I had a cousin who did keto a few years back. She didn't stick to it but she told me she enjoyed the benefits when she was doing it.

I was also browsing Reddit and I stumbled upon the pages there. After some research, I decided to give myself 30 days as an experiment.

Well, those 30 days have turned into 290 days. With a few stumbles and tweaks, I think I have it right. I added a progressive lifting routine in May and am really happy with my progress.

I've always been a bit on the heavy side, and a couple years ago was diagnosed as T2D. No surprise there, since everyone else in my family is diabetic. My son and his wife were vegetarian at the time, and living with me, so I ate very little meat and lots of veggies, dairy, eggs and whole grains. My A1C continued to climb.

Last December the kids decided to go vegan, and I thought I would give it a good faith try. By March my A1C was up to 8.1, I was constantly tired and constantly hungry. And I was gaining weight. I couldn't take the Metformin that my doctor prescribed, because it tore my stomach up even if I only took a half a pill with a full meal. I finally convinced the doc to switch meds, and with Glipizide my A1C went down a bit. But I was still tired and hungry all the time. And I was still gaining weight.

My gut instinct told me I wasn't getting enough protein, even though I was eating tofu or rice & beans or tempeh every day. I googled "high protein diets," which led me to Dr. Eenfeldt's site. I was highly skeptical that eating a lot of fat would help me lose weight, but I figured it was worth a try. So at the beginning of June I re-activated my long-dormant MFP account to help with tracking the carbs, protein and fat. Then I found this group, and thanks to all the wonderful, smart people here, I have learned the science behind this WOE, which, for me, makes a huge difference. And it's working!!

I'm just going to put it out there...

Vanity.

I couldn't stand the way I felt when moving, grimacing at myself because I was ugly.

I started out reading like, fat chic (I think) and really trying hard to love my fat body. But it didn't sit right with me. I didn't care for myself slowly losing agility and the ability to dance gracefully. So I started accepting my body being fat, but not accepting that I wasn't going to try to do anything about it.

So, I said forget that. I want to be limber. I want to skip. I want to be a strong, graceful, powerhouse again.

And that's what I'm doing.

This is my first post on this group so hello and prepare for a long post!

I tried low carb sometime last year but gave up a few days later when I read that any time I eat carbs I'll get the keto flu again and I thought it wasn't worth it, obviously I wasn't that invested in it. Then a few months ago I bought the Lean in 15 book and it advised reduced carb meals on non-exercise days and high carb on exercise days which I found interesting and started looking up low carb again. It turned out the reduced carb meals were still like 100g carbs so I haven't followed them now.

I have to say I'm loving it, I'm never really hungry and even though I never used to snack out of hunger I sometimes can't snack because I'm that full! It's saving me money on weekly shops because I don't need to buy as much food and I've been interested to see how infrequently I actually need to eat where before I would be bringing lots of snacks to work just in case I got hungry, which isn't surprising as it was all low fat I also have a bit of lower back pain which pretty much disappears when I've kept my carbs low for a week.

I've noticed that I am a bit addicted to carbs and eating some crisps seems to set me off into eating crisps, chocolate, pizza, english muffins, crackers, ice cream...So I'm best just staying away. I don't even really think about all that food when I'm sticking to low carb. Low carb has also changed my relationship with food where before I felt like I wouldn't have a good weekend if I didn't have three different share bags of crisps in to choose from and would eat all of it and have to finish everything, now I'm just not like that at all. I always knew cheese would save my life

I've tried low carb before but always allowed all the fake foods and treats so the cravings never really went away and I always went back to eating the way I had previously been. I also believed the lines being fed to me that this WOE was not healthy long term and I needed those carbs for balance. This time around I've tried to just eat the real foods and I'm so amazed at the lack of cravings. It's not hard at all to pass by the sweets and treats and not feel deprived. I feel very satisfied. I'm trying to educate myself much more this time as well, so that I can ward off the naysayers and not start freaking out that I'm harming my body. It really helps being plugged into this group.

When I could not stomach the Metformin for my Diabetes diagnosis a year ago….I realized I would have to just quit eating so many carbs if that was one of the main culprits. I then saw this group and it’s been a tremendously big reason I have lost the next 20 lbs. helping to lower my A1C from 8.3 to 6.3. Still a ways to go, but I will get there. I am thankful for all the posts I read as a lurker, since reading about everyone’s experiences has truly helped!

I used to be a weight watchers success story. 80 pounds lost using points. I even became a leader. I maintained a while, then gained, got put on some meds that made me hungry; had some setbacks that made me depressed.
Fast forward to 18 months ago when I tried ww again and nothing happened. Didn't lose a freaking ounce.
So I went to the dr. He checked my blood, ordered a fasting glucose tolerance test, and would you believe that I'm now hypothyroid, insulin resistant, vitamin d deprived and lacking iron.
Holy moly. 3 Years prior my bloodwork was perfect and now all this?
But now I had a reason, and we made a plan, and the plan was to lower the carbs and raise the protein and carbs.

I lose slowly but I lose, and I exercise daily, and I've dropped over 26 inches. I still need to lose more, and I'm constantly learning more about this woe. But any diet where you can eat cheese and bacon is the right diet for me

I love reading these. I'm so glad we're all here for one another. WE ROCK!

Many reasons brought me to keto. I seen a coworker literally melt away in a matter of months on a low carb diet. That got me reading. I always was strictly a CICO believer. It's basic nutrition 101! You eat too much, you get fat! Right?

I wanted to learn more. I read soooo many amazing books, Sugar Blues, Wheat Belly, The Art and Science of Low Carb Living.... Wheat Belly not only opened my eyes to wheat stimulating your brain's opiate receptors (addictive) but also it opened my eyes to the crap they are trying to feed us! GMO's, courtesy of Monsanto, are literally POISON. Sugar Blues taught me that sugar is so incredibly addictive that it actually was the main spark in the the African slave trade to keep up with the demand for this poison!!! Even the Catholic Church eventually joined in, purchased sugar plantations and gave their blessings before eventually condemning the practice of slavery.

I learned too that most health problems are a direct result of a poor diet. I made the decision that I do not want the FDA, USDA food pyramid, government propaganda, Big Pharma and Monsanto running my life any longer. I am tired of being tired. I am tired of my knees and ankles swelling and hurting. I am tired of the crazy addictions to sugar and wheat... Add to that migraines, anxiety, insomnia, depression. I am tired of being fat, sick and nearly dying. Mostly I am tired of blaming myself for failing after years of struggling and eating in the way we were told was "healthy"

I just eat real food. Keto has been a lifesaver even if it's only been 103 days so far. Was it a miracle cure? NO! I am still tired. I still have health problems, but they seem to lessen each and every day. I have effortlessly dropped 30 lbs. My knees and ankles are no longer swollen and painful. I try not to buy or eat any GMO foods and I am working toward avoiding all food additives. It's difficult to read and decipher all the long unpronounceable words in some ingredients lists. It's even more difficult to determine if something is GMO especially if it's fresh produce.

My next step??? I think it will be zero carb. Meat and water. I am not there yet, but this is the goal I am shooting for.