Thread by @LowCarbSpud

I see so many people sharing their stories of getting healthy with fasting/keto/carnivore and feel guilty for not sharing mine. Ive been helped so much by other peoples stories so I think its finally time to contribute mine. Im terribly shy so Im not ready to share pictures yet.

Im 27 and had been overweight since childhood. Always had weird symptoms like swelling up after meals, fatigue, brain fog, and others not normal stuff for a kid. Doctors would always tell my parents those things were because of my weight and to feed me low fat healthy carbs.

By the time I was a teenager I had already been on diets for years and nothing ever helped and I got bigger. I was already over 200 pounds when I started highschool and I was only 5’7”

When I was 16 my doctor expressed mild concern that I had only just started my period but said it was probably no big deal and ignored it saying my weight was the real problem. I became a vegetarian to try and lose weight and started running but still nothing worked.

Finally in my senior year I lost some weight and got down to 180. I had become so desperate that I tried starving myself but would eat one meal a day so no one would realize what I was doing. If I caved and ate food outside of that I would throw it up.

Turns out I was sorta right about the OMAD which I find a bit funny now. but the way I was doing it with vegetarian meals and disordered eating was NOT good. My doctor said whatever I was doing to keep it up. Was only getting a period every few months. She didnt care about that

I kept up the vegetarian diet for 5 years which turned into veganism for a year. my health (mental and physical) tanked. to make matters worse I suffered a foot injury and could no longer run. I also started eating several small low calorie meals at the advice of my doctor

The weight piled back on despite my vegetarian low calorie low fat diet. I went to several doctors for issues which I now know were PCOS and PMDD but for years I was brushed off and scolded for not losing weight.

I started eating meat again because I felt so sick all the time. I felt a little better. I finally got a doctor to listen to my problems and she said birth control was the only thing anyone could do for me. I spent the next five years on various birth control pills

The pills helped some of my PCOS symptoms but made my PMDD much worse. From the time I finished high-school until this year (almost 10 years) I struggled with crippling depression, rage, and suicidal thoughts for at least a week out of every month like clockwork.

Doctors would tell me “dont blame your period for your problems all girls go though pms” and like usual would be given a different birth control and told to lose weight.

Almost two years ago now I finally couldnt take it anymore. i had tried everything and nothing worked and I was feeling more and more sick all the time. At this point I was only eating 800-1000 calories a day. I went to the doctor detemined to make her listen to me.

I broke down in the doctors office and told her in detail how much I was eating and what (lean meats, whole grains, veggies, fruit, no junk food) and she told me “if you were really doing all that you wouldnt be big” she wrote me a referral to a psychiatrist and showed me out.

I was completely devastated. I had always been researching different diets and things that might help but it now became an obsession as I knew I could never trust doctors again.

Shortly after this, I discovered the insulin connection to PCOS through a friend and cut all sugar which at that point was only fruit and occasional chocolate. I lost a little weight but still struggled to find information, I had just started reading up on keto.

Early the next year I had a friend who also struggled with his weight tell me he was going to try fasting. This scared me because I had always thought that to be a dangerous eating disorder. I started researching it out of concern for my friend.

I found an interview with @drjasonfung on youtube and I would not be exagerating at all to say it saved my life. I started reading and watching everything I could get my hands on about fasting, keto, and diabetes (which I now understood to be related to PCOS)

I discovered @KenDBerryMD and and dove into his work as well. This led me on a journey of strict keto for about 8 months with intermittent fasting and OMAD.

I was doing amazing. Losing weight and feeling fantastic, when completely out of the blue my pharmacy decided they were going to switch my birth control telling me there was a list of ones which were compatable so it didnt matter which one they gave me.

My PMDD which had been improving, went completely out of control to the point where I was struggling with suicidal thoughts again and finally I couldnt take it anymore and my husband convinced me to try stopping the pills. Within two days I was completely fine.

I was now completely convinced I needed to heal myself with diet and nothing else. I discovered @SBakerMD and the carnivore diet and have been following this diet for almost 4 months now and I have never been healthier or happier in my whole life.

In the last two years Ive lost 75 pounds, started having regular periods, have had my mental health completely turn around, almost zero PMDD symptoms each month, no digestive issues at all, no feeling swollen all the time, no anxiety, and most importantly no suicidal thoughts.

I feel amazing, I workout all the time, Ive started running again, Im really happy, and am enjoying the many benefits of fasting and eating lots of meat! At my heaviest I was 225 and am now down to 155 which is less than I weighed in the 6th grade.

THANK YOU to the doctors whos work has helped me and all those who share their stories. You have all quite literally saved my life. I hope that by sharing my story I might help someone else, even if only one person. Please feel free to share if you know someone this might help.