Category: Dr Marks Blog

Week 1 – The second 60

We are back at it. I was excited to get back into the diet and back into crossfit after a week vacation. You may be wondering how I did during my week off the diet. Well, I didn’t do great. I didn’t really hesitate to have any of the foods that are restricted on this diet. I think the issue for me was that I knew I only had a week to enjoy everything that I had missed. So, I went a little more overboard than I should have, but didn’t completely mess myself up. I think/hope that when I […]

Week 8 – The first 60

I’ve done it, well almost. I only have a few more days until I’ve completed the straight 60. I’m excited and looking forward to that end date, I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished, and looking forward to doing it again. I realize that probably sounds crazy, that I’m at the end, and looking forward to doing it more. Well, I still have work to do and this is the best way that I know of to get there. I’m taking a short break from the diet, about a week (which lines up perfectly with fall break). If you remember one […]

Week 7

A few things on my mind this week. The first pertains to the purpose of this 60 day turn-around. I’ve said many times its not about the weight, but about pursuing health. Its hard for me to stay focused on that because, thankfully, I was not expressing any symptoms of my unhealthy lifestyle, besides being overweight. So, when I think about this diet, and its ability to to promote health and proper function, I always think about my grandma. She is 90 years old. She has type II diabetes. She had been on medication for it for quite some time. […]

Week 6 – What’s next

I still have 2 and a half weeks util I’ve finished my straight 60, but the question as to what follows has been on my mind pretty much since the first week. I’ve got it down to 3 main choices. 1. Continue the diet. 2. Continue the diet but not so strict, allowing myself some grains/sugar once in a while, but in moderation. 3. Go crazy and eat all of the foods I’ve been denying myself for the last 60 days. I’ll admit, I think about option 3 a lot more than the others, but I realize it would not […]

Week 5 – Frustration

This was a hard week. Nothing was really different this week. Nothing bad happened. It was actually a pretty good week, besides what the scale told me, which made it a frustrating week. At the beginning of this week the scale went up a pound. The next day, the same thing. I came close to hitting 220 lbs at one point. It was frustrating to say the least. A week like this, in the past would have most definitely discouraged me to the point of giving up. Well I haven’t given up. Those negative thoughts were present though. The feeling […]

Cookie Recipe

Thick and Soft Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies The recipe makes a baker’s dozen. Ingredients: 1 Large Egg 1 1⁄4 cup Creamy Peanut butter, or Almond Butter ( I used a mixture of both) 1 tsp Baking Soda 1 cup of your preferred sweetener. Recipe calls for brown sugar ( I used xylitol) 1 tbsp Vanilla extract 1⁄2 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder 1 tbsp+ coconut oil Instructions: 1. In mixer combine peanut butter, “sugar”, egg, vanilla, coconut oil. Mix until “sugar” (xylitol) is no longer gritty. 2. Add cocoa powder and baking soda. Beat until well incorporated. Dough may be […]

Week 4 – My Birthday

Week 4 by Dr. Mark Sometime during the first week I realized my birthday would fall right right in the middle of this diet. Not just any birthday, my 30th. I figured, that’s great, I’ll get 1 cheat day since its my 30th after all. For some reason I thought I should ask Eric first, just to make sure it was OK. Well that wasn’t too smart, he said “absolutely NOT, it’ll ruin everything!” Afterwards, I realized it was a pretty dumb thing to consider anyway. If you can remember back to one of my earlier posts, cheat days for […]

Kale Chip Recipe

Kale Chips Ingredients: One bunch of Kale 1⁄2 cup Nutritional yeast Olive oil Salt Cayanee pepper Instructions: 1. Wash and Dry Kale 2. Break the leaves off of the thick stems of Kale and place in a bowl 3. Lightly coat the Kale with olive oil 4. Lay Kale on baking sheets in a single layer ( you will most likely need two cookie sheets) 5. Sprinkle nutritional yeast evenly over Kale. 6. Sprinkle salt and cayenne pepper to taste. 7. Bake at 350F. Tossing every 10 minutes with a spatula until crispy. Generally needs to bake for 30-40 minutes. […]

Week 3 – What I’ve been eating

Finding foods to eat at first was difficult for my wife and I because grains and sugary foods were so common in our diet. Over the past 3 weeks we’ve tried some new recipes and figured out some tasty meals and snacks. I’ll start with some of the snack foods.  Coconut oil mixed with peanut/almond butter is one I picked up from my brother. I never liked coconut oil all that much but I’ve acquired a taste for it. I’ll also do full fat plain yogurt alone or mixed with peanut/almond butter or a few berries. Amanda made Kale chips […]

Week 2 – The game plan

I realize most of you are familiar with what the 60-day turn around is, but in case you’re not, here’s a quick overview. Diet and exercise. Its actually pretty simple. The diet: Not a typical weight loss diet. I haven’t been counting calories at all. I’m pretty much eating the same amount of food as I usually would. The only difference is that I’ve eliminated (not decreased, but really eliminated) sugar and grains from my diet. It has been very challenging for a few reasons. The most difficult is that most people, as I was (am?), are addicted to sugar. […]