Yo-Yo Dieting

Summary

The Obesity Code podcast, hosted by Dr. Jason Fung and Megan Ramos, discusses the common struggle of weight regain post-diet, known as the 'dietary yo-yo.' They explore the science behind why diets often fail in the long term, including slowed metabolism and increased hunger hormones. The show features Melissa Bishop's journey, who after trying various diets, found success with a ketogenic diet and fasting. The episode challenges conventional weight loss wisdom and highlights the importance of insulin resistance in obesity, advocating for a shift in dietary guidelines.

Takeaways

• 🔄 The 'dietary yo-yo' is a common experience where dieters lose weight only to gain it back, often due to metabolic adaptation and increased hunger hormones.
• 🧬 Metabolic rate tends to slow down after weight loss, making it harder to maintain the lower weight, as shown in studies like the Women's Health Initiative.
• 🏆 The reality TV show 'The Biggest Loser' contestants experienced significant metabolic slowdown and weight regain, despite increased exercise post-show.
• ❄️ Reduced basal metabolic rate after weight loss can lead to feelings of coldness, as the body uses fewer calories to maintain basic functions.
• 🤯 Hormonal changes post-weight loss, such as increased ghrelin (hunger hormone), make it difficult to ignore hunger and sustain weight loss long-term.
• 💔 Yo-yo dieting can lead to psychological effects like learned helplessness and a negative association of weight loss with suffering.
• 🚫 The common belief that obesity is due to lack of willpower is challenged by evidence showing that many obese individuals have high willpower and eat relatively little.
• 🕒 The timing of meals, not just the content, is crucial for weight management and overcoming insulin resistance, which is key to sustainable weight loss.
• 📉 The idea that all calories are equal and that weight gain is purely a matter of energy balance (calories in vs. calories out) is an oversimplification that doesn't account for hormonal and metabolic factors.
• 📚 There is a call for a shift in dietary guidelines to reflect current scientific understanding of nutrition, particularly regarding the role of carbohydrates, fats, and insulin resistance in obesity and weight management.
• 🌐 The script highlights the influence of historical dietary advice, such as Ancel Keys' Seven Countries Study, which has been criticized for shaping guidelines that may contribute to obesity and related health issues.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the Obesity Code podcast?

The main topic of the Obesity Code podcast is the discussion of weight loss, dietary management, and the experiences of individuals who have struggled with obesity and yo-yo dieting.

What is the 'dietary yo-yo' experience mentioned in the podcast?

The 'dietary yo-yo' refers to the common experience of people who diet, lose weight, and then regain the weight, leading to a cycle of repeated weight loss and gain.

What is the Women's Health Initiative mentioned by Dr. Fung?

The Women's Health Initiative is a large study involving almost 50,000 postmenopausal women who were assigned to a low-fat, calorie-controlled diet, which showed that despite initial weight loss, the weight crept back up within six to seven years.

Why does Dr. Fung believe that diets tend to stop working after a certain period?

Dr. Fung suggests that diets stop working because the body's metabolic rate slows down and hunger hormones increase, making it difficult for people to continue losing weight or maintain the weight loss.

What is the role of insulin resistance in weight regain according to the podcast?

Insulin resistance plays a significant role in weight regain as it causes the body to produce more insulin, leading to increased fat storage and making it harder to lose weight or maintain weight loss.

What was the impact of the study involving contestants from The Biggest Loser on the understanding of weight regain?

The study showed that even though the contestants lost a significant amount of weight and increased their physical activity, their metabolic rates decreased, and they regained the weight, highlighting the challenges of maintaining weight loss.

What are the two major issues with standard weight loss techniques as discussed in the podcast?

The two major issues are the tendency for the metabolic rate to slow down and the increase in hunger hormones, both of which contribute to the difficulty of maintaining weight loss.

How does the podcast address the psychological effect of yo-yo dieting?

The podcast discusses the concept of 'learned helplessness' where individuals who repeatedly experience weight regain after dieting start to believe that there's nothing they can do to maintain weight loss, leading to a negative psychological impact.

What is the role of meal planning in Melissa Bishop's success with the ketogenic diet?

Meal planning played a crucial role in Melissa's success as it helped her ensure that she was eating adequate, satisfying meals within her designated eating windows, which helped prevent overeating and cravings.

How did Melissa Bishop's perspective on nutrition and health change after listening to Dr. Fung's book on fasting?

After listening to Dr. Fung's book, Melissa realized the importance of when to eat, not just what to eat, and understood that lowering insulin levels through fasting could help with weight loss and overall health, leading her to adopt a ketogenic diet and fasting regimen.

Outlines

00:00

🔁 The Yo-Yo Dieting Cycle Explained

The Obesity Code podcast, hosted by Carl Franklin, features Dr. Jason Fung and Megan Ramos discussing the common struggle of weight regain after dieting, known as the dietary yo-yo effect. Melissa Bishop's story illustrates this cycle, having tried various diets like the Keto diet, Nutrisystem, Weight Watchers, and calorie counting, only to regain the weight. Dr. Fung explains that diets tend to work initially but fail in the long term due to a slowing metabolic rate and hormonal changes that increase hunger. A study on the Women's Health Initiative supports this, showing that despite continued adherence to a low-fat, calorie-controlled diet, weight loss was not sustained over time.

05:01

🏆 The Reality of The Biggest Loser Weight Regain

Dr. Fung cites a study on contestants from the reality show 'The Biggest Loser', which demonstrates significant metabolic slowdown after weight loss, leading to weight regain. Even with increased physical activity, the contestants' bodies adjusted by reducing their resting metabolic rates, making further weight loss difficult. This study highlights the body's response to calorie restriction and the challenge of maintaining weight loss, contradicting the assumption that weight regain is due to a lack of willpower or discipline.

10:06

🤯 Hormonal Hunger and Yo-Yo Dieting's Psychological Impact

The podcast delves into the hormonal aspects of hunger and satiety, showing how weight loss can increase ghrelin (the hunger hormone) and decrease satiety hormones, leading to increased hunger. Melissa's personal experience with extreme hunger on diets is shared, illustrating the struggle against powerful survival instincts. The psychological effect of yo-yo dieting is discussed as learned helplessness, where repeated failed attempts at weight loss lead to a belief that there's nothing one can do to maintain weight loss, affecting both physical and mental health.

15:06

🚫 Challenging the Conventional Wisdom on Obesity and Diet

The discussion challenges the conventional wisdom that obesity is solely due to overeating and lack of exercise. It critiques the simplistic energy balance model and the assumption that all obese individuals have low willpower. The narrative points out the flaws in Ancel Keys' research, which led to the promotion of low-fat diets, and the subsequent impact on public health. The podcast emphasizes the need to understand the real reasons behind weight regain and obesity, beyond just calories in versus calories out.

20:06

🔍 Melissa's Personal Struggle with Weight and Metabolic Issues

Melissa shares her personal journey with weight and metabolic issues, beginning in high school. She discusses her family's history with obesity and type 2 diabetes, her father's struggle with diabetes, and her own attempts at weight loss through various diets. The narrative highlights the emotional and physical toll of repeated weight loss and regain, and the impact of societal and familial expectations on body weight.

25:08

🌡️ The Role of Insulin Resistance in Weight Regain

The podcast explains the role of insulin resistance in weight regain, describing how high insulin levels can lead to increased fat storage and difficulty losing weight. Melissa's realization of the importance of diet timing and the impact of processed foods on her insulin levels are discussed. The episode emphasizes the importance of understanding insulin's role in the body's metabolic processes and how it influences weight management.

30:10

🚫 Debunking Myths About Fasting and Metabolism

Dr. Fung addresses common misconceptions about fasting, particularly the belief that skipping meals will cause metabolism to slow down. He explains that insulin levels, not meal frequency, are the key to metabolism regulation. Fasting is presented as a tool to lower insulin levels, allowing the body to access and burn stored fat. Melissa's personal experience with fasting, including her successful 7-day fast, challenges the myth and demonstrates the potential benefits of this approach.

35:12

🍽️ Developing a Predictable Routine for Success in IDM

Melissa outlines the key strategies she used to successfully implement the Intensive Dietary Management (IDM) program. She emphasizes the importance of a predictable routine, meal planning, and having 'safe' ketogenic foods available. The summary highlights her strategies for fasting days, including electrolyte balance and hydration, as well as her approach to feast days, ensuring she had satisfying and nutritious meals.

40:15

🍺 Navigating Social Situations and Vacations with IDM

The episode discusses the challenges of maintaining a ketogenic diet during social events and vacations. Melissa shares her experience on a European cruise, where she attempted to stay keto but also indulged in local delicacies. Despite her fears, Melissa found that she was able to return to her ketogenic diet after the trip and did not experience the weight regain she had in the past, demonstrating the resilience and adaptability of her new lifestyle.

45:17

😡 The Frustration with Current Dietary Guidelines and Misinformation

Melissa expresses her anger towards the promoters of low-fat diets and the dietary guidelines that contribute to obesity and related health issues. She criticizes Ancel Keys, the American Heart Association, and governmental policies that subsidize unhealthy crops. The podcast discusses the historical context of the low-fat diet's promotion and its impact on public health, highlighting the need for updated guidelines based on current scientific understanding.

50:19

📉 The Lack of Evidence Supporting Current Dietary Guidelines

The final paragraph critiques the lack of evidence supporting the current dietary guidelines, particularly the recommendations on saturated fats and whole grains. It points out that the guidelines are not based on rigorous clinical trials and that there is growing evidence that low-carb diets can improve health outcomes. The discussion predicts a shift in dietary recommendations in the future, as the evidence in favor of low-carb and ketogenic diets becomes undeniable.

55:23

🌱 The Future of Low-Carb and Ketogenic Diets in Healthcare

Melissa shares her optimism about the future of low-carb and ketogenic diets, predicting that they will become mainstream recommendations within the next 15 years. She discusses her personal health improvements on the diet and her efforts to educate others, including starting a ketogenic living meetup group. The episode concludes with Melissa's success story, having lost 35 pounds easily and maintaining her weight, and her commitment to spreading awareness about the benefits of a low-carb lifestyle.

Keywords

💡Obesity

Obesity is a medical condition characterized by excessive body fat to the extent that health may be negatively affected. In the video, obesity is the central theme, discussed in the context of dietary habits, weight loss struggles, and health implications. The script mentions the 'obesity code' and the 'Women's Health Initiative,' which are directly related to understanding and addressing obesity.

💡Yo-Yo Dieting

Yo-yo dieting refers to the cyclical process of losing and then regaining weight, often associated with extreme or unsustainable diet plans. The script discusses the experience of 97% of dieters known as the dietary yo-yo, illustrating the common struggle of weight loss and regain, as mentioned by Melissa Bishop who tried various diets but always ended up regaining the weight.

💡Metabolic Rate

Metabolic rate is the number of calories expended by the body at rest, essential for maintaining bodily functions. The script explains that a major issue with standard weight loss techniques is the tendency for the metabolic rate to slow down after significant weight loss, as seen in the study by Kevin Hall of the NIH involving contestants from 'The Biggest Loser.'

💡Insulin Resistance

Insulin resistance is a condition in which the body's cells do not respond properly to the hormone insulin, leading to high blood sugar levels. The script discusses insulin resistance as a key factor in obesity and weight regain, explaining that high insulin levels promote fat storage and make it difficult to access body fat for energy, thus contributing to weight gain.

💡Ketogenic Diet

A ketogenic diet is a high-fat, adequate-protein, low-carbohydrate diet that forces the body to burn fats rather than carbohydrates. The script mentions the ketogenic diet as an alternative approach to weight management and health, which Melissa Bishop eventually adopted after experiencing the yo-yo effect of traditional diets.

💡Fasting

Fasting is the abstention from food or drink for a period of time, often used for health or weight loss purposes. The script discusses fasting as a method to lower insulin levels and allow the body to access stored fat for energy, which was a turning point for Melissa Bishop's weight loss journey.

💡Hunger Hormones

Hunger hormones, such as ghrelin, are part of the body's system that regulates hunger and satiety. The script explains that forcing weight loss can lead to increased levels of hunger hormones, making it difficult to maintain weight loss, as people become physically hungrier and struggle to ignore these hormonal signals.

💡Learned Helplessness

Learned helplessness is a psychological condition in which a human or animal has learned to act or behave helplessly in a particular situation, usually after experiencing some inability to avoid an adverse situation. In the script, this concept is applied to the mindset of individuals who have repeatedly failed at diets, leading to a belief that they are incapable of controlling their weight.

💡Dietary Guidelines

Dietary guidelines are a set of recommendations for healthy eating that are often issued by governments or health organizations. The script criticizes the current dietary guidelines for promoting low-fat diets and grain consumption without sufficient evidence, suggesting they may contribute to obesity and related health issues.

💡Low-Carb Community

The low-carb community refers to a group of people who advocate for or follow low-carbohydrate diets, often as a means to manage weight or health conditions. The script is from a podcast by Kido LLC, which supports this community with content and discussions, including the experiences and lessons from the intensive dietary management program.

💡Willpower

Willpower is the ability to resist short-term temptations in order to meet long-term goals. The script challenges the common misconception that obesity is a result of a lack of willpower, explaining that physiological factors such as metabolic rate and hunger hormones play a significant role in weight management, rather than just self-discipline.

Highlights

The Obesity Code podcast discusses the common experience of weight regain after dieting, known as the dietary yo-yo.

Melissa Bishop shares her personal journey with multiple diets, including meal replacements and calorie counting, which all resulted in temporary weight loss followed by regain.

Dr. Jason Fung explains that the initial success of diets is often followed by a gradual weight regain, which is not due to a lack of adherence but a biological response.

A study from the Women's Health Initiative showed that postmenopausal women on a low-fat, calorie-controlled diet regained weight after an initial weight loss, despite continuing the diet.

Dr. Fung emphasizes that weight regain is not due to a lack of willpower but has physiological reasons, such as a slowed metabolic rate and increased hunger hormones.

A study by Kevin Hall of the NIH demonstrated that contestants from The Biggest Loser experienced a significant drop in their metabolic rate after weight loss, leading to weight regain despite increased physical activity.

Hunger hormones, such as ghrelin, increase after weight loss, making it difficult to maintain weight loss due to increased hunger and cravings.

Melissa Bishop describes her experience of extreme hunger while on a restrictive diet, which contributed to feelings of failure and the eventual regain of weight.

Dr. Fung discusses the psychological impact of yo-yo dieting, including learned helplessness and the association of weight loss with suffering.

The podcast challenges the conventional wisdom that overeating and lack of exercise are the sole causes of obesity, highlighting the role of insulin resistance and metabolic adaptation.

Melissa's father's struggle with diabetes and weight gain, despite insulin therapy, illustrates the complexity of managing metabolic disorders with medication alone.

Dr. Fung explains that reducing carbohydrate intake can improve insulin sensitivity and reduce the need for medication in diabetes management.

Melissa successfully loses weight and improves her health by adopting a ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting, which helped her overcome insulin resistance.

The importance of meal planning and having a routine for fasting and feasting days is highlighted as a key to Melissa's success with the IDM program.

Melissa shares her experience of maintaining her ketogenic lifestyle while on vacation, demonstrating that it is possible to adhere to the diet in various situations.

The podcast concludes with Melissa's reflections on the outdated dietary guidelines and the need for a shift towards low-carb and ketogenic diets as a healthier alternative.

Transcripts

[Music]

[Music]

from to Quito LLC it's the obesity code

podcast with dr. Jason Fung and Megan

Ramos each week we bring you lessons and

stories from the intensive dietary

management program in Toronto Canada I'm

Carl Franklin and on today's show we're

talking about the experience of 97% of

all dieters known as the dietary yo-yo

the obesity code podcast is brought to

you by - Kido LLC who strives to support

the low carb community with podcasts and

other publications and you can support

our mission by making a monthly pledge

no matter how small at patreon - Kido

calm

today's show centers around IDM patient

melissa bishop who spent most of her

life bouncing up and down on the strings

of various diets my journey with dieting

is heartbreaking to myself because I

tried absolutely everything Mehta fast

Nutrisystem Weight Watchers multiple

times calorie counting and I would

always lose the weight and then I would

always gain the weight back I have a

feeling nearly everyone has experienced

the yo-yo at some point I know I have

the conventional wisdom is that most

people who diet regain the weight here's

dr. Fung so whether you do a ketogenic

diet a Paleo diet the calorie controlled

diet low fat that really whatever sort

of diet you want to do it generally does

pretty well for about six months the

problem is that the weight starts

creeping back up and for a lot of people

assume that this is because people stop

following the diet but if you talk to

enough dieters you'll realize that this

is not really the case most people

continue to follow the diet it's just

that it seems to stop working and this

is one of the reasons that people say

that all diets don't work and this is

just meant to be an this kind of thing

now just to drive the point home dr.

Fung talks about a study where this

effect has been documented if you look

at the studies that have been done in

the literature there's several large

studies one of the biggest one is the

Women's Health Initiative which was

almost 50,000 postmenopausal women who

are randomized to sort of a low-fat

calorie-controlled diet and what they

found was that people did pretty well

for about a year six months to a year

and then the weight crept right back up

[Music]

and by the time they hit six or seven

years despite continuing to follow this

calorie restricted diet what they found

was that the weight was essentially no

different than what they had started

with so all that weight that they

struggled so hard to lose came right

back

so like many of us Melissa experienced

this quite a lot and like most of us she

blamed herself when she failed when I

listened to dr. Fung explaining the

process I almost started crying because

every time I lost the weight and then

gained the weight it made me feel like a

complete and total failure for more on

how we blame the obese for their

condition listen to episode 2 of the

obesity code' podcast but as dr. Fung

explains there are real reasons why the

weight comes back and spoiler alert it's

not for a lack of willpower there's two

major issues with the standards weight

loss techniques one is that the

metabolic rate tends to slow down there

was a study done by a team led by Kevin

hall of the NIH who tested metabolic

behavior of contestants from The Biggest

Loser and that of course is Richard

Morris my co-host of the two keto dudes

podcast he's talking about the Biggest

Loser which is a reality TV show in

which people competed to lose weight a

team tested 14 contestants before the

competition at the conclusion of the

competition and then six years later

they tested them again and found some

interesting and troubling things before

the competition the contestants weighed

an average of 149 kilograms with a BMI

of obese class 3 by the end of the

competition they'd managed as a group to

get their weight down to an average of

90 kilograms or just into a BMI between

normal and overweight great outcome

right well six years later when the team

went back to test them their body weight

had returned to an average of 132

kilograms and their BMI z' were obese

class 3 again

[Music]

and five of the 14 contestants were even

within 1% of their starting weight now

at first glance you might think well

they must have stopped exercising when

the competition finished but the

researchers measured their physical

activity before the competition they

were doing 5.6 calories of exercise for

every killer that they weighed by the

time the competition had finished they

were doing 10.0 calories for every kilo

of body weight and by the six year

follow-up that had increased to 10.1

calories but remember they'd also gained

all the weight back so now they were

doing significantly more exercise and

they still put all that weight back on

[Music]

you might think oh well they must have

fallen off their diets but the

researchers also measured where they got

their energy from and that showed at the

six year follow-up they were still

eating a protein forward balanced diet

so what had really changed is their

resting metabolic rate the amount of

energy that they use just being alive

[Music]

before the competition their rate was

over 2600 kilocalories per day and at

the end of the competition after having

lost all of their weight it had been cut

to just under 2,000 kilocalories per day

and what was very troubling was that

after the six year follow-up it had been

further cut by an additional 100

kilocalories per day they literally had

to workout twice as hard and they were

still going backwards their bodies

responded to a restriction in available

calories by making cost savings in the

metabolic rates may he had increasingly

harder to further restrict calories

[Music]

as you are burning less calories you

aren't feeling so good so remember that

this is the energy that the body uses to

generate body heat for example keep your

liver your kidneys or brain your heart

all in working condition and if you're

burning less calories you may for

example feel very cold all the time and

that's one of the the consistent thing

people notice when they lose weight is

that their basal metabolic rate goes

down and they feel cold all the time so

a reduction in basal metabolic rate due

to calorie restriction is one of the

major reasons why people eventually

regain the weight

another reason is hunger if you look at

weight loss and measure either hormones

or look at subjective scales of hunger

you'll find that hunger is increased so

you can measure something called ghrelin

which is the hunger hormone and if you

force people to lose weight ten percent

of their weight over one year then what

you find is that there

ghrelin levels are much higher than they

were before they lost the weight and

their satiety hormones things such as

peptide YY and cholecystokinin they're

actually lower than they were in other

words you're less full so when you do a

scale of how hungry they are they are

more hungry as dr. Fung explains

fighting your hormones is most often a

losing battle it's not that these people

are have less well power than they did

before but they are actually physically

hormonal e more hungry and it's very

very hard to ignore hunger because it's

one of your most basic survival

instincts and the problem is that you

can ignore it for a certain amount of

time but can you do it day in day out

year after year after year after year

and it's just very very difficult to do

I can remember very specific times of

eating my Weight Watchers lunch I'm a

compulsive person so I was weighing

everything and measuring everything and

tracking everything and I ate my lunch

of my Deli flat with my two ounces of

turkey breast and my laughing cow cheese

and was starving afterwards and said to

my husband I am so hungry I feel like I

could chew my arm off and that's how I

lived my life if I could fight that off

all day then I could potentially be

successful now I'm remembering that the

longer I went the hungrier I got so it

was like the lower my weight got the

hungrier I got so what's the

psychological effect of yo-yo dieting

well it's a learned helplessness we

start to equate losing weight with

suffering therefore when we discover

something that works like a ketogenic

and fasting regimen we assume will have

the same old issues we've been having

all these years I was never satisfied

eating lost all joy I wasn't eating

things that were delicious I was eating

things that were on my diet and

everything that was delicious was kind

of off limits for me dr. Fong tells us

why not only does this yo-yo dieting

inhibit us physically but also mentally

one of the things that we have to really

guard against this is sort of learned

helplessness that people who are trying

to lose weight get because they've tried

so many diets and because so many of

these diets have failed again and again

they sort of learned that there's

nothing they can do and I think that

this is because most diets focus on only

half of the piece of the puzzle that is

they focus on the foods that you should

or should not be eating

really pay no attention to the sort of

when that is should you eat once a day

twice a day three times a day six times

a day ten times a day or zero times a

day it turns out that when you eat is

just as if not more important than what

you eat eating all of your daily

calories in one smaller window every day

gives your body more time to lower

insulin and that is the key to undoing

insulin resistance if you have insulin

resistance your body responds by making

more insulin that higher level of

insulin overtime produces this obesity

so it's really important to Jason and

Megan that their patients don't give up

hope

they aren't helpless it will get better

but they've just been focusing on the

wrong things what to eat and not when so

now we know the science behind why most

people who diet using calorie

restriction exercise and or low-fat

foods tend to regain the way number one

their metabolic rate goes down meaning

calories expended drops and your

metabolic rate can only drop so much for

so long before the weight comes back

with a vengeance

and number two hunger hormones increase

pretty much demanding that you either

eat or you will die those two signals

are very powerful and are completely the

opposite of what most people think of as

the reason why we're all failing at

dining willpower okay so there's this

idea that fat people have no willpower I

was actually just reading a the email

today from a physicist you said you look

around and you see these fat people in

restaurants and they're eating enormous

amounts of food that's award-winning

science and health journalist Gary

Taubes therefore the assumption is that

eating enormous amounts of food makes

them fat to begin with and the reason

they even normos amounts of food is

because they have no willpower it's

again a wonderful idea but this

assumes that somehow they are

behaviorally morally ethically different

than you and I and there's again

precious little evidence to support that

the realities and world is full of obese

individuals who not only have

extraordinary well power and there's

extraordinary success with other things

they do in their life but also eat

relatively little food in fact you can

find populations around the globe that

suffer from what's called the dual

burden of obesity and malnutrition and

these are exceedingly poor populations

where the children are not getting

enough food to prosper to thrive and yet

the older population has high levels of

obesity particularly the women who often

tend to be the hardest-working members

of these populations so this is again a

hangover from the nineteen twenty a

century and the most simplistic thinking

on obesity where you think well we have

this idea of the laws of thermodynamics

that if somebody gets fatter they have

to take in more energy than they expend

and then we use that to assume that they

get fatter because they take in more

energy than they expend and then we look

around and we see obese people and

they're eating a lot and they're not

running marathons so therefore

overeating gluttony is a cause and

sedentary behavior or the biblical terms

sloth is a cause and I think it's almost

incomprehensible naively simplistic but

nonetheless this is still how much of

the research community much of the

public health community and the

dietitians and the nutritionists

invariably the thin ones think about why

the fat ones got that way it was really

devastating for me which sounds a little

ridiculous but I've said to a lot of

people in my life

like food really brings me a lot of joy

and I and I get it now that I'm that I

feel that I am quote allowed now to eat

food that's delicious and satisfying it

should be joyful you should eat things

that are delicious and sad

fine but I was never able to do that and

the last time I lost the weight I was

eating 1,200 calories a day I was using

my fitness pal

and I was exercising about two hours a

day okay so is it necessary to restrict

calories to lose weight that's always a

question if you want to get thinner you

got to eat less or exercise more you

have to change the balance of calories

you're taking and taking out and this is

sort of the the bedrock belief in all of

obesity and research when you read

obesity research papers they talk about

obesity's and energy balance disorder I

mean I know researchers who have endowed

chairs and energy balance research

because the idea is you know people get

fat because they take in too many

calories and they expend too less and

the point I've been making in others for

the past decade now is that this is

almost an in comprehensively naive

statement it's like saying that somebody

got rich because they took in more money

than they spent

I mean imagine you I'm giving instead of

giving a lecture on obesity I'm giving a

lecture on on on wealth or

socio-economic disparities and somebody

in the audience says to me hey you know

why is Bill Gates so rich and I say

because he took in more money than he

expended I will be laughed out of the

auditorium

but if you ask me why I don't know why

Oprah is often so heavy she goes up and

down but why does Oprah struggle with

their weight and I say because she takes

in more calories and she expands that's

a completely acceptable answer and in

fact to say anything else is almost

considered naive the last time Melissa

successfully lost weight before

discovering keto and fasting was in 2012

I lost about 52 pounds and struggled to

keep it off and then started a new job

where I couldn't exercise 2 hours a day

and my hours were a little crazy it was

a little stressful and slowly the weight

just creeped back up

I asked Melissa what she was eating when

she was at her lowest weight oh I was

eating egg whites and I was eating

low-fat cheese and I was eating

vegetables and fat-free dressing

basically dieting frankenfood it was all

weird manufactured stuff because on

certain diet plans you know there's a

you can kind of game it with things that

have more fiber you know I was playing a

game

oh I can so relate I'd think well my

body just naturally wants to be heavy so

I have to out think it will all these

clever foods and supplements designed by

smart lab coat types yeah that's just

how it goes I wasn't sleeping well at

all and I have it's been my I feel like

my claim to fame is that I've always

been a really good sleeper and I stopped

sleeping I wasn't sleeping through the

night I would wake up and I couldn't

fall back asleep I've already gone

through menopause so they weren't

menopausal issues I had no energy I used

to take a nap every day I could not stay

awake until like until it was time to go

to bed

you know my energy was terrible I would

power through to get my exercise done

because that was one of the only ways

that I thought that I was keeping the

weight off I couldn't get anything done

I would make dinner and basically sit

until it was bedtime like many of the

other IDM patients you've heard from in

past episodes

Melissa's metabolic issues started when

she was very young my metabolic issues

started I think probably in high school

I was never more badly obese but I

struggled with my weight my entire life

my mom and my sister are very thin

naturally and kind of ate whatever they

wanted and my father was diagnosed with

Type 2 diabetes when I was in high

school but interestingly his doctor

apparently told him he had was diabetic

but he wasn't really but his doctor at

the time knew that it would change the

way he was eating and then he lost

weight he became not diabetic well you

know family lore is that he was never

really diabetic but then he let it slip

and gain the weight back and then got

gained a lot of weight and then was

diagnosed and then started giving

himself insulin

[Music]

to be clear her father was diagnosed as

a type 2 diabetic and was prescribed

insulin which he gave himself

it was awful watching him get more sick

and more fat and I remember one

Christmas in particular Thanksgiving

where I had made apple pies and he

insisted on taking one whole pie and

what was left over of a second pie and I

said you're diabetic you shouldn't be

doing that and he said I'll just give

myself more insulin so it was a horrible

thing to watch and I knew that that was

definitely you know a possibility for me

I never let my weight get that bad but

when I would do blood work you know I

feel like I was always kind of on that

edge in uncontrolled diabetes whether or

not its type 1 or type 2 you are going

to end up with complications but they're

completely avoidable by running low carb

and that's Gary fat key Australian

orthopedic surgeon and low carb advocate

who also ends up dealing with the

amputations that happen at the final

stages of diabetes diabetes is an

inability to manage the carbohydrate and

specifically the glucose load that your

body is presented with and most times

that comes with what you eat sometimes

with a bit of stress and exercise but

effectively diabetes is that inability

to control what you what it presented

with so you've got two options one is

you can eat what you want and then just

take medication and do that on an

increasing aspect for the rest of life

and get poor control or the other option

is you can actually reduce the amount

you eat which is to run low carb and if

you do that you're going to end up

requiring less medication you're going

to have less complications and you're

gonna have less eyes and less lows it's

as simple as that and did Melissa's dad

make her recovery from diabetes no it

got him

it absolutely got him and it was again

it was just heartbreaking to watch

because he would just get

self more insulin he'd sit at the table

and eat and just shoot it right through

his shirt really he died of congestive

heart failure I think his body just

couldn't take the stress of what he was

doing to it he just kept getting yeah it

was awful and then that all that

diabetic that we're diabetic stuff with

your feet and neuropathy and and just

all of that and they used to travel a

lot and you know it was always a big

issue - that was before insulin was this

easily transportable it as as it is now

and yeah he'd need a refrigerator in his

room and he did not change how he was

eating and I wish that I had known then

what I know now I could have at least

educated him so let's recap

Melissa clearly has a family history of

type 2 diabetes

she tried in vain for years to keep her

weight in check by restricting calories

every single time she lost weight this

way her metabolic rate would go down and

her hunger hormones would go up and as a

result the weight would come back on I

just felt like I failed and I am married

to someone who's very thin naturally who

doesn't really like to eat this is my

it's a horrible thing for me my cross to

bear and he just didn't understand it he

would say I don't understand just don't

put the food in your mouth and I would

have a hard time stopping when I started

which now I understand the foods that I

was eating were physically making it

harder to stop eating but I didn't know

that at the time the problem with

insulin resistance is that your body

compensates by producing more insulin so

if you're to measure insulin levels in

the morning when they should be low

somebody with insulin resistance is

going to have a very high levels and of

course if you have very high levels of

insulin you're going to want to gain

weight similarly if you

simply reduce your calories but don't

adjust this sort of insulin resistance

thermostat then eventually the insulin

resistance keeps insulin levels high

which is independent of the diet and so

even as you're forcing your weight down

the thermostat is trying to pull

yourself back up and this is the key so

what we have to understand is how to

lower insulin resistance and it depends

on two key factors the sort of what to

eat but also the when to eat because

resistance as a general biological

phenomenon depends upon not just the

levels but also persistence of those

high levels that is high levels of

insulin by itself will not cause insulin

resistance but high levels of insulin

persistent over time and this can be

decades may cause insulin resistance and

as you get the insulin resistance it

causes more insulin to be produced which

makes this cycle go round and round and

round

so just when Melissa had hit rock bottom

she had a little bit of good luck um

actually got a free download of an

audible book and they don't even know

how it happened but it said some books

you might be interested in and it was

dr. phung's fasting the complete guide

to fasting so I started listening during

work during my lunch I would walk and

listen to a chapter a day and all of a

sudden I felt like everything kind of

fell into place I was crazed I it was

like all of a sudden someone had given

me the secret to something I had been

struggling to figure out for my whole

life and I started fasting right away

even though I wasn't really keto at that

point I tried to stop eating processed

foods I was really trying to clean up my

diet and be more conscious of what I was

eating for my whole life I believed the

you can't miss a meal or your metabolism

will slow down here's dr. Fung on why

your metabolism does not slow down when

you miss a meal as we talked about

before there's two really important

parts that caused the weight plateau and

the weight regain one is slowing

metabolism and two is hunger signaling

so the question is what can you do about

it one of the things that we have to do

for the body metabolism is to keep it

high that's one of the reasons why

people always say you should never skip

a meal because they say you're gonna go

into starvation mode and your metabolism

is going to slow and then that'll make

things worse and it sounds pretty

reasonable but it's completely untrue so

you have to understand a little bit

about what causes the metabolism to slow

and really the key player here is no

surprise insulin insulin is a key signal

when you switch between a Fed state and

a fasted state insulin goes up when you

eat and it goes down when you fast at

the same time insulin is a fat storage

hormone when it's high food energy gets

stored as fat and when it's low energy

is extracted from body fat as you become

more and more obese you develop more

than more of this insulin resistance

then insulin levels stay high even when

you don't eat because you have this

resistance your insulin levels are

elevated and your body because it

doesn't drop your body doesn't get that

signal to pull this energy back out to

burn it it's still saying hey store food

energy even as no food is coming in so

you don't have access to your stores of

body fat so technically what we say is

insulin inhibits like pollicis so

insulin blocks fat burning therefore if

you shut off all your fat stores then

the only energy you can burn is the fuel

that's coming in through your food so

the takeaway is lower insulin is

necessary for you to access body fat for

fuel and therefore lose weight and the

easiest and fastest way to drop your

insulin level is by fasting when your

insulin is low your body can burn that

body fat and guess what it has all the

energy it needs it does not need to dial

back your metabolic rate I believed the

you can't miss a meal

or your metabolism will slow down which

now I find absolutely hysterical

ridiculous and it makes me angry because

I can remember being in the car with my

husband and saying I'm hungry and if I

don't eat something really Bad's gonna

happen to me and so I started fasting I

did three days and then the next week I

did seven days

not eating for seven days seems crazy

doesn't it how did she feel

and I was like euphoric I can remember

walking with my husband and just it was

day seven and I was just shocked I

cannot believe that I have not eaten for

seven days and I have this much energy

and I feel this great and this is

amazing and then I thought you know I

probably should get some help so Melissa

reached out to eidm for help and spoke

with Meaghan of course right before she

was about to go on a European vacation

when I had my first interview with

Meaghan I said she asked me why do you

want to do this and I said because I

feel like I am the kind of person that

could very easily slip into disordered

eating and I want to make sure that it

doesn't happen I also really like to

have the right answer for things and the

Internet's great and that you can get a

lot of information but sometimes the

information that you get might not be

100% correct along the way

Meaghan has been incredibly supportive

given me great information always there

when I need her or it gets me prepared

for something else you know I was really

nervous about my vacation and she said

go and enjoy it try not to snack you'll

be fine Melissa had been part of the

idea program for about six months prior

to her European Cruise and that's

Meaghan Ramos director of the intensive

dietary management program there are a

few key things that Melissa realized

were very important for her success the

first thing was having a predictable

routine knowing which days of the week

she would fast knowing which days of the

week she would feast and knowing what

she would feast on on fasting days the

preparation

ways of her making sure that she was

getting adequate electrolytes so Melissa

learned the importance of making sure

that she had salt with her everywhere

that she went that she would stay

properly hydrated and would always have

her water bottle with her and that she

would have adequate bone broths she

would carry tea bags with her and make

sure that she had her coffee with her

good fat in it when she needed it to

help get her through her fasting days

for her feasting days she learned the

importance of preparing certain foods

having vegetables prepared having a meal

plan in place so she would know what she

was gonna be eating on those eating days

and in those eating windows one of the

biggest ways that people struggle on

their eating days is that they're not

eating adequate food they end up rushing

and life is hectic and they just sort of

eat whatever's available

so Melissa became one heck of a meal

planner so she would always make sure

that she had good quality full meals at

each meal that would leave her feeling

satisfied till the next time she wanted

to eat

Melissa also has children and a husband

who don't eat ketogenic like her so she

has that added challenge of having

carbohydrates around the house so

Melissa realized the importance of

having certain safety foods mostly

charcuterie items like salami and

prosciutto having some cooked bacon on

hand having some hard-boiled eggs and

some olives ready in her refrigerator

for her consumption having some dill

pickles she learned the importance that

having these foods would prevent her

when the cravings became too strong for

the carbohydrates her family might have

lying around Melissa also had to figure

out how to give up snacking outside of

her time window and to eat more within

that time window which takes some

getting used to so one of the biggest

vices that the majority of my clients

struggle with is nuts

very few people eat nuts sensibly

for us we're very busy we're always on

the go we do not spend adequate time

preparing for proper meals so we're

always eating half meals and we end up

substituting for nutrients by snacking

on nuts

[Music]

in the IDM program we are not afraid of

nuts great nuts like macadamia nuts and

walnuts almonds and pecans pine nuts

there's so many great knots out there

but nuts need to be part of your meal

you need to be eating full meals not

just partial meals and the nuts that you

do have need to be part of these meals

if you've had lunch and a couple of

hours later you feel like having a

handful of almonds you did not eat

enough at lunch before her European

cruise Melissa went on a weekend getaway

with a few of her girlfriends she

brought along all her great kedo safety

foods as she found that even though she

spent four days eating she didn't gain

any weight this experience gave her the

confidence she needed for her trip I was

actually on vacation we were in Europe

for ten days and I had made a decision

that I'm gonna try and be Quito but I'm

also not going to turn down something

that's delicious that I might not ever

find again or that you know like Prague

is known for its pilsner beer I don't

really drink beer anymore but I wanted

to have some beer the entire time she

was very careful because she was frankly

afraid that if she cheated too much she

might never get back on it and I have

failed before on diets where I look back

and think I don't know what happened how

did I gain all this weight like I

because you let things creep in and you

kind of let your guard down so I ate a

lot I ate my breakfast was generally

very ketogenic it was bacon and and

smoked salmon and some meats and cheeses

and eggs lunch was a little hard and

then we were places where I wanted to

try the food like we were in Vienna and

they're known for V nurse schnitzel

which is breaded chick

and so I had it I try it was interesting

I tried to fast on the plane ride home

and I made it probably about 18 hours

and then I just wasn't feeling well and

I thought you know what it's probably

because I had all these carbs so I asked

Melissa what was the damage from the

holiday first of all I did gain weight

when I was gone which was sobering I

gained 10 pounds I'm down three already

and I would like to get probably to lose

like another 15 pounds I would be super

happy at that weight but I feel like the

weight that I'm at right now I could

live at this weight for the rest of my

life and be happy and be comfortable in

my clothing and feel normal and what

about the specter of diabetes how's her

blood sugar my blood sugar is great I

got a ketone meter so I can test my

ketones

I wasn't testing my blood sugar

originally but then I kind of wanted to

fool around with it and to see how

certain foods that I eat do affect me so

then I got that and my blood sugars are

fabulous

[Music]

so let's go through Melissa's

transformation she started eating low

carb in March of 2017 and then I read

the fasting book and then right after

that read the obesity code and then

transitioned to ketogenic and to fasting

and in April she started paying more

attention to hidden sugars and

carbohydrates that were in foods that

she thought might have been healthy and

okay you know you know this is what a

lot of people say they start low carb

and then oh you mean fruit has sugar you

know and Weight Watchers fruit is free

which means you can eat as much fruit as

you want but I you know I had no idea

that fruit had so much sugar in it

so Melissa continued fasting in

ketogenic eating all the way up until

the cruise which she had just returned

from before we spoke I started eating

keto we got back on Wednesday so

actually I started eating keto on

Thursday in today's Saturday so this is

my third day and I'm so happy to be back

oftentimes when you leave a diet and

then you have to go back I think that's

where people fail because going back is

so miserable you've been eating all this

delicious food and you don't want to go

back but I feel like eating a ketogenic

diet I'm happy to go back

[Music]

one thing that happens to people who

discover the health benefits of a

low-carb high-fat way of life is that

after a while we get mad we wonder why

our doctors don't know about it if we

blame ourselves for not being able to

follow their advice

I asked Melissa who really deserves the

blame oh my gosh I am really angry okay

the first person I'm angry at is Ancel

Keys he did all of us an incredible

disservice by the whole seven countries

that really wasn't seven countries that

most more like 21 countries but he chose

to only use seven of those countries to

make the point that he wanted to

so I'm very mad at him I mad at our

government for subsidizing all of those

crops that were paying for and then

we're also paying for the healthcare for

the people that are sick from those

crops from all that high-fructose corn

syrup and those things that are put into

the food that make it harder for us to

stop eating and make us sick George

McGovern you know the whole grain

subsidy thing I'm mad at him

so really the story goes back to the

1950s when the nation was in a panic

over the rising tide of heart disease

that had come from pretty much out of

nowhere in the early 1900's it was very

rare to become the becoming the nation's

leading number-one killer and that's

Nina tai Scholz author of the big fat

surprise which was named a 2014 best

book by The Economist The Wall Street

Journal Forbes Mother Jones and Library

Journal I mean all of a sudden men whose

fathers had lived to old age they were

having heart attacks and dying in the

midst of their youth and this was

terrifying to people including the fact

that President Eisenhower himself had a

heart attack in 1955 was out of the Oval

Office for 10 days imagine that your

president is out of the Oval Office for

10 whole days so the whole nation was

just absolutely fixated on this question

what causes heart disease and people

really didn't know there was a number of

competing explanations some people

thought it was due to vitamin

deficiencies which is actually pretty

good at pretty good idea some people

thought it was due to the rising auto

exhaust fumes other people thought it

was personality type a stress and in

that vacuum stepped Ancel keys he was a

physiologist at the university of

minnesota a kind of very charismatic man

he was called arrogant even by his

friends he had an unshakable faith in

his own bully

and he could argue anyone to the death

is how one person put it to me his idea

was that it was saturated fats and

cholesterol dietary cholesterol that

caused heart disease saturated fats and

cholesterol would clog your arteries

like hot grease down a cold stove pipe

and that would give you a heart attack

and he was able to get his idea

implanted into the American Heart

Association such that in 1961 the

American Heart Association which was

then really the only group giving any

kind of dietary advice for her disease

they issued the world's very first

recommendation to avoid saturated fat

and cholesterol in order to avoid a

heart attack that was the tiny acorn

that grew into the giant oak tree of

advice that we have today in place of

saturated fats the American Heart

Association said to eat unsaturated fats

polyunsaturated fats what was that that

meant instead of butter you eat

margarine instead of meat you have I

don't know I never quite figured it out

like have vegetable oils for dinner but

you you have chicken fried in in canola

oil or something I'm mad at the American

Heart Association that they're taking

money and they're they're telling us

things that aren't true and people

believe it and physicians who physicians

and positions of power are still like

towing that cholesterol line and the

saturated fat line even though there's

so much information out there that is

that shows it's not true and I work for

physicians and I've really only had one

of them who's willing to even listen it

makes me angry that there's all these

people out there that are fat and feel

awful about themselves and think that

they're doing something wrong when in

addition

we're being told to do the wrong thing

and if you look at the the graphs of

obesity and the low-fat diet like it

they track identical to each other so

from the minute it was the low-fat diet

and I remember snack Wells coming out

and people saying well you know that

that is more fattening and that's why I

think about sitting at the beach and

eating Twizzlers and thinking I was

doing a good thing for myself and and it

makes me angry that all then I hate to

use the word fake news but it's fake

news when they talk about saturated fat

makes you sick and that a low-fat diet

is still the healthiest way to eat we're

not being given the right information

the Dietary Guidelines currently suggest

capping your saturated fat content as a

percent of calories at 10 percent in

2015 they actually were not going to

review any of you know there's been this

surge of interest in saturated fats and

there's been own teams of internationals

of scientists all over the world who've

reviewed the data on saturated fats and

because there's been a lot of you know

the book Gary Taubes this book my book

we've sort of raised this issue that

there are all these clinical trials that

have been ignored unsaturated fats and

so many scientists around the world have

gone back and dug up these trials to see

what did they really say and that's why

we've had like more than a dozen

systematic reviews of that data to say

actually saturated fats are not the

demon that we thought they were they do

not cause heart disease right

the dietary guideline committee in 2015

was going to ignore all of that research

even though it is their specific job to

go over the last five years of research

to see if anything new has come up they

were gonna ignore it all

I haven't do a bunch of Freedom of

Information Act requests and I've read

the dietary guideline committee emails

to each other and actually there was one

systematic review by a guy named led by

a team from Harvard in Cambridge the

lead name on that is Chowdhury but it

that review came out in March my book

came out in May and the dietary

guideline committee freaked out and like

mid-may they're like we have to do a

review on saturated fats because those

rumors are popping up again about how

saturated fats it's like we have to tamp

down the the truth that's bubbling up so

they did a review of saturated fats but

they did it in this very they didn't

review the evidence comprehensively they

misinterpreted the the reviews that they

looked at and there's there's a couple

of emails where one of the dietary

guideline committee members is says well

you know that number seven percent cap

limit on saturated fats are ten percent

limit on saturated fats there's really

no data for it we just picked that

number out of thin air

and now in the largest-ever

epidemiological study even with all the

caveats that we have to recognize about

epidemiology that shows that if you cap

your saturated fat to 10% which is what

our government currently tells us to do

that the risk of stroke goes up

dramatically if you're eating less than

10% of your calories of saturated fats

which is to say our Dietary Guidelines

maybe are almost very likely increasing

the risk of stroke and certainly there's

nobody with eating fewer than 10% of

your calories as saturated fats who had

any better cardiovascular outcome so

there there is just no data anymore to

support that kind of cap on saturated

fats

there's almost nothing in the dietary

guidelines that is based on rigorous

clinical trial evidence of the many ways

that have dietary guidelines is are not

evidence-based is on whole grains on

grains at all there's no evidence to

show that we need grains to survive

it's actually six to 11 servings of

grains per day that the Dietary

Guidelines recommends and in the

language of the guidelines the top line

language they say we recommend whole

grains one of the most respected

organizations in the world called the

Cochran group which does nothing but do

systematic reviews of scientific

literature they looked at whole grains

and concluded that there was zero

clinical trial evidence that is to say

there's zero rigorous evidence to

support the idea that whole grains can

combat heart disease that was originally

why we were sold them right that eat

whole grains because those are better

for for fighting heart disease but the

Cochrane review could not find any

evidence for that our dietary guidelines

recommend the same amount of refined

grains as whole grains so in those 6 to

11 servings of grains every day half of

them it is required and recommended and

in your school lunches and in your you

know feeding programs for the elderly

that those be refined do you know why

because only refined grains are enriched

and fortified and without those

nutrients which include iron and folate

and some of the B vitamins which

Americans are deficient in we would be

even more deficient in them where those

vitamins normally and minerals there in

meat

meat eggs dairy you know mainly meat

mainly liver right but we're not allowed

to eat those foods because of the limits

unsaturated fats they artificially

fortify and enrich refined grains and

then they require that we eat them they

actually did a little experiment Ike

this is part of the emails that I got

from my Freedom of Information Act

request they tried to see if they could

get rid of refined grains knowing that

they probably should not be still

recommending them and they discovered

that the guidelines would even be more

nutritionally insufficient than they

already were so they couldn't do that so

they continue to recommend equal amounts

of refined grains as whole grains and

that is outrageous that's why kids are

getting like you know white flour Danish

with sugar in them for breakfast at

schools and we think we're helping our

children by feeding them healthy

breakfast I think in like the next 15

years that eating a ketogenic or a low

carb diet is going to be what's

recommended because I think there's

going to come a point where you can't

dispute or refute all of the evidence

and I watch people i watch it happening

to people that I know people who are on

Weight Watchers who now the weight is

creeping back and it's heartbreaking

it's heartbreaking to watch

[Music]

well I work in a doctor's office and so

I interact with patients all day and a

staff all day and I see that the food we

eat is making us all very sick I see

patients come in who are having multiple

issues I work for a GI office and the

food they're eating is giving them

reflux the food that they're eating is

making them sick it they're diabetic

which we know how many things you know

once you hit that diabetic button

everything else just starts falling

apart and we have pharmaceutical people

who come in who want us to you know they

talk about their medicines they bring us

a lunch which is a very unhealthy lunch

and I've learned to walk away I go to

the gym during lunch when we have those

lunches because I don't want to eat that

food I know it's not good for me

I feel now like I'm just getting better

like I'm getting stronger my body's in

better shape everything is better my

hair is better my my teeth are better

like it's it really is like I the

Fountain of Youth or like a magic bullet

I asked Melissa if she's talked to the

doctors and the nurses about low-carb

and did she get anywhere I've tried I

have one doctor who's actually eating a

low-carb diet now and then the other

ones just ask for the studies but

they're not really interested in the

studies it's an odd it's an odd thing

because again I've been reading a lot

and listening a lot and they say that

physicians get about three hours of

nutritional training in medical school

and it's doctors just want to write

prescriptions and I have friends that

are doctors and I work for great doctors

but they really just want to write the

prescription

the problem with most doctors now if

they're just really not up to date we've

been talking about total cholesterol LDL

HDL cholesterol but it's just like lipid

markers have in our understanding of

them have moved our understanding has

just vastly grown in the last 10 20

years it's just it's just hyperlinked

forward as we now understand the most

meaningful risk factors for heart

disease the low-carb diet really

improves all of those LDL cholesterol

that's the kind of sticking point one

low-carb diets tend to raise people's

LDL cholesterol about the so called bad

cholesterol well here's something most

people to understand LDL cholesterol

does not track well with your your

cardiovascular risk and the studies

where they actually look at to see who

dies it's never related to their LDL

cholesterol level so LDL cholesterol

turns out to be a super poor predictor

of cardiovascular risk my daughter says

I've become like an evangelist I try to

encourage people and I try not to judge

and I try and educate I've started a

meet up a ketogenic living meet up and

our first meeting is a week from Monday

and I bring ketogenic treats into the

office so that people can see you can

still eat delicious food but you know

there's a woman who's a very good friend

of mine who said she couldn't give up

her Cheerios

people don't realize or aren't willing

to admit that they're addicted my

husband I want him to be healthier so

it's not about his weight because he's

underweight but I see what he eats and

I've been trying to change the way he's

eating and I decided when our kids went

back to college let's try this because

when the when my kids are home and my

boys are athletes and they want to eat a

lot of food and they want to gain weight

and I basically cook for them and then I

just kind of eat around them

but for my husband I said let's give it

a shot like you're not you know he

complains about his mutt his like body

hurting he's not sleeping he could not

do it we started on a Saturday night and

by Tuesday he had given up I guess he

doesn't want to own it which makes me

and it just makes me sad and I love

eating a ketogenic diet like when people

say it's too restrictive I don't

understand that it's delicious and how

much weight has Melissa lost I've lost

35 pounds and the best part is it's been

pretty painless which is an amazing gift

I don't think I'm ever going to be fat

again you know I may gain a little

weight but I'll never be fat again

because it was super easy for me to

transition back to keto when I got back

the way it's already starting to come

off

I'll start fasting next week and it's

just the way I want to live my life

well done Melissa it's another happy

ending to another episode of the obesity

code and that's our story for this week

you've been listening to the obesity

code' podcast lessons and stories from

the intense

dietary management program the obesity

code podcast is brought to you by - Kido

LLC who strives to support the low carb

community with podcasts and other

publications and you can support our

mission by making a monthly pledge no

matter how small at patreon

- Kido calm I'm Carl Franklin we'll see

you next time

[Music]

you