Multiple Sclerosis Centers of Excellence
I’ve Traveled a Long Way, and Some of the Roads Aren’t Paved
Joshua Fredrich -- Providence County, RI
Will Rogers once said that “some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me; I want people to know ‘why’ I look this way. I’ve traveled a long way, and some of the roads aren’t paved.” I went from 287.2 pounds during my February 2021 infusion to 195.8 pounds during my February 2024 infusion. Though I’m not in a wheelchair, I am mostly homebound and cane-assisted when outside of the house. I average around 3,000 steps per day, with my only requirement for exercise being that I walk outside for about 15 or 20 minutes per day.
The decision to lose weight came sometime during winter 2020 after my wife confided in me that she didn't know how effectively she could care for me if I remained at 275-300 lbs. I also felt that catching COVID was somewhat of an inevitability for me, and I wanted to lose as much weight as possible before that happened. The goal for diet was to teach myself how to cook as efficiently as possible since my MS often leaves me uncertain about how much mental and physical effort I can devote to a task. The majority of meals consisted of white rice and some kind of protein, usually eggs. When food seemed to become too complicated, I would simplify the food rule to “If it wasn’t around for great-grandpa to eat, I shouldn’t be eating it.”
I fasted as part of my diet journey. I found guidance in the experience of Angus Barbieri’s yearlong fast from June 1965 to June 1966 as well as my mother’s attitude towards food. As far back as I can remember, mom was a coffee-and-cigarettes-for-breakfast person, and she ended up the healthiest of her peers. This was despite their warnings that she should be eating more often than once per day.
I knew that I would need to fast more often since I couldn’t exercise as much as I thought I needed to. What worked for me is intermittent fasting during most days and a three day fast during most months, with a six day fast during infusion months. I have found this schedule to be sustainable for me and continue losing weight with it to this day. I still have MS but the lifestyle changes I’ve made have alleviated those symptoms significantly. Cog[native] Fog and nerve pain still exist but are much more predictable now that I can “control the volume” on these.
If you had told me at 18 years old that these three concepts were essential to my weight management, I wouldn’t have believed you:
- Fasting is the missing puzzle piece for me, as important as diet and exercise, if not more so. If you use a wheelchair and want to lose weight, 21 hours of daily fasting and three hours of eating may eventually get you where you want to be. I eat food without guilt as long as I make it myself and eat it within my time frame. Calories may be a real thing, but I didn’t start losing weight until I stopped caring and thinking about them.
- Habit forming is more important than willpower. I know myself, and I know that a task needs to be fun to be sustainable. Walking is little fun for me, so I carry cinnamon gum and pop a piece at the beginning of a new lap. Kettlebell workouts are less boring when I incorporate a deck of playing cards like Karl Gotch used to do. Boxing workouts go faster when I play music and do them in the sun.
- Replacing bread and pasta with rice and potatoes got me moving in the right direction. Basmati and Texmati white rices are what I used exclusively. In general, choosing natural-looking foods over artificial-looking ones is where I want to be. This experience also convinced me that sugars aren’t evil, just misunderstood. I find myself adding brown sugar and/or molasses to rice about once per month. I assume that molasses has something in it that keeps me happy and unstressed.
I credit the VA’s nutrition program for trusting me enough to do my own thing, even if it made no sense at the time. Sometimes it feels like I’m back in sixth grade detention, with Mrs. Metz telling me I’ll never make it through life on good looks and charm. The difference being, this is the one hare-brained scheme I had that actually worked. I lost my 30s to MS but I hope to gain a little ground back in my 40s.
I’m currently the same weight as when I graduated high school, and now I’m trying different changes to my daily eating window. I’m currently figuring out some nerve pain I’ve been waking up with; I think a late eating window contributes to it so I’m working on finishing solid foods by 3PM. Decide for yourself whether my method will work for you. Remember, I’m not a medical professional, just a guy with a gently-used Biology degree.
