I might be posting this in the wrong place, but here goes.

Has anyone participated in Dr. Westman's master class at the Adapt Your Life website? https://adaptyourlifeacademy.com/ke...le-masterclass/

If so, did it help you? I feel like I have seriously tried everything, and nothing is working. This is called a Beginner/Intermediate class, though, and I've been reading everything I can get my hands on regarding low-carb/keto and living a low-carb lifestyle for more than 20 years.

Think it will be too basic? Keto is really easy, if you don't try to over-complicate things. Still, I must be doing something wrong for it to not help me lose more than 2 pounds before gaining it back again.

Dr Westman has a new book "End Your Carb Confusion". I am sure the master class would follow the same principles as the book. Kindle version is $9.99 on Amazon. I have not read it. Jey is a big fan of his and she has mentioned the book somewhere on this forum.

Yes, I forgot to mention that I have already read the book and found nothing in it that I felt was new or that I didn't already know. I'm going to re-read it again, starting tomorrow, to see if I missed anything important.

I would email them and ask if they think it would be of benefit.

Bawdy - I think very highly of Dr. Westman, and I believe his approach works. However, sometimes there are stalls and plateaus that can't be explained, and I know you've been experiencing these, as many of us have at times. My recommendation is to get into one of Marty Kendall's programs like Data Driven Fasting (DDF) or the Nutritional Optimisation Masterclass.

DDF is not a radical fasting approach; rather, you literally eat to the meter (as Dr. Bernstein recommends). You start with a 3-day benchmarking exercise by measuring your blood glucose first thing in the morning (to gauge the dawn phenomenon) and then right before and an hour after each meal. He provides you with a spreadsheet to record the data, and using your data from the first 3 days, it helps you find when it's time to eat (based on your BG which tracks your personal hunger threshold). After that you check your BG just before meal time, and if it's higher than your hunger threshold, you wait until it becomes within the threshold before eating. This trains your body to know when you're truly hungry and helps to lower both personal hunger and personal fat thresholds. Several people on this forum have participated in the DDF Challenge and have had excellent results. The next DDF challenge starts on March 6.

The Nutritional Optimisation Masterclass is a more detailed journey into analyzing one's diet and nutrition requirements at both macro and micro levels. Several on this forum are participating in the current NOM that lasts for 6 weeks. If you haven't already been there, you can see the thread here:
https://forum.lowcarber.org/showthr...014#post9396014

One of the reasons I like Marty Kendall is that he uses Ted Naiman's P:E Diet approach to achieving better health. It's a very analytical approach to nutrition that emphasizes increased healthy protein, healthy vegetables and micro-nutrients, a reduced emphasis on fats (in other words, keto with a realistic approach), and elimination of unhealthy manufactured fats from seeds. Increasing my protein consumption and reducing my fat consumption to only what rides with the foods I eat a couple years ago helped me tremendously.

I know you know what you're doing and you're also very knowledgeable and disciplined, so often it's just a couple minor adjustments that can make all the difference. You would master either program mentioned very quickly, so it might be a consideration if you haven't considered it already.

Gypsybyrd, that's an excellent idea. Rob, your ideas are good, too. I looked into the DDF and actually did the 3-day "stick test" but then ran out of test strips and it's been over 3 weeks waiting for them to be delivered again.

I like Kendall because I like Naiman. Trouble with Naiman was that I can't seem to keep up eating as much protein as he recommends day in and day out. It takes a lot of discipline and a LOT of cooking!

Also, I kept losing and re-gaining the same 2 pounds using Naiman's approach (minimum 130 grams protein, no more than 65 grams fat and no more than 65 grams carbs, though usually WAY less than that, around 20 or eve. less).

I considered doing the Optimisation program. Think he'd let me do it with minimal veggies? If I eat a lot of fiber, I have flare-ups of diverticulitis.

Maybe coaching is what's needed, someone to point out things I'm missing, and to suggest options based on experiences with others.

Dr. Westman has always been one of my favorite experts, too.

I don't think you can go wrong with either Westman or Kendall in a direct program. You'll be able to make informed course corrections when you encounter any of the things that have been road blocks in the past, as you'll be able to communicate and work through any circumstances you encounter with an expert guide.

OK, you got me thinking. The next Kendall class is $37, lasts for 30 days, and begins March 6. The next Westman class is $147, lasts for 3 weeks, and enrollment begins in April (not sure when the class actually starts).

I've started re-reading the DDR book, and good thing I'm doing it because I must have skimmed too quickly before. The multiple finger pricks are only for 3 days, until you learn your trigger point. It's making more sense to me this second time through the material. I started tracking this morning.

Since the Kendall class starts first and appears to end right about when the Westman class starts, it might be a good idea to try Kendall first. It's cheaper, too. Then, if I determine that approach doesn't work for me for whatever reason, I can simply move on.

I'll make a decision this weekend.

Hi Bawdy. Let us know what happens!

Will do! I started tracking today, and it's very interesting. Here's today so far (foods eaten are in italics):

Waking: 96
1 1/2 mugs of black coffee
Before breakfast: 111
1 cup 2% Greek yogurt (plain)
After breakfast: 98
Before lunch (no snack today): 94
8 oz burger, 2 eggs fried
After lunch: 91

I was amazed that BG went up after black coffee, and went down after eating the yogurt and after eating the burger and eggs. It actually is very interesting to see how BG changes throughout the day.

Sorry that I have missed this thread until now! but I think you landed on the right answer. Great info from Rob. I agree you should do Marty Kendall’s data driven fasting program first. The Keto Masterclass is geared to beginners who need help understanding low carb, and if you found nothing new in the book, End Your Carb Confusion, it may not help further. For LC you might find more information to answer your specific questions on the Adapt Your Life YouTube channel. This 1 1/2 hour Live talk actually explains all in the Masterclass and the results from the first session. You can decide for yourself:
https://youtu.be/ER87SwPqDuM
In this past year he has been doing a weekly Live hour or so and the weekly half hour Conversations with Adapt. So. Many. Videos


https://youtube.com/c/AdaptYourLife

There are hundreds of teaching videos available for free there. Dr. Westman recently finished up a 35 part Conversations series and Amy Berger is starting a six episode series on Stall slayers that should also have what you want. As an Admin for Dr Westman's support group, a number of the veteran members there say her book is helpful, though I have not read it.

I lost almost 25 pounds combining Dr Ted Naiman's LowEnergyDiet and Mary Kendall's Data Driven Fasting. I have the Unlimited DDF package so you will see me on that group FB page in March, though prep has already started, you can join now. I am working on Optimizing Nutrition too right now...and that takes some time and effort to add nutritious ingredients. Doing DDF + PE was easier and effective for me. I felt no guilt using protein powder to get in a higher protein macro.

Dr Naiman would suggest 0% fat yogurt (Fage total) and lean beef, any in the 90s percent. https://www.lowenergydiet.com/

In Optimizing Nutrition, it is recommended the net carbs not be lower than 15%. Once you get in the higher protein, and also want to lower the fat, there is not much left to eat. But you can replace the high fat with nutritious, low calorie veggies. Sure you can get advice how to do those 15% net carbs with digestive issues. Today's lesson is on adding more nutrient dense vegetables and fiber.

Hope to see you at DDF https://www.datadrivenfasting.com/home

Thanks, Janet! Great info there. I've known about the Adapt Your Life videos for a while and have listened to a few, but didn't keep up with it.

I agree with you on the yogurt. I prefer Greek yogurt to regular, but the grocery store didn't have the 0% version. This pandemic is messing with the supply chain so much that it's hit or miss anymore on availability of all kinds of items. The grocery store was also out of 90% lean ground beef; the best I could do was 85% lean. We do what we can!

I'll try for the 15% carbs (I noticed that while reading today), but it might be tricky without going to starches, which don't affect my digestion the way high-fiber veggies do.

At this point, I think the DDF might be better for me than the Optimizng Nutrition approach. Maybe one leads well into the other?

You also get carbs from nuts and seeds, the fermented dairy like cottage cheese too, and the small tubers on Ted's full PE info graphic....orange and yellow carrots, radishes, potatoes. The DDF did lead to NO for me, eventually...I did DDF for six months before venturing to nutrient optimizing. Marty and Alex have spent years developing a program to analyze 80 micronutrients but it is the simpler DDF that draws many in first. It's cool to have personal data to decide when to eat.
Also have a good meter and fresh strips, the meters are usually free in the kits on Amazon or on-line diabetes suppliers, so I bought new meters. Meter variability is a source of frustration if you’re waiting to eat From waking to getting down to trigger sometimes took 3-4 readings.

I started a new thread in the Semi Low-Carb Plans section to discuss Marty Kendall's Data-Driven Fasting approach. Would love to discuss this with others.

https://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=484792