My neighbor's story

(Bob M) #1

We had neighbors of a husband and wife. They sold their house and moved right before the pandemic hit. They moved to another state.

The husband was way overweight, loved to cook (carbs, in part, of course). He could barely help with moving, had sleep apnea + snoring, asthma, etc.

My wife saw him yesterday in our neighborhood. He said that when the pandemic hit, he did not have anything to do. So, he started watching videos online.

He’s now down over 70 pounds and, according to my wife (I didn’t get the chance to see him), looks like a completely different person.

The videos he was watching? Dr. Jason Fung’s.

My former neighbor now only eats 2 meals a day, and has not tried longer fasts. He eats low carb.

He no longer has sleep apnea, though he does snore a bit. He no longer has asthma. He rides a bike. He says he’s totally changed. He feels great.

There are (many?) people out there who dislike Dr. Fung. Think he teaches nonsense. I see them on Twitter and even here.

But the number of lives he has changed is considerable, including mine.

I do think it’s possible to overdo fasting. I can agree to that. But Dr. Fung may have changed more lives than just about anyone else. Maybe Atkins did more? (Though he was even more reviled.)

Anyway, this is one more story of a fasting/low carb success.

#2

I like that post ctv.

Nice thing is as much as we don’t like SO much of the recommendations of ‘the video online guys’ like Fung, Baker, Moore, Atkins and others cause there is alot of them out there----- just a few videos of knowing that carbs are the ultimate big bad guys in this food world out there now…and eating fresh food and whole foods makes a big difference to our bodies does mean alot!!

Common sense eating…so simple with a big truth to it…but so lost now in our icky food supply out there.

I was Atkins. Love the guy :slight_smile: He brought me here and he showed me the way…I took it from there!

Happy to hear your neighbor changed his life…wish more would jump on board!

(Bob M) #3

I was Atkins, too. That’s one reason I don’t count calories (the other being it kinda sucks to do so and – for me – takes the joy out of eating).

I agree with basically everything you said.

I was first Atkins, for about 1.5 years. Then I went on vacation and watched a bunch of Fung videos. After that, I started fasting.

As with everything, there’s good and bad. But the lowest weight I got and the lowest fasting (12 hours) insulin was when fasting a lot (by “fasting”, I mean 24+ hours, so maybe “long term fasting” might be better).

Each has its place, I guess. And even its time (e.g., I fast >24 hours much less now).

#4

People get to entrenched in the various factions. I guess my faction is “the best diet for you is the one you can stick to.” It sounds like your neighbor found the right model for him with time restricted feeding, it is an impressive story!

I’ve had success doing dietary restriction (only eating certain foods, eg keto), time restriction (IF/EF) and calorie restriction (tracking). I find keto the most sustainable for me but still layer in the other two since I’m trying to get the last 10 or so pounds off.

I saw some insane stat about the large majority of people that have never even tried to lose weight. Eating whatever, whenever, as much as you want. Ad libitum cubed. No wonder we have such an obesity epidemic.

(Marianne) #5

I just love to hear when people discover keto and take to it! That is so awesome. Usually, I hear about people who are fighting their weight tooth and nail, and losing that battle.

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #6

Always happy to hear someone has finally taken control of their weight.

I started with Atkins, lost most of my weight in a few months, then stalled out. Started learning about fasting, mostly from Dr. Fung and Megan’s podcasts. In a month after starting to fast, the last of my weight came off and I have been in maintenance now for over 4 yrs. now.

I even learned I can eat a little above 20g and still be in ketosis, so I do that some days but most are around 20-25 gram.

#7

Cripes Bob, I thought it was going to be a sad story. Well written. It’s amazing how individual stories can often out weigh the massive numbers touted by epidemiologists.

I never liked listening to Jason Fung but I like the way he writes (on Diet Doctor). The information is good, I think.

You make a good point about how we associate the information with the teacher presenting it. Maybe the text-book reading days were better, where our internal narration was suited to us as we read. These multimedia platforms deliver well but then we might become fixated on the messengers.

I think too many people have a downer on Ivor Cummins as well. His work with root cause identification and analysis is good work.

But thinking on this more, I used to enjoy Jimmy Moore when I started, but am unable to listen to him anymore.

Has Gary Taubes lost his shine? He popped up on the STEM Talk podcast recently and still had that laconic NorCal drawl.

As we learn more we learn more about our teachers and go seeking ones that make more sense in the face of accumulated knowledge. Ivor was where I learned about the Dunning-Kruger effect.

(Robin) #8

I feel the same about reading Fung instead of watching/listening. But I feel the same about most news stations. I read my news. Less drama.

(Bob M) #9

Well, I’m really glad my neighbor (Frank) found Dr. Fung and keto/low carb. Frank was way overweight, could barely walk much. I thought he’d do great on low carb, because he’s a foodie and just seemed like one of those who could lose a lot of weight quickly. As a foodie, he can still do that, but you have to change from bread, potatoes, and desserts to sauces, meats, stews, etc. And low carb desserts, if that’s your thing.

I never introduced low carb/keto to him, mainly because I don’t do this with anyone. I try not to let people who come over (pre-covid, I guess) know I’m eating keto. I’m sure they get the sense of it, when I eat almost nothing buy meat, but I don’t talk about it.

I’m really happy for him.

#10

everyone truly walks their own path…whether told tons of info on better health and won’t change…or one who never hears a thing from anyone yet finds the time to stumble onto something they feel will fit them.

we would love to change all but it will never happen that way but hearing small success stories like your neighbor keep reminding us there is a better path for health! One person at their own pace at a time!

#11

Fung is really good on his own site, which has gotten slicker in the last few years. It used to be where he worked out his books and you could read along as he wrote them