Committing to Eat like a Bear

You know how it is when you're trying to lose weight: as soon as you mention you're trying to lose weight, people chime in with all kinds of methods in which to do so and which one is the best and which one you should try. You are, however, already trying a method. So it makes you really want not want to tell anyone that you're trying to lose weight.

That's especially true if you're trying to lose weight and you're not having much success. Then you've got all these people trying to help you fix that. You're getting advice from your husband, your doctors, your sisters, your brother-in-law, coworkers ... you name it. Everyone is well-meaning and wishes the best for you. But it gets really frustrating and really really old. 

I I gained at least 10 pounds every time I had a baby, which was three, and never lost it. Actually by the time I had my third child I was up to 180 at age 25. When I got married at age 18, I weighed 125. So I tried to exercise, I joined weight watchers, and I really concentrated on cooking healthy balanced meals for myself and my family. At one point in weight watchers I had lost 30 lbs, then I quit going. I don't remember if it was just too many meetings, too much work to log what I was eating, or too much work to prepare food differently than I prepared it for everyone else. I remember having a lot of stress in those days with three kids, multiple sports, a husband who was a workaholic, but we were always having financial problems. I was continually trying to get some traction with my own personal needs and goals, but there just wasn't enough of me to spread around. 

Soon I got up to 190 pounds Then my husband and I got divorced. During the next 6 months I lost some weight! The divorce diet was really working for me and I got down to 160 pounds. I changed careers and I changed the whole trajectory of my life. Eventually I started dating again and felt confident I could maintain a healthy weight at 165 - 170 pounds. I was active, my kids were grown up and out of school and I was pretty happy. 

Then I met my second husband and his 12-year-old son. Over the next 5 years and interesting thing happened: my weight was slowly creeping up again. It seems like I was taking care of two men again and neglecting myself. 

My husband and I both committed to trying to lose weight and exercise and we did several different programs over the next 15 years. Bottom line is, our life changes never stuck! We always fell back into the same old work all day, come home, eat dinner, sit all evening. There was usually dessert and wine or beer involved. None of the diet plans really touted dessert or alcohol, therefore, that is why they probably never worked. 

We tried Body 4 Life with multiple restarts. We followed Bill Phillips on Facebook, bought his supplemental and modeled our workouts by his plan. For myself I did get stronger but I didn't really lose any weight. His food plan was to combine proteins with healthy carbohydrates, eat three meals a day with two snacks. Then I did a 21-day challenge with his wife Maria and lost 11 pounds in 21 days. She required two workouts a day, one in the morning and one in the evening, and a restricted diet of only certain carbohydrates and the usual lean proteins and very limited fats. No sugars! Her plan would work if I could sustain it but I just couldn't keep up with the workouts, my job, the meal prep, and letting everything else go to hell in a hand basket.

I started getting scared when my weight went from around 200 pounds up to 220 pounds during the past for years. I had been diagnosed as pre-diabetic and the doctor put me on metformin. I had consulted a few doctors are regarding weight loss. My current doctor gave me some printouts and said the limit my carbs to under 50 grams a day and not to consume over 1,000 calories a day. I tried it for a couple weeks. I lost a few pounds but I was starving, or at least I was afraid of starving. It was a huge mental challenge to design meals that satisfied yet didn't go over 300 - 400 calories. I kind of gave up on dieting, but I did track my food, so I had a really good idea of what foods had a lot of carbs versus fats versus proteins. 

So over the years, I had amassed some general knowledge regarding Keto diets, Paleo diets, Mediterranean diets, heart healthy diets and intermittent fasting. A lot of the different diets conflict with what you can eat, but generally, I understood the low carb to no carb principles of Keto and paleo. 

Anyway in 2020, covid hit and the world stopped. Gyms closed, food was scarce and we stocked up on staples like beans, rice, flour, sugar, canned food and shelf stable items like pasta, canned meats, and water. I also somehow tore my rotator cuff and in September 2020 I had surgery. The two months following surgery found me sitting in my recliner eating popcorn, cookies, snacks, some healthy things like carrots and veggies, and binge-watching a lot of TV shows. I gained another 5 to 8 pounds. I finally had to buy some size 18 pants. I began seriously considering bariatric surgery and arranged to meet with a doctor. 

In February 2021, my husband had surgery. He spent the next 6 weeks watching YouTube videos about keto dieting. He really really really wanted to try it for reals! Around the same time, my sister mentioned a program she heard about, Eat Like a Bear, were you only eat one meal a day. I also saw some Facebook posts of a childhood friend who was doing that program and had lost 100 pounds. It sounded pretty drastic but I did order the book in April 2021. I looked at it and then I put the book on my bookshelf with all my other cookbooks. It sat there for the next 6 months. 

Meanwhile I met with the second bariatric surgeon, one was closer to home. The pre-op program is pretty extensive with dietitian counseling, psychological counseling, and the encourage you to lose 20 lbs before surgery. 

We kept watching the YouTube videos. One of our favorites was with Thomas Delauer and we actually met him when we were volunteering at the Laguna sacred race track. It was kind of fortuitous. He explains a lot of the science behind keto diets and intermittent fasting. My husband wanted to do a two-week keto cleanse and wanted me to join him at the end of August, so I did.  We cooked some pretty good meals and packed some pretty clean eating lunches and felt pretty good after the two weeks. He lost about 10 pounds. I didn't. 

One theme that kept coming up in the videos was insulin reactions and insulin resistance. My doctor kept telling me I was insulin resistant. Okay so it clicked maybe that's why I'm not losing weight because my insulin levels are always high and they never go down to normal levels. It sounded like the way to break that cycle was to do intermittent fasting, that way you are limiting the insulin spikes in your metabolism. Bingo! Light bulb moment right there!

The Eat Like a Bear method was the perfect thing I needed to do: intermittent fasting with keto. So I got started at the beginning of November 2021. My high point this year was 224.6 pounds on November 4. Over the next two weeks I was diligent and last 5, then 10 pounds. I kept grinding away and after a month I was down 15 pounds. When I met with the dietitian last week I told her of my recent success and that I didn't think I wanted bariatric surgery at this time. She was all into intermittent fasting and gave me some more handouts on it.

Needless to say I am ecstatic. I also have been a little less diligent in the last two weeks and my weight went up by 3 pounds. But that's okay because I know this program works for me. I'm going to give it a year and see where I'm at then.