Most of my life, I was envious of people that could seemingly eat as much of anything they wanted and never gain an ounce. Conversely, I would gain 2 pounds by merely looking at a slice of pizza. I was not lucky enough to hit the metabolic lottery. I followed the advice of doctors and registered dietitians: I diligently monitored my calorie intake making sure that output exceeded my input. For over 3 years, I ate a vegetarian diet and ran 25 miles a week, but at the end of that 3 years, I was still morbidly obese. I felt like giving up. Perhaps, I really was destined to be overweight by no fault of my own.

Obesity Disadvantages

Obesity has a nearly 1 to 1 correlation with Type 2 Diabetes, cardiovascular health risks, autoimmune diseases, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and many more chronic conditions. Now, in 2020, we have discovered that the obese (especially the obese that have been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes) are more vulnerable to COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses. These conditions are much more serious than the embarrassment of asking for a seat belt extender or difficulty finding properly fitting clothes, but often overlooked by the fat acceptance advocates.

Admittedly, I am quite a stubborn guy, and not satisfied with the prospect that I had no control over my own health. In July of 2018, I was officially diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus with an HBA1C of 9.5 and my doctor recommended for me to start injecting insulin several times a day. This was my proverbial line in the sand. I decided to tackle the problem of unregulated blood glucose rather than focus on my body shape. I did not realize that focusing on a single aspect, blood glucose control, would have such a dramatic impact on my life.

I will preface my remarks by saying that I am not a doctor nor do I have any medical training whatsoever. But the method that I used has been clinically performed and repeated thousands of times. The method that I used was not your typical CICO (calories in, calories out) process, nor was it some plant-based solution. I had already been down those paths (for several years, in fact).

Understanding your baseline

Once diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, I started checking my blood sugar more frequently. My fasting blood glucose was consistently above 125 mg/dl when I first started this process. 2 hours after eating, it would often be between 180 and 200. Then it would drop to 60 which correlated with bouts of moodiness and “hanger”. Looking back, I don’t know how I didn’t comprehend the relationship between the sugar I consumed and my blood glucose.

Ketogenic protocol

I actually started with the popular Ketogenic protocol of measuring my macro-nutrient input: 75% Fat, 20% Protein, and 5% carbohydrates. Much like the calorie counting process, this would have me having to follow complex meal plans and even adding fat, just for the sake of meeting a macro nutrient requirement. Within a week, my blood glucose readings did stabilize. (Fasting: below 105 and much less variability).

Less complex Keto

Fortunately, I ran across videos and information from Dr. Eric Westman. Rather than trying to balance macro-nutrients to achieve a state of Ketosis, Dr. Westman proposed a simplified protocol.

• Consume less than 20 g total of carbohydrates/day
• Eat fatty cuts of meat and vegetables until full
• Don’t eat when not hungry.

One page food list

This way of thinking/eating transformed my eating habits from a diet to a sustainable way of eating that I have maintained for over 2 years. Within a few weeks of following this approach, my fasting blood glucose was consistently below 100 and I rarely rose above 130 after a meal. As the wild swings in blood glucose vanished, so did my episodes of irritability and ravenous hunger. I soon found myself eating only twice a day instead of constantly grazing. That wasn’t all that changed. The autoimmune symptoms that had ravaged my body for 40 years were nearly non-existent. The weight that I had been so desperately trying to lose was also dropping. After one year, I had lost 105 pounds. That weight has remained stable for the next 14 months. I was beginning to experience THIN PRIVILEGE.

Normal weight unfair advantages

Before adopting this way of eating, I was hopelessly obese with Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). Since then, my liver scans have come back free of the excess fat. In fact, 2 years into my Ketogenic journey, I have managed to reverse 4 out of 5 of my cardiovascular disease risks and the remaining one (hypertension) is better controlled with less medicine. I now, unfairly, no longer require any diabetic medications and have also been able to safely withdraw myself from expensive and harsh autoimmune medications (Humira and Methotrexate). If I had accepted my obesity and diabetes as normal or even “healthy”, I would have never pursued this course.

Dealing with the obesity stigma

With the exception of a few years (1 while playing high school football and 6 years in the Navy), I have always been either overweight or obese. I was called tubby, chunky, big-boned, fatty, and just about everything else. I didn’t like it. But, it always motivated me to want to make a change. I just didn’t know how to affect that change. I, incorrectly, focused on the physical appearance of obesity and wished that I could be “normal” size. Obesity and its related health problems were the results of years of poor decisions and choices. Did that make me a bad person? No, but it did make me an unhealthy person dependent on a cocktail of pharmaceuticals to manage symptoms. I used that public stigma and desire to improve my health as motivation to make impactful changes. Sometimes, my efforts were misguided, drastic, and frustrating when they failed to provide the desired results. My goal is to help others improve their health but with a much less torturous path.

An empathetic eye

As I observe the incredible number of obese people in our population, I don’t judge them for their appearance or even their food choices. I was in their shoes for the better part of 5 decades. However, I do empathize with their plight. Carrying all that extra weight is not a pleasant experience. The associated problems of obesity: GERD, Sleep Apnea, joint pain, Type 2 Diabetes, and so much more can make life a living hell. My wish is for more people to experience THIN PRIVILEGE just as I am. Making life changes is not necessarily easy, but I want to demonstrate that it is entirely possible. Not only is it possible, but I have managed to keep the weight off without having to resort to the hypervigilance of counting calories or intensively working out 5 days a week. In fact, those strategies proved to be detrimental to my weight loss and health improvement efforts.

Why can’t you accept me for the way that I am?

There are many that have tried to lose weight and have failed. My wife was told by her doctor that as a peri-menopausal woman with Hyperthyroid Disease that it would be impossible to lose weight and that she should try to be as healthy as she could even as her weight would continue to increase. Emotionally devastated, she defied that advice and managed to lose 75 pounds in 2 years. I am sure that her doctor meant well, but it sent my wife into a deep bout of depression that she, fortunately, was able to overcome and take action. Obesity is not a body shape problem, it is a serious health problem. Obesity also impacts your overall quality of life and, ultimately, will shorten your life. No! Biologically, you are NOT meant to be obese.

Just because you did it …

Am I an Able-ist and denigrate the people that have tried and failed to lose weight. I do not believe so. I do not doubt that people have a very strong desire to lose weight. Those people are not lazy. Like me, they have tried many tactics and listened to a multitude of experts … yet came up short. Or worse, they gained even more weight. My conclusion: The current expert advice and methods are not helpful to the majority of overweight people. In short, it is not your fault that you are obese, but it is your problem. It is a problem that must be dealt with. The current advice/methodology focuses on calorie input/output and ignores satiety. If you can learn to eat until you are satiated and don’t eat when you are not hungry, you will be on the path to solving your weight problems and fix your broken relationship with food.

Thin privilege exists

Are you unfairly obese? Yes. Are you powerless to overcome your obesity? No. It is not an easy journey, although, it does get easier along the way. However, you do have to choose to begin that journey and stay the course. Remember when I said that I would gain weight just by looking at a pizza? I have now found that I can eat an entire 16 oz steak and not gain weight. The secret is that I just eat the steak and leave the unsatiating sides (starches and dessert) alone. It isn’t just about how much you eat, but what you eat that has the largest impact on your health. I started enjoying the THIN PRIVILEGE of eating to satiety BEFORE I became thin. So, yes, thin privilege exists and it is unfair to those that are still obese. Also, non-smoker privilege exists. Smokers are unfairly more likely to suffer from lung cancer or COPD. Non-alcoholic privilege exists. Alcoholics are unfairly more likely to be arrested for DUI and suffer from Cirrhosis of the liver. No one will argue that life is fair. We all must make the best of the cards we are dealt.

Don’t give up

Failure is an inevitable step to the process of eventual success. I have never met anyone that succeeded at anything difficult on their first attempt. I should know. I failed repeatedly for the better part of five decades at losing weight. Every time I fell off the wagon, it was harder to get back on. Finally, I decided to get on a different wagon. The CICO (calories in, calories out) wagon, though praised by the “experts”, never served me well. The satiety wagon, which is not so popular among the “experts” is serving me quite well and has brought me to my destination. It is, however, a wagon that I will need to ride the rest of my life. No problem, this wagon is loaded with steaks.

The post Keto and Thin Privilege appeared first on Sustainable Keto.