Excellent article Bill, thank you.
My doc wrote up research discussing why we should be eating high fat and low carb. Basically we want to burn fat, not protein, nor carb. It took me several weeks to be comfortable eating fats after having 65 years of believing fat = fat. When I shifted my calories away from carbs to fat, I started feeling much better, less to no hunger despite being on high doses of prednisone. Think about the way they fatten up cattle. They put them in a feed-grain (high carb, low fat) lot and they gain immense amounts of weight. The doc also said that prime athletes with only 4% fat can go farther and longer if they are burning fat. They run out of carbs and protein quicker.
My doctor said that one receives sustained levels of energy burning fat and that the mind becomes clearer. I have found this to be true.
I experimented and came up with 50 carbs or less a day based upon my own experience.
However, I wish I had known ahead of time about ketostix, so that I could have refined exactly how many carbs i could get away with, lol. But, by the time I did my doctor said it was too late. In the beginning the stix will show ketones being thrown by the body. But at some point, the brain and body, as he said, “WOW, we like that stuff and let’s retain the ketones”. That’s why the ketostix won’t work after a while. You are no longer throwing ketones, your body is retaining them and using them as a preferred fuel. Note symptoms of ketosis like a sweet taste in the mouth, thirst. These and other symptoms can be googled.
I am well beyond the 8 weeks. During the 8 weeks, I followed the diet to a T. Weighed everything, counted every calorie. I lost 30 pounds and 5″ around my waist. Interestingly, I had to take large doses of prednisone through out the diet and in the early stages thought I could gnaw my arm off! The last time that I needed high-dose prednisone i had NO hunger what so ever. Hot diggity dog!
The only mistake I made was when I first came off of the 800/8 week process and I wasn’t quite sure what Dr. Mosley was having us do. I started eating ‘normal’ amounts of carbs and gained weight. Ultimately I found that bottom line, if i wanted to keep the weight loss going, I ONLY needed to keep the carbs under 50 grams and keep the fat up. Also, 50 grams of protein per Dr. Mosley. I could eat normal amounts of food and continue losing weight.
Frankly, I had had enough of counting and weighing etc. I do one day of 800 calories a week and keep up the low carbs, high fat, and 50 grams of protein the rest of the week. That’s all. By now I have a pretty good idea of what 50 grams of protein and carbs look like. Same with how much fat I need to eat. I have a diary of carbs that i eat regularly plus the ones that are treats. I just keep treats et al under 50. I was losing about 3 1/2 pounds a week with the daily 800 calories and now I’m losing about 1 1/2 pounds weekly. And this is with no exercise do to an accident injury. My blood sugars stabilized around 74 from 112 about the 5th week.
I toyed with continuing the 800/day diet, but had to discontinue the rigorous 800 calories because my endocrine system, particularly the thyroid was showing sub-par functioning through regular testing. This was predicted by my doc who said that rigorous dieting could affect the thyroid. He was watching for other signs of low thyroid. By the 7th week, the thyroid functioning had gone from high normal to low normal, so I knew that 8 weeks would be all that would be wise.
I have multiple autoimmune illnesses in addition to pituitary insufficiency. I had to watch blood pressure particularly as it went down way too low. Much salt and extra hydrocortisone later, I no longer faint.
While most would probably say that i should not have done this diet, with very careful and constant monitoring on my part and excellent doctor oversee, it was and is possible. I will say that the first week or two, I didn’t feel so hot. I learned that extra water and salt were very necessary.
I am not hungry. I have had a day here and there of dietary “indiscretion” and yet seem to bounce right back into no hunger and ketosis within a day. Because I must eat to take the medications, it sometimes is a hilarious process. I don’t want to eat, but must and i find that very funny after years of struggling.
Wishing you all the very best!
