I "officially" started low carb/high fat November 14. It was just going to be an experiment. On the face it just sounded so completely against "common knowledge" and accepted "paradigms of health science" it could only end badly, but I was so frustrated and I've literally tried EVERY other eating lifestyle (note, I did not say diet) and they've all failed me and never made a positive impact on markers of health (certainly least of all my cholesterol).
I was eating low fat and low calorie, hungry constantly and struggling to lose any weight. Now I'm eating high fat, not counting calories and lose a steady pound a week, more if I'm more active, and I'm not hungry. There is NOTHING more frustrating than being hungry nearly all day yet not seeing any weight loss for that. It gets hard to stay on plan because there is the whole "I'm not losing anyway, so what's the difference?" mentality. I'm not talking plateau within 20 pounds of goal, I'm talking not even dropping anything from the start.
But with high fat eating, honestly, I have NEVER lived like this, it feels like being set free. Since I was 14 or so my life has been about restriction and calorie counting, obsessing over food (obsessively exercising when I was younger), logging when could I have my next meal and how many calories that meal had to contain, getting in the last meal before stopping before a certain time and timing all this so the hunger wouldn't be too bad at bed. If I wasn't constantly hungry because I was consciously trying to lose, or mostly hungry because I was maintaining, I was eating when I was hungry which meant I was gaining. That's it, there was no in between.
I'm not saying that eating high fat/low carb is for everyone. I am saying that, speaking as someone who was obese as a young child, describing the scenario I've been living for 35 years, I think there's something wrong with the way I personally metabolize carbs and virtually eliminating carbs from my diet has been the solution to a bane of my existence. My husband has joined me on the diet and after a little more than a week he's down two pounds without even trying and feeling equally optimistic.
I feel better than I can remember feeling in years, my daily low grade depression has lifted, my chronic daily joint pain has improved significantly, which means the general inflammation I've been living with is going down, my energy levels are great, I've rediscovered an enthusiasm for living that's been missing since I was in my mid 30s that I had come to believe was a natural side effect of aging and thought was just going to be what the rest of my life was like.
It simply amazes me that so much can happen by drastically reducing one macronutrient and increasing the other. I'd dropped carbs before, but increased PROTEIN and our bodies simply convert excess protein (in caloric deficit) to glucose. Fat, the demonized nutrient, had to go up. The same fat that medicine and "science" tells us is "clogging our arteries" (BTW, it isn't, Americans are eating less fat than ever, but heart disease keeps increasing. Inflammation from insulin spikes is causing the clogged arteries). A high fat diet changes our brain chemistry and turns our fat burning on. Like the web site says, butter makes your pants fall off. Go figure.
What's even more amazing is that I didn't even eat refined flours or white sugar, been gluten free since the late 1990s, in fact. So if insulin spikes caused by steamed vegetables, brown rice and sweet potatoes affected me so severely I can't wonder how they affect others.
It's just stunning to realize that I've found a way of eating that allows me to live the rest of my life without counting calories or being hungry all the time.
I only wish I'd known this 35 years ago *sigh* to think of all that wasted time and energy ...