I am science geek type. I worked with my GP and internist on a food strategy.

I was given guidelines and latitude. I came up with something like a moderate carb Paleo with less saturated fat.

I had high glucose, cholesterol, blood pressure and low outlook on life

We got to work ! Joined gym got trainer and heart rate monitor!

I landed on 1800 calories to average. 60 carbs worked.

18 months and 125 lbs later, I have an idea what works for me and why. My body is a chemistry set.

It has been a great adventure. MFP has only been a part of it for 4 month. The forums even less.

I have grown to enjoy our little group !

The App is awesome!

Hi everyone. 36, married with three kids, 5'5.5" (why can't I grow 0.5"??), 189.4lbs down from 220 last Oct. I'm finally finding what works for me. I lost weight as a teen on Atkins but I never understood why I was always starving. I started researching keto in April and I haven't looked back. 16.6 of my loss has been in the past 7 weeks. I love the way I feel, look, and I'm not hungry. That's my favorite part, I'm not a nice hangry person.

I have a few goals. <188lbs. That's always been the number I get down to by dieting and stall and quit. So I'm anxious to break that.
<175lbs will be my pre-pregnancy weight from my first child way back when I was 23.
<165lbs will be the weight I was when I got engaged at 22.
<155lbs will be my weight when I was 19 and felt absolutely fantastic.
<145lbs is my 18 year old weight.

I am personally shooting for 135 but not sure if that's possible at my age. I'm looking forward to trying!

I'm Kim. I joined Metabolic Research Center which follows a ketosis based diet. I joined this group to get ideas and support on cutting down on my carbs. I'm following the center's plan more than I am counting carbs but I'm logging on MFP and paying attention to what works.

I'm Dani. I did Atkins in my early 20's when I realized the majority of the foods I was eating were sugary. I had pretty good success, but of course, the sugar and carbs crept back in. I have always been a yoyo dieter.

I went vegan a few years ago because I had read it could help with migraines and I wasn't going to complain if I lost weight. I kept it up for a year and at the end of the year the migraines were worse than ever. So I tried an elimination diet, which added meat and a few veggies in to my diet. At that time my mom gave me a strong b vitamin supplement that I believe improved the migraines. But all of this lead to me researching different diets, which turned me on to paleo and the 'Wheat Belly' book. I gave up wheat for a while, but I could not shake my sugar cravings and had symptoms of hypoglycemia--turns out I was a point away from a hypoglycemia diagnosis. I thought, 'great, I don't have to worry about diabetes!' But then I started researching hypoglycemia and discovered I was more likely on the road to diabetes. So, long story short, I went back to Atkins, which has led me to lchf/keto--I keep to under 30 grams of carbs a day, most days under 20.

I've hoping this woe will help with the remaining migraines I get about once a month and will free me from the endless tracking of calories, and prevent me from getting the heart disease, diabetes, and cancer that runs through my family. And it wouldn't hurt my feelings if I lost 15-20 lbs.

HI~~

I'm Robin. 57 years old, female. 20 years ago, I lost weight on a high carb, low fat diet (ADA exchange program). My job is extremely sedentary. Hypothyroidism, depression, generalized anxiety disorder, periodontal disease--all controlled. Auto-immune illnesses are rampant in my family, too. I suspect that my hypothyroidism is due to Hashimoto's and periodonatal disease is autoimmune, too.

I am on 1200 cal/day (I find that I do better when I count calories). 50-100 carbs. Typical Day:

B--2 TBSP chia seeds, ground; 1 TBSP coconut oil, coffee
L--large salad (all kinds of veggies) 3-4 oz protein, Ranch, Kale
D--3-4 oz protein, green leafy veggies, Salad, ranch
S--22 raw almonds

I like all kinds of veggies. Fruit is usually a low GI fruit--berries, etc. Occasionally. Occasionally a sweet potato.

I was 255 May of last year. Now 215. Happy with my loss. Losing slowly is OK with me.

Workouts cardio daily. weights 3X/week. Started Foundation Training to strengthen my back. If you have back pain, check it out. Youtube TED talk by Eric Goodman.

What really helped me was reading "The Beck Diet Solution" by Judith Beck. It goes into the psychology of weight loss and maintenance. I learned many good tools there.

So happy to have found you guys.

Pedi

Hi. I'm 39, diagnosed type 2 just over a year ago. I try to keep my carbs below 100 to keep my blood sugar in balance. I also could stand to lose 20 pounds. I fall off the carb wagon frequently, I'm 26 days solid right now...and on here because all I want is some salty popcorn at the moment. Lol. Reading the posts helps keep me motivated and on track!

From my profile:
I have been in the fitness & health industry for over 25 years, but have lately been dealing with ongoing health issues that have caused my 'retirement' from that line of work. Consequently, I gained 30 pounds over the past 4 years - lost it all & now on maintenance since early March 2014. (I lost with LCarb/LFat/mod protein)
I've worked at the 2010 Olympics in Whistler, and enjoy participating in nordic skiing, biathlon, snowshoeing, canoeing, hiking and caving. I also love to read. My husband & I are into adventure travel all over the world - hence, the choice of no kids, no pets. Presently working in the Security and Policing field. As of June 15/2014 I am 21.2% bf according to my scale; 18.5% according to Military Fat2Fit Tools, fwiw. I have to eat gluten free for medical reasons. I'm interested in the science behind ketogenic eating for sport performance.

I am 51, and am 5'8", I have the bone density of a 20 yo (my brag lol since I just got it tested). Going through menopause now but doing some herbal things for hormone balancing that seem to be working. I generally keep my net carbs between 50 and 125 - depends on the day. I am not a huge meat or grease fan and do love my veggies and eat about 6 c a day before cooking. Only occasional fruit, mainly berries. My food plan is pretty close to Sabine's.
My maintenance weight range is 130-136 and that's what my ticker reflects. Happiest weight is 132, but all my clothes except for a non-stretch pair of wranglers and a couple pencil skirts all fit fine right now. I'm new here but not to MFP.

Great idea, Sabine!

I'm Carol, 50, 5'0", married with 2 daughters. I've always been a yo-yo dieter, having success years ago with Weight Watchers, but no matter which diet I attempted, it failed and the weight increased to more than what it was when I started the diet. After I had stents put in a couple years ago, I was able to lose 50 lbs. in 6 months by following a balanced diet. After my thyroid was removed, however, keeping to that balanced diet failed me miserably. I kept crossing my t's and dotting the i's...and my weight kept climbing, to the point I nearly gained back all the 50 I had previously lost. The CICO approach just didn't seem to be enough for me anymore. Research brought me to LCHF and I have started with the keto woe. I began at 212 and am now at 198 in a little over a month.

My family refuses to eat healthier and we own our own business, both of which brings me stress. That's why I'm so glad I found you all. I feel like I've got a support system now.

Nice one, Sabine

I'm 39, F. 5'7, 136 lbs today.

Weight loss story: I was always at around 130 lbs, up until I gained 70 (actually 68, rounding up) in my mid-20s after medication. Lost 30 lbs of that just by moving to a walkable city. Hovered between 170ish and 150ish for years, depending on intake. (I went to a lot of restaurants for a while.)

My big motivation came after a break-up, in my early-mid 30s. I used South Beach initially, then roughly ate at phase 2-3 for ages. I also counted calories, eating between 1900 and 2200 as I lost, with an aggressive increase in physical activity, for me anyway. (Running and low-weight circuits.) I'd been sedentary prior to that, excepting dance classes taken as a youth.

My initial goal was 150 lbs (from 178). I overshot that very naturally with this level of activity, intake, and diet, settling at 124 (+/- 2 lbs) for four years.

However, this increase in activity overwhelmed my hypermobile joints and apparently fragile tendons. I spent a full year, all told, on crutches and effectively housebound, with less than ideal MSK care. I've got multiple, now-chronic overuse injuries and osteoarthritis in several joints. I work around them as best I can.

I'm slightly bitter about all that. Maybe more than "slightly", because I went through the rounds with specialists trying to even diagnose things, initially. Specialists relied almost exclusively on unnecessary X-rays, badly and inconsistently read MRIs, and ultrasounds reported in the vaguest language possible. (My current physiotherapist laughed out loud at how uninformative one of them was.) The first few physiotherapists I saw offered outdated, useless therapies. Precious healing time wasted. I've got a good physiotherapist now, who's gotten rid of some chronic pain. But I reinjure easily, and right now, ordinary activities are difficult, and it's an unacceptable level of functioning, for me. I'd also like a better idea of how I can prevent future injuries, because it's now taking very little to trigger them. So I'm reluctantly steeling myself to see another doctor, with minimal faith in the bank.

Needless to say, I now support a cautious approach to fitness for new exercisers.

I regained 15 of the 50 more recent pounds I lost, with all the sitting and eating.

Given my reduced activity, I'm here to try to manage hunger with a lower calorie target. Going with moderate carbs (100 net) for now, which is working with my IBS.

I haven't read the popular books on LC diets that have surfaced in the past few years, but am amazed at the number of diseases that anecdote and serious research suggest can be at least somewhat relieved with LC or ketogenic diets. There's got to be something going on with this.