John is a member of my Low Carb Challenge Group and he is constantly amazing us with inspiring pictures & weight loss motivation with his posts in the group! He gave me permission to share his “before and after weight loss” photo with you here, along with a recent story of “falling off the wagon”…
John has been eating low carb for 7 years now, and has kept the 180 pounds off, give or take a 10 pound fluctuation. Amazing transformation, right?! 😀 Wow!!
If those inspiring pictures don’t seriously motivate you, you might need to put your glasses on. 😉 Imagine how much it has changed his life to lose almost 200 pounds, and totally change his appearance (and his health!) like he has. I’d bet he feels FABULOUS, is super proud of his achievement, and is very happy with himself!
As you know, I just returned from a “Low Carb Road Trip” and talked about staying healthy while on vacation. John recently returned from vacation too, so his latest post was perfect timing – and I’m glad he’s letting me share it with you. Here’s what he had to say:
It’s been two weeks since I posted. I have been on vacation. Needless to say I ate, by choice, a LOT of carbs. Part of the vacation was to visit as many “Diners Drive-ins and Dives” restaurants we could while in certain cities.
What I have noticed happens to me when I get off the low carb way of eating is the following…
– I hate myself because I feel sick and my body works twice as hard to digest “carbs” since it’s been so long since it had to deal with so much at one time.
– After eating outside of my comfort zone with carbs I fall into a depression (yes even after keeping my weight off for 7 years it still happens)
– I start to feel sorry for myself and want to comfort the depression and the only thing my body wants to make it feel better is to eat more carbs
– I eat carbs and feel sick again and then get depressed and over and over and over it goes.
It’s so important for all of us to take CONTROL of our minds and body or they will take control of us. After keeping my weight off for 7 years I still see how EASY it is to fall into that cycle and before you know it you’re up 10-20-30-100 lbs and ask how did it happen!?!?
Today’s motivation. Control your cravings or your cravings will control you.
Back on my low carb lifestyle. 😉 Hope you guys have a blessed day!!!
John also commented: “It’s all about choosing to keep going or stay down and I choose to GO, even if I stumble. (this was a voluntary stumble, I wanted to eat at those restaurants).
“Another reminder to everyone, this WOE and pretty much ANYTHING in life, is 10% knowledge and 90% action. We all have the knowledge, we must put it into action to make it count.” -John
I hope you enjoyed his inspiring pictures of weight loss, before and after, and his story/advice as much as I did. I can relate to so much of what he said in that post myself, and I know you probably can as well.
Eating “junk” is just NOT worth it. Even if you only fluctuate a few pounds when you “cheat”, and you’re willing to do the work to get back on track, it takes a toll on you mentally and emotionally too – as John pointed out. That’s just not a “head space” I enjoy. None of us do. So why do we sabotage ourselves?! Good question. I’d love to hear your thoughts on that…
That’s the reason I decided to stick to my diet on my beach trip. I wanted to feel GOOD and actually ENJOY the trip. And I did! See my Low Carb Vacation Food Journal.
A big THANK YOU to John for the share – that’s serious weight loss motivation!
Don’t you agree?
😀If you’re not a member of the Low Carb Challenge Group yet, you should join us! There’s a lot of inspiring pictures, weight loss stories, motivation, meal ideas, support & accountability – and it’s just an overall FUN group to “low carb” with. 😉
Beautifully stated, John; I couldn’t agree more! Thank you for sharing your journey!
Ditto Jennifer! I especially liked his “Control your cravings or your cravings will control you” comment – SO true!
Right on, John! Being on vacation and following a low-carb life style is HARD. But it can be done. My hubby & I took an around the world cruise for 4 months! Yes, around the world – four months on a cruise ship. I actually lost 10lbs during those 4 months by following our low-carb life style and walking a lot. I didn’t even visit the gym on board because I HATE exercising, but we walked a lot on the ship & on shore. We were off the ship on ship sponsored shore excursions in China and India where we ate local food. I did eat some local bread in India, but mostly stayed with lots of veggies and meat.
A low-carb life style can be done on vacation, it just takes will power and determination. Knowing that even if you stray a bit, don’t beat up yourself, Just pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again.
Very cool, Janet – the cruise sounds like it was an amazing adventure! I’m like you, I prefer to get my exercise doing something FUN. I have a gym membership but lately I prefer hiking and water skiing to the treadmill & weights.
We just got back from a beach trip, which I talked about here: http://www.travelinglowcarb.com/4501/how-to-stay-healthy-on-vacation/ and it was nice to get in some swimming & brisk beach walks. And of course there was a lot of beautiful (low carb) seafood to enjoy! *cheers*
So inspiring!
I needed to read this! Traveling to Italy with my family and very nervous on how I will handle it.
Besides the obvious, most things are dusted with flour or breadcrumbs. Yikes!
Erin
Italy sounds like fun, Erin! Don’t be nervous. π Consider it a “food adventure” and enjoy getting to know all the options they have there. It’s really all about mindset. On my last trip (I linked to it in my comment above) I chose to eat healthy so I could feel my best and ENJOY my trip with tons of energy (and a positive attitude). Enjoy your trip! π *cheers*