Day one: Introduction and basics

I’m Fat Girl Typing and this is my blog about my adventures on the WIO diet. I’m 27 years old, 5’6”, and as of today I weigh 251lbs.  I have a metabolic age of 50 and body fat percentage of 50%.

My goal: Get healthier, gain muscle, and lose 30lbs before August 10^th when I go to Disney World with my brother and his three kids.

I heard about the WIO (Your Weight is Over) diet from my PA, Todd when I brought up that I was thinking about preparing to try to get bariatric surgery for weight loss. Todd asked me to give the guy name Rich a call about the WIO diet because he’d had patients see success in the past and hoped the same for me.

Here’s some background on the WIO diet. It’s a low carb, high protein, high fiber diet.  It’s also uses a meal replacement protocol (MRP) shake.  It’s designed to put your body into ketosis (no real relation to ketoacidosis), and it is designed to combat metabolic disorder.  There are four stages to the diet, and I’m in stage I right now. 

In stage I, I’ll drink 3-4 MRP shakes, have a couple of salads, and 4-7ounces of protein every day.  The shake is made up of almond milk or coconut milk or soy milk or Hood milk, water, MRP powder, ½tsp of UDO oil (an oil containing omega 3, 6, and 9 fatty acids), and an optional flavoring.

As a fat person, I consider myself a lay expert about weight loss. Friends, coworkers, even well-meaning strangers are quick to explain the basic tenants of calories in, calories out whenever given a slight segue in a conversation, and I also know the basics of most fad diets (though I don’t do them, that’s why they are a fad), and more mainstream diets like South Beach or Atkins.  I get nutrition. I understand what needs to be done to be healthy, and I think there are many roads to get there.

Here’s some more background info on me:  I’ve been overweight my whole life (genetics and a very deep, personal, emotional connection to food played the biggest role). Growing up fat was one thing, but that fact that I am super nerd and was a teacher’s pet did not lead me to create a close personal relationship with peers (thus the connection to food).  My weight started spiking in college with a meal plan that included all-I-can-eat tater tots. Months of severe depression led to emotional eating, and a final diagnosis of chronic severe depression solidified my existence as a morbidly obese individual.

More information on my health and lifestyle: I don’t have diabetes or high blood pressure. I’ll let you know about my cholesterol, insulin levels, etc. once I get my blood panel back from my doctor.  I have a sedentary lifestyle (currently I am typing this from my comfy bed; one of my two cats is kneading me in order to seek out weak points (credit for that last part goes to TheOatmeal.com).  I have a sedentary job that involves much typing, glorious typing, and learning.

Back to WIO --

Today I met with Rich Hart at Elevate fitness in Orem, Utah.  I drank my first MRP shake (vanilla with peanut butter flavoring).  It is definitely NOT the best thing I’ve ever tasted, but I think I can stomach it.  I paid for my vanilla MRP, UDO oil, shaker bottle, and peanut butter flavoring.  My weekly cost for the program is $80 and includes fitness coaching, a workout plan, gym membership to Elevate, and group training with other WIO clients and Rich.  There is a $150 blood work fee, but I avoided that by going to my doctor to get my blood work done.

Rich explained to me about what to expect the first week on WIO.  He gave me a list of when to drink my shakes, and when to have the steak and salad (protein and veggies). I took that list and went straight to the grocery store to buy food on the “safe” list (I’ll ad d the full list in another post).

First, I do not care for most vegetables. I’m a fruit, potatoes, grains, and meat kind of woman. I’m a “beige and meat” eater; think of your average plate of food at a buffet – beige roll, beige potatoes, and meat (which may also be beige, chicken nuggets, country fried steak for example).

Vegetables and I have a tenuous relationship. Unfortunately, vegetables are a backbone of this diet, but the WIO diet wants above average vegetables, the heavy hitters, the spinaches, the broccolis, the kale, the cucumbers of the vegetable world, not average grains masquerading as vegetables (corn anyone), and vegetables so fruit-like they may as well be fruit; I’m talking to you tomatoes – I mean, really, a “grape tomato” a “cherry tomato” you must really want to be a fruit, oh wait, technically you ARE a fruit.

Back to the grocery store, here I am at Target contemplating the vegetables I can possibly will myself to eat.  I end up with a couple bags of spinach, some romaine lettuce, a cucumber, frozen broccoli, and frozen cauliflower. I picked up some Wholly Guacamole which isn't on THE LIST because it didn't have any carbs.  I’m waiting to hear back from Rich about if that was a no-no.

Protein is a big part of a ketogenic diet like WIO, so I had a plethora of meaty goodness to choose from. I bought shrimp, turkey burgers, hamburger, roast beef, and I have chicken breasts in my freezer at home. My cooking skills rank at recent college grad, single level, so although I could’ve bought a larger variety of sea and land creatures I stuck with the few things I know how to cook enough not to kill me.

Philosophical moment: Rich says that this is about a lifestyle change, not just weight loss. That’s super important when it comes to long-term weight loss. I want to get healthy and weigh less and I want to stay that way. I’m a food addict and I will always have that part of me no matter how healthy I become. Rich believes in the mantra – eat to live don’t live to eat. I live to eat, but I’m not sure if I only want to eat to live when so much of my life is tied up in living to eat.