Gary and his wife, this week’s featured readers, began following the Always Hungry book program at the end of October! Gary has since lost 20 pounds and celebrated many NSVs (non-scale victories), including increased energy levels and a significantly lower A1C.
Read on to hear his story in his own words.
“Flash back to January of 2016: I had a very discouraging visit to my nurse practitioner.
Weight: 230
BMI: 32.5 (OBESE)
A1c: 6.4
BP: 148/88
Cholesterol numbers were all bad
So, I dusted off my workout clothes, joined the YMCA and started the old-standard calorie-restriction diet. The gym workouts sucked and I only made weight-loss progress by starving myself. By May, I’d lost 18 pounds and some of the labs showed a small improvement.
A trip to Las Vegas and the births of 2 grandchildren interrupted my workout routine and diet plan. Every trip through a checkout line was an excuse for a candy bar or two. Except for blood pressure, my September checkup was not good:
Weight was still at 212
BMI 30.0 (still OBESE)
A1c: 6.5 (higher than ever)
BP 115/70
Cholesterol improved a bit
Then a friend on Facebook told me about Always Hungry and thought it might help. I ordered the book from Amazon and pored through it. The “science” of it made sense to me, and my wife was willing to join me.
So we jumped into Phase One at the end of October.
I love cooking and most of Chef Dawn’s recipes have been terrific. The ones that were not our favorites were easy to tweak to our liking (with fantastic feedback from Chef Dawn when I asked her questions on the Facebook page).
I started walking in October too. As it turned out, there were miles and miles of trails in the hills that were just one block from our house. I started out walking a mile or two every other day. Now I’m up to 5 or 6 miles most mornings. My energy level has gone through the roof — a significant non-scale victory (NSV).
My most recent visit to the Nurse Practitioner was amazing:
Weight 192 (another 20 pound loss for a total of a 38 pounds!)
BMI 27.2 (down to OVERWEIGHT)
A1c: 5.2 <---- a HUGE NSV
BP 115/70
Cholesterol numbers are perfect.
By the way, my wife's A1c dropped from 6.5 in November to 5.9 in January!!!
We're about 99% Phase 1 except for my wine. It's working well and I seldom have cravings for the things that are not allowed on Phase 1. We weathered Thanksgiving, Christmas, and a family vacation in January, with only minor excursions from Phase 1. Luckily, the few times we fell off the wagon didn't trigger cravings for more of the same.
My friend said that AH has been life-changing. I agree 100%.
For others just starting out, my advice would be to try and understand the science when reading the book. Join the Facebook Group. It’s full of inspiration and fellowship from folks that have encountered challenges.
So far, I haven’t encountered any significant challenges on this plan. I’m never hungry and have almost no cravings.
My favorite part of the program has got to be the food.
I love to cook and this lifestyle has opened up a whole new world of recipes to enjoy. And I love tweaking old favorites (from before AH) to make them compliant.”
Developing a Regular Meal Schedule
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Read on to hear his story in his own words.
“Flash back to January of 2016: I had a very discouraging visit to my nurse practitioner.
Weight: 230
BMI: 32.5 (OBESE)
A1c: 6.4
BP: 148/88
Cholesterol numbers were all bad
So, I dusted off my workout clothes, joined the YMCA and started the old-standard calorie-restriction diet. The gym workouts sucked and I only made weight-loss progress by starving myself. By May, I’d lost 18 pounds and some of the labs showed a small improvement.
A trip to Las Vegas and the births of 2 grandchildren interrupted my workout routine and diet plan. Every trip through a checkout line was an excuse for a candy bar or two. Except for blood pressure, my September checkup was not good:
Weight was still at 212
BMI 30.0 (still OBESE)
A1c: 6.5 (higher than ever)
BP 115/70
Cholesterol improved a bit
Then a friend on Facebook told me about Always Hungry and thought it might help. I ordered the book from Amazon and pored through it. The “science” of it made sense to me, and my wife was willing to join me.
So we jumped into Phase One at the end of October.
I love cooking and most of Chef Dawn’s recipes have been terrific. The ones that were not our favorites were easy to tweak to our liking (with fantastic feedback from Chef Dawn when I asked her questions on the Facebook page).
I started walking in October too. As it turned out, there were miles and miles of trails in the hills that were just one block from our house. I started out walking a mile or two every other day. Now I’m up to 5 or 6 miles most mornings. My energy level has gone through the roof — a significant non-scale victory (NSV).
My most recent visit to the Nurse Practitioner was amazing:
Weight 192 (another 20 pound loss for a total of a 38 pounds!)
BMI 27.2 (down to OVERWEIGHT)
A1c: 5.2 <---- a HUGE NSV BP 115/70 Cholesterol numbers are perfect. By the way, my wife's A1c dropped from 6.5 in November to 5.9 in January!!! We're about 99% Phase 1 except for my wine. It's working well and I seldom have cravings for the things that are not allowed on Phase 1. We weathered Thanksgiving, Christmas, and a family vacation in January, with only minor excursions from Phase 1. Luckily, the few times we fell off the wagon didn't trigger cravings for more of the same. My friend said that AH has been life-changing. I agree 100%. For others just starting out, my advice would be to try and understand the science when reading the book. Join the Facebook Group. It’s full of inspiration and fellowship from folks that have encountered challenges.
So far, I haven’t encountered any significant challenges on this plan. I’m never hungry and have almost no cravings.
My favorite part of the program has got to be the food.
I love to cook and this lifestyle has opened up a whole new world of recipes to enjoy. And I love tweaking old favorites (from before AH) to make them compliant.”