I Replaced Junk Food With Good Foods and Lost 40lbs In Two Months: You Can Do It, Too

Darren Doyle, story:
This isn't a commercial. It's my real-life story that might motivate someone else to take action before they're staring down obesity and other health problems. Simply put: I lost 40 pounds in two months by doing nothing but changing my rotten eating habits. I love food. Bad food. If I can change, so can you.

Nearly everyone experiences a slower metabolism as they grow older, but it seems that mine slowed down to nearly nothing once I hit age 40. I have some bad health in my genetics and I had some really bad eating habits. When added together, there is serious weight gain in short amount of time. In less than three years, I gained more than 30 pounds with eating habits that had been the same nearly all my life.

I had a January 9th doctor's appointment, only because my blood pressure medication prescription was out of refills. I couldn't get it filled without a new checkup. 

January 9th came and the first thing I did at the doctor's office after I was called back was hit the scales. I weighed 251 pounds, the heaviest I'd ever been. Being 6'5", I was able to hide the weight better than most, simply because there's more places for the weight to go,  but this was not good.

The first thing my doctor said to me was "Let's talk about your weight gain." He began to lecture me about my family history which included hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, fibromyalgia, and it seemed like it went on for 15 more minutes. I'm pretty sure he also discussed distemper, scurvy, tuberculosis, and the mange, but I was so depressed at this point it didn't matter.

After my blood work came back, which doomed me for certain death, he said "I want you to buy this book: Living With Pre-Diabetes."

WUT? "I ain't buyin' no book," I said. "What's my other option?"

He told me to stop eating junk food, fast food, sodas and sugary drinks, and pretty much everything I loved. "It's not going to be easy, but you can do it if you want to bad enough," he said. That day I agreed that I'd be changing my diet and I'd prove to him I could do it.

Prior to that appointment, my diet consisted of Little Debbie cakes, Oreos, powdered donuts, biscuits and gravy, fast food, more fast food, and some more fast food. Every. Day. It was washed down with Coke, sweet tea, chocolate milk, and some diet drinks. On January 9, 2018, all that stopped. 

I loaded up on broccoli, cauliflower, sweet and hot peppers, carrots, tomatoes, chicken breasts, and turkey. I ate when I was hungry, but without junk. I'd grab a handful of carrots or a low-fat cheese stick. I mixed my own vegetable dip using low fat sour cream and Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning packets, (Fiesta Ranch was my favorite). I began to see results immediately and I averaged losing about one pound per day.

The hardest part was convincing myself that I wasn't hungry when I simply wanted food, but I did. I drank a little more coffee, chewed a little more gum. I stayed away from potatoes completely and white bread. After a couple weeks and almost 15 pounds gone, I could see that this was really working and it motivated me even more, but this wasn't some crash diet that you do for three days or three weeks. It was cutting out ALL the horrible things I had put into my body for years. I guess I was fortunate to not have been featured on "My 600 Pound Life," according to my awful habits. 

My goal was to lose 30 pounds and I did. Once I hit 30 I decided that 40 wasn't that far away and I shot for that. I hit it on March 10th.  At most, I'd lost a total of 43lbs but that has seemed to even out at around 37-38lbs.

Some of you "health experts" are probably going to say the rapid loss isn't healthy, that I'm starving myself, or I should've done it another way. Maybe you're right, but all I knew to do was to turn bad habits into good ones, and I never went around hungry. Here are the lists of foods I eat and a list of the ones I don't. You can decide if this might work for you, and I've also included my limited "cheat list."

Better Food Items I Regularly Eat:

• ​not a big breakfast eater but two tablespoons of plain peanut butter around 10am (or)
• two eggs, scrambled in a coffee cup, placed in the microwave for 1:30. Spray cup with Pam, no butter, no oil. Salt and pepper to taste or add a little salsa
• (Lunch) noon - 2pm: sliced packaged turkey breast from Sam's (comes in different flavor varieties: peppered, hickory smoked, seasoned pastrami--all low fat, low cal. Low fat cheese stick, various raw vegetables
• Dinner: 1. different variations of grilled chicken (cooked on George Foreman) tossed salad with low-cal or low-fat dressing, (look for low sugars/carbs) a little shredded cheese. 2. Stir-fry veggies: broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, and peppers sprayed with Pam, coated with steak or burger seasonings. Sprinkle in a little shredded cheese, cut up some pieces of ham or turkey, eat like a salad but it's a warm meal.
• Some lunch and dinner meals also consisted of two low fat, all-beef hot dogs wrapped in a tortilla with peppers and mustard. Add salsa to dishes instead of fatty/sugary dressings or dips.

Foods Avoided: THIS WAS REALLY DIFFICULT AT FIRST

• Sugary snacks, including: cakes, pies, desserts,  snack cakes, ice cream, etc.
• Chips and crackers
• Most all bread and rolls (this unfortunately means biscuits and gravy)
• Bacon, sausage, pork (extremely high fat content)
• Sodas, sweet tea
• Fast food (occasional stops are ok, but I'd order a grilled chicken sandwich with no fries)
• Potatoes of all kinds

Cheating: I can no longer regularly eat foods that are high fat and/or high sugar regularly to maintain a healthy weight. That means I have to eat these food sparingly and in small quantities. If I eat half of a chocolate cake (done it many times) there will be consequences; however, maybe a slice once or twice a week isn't so bad. 

I've ordered big, fatty steaks three different times in two months, but I replaced the loaded baked potato or fries with grilled vegetables or a salad. I've woofed down some cake and desserts here and there, but never two days in a row.  I've also enjoyed pizza a few times, but instead of eating the entire pizza (done it many times) I was stuffed after three pieces.

My choices were simple: eat junk and be overweight and unhealthy, (or) replace that stuff with good foods and feel 100% better.

Since dropping the weight, my joints are in much better shape, I sleep better than ever, my snoring problem has all but stopped, and my back aches are gone. My terrible heartburn? Gone. I'm wearing sizes I haven't worn in 10 years, including a pair of jeans that I've had since 1997.

I will likely add more bread products back into my diet (slowly), but they'll be limited. I also plan on exercising more. The first couple weeks were tough, but after that, my new habits became more of the norm everyday. Now that I feel good again, my desire to gorge on rotten stuff is gone, at least for now. That junk doesn't interest me anymore, and I really, really loved all that stuff a few months ago. I have no idea how difficult it will be going forward, but so far, so good.

If you have bad habits that you'd like to change, you can. I don't ever plan on buying books entitled "Living With _______." Instead, I'll do my best to write my own story, if at all humanly possible. Hopefully, you'll be inspired to do the same.

​DISCLAIMER and other disadvantages:
If you are on the go, you'll have to pack healthy foods in order to stay away from fast-food combo meals. It will also be difficult if you regularly have lunch or food meetings with others not watching their diet. Ordering healthy restaurant foods can be difficult and more expensive.

Also, not everyone can lose 40lbs in two months. If your eating habits weren't as bad as mine, you'll not likely see the same results so quickly. I'm not a doctor, and I don't play one on the Edmonson Voice. I'm not a diet or health expert, and I don't know what will or won't work for you. I haven't been to a gym in 15 years and I haven't gone on some crazy exercise regimen. This article is not intended to treat or cure any health condition; it's for information only. I'm only telling you what happened to me.