Spotlight: Jesse W
First and foremost. I've had a line of Ethan’s stuck in my head for over 25 years now. I think about the interaction with him and the young child in Mallrats randomly (or anytime I see a schooner) several times a year, and everytime I hear you say "ha ha! You dumb bastard. It's not a schooner. It's a sailboat" I laugh. So I've been a fan for a while.
Over the years, I’ve had some weight loss successes and some failures. I’ve lost and regained the same 100 pounds many times over the last 15 years. I was 100% convinced that the ONLY way I could possibly lose weight was by reducing carbs. I was certain that was what was wrong with me, I was just allergic to carbs. I would get into a good place with carb restriction, and a solid work out pattern, then some life event would happen, and I would just have to try the cake or the pizza or whatever the carb was. It got harder and harder to get back into the diet, cheat meals became days, became weeks, and all my progress was lost. I’d also traditionally stop working out when I ate carbs, cause I was feeling like garbage both physically and mentally from slipping up.
I found the American Glutton podcast when I was at my absolute biggest 379 pounds. I’d had some success getting dialed back into the low carb lifestyle. I listened to a few episodes and was super motivated by your transformation. Then after about 50 pounds lost, a funny thing happened, I met someone and fell into a relationship with a very special and amazing woman. Who even at my current size loved me for who I was. I again became complacent with the low carb life and the pounds began to come back on. She could see that I was struggling with the low carb stuff, mainly not being able to enjoy the same foods at the same time (we are both very much foodie people). For my 40th birthday, I woke up and looked in the mirror and knew that I had to make a change, so I went for a run, well more like a walk for a bit, run for a bit, but you know the deal. I was going to make sure that my 40’s were not like the previous years. Fortuitously enough she got me a meal plan that had all of my favorite things on it. Bread, Rice, Ice Cream, Kombucha, you name it. Not only could I have it, I could have it EVERY DAY.
This doubled me down on my journey, I listened to the podcast with a renewed vigor as I went for my daily walks. I related so much to all of it. From sneaking and hiding food consumption as a kid, to bags of fast food (from multiple places) after a drunken night out. I felt like I was listening to myself from the other side. It was of course during covid so I wasn’t going anywhere near a gym and I knew there was a broken down old weight bench in my basement, so I dusted that off and got back into lifting. Based on Ethan’s recommendation I devoured Renaissance Diet 2.0 and Fat Loss for Life and found them both to be beyond helpful. The fundamentals of macro counting and maintenance phases are game changers.
Since I was at my heaviest (2.5 years ago), I’ve dropped a little over 120 pounds, my sleep apnea has improved, I’m no longer on blood pressure medicine, I’m able to run a mile without training up to it, I can just walk out my front door and do it. I lift weights like a monster and feel stronger than ever.
I won a lifetime membership to Carbon Diet Coach in their transform challenge. (Ethan even commented on my instagram post, which meant so much to me) AND, I now eat more carbs in A DAY than I previously would in like TWO WEEKS..
I wanted to thank Ethan for being so transparent in your struggles. Because while his struggles are of course unique to him, they are in many ways also universal, and so many people can find takeaways that may change their lives. I know it isn’t easy to talk about those things. I know first hand how hard and how difficult being honest with yourself about the reality of your own body can be. I know now that my journey isn’t over, it never will be. I also know that thanks to people like Ethan, Layne Norton, Mike Istraetel, and of course my amazing girlfriend (who tried sooo hard to get a conversation with you and me going for my most recent birthday), I’m not alone on this journey. I’m in good company.
Your friend in the storm,
Jesse Whiteman