Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Wake up call at 57

Oatmeal is a good breakfast for me, but honestly I have a breakfast sandwich from a drive through most days, and focus on cutting carbs out of lunch and dinner. Too much going in the mornings to make that harder for myself.

Diets fail....lifestyle changes dont.

That's the spirit.

glad to see you got my point--- dieting is easy, keeping it off the hard part.

I'm proud of what I've accomplished.
I'm 60 and in better shape than most, hell better than I was in my 40s.
My feet and knees don't hurt anymore, no acid stomach...and getting looks from much younger women feels pretty damn good...🤣😳
Wasn't until I started my dude horseback guiding and had to watch the general public do semi physical tasks like mounting and riding a horse did I realize how absolutely pathetic so much of America is....even the damn kids.
Zero physical fitness or agility...30 to 40 year old men that needed serious help just to climb up on a horse.
Years of nothing but electronic entertainment and sedentary lifestyles has created a horribly unhealthy society.
I like this thread.
The hardest part of being in good physical shape is mental.

YES!

I got the second (!) warning shot by my doctor in Dec. 2019. Long-term sugar value HbA1c at 7.5 and 216 pounds/5ft.10. Way too much. The advice: read and inform yourself about diabetes, change your life stye by changing your diet and move your ass. If it don't work you got to see a diabetes specialist. And that was exactly what I didn't want to do. Sitting in a circle of chairs and talking about food and sports.

First I calculated my daily caloric requirement: 2.500. And I thought it would be a good way to stop at 2.000. The daily requirement of sugar for a healthy man is at 65 grams/1.000 grains, for a woman 45grams/700 grains. According to the nutrition facts table printed on the plastic bucket full of industrial made coleslaw with 400 grams there are also 48 grams of sugar in there! Think of the amount of sugar in a bottle of the sweet drinks I won't call by their name here!

First I chose for breakfast industrial made whole grain bread or bought it at the local bakery. Later on I started again with baking my own bread but changed from all purpose flour to whole meal flour, spelt and wheat. I stopped drinking alcohol which I had consumed before in the shape of beer. and never touched ginger ale and cola again. Mineral water and water right from the tap as well as coffee is my daily beaverage. I still eat pasta and lots of them. I have three to four slices of bread with some butter and a few slices of ham or cheese for breakfast, no lunch but a one pot meal consisting of ground beef, onions, bell pepper, fresh sliced chile, whole-grain pasta or bulgur with some tomato sauce but absolutely no industrial sugar. I never exceed the amount of sugar of 45 grams.

Due to the rise of Covid I didn't see the doctor until last August. A appeared there with just 187 pounds and a few days later I was informed that the sugar value was down to 6.2. I was astonished because in August 2020 I had found a beer case as a left over from my wive's birthday in December the year before, best before end of May 2020 and there were several hot evenings that summer with some ice cold beer I didn't want to waste otherwise.

And no, I didn't start a remake of "The Marathon Man" nor do I hike my as* off in the nearby mountains. During lunch brake I have a half an hour walk and just as before take my bike, not an e-bike, on my way to the railway station at my hometown.

Very interesting is this video on YT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU0Y6ZaYm_0
The video is from 2017 but as you can see he managed to keep the weight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4QZi8khbIQ

I have a strong family history of diabetes.
When I was 260+ I went to a doctor for a check up.
My A1C was 8.8 placing me deep into the diabetic range.
My blood pressure and cholesterol where very high as well.
I had constant acid reflux and what put on 5 medications for all of this, I was 58 years old and a ticking time bomb.
That was my wake up call.
I buckled down hard, knowing damn well if I didn't, I didn't have much time left.
Fast forward 4 months later.
My A1C dropped to 5.5....well out of the diabetic range, my blood pressure and cholesterol are well within safe numbers, and the acid indigestion is gone without medication, and my doctor was absolutely flabbergasted.
I have to maintain this low carb lifestyle if I want to remain among the living.
Feeling great every day is just a side benefit.

61 was the big wake up call. Stroke all most to late. Everything off charts. Lost the right side of body. Been 3 years getting the right side control back so I could walk and somewhat function again. Do it before it is too late.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/13816936/1

The above-referenced thread contains a good bit of material that might be helpful. It sort of inspired me to change my eating habits. I was 6'0'' and 135 pounds in college. A couple of yeas ago I had gone to over 200 pounds. Cut out breakfast, ate my big meal for lunch, meat and beans for supper. Not much in between meals. Lost 30 pounds in less than a year. I remain on the same basic routine, except I will have a protein shake about mid-morning along with a handful of nuts; big meal of meat (leftovers from home), fruit, low-fat yogurt, and another handful of nuts at lunch. I have to be careful not to overdo the nuts; they are like potato chips, once I start, it's hard to stop. Supper is still meat and beans. Weight has remained stable at about 170. Before all this, I was on on 2 BP meds and blood sugar was elevated almost to what my doc called pre-diabetes level. Now I'm off all BP meds and BS is where it should be.

The high-fiber diet that many gastroenterologists recommend seems to do more harm than good for many people. It seems to me that high fiber = high carb = not good.

I've heard it said that if you were to lock a fat man in a room for a few months and feed him nothing but meats and vegetables, he'll be ready to kill you with his bare hands..........until you show him a mirror.

Its the salt, but in a way thats good, cause increased salt intake helps cause weight loss (all things being equal)

some high fiber foods, contain large amounts of fructose (apples) so should be avoided

some high fiber foods, aren't absorbed, and only provide bulk

You've done a humble evaluation.
Good start.
You see that whatever you did to get here did not work and its a path you do not want to take.

If I were you I would do the following.
Take 30 minutes of time with God.
Compared to 57 years, that's a moment of your life that can provide more than you and your wife's careers selling whatever.
Both of you can Watch the two links below individually.
The answers start there.

HC

This guy was 73 at the time, I wonder how he did it?

If I may ask: what is your daily diet? What exactly do you eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner? In another post you wrote about green vegetables. What exactly do you mean?

I never used Atkins products and perhaps ate more meat than their diet suggests but this is a good read and very accurate.
The induction period is critical to get your body over to the fat burning mode.
You simply cannot cheat if you truly want success.

https://www.atkins.ca/how-it-works/library/articles/the-rules-of-induction

If you strictly follow the above instructions, there is no doubt you will lose at least 20lbs a month and maybe more.
Maintaining that very same lifestyle will keep you lean for life.
Reading labels and knowing nutritional facts is critical to success.
Understanding the sources of carbohydrates and all sugars (including fruit) will take you far.

Friday follow up: the scale doesn’t lie.

I’m weighing every day but the only day I’m recording is Friday. It marks the end of the week. This week it’s week one.

Good news, I’m down three pounds.

Bad news, I could have done better.

Almost no carbs all week but I didn’t move as much as I should have. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Let’s see what next Friday says.

Good start. Changing the habits is the hard part. The numbers will follow. Actually a sustained loss of 5-8 lb per month is doing great as long as it's a plan you can live with long term. Short term result don't mean much. Remember, it's a marathon, not a sprint. Develop the exercise as a habit as well and you'll continue it. Proper diet will always be the cornerstone. As others have indicated, you can't outrun the fork! Best wishes.

3 lbs a week is fantastic and from some sources, just about right.

If an average-sized person can manage a pound a week after the first week, that's pretty good. A larger person might can manage 1.5 to 2lbs. Keep in mind that it won't always be a linear rate of fat loss, as some days you may hold water differently, and some weeks you'll have a more abrupt drop in weight than others. If you are strength-training, it's much more likely that your losses will come from fat instead of overall bodyweight (which includes muscle). You want to keep all that muscle.

Axe the cable.. you will watch less tv.. we have Hulu and watch a few of our favorite shows but that’s usually Friday and Saturday night. Also we never eat and watch tv.. it’s dinner at the dinner table. Also snack during the day ie apples etc.