Nowler

Congrats on your progress buddy!
My first month saw the quickest weight loss for me also.

I am really happy for you bud!
Having chronic pain is something I wouldnt wish on an enemy... It just wears you down emotionally and consumes you!
I remember coming out from my hip replacement op, and while I had the pain of just been cut open and having a bone cut out, I could feel that the pain I had for the 5 years prior was gone. It was bliss!

Good luck with the rest of your journey and I hope you continue to see further health benefits!

Thanks for the kind words bud!
Yeah, It's been a bit of a ride!

Thanks for the heads up on the stuff we often find added to things like peanut butter etc.
I double checked the one I have for that exact reason - I do tend to check what's in things, but of course, I dont know everything and something might slip past (like the MSG in the Biltong I got).

I'll try to update this thread with things as they develop 😎

I've decided to write down and share an overview of my story relating to my past fat gain and hopefully continue to document things as they progress.
(Feel free to move this thread if it's in the wrong location)

Overview:
I was always a slim kid but looking back now I can see that I began developing a body image issue around the age of 10.
I was genuinely skinny at that age but for some reason I began to think I was fat and would begin to suck my gut in so that I would look slimmer.

Around the age of 13 I had a medical incident that almost resulted in death (septicaemia/septic arthritis).
This was a crazy time and completely turn my life upside down and profoundly changed its trajectory.
It wasn't until the age of 18 (5 years later) that I would get my hip replaced and would greatly improve my quality of life, but unfortunately during to that 5 year ordeal enough damage was done to me psychologically I most definitely developed a stress/emotional eating issue.

Thankfully as I was young and as active as I could be (I was in constant pain and on pain killers daily for the 5 years) I was able to keep my body in relatively good shape.
Like many young adolescent men I began weightlifting to increase muscle mass ("adding some mass bro" 😁 ) and I would even become a qualified fitness instructor around age 22, which I worked in for 2 years before I quit and my mental health had another spiralling period. It was around this time that I would start to actually get fat and up to this point in my life I had been eating the typical western/Irish diet of mainly carbs, some protein and limited fat.

Over the next few years I was mainly on welfare, depressed, eating crap, smoking weed (weed doesn't suit me) and drinking a lot more alcohol - as you can imagine, I was getting more unhealthy and began gaining fat. As with a few times in my life, the spiralling would be broken by periods of improvement and I had one of there periods when 28 when I decided to go to Uni to study psychology. Unfortunately the stress by the time I finished my penultimate had gotten the better of me and I was spiralling again and this is where my far gain really ramped up! Thankfully I did manage to keep things together enough to finish Uni and get a good grade, but I was in really bad shape physically/mentally.

It's funny, I recall someone once saying "I wish I could go back to when I first thought I was fat", but for me, I would gladly go back to how fat I was when I finished Uni, never mind when I first though I was fat because fast-forwarding to today I am 380lbs at 5ft 10 and have mobility issues.

In 2018 I decided to pull my socks up and break out of the rut I was in. I was around 300lbs then and decided to move to the UK and try to make a real go of life, albeit a late start (being that I was 29-30). Things were great for a while! I went from 300lbs down to 230lbs eating a keto diet and was loving life! But then covid hit and there were some work related issues which had me (and many others) quite stressed. The lockdowns hit at the same time I got myself a gaming PC and began trying my hand at being a streamer. I recognise now how unhealthy my lifestyle was but at the time I was loving all the gaming, streaming, drinking and eating! I didnt even realize how fat I was getting as I rarely left the house or even put proper clothes on. We were on Covid lockdown and I was working from home... even when the lockdowns ended I was able to continue working from home, which I am still doing right now.

I PILED on fat! I yo-yo'd a bit but I got up to 410lbs around March 2024 and was spending HUNDREDS on takeaways!
I was sore, depressed (granted I had started counselling 1.5years prior which was helping), and I went to bed every night thinking that I may not wake up the following day due to the state I was in. I struggled to get dressed and apart from a rare occasion or collecting my meds once a month, I was not leaving the house since 2020 covid....
I could barely walk 5 mins without having to sit down - I was basically sitting or laying down since 2020 covid... It was pathetic... my leg and back muscles just weren't able to carry me for long.

Current Condition:
In all honestly I still struggle with this but I can walk a little further now and am trying to get out of the house more - even if just a short walk into town centre to grab and coffee and chill for a few hours before walking home. I am happier now though and the world looks a lot brighter. In part due to the counselling which helped me turn some early and difficult corners, but ever since getting back on keto/carnivore the improvement in how I feel mentally and physically has been profound!

It's crazy that I ever let myself get so fat again after losing the 70lbs when I moved to the UK and jumped on Keto!
I am hoping that this will be like when I used to smoke... I smoked years ago and gave up only to turn around years later and start the smoking addiction again!
Thankfully I gave that up again in my final year of Uni - which probably contributed to the stress I was already under. Especially I had self-imposed a social isolation around then too, so there was little to no chance of getting support from friends/family. But I am hoping that I can lose a lot of weight again and I will treat this like I do giving up smoking twice. I will not give up smoking a third time because I will NEVER be so stupid as to start that crap again! If I can lose this fat for a second time I will NEVER go back to this! FK THAT!

My Diet:
Anyway, to round out this overview, since the beginning of April I am eating a Carnivore/Ketogenic diet and feel great!
I say I ebb between the 2 but I say that only because I might have some nuts/peanut butter on occasion, or I might have some low carb hot sauce if I am having chicken.
I do not eat veg though and the main thing for me is that carbs are kept to a minimum (<30g). The lower the better but I will not beat myself up if I have 10, 20, 30g of carbs in a day provided that are spread out.

As I said earlier, I hope this thread will document my progress back down to a healthy weight

So in terms of stats:
- Starting weight as of April 2024 = 410lbs / 186kg
- Height = 180cm / 5ft 10
- Age = 37
 
**** Body pics as of today June 11th 2024 and Bloodwork as of May 25th 2024 attached ****
 

400g of king prawns and salted garlic butter.

Delicious!

Hell yeah man!
You getting it done and getting back in the saddle is huge!
I can only imagine how difficult/impossible it might be to do all that before your replacement. I've never ridden before but I'd imagine it's very heavy on the hips.
I was told at the time that it was a pretty new model they gave me and nobody had gotten to the end of theirs yet.
However, the model I got was in the news back then due to a fault in it which meant it had a high failure rate!
Thankfully mine didn't fail but I do have to get metals blood tests (chromium and cobalt) and a scan on it every 2 years (it was 3, 6, 9, and then 12 months for the first few years, but now every 2 years).

My model is the DePuy ASR and if you are not one of the unfortunate failures then the general consensus now is that people should see 20 years or even more - I'm 18 years into it so hopefully I can get to the 24 years you have, or more (fingers crossed).

The one you have sounds pretty cool. I didn't know there was one where the bone grows into it!
I guess they couldn't give that one to me since the sepsis had killed the hip bone, so growing may have been compromised... I dont really know enough to speak on it but sounds logical.

Hopefully you can get another good spell from it mate!
 

400g of king prawns and salted garlic butter.

Delicious!

I like to have a few boiled eggs in the fridge at all times for a quick snack.
This is particularly helpful for anyone who might make bad food decisions when hungry, or of you just couldn't be bothered preparing anything.

Eggs... natures vitamin supplement 😎

400g of king prawns and salted garlic butter.

Delicious!

I like to have a few boiled eggs in the fridge at all times for a quick snack.
This is particularly helpful for anyone who might make bad food decisions when hungry, or of you just couldn't be bothered preparing anything.

Eggs... natures vitamin supplement 😎

Went to annual work end of year cook out and ate one bubba burger with bacon and two hot dogs. The desserts and sides were not at all tempting and no one cared what I was eating! I wanted to preach the food gospel, as people complained of ailments, but I kept it to myself

400g of king prawns and salted garlic butter.

Delicious!

I accidently overcooked the steak - slight pink in the middle.
I didnt think mouch time had passed but when I checked the internal temp expecting it to still be under where I was wanting it, it was already well on its way to well done.

Maybe 2-3 day old dry brined beef cooks quicker?

Anyway, the eggs really took it to the next level!
I'm not looking forward to the next few weeks/months now that I hear there's a bird-flu issue after arising...
Eggs will probably become expensive and in short supply...

I

I like to have a few boiled eggs in the fridge at all times for a quick snack.
This is particularly helpful for anyone who might make bad food decisions when hungry, or of you just couldn't be bothered preparing anything.

Eggs... natures vitamin supplement 😎

I accidently overcooked the steak - slight pink in the middle.
I didnt think mouch time had passed but when I checked the internal temp expecting it to still be under where I was wanting it, it was already well on its way to well done.

Maybe 2-3 day old dry brined beef cooks quicker?

Anyway, the eggs really took it to the next level!
I'm not looking forward to the next few weeks/months now that I hear there's a bird-flu issue after arising...
Eggs will probably become expensive and in short supply...

I

I like to have a few boiled eggs in the fridge at all times for a quick snack.
This is particularly helpful for anyone who might make bad food decisions when hungry, or of you just couldn't be bothered preparing anything.

Eggs... natures vitamin supplement 😎

4 sausage patties and 5 hardboiled eggs. 
Scott

Note to self: Don't read this thread when you're hungry, lol 😄
 

Two buttered paffles with some leftover venison stroganoff on top and the three over easy’s on top of that.
Man that was good.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I accidently overcooked the steak - slight pink in the middle.
I didnt think mouch time had passed but when I checked the internal temp expecting it to still be under where I was wanting it, it was already well on its way to well done.

Maybe 2-3 day old dry brined beef cooks quicker?

Anyway, the eggs really took it to the next level!
I'm not looking forward to the next few weeks/months now that I hear there's a bird-flu issue after arising...
Eggs will probably become expensive and in short supply...

I

Yeah, it's funny how what we desire when on carnivore changes just like that!
I tend to just want fatty meat now... I can't get enough steak man! haha, It's so good!
My tray arrived and I have 5 steaks dry brining as we speak 😉

I might just pick up 3 breasts to have in the freezer, just in case I ever crave some.
Actually, I'll grab a whole chicken with my next food shopping - I love a roast chicken just out of the oven with the skin crispy (plenty of fat in the skin too).

 

My tray arrives today, so looking forward to trying some dry brine steaks over the next week!

Regarding the seasonings, I don't suspect I'll be using them much.
I picked them up more as a precaution after buying so much beef - just in case I have a day where I'm not feeling having the same thing but all I have is beef.
Prior to April I was struggling with my eating and was ordering takeaway food many times per week.~
Part of the reason I have been so consistent with Carnivore since is because apart from beef I always have something I deem tasty in the fridge/freezer (salmon, prawns, chicken, cheese).

Of course a significant reason for my consistency is also the low and stable insulin/glucose levels in my body also, but knowing I have a carb addiction I figure it's better to be safe than sorry - so for that reason I try to have some tasty alternatives to the baseline of beef.
 
The rub I have ordered says it's 100% natural, and after making a mistake in buying some Biltong with MSG in it recently, I am now conscious of checking for that.
The MSG Biltong might not really have any carbs in it, but MSG will and did spike my insulin levels - I had the thirst that I get after reintroducing carbs after a long time off them, my skin developed warm red blotches, and I felt weird too.

I guess I am not as strict as some because occasionally I will have olives with my steak, or Franks Hot sauce with chicken breast (which recently I have lost the taste for). Hell, I might eat a spoonful of peanut butter in the late evening if I am peckish.

I made a big batch of chicken soup lastnight as I had some chicken breast which was going to go bad.
I checked the chicken stock powder (Knowrr brand) for MSG and carbs but it was only this morning that I remembered that the bit of maltodextrin might be an issue.
I'm ok with it on a rare occasion if it's just a sugar - if the carb numbers are very low of course.
But if it's an insulin spiking ninja like MSG then I'll bin the big batch of soup.

I dont feel the same after eating some compared to how I felt after eating the MSG laced biltong, so we might be ok to eat it sparingly since I am ok with deviating slightly from pure carnivore occasionally.
EDIT: I am definitely going to pick up some non-MSG biltong soon though! What a great snack! Those and Droëwors!

Hell yeah man!
Glad to hear you feel so much better after the hip replacement!
It was the ball of my femur too that was the cause of my pain (sepsis killed it off).
Having that lingering pain disappear essentially overnight is better than any drug out there! 😁

How's the hip fairing now?
Any idea when you might have to replace it again?

I got mine done in 2005 I believe and its still going strong!
Though, I have noticed a pain or 2 in it over the past year or so - but could be more to do with my bad lifestyle rather than the hip itself (hopefully)