood work was turning out great in follow up tests.

For anyone starting up today…

You can do this. The biggest thing is just sticking with the process. Not focusing on weight loss really. Keep the focus on what you eat, and how you are feeling. Keto can be a rough thing to get started.

For me, I tried to keep things simple at first. I didn’t focus as much with macros. I mainly wanted to make sure I was under 20 net carbs. I even just kept eating the same meals mostly. I did go through some Keto flu, but it was increased a bit from my diabetes medication lowering my blood sugar levels too low.

I am also a tracker. I started off using MyFitnessPal, and eventually moved to Chronometer to track my food. Tracking doesn’t work well for everyone, but I think it is key when trying to lose weight. I have seen other apps to help with tracking as well, even if it is just taking pictures of your food, or using a food journal.

Now to my results

Here is my results from January 1st 2018 to January 1st 2019.

Weight Loss:
I started off at 364.8 lbs. Today I am 254.8 lbs. 110 lbs gone this year. Not only was I able to hit the 100 lbs mark, but I also got to my lowest weight in a really long time. Probably since 2000.

January 1st 2018 to January 1st 2019

Measurements:

Location20182019Difference
Neck19.6817.282.40 inches
Chest55.9047.008.89 inches
Waist61.4148.8912.51 inches
Bicep (L)17.9114.293.62 inches
Bicep (R)16.9214.212.71 inches
Forearm (L)13.8911.921.96 inches
Forearm (R)13.8912.081.81 inches
Thigh (L)30.3124.645.66 Inches
Thigh (R)28.8924.374.52 inches

Progress Pictures

Here is the one I have been debating forever. Do I show my progress picture. Face pictures are easy to do.

The shirtless pictures, not so easy for me to post. Still, they show progress, and here they are.

Click here to see the pictures

2019 and Beyond

So now to 2019 goals. What do I want to get done this year. Well, I want to continue on this journey to get healthier, and stronger. I currently have 3 goals in mind for this year. I have others, but these are my focus.

  1. Get to under 200 lbs. Journey to Onederland. 😉
  2. Run a 5k
  3. Do a freaking Pull up

I’d love to see if I can get under 200 lbs this year. I think BMI wants me at like 165 or something weird. I feel like 185-195 is the range I really want to be in. First is to focus on getting out of the 250’s. Then Making it to 225.

Running a 5k would be something I want to get done too. I am going to finish doing the C25k app, and hopefully sign up for an official race someplace.

Lastly, I want to do a Pull Up. Like how awesome would it be. I never have ever done one in my life. I half cheated one when I was in middle school. To work my way to this, I need to lose more weight, and get stronger. I’ve got some workout routines to hopefully get me there. Maybe I can get it done this year. Time will tell.

I have also made my latest challenge thread at NerdFitness. “Tateman: Let’s Go 2019!” Just something to help keep me accountable some what, and to share and help others along on their journeys as well.

There we have it folks. 2018 was a roller coaster. I hope 2019 I will be able to reach even greater success. Good luck to everyone out there this year. Just keep sticking to it. If you fall off, just try to get yourself back up and move on!

My Journey to a Healthy Me, Days 363-365

Happy New Years eve! I can hardly believe the year has gone by.

On the Eve of 2019, it gives some time to reflect on how 2018 ended up being.

When I look back to where I was 1 year ago, I am pretty proud of myself. It was not easy to get here, and the road ahead looks just as tough, if not that much harder.

Last year, I was truly over with being the super unhealthy version of me. It was just one of those moments hen I just have had enough. Plenty of times in the past, I was at this point too. This time, I hope to never have to repeat being there. I’ve always struggled with my weight. I never really tried to “diet” so much. I would change eating habits a bit.

Whole 30 was something I did a few times. It did work out really well. The only problem I had, was it felt like something I could not stick with forever. It scared me to think I would never be able to have pizza again, or many other things. It felt very restrictive. I did learn quite a bit during my Whole 30 adventures though. The book was a good read. It was the first time that I saw the mention of learning when you are actually hunger, vs just thinking you are hungry.

I didn’t try eating Paleo. Not really. I would have some things that were Paleo style eating. Still, I hated it though. I hated the name. The food we eat today is drastically different from what our ancestors had access to. I looked into trying it out, but it just didn’t sit right with me.

Even before my Whole 30 trials, I did a lower carb diet. I had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. I attended a few nutritional classes, and they first talked about going lower carb. This was like 40-60 grams of carbs per meal I think, with 15 grams for some snacks. So very high carbs compared to Keto, but a lot lower when looking at a standard america type diet. This worked OK for me for awhile. It is what I was doing when I previously dropped down to the 260 lbs range.

Nothing worked like Keto has worked for me. I know that a lot of people say Keto is super restrictive. A lot like I felt about Paleo. I started this year off keeping things quite simple. Chicken and Salads were my go to meal for a month or two. Eventually I found places like Headbangerskitchen.com and Ketoconnect.net I started branching out my food choices, and it seemed great.

Not only was a eating better food for myself, it was really good tasting as well. I also found that for the first time ever, I had some appetite control. Even today, there can be times when I have to say “Oh, I better eat”. I still get hunger cravings of course, and it is harder when those trigger foods are in the house. Still though, I haven’t caved in. 🙂

This last year, I was able to come off Keto for vacation. I enjoyed my time in New York, and enjoyed all the food. Jumping back to Keto was pretty easy for me after that.

There are still some foods, that there just isn’t a keto version. At some point, I’ll probably come off keto a but so I can enjoy some popcorn or something like that. For now though, I am full on Keto mode.

Happy New Years!

I figured I would get in one last post this year. I plan on having my big post tomorrow with the 2018 summary. Today I just wanted to reflect a bit. Hopefully, people were able to stick with their goals last year, and hit all new hits in 2019. I am thankful for having people actual take time to ready my posts. Happy New Years everyone!

My Journey to a Healthy Me, Days 345-362

I am still here!

Everything seemed to be going fine, until it just wasn’t.

The last couple of weeks have been rough. The mind can quickly just kind of shut everything down. The holidays in general can be rough. Fighting off all the foods, plus dealing with no money.

Still, I made sure the wife and kids had gifts under the tree. I was also able to keep it keto.

Oddly enough, I have been eating more, staying up later, and even stopped walking or exercising much in the last couple of weeks. Still, I lost weight. My conclusion to this, is that I may have been trying to ear too few calories again. I have hit my lowest weight again. 257.6 lbs. The last time I was this exact weight was October 10, 2014. So celebrate the victories I can haha.

I am prepping for the start of the new year. Thinking of what I want to get done health wise. There are only a few days left of this year, and with all the struggles, I have made it. I stuck to my guns. I kept that New Years resolution I had at the start of 2018.

Technically, I am going to start on the 31st. The new Nerdfitness challenge will begin on the 7th. My plan is to stick closer to 2,000 calories each day. I want to focus on getting 10,000 steps each day. One rest day. I also want to get in workouts and running. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Next year, I want to be able to do a pull up. So my workouts will help to build up to that goal. Along with my diet, I want to continue to lose more weight as well. Next step is hitting below 250. Then 225. Then possibly, I can hit that Onederland territory. Honestly, I would be happy being a pretty fit 185-200 area.

So here we are, on the eve on a new year. How did your 2018 wind up? I am pretty proud of how I have done this year, despite feeling I could have done much more. It has been a great learning process along the way as well. Who knows, maybe I will get my wife on board with Keto. She has been talking about it. 🙂

My Journey to a Healthy Me, Days 342-344

Well, the weekend caught me slippin’ haha.

I ended up gaining 0.7 lbs this week. Really just the last couple of days. I was down to 260.1 lbs Saturday morning. So maybe it is just extra water weight.

I ended up letting Saturday, and Sunday be rest days. Just Sunday was suppose to be my rest day. This meant that I skipped my 3rd run for the week. 😦

I was just tired. I procrastinated, and then it caused me to not be able to get in my run. 

Still, I did get some things done around the house. At least there was some work done haha.

Sunday was my Match Club Holiday party. I bowled lousy, but still had fun. Someone brought some home made goodies for people to enjoy.


All stuff I would love to jump into. I was good though, and avoided the temptation.

After bowling, we hit the catering. We get Boston Market food. It end up being really good usually. This time was no exception.  I ended up making myself a decent plate of food.

I picked out a couple of carrot slices and broccoli from the steamed veggies. 3 pieces of turkey breast, 3 pieces of ham, and a little bit of cranberry sauce. I figured I should be OK carb wise to have that little bit. I didn’t full track, just because I couldn’t find it all in chronometer, and didn’t really want to guess anyhow.

Week Summary

Food:
12/03 – 1586 Calories, 9 net carbs. 1613 calories remaining.
12/04 – 1699 Calories, 16 net carbs. 1129 Calories remaining.
12/05 – 1571 Calories, 12 net carbs. 1062 Calories remaining.
12/06 – 1567 Calories, 5 net carbs. 1355 Calories remaining.
12/07 – 1752 Calories, 9 net carbs. 1090 Calories remaining.
12/08 – 1568 Calories, 14 net carbs. 303 calories remaining.
12/09 –  Did not track fully. 

Sleep:
12/04 – 11:36 PM to 7:00 AM. 6 hrs 59 mins. 16 x awake for 25 mins.
12/05 – 11:24 PM to 6:32 AM. 6 hrs 39 mins. 13 x awake for 29 mins.
12/06 – 11:48 PM to 6:47 AM. 5 hrs 51 mins. 15 x awake for 1 hr 8 mins.
12/07 – 11:26 PM to 7:00 AM. 6 hrs 59 mins. 16 x awake for 35 mins.
12/08 – 11:41 PM to 8:00 AM 7 hrs 54 mins. 17 x awake for 25 mins.
12/09 – 11:30 PM to 8:24 AM. 8 hrs 1 min. 15 x awake for 53 mins.
12/10 – 11:43 PM to 6:59 AM. 6 hrs 26 mins. 15 x awake for 50 mins.

I had some real rough nights of sleep this week, but also some decent ones this weekend. I did not ready the last couple of nights as well.

Exercise:
I missed one run this week, but I did get in all my workouts. I added in some other exercises too, just to change it up some.

12/03 – 13,343 steps. 102 active minutes. No run scheduled.
12/04 – 10,423 steps. 77 active minutes. C25k Week 2 Day 1 finished.
12/05 – 10,682 steps. 95 active minutes.
12/06 – 10,262 steps. 65 active minutes. C25k Week 2 Day 2 finished.
12/07 – 11,379 steps. 108 active minutes.
12/08 – 3,841 steps. 0 active minutes. Run not done.
12/09 – 5,651 steps. 15 active minutes. 

12/03:
3 x 10 squats
3 x 10 elevated push ups (against the kitchen counter)
3 x 10 Doorway Body weight Row
3 x 10 each arm Dumbbell rows. 25 lbs

12/05:
3 x 10 Dumbbell rows. 25 lbs
3 x 10 Overhead Dumbbell extensions  15 lbs each hand.
3 x 10 Dumbbell Curls 15 lbs each arm.
3 x 10 Elevated push ups (against the kitchen counter)

12/07:
3 x 10 squats
3 x 10 elevated push ups (against the kitchen counter)
3 x 10 Doorway Body weight Row
3 x 10 each arm Dumbbell rows. 25 lbs

This Week

I need to try to kick this back up to 11! I did get my workout in today. So now I need to get back to running tomorrow.

My Journey to a Healthy Me, Day 341

Well, last night was a little better sleep.

11:26 PM to 7:00 AM. 6 hrs 59 mins. 16 x awake for 35 mins. I still woke up a few times. I’m not sure if it is all me, or me reacting to my wife getting up as well. Apparently neither one of use are getting the best sleep these last couple of days.

Still, today was better overall. I wasn’t as tired out. I got in my steps for the day already. I also got in my workout today. Just did my normal workout.

3 x 10 Dumbbell rows. 25 lbs
3 x 10 Overhead Dumbbell extensions  15 lbs each hand.
3 x 10 Dumbbell Curls 15 lbs each arm.
3 x 10 Elevated push ups (against the kitchen counter)

Last couple of days…

Food:
12/05 – 1571 Calories, 12 net carbs. 1062 Calories remaining.
12/06 – 1567 Calories, 5 net carbs. 1355 Calories remaining.

Sleep:
12/06 – 11:48 PM to 6:47 AM. 5 hrs 51 mins. 15 x awake for 1 hr 8 mins.
12/07 – 11:26 PM to 7:00 AM. 6 hrs 59 mins. 16 x awake for 35 mins.

I did get in my reading down each night. Just need to have that nice restful sleep 😉

Exercise:
12/05 – 10,682 steps. 95 active minutes.
12/06 – 10,262 steps. 65 active minutes. C25k Week 2 Day 2 finished.

Workout on the 5th:
3 x 10 Dumbbell rows. 25 lbs
3 x 10 Overhead Dumbbell extensions  15 lbs each hand.
3 x 10 Dumbbell Curls 15 lbs each arm.
3 x 10 Elevated push ups (against the kitchen counter)

It wasn’t easy, but I got in my run on the 6th.

Next few days

I have to get some food made. All of my convenience food is gone 😉 I will have the Bowling Holiday match club meetup on my rest day. Still yet to decide how I shall handle the food. 

My Journey to a Healthy Me, Day 340

Just in case you all had any ideas about needing sleep, you are wrong. 🙂

Last night, was one of the worst sleeps I have had.

11:48 PM to 6:47 AM. 5 hrs 51 mins. 15 x awake for 1 hr 8 mins. It felt like I woke up much more then that. It took awhile to get to sleep, then I was up before one, then up again at two something. Then 4 something. 5:30, and eventually I just got up at 6:30. The dog was pacing and wanting to go out for whatever reasons too. My wife was handling that.

With sleep being this bad, it very much effected my attitude and ability to want to do anything today.

This morning, I dropped my son off at school. I then went to the park I run at. It took me a bit, but I talked myself into doing it.

Every run was a trial. Each run “Just quit” “Too tired”. I pushed on though. I finished it. I hoped it was enough to push me through the rest of the day.

I suppose it was enough. I am super tired still. I bowled alright, but was really too tired for that. Ended up struggling.

I pushed off a lot of my stuff today, but am squeezing it all in here at the end.

Pretty short post, but I wanted to get it in. I hope tonight, I can get some rest!

My Journey to a Healthy Me, Day 339

Today was workout day. I decided to change it up a bit. I figured I have been doing so much with my legs, (running and walking, plus squats on workout days) that I should switch it up. So I did a some push pull type exercises with some dumbbells.

3 x 10 Dumbbell rows. 25 lbs
3 x 10 Overhead Dumbbell extensions  15 lbs each hand.
3 x 10 Dumbbell Curls 15 lbs each arm.
3 x 10 Elevated push ups (against the kitchen counter)

It has been a long time since I have done some of these. I am already a little sore. 🙂 

Tomorrow is run day again.

Yesterday

Everything seemed to go well yesterday. Started up Week 2 of the C25k app. My lungs were on fire the last 3 running intervals, but it was all good. It just makes me worry about if I will be ready for the next week after this. I have faith in the training!

Food:

1699 Calories, 16 net carbs. 1129 Calories remaining. I did feel a bit hungry surprisingly. I might need to schedule more food vs saving room for keto ice cream. Naw 😉

Sleep:

11:24 PM to 6:32 AM. 6 hrs 39 mins. Awake 13 x 29 minutes. Man, these last few nights I am been getting up early. 4-5 ish. This morning was 5:30 AM. I decided to try to still get back to sleep. Sort of worked for a few minutes. I did get my reading done without issue.

Exercise:

10,423 steps. 77 active minutes. C25k Rundouble Week 2 Day 1 completed.

Tomorrow

We got running to get in tomorrow, plus the usual 10,000 step goal. It will also be bowling later. At some point, I need to get to storage and get out some Christmas stuff too. Busy times!

My Journey to a Healthy Me, Day 338

Today, my lungs were on fire! 😉

I finished Week 2 Day 1 of the RunDouble C25k app this morning.

After that, I went for a walk around the park as well. I did not go on my second walk, so I still have a couple hundred steps to hit my 10,000 step goal.

I am feeling a bit sore. I can tell I am using my body a lot more now. I might just make Sunday a real rest and recovery day. I’ll just have to focus on eating light that day. I guess I will see how I feel on Sunday 🙂

This coming Saturday, I am bowling with out Match Club. We are having our Holiday get together. So just our club. Bowling a No-Tap tournament style. No-Tap means if you knock down 9 pins in the first ball, it counts as a strike.

There is going to be lots of food. Much of which, I can’t have. The biggest problem I see, is trying to guess my portions when I try to put them into Chronometer. I think I might just fast until then, or just have a light snack before going there. 

Yesterday

Pretty much hit all my goals yesterday for health stuff. 

Food:

1586 Calories, 9 net carbs. 1613 calories remaining. Could have eaten a few more calories last night, but I didn’t want to over extend without knowing how much I could do. I was a little hunger later on, but that just have been in my head.

Sleep:

11:36 PM to 7:00 AM. 6 hrs 59 mins. 16 x awake for 25 minutes. I got reading on time, and headed to bed with plenty of time. This is like the third night in a row I have woke up between 4 and 5 AM. Don’t know what’s up with that. Still better sleep then I had the previous couple of nights. 

Exercise:
I took a little longer in the day to get to my workouts, but I did get it in there.

3 x 10 squats
3 x 10 elevated push ups (against the kitchen counter)
3 x 10 Doorway Body weight Row
3 x 10 each arm Dumbbell rows. 25 lbs

This week

Just got to keep on going this week. I’l like to at least do as well as I did last week! 🙂

My Journey to a Healthy Me, Day 337

Here it is, Monday wrap up time!

Overall, I felt like this was one of my best weeks all year. I got in my runs despite the rain. I got in my step goal all week. I even put in over 8,000 steps on my “rest day”. Then, I also did my workouts. One in the complex gym.

All of this, and I hit my goal of 1000 of greater calories deficit.

The one thing I might change this week, is just to have the goal of not having a surplus on rest day. Then I actually can rest. 😉

Weight Loss

January 1st, 2018 to December 3rd, 2018

This week I did it. I broke into the 100 lbs lost category. 102.5 lbs since January 1st. 2.8 lbs this week. 257 lbs is my all time low (that I can recall in adulthood). I hope to be able to hit that before my Nerdfitness challenge is over. (December 23rd) It is weird to be thinking of the new year already, but I hope to enter it at my lowest weight!

Food
11/26 – 1921 Calories, 11 g net carbs. Calories remaining 1916
11/27 – 2038 Calories, 10 net carbs. 1022 calories remaining
11/28 – 1926 Calories, 11 g net carbs. 1088 calories remaining.
11/29 – 1671 Calories, 8 net carbs. 1482 Calories remaining
11/30 – 1743 Calories, 9 net carbs.  1140 Calories remaining
12/01 – 1862 Calories, 12 net carbs. 1100 Calories remaining.
12/02 – 1330 Calories, 14 net carbs. 1162 Calories remaining. 

Each day, I did it. Some days I was able to eat quite a bit. Other days, I stayed lower. It seemed to be OK though. I did one meal yesterday. The others I usually have 2.

Sleep
11/27 – 11:35 PM to 6:59 AM. 7 hrs 5 mins. 12 x awake for 19 mins.
11/28 – 11:25 PM to 7:00 AM. 7 hrs 11 mins. 13 x awake for 24 mins.
11/29 – 11:37 PM to 7:01 AM. 6 hrs 54 mins. Awake for 30 mins.
11/30 – 11:39 PM to 6:35 AM. 6 hrs 27 mins. 15 x awake for 29 mins.
12/01 – 11:41 PM to 8:00 AM. 7 hrs 2 mins
12/02 – 11:48 PM to 5:25 AM. 5 hrs 3 mins. 11 x awake for 34 minutes
12/03 – 11:51 PM to 7:00 AM. 6 hrs 38 mins. 18 x awake for 31 mins.

Last couple of nights, I had a little trouble getting to sleep. I was in bed on time each night, and I did get in my reading before hand. Most nights this week, I had decent sleep. Hopefully, I will return to that.

Exercise

11/26 – 13,574 steps total. 118 active minutes
11/27 – 10,083 steps. 114 active minutes (C25k Week 1 Day 1 finished)
11/28 – 11,543 steps. 124 active minutes
11/29 – 10,825 steps. 62 active minutes (C25k Week 1 Day 2 finished)
11/30 – 11,128 steps, 103 active minutes
12/01 – 10,821 steps. 108 Active minutes. (C25k Week 1 Day 3 finished)
12/02 – 8,571 steps, 90 active minutes (rest day)

I got it all in this week. Barely made steps on Tuesday. Still got in over 8,000 steps on rest day. I did run all 3 scheduled days. I also was able to get in all my workouts.

11/26:
3 x 10 squats
3 x 10 elevated push ups (against the kitchen counter)
3 x 10 Doorway Body weight Row
3 x 10 each arm Dumbbell rows. 25 lbs

11/28:
3 x 10 body weight squats
3 x 10 elevated push ups (on the dumbbell rack)
3 x 10 one are dumbbell rows each arm (25 lbs)
3 x 10 lat pull down bar. on set was 50 lbs each side. 2 sets were 70 lbs each side. 

11/30:
3 x 10 squats
3 x 10 elevated push ups (against the kitchen counter)
3 x 10 Doorway Body weight Row
3 x 10 each arm Dumbbell rows. 25lbs

This week

More of the same! I need to keep this momentum rolling. I feel a bit behind today, but hopefully, can get all caught up.

My Journey to a Healthy Me, Day 336

It is rest day for me. Though, I didn’t really rest that much. 

This morning I headed out to walk around Lake Elizabeth. About 7,000 steps total. I didn’t push it or anything though. Mostly played some Pokemon Go while getting in some steps. 

Then came home and made my food for the night. Fasted until just about 3:45 PM. I made myself a Chicken Crust pizza, plus a nice sized salad. Then finished off with some ice cream. 😉 Still within my calories thanks to the steps this morning.

Yesterday

I got in my run, and overall, it was a successful day.

Food:

1862 Calories, 12 net carbs. 1100 Calories remaining.

Sleep:

11:48 PM to 5:25 AM. 5 hrs 3 mins. 11 x awake for 34 minutes. I got to reading on time, and headed off to bed with plenty of time too. I was in bed by 11:35 PM, but struggled to get to sleep.

Not the greatest night of sleep, but I tried haha.

Exercise:

10,821 steps. 108 Active minutes. C25k Week 1 Day 3 completed. On to week 2!

Tomorrow

Start of the new week tomorrow. Back to the normal grind. I’ll get up a week in review post. I’ll have to get all my items done, and have bowling too. Busy busy!