Impostor Syndrome, or Why Am I Here?

(Kathy Swinkels) #22

I’ve been trying to share the keto woe with my sister in law, as her mother is showing signs of dementia, not there yet

(carl) #23

I recently talked to Rob Conery on my other podcast about Imposter Syndrome https://www.dotnetrocks.com/?show=1385

(jketoscribe) #24

Heck, my kids weighed that in junior high!

(Matthew Standridge DDS FAGD) #25

This is a great topic! I can fully relate! I have been promoting a LCHF/Keto/Primal lifestyle for years but honestly haven’t been walking the walk as well as I should. The last few years I have been able to maintain my weight, so that’s a plus, but I haven’t lost weight like I should. To date I’m about 30 lbs down from last year, but I still have about 100-120 lbs to go.

Being overweight has kept me from promoting and teaching like I should, as I’ve felt like a hypocrite. Just yesterday however, I went live with my personal blog, ketodontist.com

By doing so, I’ve already been invited to some possible speaking events this coming year. I could have waited until everything was “perfect” to go public with this, but perfection is a myth and I could have wasted months or years. Now that it’s out there, and especially now that I might be speaking on stage in front of thousands of health professionals, it’s time to walk the walk.

Thank you for this post. I know our situations aren’t exactly the same, but that limiting belief is still there. Looking forward to to great things from this group in 2017!

(Jacquie) #26

@matt, I totally relate to what you’re saying. I started lc in the mid 90’s then paleo, primal and going along on my merry way doing Whole30 when I found keto and started testing my FBG and BG. Whoa! Starchy carbs, most fruit and high protein spiked my FBG and BG. I’ve been thin most of my life (at most, 10-15 lbs. overweight) and at 5’2", 110lbs, lifting weights and doing HIIT, found that I was pre-diabetic. Sugar is my nemesis. Nothing was ever too sweet. Yes, keto on, for sure! :slight_smile:

(mykittashi) #27

Someone said that to me a couple of weeks ago. First, I was shocked to again be called skinny (as I still am trying to ditch about 20 pounds), and second about how mis-informed so many people are about insulin resistance. I have to say my vanity is my biggest motivator right now, but I don’t have to look far to see the effects of diabetes in my dad (who most would consider skinny even though he has a beer belly).

Trying to adjust to the new forum as I was accostumed to seeing whatever FB decided to force-feed me. OMG, I’’ gonna have to engage some brain cells here…

(Precious Honey) #28

This WOE isnt just for diabetics. It doesnt cater to just one group of people. There are people who are ill, people who arent, people who are overweight and athletes. Its a diet for everyone who believes in it. While I am not a diabetic I am overweight and have high blood pressure. We are all not here because of a serious illness, we are all here for our health because being at a healthy weight contributes to over all health.

Also being in the healthcare field where I deal with people who are morbidly obese daily, I can try and help those that are ready to listen and point them in this direction. I can talk about it honestly because I am doing it. I can talk about the ups and the downs because im living it in my own way.

(Matthew Standridge DDS FAGD) #29

Great point. Being a health professional AND doing this WOE is a one-two punch. Lead by example is the best way to reach people.

(carl) #30

Yay! The world needs more of YOU! :slightly_smiling_face:

(Precious Honey) #31

Aww thank you! I have learned the bulk of my information from your podcasts and I have thought about making a card to hand out to patients and the doctors I work for since I’m not sure what they know about the diet to point to them I the right direction . You guys should whip something up to put on the forums that we can print out and give to people to lead them here.

(carl) #32

That is a great idea!

#33

It would be awesome if you created QR codes that link here and to the podcast index too.

(Sheryl De Luca) #34

(y)

(Genevieve Biggs) #35

I know how you feel! I started paleo and then keto in my early 20s, and overall I’ve lost about 40 lbs. I am still in need of digestive healing from years of vegetarianism, but nothing like diabetes or other conditions. But I am so glad to have started keto now to reverse my health so early, as well as being able to share it with my peers. For example, my brother has turned his physical and mental health around due to keto, which he wouldn’t have tried if I hadn’t repeatedly proselytized to him about it. Now another family member is just starting keto too.

So do I feel like an imposter? Often, yes. But I’d rather be an imposter now than suffer later. :slight_smile:

(Keto in Katy) #36

Well said. Every success story is another validation of this way of eating, and it may well be THE story that encourages someone else to make a positive change in their life.

(neenera) #37

I was in a similar situation: routine annual bloodwork revealed a fasting bgl of 165. Subsequent A1C was 7.1.
I was asymptomatic, no indication (or that I would have recognized before all of this) that I was sick. But the storm that was coming was formidable. I reluctantly shifted to lclf diet to try to drop my weight (198 - not a huge problem, I guess, but I couldn’t figure out why I just kept putting it on!).

What sold me on the fact that I had to do something now to right this sinking ship was that I had a terrible reaction to metformin - ended up in the ER. The disturbing realization was that the next drug had the possibility of much worse side effects.

I really needed to be convinced that there hadn’t been some kind of mistake, misdiagnosis, etc. Now I realized that what failed me was the medical model (not the physician), and prevailing nutritional direction. I am a slow, stubborn human who has to have the facts - show me the science. I’m 22 lbs lighter and feeling much better.

If you headed off all of this kind of process, I applaud you. Stick around, you are one of us.

(Danielle) #38

You can have mine… he only weighs about 40lbs! :smiley:

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(Michael Wallace Ellwood) #39

I’m new here (hello! :smile: ), so I don’t have the right to call anyone an imposter, but call me crazy, I’m not sure if when I first went LCHF back in 2007/2008 I was diabetic or not (I tend to avoid mainstream doctors), but I suspect I was either borderline or well on the way.

It took a long time (probably a good 2 years, but I lost most of the excess weight, and a comprehensive blood test showed almost all my markers to be good or excellent (although with hindsight, A1C was probably still a bit on the high side, and I probably should have looked deeper into that at the time, and pursued it. I clearly still had some residual insulin resistance.

Fast-forward, and I somehow fell off the LCHF wagon (not into junk food per se, but eating bread, potatoes, lots of fruit, sometimes sugary things, sometimes beer. Worst of all, I was in denial and refused to weight myself. Doh!

I realised in the 2nd half of 2016 I had to do something, and first tried exercise: walking, and then nordic-walking, which was great for my fitness in certain respects, but did little for my weight and the underlying problems. (Might have helped IR a little bit). Come Christmas, I realised I was going to have to grasp the DIET nettle. I did a lot of reading around, but in the end, went back to what I knew (or thought I knew) LCHF, and I took advantage of it being the turn of the new year to make 1st January 2017 the start of my LCHF year - yes, a New Year’s Resolution, but one I meant to keep.

Around half-way through January, I happened upon Jimmy Moore’s “n=1 Nutritional Ketosis” experiment, back in 2012/2013 and thought … hmmm…wonder if that’s what I was doing wrong (and why it took so long for me to lose weight on LCHF…I was keeping carbs low, but I hadn’t been controlling protein. Also maybe my fat calories were too high a lot of the time.

So I did the one thing I swore I’d never do, bought an accurate kitchen scale and started weighing my proteins and fats (where possible). I was already keeping a food diary, but now it has more or less accurate protein/fat weights. I don’t bother weighing carbs, because they are very few (though there may be some hidden carbs…).

I’d also discovered intermittent fasting/fasting, bought Jimmy’s book on that, and Jason Fung’s book “The Obesity Code” (also bought Phinney and Volek’s 2 books).

I was slow to get a blood keto monitor because of the expense of the strips, but I finally have bought one, not one of the more well-known ones, but one I found that seemed to have the possibility of cheaper strips. (I might talk more about that later, if anyone’s interested). As it turned out, the supply of cheaper strips proved not very reliable. I found another source that was a bit more expensive, and have some on order. We’ll have to see how it goes, but for now, I’m eking out the 5 that came with the meter. (First measurement was shockingly low, but the last 2 days have been more respectable (1.7 and 2.2 - these were both after longish brisk walks which I suspect helped).

A few weeks earlier, I had bought an inexpensive glucose meter, and my fasting levels have varied from low, in the 4’s, to uncomfortably high 6.9, but more recently, back in the 5’s. (mmol/L).

I’ve lost at least 15 lb since 1 Jan, but still have about 60 to go even to get down to the high end of “normal” BMI. If I wanted to get to the mid-point of “normal”, I’d probably need to lose 75 or so.

That would actually take me down to my weight as a 21 year old, and to be honest, I’m not sure that’s even a healthy weight for someone with a stocky build like mine, so I might be content with “only” a 60 pound loss. A long way to go, and I’m not sure I’ll make it, but I’m certainly going to try. But as Jimmy Moore always says: it’s not really about the weight, it’s all about the health, and of course, I fully agree.

(Kathy Swanson) #40

If you are severely insulin resistant maybe that’s it more than not walking the walk, Matthew. Jimmy Moore is a speaker all over the place and he is a big man. He gets a lot of grief over the fact that he isn’t thin enough and accused all the time that he doesn’t represent Keto well. But, he is in excellent health. Blessings to you in promoting the best way to live on the planet earth :slight_smile:

(Stickin' with mammoth) #41

I’m loathe to mention keto to anyone since I haven’t manifested an impressive outcome yet. Like being a butt-ugly modeling scout, it’s just not compelling nor persuasive.