That picture of me on the left was taken just before we got on the ship this year for the Low-Carb Cruise in May 2012 when I weighed in at more than 300 pounds. Needless to say, I was quite disappointed with myself at that time because I didn’t look the part of someone purporting to be healthy and fit despite eating a low-carb diet. Frustrated doesn’t even begin to describe my emotions about all of this. But, as I’ve explained before in this CarbSmart column, I was making five basic mistakes with what I was doing in my low-carb lifestyle and correcting those has made all the difference in the world for me. That’s when the concept of nutritional ketosis (instigated by a very high-fat, moderate protein, very low-carb diet) swooped in to the rescue to get my low-carb lifestyle back on track again.
I owe a deep debt of gratitude and enormous credit to two of my personal friends and low-carb mentors Dr. Jeff Volek and Dr. Stephen Phinney for sharing so explicitly about the purpose behind getting into nutritional ketosis in their latest book The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance. It wasn’t until I started actually testing BLOOD ketones (using a blood ketone meter) and not the much-less-reliable URINE ketones (traditionally measured by low-carb dieters with KetoStix) that I have been able to experience the real benefits of healthy low-carb living for myself. And it’s made all the difference in the world for me in managing my blood sugar, adequately controlling my appetite and cravings, and lowering excessive body weight while giving me unbridled energy, mental acuity and making me feel like Superman when I lift heavy weights at the gym in a fully keto-adapted, fasted (sometimes as much as 24 hours since my last meal) state. I’ve never felt this amazing in my entire life–I’m high-powered by an abundance of ketone bodies, baby!
Interestingly, it was Dr. Volek himself who personally handed me a copy of his book to read and review while I was attending a low-carb science conference in Denver, Colorado in April where something else happened that got me started doing this. More on that in a moment. I recall immediately flipping through the pages of the Performance book while Dr. Volek and Dr. Phinney were standing right there in front of me chatting and somehow I flipped right to the very page where they discussed getting into the optimal range for nutritional ketosis. When I saw this and their recommendation to start testing your blood ketones, I couldn’t wait to ask them about this new method for measuring ketone bodies. It’s revolutionary, cutting-edge technology, but they did warn that there’s still a lot of research that needs to be done into this–and yet the information was too important not to share in their latest book. YOU CAN SAY THAT AGAIN!
After just five months of engaging in my own personal nutritional ketosis n=1 experiment (read my updates for Day 1-30, Day 31-60, Day 61-90, Day 91-120 and Day 121-150), I’ve now lost over 50 pounds which you can obviously see in the photo Christine took of me to the right. I am by no means celebrating anything yet because I’m FAR from being finished with this effort. But so many of my supportive friends like Neely Quinn from “Paleo Plan” have been begging me to share some new photos of how my weight loss has been going. This is probably a good spot to show an update on my progress and I know that the difference between that photo on the left and the current photo on the right will be even more pronounced five months from now. When I attend PaleoFX in Austin, Texas coming March 28-30, 2013 and the Low-Carb Cruise coming May 5-12, 2013, I want people to see me and go, “WOW, is that Jimmy Moore?” It’s gonna happen and I can’t wait to see this incredible success with nutritional ketosis continue! If the improvements continue (as I expect they will), then I would like to give a presentation about it at these upcoming conferences. I’ve already been asked by the organizers to share more about nutritional ketosis during my “Low Carb Down Under” tour in Australia next month.
And to be completely honest (as I always try to be), I wasn’t very thrilled with the photo I saw of myself with Neely posted on her blog about a Denver low-carb meetup in April (that took place during that same low-carb science conference I attended). But I have her partially to thank for motivating me to give nutritional ketosis a try as a result of let me see that photo of what I actually looked it. It’s funny how it takes a picture of yourself to actually see what you look like. It’s not the same as looking in the mirror everyday either. Even now, I didn’t realize how much of a difference the weight loss has been on me compared to when I started on this in May until Christine took that photo of me this week. Although, fitting into clothes I haven’t worn in three years should have been my first clue. Incredible! By the way, my friend Neely is an excellent Paleo nutrition therapist and recently blogged about how to make a Paleo-styled nutritional ketosis plan for those of you who don’t do dairy. It’s some pretty cool stuff worth checking out if you haven’t already.
The story is still being written on my nutritional ketosis experiment and I’m so excited to see what the coming months will hold. Let me say THANK YOU to everyone who has given me some incredibly thoughtful encouragement through this sometimes painful process of attempting to figure out why my weight was not cooperating with my low-carb diet over the past few years. I’ve seemingly found the solution for me and I wish the same success for you in your efforts to be as optimally healthy and fit as you can possibly be. NEVER EVER EVER GIVE UP! This fight is worth the pain it takes to get there. We’re all on this journey together and I’m here to help you in any way that I can. THANK YOU again for your love and appreciation for the work I do. It really means more to me than you’ll ever know. God bless you guys!
10-14-12 UPDATE: When I posted my updated photo after losing 50 pounds on nutritional ketosis over the past five months, I had no idea it was going to be the source of controversy. Some claimed my head was disproportional to my body and put forth the belief that I somehow “doctored” the photo to make me look better than I really am. Some people must have a lot of time on their hands to worry about it this much. But to put to rest these concerns, I had Christine take ANOTHER photo of me on her iPhone today after church. We tried to get the angle perfect so that my head is proportional to my body. I’m a tall guy, so she had to crouch down slightly to make it work. Here’s my new “after” photo following my 50-pound weight loss:
