Lost all the weight I intended to lose--and I'm keeping it off!
This testimonial is some months overdue.
I reached my weight goal—and I have maintained my weight goal for 6 months now—thanks to Dr. Mercola’s book Fat for Fuel—and the use of Cronometer. I am satisfied that I am eating a healthy regimen for my overall health, not just to maintain my ideal weight.
The major factors that helped me to lose weight are as follows.
1) Cutting carbs (even good carbs) to a maximum of 10 carbs/day or less
2) Recording ALL food intake in Cronometer; monitoring macro nutrients, especially carbs.
3) Keeping my healthy fat intake at the recommended high amount; eating MCT oil, 4 TB/day
4) Intermittent fasting; specifically, skipping breakfast (fasting for 15+ hours) 3-5 days/week.
Note: Exercise was NOT a major factor in my weight loss. I did not have a consistent exercise
program.
Chronology:
05-16-17
Weigh in at 138#. My goal is to lose the extra weight which has been slowly & steadily increasing since I went on full-on menopause fifteen years prior—despite all my “weight loss diet” efforts--and which, as of this date, is about 15 extra pounds. I am 67 years old. I begin a low carb program, with moderate protein. A few weeks into my low-carb regimen, I begin to follow the regimen recommended in “Fat for Fuel.”
10-9-17
Achieve a weight loss of 20# (I exceeded my original weight loss goal of 15#)
04/23/18
Weigh in at 118#. (I weigh myself every Monday morning.)
Thank you, Dr. Mercola! Thank you, Cronometer!
Comments
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Hello Connie,
Like you, I've been watching the slow weight creeping up on me for the last few years after menopause. I've been playing around with several protocols but have not found one that is a match. At the moment I am following Paleo on Cronometer, but I find I cannot hit all the macros while meeting the carb-protein-fat numbers. Were you able to meet your macros? For the life of me I cannot figure out how to get enough potassium. Also, did you use the "regular" Cronometer or Gold? Many thanks.
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New to program. Interested in knowing what started/motivated people to start program and to keep to program...sigh...love food
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Very inspirational Connie. I have trouble to lose any weight exercising every day and fasting for 14-16 hrs daily. I'm following a keto regiment. I'm also a diabetic. My body refuses to burn fat:(. Could you share a sample of your menu? What kind of protein did you prefer? Thank you
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Hello Barashaka,
I was having same issues and I’m diabetic too. Just started Keto. Still don’t know how would it go..
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Hi, Barashaka,
I just saw the email notifying me that you had asked a question.
My schedule is very full today.
I have made a note for me to respond to you as soon as I have a free hour.Thanks for your question. Be well!☺
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Thank you ConnieSC. I'm losing my MOJO:)at this time. Need all the support I can get.
Very frustrated. Good luck Janna. -
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Dear Barashaka,
Sorry to be so late in responding!
First of all, want to share something that is fresh on my mind.
Be encouraged! This is not a "diet" plan. It is a healthful plan to extend your life--and quality of life! It is worth working on.
1) Take MCT oil - 2 TBS/day - WITH MEALS - For at least one year I took 4 Tbs/dau. Would take 2Tbs in AM on empty stomach. DONT take on empty stomach. I think this irritated my stomach.
2) watch your total carbs! Even good carbs; keep a daily running total of carbs; You may have to go down to, say, 3 carbs per day, in first few weeks.
3) Look up "intermittent fasting" in Mercola website. Dont be intimidated by "fasting". To simplify, it means "skipping or postponing brakfast"
4) YOUR MEDS, OR HERBS may be making you gain weight. Google everything you are taking. Me, I recently discovered that, after taking Kava Kava for one month, I began to gain weight FOR MORE THAN TWO WEEKS IN A ROW. Looked at my food journal, realized that Kava Kava was the last supplement I had added (to sleep better)
Be well!
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Here is a comment I posted on Facebook
.........................................................................................My Weight Loss Plan
Introduction – Part 2 – September 27, 2017RECORD ALL CARBS EATEN
I counted carbohydrate grams. I recorded the carb content in each food that I ate in a spiral notebook—one page for each day. In prepared foods, such as Blue Diamond Almonds: the nutritional content label is on the back of package. In fresh foods, such as broccoli, you have to weight it. At the start, you may not want to take the time to record foods that have NO carbs, such as many cheeses.HOW do you know how many carbs are found in, say, two ounces of Brussels Sprouts? You Google it. Search for “nutritional content of Brussel Sprouts.” (or buy a carbohydrate gram counter book at a health good store.) You will record ALL carbohydrate grams—including the GOOD CARBOHYDRATES. This way, if you are not losing weight as you should, check the amount of carb grams in your daily carb intake.
[What is the limit of carb grams you can eat, and still lose weight? It depends. As I wrote on September 25, begin by eating 15-50 grams/day. (Individuals who are carrying a lot of extra weight will probably lose pounds on 50 carb grams/day. I was only carrying 15 lbs. or so of extra weight; I needed to eat far fewer grams/day.) After the first 2-3 weeks, you will know if you need to cut down the carb grams.]
I ATE TOO MANY GOOD CARBS.
I failed to lose weight at least one week—besides the first two weeks, when I was getting used to the idea of cutting down carbs, and “cheated”--because I was eating too many GOOD carbs. Look at the line graph of my weight loss from July 31st through September 25. September 4 (the second arrow from the right) is where I ate too many good carbs. [I had just discovered (from Dr. Mercola) that cauliflower and broccoli are super healthy foods. I tried them with Olive oil, Apple cider vinegar and salt. I loved the taste! The following Monday, my weekly weigh-in showed that my weight had gone UP slightly.] My weekly weigh-in of August 7th (the first arrow from the right) also reflected a GAIN of a fraction of a pound-- I had simply eaten too many carbs.IT’S NOT LIKE YOU’RE GIVING UP SUGAR – ALWAYS – FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.
You can have dessert once in a while, for a wedding, birthday, or a holiday. It’s your choice. But you should not continue to make it a HABIT to eat sweets, as you have up to now, like the majority of people do: “In 2015, 129 pounds per person of caloric sweeteners were available for consumption by U.S. consumers…” Source: United States Department of Agriculture. NOW you know why most of are overweight—and sick in one way or another.LEARN THE BASICS OF HEALTHY NUTRITION
Here is a link to the basics of a “ketogenic” diet. (A ketogenic diet stimulates the body into burning fat for energy, instead of glucose.) Study this, and search for “the ketogenic diet” on the mercola.com website, and the web in general. Note: you will NOT do a ketogenic diet indefinitely—you will, rather, cycle in and out the ketogenic diet. (more on that later.) However, for the moment, this diet is probably your best bet for losing weight.Look at the bottom of the webpage urging you to take certain precautions—or keeping you from doing this diet altogether. However, in the unusual circumstance where you cannot do this type of diet, please NOTE: under no circumstances is it “OK” to eat refined sugar. Your body does not need it, and, worse, it is HARMFUL to humans. If your body needs glucose, your body can make it from protein, or from fat, or, of course, from the natural sugars found in foods, such as fruits or vegetables. YOU NEVER NEED TO EAT REFINED SUGAR—except if you’re in danger of going into insulin shock, or some rare, extreme circumstance. Learn what good nutrition is from the Mercola website (not from your doctor—more of that later). This info will be useful for the rest of your life, whether or not you decide to go on this weight loss program. Knowledge is Power. Learn—and LIVE!
https://articles.mercola.com/ketogenic-diet.aspxSUGGESTED SUPPLEMENTS:
MCT oil. Derived from coconut oil. Very healthy. This is Mercola’s recommendation. Take 1-3 tablespoons every day. Begin by taking 1 teaspoon/day, so your digestive system gets used to it.
Liquid stevia. One of the few healthy natural sweeteners. Buy in health food store. DO NOT buy the white powder stevia mixed with lactose. Begin to experiment with it. Use it on tea, coffee, and lemonade (with lemon juice.)
Multi-vitamin-mineral supplement. Buy a capsule, rather than a tablet. Many tablets go through the digestive system WHOLE because they are not dissolved by the time the food gets to the small intestine—where most of the absorption of nutrients takes place.OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS
Have a LARGE green salad every day. Very heavy on the green, with sliced radishes & green onions. (Me, I make my salad of Romaine only—less work) Low in carbs. We need RAW foods—and lots of them. The “Intelligent Designer” created us to eat lots of raw food.
Buy a small inexpensive scale to weigh your food. Google “kitchen mechanical scale ounces grams.” The one in the photograph sells at Target for $10.99.NEXT: “Eating Fat won't make you Fat—but NOT eating Fat WILL!”
These series of posts began with my post of September 18, 2017, "I lost 16 pounds in 18 weeks...” In this album, entitled, “Learn—and LIVE!” (I have since lost another pound.)DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor, not even a certified nutritionist. As I wrote before, I am a layperson who wants to share her experience in the ardent hope that it will help YOU to get started in your HEALTHY weight loss journey—and to equip you with ideas and information so that you will be successful.
YOU are responsible to search the web and become knowledgeable about what is a HEALTHY weight loss diet, and how to implement it. I urge you to begin your journey to a healthier YOU now. -
I hope this answers most questions you might have.
I am looking for a list of the actual foods I ate.In the meanwhile, do a web search for "Foods low in carbs" or something like that.
These foods are your "friends". Buy them. Develop a taste for them.Blessings!
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Here is Part One
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MY WEIGHT LOSS PLAN: Overview – September 25, 2017I am implementing a “low-carb” Plan.
My low-carb nutritional plan based on the following sources:
1) My 30 years of reading about nutrition, the food industry, the medical profession, the drug industry and Alternative medicine in general.
2) I have used web searches continuously, to help me know the benefits of food and their nutritional content. The internet is a plethora of good information—if you know where to look. I will be making suggestions often. You can begin, as I state below, with mercola.com.
3) Last, but not least: the one source which has filled me with inspiration and motivation—as well as practical information--through my weight loss journey is Dr. Mercola’s book, “Fat for Fuel.” I consider Dr. Mercola a brilliant doctor who is brave enough to publish information even while it’s still rejected by most in the medical establishment. [Dr. Mercola rescued my health from continual upper respiratory infections through the writing of what I consider is another revealing, unique book, “Dark Deception.” I am profoundly indebted and grateful to this ingenious physician.]I will make suggestions as to how you can begin on a healthy weight-loss program today.
FIRST, MY WEIGHT LOSS STORY
I am a layperson who has had experience losing weight, and experience reading about weight loss for many years. Recently, I have enjoyed good success losing weight. Since I know that about 60% of Americans are overweight, it is probable that you, who are reading this, have a weight problem. My motivation in writing this is to help you lose weight. This is my story, in a nutshell.Up till the stage of menopause, I had NO problem losing weight. All my life, I weighed 124-126# or less all the time. If I picked up a few extra pounds, I ate a big green salad (very heavy on the green) at least once a day, and even several times per day. In a few weeks, I was back to my normal weight of 124-126 lbs. I experienced ease in losing weight until menopause, at the age of 55. In 2005, after I had gone into full-on menopause, I found out that I was UNABLE to lose weight as I had for decades. In fact, not only was I UNABLE to lose weight, using the method I had used for decades, but, instead, I GAINED WEIGHT. This was a Major disappointment to me. Several times for the following 6 years or so, I attempted to lose weight—with the same disheartening results. Eventually, I STOPPED trying to lose weight—since I would GAIN—instead of LOSE- weight.
Until May of this year, that is, 2017.
Inspired by the success of an acquaintance who had been quite overweight—and who lost about 50 lbs. in about 6-9 months (forget the exact details), I decided to give the “low-carb” diet a try, again.
Soon into my weight loss project, I bought Mercola’s book (Fat for Fuel).Dr. Mercola’s book became a source of empowerment, practical information, and inspiration. I began to lose weight by complying with a rather strict low-carb plan. See the chart I posted on 09/19/17.
CAVEAT
I am not a doctor, not even a certified nutritionist. As I wrote above, I am a layperson who wants to share my experience in the ardent hope that it will help YOU to get started in your HEALTHY weight loss journey—and to equip you with ideas and information so that you will be successful.YOU are responsible to search the web and become knowledgeable about what is a HEALTHY weight loss diet, and how to implement it. Even eating foods which are “healthy” can be dangerous to our health.
Here are several examples:
1) Eating a LOT of fruit can raise your blood glucose to an unhealthy level—even though the fruits are organic—which will be detrimental to your health.
2) Eating a lot of COOKED food—to the exclusion of raw food--can make your metabolism ACIDIC—and will cause severe issues in your body.
3) Focusing on eating only vegetables and fruits, and basically eliminating meats from your diet—because you think that meat is unhealthy—can deplete you of minerals and amino acids which are critical to your health.
4) Radically cutting down healthy fats can seriously harm your health—and even make you more overweight than ever.BEGIN THE JOURNEY NOW
Therefore, even as I urge you to begin tweaking your diet NOW, I urge you, just as passionately, to begin to read—from the right sources—what constitutes a healthy, lifelong eating regimen—and one that you can confidently pass on to your family, and your children, with confidence.Having said that---
THE BASICS OF MY WEIGHT LOSS NUTRITIONAL PLAN:
I am implementing what I consider to be a life-long healthy nutritional plan. A plan that will keep at bay “degenerative diseases”—those conditions which most accept as “the inevitable result of aging.”
This is what I’m eating, in a nutshell:
*About 73% of the food I eat is FATS (healthy fats—more on that later)
*About 23% of the food I eat comes from PROTEIN (healthy protein.)
*About 4% of the food I eat is CARBOHYDRATES (healthy carbohydrates—which exclude refined sugar. Actually, in the last 4 months or so, not even a tablespoon of sugar has entered my mouth IN ALL THAT TIME. If I ever believed that sugar is harmful to humans—I believe that more than ever. Refined sugar is a poison—see my posts of 9/20 and 9/21/2017 in this album, “Learn—and LIVE!”)*My average daily carb intake during this last week has been 12 to 22 grams. [Correction: I ate mostly from 9-15 carbs/day; the average in, say, the previous 8 days was 14.5 carbs/day. However, NET carbs (carbs – fiber = net carbs) were significantly lower. See definition of “net carbs” below.] If you want to lose weight, your carbohydrate intake should be limited to 15-50 grams per day. You can begin your eating plan with an amount of carbohydrates in that range. If you are not losing weight at the end of 2-3 weeks, you should begin to cut down the quantity of carbs you eat..
Practical Tip:
Keep a spiral notebook, or 3-ring binder, where you keep track on the daily total carbs you are eating. If you are serious about weight loss, don’t rely on your memory; write down every carb you eat that day,VOCABULARY
Gram – a unit of measure; used in all nutritional information labels. [1 ounce = 28 grams]
Ketogenic – Describes a diet which provokes ketosis
Ketosis – The ability of the body to burn body fat, to be used as fuel. (not to be confused with Ketoacidosis—a serious condition associated with Diabetes 2)
Net carbs – The carb grams in any one food minus the fiber contained in the same food. Example: 1 cup of sliced radishes contains 3.9 grams of carbohydrates; however, the same amount of radishes also contains 1.9 grams of fiber. Therefore, the net carbs are 2.0. For the purpose of a weight loss diet, it is as if the 1.9 grams of carbs “nullified” by the fiber did not exist!Here is a suggestion for a starting point:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/01/31/high-fat-low-carb-diet-benefits.aspxAnd, for the fun of it, buckle your seat belt, and write in a search string at the top of any page ofmercola.com, such as “healthy diet” “overweight” “refined sugar”—get ready to be shocked.
Next, on 09/27/17:
My Weight Loss Plan – Introduction, Part 2[These series of posts begin with my post of September 18, 2017, "I lost 16 pounds in 18 weeks..."]
DISCLOSURE: I am not trying to sell anything. I am not pushing any line of food products, nor weight loss products, nor supplements. I will not profit monetarily in any way from you reading the information that I write here. I share it with you solely for your benefit—and the benefit of your loved one
