1-1/2 Year Update
 

Hello, All;

I used to post here quite regularly when I started my low-carb journey back in 2010. I just wanted to drop back in and give an update.

I retired from the US Air Force in 2004, somewhat overweight at 210lbs. (I'm a man, 5'11, 46yo). Within 2 years, I was up to 250 lbs and had high bp, high trigs, gout, fatty liver disease, pre-diabetes, hypothyroid, sleep apnea, and heart palpitations.

In 2006, with the news that I needed diabetes medicine, I re-doubled my efforts to get my weight under control. Every new medicine they gave me was supposed to help halt the metabolic trainwreck I was in. The CPAP machine was supposed to be the answer. Eat whole grains and no red meat they said. Do aerobics everyday for at least an hour they said.

For 5 years, I lost and regained 20 lbs over and over. In Sept 2010, I vowed to go on the strictest diet and exercise regime ever...eat only 1500 calories, only whole grain, no red meat. Did the treadmill and elliptical every night wearing a heart rate monitor--kept in 'the zone' for 60 minutes a day. I started this program at 220lbs, 3 months later--210lbs. Felt terrible, hungry and grumpy.

I searched around on the web for a better way to lose weight and found the Active Low Carber Forums. I asked a bunch of dumb n00b questions, got good answers, and liked what I was seeing.

Started a low carb journey in Dec 2010 at 210lbs, my goal was 'under 200'. I hit that in about 1 month, reset my goal to 180lbs. After several months and a few stalls later, I hit 180. New goal: 170lbs--a weight I hadn't seen since high school. I hit 170 in Sep 2011, 9 months into it. For the past 10 months, I have maintained between 164 and 170. I'm off all meds, labwork is nearly perfect, sleep apnea cured, no gout in this time.

Here are the 'secrets' I learned along the way:
- Be in it for the long haul
- Limit to the best of your ability refined sugar, refined grain, and vegetable oils.
- Strength train religiously; I do pushups, pullups, squats, and sprints--haven't set foot in a gym in 2 years.
- Intermittant Fasting works! I eat dinner at 6pm, then nothing until noon the next day.
- I work out in a fasted state most days.
- Sometimes, I fast for 40 hours. Every couple weeks, I skip a whole day of eating. Eat supper, then nothing until noon 2 days later. This has huge benefits other than just calorie restriction.
- My normal calorie range is 1500-3000 calories, I quit counting 1 year ago.
- I keep carbs under 50 g most days, but sometimes go way over with things like melon, bananas, berries, rice, or potatoes...never bread or sugary snack crap.
- I weigh myself daily; I don't take action on the scale, though, it's just for peace-of-mind.
- I measure my belly every couple weeks. I have a measuring tape that I cut off every time I hit a new low. As long as I'm within an inch of that low, I don't worry. More than an inch and I'll change something up.
- I don't sweat what I'm eating as long as it is very close to it's natural state, ie. meat with attached fat, fish, veggies, berries, olive oil&vinegar salad dressing.
- I eat in limited amounts: cured meats (bacon, lunchmeat, sausage), sugary fruit, potatoes, rice, legumes, nut butters, 100% dark chocolate, cheese.
- I strictly avoid: vegetable/seed oil, grain/seeds, esp. wheat products, refined sugars, low-carb flour or look-a-like products.
- I embrace the cold. Turn down thermostat, drive with window open in winter, wear just enough clothing to prevent hypothermia. Take cold showers. This builds brown adipose tissue (BAT), a fat-burning substance in the body that is activated by cold. This is the easiest way to effect "calories in-calories out" on the calories out side. It fixes broken hormones, speeds up the metabolism, and aids in muscle recovery.
- I supplement sparsely: I take Vit D3 5000iu/day, 3 kelp pills (for iodine), and 1 Omega 3 Krill Oil pill. I eat 2-3 brazil nuts a day for Selenium.

I will edit later if I think of anything I missed, hope this helps someone!
Tim

What a wonderful success story of restoring your body to good health! Thanks for sharing your tips!

Congrats on the success - keep up the good work!

May I ask why you avoid vegetable oils? I'm a big fan of olive oil...

As a recently dx person with fatty liver your success story has given me a lot of hope...thanks!

Congratulations on your success!

Olives are a fruit. When LC/primal eaters avoid vegetable oils, it means no corn, soybean, canola, etc oils.

Nice job Akman!

You have inspired me! Thank you :)

Two Year Update
 

I see people are still looking :wave: at this, so here is another update.

During the past 6 months, I have continued to keep my weight very stable in the 168 pound area. I was VLC for about 18 months, but I still wanted to lose a little belly flab as well as gain some muscle. I was reading a vegan website for giggles when I came across the idea of eating potatoes for weight-loss.

Here is the premise of the "Potato Diet". Eat about 90+% of your calories from only white potatoes for 7-14 days and lose .5 - 1 pound per day of which will be mostly fat, and you will experience only minimal weight regain afterwards, in fact you may continue to lose after resuming normal eating.

Here is why it works: White potatoes contain a very distinct for of starch, called 'Resistant Starch' (Google it). It is called resistant starch because it resists digestion in the stomach and small intestine. When RS reaches the large intestine, it is eaten by the beneficial bacteria which reside in your colon. The byproduct of the bacteria-digested RS is called Butyrate, Butyrate is a short-chain fatty acid. The SCFA feeds specialized colon cells (colonocytes), keeping them healthy and also enter your bloodstream where they provide a ketogenic fatty acid substrate for your metabolism.

After a day or so of eating potatoes to satiety, you will find you are in deep ketosis and losing body fat at an amazing rate. The satiety of the plain, white potato is higher than any food known to man (Google: Food Satiety Index).

Being a man of science, I tried the potato diet and it worked exactly as advertised! I used it to get to my lowest adult weight of 157lbs. With this trick in my back pocket, I began willful overfeeding in order to gain some muscle. I had always been leery of overeating, but I now know a way to safely cut fat in short order. Over the last 6 months, I have been eating more and gaining lots of muscle. Workouts no longer result in days of muscle soreness because I am eating enough protein and carbs to properly fuel my muscle building.

Doing a little more research led me to a newly re-published book called the Perfect Health Diet by Dr. Paul Jaminet. I am following his recommendations to include 1 pound of starch in my daily eating and it has not resulted in any weight gain, but has helped me get better sleep, feel warmer, and workouts are better. I would highly recommend this book to all. It is still Low Carb when compared to the SAD but a bit higher carb than most as it includes about 100-150g carbs per day. That level is explained well in the book.

So, in my 2 year update, I would like to say that adding in 1 pound of starch (mostly potatoes) has helped me increase muscles and using the "Potato Diet" has given me a way to blast off body fat. I am no longer afraid to try things that may cause some weight gain since I have a simple way to lose it. I am healthier and stronger than ever in my life.

I coudn't figure out how to post pics here, but I have some before and after at: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/foru...ad6138-501.html if you want to see what I look like! My name there is Otzi and it's posts #5007 and 5009

I just finished reading the book last night. Jaminet's arguments for starch are interesting. His blog posts about thyroid issues from VLC convinced me to add more vegetable carbs last spring, and I felt better, but haven't taken the next step to safe starches. Glad it worked so well for you! Thanks for posting here.

I think a period of VLC may be good for most people trying to lose weight for a while, like up to a year, but once weight stabilizes and you have regained most health markers, you should transistion into eating starch.

Starch is not just another carb. Starchy foods also contain resistant starch--that's the stuff you are after! It definitely alters your gut microflora. The gut microflora is of vital importance get truly healthy--that's not wild speculation, it's a known, proven fact.

When gut bacteria encounter RS, the RS is converted into fat. If you eat just potatoes for several days, you will go into deep ketosis. If you include ample potatoes, you are giving yourself a nice dose of short-chain fatty acid that is made right there in your intestines. High starch = High Fat Seems like a load of crap, but it's true! Exploit this phenomenon and reap the rewards!