From humble beginnings, and with stories of double-digit weight loss filling my head, I started on my keto journey. The wife and I went to Costco and bought a metric crapload of meat, cheese, and keto-friendly vegetables. We packaged it up into meal-sized portions and froze the bulk of it. Pork loin, ground beef, ribs, a beef brisket, mega bag of shredded cheese, eggs by the dozens, frozen broccoli by the ton, the entire cauliflower output of a small country. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Ok, maybe we went a little overboard. Good news is, pretty much all of it freezes well, so at least our weekly grocery cost has gone down.
Our dinners are typically some meat grilled or smoked (the brisket we bought was the first time I’d tried smoking brisket. Good, but the process needs improving. That will be another post.) along with some veggies, usually sauteed in either coconut oil or saved bacon grease (mmm, bacon) and topped with cheese. Breakfast is usually 3 eggs with cheese and a side of breakfast meat (Bob Evans Pork Sausage Patties or thick cut BACON!) Lunches are more varied. Chicken and tuna salad, left overs, microwaved burgers, etc.
I have NOT seen the dramatic weight loss that many people report. I’m definitely in ketosis, as I can smell it on me and I rarely eat more than 20 carbs per day. I’m drinking a ton of water. Usually over a gallon per day. I’m taking my multivitamin, like I’m supposed to. Hitting the general vicinity of my macros. But I’m only averaging about two pounds of weight loss per week.
And while I’ve felt some disappointment in that lack of overwhelming weight loss, keto has caused some amazing changes in me. As mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve been a type 2 diabetic for over a decade. My last A1C test was 9.8, almost twice the upper end of the normal range. My blood glucose has almost always been over 200 after eating, and sometimes I would get readings in the 4oos. My doctor has been telling me for a few months that the next imminent step was to start insulin injections. It was after that last A1C, and the rest of the bloodwork (none of which was terribly heartening) that I decided to start keto.
After just two days on keto, I started feeling crappy in between meals. Shaky hands, inability to concentrate, weakness. I knew these symptoms, my sugar was low! Sure enough, I was testing in the 60s. So, starting on day 4 or 5, I stopped taking my meds (Metformin, Atorvastatin, and Glipizide).
Now, let me take a minute to talk about how this is a astronomically bad way to do things. You should talk to your doctor before you make any changes to your medication. You should wean off of meds in small steps, and not make any major changes. I’ll repeat myself: IN NO WAY DO I RECOMMEND DOING WHAT I DID TO ANYONE ELSE. But I am genetically predisposed to be hardheaded and to consider myself invincible and exempt from the law of averages. This has caused me no end of pain and foolishness, and I have no plans to stop anytime soon. Remember the “loud and large” thing from my first post? Yeah…
So, in fortunate support of my decision, my diabetic symptoms WENT AWAY. I’m not saying they got better, or that they improved. I’m saying that for over 10 years I was testing my blood glucose at 200-250 or more after meals, the next day I started keto, and a day or two after that, I was having hypoglycemic events. I stopped taking my meds, and after dinner the next day, I tested my BG at 103 after dinner. I’ve tested after dinner every day since, and I’ve never tested above 120, and never below 90.
So, when I talk about disappointment, understand that I’m disappointed IN MY WEIGHT LOSS. Keto has seemingly eliminated one of the major impacts of my fatness, and done so through bacon.