February 28, 2019

The Journey Begins

Thanks for joining me as I tell my story! Health and wellness is truly something that can seem like a distant goal for many. For the last 15 years, I have personally struggled with feeling healthy then unhealthy; gaining then losing weight in a seemingly endless cycle. Over the last decade and a half, my weight has fluctuated between 175 pounds (at my lightest) to 225 pounds (at my heaviest). For the last 2 years, I’ve really felt a deterioration in my overall health and decided that I needed to make a change in my lifestyle…a lasting permanent change.

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

My Health History

Throughout my life, I have been quite healthy and athletic. As a child, I had boundless energy that my parents can attest to. Even as a young adult, I was able to excel at various activities like running, swimming, volleyball, basketball and ice hockey. I never experienced prolonged or chronic illness so I guess I can say I’ve been lucky. However, after hitting my 30’s (and now in my mid-40’s) I’ve noticed some really obvious signs of unhealthiness.

Symptoms of Unhealthiness

Like I’ve already mentioned, the last 2 years for me have been a real struggle. Looking back, I can pinpoint some real symptoms of what can only be my body telling me that I was unhealthy. But it didn’t start out that way…

Prior to the summer of 2017, I was really feeling great. My body felt strong: I was playing basketball and ice hockey weekly, weightlifting, and doing 100 pushups and air squats daily when I couldn’t be in the gym. My weight was fluctuating between 180 and 190 pounds (still considered obese for my height) but I really felt in a really good place physically and mentally.

In the late summer of 2017, I suddenly fell ill with a stomach ailment that kept me away from work for 2 weeks (I’ll post my story here). To be completely honest, this event really scared me, my family and even my bosses at work. My family doctor had trouble figuring out what was wrong with me even after X-Rays, blood work, and an MRI. I was eventually able to return to work but I didn’t feel 100% for another 2 months. With rest and medication, the symptoms went away.

In early 2018, I suffered a work-related back ailment that put me on bedrest for over a week. With rest and physiotherapy, I slowly returned to work with full duties but I can honestly say during that time I’ve never felt so “old” in my life.

During the last 3 months of 2018, I started feeling the worst I’d felt in the last 15 years. I consistently had the following conditions:

  • Migraine headaches
  • Pain in my joints
  • Constant feelings of fatigue
  • I was gaining weight closing in on my heaviest mark (225 pounds)

Recent blood work and medical tests didn’t indicate any signs of something more serious like cancer, so what was going on with me? I felt like I was treading water in the open ocean with only 2 choices:

  • Keep treading in the same spot in my life and hoping that I’d survive OR
  • Swim towards a different landmark, or in this case adopt a lifestyle so that I would be healthier and thrive

My Turning Point

January 2019 marks the time I finally decided to ask myself serious questions:

  • If you are feeling so awful, what are you going to do about it?
  • At 215 pounds, do you really want to continue like this?
  • Are you really eating as healthy as you should be?

I started having images in my mind of growing older even more overweight and progressively feeling worse and worse. My grandfather on my dad’s side died in his 30’s and my grandmother on my mom’s side also died at a very young age. Imagining my wife and 2 young daughters losing me at an early age just tortured me. I told myself, “They need you! Don’t act until it’s too late!!”

Rather than waiting until I felt my absolute worst, I decided to research what could be happening with my body.

Nutritional Discoveries

Everything that’s happened to me in the past 15 years in regards to my health pointed to a common denominator…NUTRITION.

Looking back at when I was feeling my best, I was definitely eating healthier. My meals consisted mainly of vegetables, fruits, coffee without sweeteners, and other “healthy” foods.

During my darker times when I didn’t feel healthy, I clearly recall eating badly…very badly. I was eating lots of fast food (burgers, fries, and pizza), coffee with flavored creamers and lots of sweets (wine gums were one of my favorites). And, I snacked constantly.

Most intellectuals would say, “You absolutely cannot believe anything that you find on the internet!” But, believe it or not, I think I’ve found some information online, in combination, that has helped me lose 30 pounds (and counting) in just 2 months. Also, would you believe me if I told you that I accomplished this with 20 hours of exercise a week?

Snapshot from Renpho App

As you can see from the image above, my weight-loss for the month of February (plus 2 days) is 16 pounds. And I’ll say again, with just 20 hours of exercise per week.

Just so I don’t give you some long drawn-out explanation, it’s the combination of the following things that helped me lose weight:

  • A Ketogenic Diet
  • Intermittent Fasting
  • Vitamins and Supplements
  • Minimal exercise

If you would like to know more detail about my particular health regimen, click the following link to read my other health and wellness article, My Daily Weight-Loss Regimen. In other posts, I’ll let you know what foods I eat, my intermittent fasting times, the vitamins and supplements I take and my exercise for the week. When you see what I’m doing, you will realize that it is not that much work. When I tell anyone that asks me how I’ve been losing weight without giving too much detail, I say:

  1. Eating the proper food, at the right time
  2. Taking vitamins and supplements when I eat
  3. Will power

Yes, as you can see that’s only 3 things…3 simple yet important things! I know you can manage these simple concepts – so follow me on my journey. In fact, start on your own journey and we’ll see if we can meet somewhere along the way.

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GLENN MALELANG


In 2019, I decided to make my health a priority and I want to help others reach their health goals.

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