I’ve lost 25.6 lbs in 4 weeks!

(Charles) #1

Hello all!

I just wanted to pop in and share my success. I am a 41 year old man, 6’1” tall and weighed 212 lbs (a lot for my thin frame). I seriously looked like I was about 8-9 month pregnant.

I started a low carb diet on July 15th, 2019.
At the 4 week mark (yesterday), I finally weighed myself and found that I have dropped just over 25 lbs!

I don’t go crazy with the monitoring, other than ketone test strips. I try to keep my carb intake under 10g per day (total, not net). Most days I’m between 8-12g.

One other note: for at least the last 6 years, I’ve suffered from stomach pain every single day. I always assumed it was gas from dairy products, but couldn’t give up cheese (love my greasy meat n’ cheese). On this diet, the pain has been gone since day one.

Pardon my excitement, but I have no one else to share with, aside from my wife.
Anyway, just a quick intro.
Thank you all for having me!

(K-9 Handler/Trainer, PSD/EP Specialist, Veteran) #2

Hey Charles, welcome to the forum, and congrats!

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #3

Welcome! Share all you want, it’s a great place to get encouragement and advice. I have a family member with similar stats to you who also has stomach issues. He quit grains and it helped but I think if he quit the beer it would REALLY help. Can I ask, did you happen to also give up alcohol when you started keto?

(Charles) #4

Hello Marie and DK!
Thank you for the kind words!

Marie - I actually quit drinking 15 years ago. I definitely think it was the grains causing my pain and most alcohol is grain based, so I think your family member would greatly benefit if they cut out all grain products.

(Susan) #5

Welcome to the forum, Charles and congratsss!!

Please feel free to make posts if you have any questions =).

(bulkbiker) #6

Hey amazing results well done you!

(Trish) #8

Congrats and welcome to the group. I’m glad your stomach pains are gone.

(Liz) #9

Wow! Great to have the weight drop but also the gastro issue gone, a great non scale victory. Keto seems to be the answer for a lot of us, heals as it goes.
So goid to hear your succes and welcome to the forum :+1::handshake:

(Polly) #10

Congratulations on your weight loss and your improved health. Good to have a success story posted to the forum.

(Parker the crazy crone lady) #12

You’ve done a wonderful job!

(Not a cow) #13

Congrats @CharlesAnthony, great success, keep it going and let us know how well you continue to do over the next little while. ( Or are you finished losing and made it to your ideal weight in one month ?)

(Charles) #14

Thanks, all!

Unfortunately, the last 2 weeks have not gone so well. I’m not sure what happened, but last week I went from 185 to 188, now I’m back down to 185.

The only thing that changed is that two days after my original post, my wife and I had to fly to Portland for a couple days, but we ate properly. Maybe stress?

On the plus side, I definitely look thinner than I did two weeks ago. Maybe I gained some water weight. I have no idea.

I’m just going to stay away from the scale and keep at it. :slight_smile:

Moo: my “in shape” weight would be 185 (based on my weight when I was in my late 20s and worked out), but I’m far from in good shape.
I estimate that I’ve got another 15-25lbs of fat to shed.

(Scott) #15

I am amazed by all the things that seem to correct themselves after switching to keto WOE. Glad your stomach pain is gone.

Me, I looked down at a red mole about the size of a half a pencil eraser on my upper arm that was so large it would catch on my shirt or get sore if I bumped into a door frame. It is now more of a red freckle now.

(Ken) #16

What has happened is that you’ve now depleted your glycogen and are now losing fat at a normal rate.

Initial glycogen depletion was necessary before you actually start burning your body fat. Probably, it accounted for most or all of your weight loss in the first week or so… From now on you can consider a one or so pound per week of fat loss to be normal, but is will go in fits and starts rather than being linear. Be patient, don’t obsess over the scale. Take some pictures and make some measurements, its a better way to track progress. Try to weigh yourself only once per week at the most, and understand water weight flux can easily hide progress from the scale.

#17

No. Nope. We shall not pardon your excitement! You deserve be to excited. Congratulations! Hope things are going well since your original post. It does slow down as Ken mentioned. I am in that place myself it seems, but as long as you feel good and see physical changes, the scale doesn’t really matter.

(Alex J.) #18

Fantastic job! Any tips on what to eat to keep the carbs so low?

(Robert C) #19

Hi @CharlesAnthony,

Sounds like things are going well.

One thing you might look into though is why you lost so much so fast.
If you simply calorie restrict while eating Keto foods then both weight and blood ketone measurements will look good - it would seem like you are doing Keto.

But, at some point, your body will adjust metabolism down to meet the new lowered intake.
Of course, I do not know if this is the case with you (but, a pound a day is fasting-level loss) so you might want to think about whether your daily calories are simply consistently too low.

The way you’ll find out is that weight loss will stop and pretty much not start without further calorie restriction (and may bounce up pretty quick as your body is likely not happy about the big fat loss).

Instead, if truly Keto and fat adapted, a stall leaves you at a weight for a while and then the downward trend eventually just continues.

(Susan) #20

Your body is shifting around and recompositioning and losing fat. You can also gain muscle which weighs more than fat. Since you were on holidays, maybe you were walking around a lot, and so you gained some muscles =-).

(Charles) #21

Alex: Very little, haha!

I eat only dinner (except plain coffee for breakfast) and use konjac root about an hour before.

My dinners consist of a large salad made with a variety of veggies, cheeses and seeds (I mix it up, but prefer feta, sunflower and sesame seeds, though light on the seeds).
I make my own vinaigrette.
The protein is usually bacon cheeseburgers on lettuce, tilapia “breaded” and fried in almond flour and parmesan, chicken or chicken strips breaded and fried the same way, baked cheddar bacon chicken, my own Keto pizza recipe…you get the idea.

I haven’t cheated once. Not a bit. I keep careful track and try to stay under 10 grams of carbs per day.

I also have not started an exercise routine, but plan to very soon.

(Charles) #22

Susan: That would be great, but I think I just stalled.