In the summer of 2019, I was tipping the scales at 352 pounds. A little over a year later I was 187 pounds. In 12 months of keto, I had lost 165 pounds and completely changed my life for the better. For a solid year my entire life was focused on losing weight. We also helped others who wanted to lose weight by founding Married to Keto. With this hyper-focus happening why did I decide six months ago it was time to do the unthinkable and gain weight on purpose?
MY REASON TO GAIN WEIGHT ON PURPOSE
I was so wrapped up in the benefits of dropping the weight I never realized there were some downsides to it as well. I was experiencing cold hands and feet all the time and my lifting power and stamina weren’t what they once were. There was also my appearance.
The cold hands and feet are a common side effect of weight loss and something you can easily deal with. The same with the power and stamina as you don’t have the mass you once did. I could have hit the gym harder and gotten used to my new body and what limits needed to be placed upon it. But my appearance, that was an issue.
APPEARANCE AND SELF-ESTEEM
It’s easy to sit back and say you can’t value yourself based on your appearance. Unfortunately, as humans we often say one thing, yet do another. I was baffled that I had lost all that weight and was feeling so much better but didn’t want to see myself in pictures or the mirror.
When I saw myself after the weight loss, I looked much older then my 45 years. Weight loss does age you with lose skin showing wrinkles and what not, but I looked frail. I was getting into motorcycles and people were wondering if I would be strong enough to handle the weight of the bike.
Going from a 350-pound former professional wrestler to frail was not what I had signed up for. I began to wonder if maybe I had lost too much weight.
ACCEPTING THAT I NEEDED TO GAIN WEIGHT ON PURPOSE
One day about six months ago I was going through the usual routine in the shower of my hands hurting from the hot water when I asked myself a simple question. What if I put some weight back on?
When I hit that 180 mark my weight really started to maintain itself. I didn’t do anything different from a keto standpoint, but I always stayed within five pounds of 180. That led to the question. If I want to gain weight, how do I go about doing that?
There was also the “bigger question.” What if I’m starting on a slippery slope back to my old lifestyle?
TIPS TO GAIN WEIGHT ON PURPOSE
You would think with all this preamble about why, the how would be the longest part. It’s not. In fact, this part will be quite short with more warnings than tips.
To start putting weight on I simply increased my portion sizes. I started eating more and slowly the scales started to go up. I put on about 12 pounds and was quite satisfied with the changes I experienced. People were telling me my face filled out a little more and the coldness has stopped. I also found the increased pounds had helped with my strength.
THE DOWNSIDE
The downside to putting on this additional weight leads back to my bigger question. Is this a slippery slope to my old lifestyle? I’m finding it is in some regards.
Eating bigger portions has led me to eating more treats on the end of meals. I’m taking in a lot more calories and a lot more artificial sweetener. That has put more weight on me then I expected and has triggered a sweet addiction that rivals my sugar addiction from before.
This behavior I’m working to curb as we speak. What this comes down to is balance. I need to learn a balance of weight loss versus weight maintenance. I can’t use excuses to justify poor eating habits. That’s something I used to do.
I tuned into my body to realize I needed to lose weight, now I need to tune into learn how I move forward from here. I guess you could say this journey is “to be continued…”
Bill
