I had a follow up appointment with my doctor today. He was very pleased with my progress. He said, “you look great, really healthy.” I thanked him for the compliment. He looked at my chart. “It looks like you lost a lot of weight. Can I ask how you did it?”
“Sure,” I told him, “I ate a lot of fat.”
“You didn’t eat any fat?” he asked.
“No, I got most of my calories — 70% or more each day — from fat. I don’t eat any sugar, and the only carbs I have are vegetables. Most of what I eat is fat: bacon, eggs, cheese, butter, red meat. So I’m in ketosis most of the the time. You know what ketosis is, right?” I said, immediately regretting my question.
He nodded dismissively. “Of course.”
“Well, because I’ve got all these ketones floating around my bloodstream, I’ve got tons of physical energy. I’m not burning glucose for energy, so I don’t have blood sugar spikes and drops. It’s also really easy for me to fast for at least 16 hours every day, so I’ve got time for some autophagy. I had injured my knee a few years ago and it was preventing me from exercising. Now it feels great, like there was never anything wrong with it.”
“Well, whatever works for you,” he said, clearly unable to fit what I was saying into any model or theory of nutrition that he was familiar with from med school or decades of practice.
“Yeah, my primary physician is watching my lipid panel and everything looks really good. I feel terrific. I feel really good, even when I’m fasting. I haven’t eaten all day and I rode my bike over here and I’m not even hungry.”
He was so pleased with my progress that he said I could wait a year before seeing him again. This is a major milestone, as I’ve been seeing him or someone in his practice every three months or so.
He handed me a sheet of paper and sent me out to the reception desk to set up my next appointment. The secretary said, “that’s a very good visit, if you don’t have to come back for a year.” She looked up at me. “You do look really healthy!”
I felt pretty good after that doctor’s visit.
Today’s stats:
- Weight: 295.2 lb (highest weight since September 10, but I did skip some weigh ins over the Thanksgiving holiday)
- Ketones: 40 (highest I’ve seen in a while, so that’s good)
- Fasted: 17 h 47 m
- Cycled: 12 miles, to the doctor’s and back, while fasted.