It’s December 2021 and like many work-from-homers, I’ve gained quite a bit of weight during the pandemic. I distinctly remember coming home from a climbing trip in Colorado at the end of 2019 and celebrating my lowest weight for almost 8 years: 205 lbs.
A week ago, I was munching on some chocolate and peanut crusted caramels, and stepped on the scale to read 230 lbs. Not a shock as I had been approaching that weight for quite some time. However, hitting the 230lb milestone awakened something in me.
I had the realization that I never really controlled my diet like I thought I did. When I’m lean and fit, I’m always exercising. Before getting married, I’d swim dozens of laps in a pool at least 3 times a week. If I wasn’t in the pool, I’d run a 4-mile loop by my apartment. I’d go on hiking and climbing trips on the regular. I’d eat and drink voraciously, but still manage to stay around 200 lbs ( I’m 6’2″ ).
Following having a child in 2012, I lived a very sedentary lifestyle for a few years. Working in an office during the day and having to stay at home at night with my son while my wife worked her night shift, my weight would eventually balloon to almost 270 lbs over the next 3 years. I was still eating the same, but with the lack of activity I was slowly, but surely putting on the pounds.
This would continue for several years before I decided to do something about it and slim back down. It was 2016, my wife was working days, and I was working from home. I had some time to myself again and during that time I would either hit the elliptical in the gym or run for miles outdoors. This would occur 5 times a week and would turn into running a half-marathon, which would eventually become full marathons in 2016 and 2018.
I remember the best part of marathon training being the ability to eat whatever I want and staying fit. I must have tried all varieties of Cheez-Its during that time and would encourage myself to run further to justify a big meal afterwards. I felt pretty proud of myself and thought I had solved my fitness issues.
The start of the pandemic in March 2020 made the exercise portion more difficult, though. Gyms had closed, including mine, which ultimately had to close permanently. This only left going outdoors available to me, making exercising during rough-weather days more difficult. I also had less time to go outdoors as I had to manage my son’s virtual learning now that he was home all day – all while doing my own work.
My wife was an “essential worker hero,” as they were dubbed during the early pandemic days, which left me at home taking care of my son’s needs while she wasn’t around. It was honestly overwhelming and I probably resorted to a lot of stress eating and drinking as well.
The experience of going outdoors also diminished as there were many more people on the trails – many not knowing the basics of how to walk on a trail – and I had to manage getting around them – all while remembering to put my mask on as I passed when masks were mandated outdoors. It takes a lot of air to make my large frame move, so this was difficult. Needless to say, all of this slowed down my momentum, cadence, etc.
I ate as I usually did, though. Grazing at night, letting myself have a piece of pie or a donut, all in addition to my 3 square meals a day. I knew I was gaining weight, but thought I would be able to control it. My way of thinking, though, changed recently.
I realized that during the pandemic, I’m enjoying the increased time to work on my music and coding projects. My exercise schedule before the pandemic was too intense. I would go on 12-mile runs, but be left virtually dead the rest of the day as I tended to my aching legs and body.
I needed to find a way to stay at a healthy weight without as much exercise. So, I had to actually control my food intake. As each day goes on, I’m convinced Google can read our minds and I just happened to find a couple videos on intermittent fasting and keto in my YouTube recommendations.
I’m convinced that intermittent fasting with a keto diet is the answer. The time element of dieting was something I never considered. I, like most people, thought that dieting involved taking in less calories than you use and that you should be good.
However, I learned that fat production is caused by insulin and that certain foods will cause more insulin production than others. Carbs, sugars, and chemicals used in processed foods are the biggest culprits. I learned that it takes hours for insulin levels to go back down after a meal and that your body will use fat for energy in a state called ketosis if deprived of a meal for hours.
Furthermore, fats are essential to stave the feelings of hunger as it does not trigger insulin production and takes longer to break down. In school when learning the food pyramid, we learned this was a bad thing. However, it’s useful for making fasting more tolerable.
My plan is to have 2 meals a day, at 4pm and 8pm. This will leave a 20-hour fasting window every day. I’ve been doing this almost a month now; however, I picked mid December to start and had to cheat during Christmas and New Year’s during family gatherings. I also don’t go too hardcore, in general. I lower my carbs, but don’t eliminate them completely. Furthermore, I have the occasional bag of gummy bears.
I’m down about 7 lbs. I decided to make a ReactJS app that is a sophisticated weight-loss tracker, which I hope to have up soon!