My fiance and I started this diet 17 days ago. His starting weight/stats were 5'8" 130 with a 34 inch waist. By day 8 he had lost 22 lbs and decided he was going to start adding carbs. Since 108 and 5'8" is not healthy for a male. He is up to 110 carbs a day, and still isn't out of ketosis, and still keeps losing, but his cholesterol was 265, and he is only 22. He has lost a total of 27 lbs in just 17 days, is this at all normal? Any other suggestions on how to get the cholesterol down but not end up weighing nothing? The low carb is not working...he is losing way too much way too fast.

hi Jillian,

Sounds like things are pretty hectic for you, with the wedding just a week away...

I'm not sure that your fiancé's weight loss problem is related directly to lowcarbing. If he's still in ketosis even though he's consuming over 110g of carbohydrate per day, something is wrong metabolically. Either he's not processing the carbs, and must burn his fat stores (what little he has left) for energy ... or his metabolism is so high and he's not consuming enough CALORIES over-all to keep up with his energy needs. High cholesterol in an of itself may not mean anything, other than it's a risk factor for other health problems.

I'm a nurse, not a dr. ... but I urge him to get to an internal medicine specialist, or an endocrinologist ASAP, to check out his metabolism among other things. He could be hyperthyroid (too high) or possibly he might be developing Type 1 Diabetes. Or he may have some Bowel or digestive problem that is preventing him from digesting and absorbing his food properly. Or, he just may need to eat more ... and at this point, my suggestion is to eat more FAT, as well as good-quality carbohydrates (veggies, fruits, whole grains, etc). In fact, I recommend taking FAT prescriptively ... 1 - 2 (or more!) Tbsp flax oil or a mixed blend of nutritional oils which you can buy from the refrigerated case at a health food store ... either add the oil to food, or literally sip it off the spoon! 1 Tbsp of oil will add 120 calories, as well as important omega-3 and -6 fatty acids.

hope this helps, keep us posted

Doreen

p.s. - we want to see the wedding pics!

Actually, he was checked in february for thyroid problems, and diabetes when the dentist found out that his body metabolizes anastesia as fast as a normal person metabolizes water. He also can't use gas (allergic reaction) so he ended up having to get his wisdom teeth our with NO anastesia... The 4 doctors he went to could find nothing wrong with him other than his cholesterol.

He eats a ton! I'm not kidding yeasterday he hate 2 1.5 lb (pre cooking) chicken breasts with cheese melted all over them, half a bag of frozen cauliflower(also with cheese), 4 pieces of whole wheat toast, fettuccini noodles (made with 100% soy flour...), and some fruit...ALL for dinner! That's not counting breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dessert... He always finishes all of his food and over half of mine...

Perhaps I can convince him to go see an endocrinologist.... It took me 4 months to convince him to go get his "heart murmor" that an ER doctor heard checked out. Luckily he doesn't actually have a heart murmur...

Thanks for replying, and wedding pictures will be up on my website (http://www.jocose.net/cheatara.php) as soon as I get them back.

Another thing. He had stayed steady at the weight of 130 for about 4 years untill we started low carbing...

Jillian, this may sound silly and far-fetched ...... but how stressed-out is he about the wedding?? I'm not suggesting cold feet or anything, but like you've described in your journal ... it's crazy and hectic and even happy stress is STRESS.

Stress causes excessive production of cortisols and insulin ... and a cascade of other hormones and chemicals in the body .... these can and will have a direct effect on digestion and absorption of food. Don't mean to pry, but is his bowel function normal? If he's having bouts of indigestion, and diarrhea .. this could well be the case.

Another thought I had about why he's still showing ketones in spite of increasing his carb intake ...... since you just told me he is eating voraciously .. it may be that the ketones are the result of the breaking down of DIETARY fat that he eats, and NOT his body fat.

Just some more ideas to think about.

Doreen

Yes, he's been fine...hmm I think I will really have to force a doctors appointment on him. Something has to be wrong. Allthough he did gain 2 lbs this weekend, and the ketostix showed no ketosis this morning. I should certainly hope not since he is at 150 crabs a day now.