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The following is a guest post from Charles LaRosa, who completed his own Spud Fit Academy earlier this year. Watch the video interview we did above and read on below.

Spud up!

Andrew

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The last couple of months of 2016 weren’t easy for me. A failed attempt at a business and weight gain had me feeling beaten down. I decided that the new year would bring change and I would be the person I wanted to be. Now I just had figure out once again, how I wanted to lose the weight. Which diet du jour would it be? Paleo, high-carb, slow-carb, no-carb, keto, cheato, no-meat-o. It’s not easy. Especially when what you really feel is that food is an addiction.

I mean if you’re addicted to other substances such as drugs or alcohol there are programs and places to get help. If you’re addicted to gambling or sex there are people you can seek out for help. I felt that if you’re addicted to food, what are you supposed to do? Quit eating? I knew there was an emotional connection between food and feelings but how do you reprogram it? That’s where Andrew Taylor and the Spud Fit Academy come in.

I found out about Andrew while watching an episode of SNL one Saturday night in early December when they made a joke that he had died eating just potatoes all year and I thought, “WHAT!! NO WAY”. So I googled it and my life was changed forever. I visited his website, watched tons of his YouTube videos, and did some research of my own as he encourages people to do. I said to myself, self, this could be it. This could be a way to beat this addiction and rewire my brain to see food as nutrition and not entertainment or emotional fulfillment. He even talked about addiction himself and that was all I needed to hear. I was in. Here’s a guy that was in a similar situation but he took it a step further than I thought of. I was enthralled, this idea was so weird, it just might work for me! It worked for him, and surely we are both human with similar problems and views that I really felt it would work for me. Besides, who doesn’t love potatoes?

So I talked to my wife about it and with her support I started my own Spud Fit Academy on January 2nd, 2017.

I must’ve been at peak readiness for this because I didn’t find it difficult at all at first. I ripped through January and lost 18 pounds!!!! WOW! I was amazed. I could eat potatoes whenever I was hungry and as much as I wanted too!!! I kept going. February, Super Bowl, I ate baked potatoes with some salsa on them! It was freeing. Trying some of Andrew’s different ways of preparing the potatoes was great. The Rosti was one of my favorites. Mashed white and mashed sweets are also great. It became a way of life after the first couple of months and I was in full swing. Unfortunately I had switched phones in July and lost all the data as to how much I was losing weekly and monthly but I remember by the time I finished my challenge on August 7th I was averaging just under 2 pounds a week.

I turned 50 in April and instead of cake I ate a sweet potato. I was determined not to go off. I must say the only other food item I added in were hemp seeds and ground flax seed. I would top my sweet potatoes with them in the morning. Other that that I was sticking strictly to potatoes. When the summer months hit I found that grilled, seasoned, thick cut cross sections of sweet potatoes dipped in a little BBQ sauce were delicious.

As the year went on my weight loss slowed but I felt a change in myself like never before. I was more in control than I had ever felt. I had a strength that I had been searching for my whole life. I shed 55 pounds in 2017 with the Spud Fit Academy and had gone down a total of 100 pounds from my starting point several years before. This challenge was monumental in helping me realize that food was fuel and nothing more. It also helped me realize how much extra we consume in our daily lives that is unnecessary. It is this unnecessary consumption of food that causes the most common diseases out there today, like diabetes, arthritis, CAD, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.

I then decided I had reach my threshold of tolerance for the wonderful spud on August 7th 2017. It was a good run, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I went vegan, whole food plant based diet, following Andrew’s lead once again. So I started learning about that way of eating and I’m happy with it both nutritionally and morally but the spud is calling me once again.

I’m proud to say that I will be taking up the challenge once again in CANUARY 2018! I will once again start consuming a spud only diet. No fats, no veg, no protein, no animals, no nuts or seeds. Just some spuds and some fat free vegan friendly condiments. I have a finish line to cross and that is to get down to 185 pounds. I’ll weigh myself the morning of CANUARY(Andrew’s name for January) 1st and plow my way through as many potatoes as it takes to get there. I will also be a lot more active in working out as I’m in better shape now than last year so hopefully I can get down quicker that last year. But I anticipate being on the challenge for 5–6 months.

If anyone is interested in my services as a health, wellness, and weight loss coach I can be reached on social media as @ezwellnessgroup or my email is [email protected]. Also my click here to visit my website.

Thanks for reading and whatever you decide to do in 2018, please challenge yourself and get the lead out, will ya?