Case #9 A12-month journey of weight loss and diabetes reveral
A personal account, written by a 42-yo working professional
Since 2015, my weight has fluctuated between 102 and 108 kgs.
I used to eat anything and everything without regard for the number of calories or actual nutritional value of food. Here’s what my day used to look like:
8 AM: Coffee or tea with sugar
Breakfast: Upma/Poha/Parathas
11 AM: Bhujia sev with a cup of coffee with sugar
Lunch: 1/2kg rice, nearly 300 to 400gms of dal and sabzi, two rotis with 100gms of Bhujia sev
3 PM: Coffee with sugar
6 PM: Coffee with sugar
Dinner: Similar to lunch
On weekends, I probably consumed 1000 extra calories.
I love to cook, and used to have extremely rich foods like dal makhni cooked low and slow over 6 to 7 hours, pizza, pasta etc.
I did not limit use of butter, ghee, cream or cheese when cooking either.
On June 18, 2021 I got my blood sugar tested because I used to wake up very frequently at night to urinate (something I later found out was a classic symptom of blood sugar).
The results were shocking, to say the least!
My fasting and PP were well over 300. My entire lipid profile was skewed; triglycerides were in the dangerously high range of 576.
A few days later, I also got my Hba1c checked.
Unsurprisingly, the doctor immediately put me on Metformin and asked me to start walking.
Over the next 15 days, I lost almost 3 kgs.
In July, I joined the Twin Health Program on the recommendation of one of my wife’s friends.
During my first consultation with their nutritionist, I learned about the damage that my food had been doing to my system.
Almost immediately, I was put onto a low carb - high fat ‘Keto’ diet.
Initially, I was also prescribed a dose of gliptin and metformin daily.
Eventually, I moved off it in less than 15 days.
I also added a minimum of 5km walking to my daily routine.
The results were pretty extraordinary to say the least.
By August 14th - roughly one month later - my weight had fallen to 92.9kgs.
That means I had shed nearly 10kgs in just one month!
That first month (July to August) was very challenging, though, because I got a case of Keto Flu.
I had a severe bloating sensation for about a week.
I felt light-headed.
I couldn't sleep on a couple of days.
I was also constipated, and felt nauseous at times.
This persisted for about 7 to 8 days after which it subsided.
The constipation and diarrhea cycle was a bit of a constant during my Keto days, though.
Once I started this journey, I spent a lot of time educating myself online.
There was countless evidence that spoke in favor of fasting and intermittent fasting, so I independently decided to incorporate that into my routine.
I starting fasting for 20 hours daily, and ate only during a 4 hour interval.
While there is no way to be certain, I believe that fasting + keto gave me a much better result than I would have gotten with Keto itself.
By the time Navratri came around (Oct 7, 2021), I weighed 88kg.
I had already done two to three rounds of 48 hour fasting, and wanted to try my first extended fast during Navratri.
Within 6 days, my weight had dropped to 81.9kgs.
In fact, I had to stop my fast midway because I was worried about the impact it may have had on my muscles.
During this extended fast, I continued my walking routine (5km per day).
I felt very clear-headed, but a bit weaker.
My ketone levels peaked at around 3 mmol/L on day 3 of the fast and stayed around the same level; an indication that my body had fat adapted.
After a 5.5 day fast, I shed about 7.5 kg!
I stopped when I saw my weight get to 80 kg, because I know I was losing muscle mass too, and I didn't want to start looking scrawny.
Roughly one month after Navratri, I checked my Hba1c again.
In 4 months:
I had lost nearly 24 kgs
I had dropped my Hba1c from 13.1% to 4.7%
I had reduced my triglycerdies from 547 to 53.
Of course, I was happy! But this had come at a small cost.
I had developed some persistent gastro issues.
While on Keto, I experienced rounds of constipation followed by diarrhea.
I had also developed a very low tolerance for sugar alcohol sweeteners such as Erythritol.
I would have violent diarrhea as a reaction to eating anything with these keto sweeteners.
Whenever I would be in a car on a rough road, I noticed I would get cramps and gas due to the bumping and shaking of the vehicle.
This was not a one-off experience; this happened very regularly when I was continuing my Keto diet.
These two occurrences made me conclude that Keto was having some sort of negative effect on my gut health.
It was possible that the low carb had altered the composition of my gut microbiome, and left me with a very sensitive gut.
I tried a good quality prebiotic and probiotic supplement, but it helped only a little.
So after much research, I decided to alter my own diet from a low carb-high fat to a whole food, plant based diet that is slightly higher in carbs.
I also amended my intermittent fasting from 20/4 to 16/8.
This meant that I had doubled my eating interval from 4 hours per day to 8 hours per day.
As a result of these changes, my Hba1c rose from 4.7 to 5.2…
…BUT I got tremendous relief from my GI issues.
Today, this is what my average meal looks like:
Pre Workout: Black coffee and 50 ml soy milk
Post Workout: Plant Protein shake 1 scoop, 25 to 30g of roasted peanuts and 25 to 30 g of roasted gram, with 2 fruits depending on what is available at home
Breakfast: Overnight oats in Soy Milk (300g), Unsweetened Peanut Butter (10 to 20g), Date Syrup, Dates or Molasses for sweetening (10 to 20g). Once a week, I eat Upma or Poha (200 to 250g) or 2 Ragi/Millet Dosa with 4 tbsp Coconut Chutney or 1 Tofu Paratha with Soy Yogurt and Pickle
Lunch: Tofu (200g) stir fried with vegetables (200g), and a few sauces (soy sauce, szechuan chutney etc.). I combine this with either 300g of positive millet rice (mix of foxtail, kodo, little, barnyard and browntop millets) or unpolished rice with dal (300g) sambar (300g) and/or subzi (200 to 250g)
Snack: Depends on whether I got enough calories at lunch. Usually, I have roasted peanuts (40g)
4 PM: Black coffee
I don't typically eat after this. But if I start feeling hungry, I will eat some peanuts (20g) by 6 pm.
I track almost everything on my HealthifyMe app.
I typically work out at least 5 days a week.
3 days of strength training (90 minutes) and 2 days of running (minimum of 5K) and a long run on Sunday (between 10K to 21K) depending on my mood.
Here is what my most recent report (10 days back) looks like:
Despite eating nearly 2500 calories daily and enjoying my fruits, I have managed to maintain my Hba1c and weight exactly where I want it to be.
All this, without any gastric trouble!
Weight loss and diabetes management has no shortcut.
You aren’t looking for a 3 - month result.
You are looking to build a life-long discipline.
My journey over the last 12 months has completely redefined my relationship with my food and my body.
I hope my story inspires you to do the same!