“It is a lifestyle change and not a diet”

Before and after

Lucas had some extra weight to lose, and he wanted a change fast. Two of his friends had posted on Facebook about their “miraculous” progress with an LCHF diet, and so he decided to give it a try.

This is what has happened in just six months:

Dear Andreas,

I want to share my story.

Last summer was a stressful time for me. I was only in my new job less than a year and recently divorced. One night I was at dinner with friends after playing basketball. We ordered a lot of food as the owner was a friend of a friend. Needless to say I ate a LOT. The next morning I got on the scale and I was over 124 kg (274 lbs). This is the heaviest I had been in a long time. At 6’4” (193 cm) I was almost 35 kg (77 lbs) over a healthy BMI. I needed a change and fast!

Two of my friends had posted on Facebook about their miraculous change over a year while following a Low Carb High Fat diet. After talking with them and doing a lot of research I came across the Diet Doctor website. With all the information that I had I decided I would do the LCHF diet and change my lifestyle.

On Thursday August 4th 2016 I started my new lifestyle with the strict 20 point (or Atkins phase 1). Within one week my pants started feeling loose. I couldn’t believe how quickly I could feel the difference. And then I stepped on the scale! Wow the weight was really coming off.

Within one month I had lost almost 10 kg (22 lbs)! So I stayed on the strict points for another month. I needed to lose over 75 lbs (34 kg) total just to reach the upper limit of my BMI.

After two months and over 15 kg (33 lbs) lost I switched to Moderate (Atkins phase 2). This is when the challenges really started. Every new food I introduced could be a benefit to my continued weight loss of a set-back. For me since I am scientist I did my best to approach the changes at one food at a time. At first I added a glass of whole milk a day. After a few days I noticed my weight increasing. So I stopped the milk and switched to Greek yogurt. The weight started dropping again. Now after 4 months in phase two I am 4 kg (9 lbs) away from my high level goal of 90 kg (198 lbs)! I hope to make it there by my 39th birthday which is next month.

My advice to people is when moving to phase two to try one new food at a time and see how your body reacts. Now I am in the Liberal stage (phase) three and eating strawberries, blueberries, some melons and every now and then some other sweet carbs. But I make sure to exercise when I do.

Speaking of exercise I suggest going for walks every night. This is something easy that you can do with the family. I averaged around 20 K steps a day for a few months. That really helped. After a few months start adding in a gym workout. Either bicycle or treadmill or row machine. And definitely add weight lifting. Even low weights is very productive. Remember with a LCHF diet you are not only burning fat but some muscle too.

Finally make sure you know that it is a lifestyle change and not a diet. Every day I need to live this and I do. There were many weeks where I did not lose or even gained some. But I stuck with it. Maybe only adjusted my diet a small amount and I would lose again after the plateau. But I knew that I would start losing again as long as I kept going. Life is full of challenges. Just be ready for them.

Regards,
Lucas

Comments

What an inspiring story Lucas – and the best of luck with your continued low-carb lifestyle!

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