I am running out of before pictures to choose. I chose this one because it was close to 4 months before I found carnivore. This was taken around March of 2018. I had started intermittent fasting in January of 2018. As a food addict fasting for 16 hours was incredibly difficult. I wanted to lose weight so bad because I was in constant pain. My back and my joints hurt all of the time. I had been 4 years sober from pain killer addiction by January of 2018. I was miserable. I always say my family and my friends were happy for me because I was off the pain meds, but I hated the world. I couldn’t sleep at night. I was taking 15-20 ibuprofen a day to keep the inflammation down. I knew that if I lost 100 pounds that there was a possibility that I would feel much better physically. I watched some You tube videos on intermittent fasting in conjunction with Keto. I thought Keto was too extreme so I just tried the fasting. I lost weight pretty quickly with intermittent fasting. But, here is the weird thing, found that after a few months, I could fast longer.
The longer I fasted-the less joint and back pain I felt. Then I would eat during my window and a few hours later, I was miserable. I started searching on the internet if there were certain foods that caused inflammation. That research led me to Keto again. I decided Keto might not be “so extreme” so I jumped in. I would do Keto for about 4 or 5 days then I would binge. My problem was I would eat a piece of bread, because, after all in my macro calculation I could have 20 grams of carbs and still be in ketosis. I would friggin eat every carb I could for three days in a row, until I would feel so guilty and decide I would start Keto again on Monday. I did this over and over. I didn’t understand my sugar/food addiction. I still couldn’t get rid of the back and joint pain either.
I somehow came upon the Joe Rogan/Shawn Baker video. For some reason, it made sense. I was so desperate for relief from joint and back pain that I tried it. Within a few days I felt the difference. Within a few weeks I felt the mental part start to heal. There are so many things that I have learned over the past 3.5 years of doing zero carb.
I had to learn about my emotional eating tendencies. I had to break bad habits of going right to the fridge or the pantry when I got home, or whenever I got bored. It took 3 to 4 months to break that habit. It was a constant struggle. In the beginning I couldn’t eat/drink anything with artificial sweetener. If I did-the cravings would come back with a vengeance. I have to be careful and watch exactly what I consume. If I eat a piece of beef jerky with too much sugar, I will feel it two hours later in the form of joint and back pain.
As awesome as the physical relief has been from eating this way the emotional/mental part is the most satisfying to me. I did not understand the dark “veil” that hung over me. I always knew other people that were depressed, or had terrible anxiety. It never made sense to me. I was in serious denial of my own depression/anxiety issues. About a month into this I felt a euphoria for 3 days in a row that rivaled any buzz that I got from taking pain killers. It was so drastic to me that I racked my brain to try and remember if I had taken anything.
I am constantly on WCT reading people’s posts. I see people who struggle with sugar/food addiction. They post about falling off the wagon, or not being able to sustain this way of eating. I treat my sugar addiction just like I treat my pain killer addiction. If I start, there is no stopping, I am constantly on high alert with the food and drink I consume.
I wish everyone could feel the freedom from addiction that I do. It is absolutely liberating. My whole life even going back to grade school has been a constant struggle with my weight and over eating. I could never understand why I was always a “fatty” compared to all my friends. My body AND mind was so broken.
I am so grateful for this community, so grateful to be free of addiction and grateful to be in the best health of my adult life.
Instagram- @zerocarb.roofer
