A few weeks ago I had the privilege of meeting @carl at a software development conference. I was able to personally thank him for introducing me to keto. He graciously accepted my gratitude while humbly pointing out that he didn’t invent the diet. It was a short, but meaningful (to me) conversation that ended with him pointing me toward these forums. I told him I’d been lurking but had never posted anything.
Since that conversation I’ve been thinking about what I might have to add to the discussion here. The thing I keep coming back to is how grateful I am to have found a way of eating that works well for me. So I want to say ‘thank you’.
First, please indulge me while I tell my story. I’m 39 years old and have (er, I mean had) been overweight or obese since my early teens. I’m 5’8" and in my mid 20’s reached my largest weight at 285lbs. In my late 20’s, I decided to lose some weight. I started exercising and I even cut back on carbs…but to nowhere near a ketogenic level. It worked pretty well and the weight came off over the course of several months until I managed to plateau and bounce around between 200 - 210. When I turned 30, I was certainly more healthy than when I turned 20.
Overtime, due to the combination of age, stress and adding back in the carbs (honestly adding back an extreme level of carbs), the weight came back on. I never let myself gain back to where I had been, but I probably topped out at 230 or so.
I have a family history of diabetes. It killed my grandmother at the age of 62, my aunt has full-blown diabetes and my father was diagnosed as ‘pre-diabetic’ (we all know what that means) a couple of years ago (fortunately, he has had success using paleo to turn his A1C around). Last year I found myself at the age of 38, steadily gaining weight and looking ahead to the next part of my life knowing I was on the road to real health problems.
My partner, Mary, had also been struggling with weight for a long time. She’d tried a wide range of diets and had very little success.
That’s when I heard @carl on .NET Rocks (his programming podcast) taking about keto. Mary and I looked into the diet and decided to give it a go. I’m so happy we did.
We started in December. I lost 50lbs in four months and I’ve lost 60lbs in total. I’m now 166lbs. I haven’t weight this little since I was around 12 years old. Mary has lost weight more slowly, but she’s down more than 20lbs and feeling good.
I’m feeling good too. I’m currently switching into maintenance mode. I’m also adding running back into my life. I’ve signed up for my first marathon in the fall, and have a couple of shorter races this summer.
Thank you, @carl. Thank you, @richard. Thank you to this community. And I also want to specifically call out Ivor Cummings, whose appearances on the 2 Keto Dudes podcast as well as his many Youtube videos have been very enlightening. Thank you, Ivor.
…oh and thank you for reading what has turned into a very long first post… 