Cous

About a month and a half ago, an old RMC buddy reached out to me. It was on Messenger and he was just saying “Hi”. After a bit of conversation, it became clear that he recently was not in a good place and had decided to make a change. Turns out last November he realised he had to make a decision to change his health or he was going to die! Holy shit! This got my attention! I started asking questions.

First, some history. Cous and I became quick buddies when we were put into the same platoon in Chilliwack summer of 1979 (long time ago!). Cous was always a little heavy but easily got through basic. Surprising, we both ended up in 1 Squadron (Frigate – Hudson – Blue) located in the stone boat across the parade square from everyone else. We became good buddies fighting our way through rook camp and beyond. Cous was very athletic and active through 4 years of milcol playing football and rugby. After graduation we unfortunately grew apart, I went off to pilot training and he to navigation school.

Over the years, we would get together at our RMC reunions. The last one was 2018 where I chatted with him about many things but found out he and his wife Jocelyn had lost a daughter to cancer, very sad. Also, early in his aviation career, in was involved in a rescue at sea which earned him the Canadian Star of Courage. (He is one of 62 Canadians to ever receive this honour!). Unfortunately, this event left him with severe PTSD. I also found out that he had started a company geared to providing service dogs for veterans with PTSD (Paws Fur Thought), very cool. His endeavours with this cause led to many awards, a book, and a “long walk” to raise awareness. Very awesome stuff! Unfortunately, the toll all this has taken on him has been devastating. For years he has had to deal with depression, anxiety, chronic pain, and arthritis to name a few. On top of this, he has had to deal with the loss of a child, no one should have to deal with this…ever! All this led Cous to a very dark place, rock bottom, not wanting to live.

Thankfully, last November, he decided to do something about it or completely give up. As an adult Cous had constantly struggled with his weight, not his fitness, his weight. You see, in this “bad place” he hit rock bottom and really gave up and got even heavier. He knew he had to make a major adjustment. He decided to follow the conventional wisdom and “eat less and move more”. He started watching what he ate and started an exercise program. He started counting calories. After a couple of months doing what any conventional doctor would tell him, he found his fitness improving but the numbers on the scale not budging! What could be wrong? This is where I come in.

January 2021. Cous starts to reach out to me, telling me about his new exercise program and diet. I think he said he was trying to be more “plant based”, just like the TV says is SO good for the planet and SO healthy for you. I found this disheartening as he was following conventional thought but not really having any success. I told him I was not the least surprised that this approach was not working and that I had started a health coaching business about a year ago and that I might be able to help. To my happy surprise, he was all ears!

What happened next is magic, sorcery, witchcraft! I started by explaining that conventional wisdom was making people sick and overweight. What? The government recommendations were incorrect, most health societies and organizations where (knowingly) giving bad advice. “Eat less, move more” and restrict your calories (count your calories) simply did not work. The proof is all around us, big time! Cous listened and decided to try my health coaching 12 week program. Awsome! That was 4 weeks ago!

So…I asked Cous to NOT count calories and to eat when hungry until full. My only stipulation was to restrict carbohydrates to 50 grams or less and eat as much healthy protein and fat as he liked. What? He told me he had been upping his exercise to where he calculated he was burning 3700 calories a day and eating only 2200. Why wasn’t the scale moving. Believe it or not, I know why. Weight loss is as much a hormonal issue as it is a math problem.

Jump ahead 4 weeks (only 4 weeks!) he has noticed/felt improvement in a bunch of areas! Due to a drop in his chronic inflammation, he can see his knuckles again. The weight is dropping off, he feels so much better, his exercise program feels better, he is walking daily and thinking more clearly. (BTW He’s writing a book about his life changing experience). On top of this, he is daily researching this whole thing and is learning massive amounts of stuff. He now knows the negative effects of sugar, grains, and industrial seed oils (vegetable oils) and why they need to be removed from our diet. He has already benefited from Keto (the proper human diet) becoming a “fat burning beast”.

I think this story is important and plan to update this post as Cous continues along with my program. I think we are going to see great things as he reclaims his health.