At the beginning of 2019, having put a some weight on after enjoying the seasonal festivities, I was looking for way to get it off. I was not too overweight at 61 kg, but I had belly fat that I've struggled for decades to get rid of and of course, some of my clothes didn't fit me anymore.
I came across intermittent fasting as a way that could help. In a way, I was already doing it as I was used to finishing my last meal by 6 pm and would usually go without food until I wake up and have breakfast, so that was a good 13-14 hours fasting. So it was a plan to put into action.
I began by finishing my last meal of the day a little earlier and delaying breakfast by a couple of hours, giving me about 16 -18 hours of fasting time. Then after a week or so, I asked myself if I was really hungry enough to have breakfast. The answer was no. It had been ingrained in me that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and one should not skip it. I also came across other teachings like 'Eat only when you're hungry'. I decided then that I did not need breakfast and my first meal of the day became lunch. Yes, the weight did come off a little. I lost about 3 kgs and stagnated.
Around the end of the month, I decided to go to the doctor's clinic to have a wellness check-up. The results came back with flying colours except blood cholesterol, which was 'elevated'. I was to see the nurse for advice, but I didn't as I thought I would deal with it myself by eating more 'healthy' foods like oats, oatbran, garlic, low-fat, etc.
In June i had another blood test. To the horror of my doctor, my cholesterol level had marginally changed upwards. I was called in to see him and he was quick to prescribe statins to bring the cholesterol level down, citing the goodness of statins. I refused the prescription and he gave me the option of seeing the Lipids specialist at the hospital, which I chose.
In the meantime, i continued with consuming oatbran, exercising, and eating carefully. I did not do much research on cholesterol as I thought that consuming oatbran would help. 2 days before my appointment, I came across the Ketogenic diet. I decided to give that a go having seen the success stories where weight loss was concerned.
When I saw the Lipids consultant at the hospital, he was also very keen to prescribe statins, despite the fact that i argued that my ratios were acceptable. He was not having it and gave me 4 months to reduce my LDL by 1 point from 5.9 mmol/L. I accepted his challenge.
It's been 2 months since I've been on the Ketogenic diet. My weight is now 54.6 kg and it's been stable for the past 2 weeks. I have not been at this weight for over 4 decades. The belly fat has significantly reduced and my clothes fit me more comfortably - some of them are actually too big now.
I eat mainly once a day (OMAD - One meal a day) and less than 20g of Carbohydrates daily. I am not afraid of eating healthy fats anymore. Needless to say, my cholesterol levels have not come down significantly. I have since learnt that this is fine.
I am enjoying my Keto journey and look forward to spreading the word of the benefits of a healthy Ketogenic diet.
I came across intermittent fasting as a way that could help. In a way, I was already doing it as I was used to finishing my last meal by 6 pm and would usually go without food until I wake up and have breakfast, so that was a good 13-14 hours fasting. So it was a plan to put into action.
I began by finishing my last meal of the day a little earlier and delaying breakfast by a couple of hours, giving me about 16 -18 hours of fasting time. Then after a week or so, I asked myself if I was really hungry enough to have breakfast. The answer was no. It had been ingrained in me that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and one should not skip it. I also came across other teachings like 'Eat only when you're hungry'. I decided then that I did not need breakfast and my first meal of the day became lunch. Yes, the weight did come off a little. I lost about 3 kgs and stagnated.
Around the end of the month, I decided to go to the doctor's clinic to have a wellness check-up. The results came back with flying colours except blood cholesterol, which was 'elevated'. I was to see the nurse for advice, but I didn't as I thought I would deal with it myself by eating more 'healthy' foods like oats, oatbran, garlic, low-fat, etc.
In June i had another blood test. To the horror of my doctor, my cholesterol level had marginally changed upwards. I was called in to see him and he was quick to prescribe statins to bring the cholesterol level down, citing the goodness of statins. I refused the prescription and he gave me the option of seeing the Lipids specialist at the hospital, which I chose.
In the meantime, i continued with consuming oatbran, exercising, and eating carefully. I did not do much research on cholesterol as I thought that consuming oatbran would help. 2 days before my appointment, I came across the Ketogenic diet. I decided to give that a go having seen the success stories where weight loss was concerned.
When I saw the Lipids consultant at the hospital, he was also very keen to prescribe statins, despite the fact that i argued that my ratios were acceptable. He was not having it and gave me 4 months to reduce my LDL by 1 point from 5.9 mmol/L. I accepted his challenge.
It's been 2 months since I've been on the Ketogenic diet. My weight is now 54.6 kg and it's been stable for the past 2 weeks. I have not been at this weight for over 4 decades. The belly fat has significantly reduced and my clothes fit me more comfortably - some of them are actually too big now.
I eat mainly once a day (OMAD - One meal a day) and less than 20g of Carbohydrates daily. I am not afraid of eating healthy fats anymore. Needless to say, my cholesterol levels have not come down significantly. I have since learnt that this is fine.
I am enjoying my Keto journey and look forward to spreading the word of the benefits of a healthy Ketogenic diet.
RSS Feed