Class Of 2016
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WOW, class of 2016 is amazing!
WTG everyone! And thank you for the reminder of all the reasons we start this woe and the incredible changes we get from it. I'm from an earlier class (late 2014) and I really needed it.
Keep strong, there are many more victories in your future!
::flowerforyou::4 -
I forgot a couple 2017 goals:
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* Make some palatable fermented foods
* Not get sick from eating them
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Barely made the class of 2016 myself. Started keto December 11th, but have already lost 10 lbs and I am already experiencing the freedom from food that Sunny Bunny mentioned. This was something I had always wished for. So tired of food and my weight being the main focus in my life. Now I think about food for only the amount of time it takes me to prepare a meal and then I'm on to other things. Started last week feeling the excess energy where I felt like I just had to get out of my office and away from my desk at lunchtime or I would explode.....Plan to keep in the groove and see what happens in 2017.6
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I started lowish carb in June 2016. I was aiming for 150 a day. I lost 30 pounds in 2016 and my last two A1C tests (Last one in December) were 6.1 and 6.7. I was on three diabetes medicines and now I'm down to 2. Also - * Ended the reign of terror from my GI system. I liked the way you said that! I could not believe the difference in how my stomach felt reducing the carbs. A total miracle in my opinion!
Goal for 2017 is to eat closer to 75 carbs a day and get off the 2nd diabetes medicine. Need to lose 70 pounds in 2017.
Goal for 2018 is NO diabetes medicine - but one step at a time.9 -
I started lowish carb in June 2016. I was aiming for 150 a day. I lost 30 pounds in 2016 and my last two A1C tests (Last one in December) were 6.1 and 6.7. I was on three diabetes medicines and now I'm down to 2. Also - * Ended the reign of terror from my GI system. I liked the way you said that! I could not believe the difference in how my stomach felt reducing the carbs. A total miracle in my opinion!
Goal for 2017 is to eat closer to 75 carbs a day and get off the 2nd diabetes medicine. Need to lose 70 pounds in 2017.
Goal for 2018 is NO diabetes medicine - but one step at a time.
@Dragonwolf reported a reawakening of the various dragons simply by adding some wheat back to her diet for testing purposes. Her particular GI dragon was heartburn, but there are subspecies thst play rugby in your intestines.....
Glad them days are, er, behind me.
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Congratulations to the 2016 class! You all will inspire more people than you will ever know!! You all rock!
Great thread @Sunny_Bunny_ !5 -
Great post! Thk u all for the inspiration! U guys rock!!4
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I started November 15. So far:
--I've lost about 15 pounds.
--I've gone down a pants size.
--I feel less anxious and have way more energy.
--I'm rarely hungry and sometimes have trouble eating to my calorie goal, which is a miracle to me. On CICO, I'd white-knuckle it to the end of every day, falling asleep thinking about what I could have for breakfast!
--I finally feel like I "get" it. I'm never going back to my old WOE.5 -
I joined this forum in March or April of 2016 with the purpose of viewing other's experience with low carb and their cholesterol. I was quickly side tracked from cholesterol, when in the second thread I chose to read, I saw the words "my Dystonia" by 2 different individuals. I too, have their same focal dystonia of Spasmodic Torticollis aka Cervical Dystonia. One also had Epilepsy.
I began surfing the net. I found nothing specific to ketogenic and dystonia. Epilepsy and ketogenic? Days and days of reading and research. A ketogenic diet has been used since the 1920s for people with epilepsy, mostly non-responders to anti seizure meds. Most of what I have read indicates that it is really unknown as to why the diet works for epilepsy, but it works. Interesting, the med I was always prescribed by my neurologist/s for my ST/CD is an old time anti-seizure med. Though I have asked my neuros "why does this med work", they don't know why. They just know it does. I decided I would be foolish not to try a ketogenic diet. I started 4/3/16. I will add that the med was prescribed "as needed" so I stopped the med.
My outward symptoms of ST/CD were very obvious. My head was severely turned (~75 degrees) to the right 100% of the time during awake hours. Trying to turn it forward, resulted it swinging back to the right. I was a bobble-head if I tried to keep it facing forward. I walked sideways (like a crab) because my head turned over my right shoulder and I needed to see what was ahead o me! I bumped into things in front of me if I didn't walk "crab like". I reached for things to my right but groped for things to my left. Enough of that. I could go on for days about inconvenience, frustration and embarrassment.
Just a few weeks into eating a ketogenic (very LC/HF) diet, the rotation of my head began to lessen. The muscle (neck/shoulder) contractions causing the turn minimized. The "more normal" posture change has been obvious to my husband and all who have known me since the onset of my dystonia 16 years ago.
I'm not cured. I still have some rotation and I can rarely turn my head left. But sometimes I can.
I've inadvertently "tested" the diet on 3 occasions by having an unplanned super carb binge (late night). The 3 muscles involved in "my turn", once again became super charged and I was again "locked right" by the next afternoon or earlier. At that time, it took a few days to get back into ketosis and then the rotation lessened. I've pretty much quit that type of "testing" 
There is weight loss to this story. Prior to keto, I lost 60 pounds using MFP and have maintained that loss for over 2 years. 9 months of the maintenance has been via keto. I have found adherence to calorie limits EASIER with keto than with my previous higher carb/p/f macro split. I "white knuckled" maintenace for two years. Keto changed that too.13 -
Rainqueen77 wrote: »
I started keto on May 12th, 2016 and I lost 100lbs.
You look amazing. Fantastic job, @Rainqueen77 !2 -
I started May 2016, but since it was Memorial weekend here in U.S., I prefer to just say June 1, and also, I was not doing it correctly for a start. I did lose quite a bit of water weight, but after a few weeks when I realized I was tracking things incorrectly, I worked hard to fix my errors (thanks to a lot of support/advice from people here on MFP and the forums), and think I got on the right track, because...
- I've since lost 40 lbs (give or take a few ounces thanks to the holidays and just being silly)
- I am down to a size 18 from 26/28.
- I've had to buy some new clothes recently because all of mine have been hanging off of me and even falling to the floor.
- I've quit my diabetes meds (Metformin 1000mg/day, Lantus 116 units/day, Victoza 1.2 units/day), Losartan, and Atorvastatin, and I'm 110-150 blood glucose readings without drugs (higher end is post-meal spikes--I was in the mid-to-upper 200s even when on drugs, before keto)
- My knees no longer creak when I walk down stairs
- I don't snore at night (and often wake in the same position as when I lied down)
- This past summer, the heat didn't bother me half as much as it usually does
My family is calling me "skinny" and even my mom wants to probably start this, which is good, because she suffers from several inflammatory issues.
I DO NOT MISS bread, pasta, beans, rice, or grains, and if I don't, anyone won't. I don't need sugar. I enjoy eating mostly fat, very little carbs from vegetables/cheese, and minimal to adequate protein. I'm not deprived. I'm eating quite luscious food and still losing weight. Bottom line, I feel amazingly in control of my own health for once, in over a decade.
My main reason for doing keto was to reduce and hopefully reverse my illnesses, so I honestly feel like that's the most important thing. The weight loss has always been a sheer bonus, although in the case of diabetes and hypertension, the weight coming off is very likely what helped those things to be reduced.12 -
Wow. Nice going!1
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Thank ye!0
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I started in August of this year. I am close to my goal weight, so I haven't dropped a lot of weight yet. I am focusing on adaptation and health and hopefully weight will follow.
My benefits I have found:
1. My food is delicious. Oh how I have missed regular mayo, cheese, bacon and all the other higher fat yumminess that I missed when I did CICO.
2. It is a lot easier to prepare food for my family and eat with them. I have 3 teenage boys with screaming metabolisms that have to be fed, and fed a LOT. Making low fat, "diet" meals meant I had to make 2 different meals for them and for me. Now, I can just skip the carby sides, pasta and rolls.
3. I don't have the shaky, low blood sugar episodes that I used to get when hungry. Now, I just get hungry. I don't feel like "I HAVE TO EAT RIGHT NOW OR I WILL DIE".
4. I just plain feel better. I have a strange condition in my feet that I hope LC (no grain) will help. I do see fewer and less severe flare ups. My mom is a celiac, so it seem natural to try to eliminate grains. LCHF was my choice to help me do that, and I love it!
5. I haven't lost a ton of pounds, but I haven't continued to gain either. The condition in my feet has changed my exercise habits in the past few years, and I have gained 8-10 pounds. My gaining has stopped, and I eat YUMMY food and don't starve. WIN-WIN. This year I hope to lose those 8-10 now that I am more comfortable with this woe.
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I had no idea. Thank youSunny_Bunny_ wrote: »KetoLady86 wrote: »I just typed my long story and it disappeared.
Oh no!
Using emojis is what causes that. Sometimes they eat everything you write other times they don't.
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missippibelle wrote: »I started in August of this year. I am close to my goal weight, so I haven't dropped a lot of weight yet. I am focusing on adaptation and health and hopefully weight will follow.
My benefits I have found:
1. My food is delicious. Oh how I have missed regular mayo, cheese, bacon and all the other higher fat yumminess that I missed when I did CICO.
2. It is a lot easier to prepare food for my family and eat with them. I have 3 teenage boys with screaming metabolisms that have to be fed, and fed a LOT. Making low fat, "diet" meals meant I had to make 2 different meals for them and for me. Now, I can just skip the carby sides, pasta and rolls.
3. I don't have the shaky, low blood sugar episodes that I used to get when hungry. Now, I just get hungry. I don't feel like "I HAVE TO EAT RIGHT NOW OR I WILL DIE".
4. I just plain feel better. I have a strange condition in my feet that I hope LC (no grain) will help. I do see fewer and less severe flare ups. My mom is a celiac, so it seem natural to try to eliminate grains. LCHF was my choice to help me do that, and I love it!
5. I haven't lost a ton of pounds, but I haven't continued to gain either. The condition in my feet has changed my exercise habits in the past few years, and I have gained 8-10 pounds. My gaining has stopped, and I eat YUMMY food and don't starve. WIN-WIN. This year I hope to lose those 8-10 now that I am more comfortable with this woe.
Awesome.0 -
I started in June 2016 after I was told my surgery was a no go due to my A1C being 9.2. In September after 3 months of LCHF it went down to a 7!! I got off of my meds. Weight loss was minimal, about 10 pounds, but that was not my priority.
I got really sick and started slacking on tracking, so now I'm back, and working hard.5 -
I started November 15. So far:
--I've lost about 15 pounds.
--I've gone down a pants size.
--I feel less anxious and have way more energy.
--I'm rarely hungry and sometimes have trouble eating to my calorie goal, which is a miracle to me. On CICO, I'd white-knuckle it to the end of every day, falling asleep thinking about what I could have for breakfast!
--I finally feel like I "get" it. I'm never going back to my old WOE.
This^
Not just breakfast either.... how many hours until I can have a snack? I should go to bed early otherwise I might binge right before bed..... It's painful how focused I was on food and how guilty I felt because of it.
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Started keto end of Sept 2016 on a lark. Nothing else I'd been trying had been "sticking," and I was sick of feeling awful all the time. After a friend had amazing (100 pounds +) results on keto, I thought, "what the hey, no harm no foul." The goal of getting less than 20 g of carbs helped to tweak my mindset, and then the benefits just started rolling in: hair loss stopped, acne stopped, gut aches stopped, and the best part- 7 pounds disappeared within a week. Since then, I've had only small flare ups of my chronic tennis/nursing elbow, something which had gotten bad enough to start causing tingling in my fingers. My moods have evened out (though my energy levels are still fairly low, so I'm still doing detective work on that- started exercising again in the hopes that weakening muscles from not being able to regularly work out in a while are the reason behind that). I allowed myself some "diet free time" over the holidays and the acne and hair loss started right back up, it was crazy. I'm now down 25 pounds (close enough, 180 down to 156). I still crave French fries like the dickens but most of my other cravings have disappeared, and I was very very hooked on several sugary items! Feels good to be back on track and in control again.6
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25 pounds already! That's fabulous.2
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CarrieMoritz wrote: »Started keto end of Sept 2016 on a lark. Nothing else I'd been trying had been "sticking," and I was sick of feeling awful all the time. After a friend had amazing (100 pounds +) results on keto, I thought, "what the hey, no harm no foul." The goal of getting less than 20 g of carbs helped to tweak my mindset, and then the benefits just started rolling in: hair loss stopped, acne stopped, gut aches stopped, and the best part- 7 pounds disappeared within a week. Since then, I've had only small flare ups of my chronic tennis/nursing elbow, something which had gotten bad enough to start causing tingling in my fingers. My moods have evened out (though my energy levels are still fairly low, so I'm still doing detective work on that- started exercising again in the hopes that weakening muscles from not being able to regularly work out in a while are the reason behind that). I allowed myself some "diet free time" over the holidays and the acne and hair loss started right back up, it was crazy. I'm now down 25 pounds (close enough, 180 down to 156). I still crave French fries like the dickens but most of my other cravings have disappeared, and I was very very hooked on several sugary items! Feels good to be back on track and in control again.
Low energy could be due to low sodium. You really do need a lot more with this WOE.
Congrats on all the improvements, BTW!1 -
A few years ago, a gluten-free experiment for my daughter's benefit results in some unexpected improvements for me. You know those "skinny days" ?? That is just lack of bloat (that you didn't even know you were experiencing)... My search for non-frankenfood gluten-free stuff introduced me to paleo which was not a good fit but reinforced my desire and preference for real food. Discovered keto/LCHF sometime last year and it really feels like the right fit, physically and mentally. I have not stuck with it consistently enough to notice documented improvements. Actually my weight is up because you CANNOT burn the LCHF - HCLF candle at both ends.
Lessons learned in my world though, food prep is instrumental to my personal success. As is improving sleep patterns and helping to reduce stress. When I focus on those 3 things... everything else starts to fall in place.
I'm a slow starter, but at least I keep starting.3 -
After having my fbs and HA1c right at diabetes limits and getting a 6 month chance to get them down before being dxd with diabetes by my NP, I started first with WW (hated it and only lost a few pounds), then checked out Atkins and began losing some weight. Someone posted about LCHF on the Atkins website, and I looked up what that meant. Hmmm, sounds interesting. Began reading some on that. Came across the name of a book "The Obesity Code" by Dr. Jason Fung. Read that, got indignant and then furious. Started doing lower carb thing but then came across "keto". Now what was that??? Started reading about that. Picture lightbulbs flashing in my brain as all sorts of things began falling into place. So I lowered my carb intake to 5% and more weight came off. My repeat labs showed a 1.0 (6.5 to 5.5) drop in HA1c, though my fbs was still in the prediabetic range. Last Tuesday's, labs from my yearly physical showed a further drop to 5.3 for my HA1c, my fbs was in the 90s, HDL went from 39 up to 59, triglycerides dropped from 108 to 68. Overall, pretty darn good. My cardiologist said "Keep doing what your doing". My internist told me to lower my fat intake (no thanks!).
This was a journey that really started Dec. 2015 when I had my brush with full blown diabetes and has continued through the year. I've lost over 40 pounds and actually joined the YMCA where yesterday I put on a swimsuit and entered the pool...this after 20 minutes on a recumbent bike and then walking 1 mile on the inside track. The water felt wonderful and I felt damned good about myself! Today I had a session with a trainer on how to use the circuit training machines meant for disabled and senior persons!
Oh, and I have MS, hypothyroid (which was normal on my tests after having stopped using my thyroid med two months ago), lichen planus (another lovely autoimmune thing) which has calmed considerably. Generally, I just feel better, have more energy, rare cravings and am more positive.
As an aside, my DH went keto when I did after I told him I was only cooking one kind of meal. He read Dr. Fung and then a book specifically on keto. He has lost 65 pounds with only 20 pounds left to goal. He's looking GOOD!
Love this thread!8 -
. So I lowered my carb intake to 5% and more weight came off. My repeat labs showed a 1.0 (6.5 to 5.5) drop in HA1c, though my fbs was still in the prediabetic range. Last Tuesday's, labs from my yearly physical showed a further drop to 5.3 for my HA1c, my fbs was in the 90s, HDL went from 39 up to 59, triglycerides dropped from 108 to 68. Overall, pretty darn good. My cardiologist said "Keep doing what your doing". My internist told me to lower my fat intake (no thanks!).
This was a journey that really started Dec. 2015 when I had my brush with full blown diabetes and has continued through the year. I've lost over 40 pounds and actually joined the YMCA where yesterday I put on a swimsuit and entered the pool...this after 20 minutes on a recumbent bike and then walking 1 mile on the inside track. The water felt wonderful and I felt damned good about myself! Today I had a session with a trainer on how to use the circuit training machines meant for disabled and senior persons!
Oh, and I have MS, hypothyroid (which was normal on my tests after having stopped using my thyroid med two months ago), lichen planus (another lovely autoimmune thing) which has calmed considerably. Generally, I just feel better, have more energy, rare cravings and am more positive.
As an aside, my DH went keto when I did after I told him I was only cooking one kind of meal. He read Dr. Fung and then a book specifically on keto. He has lost 65 pounds with only 20 pounds left to goal. He's looking GOOD!
Love this thread!
@suzqtme, you are a Keto Diva!0 -
cstehansen wrote: »CarrieMoritz wrote: »Started keto end of Sept 2016 on a lark. Nothing else I'd been trying had been "sticking," and I was sick of feeling awful all the time. After a friend had amazing (100 pounds +) results on keto, I thought, "what the hey, no harm no foul." The goal of getting less than 20 g of carbs helped to tweak my mindset, and then the benefits just started rolling in: hair loss stopped, acne stopped, gut aches stopped, and the best part- 7 pounds disappeared within a week. Since then, I've had only small flare ups of my chronic tennis/nursing elbow, something which had gotten bad enough to start causing tingling in my fingers. My moods have evened out (though my energy levels are still fairly low, so I'm still doing detective work on that- started exercising again in the hopes that weakening muscles from not being able to regularly work out in a while are the reason behind that). I allowed myself some "diet free time" over the holidays and the acne and hair loss started right back up, it was crazy. I'm now down 25 pounds (close enough, 180 down to 156). I still crave French fries like the dickens but most of my other cravings have disappeared, and I was very very hooked on several sugary items! Feels good to be back on track and in control again.
Low energy could be due to low sodium. You really do need a lot more with this WOE.
Congrats on all the improvements, BTW!
@CarrieMoritz I was going to say this too. Also the French fry craving could be salt related.1 -
*Just* found the notifications button...and discovered I had some! Thanks for the support! I'm glad to be down, still working on the next 20. Have been stuck at the 156 for almost four weeks now, so starting to feel a bit frustrated. I get approximately 5,000 mg sodium per day (food and approx. 2 tbsp. of sole water that I always forget to log), but it's possible I'm still low. I just don't know how I could get more in!0
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I started in April...we went to Disney for spring break, and when I saw the vacation pictures I was not happy...at all...mind you, I'm active and a healthy weight per the BMI chart, I've always been a healthy weight, however, I was not happy with the way I was muffin topping out of my size 7 jean shorts...my choice was lose weight or buy bigger clothes...my family encouraged me to go shopping...I opted for LCHF and and increased workout schedule and decided to be Harley Quinn for Halloween as motivation to lose 15 lbs...I made goal, and totally rocked my costume and now I need a belt for some of my size 3 jeans...
goal for 2017, lose 6 net lbs...8lbs of fat and gain 2 lbs of muscle - more muscle is totally acceptable, more fat is not...this should take my body fat from 25% down to 20%
I like being able to eat plenty of yummy rich foods, and not being hungry...I don't eat breakfast, just plain coffee, then lunch, and dinner, rarely snacks, sometimes dessert...I don't eat meat but I'm totally addicted to eggs and avocados and salads...I like the occasional glass of wine and so far that hasn't caused any issues...I totally love that it fits my life and isn't hard!!!1 -
@tcunbeliever One of my dreams is 20% bf...I've gotten to 23% via dexa before and still felt so "jiggly." I'd love to see what I've got at 20%!1
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Guess I should throw my hat into the ring as well...
I lost 52 lbs doing straight CICO before going to LCHF. I then plateaued and couldn't move the scale for anything. I started LCHF/KETO in April at a weight of 238 lbs (which included the 10 lbs I had put back on before starting). Since April, I am 16 lbs down! I love this WOE - the foods have more flavor (fat tastes GOOD!), I do not have urges to snack constantly, I am never hungry and frequently skip meals that I would have never skipped eating any other way. My sleep patterns are much more regular and much more restful than they were before (even tho I am sleeping for the same number of hours each night). I also had a 6 month follow-up with the Dr for blood-work in July (just over 3 months into the LCHF lifestyle) and had the best results that I have had in my adult life - total cholesterol was below 200, trigs were way down, fasting BG was 81, all around good results (my cholesterol numbers were never below 230 before going LCHF).
Goals for this year - lose another 20-25 lbs (reaching onederland!), continue working out 5 days a week and increase my 1RM values in the major lifts.3 -
CarrieMoritz wrote: »* Have been stuck at the 156 for almost four weeks now!
Me too! Not four weeks but probably close to two.....1560
This discussion has been closed.