How can I lose 30 pounds? Want to start a low carb diet

Low carb diets are good but not for everyone.

Before going on a low carb diet sit down and:

(1). List your current health goals. Ask yourself can this diet meet your short and long term nutritional goals.

(2). List all illnesses you have been diagnosed with (ex:high blood pressure, diabetes, depression). Any diet can impact your health. Low carb diets do have side effects (cramps, fatigue, headaches, low energy).

(3). Reflect on all diet attempts failures and successes. Then consider reasons for those failures and successes to help you create a long term sustainable plan after weight loss

(4). Ask your physician to refer you to a dietician who understand low carb diets to learn the pros, cons, and help you build a plan around your medication.

Finally, an important thing to remember is that “No” matter what diet regiment you decide to try, calories count. You may lose weight but keeping it off is the problem. So, formulate a plan for maintaining weight loss that incorporates good nutrition and exercise to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Hi @jerry7321, welcome. I have added your question to the low carb, healthy fat group here:
- LCHF Living & Intermittent Fasting https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/lchf-living-intermittent-fasting/

Fellow members like @johnbishop @neilgrossbard @suewright @kbart @rjwilliams @elizabethbartholomew @spark11 can share their experiences about adopting a low carb approach to eating.

I agree with the helpful tips that @riana1 offered. It's important to consider your goals and how to achieve them long term. For me, a low(er) carb diet was very helpful along with intermittent fasting to help maintain a healthy weight. My goal was not weight loss. I am not following a strict keto diet, but have found that reducing carbs was relatively easy, although there are still a few favorites I allow myself. I can maintain this long term and my weight remains stable. Others have followed new ways of eating (LCHF, FODMAP, Mediterrenean, etc.) to manage health conditions like diabetes, heart health, digestive issues, etc. It can become a lifestyle that works.

Have you tried diets in the past? What is your motivation for wishing to shed some weight?

Hi @jerry7321, The intermittent fasting along with lowering the amount of carbs I was taking in has helped me lose about 40 pounds and maintain it the past 2 years. I don't follow the strict low carb but do try to stay away from high carb foods which is really not too hard even if you are a bread lover like me 🙂 I've found some zero carb small tortillas that I use for sandwiches instead of bread but will occasionally have some bread. There's more information on intermittent fasting in the discussion that @colleenyoung mentioned in her post above.

tirzepatide

Can anyone provide a testimony regarding the pros and con about the new injection for weight loss called Tirzepatide

Welcome @tostado54, While we wait for members with experience using Tirzepatide for weight loss to respond to your question about the pros and cons of the drug, I thought you might find this reference helpful:

"To sum up, this meta-analysis indicated that tirzepatide could significantly decrease body weight in T2DM and obesity patients, and it is a potential therapeutic regimen for weight-loss, but we need to be vigilant about its gastrointestinal reaction."
--- Weight loss efficiency and safety of tirzepatide: A Systematic review: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10159347/.

Have you thought about or tried any other weight loss programs?

To go on the newest weight loss/diabetic drug you need to meet certain requirements so check those out first to determine if you’re a candidate. The one thing not yet mentioned is exercise along with your diet. When I retired from my job as a road warrior and healthcare consultant in 2016 I weighed 206# at 5’7”. I cut out all white bread products and starches and started walking 2 miles daily and going to the gym, which I still do. I’ve got severe OA of my spine, hips, one shoulder and chronic pain. I’m shrinking down to 5’5” and 158# now but in pretty good physical shape except for my constant chronic leg and low back pain. I do find that walking and exercising takes my pain away. Good luck on your weight loss.

I ended up in the Emergency Room 3x back in April, May & June for odd pain in my right side and by the 3rd ER visit I saw on my lab report that my Ketones were high. Well I didn’t feel like eating around all those times due to that pain in my right side and one week I actually wasn't eating hardly anything. I lost about 15 lbs without even trying. I read that a person can develop diabetic ketoAcidosis due to high ketones and that a person should go to the ER if they suspect their ketones are high, Well I was already there at the ER with unknowingly high ketones. I read when you aren’t a Diabetic (which I’m not a diabetic ) high ketones is caused by your liver breaking down fat for fuel for energy due to a person not eating enough carbs to sustain themselves. Symptoms of it (among other reasons) are stomach pain which I had while there in the ER as well. Everytime I ended up in the ER I was there for 6-8 hrs waiting for care and wasn’t eating. Granted I wasn’t hungry either because I was in pain although once the pain subsided I did try to eat. I have been wanting to lose weight but that is not a good way to do it and I didn't do it on purpose.

It took me 8 years to lose 80 pounds by doing a low carb diet; along with a diabetic one, approved by two Diabetes educators. Exercise! Exercise! Exercise! With walking, bicycling, swimming, and weightlifting, I both developed a much healthier body. I also completed 8 physicals. Much more work to be done, of course.

Awesome!! 👏👏👏👏👏

I gained weight back after being a caregiver for my mother n law and my mom who both passed away.

Back on the loose weight grind, lol. Doctor put me on Phentermine/Topiramate.
However, I just want to do a 30 day fast and get it over with but my husband doesn’t want me to do that again.

I will eventually though. So, glad you for your weight loss! I am so mad at grief but I gotta blame myself. 😂