What a Difference Four Years Make!

Of course I will never be able to fully catch you up on what has been going on for four years but...

Don't believe the smile..I was hurting here!

The health and pain thing.  The Mayo Clinic refused me, I went to Seattle to the UW he felt that it was all in my head. I went to a lovely allergist who decided that allergy treatment was worth a shot (I did have some mild allergies related to grasses, Juniper and dust).  I went through 3/4 of a round of allergy shots but i became so inflamed that she said enough..no more and either that worked or whatever crap karma was floating around decided to give me a break because i got better.  I still have the occasional flair up but mostly things are good on the health front.

Weight loss was not so great over the 4 year period.  I blossomed up to 212.  Menopause hit fully and my youngest moved out to go to university.  In our new empty nest situation my husband embarked on his health.  His method is no nose dive in to research and doggedly make changes.  To his credit he lost about 70 pounds by cutting wayyy down on his intake of carbohydrates (and yes it is KETO but not the fat bomb, bullet proof coffee kind).  This is a very measured carefully concocted kind that does not grab any old off the shelf KETO branded piece of junk.  It has been crafted by data, eating real food, and most recently fasting.


2016

He carried on his merry way and I would give it a whirl briefly until another delectable dessert temptation came along and fall off the wagon.  I of course would tell him that after two or three weeks on program that nothing was working for me and i might as well enjoy myself if I was going to have to live at this uncomfortable 212 for the rest of my life. It was not all gloom..during the two years of on again off again trying I did manage to gradually take off 13 pounds.









2017


2018

May-July 10, 2019

Then we took a long trip around the world.

Because we were together 24/7 we did an eating plan I would call Keto light.  OK really we ate mostly good food with carbs.  If the country we were in ate rice we had a bit but not all of it.  If we were in a coffee shop where I could no way drink caffeine unless it came with some sugar-I drank it.  If there was a dessert we wanted we ate it.  but each sugar, carb or pastry lapse was measured. We also walked...and walked...and walked.  averaging 15k steps a day for 6 weeks straight.
                                                         Pizza in Italy


July 11, 2019
We came home and neither of us had gained any weight but we both vowed to hit this low carb thing hard for a solid period of time and get this weight off.  We loved our trip and did not want to come home.  It reinforced for me that I want the weight off not for the clothes and not for the fun but for the health.  I want to go travel the world many more times and I do not want ill health or fatigue to get in my way.

Hitting it hard for me means black iced tea, 3 tbl. cream and sugar free vanilla sweetener for breakfast.  A piece of cheese or tuna salad and salad for lunch.  More tea mid-afternoon and then whatever hubby cooks for dinner with salad.
(he cooks meat..and only meat).  In the evening I have either whole fat yogurt with a sprinkle of berries or another iced tea concoction.

I dropped faster than ever before but hitting 194. I have always stopped and I did again..bouncing back up to 198. This beastly frustration when I had done everything I was supposed to was super disheartening.  Hubby talked me into attending the Ancestral Health Conference with him in San Diego a two weeks ago.  The mostly high quality research oriented presentations were not only inspiring but packed with a whole line of research that I had not ever really heard before.

My Husband Was Right! (You have no idea how much this pains me to say :))..

What I learned:

In the early 1900's the food industry decided that machine oil would make a great source of fat for us and turned machine oil into fake lard (crisco), fake butter (margarine), and vegetable oils.  They had to create a special chemical process to get said short-shelf-life oils to not go rancid and to make them palatable but they pulled it off.  the resulting chemical mixtures were ill suited to humans and screwed with our intestinal linings setting us up for all kinds of diseases (this actually might be the reason many of us even became obese in the first place!)

bad fat leads to... leaky gut

which leads to... intolerances of carbohydrates
which leads to ...our livers squirting out extra insulin
which leads to... inflammations which leads to diseases.

So..how do you fix it? and why did my compliance with low carb eating not work right away?

You have to fix the leaky gut and any imbalances in your microbiome (flora and fauna in the intestinal region..or as hubby and I like to say...butt gackteria).

At the conference the scary word came up a few times...FAST...this is not the kind that means quick instead that is...STOP EATING.  We decided on our way back home that we were going to do it.  My frustrations and he had come upon a plateau in his loss spurred us on. Hubby and I planned a three day fast.  Only plain coffee, water, or tea (no extra gunk) for three days.  We did include magnesium and potassium  (and boy howdy was that a life saver).

We stopped eating at 6pm Sunday evening.

For three days..I woke up and made a glass of iced tea with  half a packet of potassium and magnesium).  drank a second glass with the other half a packet,  I then drank iced tea every time I wanted or felt hungry (mostly wanted).  If I felt at all slightly woozzy or tired I would mix in another half of a packet of the magnesium/potassium.  Before bed I had a glass of water and measured my ketosis (pee strip).  during the fast I went from a medium ketosis up to second to the highest.  My Post ketosis readings have been second from the highest to yesterday hit the highest marker).

It was rather easy!  I cannot believe it as I am a girl who has never been able to fast.  I did not have to before my lapband.  I did not have to really even for my colonoscopy.  each of those times i could have any clear liquid i wanted (broth, jello etc.) . This three day jobber was amazing.  I did not push walking my 10k steps.  I did about 5k per day.  I went from 196 to 193 in three days.  Losing is good :)!  Then we broke our fast Wednesday at 5:30 (Hubby cracked).  The next morning I hit 192. Then 191.4, then 190.6.  I am still hoping to crack 190 but we have both decided we are going to fast again for three days starting Sunday for round two (yes that is how easy this was!!)

Here are links to the videos I have been watching both for motivation and research (because I like both of course). I got to meet Tommy Wood in San Diego (super nice and well-read dude).

Benjamin Bikman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3fO5aTD6JU
Tommy wood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd5Ph5Ofc7Y
Dr. Jason Funk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIuj-oMN-Fk&t=35s
Professor Tin Noakes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=horIrfmLvUY
L. Amber O'Hearn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX4qsJd_Plc

If all goes to plan I should be back at goal by Christmas.  I will make sure and post before then :)