The Coast Guard

They weight you in every six months in the U.S. Coast Guard, one in October, and one in April. I was not ready for October 2014. I saw myself under a weight probation: I had six months to lose 30 lbs.. No biggie, I’ve done worse before. I once lost 50 lbs. just to join the USCG. I was younger though. This time the process was painful and slow. I was following a low-fat diet and doing lots of cardio. It didn’t help me much. Sadly, I was around 1% over my maximum BMI when my deadline arrived. I was terminated from the military, the only type of job that can legally kick you out for being fat. I left weighing 185 lbs.

As a civilian, I didn’t need to keep weight standards or anything. I grew a beard, because I could; I sported a mohawk, because I could; I ate whatever I wanted, because I could. I gained all the weight that I lost during my probation, and added some more.

Discovery

I discovered the ketogenic diet by mistake. I was now a maintenance engineer working in a hotel. I was looking for a way of painting some PVC pipes by using stain instead of paint. I read in a forum that I should use Methyl Ethyl Ketone mixed with some dry media to stain the pipes correctly. For some reason I started googling Keto… and saw all the suggestions starting with Keto diet. I clicked it. Started reading about what certainly looked like another fad diet.

Fat! That would never work! Fat makes you fat. I researched the ketogenic diet for three months. I never finished that PVC project.

At some point I remembered that a few years ago Nick, a friend from the Coast Guard, told me about this other way of doing things. He told me to eat more fat. He would always be overweight, but his BMI was very low. He was all muscle! Nevertheless, I dismissed him and treated him like he was crazy. He never talked to me about that diet ever again.

Starting

I decided to start while I was on my way back to Key West from Kissimmee after spending a couple of days with my family, saying goodbye to 2016. I always wear something nice for New Year’s Eve, but I couldn’t find anything that fit. For the first time in my life, I had to wear size 40. When I came home I threw away the pants and swore not to wear that size ever again.

A few days before I started buying supplies. I had I giant tub of coconut oil, 2 bottles of avocado oil and a lot of Pinterest posts pinned to a private list. I love bacon, and I love eggs. I still had a lot to learn, but I made it through.

That was one year ago today.