Back on the Lower-Carb Trail

I think at my highest weight I hit somewhere in the 340-plus lb. range around 2003, which would be heavy if I was a foot taller instead of roughly average height. I wasn't always that heavy. When I was a Navy ensign shortly after earning my first Master's I probably was in the 170-190 lb. range, and within a year of leaving the Navy (I was an instructor which is sedentary work) I got down to the low 160's, probably my lowest since I dieted at OLL, losing 70-odd pounds. During my decade in academia starting as a full-time doctoral student in Houston, I probably hit the 220-lb. or so range, although that is somewhat deceptive because I bulked up weight training and I was regularly jogging. After I left academia (job recession) and resumed my IT professional career in the Chicago area, I probably cycled between 220-270 lbs.; I had joined a Bally's affiliate in the southwest suburbs and was fanatically working out nightly, alternating aerobic and anaerobic training (I was so fanatic my car skidded on black ice blanketed by unplowed snow, causing about $2K in damage and use of my car for a few weeks--but I still got my workout in); I had replaced jogging with cycling and stepper machines. I developed a painful heel spur, and my doctor at the time was clueless. I hypothesized that my workouts had stressed my foot and cut my workouts to every other day; the pain soon went away, no thanks to my doctor.

I started consulting around 1997 and had adopted a road warrior lifestyle. Maintaining a diet-exercise regimen was difficult, although many hotels now seem to offer exercise facilities. A temp gig I took in Santa Clara become an unsought full-time job offer (after 3 months, I was told not to fly back the next week unless I took their job offer, and I didn't have a backup gig lined up in Chicago). This became notable because Bally's at the time didn't have an affiliate in the San Jose area (the nearest one was in the San Francisco area), and I didn't want to buy a second membership. Plus, I quickly became disenchanted with my new job, putting in over 70 hours a week. I eventually moved back to the northwest suburbs of Chicago to service a local government client in the Milwaukee suburbs just before 9/11. It is around that time I discovered, to my shock, that my weight had climbed to the 330-lb. level. I knew I had put on some weight because I had to buy bigger clothes; it wasn't so much my eating patterns had changed but probably a combination of slowing metabolism and irregular exercise. I think Bally's didn't have a conveniently located  center where I lived, but a one-way commute of an hour was more the rule than the exception over the next 3 years.

I finally got the message that I had to do something about my weight when, in the midst of a horrible Chicago job market, I went on a job interview, ironically, in the Baltimore area, for a local energy company. Usually IT gigs are business casual, so I hadn't worn my favorite business suit in some time and noticed that it was feeling a bit snug. For whatever reason, I didn't get the job, but I dedicated myself to doing something about my weight.

On a previous gig in 2002 I had met an eccentric DBA whom was commuting from Florida for a local Chicago government project. (I won't go into the specifics of his eccentricity here; he was the most incompetent DBA I've ever met but the project manager was gullible and had chosen him without having me screen him.) In any event, he had told me that he had a weight problem like mine, but the Atkins diet had worked for him. He was over 6 feet tall and not thin, but active enough to scuba dive in Florida as a favorite pastime.

I found it worked like a charm--I was seeming losing about 3 lbs. a week, almost effortlessly, probably losing over 90 lbs. by the time of a family function in 2004. (By that time I had a new government contractor gig just inside the north Beltway and had moved to a Maryland suburb north of the Beltway.) A Bally's club was maybe a 20-minute drive away, and I resumed regular workouts, although my commutes usually chewed up an hour each way; I found myself at the club at 6 AM when it opened or skipping dinner and heading for a night workout before the club closed at 10 PM.

Long story short, I began tapering off my visits to Bally's, and Bally's sold the club a few years back. The new management didn't honor the Bally's membership. I don't think I ever regained all the weight I took off over 2003-2004; but I came close; I was diagnosed with a thyroid deficiency.in 2009. I went a while without seeing my doctor (and prescription refills), which didn't help my weight problem.

I have lost a good 15 pounds since resuming my doctor's visits, and my last regular visit he put me back on a lower-carb regimen (capped, I think, at about 50 g. of carbs daily), and I'm phasing my way back into a regular fitness regimen, starting with regular walks. I had to recently discontinue my Nutrisystem deliveries because of too many carbs despite being in a "good carb" program. I'm also doing more background research into cyclical dieting which bodybuilders use to get into contest shape.

It's a little frustrating I haven't been able to replicate my earlier low-carb diet success; why did I go off in 2004? I had gone off around the time of the family function; the holidays were soon thereafter. When I restarted I seemed to be plateauing--and let's face it: a low-carb regimen is fairly boring. I never went back to the "white foods"--sugar, refined flour, potatoes, rice--but transitioned to more complex carbs, like 100% whole wheat bread, beans, etc. But hopefully this discussion provides a better understanding of the problems fat people go through; dieting can be a vicious circle because the body triggers a metabolism-slowing response to fewer calories; I've not frequented all-you-care-to-eat restaurants, I don't buy sugary desserts of any type, munchies (chips, crackers, etc.) I eat less than most people I know.

I will make periodic updates as circumstances warrant, in addition to other layman notes on nutrition and exercise topics.