Wow!!! Congratulations! You look terrific 
Centurians - people who have lost more than 100 lbs
collaroygal
(KCKO, KCFO 🥥)
#144
Ok those are fantastic results. Now you must be a master smoker/bbq person. Please share any sauces that work for you over on the Recipes thread.
Isn’t it great you get to keep on eating all the yummy meats?
AmyB
(Amy Bachmann)
#145
You look great! I love your YouTube videos. They were the first influence for me to start a Keto Diet. It was the one where you were telling people what books you read and about the 2ketodudes podcast. A day rarely goes by when I am encouraged by watching your videos and the listening to the 2ketodudes podcast. In ten months I have lost more than 60 lbs. and reversed my metabolic problems (glucose normal, fatty liver gone, better cognitive function, etc.). Thank you a million times for your help.
collaroygal
(KCKO, KCFO 🥥)
#147
You are doing great. Glad you joined the forums, I enjoy a lot of your posts. You are obviously doing it right too.
cywgdave
(Cywgdave)
#149
Just remember you want to go around it counter-clockwise. Puts you on the outside lane closest to the edge for thrills and views.
Moosehead
(Richard Siler)
#150
It’s been a year since I was released from hospital in a state of shock over the things that had transpired in the previous week - diagnosis of a free floating DVT, immobilization, mandatory dietary counseling. The real shock was being told that I now had a fourth symptom of metabolic syndrome which I was told it was a progressive disease that could only be managed but not fixed or reversed. The blood work done when I was admitted shows my blood sugar at 136 mg/dl and my HbA1c at 8.3%.
I knew that I was significantly overweight but I had been that way since I was 12 so I had always thought of myself as a member of the “fat but fit” crowd and I knew my BP and resting heart rate, which were the only biomarkers I tracked consistently, were always below the standard for diagnosing hypertension. It is ironic that hypertension is the only metabolic syndrome marker that I didn’t have.
I left the hospital with a prescription for metformin and a blood thinner and an appointment in 5 days with the diabetic clinic. I filled the blood thinner prescription but not the metformin (I bought a blood sugar monitor instead) as I knew I had brought down my blood sugar on an Aitkins type diet 15 years ago and I wanted to try doing it again without succumbing to the idea of diabetes being progressive and non-reversible. The specter of kidney disease, amputations and lost eyesight was more than I wanted to accept. Giving up bread, potatoes and rice was preferable to giving up eyesight, kidney function or a foot.
The good news is that one year later I have reversed two of the biomarkers (high blood sugar and obesity) and I’m making progress on a third (insulin resistance). At my age the peripheral neuropathy will likely never go away but I believe it was the result of a herniated disc that I had surgically repaired 10 years ago. While the neuropathy was attributed to my deranged metabolism with which I left the hospital, I feel it was more likely a surgical event. As my father had neuropathy as part of Type 2 diabetes, I also accept that it might be metabolic. Regardless, it doesn’t matter to my lifestyle change at this point. At my most recent visit to the doctor, I was told that I was no longer a candidate for the diabetes clinic and the venous blockage in my leg appears to have dissolved.
As a follower of the diet scene since the 70’s I had seen a lot of ideas come and go and they all had the same core message of calorie deficiency as their magic bullet to better health. They advised various “programs” to achieve the goal but they were not sustainable. Some even advised “cheat days” which in itself is a message that they are not the sustainable lifestyle changes they claimed to be. They knew the cravings would get too severe so they provided a way for people to not feel like failures if they couldn’t remain compliant. I also saw that none of them worked for long as nobody could remain compliant - the cravings got too severe. I had tried many with some initial success but always gained more back than I lost. My falling off Aitkens was really just laziness and convenience not cravings so I knew I could make it work again.
I immediately began walking 5 miles/day and eating low carb then keto. Within a week I lost the first ten pounds. The daily walking and low-carb, calorie reduced eating kept my weight loss at around 3 lbs./week for the first 6 months. Then the plateau set in.
During this period I read an enormous amount of research and opinion surrounding diet, exercise, hormonal regulation, inflammation, epigenetics and food politics. I became aware of the fact that the symptoms that created the metabolic syndrome diagnosis were really due to one condition and that was hyperinsulinemia. Why it arose might be of interest but when you are the victim, the why doesn’t matter much. It probably started 60 years ago and it was only my genetics that had prevented it from blowing up my health for all this time. I quit tracking my health by weight loss and blood pressure and started looking for other health indicators. Six months ago, one of my grandchildren showed me how to download podcasts onto my cell phone. I got some ear buds and an arm pouch like I saw other walkers wearing and began listening to dietary advice during my daily walks. That was when I made the adjustment to a ketogenic diet and got off the plateau. The weight has continued to come off.
One of the podcasts that I found was 2 Keto Dudes who introduced me to authors and podcasters who questioned the calories in/calories out thinking and went to great lengths to review the actual data from past and present dietary research. I’ve learned that the politically motivated misinformation propagated by the US government’s USDA, NIH, ADA along with similar government agencies in countries around the world is shameful and unscientific at best and criminal in many cases. Information that disagreed with or contradicted the desires of lobbyists was ignored or buried. Fortunately the rise of social media and availability of scientific information has made the dietary advice of these agencies almost irrelevant.
I’m now over 140 lbs. lighter, my BP has gone from 135/80 to 100/50, my HbA1c has gone from 7.8 to 5.0, my Trig/HDL ratio has gone from 3.1 to 1.8, my blood glucose has gone from 145 to 100 and my BHB hovers around 1.4 on a blood test compared to 0 acetoacetate on urine strips 1 year ago. But above all of that, I feel better than I have in 40 years.
The only thing I want to say is to those who think keto living is difficult - no, it’s not! To those who don’t think they can do it - yes, you can.
Countdown2020
(Mary)
#151
Wow! Well done, you!!
Thank you so much for posting. Your story is very inspiring.
collaroygal
(KCKO, KCFO 🥥)
#155
Great transformation!!
Well done, You
Your comments reminded me of this saying from the Myth of Motivation video
Enduring chemotherapy is hard.
Hitting a fast ball in the major leagues in hard.
Negotiating nuclear disarmament from a hostile nation is hard.
Saying goodbye to a loved one in the hospital or the veterinarian’s office for the last time is hard.
But putting down the cookies and picking up the spinach? That’s only as hard as the story we tell ourselves.
BaconGirl
(Sarah)
#159
Wow! Congratulations on having restored yourself to good health! You are a true inspiration!
Madeleine
#160
Someone needs to send a link to this thread to Gina Kolata at the NYT.
Is this a public thread?
jennytoy1
(Jenny)
#162
I started this journey on 1/1/2012 at 260.9 pounds, (currently 159.1) and it has been quite a journey. I’m not done yet, but I can say as of today I have lost 101.8 pounds! I have finally reached 100 pounds + lost. The photos attached are not at my highest weights but the closest that I have. I am so thankful for getting this far 
and this forum is pretty awesome. Thanks for letting me celebrate with you!
