I had another great workout today. Yesterday, however, I had another sugar binge. I also didn’t go to the gym because of back pain. Thinking back, I felt guilty for not going. That made me feel like a failure, which caused me to give in to my sugar cravings. Then, feelings of shame reared their ugly head. That could have derailed me today, but I skipped breakfast and went to the gym.
Yesterday’s ‘failure’ was just one day, a day of legitimate pain. Had I not been burdened by guilt about not working out, I might not have ‘failed’ to stick to my diet. Guilt can become an obstacle, but the real obstacle would be not recognizing legitimate pain. Pushing past a warning sign of pain can lead to more severe injury. That would be a real setback. Learning to recognize legitimate pain concerns means keeping myself safe and on track to success. So, there is no reason to let guilt cause me to fall off my diet. Recognizing this has been a liberating realization.
I had not considered my circumstances in this fashion before, analyzing my thoughts and emotions concerning my workouts and diet. I should do it more. It may help me to keep moving forward. Knowing my goal and why I want it and seeing the best way forward is extremely important. Sometimes, pain may get in the way, but staying focused on my goal and why I want it will keep me going.
The gym workouts have been enjoyable of late. I am feeling stronger and haven’t hurt myself. Typically, I will have injured a joint or pulled a muscle and taken myself out of the game. My current diet has something to do with it. The diet is extremely low-carb, which makes less sugar or glucose in the body. I am desperately trying to avoid sugar, and I do succeed 80% of the time. So, it means less inflammation in my body. With lower inflammation, I have less joint pain, which allows me to enjoy my workout even more. With low joint pain, I’m getting a better workout.
My muscles are recovering very quickly. I don’t know how much they have grown, but they feel much better than they have in the past. At this point, I’m willing to attribute all of this good feeling to the zero-carb diet or carnivore diet.
I had begun to have success on the ketogenic diet in 2015-16, but my doctor at the time scared me off the diet with the high cholesterol speech. It didn’t matter that my triglycerides were trending downward; I had lost weight, my blood pressure was better, and my blood glucose was normalizing. She was utterly distracted by the cholesterol.
I left her office confused, sad, discouraged, and unsure of what to do next. What I did do was give up. I started eating whatever I wanted and didn’t care what would happen. I regained all the weight, and my health was again out of control. My decline continued until I discovered intermittent fasting in 2019.
Intermittent fasting restarted my health journey. And at the beginning of 2024 (mid-January), I found the carnivore or zero-carb diet. I jumped in immediately, as usual. I somehow knew this was going to work. I need to figure out how to be more consistent. I know I will succeed eventually. It feels too good not to work.
I guess this post is to say that things are good. I feel good, healthy, and stronger than ever. Once I have my sugar addiction under control, things will happen more quickly. That is, unless my body decides not to follow the laws and principles I believe are in place.
With this newfound understanding and approach, I am filled with hope for the future. We shall see…😏
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