I used to have a love-hate relationship with New Year’s. Like countless other people, I began each year with a resolution to finally lose some serious weight and keep it off. That was the “love” part … I loved feeling righteous and disciplined as I wrote down those all-important “action steps” to achieve my goal. By gosh, I’m really going to do it this year!
Unfortunately, my action steps always included sticking to some low-fat, vegetarian, or very-low-calorie diet, which led to the “hate” part … I hated waking up each succeeding January 1st knowing I was no leaner (and often fatter) than the year before. Naturally, I attributed the sorry result to a lack of willpower. I’d think back on all the times I surrendered to hunger and blame myself for caving in, instead of blaming the diet for making me feel ravenous.
Then, proving myself to be what Moe Howard might describe as “an intelligent imbecile,” I’d more or less repeat the previous year’s failed action plan: going to the store to stock up on rice cakes, Slim-Fast, pasta, fat-free pasta sauce, whole-grain cereals, skim milk or soy milk, Garden Burgers, Egg Beaters, butter-flavored spray for the low-fat popcorn, etc. One year I even bought a big ol’ electric treadmill and promised to walk on it for an hour every night. And guess what? I did. Unfortunately, my waistline wasn’t impressed.
My love-hate relationship with January 1st is long gone. After returning home from our holiday trip to Illinois, Chareva and I spent part of the weekend arranging our closets in the new house and deciding which clothes to take to Goodwill. Before hanging some dress slacks (which I almost never wear) in my closet, I figured it would be a good idea to try them on first. You can see how they fit in the picture below.
I bought those slacks two years ago, after I’d already lost a chunk of weight. Since I tend to store fat above the beltline – belly and love handles – I didn’t need smaller pants when I first lost weight after making Fat Head. But in the past couple of years, I’ve gone from wearing a size 38 to a size 36, and now the size 36 pants are actually a bit too loose. Size 34 pants are a bit too snug, so I’m probably a size 35. You won’t find that size in stores, so I’m putting up with the loose 36 pants for now. If I end up wearing a size 34 someday, cool. If not, that’s cool too. Reaching that size might require shrinking the width of my pelvis, and no diet will accomplish that.
The point is, I’ve continued getting a bit leaner over these past two years without starving myself, without counting calories, and without limiting myself to tasteless foods I don’t really like. I live on a meaty, high-fat diet most people would consider indulgent, and yet I no longer struggle with my weight. I no longer wake up on New Year’s feeling disgusted with my body and promising to do something about it. My resolution this year is to keep doing what I’ve been doing.
I know I can keep that promise.
Happy New Year.
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Congrats, Tom! Great shape!
Last year my New Year resolution for was to try IF, which worked by decreasing my weight already lost on LC diet enough in order to qualify me to be registered in the National Weight-loss Registry. I am looking for another resolution for the next year, nothing comes to mind except trying Slow Burn or another muscle-building activity. At least there is nothing to change in my diet. Life is so much better without cookies! When I get an advice to get more relax about my diet, I can’t understand what I suppose to gain except extra fat.
Slow Burn would be a good addition. I got a little thicker in the arms and legs and a LOT stronger after switching to Fred’s method, and I stopped injuring myself as well. I think it may have helped with getting leaner too.
Tom,
Diamond Gusset Jeans, in your neck of the woods, has odd sizes. Made in USA, too.
I’ll keep my eyes open for them.
This was in today’s Orlando Sentinel. Very encouraging right up until the conclusion. But it does appear that not everyone is buying the party propaganda.
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/orlandosentinel/news/local/osceola/~3/bHnsdO7Y4vU/os-why-americans-are-fat-food-20111231,0,7732076.story
Weird … pointing a finger at the Food Pyramid, but endorsing MyPlate.
Happy New Year! Some carb creep found my jeans a little tight, but getting back on program for a week put it right. In years past, I tried eating less and exercising more, but just ended up the same weight and tired.
You’d better find a tailor before those pants fall off. Seriously, the whole sagging thing is so five minutes ago.
I didn’t bother with a tailor. Someone at the Goodwill store will end up with a nice pair of gently-used dress slacks.
Happy New Year to you and yours, Tom!
This is the first time I haven’t made any grand “will lose XXX kilos this year” resolutions, or started a new diet journal, or had any great plans to change what I’m doing about my health … because now I know I’m already on the right path.
BTW, I just got some new jeans. Tried on a pair I liked in an AU size 12 (I think that’s a US size 8), but both I and the sales assistant agreed they were a little loose. So I tried and bought the size 11 (US 7) instead. Smallest. Jeans. Ever. Since I was literally a child.
Yep, I’m sticking to having butter on my big steak dinner, and just cream for dessert.
It’ll be torture, enjoying steak and butter while losing weight, but worth it.
Happy New Year, Tom! I’ve got to get back on the low-carb wagon after the crazy year I had in 2011. My blood sugars started to go crazy again, and I realized I’d slipped back into eating junk after I had my baby. The hubby and I are hitting January hard with a 30-day Primal-ish diet, and I’m hoping that does the trick to get my numbers back under control. I did insulin (and metformin until 16 weeks) while pregnant, but I’d like to use diet alone to get me back on track. We’ll see what happens. I really banged my health up last year, what with 30 weeks of bedrest, lots of insulin injections, preeclampsia, UTIs, etc. Picking up my baby girl is giving me more exercise than I’ve had in a long while. I want to be around for a long, long time to see her grow up. I had her right before I turned 37, so I also need to improve my health to be able to chase her around!
Here’s to an awesome 2012 for us all!
I wish you all the best on the Primal experiment.
@PB link “. . .fads no way to lose the flab. . .”
According to World English Dictionary, a fad is
1. an intense but short-lived fashion; craze
2. a personal idiosyncrasy or whim
Clearly the newsies and journalists and dietitians and all have never bothered to look up the word they throw around so freely. Even setting aside the whole what-our-prehistoric-ancestors-ate thing, low carbing for weight loss has been around at least since Banting. Hardly a flash in the pan.
If anything will turn out to be a fad, it’s the low-fat diet.
I lost 30 lbs in about six weeks after stumbling through netflix and finding Fat Head. I went from a size 36 to 32.
Thanks so much!
Outstanding. That’s quite an accomplishment for six weeks.
Tom, Wrangler Jeans have a stretch type waist line where if you buy say a 34, it is capable of stretching to a 36.
The 34s I tried on would probably stretch to fit, but I’m not concerned with the size listed on the label. If I get there, I get there.
And a happy New Year to you, Tom. I’ve been eating low carb for three years now, and after an initial loss of a few pounds, I plateaued for two years! However, with no change that I’ve noticed to my diet, I’ve lost nine pounds in the past three months. I’m almost back into the normal weight range, despite the fattening properties of the immunosuppressant drugs I have to take to protect my transplanted liver and kidney. All in all, a happier New Year for me, too.
Lots of us seem to get stuck on a certain weight for awhile, then start dropping again. I haven’t figured out why that happens. One of Jimmy Moore’s guests (can’t remember which) said our bodies need to get comfortable with a lower set-point for awhile before lowering it again.
I think I already got rid of my old dress pants, but if my wife hasn’t taken them to Goodwill yet I’ll post my own similar photo.
Last year (2010) after Thanksgiving I tried on my 42″ waist slacks and they were getting snug. I stopped eating carbs and by this last Thanksgiving (2011) I was back in 32″. I’m just annoyed at all the old stuff I got rid of, thinking it would never fit again.
Wow, that’s a heck of a drop.
I remember in Fathead you said you would probably never feel comfortable wearing a bathing suit without a shirt again. Have you reached that goal yet, I wonder? I hope to reach it by the end of the year. I think I’m about 40 pounds away from being A Skinny Guy.
Years of feeling ashamed of being seen shirtless took a toll. I still can’t bring myself to take off my shirt in front of anyone but Chareva and the girls. It’s a conditioned response. Maybe I’ll get over that someday.
I’m new to this information (I’m currently reading your archives) and finding it fascinating. With more than half the cookbooks in my collection vegetarian or vegan and the remainder low-fat this is all new to me, but I’m willing to do the reading and research to find out more. I’m intrigued because I’ve spent years TRYING to go vegan (I was cold, oh-so-cold, and now know I’m not the only one), TRYING to limit my calories and fat to lose weight (by 10:30 AM, I would have knocked over anyone in my path on the way to the snack cart), GROWING my waistline (uh…kind of the opposite of what I wanted to do), and generally being confused about things like gum grafts (ouch), miscarriages (I’ve had six), gestational diabetes (throughout both pregnancies I carried to term), and why a book that harps on and on about “bastardized wheat” (Skinny Bitch) would so heartily recommend I chow down on what I’d consider bastardized soy. Thank you for all the book and documentary recommendations and links to various articles. They are very helpful to me as I research and start to understand what following the standard advice has done to my body (and likely the size of my family). We’re trying low-carb on for size for the next few weeks, and my children already tell me they “love the Fathead” (bacon…they love you because you said they get bacon). If the low-carb diet is successful, I’m considering a low-parentheses writing plan as my next adventure (maybe). Thanks again!
My writing is consistently high parentheses (not as high as some) and it (mostly) hasn’t hurt me any.
Fyi, my husband is also a 35 and gets that size at Banana Republic. That’s one of the only places he finds them, but it’s possible.
Thanks for the tip. I’ll check there sometime.
Congrats, Tom! Great shape!
Last year my New Year resolution for was to try IF, which worked by decreasing my weight already lost on LC diet enough in order to qualify me to be registered in the National Weight-loss Registry. I am looking for another resolution for the next year, nothing comes to mind except trying Slow Burn or another muscle-building activity. At least there is nothing to change in my diet. Life is so much better without cookies! When I get an advice to get more relax about my diet, I can’t understand what I suppose to gain except extra fat.
Slow Burn would be a good addition. I got a little thicker in the arms and legs and a LOT stronger after switching to Fred’s method, and I stopped injuring myself as well. I think it may have helped with getting leaner too.
Tom,
Diamond Gusset Jeans, in your neck of the woods, has odd sizes. Made in USA, too.
I’ll keep my eyes open for them.
This was in today’s Orlando Sentinel. Very encouraging right up until the conclusion. But it does appear that not everyone is buying the party propaganda.
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/orlandosentinel/news/local/osceola/~3/bHnsdO7Y4vU/os-why-americans-are-fat-food-20111231,0,7732076.story
Weird … pointing a finger at the Food Pyramid, but endorsing MyPlate.
Happy new year Tom!
Thank you for being the inspiration that you are!
These crazy ‘new’ paleo fad diets eh!
I expect this fad to fade away sometime in the next 500 years.
Happy New Year, Tom! I’ve got to get back on the low-carb wagon after the crazy year I had in 2011. My blood sugars started to go crazy again, and I realized I’d slipped back into eating junk after I had my baby. The hubby and I are hitting January hard with a 30-day Primal-ish diet, and I’m hoping that does the trick to get my numbers back under control. I did insulin (and metformin until 16 weeks) while pregnant, but I’d like to use diet alone to get me back on track. We’ll see what happens. I really banged my health up last year, what with 30 weeks of bedrest, lots of insulin injections, preeclampsia, UTIs, etc. Picking up my baby girl is giving me more exercise than I’ve had in a long while. I want to be around for a long, long time to see her grow up. I had her right before I turned 37, so I also need to improve my health to be able to chase her around!
Here’s to an awesome 2012 for us all!
I wish you all the best on the Primal experiment.
@PB link “. . .fads no way to lose the flab. . .”
According to World English Dictionary, a fad is
1. an intense but short-lived fashion; craze
2. a personal idiosyncrasy or whim
Clearly the newsies and journalists and dietitians and all have never bothered to look up the word they throw around so freely. Even setting aside the whole what-our-prehistoric-ancestors-ate thing, low carbing for weight loss has been around at least since Banting. Hardly a flash in the pan.
If anything will turn out to be a fad, it’s the low-fat diet.
And a happy New Year to you, Tom. I’ve been eating low carb for three years now, and after an initial loss of a few pounds, I plateaued for two years! However, with no change that I’ve noticed to my diet, I’ve lost nine pounds in the past three months. I’m almost back into the normal weight range, despite the fattening properties of the immunosuppressant drugs I have to take to protect my transplanted liver and kidney. All in all, a happier New Year for me, too.
Lots of us seem to get stuck on a certain weight for awhile, then start dropping again. I haven’t figured out why that happens. One of Jimmy Moore’s guests (can’t remember which) said our bodies need to get comfortable with a lower set-point for awhile before lowering it again.
I remember in Fathead you said you would probably never feel comfortable wearing a bathing suit without a shirt again. Have you reached that goal yet, I wonder? I hope to reach it by the end of the year. I think I’m about 40 pounds away from being A Skinny Guy.
Years of feeling ashamed of being seen shirtless took a toll. I still can’t bring myself to take off my shirt in front of anyone but Chareva and the girls. It’s a conditioned response. Maybe I’ll get over that someday.
Happy New Year to you and your family. Here’s to a wonderful 2012 for us all. I am happy to just keep doing what I am doing… low carb paleo… I get leaner and leaner as each year goes by despite eating my fill of delicious real food at every meal. It all just feels right and normal. Looking forward to the low carb cruise!
I’ll see you there.
I’m new to this information (I’m currently reading your archives) and finding it fascinating. With more than half the cookbooks in my collection vegetarian or vegan and the remainder low-fat this is all new to me, but I’m willing to do the reading and research to find out more. I’m intrigued because I’ve spent years TRYING to go vegan (I was cold, oh-so-cold, and now know I’m not the only one), TRYING to limit my calories and fat to lose weight (by 10:30 AM, I would have knocked over anyone in my path on the way to the snack cart), GROWING my waistline (uh…kind of the opposite of what I wanted to do), and generally being confused about things like gum grafts (ouch), miscarriages (I’ve had six), gestational diabetes (throughout both pregnancies I carried to term), and why a book that harps on and on about “bastardized wheat” (Skinny Bitch) would so heartily recommend I chow down on what I’d consider bastardized soy. Thank you for all the book and documentary recommendations and links to various articles. They are very helpful to me as I research and start to understand what following the standard advice has done to my body (and likely the size of my family). We’re trying low-carb on for size for the next few weeks, and my children already tell me they “love the Fathead” (bacon…they love you because you said they get bacon). If the low-carb diet is successful, I’m considering a low-parentheses writing plan as my next adventure (maybe). Thanks again!
My writing is consistently high parentheses (not as high as some) and it (mostly) hasn’t hurt me any.
Happy new year Tom!
Thank you for being the inspiration that you are!
These crazy ‘new’ paleo fad diets eh!
I expect this fad to fade away sometime in the next 500 years.
Glad to see you back, Tom. Hope you got lots of rest as you have to get back to your “pay off the mortgage” employment. In my usual daydream while on a long drive this week I thought of winning the Lottery and giving you the money to pay your debts – enabling you to live like the gentleman farmer you are!!!!
Keep up the good work, Skinny, and Happy New Year
I appreciate the thought. I had a good, restful break and managed to read a few books I’ve been wanting to review.
I’m in the same boat. But you’re right, you have to try them on in the store. I have a pair of 33″ jeans from target that fit pretty good. All my stafford slacks that are 34 are a hair tight on me. My 36″ stuff just hangs off me and looks ridiculous.
Your best bet for 35″ stuff is Penney’s but you will have to look real hard. Every once in a while I find one.
If I spot a pair of 35s that I like, I’ll try them. I’d rather go a little loose than a little tight, so the 36s are fine for now.
Tom, I SO identify with your story! The constant new goal that you never reach, always feeling like a failure and blaming yourself for not having enough willpower…
Then my husband and I watched Fat Head this past fall and I’m starting this year 20 pounds lighter, without ever feeling like I’ve been on a diet, and confident that I’ve pretty much solved my issues with food for life. Oh, and my IBS disappeared as a bonus! Thanks for making the film. It’s totally changed my life! 🙂
That’s a Happy New Year indeed. Congratulations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDPK6iQEbDE&feature=youtube_gdata_player
I am having a fantastic start to the New Year.
I am 25 years old and I used to be over 300 pounds (320 to be exact) , wear XXL or XXXL shirts that ended up being too tight and size 44 pants that were getting to the point they were starting to get too tight. I had the worst snoring and sleep apnea problems in the world and at times I was struggling for breath.
In September I was inspired by my friend (now my girlfriend) who showed me your documentary Fathead, to start up my new Low-Carb lifestyle.
Since then I now weigh 272 I am down to wearing size 38 pants, fitting into XL shirts and it was one of the most wonderful feelings in the world when this morning my girlfriend turned to me and said “I didn’t hear you snoring once last night”.
I am very pleased with the progress I have made and will continue to make in my lifestyle in 2012. I think I will start with a breakfast of Bacon and Eggs.
Thank you very much for helping inspire me Tom.
My pleasure. Your girlfriend did you a real favor, too.
Congrats! I have to tell you, I love that feeling. I have several pairs of elastic-waist pants from my high-weight point that I hang on to so I can remind myself of how far I’ve come. They used to just fit, and now are so big that I can pull the waist all the way up to my chest.
This was the first year I didn’t gain at least ten pounds during the holiday season. Of course, I didn’t lose any weight either, thanks to all the hard cider and spiced mead my family likes to keep around during this time of year.
I didn’t lose any weight either, thanks to a few cheat days over the holidays. But it’s nice to wake up on New Year’s Day and realize I didn’t pack it on from Thanksgiving to New Year’s.
Tom, don’t worry about the suspenders. Now that you’re in your new home you can just get yourself a pair of farmers’ overalls. You’d definitely look better than this dude: http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumblarge_254/1207028797gB6M87.jpg and you’d still have a place to hook your thumbs. 🙂
I believe once we start raising animals, wearing overalls is a legal requirement.
Sadly we still have a long way to go:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/02/opinion/frum-america-fatter/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
With the mainstream media pushing this crap it’s a major uphill battle.
That’s why I won’t be retiring anytime soon.
Happy New Year, Tom, and may I recommend a nice seasoning to add to your steak — butter!
That would be a well-seasoned steak.
Happy New Year to you and your family. Here’s to a wonderful 2012 for us all. I am happy to just keep doing what I am doing… low carb paleo… I get leaner and leaner as each year goes by despite eating my fill of delicious real food at every meal. It all just feels right and normal. Looking forward to the low carb cruise!
I’ll see you there.
The French Paradox comment got me thinking. Just watched Julie and Julia again, love that movie. Julia Child cooked French for herself and her husband for years, lots of “artery clogging” butter! They both lived into their 90’s. Interesting….
Add her name to the list of millions of “anomalies.”
Glad to see you back, Tom. Hope you got lots of rest as you have to get back to your “pay off the mortgage” employment. In my usual daydream while on a long drive this week I thought of winning the Lottery and giving you the money to pay your debts – enabling you to live like the gentleman farmer you are!!!!
Keep up the good work, Skinny, and Happy New Year
I appreciate the thought. I had a good, restful break and managed to read a few books I’ve been wanting to review.
I’m in the same boat. But you’re right, you have to try them on in the store. I have a pair of 33″ jeans from target that fit pretty good. All my stafford slacks that are 34 are a hair tight on me. My 36″ stuff just hangs off me and looks ridiculous.
Your best bet for 35″ stuff is Penney’s but you will have to look real hard. Every once in a while I find one.
If I spot a pair of 35s that I like, I’ll try them. I’d rather go a little loose than a little tight, so the 36s are fine for now.
Tom, I SO identify with your story! The constant new goal that you never reach, always feeling like a failure and blaming yourself for not having enough willpower…
Then my husband and I watched Fat Head this past fall and I’m starting this year 20 pounds lighter, without ever feeling like I’ve been on a diet, and confident that I’ve pretty much solved my issues with food for life. Oh, and my IBS disappeared as a bonus! Thanks for making the film. It’s totally changed my life! 🙂
That’s a Happy New Year indeed. Congratulations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDPK6iQEbDE&feature=youtube_gdata_player
I am having a fantastic start to the New Year.
I am 25 years old and I used to be over 300 pounds (320 to be exact) , wear XXL or XXXL shirts that ended up being too tight and size 44 pants that were getting to the point they were starting to get too tight. I had the worst snoring and sleep apnea problems in the world and at times I was struggling for breath.
In September I was inspired by my friend (now my girlfriend) who showed me your documentary Fathead, to start up my new Low-Carb lifestyle.
Since then I now weigh 272 I am down to wearing size 38 pants, fitting into XL shirts and it was one of the most wonderful feelings in the world when this morning my girlfriend turned to me and said “I didn’t hear you snoring once last night”.
I am very pleased with the progress I have made and will continue to make in my lifestyle in 2012. I think I will start with a breakfast of Bacon and Eggs.
Thank you very much for helping inspire me Tom.
My pleasure. Your girlfriend did you a real favor, too.
Congrats! I have to tell you, I love that feeling. I have several pairs of elastic-waist pants from my high-weight point that I hang on to so I can remind myself of how far I’ve come. They used to just fit, and now are so big that I can pull the waist all the way up to my chest.
This was the first year I didn’t gain at least ten pounds during the holiday season. Of course, I didn’t lose any weight either, thanks to all the hard cider and spiced mead my family likes to keep around during this time of year.
I didn’t lose any weight either, thanks to a few cheat days over the holidays. But it’s nice to wake up on New Year’s Day and realize I didn’t pack it on from Thanksgiving to New Year’s.
Tom, don’t worry about the suspenders. Now that you’re in your new home you can just get yourself a pair of farmers’ overalls. You’d definitely look better than this dude: http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumblarge_254/1207028797gB6M87.jpg and you’d still have a place to hook your thumbs. 🙂
I believe once we start raising animals, wearing overalls is a legal requirement.
Congratulations on your progress! I’m also going to be sticking with this ‘fad’ diet of meat, fish, butter, vegetables and fruit.
It was either go with a fad diet or get a tattoo, so I went with the fad diet.
Sadly we still have a long way to go:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/02/opinion/frum-america-fatter/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
With the mainstream media pushing this crap it’s a major uphill battle.
That’s why I won’t be retiring anytime soon.
Happy New Year, Tom, and may I recommend a nice seasoning to add to your steak — butter!
That would be a well-seasoned steak.
The French Paradox comment got me thinking. Just watched Julie and Julia again, love that movie. Julia Child cooked French for herself and her husband for years, lots of “artery clogging” butter! They both lived into their 90’s. Interesting….
Add her name to the list of millions of “anomalies.”
@Nowhereman link.
Disgusting. Did you notice how close the title of that article is to the title of Gary Taubes’s latest book? That can’t be coincidence. 🙁
Congratulations on your progress! I’m also going to be sticking with this ‘fad’ diet of meat, fish, butter, vegetables and fruit.
It was either go with a fad diet or get a tattoo, so I went with the fad diet.
Happy New Year Tom!
After losing 80 pounds in the past year due in no small part to your work and the work of folks you’ve introduced to me, I have but one New Year’s resolution: Find a lady who wants me for my body and not just my mind.
I like that goal. Mine is to live to be 101 and then be shot by a jealous husband.