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

All I can say is I eat. Lean meat or fish. Low carb frozen vegetables (green beans,cauliflower,brockerly,zokenny,etc...), mushrooms and lean meat balls (meat and egg) topped with a small amount of marinara sauce. Cooked for 4 minutes in a microwave. Small carrots,nuts and backing chocolate (pure coco). On such a diet you would lose weight very rapidly. I have eaten that diet for about 17 years. I have genetics which mean I am insulin resistant most of the time and therefore tend to be fat (see thriftygene.net (no ads, no promotion). With my diet I am insulin resistant all the time. That turns out to be very healthy. My High Density Lipods are 66. I am 40+ lbs overweight and take pills to control high blood pressure. My shit has become very soft (think cows).

I think the most important things you can do are to limit carbs and especially sugar and instead get satisfied with more fat and protein. A lower-carb diet helps keep insulin levels lower, which also reduces cravings and leads to less binge eating. If you are fighting hunger all the time that's a losing battle. It depends too much on will-power, which just can't be sustained.

I lost 60 lbs. with lower-carb eating and I like it because it doesn't require calorie counting and I eat until I'm satisfied. I've written a bunch of blog posts about it, and they're linked from this page where I suggest how I would do it if I were starting over again. Maybe you'll find it helpful as several of my friends have http://social-media-university-global.org/bodybabysteps-2/

If you eat a low enough amount of carbs here is what happens with most people (my genetics mean not me). You get an insulin release to change ammonia to urea (eat protein). When the insulin is in the blood it does not know that it is only supposed to change ammonia into urea. You start to change sugar into fat. You will produce the hormones that make fetuses insulin resistant to make yourself temporarily insulin resistant to prevent too low blood sugar. If you have eaten a small enough amount of carbs you end up with a lower blood sugar than the body is comfortable with. The liver than will change fat into sugar. The reaction sugar into fat and later fat into sugar uses up a lot of energy. Up to 1/3 the energy is lost in the translation. You raise your metabolism and you lose weight.

I'd like to welcome new members @ngoailin @karibacon and @kimberlynorton to the LCHF Living & Intermittent Fasting group. Pull up a chair and introduce yourselves. Where are you in the LCHF living journey - curious, beginners, veterans? Look forward to learning more about you.

Hi I am 66 years old and am 30 pounds lighter than a year ago (thanks to LCHF). I seem to be stuck right now and I still have a long way to go. If I try intermittent fasting, I think it may help - looking for inspiration and how-to here.

Hello @ketokathy, Welcome to Connect. Congratulations on losing 30 pounds this past year! I've lost about 40 pounds since the last year just by using intermittent fasting but I've have been stuck for the past month or so. What I've found with intermittent fasting is once I reached my first goal of 220 I thought it was easy and then I started using my 4 or 6 hours of an eating window to eat what ever I wanted to eat instead of making healthy decisions (my bad). I set a new goal of 200 and am currently at 213 but have been down to 208 and going back and forth which I'm trying to be smarter. It beats the old me at a high of 330 pounds 15 or so years ago but I'm still a work in progress which brought me to this discussion to learn more about LCHF and how that can help.

The intermittent fasting was a blessing for me. @LeeAase mentioned using the Zero app and other tips in his health blog ( https://social-media-university-global.org/my-health-journey/). The Zero app made using intermittent fasting extremely easy to keep track of fasting and eating times (https://www.zerofasting.com/). I found my best results using the 20/4 fasting (20 hours between eating and 4 hour window to eat 1 or 2 meals). I am hoping once I reach my goal of 200 to switch to using a more normal 16/8 fast or 18/6 to maintain my weight at 200 pounds.

It sounds like you are using a keto diet now? I tried it about 3 years ago but it was difficult for me to stay on the diet plan. Have you tried intermittent fasting?

John, kudos for making the changes toward a healthier you! I hope I’ll have a similar story.
I’ve downloaded the zero app and am checking it out now. What were your secrets to ignoring the hungry times?
I use my fitness pal to record my nutrition

Hi Kathy, I was surprised because after a few days doing the 20/4 fasting and eating 2 good meals during the 4 hours, I wasn't really hungry like I normally got at night. I did focus on drinking a lot more water and coffee. I've always had problems with not drinking enough water so I think focusing on that helped keep the hunger pangs at bay. My daughter bought me a 32 Oz water bottle with an infuser and I drink 2 a day. What's nice is that I can chop up pieces of lemon, lime, cucumbers which gives it a flavor and helps. I've also found that during my eating window I can take frozen berries and fill the infuser to make the water colder and then when the waters gone I can eat the berries. Here's the bottle she bought me but there are a lot of different ones - https://www.amazon.com/AquaFrut-Fruit-Infuser-Water-Bottle/dp/B018364XA0/.

I think that making sure I was satiated after my last meal for the day took my mind off of snacking until I went to bed. After a few days, I wasn't hungry in the evening anymore.

@ketokathy I am totally sold on intermittent fasting as a tool for better health and weight loss. I assume from your name you are doing Keto. There are a lot of experts promoting Keto, most of whom you probably already know. Dr. Jason Fung seems to be the go-to authority to learn about fasting, and I have his book which reassures me it isn't dangerous to fast. To merge keto and intermittent fasting, I've learned the most from Dr. Berg. He has thousands of videos on YouTube and an amazing web site that describe different ways to do IF and IF with keto. I started IF with a 16/8 plan, moved to a 20/4 plan and am now doing keto OMAD (one meal a day). I was really struggling with how to put a meal plan together. Dr. Berg made it very simple -- I need 7-9 oz of protein, 7-10 cups of salad and vegetables, and 20 grams of fat. For two meal a day he recommends 7-8 oz of protein per meal, 8 cups of salad/vegetables a day, and 20-40 grams of fat per meal (please double and triple check this info before using it -- I get numbers wrong sometimes). He says not to count the carbs in the salad greens -- they are unlimited. That was an AHA moment for me, because I knew I wasn't getting enough nutrients from the limited amount of vegetables in 20 carbs. Drinking tea and specialized fasting tea from Pique Tea have made all the difference in the world to me, as has starting my day with a tbs of coconut oil in my coffee and sipping bone broth. They really suppress my appetite and give me energy. Because of a health issue, I can't exercise much but have slowly been building up my strength and stamina and am really enjoying walking outside a little more every day....but I've lost weight anyway. I'm a big believer in IF. I tried using various fasting apps but haven't gotten into using them. I do track nutrients on Cronometer? You are well on your way -- losing 30 pounds is a wonderful achievement! I just got some electrolytes which I think are going to make a big difference in all this too. Good luck! Nancy

@ketokathy Correction to my previous post re OMAD. These macro numbers didn't look right when I was doing my meal plans for the week, so I went back and checked them. The revised numbers are calories 1200, Protein: 6-8 oz/@ 60 grams, Fat: 86 grams, Carbs: 7 cups veg/ leafy greens and under 10 grams other carbs. Math was never my strong suit, and dealing with percent of calories, grams, ounces, tsp, etc is trying. I really regret posting something that isn't right.