The low-carb diet: “No constant hunger, no glucose crash and tasty food!”

Aside from losing weight, Guillaume enjoys greater energy and mental clarity. He’s also off his blood-pressure medication. All thanks to low carb and intermittent fasting!

Here he shares his insights from his journey:

The email

Hello Andreas and the whole gang,

I’m writing from France. I’ve been overweight since my mid teens and I’m now 34. Through the years I put on weight until I got over 150 kg – 331 lbs (don’t have the actual figure, see below). I’m 183 cm (6′) tall.

Back in May 2016, my knee joints were hurting, and my overall fitness was pretty poor. Two flights of stairs would have me panting. I was also taking blood-pressure medication.

I came to the realization that “something had to be done”. In the past I had tried calorie-restricted diets. It would typically work for a few weeks until the hunger would be too much to bear and I’d put the weight back on (and probably gained another extra kilo or two…)

I had heard of Gary Taubes’ work and that a high-carb intake seemed to be a pretty good suspect in the current obesity epidemic. So I decided to try going low carb and found your website to get informed and inspired.

I never had much of a sweet tooth. I had the occasional glass of soda, some pastry now and then. Carb intake in my case came from pasta, rice, potatoes and bread. And way too much of it.

I decided to go low carb in early July 2016. It took some reading to learn what to avoid and what to eat instead. Your guides are very helpful for that aspect!

I didn’t have any symptoms of “keto flu” and the transition was actually pretty smooth. And it just worked.

Cutting bread turned out to be easier than I thought. My take is that what you like is what you eat daily. Some sort of feedback loop that can be interrupted if you get past the first weeks.

I also cook more on my own, and your recipes are a source of inspiration (and also Libby’s Ditch the Carbs, among others).

I still dine out quite a lot but most restaurants have low-carb alternatives if you request them (ditch the fries, get green beans and an extra serving of that creamy mushroom sauce!)

I work in IT and I like having some sort of metric to track changes. I bought a scale four weeks into my “experiment”. That’s why the graph shows “only” (!) 145 kg – 320 lbs at the start in late July. I had already lost a good amount of weight (down one belt notch and such). I suspect I was significantly over 150 kg (331 lbs).

I’m now down to 84 kg (185 lbs). I’m still amazed by how (almost) linear the weight loss turned out. No constant hunger, no “glucose crash” and tasty food!

Aside from the weight loss, I also enjoy the extra (constant!) energy and clarity. I do what some would consider intermittent fasting: I just skip breakfast. And when I have to skip lunch for practical reasons, it’s not much of an issue.

I’ve also decided to be much more physically active. I first started with some light cardio (ie : riding a bike) and back in January I started weight training (and HIIT) with former colleagues.

But weight management is definitely a matter of diet. I lost the first 25 kg (55 lbs) while still being a couch potato. :-)

I’m off of BP medication as my blood pressure is now normal again. I still have to improve mobility; I’m still a little stiff from years without much physical activity but the difference is already tremendous. Riding my motorcycle is a very different experience these days.

I still have a few kilos to lose but I’m fairly confident it won’t be much of an issue now that I’m used to (and enjoy) eating low carb.

Feel free to share my testimonial, data and before/after pictures.

Cheers!
Guillaume

Comments

Congratulations to your great success Guillaume! And thank you for sharing your useful insights.

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Intermittent fasting for beginners

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