Ryback's Rebound and Recovery Journey

OmadRyback
OmadRyback Posts: 45 Member
This is the story of my personal OMAD journey to better health, fitness, and life. All my life i'm struggled with my weight. I've never been in control of food. Food has always had control over me. No matter how much I would fight it the pounds would just keep pilling on. In the second grade I was 284 and by the 5th I was 360. While being fat as a kid I was blessed with a normal childhood. I was happy as a child. Life was good. I had a mom and dad who loved me and who where there for me and supported me.

My first time I tried to loose weight was in the 8th grade at age 14. My uncle told me if I would just walk back up and down my street four times the weight would just fall off. Well I tried it and was only able to go up and down once as I was too out of shape to go four times. At 14 walking was easy on me. Despite being 400 plus pounds in high school I was in the marching band. I carried my weight well back then. It was the fall of my sophomore year in high school at age 16 that I hit the scales at 463. I decided enough was enough and committed myself to the Atkins diet. This was around the year of 2000 when the low carb diet really began to take off. While I did manage to loose 30 pounds my weight began to stall out around 390's. Looking back I believe the reason for my plateau was eating too much protein. Plus I bought in to the all you can eat myth that you can eat all the eggs, bacon, and meats of all kind and still loose weight. While having some initial success I failed to fix the root cause of the problem which was binge eating. I was still binge eating just on hamburger patties and cheese.

By the end of high school I attending a small community college in my local home town. By then life became much easier and less stressful. Leading me to try the subway diet. It was here that I had my most successful weight loss to date. I only eat twice a day lunch and dinner. For lunch I would have a six inch turkey sub, a bag of baked chips, and a diet coke. For dinner I would have a foot long honey oat veggies sub. In 8 months I went from 460's to 330. Then I started slipping up and cheating, which, was a huge mistake because it was then at age 21 that I started having very painful gallbladder attacks. In the fall around this time I went to work at the café of Arlington Baptist College and put the weight back on because I was unable to adjust. By the time I graduated five years later at 26 I was tipping the scale at 500 pounds.

As you can see now my chronic binge eating habit has lead me to a life of yo yo dieting. It would not be for three years later that I would try again in the summer of 2013 and I would loose 70 but by the summer of 2014 had gained all my weight back on because I pushed myself too hard that by the end of that diet stint 3 months later I had no energy or will power lift and sadly I went back to my old ways again. Now at 33 years old the yo yo dieting pattern has nearly destroyed any hope I had that I could ever be a normal weight. I thank God for people willing to pray for me concerning my health crisis. One day I asked God to help me with my current situation. I believe he answered that prayer by giving my will power and drive back. He sent me on the journey where I would discover the tools of intermittent fasting and eventually the OMAD lifestyle.

It was may 21st. I had just gotten done eating a large box of oatmeal chocolate chip granola bars that weekend where there was 25 plus a free peanut butter bar inside. It was that sunday on the 21st that I began the 16:8 intermittent fasting. For the rest of that week I kept to the 16:8 and while the first 3 days where just two normal meals a day lunch and dinner. By day four I was completely keto committed to help with my diabetes that ran on average in the 200's. By the end of that week my blood sugar was 113, which was the best blood sugar reading in at least two years. All of 2016 my blood ran high and peeked at 350. By the second week for at least the first half I switched to 20:4 and for nearly a week I have progressed to eating one meal a day at five pm every day.

The struggle is real, however, I am fully committed to the omad lifestyle. My starting weight is 600 pounds plus. My last official weight was back in February when I took a trip to the ER for a messed up left ankle. I was 584. For months since then I kept emotionally binge eating till I started intermittent fasting on the 21st of may. Who knows how much weight I gained before I started my new journey of healthy living.

This Saturday begins my 20th day of intermittent fasting. All this time I've cut out all sugars and bad carbs and stuck to getting my carbs from the 5 to 7 cups of veggies I have been getting every day. Been keeping my protein to around 15 to 25 percent of my intake every day and only eating fats from the protein sources, avocados, and sometimes peanut butter where the only ingredient is from peanuts. My veggies would be broccoli, cauliflower, bristle sprouts, romaine lettuce, baby spinage, celery, and sometimes cilantro. Basically I have stuck to the basics, until one day I tried the low carb cauliflower pizza! I loved it and was very full from it so much so that that pizza was the only meal that day. This lead to the omad way of intermittent fasting. I found one meal a day is much easier than the 20:4 because my stomach was not ready for another meal even four hours later. On the keto lifestyle one meal sticks with me for a very long time. Even now I'm not hungry after eating my meal at five Friday evening. Right now it is almost 1 am in the morning.

As I progress on my omad journey I will continue to post updates. My first goal is to make it to june 21st. While it will take me more than a month to kill the old guy and his binge eating ways I will begin to have more easier days than hard. I will keep you posted! Stay tuned!

Getting my blood work done soon. I will post my results when they come in.
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Replies

  • arguablysamson
    arguablysamson Posts: 1,706 Member
    Thanks for sharing this, Jon. Your journey will be an inspiration to others more than you can know. And I found it funny how I, too, binged on hamburger patties and cheese when I attempted Atkins. lol
  • mikseyniha
    mikseyniha Posts: 442 Member
    Welcome to the group! You can do it! Looking forward to your updates :)
  • OmadRyback
    OmadRyback Posts: 45 Member
    lol your welcome bud :smile: I find it refreshing to know we are not alone in our struggles. Thank you for the words of encouragement.
  • wsandy8512
    wsandy8512 Posts: 1,897 Member
    Looking forward to your updates during your journey! Best to you :)
  • jvcinv
    jvcinv Posts: 504 Member
    Good for you man, you're young and you can do this.
    Sometime down the road you're going to look back and recognize May 21st 2017 as a major turning point in your life.
    Keep us posted.
  • alimk43
    alimk43 Posts: 41 Member
    Low carb cauliflower pizza - sounds interesting as I love pizza (not so fussed about the base but love the combo of topping flavours) - I'll have to google the recipe for that and give it a go :)
  • x3nomorph
    x3nomorph Posts: 174 Member
    just take it one day at a time, stick to OMAD day in and out, once you get into that rhythm your body will follow through and you will get great results , there's only so much food you can stuff in one 10 inch plate. you got this
  • mistymeadows2005
    mistymeadows2005 Posts: 3,737 Member
    edited June 2017
    alimk43 wrote: »
    Low carb cauliflower pizza - sounds interesting as I love pizza (not so fussed about the base but love the combo of topping flavours) - I'll have to google the recipe for that and give it a go :)

    For the record the key to this is wringing out all. Of. The. Water. It takes me at least 10 mins...once you think all the water is wrung out do it more lol...honestly that's what makes or breaks the crust action
  • mistymeadows2005
    mistymeadows2005 Posts: 3,737 Member
    Welcome! It's a glorious thing knowing you have control but can still eat things you love <3
  • OmadRyback
    OmadRyback Posts: 45 Member
    edited June 2017
    Thank you everyone for all the supporting comments and thoughts! My favorite thing about the omad is how much control I have over my food addiction. Yes love low carb cauliflower pizza is very delicious and very feeling! You will certainly have to give it a try sometime. Appreciate the advice Misty on the crust. Been missing that one step when I have cooked it. No wonder I was having an issue with getting the crust just right. xD

    While looking up the recipe for the low carb cauliflower pizza I learned that there are at least a dozen other recipes you can make as well with cauliflower, such as low carb grill cheese, tater tots, tater tot casserole, potato salad, low carb soft tacos, cauliflower rice just to name a few. Everything mentioned is low carb and most taste better than the real thing plus you wont gain a single pound!
  • OMAD2017
    OMAD2017 Posts: 73 Member
    Welcome!! I'd forgotten about cauliflower pizza crust, we loved it! Thanks for the reminder and best of luck to you.
  • OmadRyback
    OmadRyback Posts: 45 Member
    Thank you and I wish you well on your journey as well!
  • OmadRyback
    OmadRyback Posts: 45 Member
    Made it to the three week mark. Just finished my 21st day! Starting out i'm measuring my results by how long i'm sticking to omad as there is no scale I can weigh on and that is ok because the scale is only a number after all. This lifestyle has been very easy to stick to. I have gained so much control over my food intake. The temptation to go off has not been there at all as far as cravings go. Over the coarse of the last three weeks I've used one of the most God given powerful tools at our disposal which is are brain to fix my purpose on the mission at hand. I've found various ways to keep my mind off food my such as researching the topic of omad on youtube, watching a movie on Netflix, or playing a game on my pc. All for the purpose on replacing the coping dependency I had on food. It was during this process that I discovered I was an emotional eater. It dawned on me one day that I am a stress eater. When I eat I feel less stressful and more happy. Food can no longer have that type of intimacy in my life.

    Another powerful resource especially since i'm fasting for 24 hours has been sleep. Sleep quality has gone through the rough. The quantity of sleep is still the same or even less. When I wake up I actually feel rested and not as if I still need more sleep. Sleep has lessen the affects of the adaption phase of the plan.

    I just take things one day at a time. I'm always thinking of motivations to keep going. One huge motivation came yesterday evening a few hours after my 5 pm meal. I realized by staying on omad that I can live a long, productive, fulfilled life! I don't have to die in my mid thirties. Sticking to omad will allow me to plan for the future and no longer have the fear of dying young! For a decade my gut tuition told me I'm gonna die early prepare yourself the black widow has your number. Now my gut tells me that there can be a better and brighter outcome if you will just stick to it!
  • arguablysamson
    arguablysamson Posts: 1,706 Member
    Very inspiring realizations. And you are just starting your journey!
  • OmadRyback
    OmadRyback Posts: 45 Member
    Thank you Joe!
  • tlblanksfit
    tlblanksfit Posts: 1,573 Member
    With your new outlook, I am sure you will succeed and be such an example to others. Please keep us posted, I look forward to sharing in your success. You can do it, one day at a time!

    - Tracey
  • OmadRyback
    OmadRyback Posts: 45 Member
    Thank you Tracey! I look forward in sharing in yours as well. We can do it!
  • minigrrll
    minigrrll Posts: 1,590 Member
    Sounds like you are doing great!

    It's amazing how when you first start doing OMAD you will be just minding your own business and all of a sudden your brain tells you it wants food. And then, because you know you aren't eating until your OMAD time, you actually think about why you want food.

    For me it's usually boredom or when I'm working on a difficult work problem. I realize I'm not actually hungry, just in need of some kind of distraction or something.

    I really don't start feeling truly hungry until an hour or two before my OMAD time. Crazy how the brain works really!
  • OmadRyback
    OmadRyback Posts: 45 Member
    Thank you! It is very interesting how much more active your brain is on OMAD when your stomach is not constantly full of food. I feel as if i'm using more of my brain when i'm in the fasted state. The sharpness, focusing ability, and clearness gets turned up. More of my thoughts are turned to productivity instead of passitivity. My computer says that not a work, however, I like it and will keep it. Our brain is a powerful tool when used in the right way we are able to work our way to a more fulfilling independent lifestyle.

    Once we train our bodies to eat at a certain time we begin to produce insulin a few hours before our eating time. That is why you and I get hungry just right before our eating time according to a pod cast I found on utube concerning the OMAD lifestyle approach.

    My mom ask me today right at my eating time how I am able to do this. My answer is practicing being consistent. My goal is to cement OMAD into a life long habit. The longer I go with out having to go off OMAD the more my body adjust to the new lifestyle.

    Your right it is crazy how are brains work!

    Have is your OMAD journey going? Sounds like you have been adapting well!
  • minigrrll
    minigrrll Posts: 1,590 Member
    edited June 2017
    Very interesting about the insulin production...

    Yeah OMAD going well - I think this is something I can actually do long term as I feel like I can eat semi normally! I like feeling full after eating which is something definitely lacking with just restricting food and eating several times a day. I'm losing slowly but I'm not super worried. If I wasn't doing this I'd be either staying the same or (more likely) gaining along with felling guilt and constantly trying (and failing) to eat less. So it's all good!!!