“Keto has been miraculous”

Before and after

We received an email from Andreas who finally found the keto diet after having been overweight for large parts of his life. A couple of months into the diet he decided it was the way to eat for the rest of his life.

Here’s his story and a few tips for fellow keto dieters who are stuck at a weight-loss plateau:

The email

I have been overweight more or less for my whole life, or as long as I can remember. When I was about 18 years old I started trying to do something about my weight. I weighed 90 kg (198 lbs) and had no muscles. I jumped back and forth between different quick fixes like Nutrilett [a diet bar in Sweden] and other mass-produced junk. I ended up weighing 130 kg (287 lbs) after two parental leaves and a couple of thousand ice-cream packages later. After each “diet” I lost 10 kg (22 lbs), but within a couple of months I had regained this, plus 5 more kilos (11 lbs). So I started dieting weighing 90 kg (198 lbs) and being 18 years old, with junk products and ended up at 130 kg (287 lbs) being 30 years old.

Two years ago, I went to the doctor and asked for bariatric surgery as I had given up, which he thank God convinced me not to undergo as there were lots of risks and side effects etc. (the worst side effect is of course that you no longer can enjoy food). I decided to just eat food produced by nature, in other words I adopted a keto lifestyle. I stuck with keto as I can still enjoy rich sauces and steak.

After just a couple of months, I had lost a lot of weight and then, when I saw the result, I decided to never consume anything containing sugar, flour or other processed food again since I KNOW from 12 years of experience that I cannot indulge in anything unhealthy. When the weekend rolled around, I would eat whipped cream and raspberries or vanilla powder and eggs of which I made raspberry ice cream, as ice cream is my weakness. I’m so happy to say that homemade sugar-free ice cream is much tastier than the junk they sell in the grocery store.

After one year of eating keto I weighed about 108 kg (238 lbs), in other words minus 22 kg (49 lbs) in one year. I also used to suffer from gastric catarrhs which had disappeared at the end of the year. I quit my medications which I before was forced to eat every or every other day. I was rarely sick before in my life, I cannot say for sure but I am never sick anymore and that may well be thanks to keto. But I was not completely happy. I started resistance training devotedly, 3-4 times per week, and things started happening again. I didn’t lose that much weight but I kept increasing in muscle mass and my waist kept getting smaller. The saying that you need carbs to work out is a complete lie. I can drink my Bulletproof coffee and then spend 1.5 hours at the gym without any problems and without any supplements. Today I weigh 101 kg (223 lbs) and I’ve eaten a stricter keto diet for a couple of weeks. Keto has been miraculous. When you end up on a weight-loss plateau, I strongly recommend keto, which is strict low carb where you avoid all types of processed food, even things that are OK on a low-carb diet, such as almond flour, coconut flour, raspberries, cottage cheese, cream, even store-bought blueberries as all fruits in the grocery stores are gene modified to contain more fructose. Go out and pick your own berries!

Removing dairy products helps immensely but may be hard for anyone just starting out. All the cream I was consuming inhibited my weight loss. The only dairy product you should have is butter, or even better – make your own ghee.

For breakfast, a latte made with 2 eggs, 50 grams of unsalted butter and 50 grams of coconut oil is perfect. Use a hand blender to mix with 3-4 dl (1-2 cups) of coffee. Sprinkle cinnamon on top. You’ll be satisfied until 4 pm if you drink this at 7 am. (People just starting out need to be careful with the coconut oil as it can make you nauseous if you’re not used to it). This beats all types of breakfast that you can think of, stop trying to bake low-carb bread ?

A simple lunch is a fried salmon filet which you fry with three eggs and 50 grams of butter, with which you make scrambled eggs.

My refrigerator and pantry always contain:

• Coconut oil
• Butter
• Eggs
• Chicken, free-range
• Wild-caught salmon
• Shrimp, shell on
• Pork, beef, preferably organic
• Green vegetables like broccoli and spinach
• Red bell peppers
• Yellow onions

I’ll keep going! Only 10 (22 lbs) more to go…

Kind regards,
Andreas Bizzozero

Comment

Congratulations on your great success, Andreas! And thank you for sharing your useful insights.

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