Vin has an engineering background, leading him to always want to understand and solve problems. But the biggest situation he needed to solve was his health. Vin was prediabetic at age 21, and significantly overweight at 215 lbs and 5’5” tall.
Vin had damaged his metabolism over a period of several years, by crash dieting. He also sustained a powerlifting back injury two years ago, which had become chronically painful. Vin also experienced regular bouts of depression.
A turning point in Vin’s health journey was his decision to join the Air Force. His excitement brief, as he failed the physical fitness test on the first day. The physical training instructor pulled him aside, explained his options, and introduced him to the concept of fasting. This led to Vin later passing his entrance physical and continue losing weight until he weighed 154 pounds.
Over several years, Vin vacillated between zero carb keto diets and eating a lot of plant-based foods, as he fought to understand the underlying principles that would support the correct diet for him. He finally came across Dr. Shawn Baker’s interview on Joe Rogan’s podcast series, and then later Joe’s testimonials after he went on the carnivore diet. The personal stories of these men, relating how much the diet had helped them, sold Vin on the validity of the diet even though he couldn’t see the exact science behind it at the time.
He started his carnivore journey during World Carnivore Month 2020. He jumped in 100%, saying “The way I started off was all-in, just beef, salt, water.” He says it “went fantastically,” and explained that one of the reasons he chose to do it was intellectual curiosity. He wanted to evaluate if the claims made were valid. Vin says “People tell me that on carnivore, you can eat as much as you want and still lose weight..that can’t be right! I had to test it and find out.”
Having experience with intermittent fasting on a regular basis, Vin said “I was curious about the satiety aspect more than anything else. People said you can eat once, maybe twice a day.” As it turns out, the diet did help him to fast more easily!
Vin’s biggest improvement was having “Incredible energy, while being able to eat only once a day” which he found convenient as well. He now eats eggs occasionally, just for variety, and cheese as well. Vin says that whenever he tries new foods, he realizes he still feels best on beef, salt, water.
After serving in the military, he was able to easily pass his exit medical, while staying on the carnivore diet. His back pain is better, he’s lifting weights again, and all his problems are resolved. Vin is now a carnivore diet coach, helping others succeed as he did! He says “Trust the process; failing is part of the process…It is hard to continue when you fail…find out why you failed…test and adjust!”
