What is the longest time anyone has successfully spent losing 100lbs?

#21

Yes, years ago when I was 14 I spent the summer in Israel living next to a bakery. I loved the loaves of fresh rye bread. I not only gained 10lbs in a summer despite being relatively active and swimming every day, but developed these horrible gas pains. My family thought it might be something I picked up or an intolerance to the water (despite having previously visited without a problem). When I got home they went away almost immediately as I was never a huge fan of Wonder bread. It was years later that I made the connection to the wheat. I know some people can tolerate wheat in other countries but I cannot. The minimal amount did not bother me. In my case I simply cannot have it at more than one meal in a short period of time. However, I do have Hashimotos and there seems to be a connection between that and Celiac. I went Gluten Free because of some small study in 2009 and did that for a number of years. Now I try to avoid gluten but not religiously. I am meeting someone for lunch at a favorite restaurant and may indulge.

My understanding @ctviggen for anyone who has Celiac or Hashimotos, is that even a tiny amount once a week, month, whatever can set you off and undo months of abstinence. Absintence for me, without a diagnosis to keep me motivated, is just too hard. I know I could but I just donā€™t want to despite my best intentions. I also would need access to regular blood testing to keep me motivated and just donā€™t have that.

My one kid who has been Celiac for years never has antibodies. The other one was recently diagnosed and has not done repeat bloodwork yet but is not as careful and for example will eat restaurant fries without asking if it is the same oil

(Alec) #22

Saphire
Your story is not too different to mine. I have yo-yo dieted my whole life, found keto in 2018, lost most of my excess weight in 18 months (80lbs), fell off the wagon (illness, life, stress) gained all the weight back. Started again in 2022, did a month of keto, but discovered by accident after a month that my weight loss accelerated when I stopped eating plants (ie carnivore).

I stuck with carnivore initially because it accelerated the weight loss, but I have stuck to it ever since (3.5 years and counting) because there are no edges, there are no carbs (well, letā€™s call it negligible carbs right now), and it is easy. No counting. Just one rule: donā€™t eat plants. I am down 80lbs and have maintained it (easily) for 3.5 years. This is an absolute revelation to meā€¦ I have never been able to stick with a diet for more than 18 months beforeā€¦ I have always fallen off eventually and the body ā€œwinsā€ ie my hormones were truly messed up, and my carb addiction won.

I am unclear what you are eating right now, and whether youā€™ve tried carni before or not. But I cannot recommend it enough. It has fixed me. I am down 80lbs for 3.5 years, and I have zero desire to eat plants/carbs again.

#23

Thank you for sharing your story.

I really never got down to my goal weight, which is about down 110 lbs but I got about halfway there in 2017. I am a couple of pounds below that now and maintaining it easily and losing it slowly.

To answer your question I eat a lot of cheese, cream, sour cream, cream cheese with flavor such as boursin, goat cheese, full fat plain yogurt sometimes, walnuts, pecans, macadamia and the occasional raspberry. I eat eggs (although recent allergy testing said I was slightly allergic to egg whites but it was a blood test so I ignore it). I will eat bacon, turkey bacon, pepperoni, turkey cold cuts, the occasional pastrami, hamburgers and the occasional steak or chicken breast or some type of keto chicken nugget.

I will sometimes eat stews, curries and chilis that I make myself. Usually with some type of tomato product (either stewed tomatoes from a can or Raos or similar low carb sauce). I have a pancake recipe that I make with cream, eggs and almond flour and erithritol although given my age and the studies I will probably switch to allulose instead.

I enjoy these low carb versions of my favorite foods. I am addicted to pizza and would eat that if weight was not issue. I enjoy fathead pizza and its variations (although I find it a chore to make so do not bother very often) as well as some Maria Emmerich rolls that I like. I will eat shrimp in butter sauce but dislike most fish and pork. Which is the problem. I like beef but am not a fan of making it at home as it never turns out quite right. Same with chicken unless it is breaded or made into some type of complicated recipe. I eat some vegetables when the mood strikes me or someone else makes it but more often than not vegetable rot in my house other than the random lettuce leaf which I use for a bun. One reason I try to buy frozen whenever possible and then it sits in my freezer. I do use Primal kitchen ketchup and various low sugar sauces. I am not that strict on keto and consider myself more low carb or lazy keto.

Bottom line, I have never liked meat all that much unless it is at some fancy restaurant. I am not sure I could live on meat alone or assume in my case, meat, chicken, dairy and eggs. You make it sound appealing

My question really is whether I can keep losing at this painfully slow rate forever rather than asking for advice on how to tweak my diet. I do find that stopping to eat early in the day is the one thing that is keeping me losing weight, even if it is unbelievable slow

(KM) #24

I used extended fasting to ā€œstairstepā€ my way down to my desired weight and then adopted a less radical keto / low carb diet which has worked well for maintaining it. Would you consider going carnivore just for a few months as a test / intervention, with the idea that itā€™s not forever?

(Mark Rhodes) #25

30 years ago it took 18 months to lose 156 pounds.

The divorce took that long.

#26

Its an interesting idea although I have a lot of events coming up over the summer so any experiment would probably have to wait until fall.

Stairstep is exactly what I did in 2017. When I was new to this, I actually started reading Jason Fung before I went Keto and was fasting for several days at a time really easily. I found it very appealing then and even though I had already lost about 12 lbs on a Mediterranean diet, I immediately would lose about 5 lbs per fast and keep 3. Then added keto to it a few weeks later.

At some point I found IF less appealing and do not do it anymore unless accidentally (if I forget to eat before 5PM when my eating window ends and I am just not hungry I will skip eating that day). I also would like to do it a little when I get closer to goal to get rid of the skin although I really do not have any more now than I did when I was heavier but had some then

@marklifestyle I wish there was a laughing reaction