You may have seen our video of college baseball coach Steve Murry as he shared how he went from 268 pounds to 182 pounds for for a total loss of 86 pounds. (Click here for his video.)

We are including his before and after photos to encourage and inspire you that just as Coach Murry made a change that has dramatically changed his life, so you can too.  Coach Murry has found what works for him:  a low carb – high fat, diabetic lifestyle.  We are including the following post he placed on Facebook in response to the many people who asked him how he lost the weight:

(Coach Murry stresses that you have to find what works for you, so don’t try duplicating this exactly, unless, of course you have peace to do so.  Instead, take special note of how he experimented to see what works best for him.)

“My low carb- high fat, diabetic journey.  Well here it is. First thing you will learn about a low-carb diet is that EVERYBODY knows every single thing about low carb and if you do NOT match their way- they will tell you that your way is WRONG. Doctors from all over the world can’t even agree on this subject. If you don’t believe me, make a post, watch people react. I don’t profess to know it all, I just KNOW what has worked for me. In June 2013, I weighed 268 pounds, now I weigh 181. My cholesterol was over 500 and is now 146. My blood pressure was skyrocketed, as were my blood sugars. Now, BOTH are actually on the LOW side. So as I explain what I did- do NOT take it as gospel, just take it as a way that worked for ME. You need to know that going low carb and high fat is EXPENSIVE. Eating healthy costs much more than if you just want to be obese. You have to decide if you want to count NET carbs or just straight carbs. The difference is straight carbs are listed on ALL labels, whereas net carbs are those straight carbs minus the dietary fiber. I have done NET carbs because it is easier for me. Then you have to decide how low carb are you going to go? Again, this will bring out MANY opinions. Some do 20 total carbs for a day to ty to achieve ketosis. I actually tried this at first and failed lol. I could NOT do just 20 a day. So…. I stayed with how I started which is 15 carbs per meal, and a 15 carb allowance for snacks. That is 60 total a day. Many will want to tell you how to spend those 60 a day also. I have since figured out HOW to do less than 20 NET carbs a day and NEVER vary from that. I choose to spend them HOWEVER I so choose to spend them. As much as I have given up on this lifestyle, I will NOT allow some know it all to dictate what I can and can’t have. Then the argument of artificial sweeteners will come. Use them or not? I DO and all of the time. We will all die from something, if Splenda kills me- so be it- at least I died eating something sweet. Some say it causes cravings- MY answer to them is how would anyone ACTUALLY KNOW THAT? I have always loved sweets and being a diabetic now has NOT hindered those very thoughts. So, I had to get creative. Thank God for my wife and daughter, who have helped me try MANY recipes along the way. Some of our recipes have failed miserably, while others are awesome. Many we have made up, others we have looked up and tried from another low carber. All I know is that we have now got recipes for ice cream to cinnamon rolls to pizza, to about any food I have ever wanted and all of them suit me just fine and leave me craving NOTHING. There is a list of NEVER CAN HAVE foods to me: Pasta, rice, potatoes, chips, pop, sugar, sugared drinks, cakes, chips, milk and things of this nature. HOWEVER, I have found alternatives to ALL of those. There are things that your Mother told you NOT to eat that are a staple in my life such as sour cream, bacon, pepperonis, coconut oil and real butter along with eggs, artificial sweeteners, and PORK RINDS. You will quickly figure out that sugar-free does not mean low-carb. Almost everything you eat like ketchup has carbs and you have to read all labels and go from there. It may appear healthy to you like the bolthouse farms 100% pomegranate juice. At first look, it looks great, til you realize there are 76 carbs in less than 12 oz. Or a common quart Gatorade that all parents give their kids at ballgames to keep them away from pop- has 53 carbs. Or the maple syrup you pour on pancakes has 63 carbs in just a ¼ of a cup. Portion control is huge. ALSO, reading labels is a BIG deal and MUST be done with everything. If you’re making a recipe then you have got to plug-in those labels and then divide out by how many servings it actually yields. I do my serving based on how much I eat and not on how much some skinny little person eats. Basically, I have all of my own recipes stored away. I have created many recipes with sweeteners in them instead of regular sugar and the way I look at it is – it still lower carb than the actual version of it. Some other things I have learned are that I will never LIKE water. I also learned that I love coffee. NOT normal coffee, but bulletproof coffee. It has 2 TBSP of butter, 1 TBSP of MCT oil, 2 packs of Splenda, 2 TBSP of torani sugar free syrup and then blend. It is flat out heaven. I now drink Crystal light for lunch and then I have my diet pop for the evening. I still drink white monsters which most people would say are bad for you but are basically two carbs per serving so I just put those into my eating plan. MACROS are important and tailored to each person. The percent of carbs, proteins and fats should be paid attention to. This will start another argument as people will tell you that YOUR percentages are wrong lol. My percentage that I shoot for each day is 5% carbs 70% fat and 25% protein. The protein is a MUST but I go higher in the protein area on MANY days. I use the food app on fitbit for this but there are many free apps that will allow you to chart your food. I do count and chart every single food that I eat every single day. I also include every condiment. I want the truth on what I am eating. It is kind of a pain in the butt but it will lead to a healthier lifestyle. Also, in some geeky way, this is actually fun to me lol. Exercise is another thing that is important. I use Fitbit to get my exercise in. I am NOT a runner, I just walk. BUT, I walk a lot lol. Nearly 10 miles every single day. This is where all of the fat you eat comes in. Carbs are your main source of energy, dropping those will make fats your next source. Here is the NEXT argument, people say fat is BAD. Check my numbers and if it is bad- then I don’t want to be good. Again, this is MY lifestyle I’ve created and it fits my personality, wants and needs. My way might not be right for you. I share with other people and if they can learn something from it, then great. You also need to come up with snacks. You also will need your go to foods. You have to be creative. You will have to have a steady dose of almond flour instead of regular flour. You have to develop a love for vegetables which I hated when I started. Now, they have replaced a lot of food items. I’m perfectly content with how they turned out to this point there are many recipes available. Some you like, some you will hate that but you can adjust them to your own way of life. Low-carb is not for everybody you’ll find many, many people eat 300 to 600 carbs a day pretty easily and don’t even notice it. Always remember this though, it is cancer’s number one item that it goes after so low carb besides losing weight also helps your overall health. One thing you’ve got to understand is – if you’re using low carb just to lose weight, you are probably barking up the wrong tree because once you start adding those carbs back, all of that weight is going to come back. You also need to add an exercise component. Again, not saying my way is the only way, just saying this is how it works for me.”