In 3 months I lost 30 pounds by eliminating from my diet virtually all grains, added sugars, processed foods and alcohol.  I basically followed the advice of writers like Michael Pollan and Nina Planck and switched to whole foods.  I've embarked on what I expect to be an extended reading project about foods and health and fitness, and have been especially influenced by Gary Taubes who describes the insulin driven metabolic process of turning carbs into body fat.  Also I've read Volek & Phinney's "Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Lifestyle" which confirms Taubes on why we get fat but also delves deeper into other health benefits of a moderate protein high fat ultra low carb diet.

After gradually and casually moving in towards a very low carbohydrate diet I am now going into it very seriously as an experiment.  My goal is to lose just 5 more pounds in the belly while adding back weight as muscle everywhere else, including especially the core.  I suspect I have visceral fat because there's virtually nothing left to pinch there and virtually no fat visible on the rest of my body, but the belly is still a little round despite my trim and slightly muscular physique almost everywhere else except around the ribs, where I'm skinny.  I intend to train hard, emphasize core especially, and try sustaining a metabolic state of dietary ketosis to see if it will bring me to superior (for me) state of health and fitness.

Has anyone here bucked the high carb mainstream and tried this approach?

Will,

I have been doing a low carb/moderate fat nutrition plan combined with intermittent fasting for about 1 1/2 years now. Besides being the leanest I have ever been and very lean for my age, I feel great and love not being a slave to trying to eat many small meals.

My blood markers are excellent and I feel great. Fortunately, I never have been overweight, had cholesterol issues, diabetes or insulin resistance, or high blood pressure. Sugar and continuous insulin secretion are the root of chronic inflammation that sparks the majority of all major chronic disease states like heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes and metabolic syndrome, Alzheimers and dementia and other neurological ailments, and digestive problems.

I eat exclusively wholesome foods I prepare myself and avoid all simple and man-made sugars and fats. The result is I no longer crave them and the sight and smell of many junk and sugary foods makes me nauseous. I don't have any cravings and have no need for "cheat" meals. Once the brain has be re-programmed to not want sugar and your body is used to using insulin and glucose sparingly and to prefer burning fat (ketone bodies) as fuel, the physical and mental well-being achieved is unparalleled. I have not tried going into full-term ketosis but I fast 16 hours everyday and sometimes for 24 hours so I have been in short-term ketosis.

John

Thanks for the great reply, John. I just listed you as one of my "inspirations" here on the MS website, because I've been looking for weight trainers and other athletes on a very low carb diet so I can learn from you, both how to do it and also just the verification that this is a viable path to health and fitness. I have read much already (and will continue much more) about the health effects such as you describe in terms of blood markers, obesity and "western diseases" (none of which I've had problems with in my first 50 years of life), but in the past few years I had grown a pot belly and generally felt aprehensive about what my health may become in the second half of my life I've now entered.

Just since late June 2016, I went from over 170 pounds to under 140, by eliminating all processed foods and virtually all alcohol, going on the whole foods approach and eliminating all grains and added sugars. Plus my strength and physique are already dramatically improved from just a few months at the gym and running again. Now I'm going more completely and strictly into the ultra-low carb diet, following advice from Phinney & Volek ("Art & Science of Low Carbohydrate Lifestyle" and "New Atkins for a New You"), but they are addressing a more general audience so John I'm very glad to make friends with you as somebody much further along the path I intend to follow, ie, athleticism on a ketogenic diet.

I'm surpised you say you've never tried "full-term ketosis" and say you've only been in "short-term ketosis" because your description of diet and lifestyle would have me think you've been in continuous nutritional ketosis for years. I'm curious what you mean by that distinction.

Heck I've assumed that even I've been in ketosis already for several weeks already, just due to my elimination of breads and grains and added sugars, though I still eat a lot of blueberries. The exact metabolic effects of various fruits and vegetables is my next area of study, which will guide me to a more certain diet that I expect will qualify as fully ketogenic in effect.

Will,

Glad I can help. I am a firm believer in proper nutrition and am very Draconian in my views. You can't outlift a bad diet and I see too many people forget this key fact. At the end of the day, you need to find something that works for you and can be consistently followed. My meal plan is very strict in the conventional sense but I don't view it that way as it does not cause me any problems - physically or emotionally - with food so it is easy to follow.

As for ketosis, in order to be in full ketosis you must keep your daily total carbs to 25grams or less. I keep my carbs in the 80-120g range which is still considered low carb but not low enough to induce ketosis. Also, you need to increase your fats to 70% of total calories and dial back your protein.

As for fruits, you need to remember that fructose (the sugar in fruit) follows a different metabolic pathway than glucose. Fructose is processed in the liver and the liver is the only organ that stores and uses this fuel source. Muscles and other body cells can only use glucose and depend on insulin pathways to get it. Fructose is more potentially dangerous than glucose because excess fructose gets converted to triglycerides and dumped in the bloodstream by the liver. Triglycerides are the true fat in your blood and cause all sorts of inflammation and oxidative stress to cholesterol carriers (HDL, LDL, VDL) and the lining of your arteries. This is the true cause of heart disease not fat and cholesterol as we are lead to believe. The message here is not to avoid fruit but rather to make sure to always EAT fruit not DRINK fruit juice and try to choose fruits with a low GI and GL like berries. Excess fruit can lead to high triglycerides just like High Fructose Corn Syrup - a metabolic poison - is fueling diabetes and metaboloc syndrome as it is in ALL processed foods.

My personal view is all these eating protocols are inherently correct but are all too extreme. The right nutrition plan is mixture of all of them. I don't believe in totally restricting any macros so low carb or low fat or high protein are not balanced enough. You need to eat a balanced diet from wholesome non-processed foods that use all available sources - meat, fish, eggs, grains, fruits, nuts, vegetables, seeds, fats, oils, dairy - to meet your desired macro counts. Diet plans that eliminate or drastically restrict any of these I think are not adviseable. Outside of food allergies or issues like Celiac disease (can't eat gluten) or lactose intolerance (can't eat dairy), I think this is the best approach for overall health and well-being.

John

Great information there John! Great thread topic to the OP!, learnt a bit from your experiences.

Glad this helped you out @SeanLiftHeavy!

Thanks again John, I'm just beginning this path and still need to get a real meal plan and a real quantitative sense of how much of each macro is in the foods I'm eating. I've read much of what you said in books recently, but you summarize it in a concise way that gets to the pith of it and stays focused on what is important. I intend to experiment with full ketosis out of both curiosity and based on feeling so much better and stronger and more energetic and thinner after a few months of casual (but real) approach to low carbs. I'll write here about my experiences as I go through it, the next step is for me to get that quantitative approach so I know what I'm doing to get whatever results I'm getting.