50 pounds lost while eating “plenty of yummy food” and feeling great

Losing weight and eating lots of healthy fats!

The death of a close relative drove Jen to the realization that things needed to change in order for her not to meet the same destiny. She’d lost a lot of weight using Atkins at an earlier point in her life, so she started googling for similar programs and ended up at Diet Doctor:

Dear Dr. Eenfedt,

Three years ago, I weighed 250 pounds (113 kg). I lost 25 pounds (11 kg) by using Almased drink mix. But over the next year I gained and lost and gained about 10 pounds (5 kg). If I used the drink, I could lose weight, but as soon as I went off it I gained weight. Still 235 pounds (107 kg) was better than 250 (113 kg) on my 5’5″ (165 cm) and slight frame, so it seemed worth it.

Then my uncle died of diabetes, and the same month my fasting blood sugar was up to 147 mg/dl (8.2 mmol/l). I was pre-diabetic and looking at the same fate as my uncle, who suffered for years with complications of diabetes but wouldn’t change his diet. Given what they advised him to do – low fat, high carb – perhaps he lived longer by not following their advice.

I’d lost 80 pounds (36 kg) in my thirties using Atkins and I’d always figured that if my blood sugar went up, that’s what I’d do again. But now it had gone up (from 100-110 mg/dl [5.6–6.1 mmol/l] previously). I started back on Atkins, and felt really good, but didn’t lose any weight. A month went by, I felt really good, but no weight loss.

So I googled “low carb” and among the options was Diet Doctor. As I started reading, it all began to make sense: why I’d always craved fat, how I’d become addicted to carbohydrates – especially sweets, but also bread of any kind – and why I always gained and gained weight. It had been a long slow process but I was 55 years old and 250 pounds (113 kg)!

I started following your guidelines, literally printing out your left-to-right low carb to high carb images. I added fat back in with a vengeance. It tasted SO good and it felt great. I felt calmer than I had in years. I also went to my doctor, discussed my situation and my diet and he added Metformin to my medications. And I lost weight, easily, even while on vacation.

I was visiting my sister and her family last summer and weighed myself after two weeks of low-carb and Metformin: 10 pounds (5 kg) lost! And I’d eaten plenty of yummy food and felt great. This was my proof of concept and I was ecstatic. I could eat wonderfully, decadently even, at home, at restaurants, sometimes at friends’ (I usually brought my own food) and lose weight. OMG.

Very shortly after starting LCHF my blood pressure was down to 116/60 and my blood sugar was 100 mg/dl (5.6 mmol/l). My family is hypercholesterolemic, so my new cholesterol in the lower 300’s is tickling my doctor’s pink. Since I don’t care about my cholesterol, I had them test my triglycerides. Those are super high right now, as I’m losing weight, but will send a comparison when I’m done losing weight. This morning I got on the scale, having forgotten to weight myself for over a week, and I’d passed 200 pounds (91 kg) – a huge goal for me – and weighed 198.4 pounds (90 kg). I hadn’t weighed that little for 20 years.

I’ll keep you updated, but had to tell you how easy it feels, how right and comfortable, and how not-hungry I am. I used to get sleepy after eating, had massive sugar highs and spectacular sugar crashes, felt hungry all the time, even after eating a large meal. And that’s all gone. Now I eat, I feel good, I eat when I’m hungry again, usually 5-6 hours later. If I don’t eat, I’m OK, too. Thank you for your work and thank you most for this freedom!

I’ll send pictures when I’m 100 pounds (45 kg) down,
Jen

Comments

Congratulations, Jen, to your success with low carb!

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