How I went from 235 pounds to 185 pounds with no added exercise

When I was in high school I was always very thin. I was 5’11” and I weighed around 130 pounds when I graduated. I was lean, able to do almost 90 push-ups without stopping and could hit 102 in two minutes. Likewise, I could do sit-ups without stopping up into the 200’s and could get almost 130 in two minutes. I was running a 13:30 two-mile. Fast forward to joining the Army several years after graduating and I had put on weight. I was almost 200 when I started basic training and dropped to 165 by the time I graduated that.

Fast forward again to deployment in Afghanistan, and I weighed in at a healthy 185. I wasn’t overly bulky with muscle but we had been training for deployment for well over a year and a lot of it focused on heavy weight bearing ruck marches in anticipation of getting attached to our long range surveillance unit, 2-38 Cav. During that time I was carrying the M249 SAW at least as often as I was carrying the M4. I also had the M240B assigned to me in addition to some extra intelligence gear that was heavier than it should have been.

Another fast forward. I leave the Army and over the next couple of years, I found myself at a whopping 230 pounds. I would touch 235 on a bad week. I was working night shift on a trauma-surgical floor and eating whatever we could get delivered at 2100 hours. That meant pizza, Chinese food or buffalo wings or burgers and fries. And that was at least three days a week. I was drinking mostly sweet tea or soda, ate fast food at least a couple of times a week, and I was past the age of 30. Not the age where you want to be playing catch-up on your health. I could still move and I didn’t look as heavy as I was, which is probably why I let it get that way. I simply was not paying attention.

One last fast forward about 18-20 months, and here I am sitting at 185 again, with a goal of 180, or maybe somewhere in the 170’s. Admittedly, I am exercising a lot more often right now than I used to, but exercise has almost nothing at all to do with how I got back down in weight.

It was 99.9% dietary changes.

First, I cut out all soda and all fast food, and started eating ONLY what my wife cooked. We cut our restaurant trips from twice a week, to about twice a month when other people invited us out. When we got restaurants, we decline appetizers and drink water, and I usually look for seafood first (I love seafood anyway). I started drinking a ton of water, at least 1.5-2 liters per day. We got rid of our pantry full of snacks and only keep fruit instead (which my kids prefer anyway). Aside from seeing our bank account get bigger, I saw my weight drop from 230+ down to 212.

After that, we stopped frying foods at home. Nothing at home is fried anymore, which is also nice for cleaning up. We use the grill at least three times per week. We replaced all ground beef with low fat ground turkey (93% lean/7% fat), which tastes the same to us, and has a lot less grease to it. I started eating fish for lunch. We started taking a standard multivitamin everyday.

Next step was to train ourselves in portion control. Fill your plate with 1-1.5 normal sized portions of every item, and then when you’re finished with it, wait 15-20 minutes before you get seconds. Often we find that we end up not wanting any more. We also have started eating bananas, apples or strawberries for snacks between meals. I find that the bananas do the best job of satisfying hunger at that time.

We switched white bread to wheat instead. Low fat mayo. Fat free cheddar cheese. Low fat mozzarella. Wheat pasta. Fat free refried beans on Mexican night with wheat tortillas.

The diet plan we are on is non-intrusive, easy, quick, doesn’t leave you hungry, doesn’t eliminate any particular foods (even though we have personally chosen to eliminate some), which means you don’t have to give up your favorite stuff, and it has worked really well with me and my wife (who has also lost 30+ pounds) over the last five months. It has allowed me to start moving better and breathing better and feeling better and looking better. My blood pressure is back to normal and my heart rate is down from being irregular in the 90’s to very steady in the 70’s.

My email address is [email protected] and if you’re wondering what the plan is that we are using, please email me. I assure you that I am not selling anything and I am not going to direct you to anything you’ll have to pay for. I am willing to just tell you what we are doing and give advice and answer questions. I am not a trainer or a dietitian, but I am an ER RN and I have gone from 235 pounds at my worst down to 185 pounds today, and I only added more new exercise about one month ago by going to a Jiu Jitsu gym. That’s it. I plan to continue adding more exercise in the form of the Wednesday WODs you see here on AP, but our weight loss up until now was entirely diet based.

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16 Comments

  1. johnyMac August 10, 2020 at 08:24

    Great article TGM! It is amazing what a change in ones diet can do to help their health let alone maintain a lower weight.

    Thank you for taking the time to write and post your article.

    73 & God Bless

  2. Anonymous August 10, 2020 at 09:13

    5

  3. FlyBy August 10, 2020 at 11:35

    Nice. Not an easy task. Keep up the good work.

  4. Travis August 10, 2020 at 11:59

    That’s exactly what I did, not by choice though. Ended up in the hospital with acute pancreatitis and the docs put me on a no or very low fat diet. Mirrored yours almost exactly it sounds like. Went from 205 to 175 in a month. Feel great, started rucking again, this is the number one prep people need to work on. You’re good to no one out of shape. I plan on staying this way.

    • Johnny Paratrooper August 10, 2020 at 14:26

      Great Job Dude! I bet you sleep better and everything.

  5. Johnny Paratrooper August 10, 2020 at 14:23

    I cut all beer, soda, pizza, and other nonsense foods outta my diet. Lost 15 pounds this summer. Which is the total weight of my choice rifle.

    And if I was hungry, or a little famished during the work day, I would eat some peanut butter on crackers. Skipping lunch entirely in the dry, Wyoming heat.

    It can be dangerous to skip meals in the heat. As food helps retain hydration. I did “cheat” slightly and bring a gatorade or Powerade with me to work. That’s for the purposes of not ending up a heat casualty.

    In short, I never ate a meal over 1,000 calories. I feel like a new person. The first week or two was a little tiring.

    I have a six pack and some muscle definition now. One thing I learned in the Army, It’s hard to choke people out if you aren’t skin and bones. Fat is not a very good weapon. A hard bicep in the throat, a boney knee, or hard elbow is a game changer in hand-to-hand combat.

    Great post and very relevant. Simple diets are good for mental health too. And you save a ton of money. And smell better.

    Last night I had two eggs, two tortillas, two glasses of Skim Milk, and a Banana for dinner. I JUMPED outta bed this morning. Felt GREAT.

    If you drop 40 pounds of fat and muscle you don’t need, that’s like canceling out your entire rucksack(Nearly)

    FYI, The Infowars products are incredible. I have two years worth of supplements store up. It was pricey(About $4,000), but worth it.

  6. Anonymous August 10, 2020 at 14:29

    4.5

  7. NY Oathkeeper August 10, 2020 at 15:06

    I cringe every time i hear about Low-fat this and No-fat that!
    I am not a dietitian or a doctor but a organic, pastured meat farmer and i would like to advise people look into quality fats as they supply important amino acids and nutrients. Look at what is being substituted or added for the fat of no- fat/low-fat products.Industrial fats and oils are big no-no’s.Again we have been and continue to be lied to at every corner.Don’t just believe me,like everything ,investigate for yourself. Start here :https://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/
    I learn so much from this site i hope i can participate in opening some eyes.
    Glad to see you taking control of your health!

    • NC Scout August 10, 2020 at 15:09

      Thanks for the kind words!! If you’d like to write up a post on this, definitely do it! It’s more than welcome.

  8. Scurvy August 10, 2020 at 20:20

    Well done Sir!
    Go get you some skewers and grill some onions, mushrooms, peppers and maybe zucanini. Drizzle some olive oil and herbs over them before putting on the grill. Also try using ground sirloin for your burgers, better flavor and way less fat. (Yea a little more $$)

  9. Machine Trooper August 10, 2020 at 20:59

    That’s pretty encouraging. I’ve seen some modest improvements in my health recently, too.

    I narrowed my meals to within a 6-8 hour window (easy to do with a fixed schedule) and often only eat twice a day with rare snacking. Going to bed hungry is not the end of the world, if you’ve got some experience with it.

    Doctors never did anything for my knees, my back, or my Gulf War Syndrome, but a chiropractor actually gave me some long-lasting relief and a biofeedback dude has steered me on a different path. By taking the vitamins/herbs he recommended, and making dietary adjustments (reduce sugar and carb intake, for instance, and NEVER EAT CORN AGAIN–very unwelcome advice), my chronic pain is manageable now.

    Somewhere in the midst of all this, I trimmed down a bit, too. I’ll never be in the shape I once was, but I’m regaining some of my muscle mass while losing some of the flab, and generally have more energy than I have in a few years.

    You all might want to look into your testosterone levels, too. The VA says mine is in the “normal” range for my age, but I KNOW it’s way down from 20 years ago and I’d bet it’s 60 points down from what “normal” probably was in previous generations. The chemicals in our water and garbage in our food probably has a lot to do with it, but our lifestyle affects it, too. Little stuff like keeping a smartphone too close to your crotch might effect T-levels. I think the pozzed messages and brainwashing in pop culture we’ve been subjected to since childhood can play a part. Lack of exercise. Depression.

    I bring this up because testosterone affects pretty much everything in your physiology, and even cognitive functions. We always hear about “too much” T as part of the “toxic masculinity” narrative; but Americans are suffering from just the opposite IMO. I’m not saying it caused all our problems, but it has played a part. I bet if we could have every Republican congressman’s T levels tested, that would help clear up the mystery why they perpetually cuck, surrender, and cower in the face of evil. (That and the fact that so many of them are not-so-discretely playing for the other team.)

    • Johnny Paratrooper August 11, 2020 at 09:29

      Infowars products will fix you right up and Good as new.
      You’ll need DNA Force to fix youR GWS. I had that disease that sounds like “Green Berets”.The one that makes your hands and feet feel like they are always asleep. Prickly and numb. It’s caused by the vaccines made in Chyna. DNA force fixed that right up. Took a couple months. But if you started today you would be fixed up by New Years. Assuming you eat healthy and take care of yourself. The detox effect from the products is dramatic, but worth it. I have said before, I didn’t spend thousands of dollars on their products for nothing. And I’m going to spend 1,000 more.

      • Machine Trooper August 14, 2020 at 00:02

        Many thanks, Johnny. I never took the InfoWars stuff seriously; but then I never heard anybody not working for them vouch for it. Fixed up by New Years? That’s worth $1000 even if it’s just an outside chance.

        Is it something you have to keep taking for the rest of your life?

  10. VietVet August 11, 2020 at 17:08

    In 2008 I was sitting on 200 lbs and miserable. At 5’9” my ideal weight at 60 was 155. My wife was away for the summer tending to her dying father so I had the garden chores alone.

    I ate nothing but lean cuts of beef, chicken and fish and nothing that didn’t come out of my garden. In eight weeks I dropped to 160, I was never hungry or unsatisfied.

    I’ve been following this dietary routine ever since and maintain 155 consistently. We don’t buy snacks, eat fast food and rarely dine out.

    It’s not hard
    You just have to change your habits. Takes three weeks

  11. LKS August 12, 2020 at 14:34

    Well done. I’ve dropped from 230 to 205 during the work from home mandate. I think the combination of less access to vending machine junk and more time to work outside (breaks and no commute) are what’s done it. Still working on getting below 200.

    • Patriotman August 12, 2020 at 14:36

      Excellent! Because I am mostly a gym rat, not having access to that (and lots of beer) made me gain all the weight I lost since January. Time to start again!

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