The low carb part was a left over from one successful trip down loss lane with Dr. Atkins that I did years ago. My only problem that time was I could never get out of the induction phase without stalling out completely. Of course, as a product of the times, I was still under the brainwashing about fat being bad and fruits/vegetables being good so eventually I went back to "normal" eating and promptly gained it all back. Also, there wasn't much support for Dr. Atkins back then. I even took to telling people I was gluten free instead of low carb because gluten free was more socially acceptable.

This time around I decided to get out my old Dr. Atkins book and give it another go. And I came back to MFP for tracking only. I started here in March with my diary and everything else set to private because I just didn't want to have the same hassles as before. About a week in I saw a most interesting logo down the right hand side of a page that said something about low carb and decided test it out only to discover I had to be approved by the powers that be. I hesitated for a couple of days and decided to try it out. Thankfully, I was permitted entry to this inner sanctum and that's when I found out about the HF side of LCHF. LCLF isn't anything I could commit to for a permanent WOE but LCHF is totally okay with me for what few years God has left for me.

My #1 resource is this group's Launch Pad. There is a wealth of information available there and links to much, much more. It should be required reading for newbees.

genmon00 wrote: »

Soon I met my hubby and we got pregnant right away (which was shocking to me since I had PCOS and told that need fertility treatment to get pregnant. Losing weight made me reset my system I gained all the weight i lost during my pregnancy.

This is me!! For years I was one of those people that just accepted that I'd never have kids, and a few months of low carb eating later.. bam. It angers me that this diet isn't shown to women struggling with fertility issues, it really does help a lot.

I started keto as an experiment. I was looking for a way to drop pounds and I knew one or two people who had done it, but it never lasted with them. I'm addicted to sugar so I thought it would be near impossible to challenge myself to cut it out for one month.

I remember that my start date was the day after Halloween. After I came home from a party, it was after midnight and I opened up a bag of Doritos and took a chip. My boyfriend asked "Aren't you supposed to be doing keto now?" Full disclosure: I ate the chip and replied "It starts when I wake up!" And to tell you the truth, I wasn't even hungry. I was eating just to eat.

Almost seven months later and I have been really happy with my progress. I am glad that this 'experiment' turned into my way of eating.

My top resources have been:

MFP and this forum
Ruled.me
I Breathe I'm Hungry
Instagram - the #keto is really helpful for ideas!

I had been recently researching more on low-carb/ketogenic diets because I'd read for years that they can reverse and have been proven to reverse symptoms of diabetes type 2 and insulin resistance. That was about sometime after Easter.

Backstory is similar to many others here ...

Around 2005, after a three-year relationship with my then-fiance was over and I realized I weight almost 280 pounds (having pretty much maintained 190-193 for years after high school), I knew I had to do something, because I wasn't feeling good, and I no longer even looked good. My face was so fat my eyes nearly disappeared. I wore 3X shirts (and they were actually too big) only because 2X were tight on me, and I was cranky all the time. Totally not myself.

I read The New Diet Revolution by Dr. Atkins, having found it in a thrift store after a close friend recommended it to me. I was always into good, healthy foods, but growing up in the '70s & '80s, it was becoming harder to know what was really healthy and what wasn't, thanks to the food pyramid, doctors wagging their finger at my dad after his heart attacks in the late '80s and telling him "No butter. No eggs. Only margarine and egg substitutes. And no only whole wheat products", and all the "fat scare" tactics by the media and government and "fat free" "low fat" everything in stores...

Anyway, I read the book, mouth watering the whole time, and thinking it was a fantasy, talked to a few others online about it and they had before and after pics and stories that just made my heart leap...and I did it. I went full-on Atkins, starting on the induction, which I think I did 2-3 weeks of. I lost 30 lbs in six months. A lot of life happened and I went off of it only because I wasn't smart about budgeting for it, and it was expensive to stay on it w/o the extra work (have been self-employed since 2001, full-time since 2005).

I wasn't always diabetic...that happened in 2007. Long story short, I had an old injury scar (seriously, it was 7 years old) that opened up on one of my legs and it was leaking fluid. I let it go too long (self-employed, young, and invincible, still LOL - I was afraid to go to the ER after having to pay almost $100 just to see if I had strep at a clinic the year before - so imagine my fear of the ER - I know better now - I have insurance), it became infected, I was getting it treated in outpatient at my hospital's burn unit every single week with a new dressing each time, after debridement (where they clean it and trim it or cut any infected/dead skin off the wound), but it was not healing quickly enough. The nurse suggested I take a blood panel and that's when I found out. My first blood sugar reading with the diabetic nurse the day I went to my family practictioner clinic to collect my meter/kit/meds and get a training on all of it, was almost 450, and my HA1c was 11.4%. For non-diabetics, this number is supposed be no more than 6-7%.

I'd struggled with type 2 issues for awhile - blurred vision and needing to get glasses, peripheral neuropathy, mental fatigue, (I had a couple of clients almost take legal action against me because I was doing so poorly that I was missing contract deadlines and everything, it was like my brain fell out of my head) etc., I got on some weird medication that made me cough and choke all day long to the point I couldn't hold a five minute conversation without coughing through most of it, and that was a daily occurrence. I was a freaking wreck! Oral meds were switched around, doses changed, etc. for what seemed like insanity. I was finally put on insulin.

I thought I failed myself. The doctor said that eventually, many type 2 patients progressed to this, and it wasn't the end of the world. The word "progressed" in this context did not feel like "progress." Not at all! I did not want to have a progressive disease! I was doing (I thought) everything in my power to keep my blood sugars low, and if my sugars were low, certainly the rest had to follow, right? I mean, I stopped eating crazy things (self-proclaimed foodie, I ate out a LOT with my fiance and friends/family - I really don't anymore, not for years), started making better choices and cooking everything I could from home, trying hard to exercise (which I actually enjoy) although it was very hard with a cast on my leg for six months (that wound turned into a horrible thing that almost took up my whole shin--it's now a huge, ugly scar, and I look like a burn victim and choose not to wear shorts, for fear of scaring people and having to talk about it constantly), part of me felt like there wasn't anything else to do but accept it. I was getting depressed, I was becoming poor because people were losing faith in me. I had to give up my apartment and move out with short notice because the man who owned the house I was renting part of couldn't afford to keep me there anymore unless I could pay him in full every month, and I was behind. I was mortified. This went on with my new apartment and stuff, for the first few months, too, until I decided to do something. I was delusional. But I knew I needed help. I told my doctor something wasn't right, still. She put me on Victoza, which was yet another insulin med, to take in addition to the others.

I wasn't eating junk. I was still cooking at home - deluded into thinking sweet potatoes instead of white were better, canola oil is OK, Ezekiel bread is totally healthy, all that *kitten* that we take for granted and are blind to before we realize... anyway, I was now up to OVER 110 units/day of insulin injections just to keep up, plus 1000mg of Metformin a day, as well.

I was doing better after a short while...the Victoza really seemed to help a lot. My BG numbers were going down, but I was still in the 150-180 range at a.m. fasting reads. However that was a lot better than 280s-300s I was having all the time, before. So much of a difference, I was thinking clearly again, my energy shot up and I was making deals and getting work and actually sold my business by complete happy accident. I started a new career path and those early deals and jobs were helping a lot with me getting back on track financially.

This past February, I told the county I live in, which was a liaison in working with the state-sponsored health insurance (MinnesotaCare) I was paying small premiums for years for poor folks health coverage, but it was great coverage) that my income was near double than the year prior. My good coverage ended in March this year. I was OK with finding out that I needed to pick and enroll in a plan and work with someone to do it, but no matter what, all the plans I could qualify for (and afford the monthly premium) had huge deductibles. All of them. I was stuck with a plan that had a $1800 deductible, an almost $5k out of pocket maximum before 100% coverage, and whaddya know? Did not cover insulin of any kind, until the deductible was met, and even then it was still 20% my responsibility. #ThanksObamacare. Anyway... I had to get some help for my first two prescription orders (each order for 30 days refill was over $1300). I had to work extra hard for that. I was billing 10 hours over my normal quota per client and I was dog tired at the end of each day. But I got my insulin, by golly! That process is not going to last, I decided. Even though my deductibles are almost now paid off, I cannot afford to not only continue to work this hard to pay for insurance that is not covering my most desperate of needs, I also can no longer afford this game. This whole disease is a game. I don't want to play it anymore.

I want to live better. I want to eat well and not be punished for it, or deprive myself and have to flood my organs with insulin when I'm thinking it's not even doing its job! I began really digging in and learning that not only are all non-vegetable carbs really only making me more insulin-dependent, they are keeping people like me from losing weight...and I couldn't help but think that if, in fact, lower carb eating is ideal for reversing insulin resistance and diabetes altogether... that would give me SO MUCH HOPE for a better life, and to get rid of this nasty disease.

Still there? Thank you for reading.

I look forward to pushing into the future with better health. And I'm only just started (again, the right way this time, not just "thinking I'm doing Atkins"), but I feel it's the right track to be on.

Today I found out I lost 7 lbs - I started semi-lowcarb-ing Memorial weekend...and while doing house cleaning today, decided to hop on the scale. I think this is working Not much of a dieter. But I can do this. It feels like life, not punishment/restriction.

These two videos inspired me to learn more:
The Two Big Lies of Type 2 Diabetes by Jason Fung, and
Why We Get Fat with Gary Taubes - Diet Doctor

^ That was back in February or so - I have since read many, many articles, seen many videos, and Ruled.Me, Linda's Low Carb, Diet Doctor, and others already mentioned, are fabulous resources.

I also liked the "Fat Head" movie: http://www.fathead-movie.com, and
24/7 Low Carb diner recipes