Low-carb healthy fat living. Intermittent fasting. What’s your why?

Hi @neilgrossbard, I see that you joined Connect a few months ago and this is your first post so I would like to welcome you to Connect. Thank you for sharing your experience in this discussion. I've always been classified as prediabetic by my care team. My mother who is deceased had diabetes and both of my sisters, one who has passed away also have diabetes. I've always struggled with my weight until I found intermittent fasting. It has allowed me to get close to my goal of 200 since I started it the beginning of last year but I've reached a plateau and am hoping the low carb high fat is the second piece of the puzzle for me. Thank you for sharing your website https://www.thriftygene.net/. I'm hoping to spend some time learning more about the hunter gather hypothesis. I think this is how the intermittent fasting fits in for me.

Another resource I found that you have probably already seen:
Impact of Early Life or Intrauterine Factors and Socio-Economic Interaction on Diabetes - An Evidence on Thrifty Hypothesis:
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6894446/

People with my genetics have been mistaken for prediabetics. Since you are able to lose weight you don't apply. I have written that since our A1c is highly correlated to diet that unless it is very high it is full of sound and fury but signifies nothing. Since our fasting blood sugar is still rising but reaching a plateau after 2 hours checking our fasting blood sugar should be taken with a grain of salt.

I have reversed my type 2 diabetes. No longer on meds and no complications. My bloodwork is all in the normal range. I would like ideas on prepared foods. If I want to eat, I have to cook.

@kbart, Reversing your type 2 diabetes is no small feat, congratulations! I'm just starting out on the low carb high fat lifestyle so I'm looking for ideas also. I am able to stay away from fast food but do end up looking for healthy versions of prepared foods frozen or fresh that I can just reheat. I never really worried about the carbs so now I have to take my readers with me shopping so I can look at the ingredient list and yea or nay my choice if the carbs are too high. My favorite breakfast so far is a refrigerator oatmeal recipe I found on Mayo Clinic's website and modified it for my preference. Unfortunately for me, the total carbs are around 48 g and I'm trying to limit my daily intake of carbs to less than 50 g. So my second meal for my 2 meal fasting day is pretty limited for carbs.

Making Mayo’s Recipes: Overnight refrigerator oatmeal: https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/making-mayos-recipes-overnight-refrigerator-oatmeal-2/

I may try to make some of these meals or convince my wife to make them for us 🙂
- 30 Low-Carb Dinner Recipes You Can Make in an Hour (or Less!): https://www.brit.co/quick-low-carb-dinners/

I don't think you will use this but. My diet. Mostly prepared chicken, thick slices of meat (no bread) and peaces or fish then a dish of,frozen vegetables (asparagus,okra,green beans,cauliflower,brocerly.) with fresh mushrooms, and small cooked meat balls with limited marinara sauce (some sugar in sauce) on top. Cooked in a microwave for 3-4 minutes. Nuts, and backing chocolate for snacks.

One of the greatest things about LCHF is that you are allowed to eat to satiety. For those just getting started on LCHF, here are some easy meal ideas:
- Bacon and eggs
- Ribeye steak--broil it and top it with melted butter
- Salami and Babybel cheese
- Bulletproof coffee--two tablespoons of fat (ghee, coconut oil, MCT oil, butter, etc.)

If you do go out:
- fast food: order a double patty burger of choice with no bun (they won't think you're weird)
- restaurant: the fattiest meat on the menu with low carb veggies (asparagus, broccoli, spinach, etc.)
- Chicken wings--eat as many as you want (stay away from the sweet/honey sauces, but the others are fine) with celery with full-fat ranch or bleu cheese

That's a great accomplishment, @kbart, and we hope to see a lot more of it in our group. The highly processed food (anything in a box with a barcode) is generally going to be a bit too high in carbs and often will have fiber removed. When you prepare it yourself from real foods you know what the ingredients are. I like scrambled eggs with some kind of meat (bacon, ham, sausage) and add some guacamole (i get single-serving cups to keep it from oxidizing) and then sometimes add cream cheese to the concoction as well.

The good part about eating like this is I eat until I'm full, and then typically only have two meals a day, sometimes one, and I'm not hungry. So it's a little more work, but I don't have to do it as often.

Whatever you buy in prepared foods, just check the grams of carbs, and keep below the level that has enabled you to reverse your type 2 diabetes.

I have considered LCHF to get rid of stubborn belly/ back/ and upper arm fat and a few extra pounds. My body mass index is at the high end of normal and sometime a little over. How do you make sure you get enough fiber in your diet, so you don't have GI issues?

Sorry for the ramble. It's what I do.

I've been overweight all my life. I am 58 years old. I have tried diets before, many successful in the short term. Most of the time they were basically calorie-limiting diets. About 12 years ago, I had topped 290lbs, and began taking one of the "fen" drugs for a while. That and a 1500 calorie per day diet triggered a 6 month loss of 70 lbs. I stopped taking the drug midway, and began walking a mile or two most days. Towards the end, I was using a treadmill while playing video games (guitar hero) to pass the time. It was very easy to walk several hours at a time as the time just flew. One day I went to work, and the receptionist told me "you can stop now" referring to my insane weight loss. About the same time, we had a foreign exchange student move in, and I was uncomfortable exercising around her. All of which, were just excuses. But I began, slowly at first, then ultimately worked my way back up to 275 within a year or two.

Then in late 2018 I talked to an old friend, who also battles weight, and we sort of talked about "competing" to lose weight. Well three months later, I was up to 285. Apparently just weighing yourself each day isn't enough.

In early 2019, I started 16/8 fasting. Initially that was the only change I made. I had a physical about a week after I started, and told my doctor I was doing that. She expressed concern that I might be starving myself of nutrients in the morning. But I persisted.

I quickly began shedding weight, and within about 6 months was at 245, 30 lbs dropped. At that time, my progress slowed, and between 8/19 and 8/20 I only dropped 10 more pounds. At that time, my wife learned of a heart condition, and committed to a healthier diet. We started by removing much of the Beef from our diet, and added more poultry, plant-based protein, and fish. Also started cooking more of it at home rather than ordering delivery. Because of this, my weight started to drop again, and between 9/20 and 3/21, I have shed another 25 lbs.

The reasons I went with intermittent fasting.
1. I have always had this habit of eating something every 4-5 hours while awake, and I would stay awake very late at night, so 4 or more meals per day.
2. I wanted to be able to eat "practically anything" without breaking a diet rule. Having been in weight watchers it makes it tough to eat with family and others.
3. I suspected that I didn't feel full until I ate a large amount because my stomach was overstreched.
4. I felt I was being controlled by a body clock and not a true hunger trigger.

Rules I follow and how I deal with diet conflicts
1. If I'm out with friends, and I drink beer past 10pm, I make sure to eat as well, and then I don't have my next meal for 16 hours after that. That way, I'm not starving by the time I do eat.
2. Naturally, I skip breakfast nearly every day, and only have water or a cup or two of coffee until lunch. If I want to eat breakfast, as my wife and I do love traditional breakfast, the day before I'll have my last meal by 6pm so I can eat breakfast at 10am.

What I notice about myself now
1. I am satisfied after a plate of food.
2. If I order restaurant portions, I often have leftovers.
3. I don't wake up with abdominal pain anymore ostensibly from overnight gut activity.
4. My body clock is very used to the 16 hour gap, and I typically don't get any hunger sensations until about 15 hours have passed.
5. I no longer need to use a CPAP for sleep apnea.
6. My cholesteral counts are all in GREEN, and were all marginally in RED prior to starting.

Negatives
1. I have to tell people "go ahead and eat without me, I'm not hungry", but they don't always believe me. but I'm being honest when I say it.

Useful tools
1. Don't weigh every day. Use an app such as Happy Scale to track moving average and set short achievable goals. Frankly, I also skip posting weights that are higher than a previous weight. I wait till I feel I've dropped a pound, then post.
2. I weigh myself between my morning constitution and my first meal, but not if I'm feeling "fat". 🙂
3. I walk several times per week, and it keeps getting easier.
4. I use Virtual Reality a lot, and play Beat Saber for fun and exercise. I can burn several hundred calories per day, and my upper body is pretty strong now. Never had an issue with lower body as it has to haul me around. But I play heavily for a few days, and take a few days off to avoid fatigue.

Looking ahead
1. I would like to add in some VR biking/rowing etc. Just waiting for my next plateau, and I'll add that in. Maybe at 200 lbs (only 17 to go).
2. Now I feel in control of my body, it is doing what I tell it to do, and it likes that, and it is cooperating. I can keep doing this forever.

Good morning @johnbishop, I am impressed with your efforts and the results, John. As we get older those mid night snacks and the “just one more” monkey chatter we give ourselves, makes it quite difficult to commit to and stay on an embrasive program. At the same time, our body may no longer support 5 mile roller blade runs or a 9 mile walk in sand at the beach.

Here is the question.....how do we control the necessary medications/supplements/additives, etc. during the fasting periods..e.g. high calcium foods 3 times a day for those of us who cannot handle the supplements? Don’t do this or that on an empty tummy? Make sure you take this with that....etc.etc.

Thanks for helping us explore this option.
May you be healthy and whole.
Chris