What could happen if you were to take it? Here’s feedback from this week:
Feedback
Dear Dr. Eenfeldt,
I really enjoyed the challenge. I lost about 5 lbs. (2 kg) and 2 inches (5 cm) off my waist. The thing I liked the very best was that I had zero cravings for sugar. I didn’t have any snacks between meals and was not hungry, ever!! Twice I even skipped breakfast.
I don’t have diabetes or other health problems but just want to lose 10 pounds (5 kg) and have a healthy diet.
I want to lose 10 more lbs. but plan to continue with lchf. I can’t think of anything that needs improvement.
Thank you very much.
Eileen
Thank you for your website.It has been a great help. So far I have lost a couple inches (ca 5 cm) off my waist since I started. Looking forward to seeing changes even further down the line.
Jen
I have not even tried to diet for over 20 years.Each time I would lose weight and gain it back plus more. My doctor suggested I try this two week challenge.
I was a bit overwhelmed when I read through it the first time and not sure I could handle it. I really don’t cook I just warm up food. So now I have all these recipes I have to follow and I was scared.
It took me a while to get up the courage to start yesterday. So I have only made the cheeseburger recipe so far but I must admit it was satisfying and delicious.
I am looking forward to making the Chicken Pesto Casserole for dinner tonight. So far so good. I will let you know more later.
Bev
Andreas,
Thank you for helping me, to save my life… and no, that’s not over-dramatic.
I was seriously sugar addicted. I had uncontrollable cravings and crashed out with out a regular “fix”. My body had forgotten how to release the stored energy and was just using the sugar in my blood to live on.
I was waking up exhausted, desperate for a bowl of sugary cereal, I could do nothing until I’d eaten. Of course I couldn’t just eat “enough”, I’d have a second bowl because the desperation hadn’t yet subsided.
By lunch time, guilt had set in. I’d have an apple… maybe 2. Then by 4:00 pm I was deranged, walking about, looking in the cupboards and the fridge. Then I would eat something stupid, then feel bad again. I’ve been starving myself of nutrients, and getting fatter.
My body knows how to store excess, but, it was a one way trap door. I felt like I was drowning in my own fat. I couldn’t see any way out, I was disappearing into an ugly blob.
I had been diagnosed with hypothyroidism just after the birth of my son, 11 years ago. I’d put on 7 stones (44+ kilos) in 11 years. despite being “adequately medicated”.
I had been to my doctor to try to understand “why the sugar?” I was told to try to cut down a bit, I tried to explain about the cravings, it wasn’t just “I fancy something sweet” it was “I’m going to die without it”, anyway, he treated me like a stupid fat woman who was wasting his time, “go for a walk once a day for 20 minutes”. Try to eat healthily, eat fruit and pasta, maybe oats for breakfast to keep you feeling full”.
I tried to explain that I run out of energy when the sugar runs out and I have to be careful with activity, or I crash. I received a scornful look of disbelief… and felt like a stupid fat woman.
Then I saw Dr Chatterjee on television. He was explaining to a pre-diabetic person to eat bacon and eggs for breakfast, she lost weight and halted her march towards diabetes. I knew I was on that road. I needed to know more.
Research led me to your website and after a lot of study, and unpacking of rammed-in bad information, I made the leap. It was tricky at first, I was more exhausted than ever for a few days, plus headaches and muscle tremours, but I followed the advice and it got easier quickly.
Two months, and over 10 kilos down, I’m emerging from the blob! I’m free from cravings and relaxed around food for the first time in 11 years. I no longer hear my heart thumping in my chest at night. I can move more easily and breathe more freely. My knees have stopped hurting. I can fold my arms comfortably, and I have a lap again when I sit.
I get more done each day, my hands have fingers again, instead of sausages. I’ve started looking in the mirror instead of glancing. I weigh once a month and don’t measure, as I still tend to hold water sometimes, and don’t want to discourage myself. I just know it’s working.
Your approach is not at all patronizing, you understood that exercise just wasn’t available when I didn’t have enough energy to even get my everyday jobs done. You empowered me to take control and heal myself.
I don’t understand why this way of eating is still so taboo.
Things that have helped –
- Having boiled eggs in the fridge, (still in their shells, so it’s not too easy)
- Spinach and Salmon.
- Tea
- Accepting that it’s not my fault,
- and just dropping all that guilt.
- Not having to drink “8 glasses of water”
- Not having to make cabbage smoothies (just no)
- Being given the tools, and being allowed to get on with it, like a normal intelligent person.
- Your website, to dip into for a knowledge top up.
- A glass of red wine on a Saturday evening.
- All the people who have shared their experiences.
- “Cook extra for tomorrows lunch”, (I love this).
- Dr Chatterjee
- You
- and Guilt Free Camembert!
Thank you again.
Tara.
My husband and I both did the two week challenge and we both lost 9 lbs. (4 kg).
I made a list of all the things we could eat and those not allowed and am cooking according to that. I went to Toronto for two days and the only thing I did different was had one glass of wine and I gained .. 7 of a lb. (0,3 kg). I seem to be at a stand still.
Is there a cook book we can buy? I love the recipes but hate having to first find them then print them out.
I must admit that I do have a lot more energy and no longer need an afternoon nap.
Our doctor recommended the plan. We promised him we would try it for a month and see what happens.
We are enjoying the plan.
Thank you,
Betty and Jack
I loved it!I started LCHF in Jan and I’ve lost 20 lbs. (9 kg) with 30 lbs.(14 kg) to go.
I love this new way of eating.
Then I just recently discovered your awesome website. I’ve learned so much watching the videos.
What an amazing resource! Thank you so much!
Suzanne
Hi Andreas,I finished the 2 week challenge yesterday, and have to say I feel great.
I lost 4.5 lbs. (2 kg) in the first week, but gained 1.5 lbs. (0.5 kg) in the second, but I’m not disheartened.
Having a hiatus hernia for the last 9 years, I have had an extremely bland diet; I think during the first week I found the food so rich I couldn’t eat much of it, and even skipped a few meals (normally unheard of for me).
But by the second week I had become used to the richness of the food, and enjoyed it so much that I was overriding my full signals, and eating far too much. I’m going to continue with the third week, and hopefully for the rest of my life.
I have had no side effects, apart from a little acid reflux (thanks to the hiatus hernia), and didn’t even need the bouillon. I’ve had no sugar cravings, though that may be because I’ve been following a gluten free diet for the past year due to gluten sensitivity.
I had an orange last night (the first non-plan thing I’ve eaten) and found it so sweet it was like eating spoonfuls of sugar!
I did find that I couldn’t face eating the last nights leftovers for lunch, as it is so rich, so experimented with other foods (for example today I had 2 toasted oopsie breads with chicken in mayo), and have instead frozen the leftovers to have for dinner another night.
I think the main thing I would do to improve the challenge would be to really stress the importance of listening to your body’s full signals – maybe encourage people to really slow down their eating so they can recognise when they’ve had enough.
Thanks for introducing me to a whole new way of eating.
Samantha
I am enjoying this diet and I find it easy and straightforward.Am aiming to lose my wobbly bits, I suffer a lot from cellulite and I find it disgusting seing myself naked in the mirror.
I love clothes with cloud and when I go shopping I see lots of beautiful things to wear, they look nice on the hanger, but when I put it on it hangs so wrong, lumps in places where there shouldn’t be any.
Yes I’m striving to achieve a leaner, slimmer me.
Thank you for this diet it’s heaven sent.
Maria
Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the 2-week low carb diet plan.Overall it was not difficult to follow. However, as much as I love eggs, too much of anything is off-putting. I prefer a more balanced way of having food.
I was able to follow most of the basics of the diet, using a method that suited my needs as a senior.
Being in the kitchen is not my favourite thing to do and so using the recipes, for the most part, would be a challenge. I do plan to try out a few that I have printed off and I did try some others.
I also managed to drop 3 or 4 pounds (1-2 kg) so that is a good start to my overall goal.
Also, having hypothyroidism provides a challenge to weight loss for me, but I have been working on that with my doctor and naturopath, who are happy to work together for best solutions. My doctor is a big booster of low-carb eating so I have lots of support.
Thank you for providing these suggestions and guidelines as I continue my journey with your diet.
Joyce
Low Crab diet is something I can live with, in fact, this is not a diet for me but a new life style.It has also helped my husband, who has pre-diabetes, his blood sugar on this has been lower than ever. It’s too bad most doctors never say a word about low-carb to control blood sugar.
This is the answer.
Thanks.
Theola
Dr. Eenfeldt,I’m a 73 year old man, 5’8”, 200 lbs. (91 kg). I was on 3 different meds for high blood pressure.
I saw mention of your diet on Facebook, so I thought I’d try it. After a week I started feeling a little dizzy. I checked my BP and it was 82/54. I discontinued 50 mg Atenolol (I was taking 50 mg twice a day) and the 12.5 mg Chlorthalidone I was taking.
2 days ago I also quit taking the other 50 mg Atenolol and the 30 mg Lisinopril which concluded all my BP meds.
Today my BP is normal at 107/79. I also decided to quit the 40 mg Pravastatin Sodium since I will have blood work in 2 months and can check my cholesterol then.
Oh yes, Did I mention that I lost 5 lbs. (2 kg)?
I tried a couple of your recipes and was not impressed. I decided to create my own culinary delights.
Thanks for all the good information on your site. I don’t think I’ve seen it all yet.
Bob
Dear Dr. Eenfeldt,
Sorry, this turned out to be a long letter; please don’t feel you have to respond to all of it! I am an editor and tend to run off at the mouth, as we say here! Thanks for reading and for your patience!
I live in the US in Omaha, Nebraska. I was a very thin young person who began to gain weight easily at the age of 26, and after slowly gaining weight over about a decade, I reached clinical obesity and have been obese for about 20 years.
I got serious about eating lower carb about a year and a half ago when my blood sugar was measured at right next door to pre-diabetic and I had two other symptoms of the metabolic syndrome, although my doctor didn’t call it that.
At this time, my doctor said she strongly recommended a Paleo diet (for her that would be more like a Whole 30 or Perfect Health Diet with whole grains and starchy vegetables), but not low-carb because “it’s not sustainable.”
Some years before I got this blood sugar result, I tried a LC diet as another weight-loss effort and without knowing the importance of fat, which was not emphasized at the time. Though the weight loss was impressive, I stopped it very quickly as well.
Two years before the high-sugar blood result, I tried a number of different dietary approaches but for a different reason (I’d pretty much given up on weight loss), which was to see if any of them would help with severe fibromyalgia symptoms.
I tried the Whole 30, a couple of versions of Paleo, and a low-fat vegan diet, and by 2012, I’d gotten down to 188 for the first time in fifteen years, but I was also, literally I think, starving to death.
After that, I discovered Matt Stone, who described so many people having exactly all the problems I’d had with the dietary approaches above. So I thought, if these extremists don’t help, why not give “traditional” (i.e. highly processed) foods another try and just not worry about it.
By this time I was sure it was anxiety that was causing all the problems; i.e., “it was all in my head.” So I began Stone’s recommended Ray Peat-like diet of sugar and lots of refined carbs.
But within three months of following this “sugar” diet I was up to an all-time high weight of 233 pounds (a gain of almost 50 pounds) and this high blood sugar reading. On top of that, I had slowly but surely began to feel ravenous every hour and that I “mentally” simply could not stop eating.
(I should also mention that in my 20s and 30s I had done the typical weight-loss yo-yo, calorie-counting diets including Weight Watchers, and I’d been pretty orthorexic for a while with macrobiotics and vegetarianism. And of course, though I lost impressive amounts of weight each time, nothing lasted and like everyone else, the weight always came back faster than I lost it with more of it than I lost.)
But even worse, with the refined carbohydrates, symptoms I’d had in the past got so bad that I was becoming disabled, pulling myself up the stairs to my apartment hand-over-hand, barely able to get out of a chair without assistance, unable to sleep without a wedge pillow because reflux was so strong I was afraid I would aspirate stomach acid in my sleep. At the worst, I could not get out of my car and walk to the front door without help.
Three years before I’d walked a half-marathon, though I was obese then, so this was a terrible change. And of course it felt like a personal failure. I began to think that I was irreversibly broken, and that I would not ever heal. I resigned to getting old too soon and being in crippling pain the rest of my life.
This sounds like so many other testimonials, but it is the absolute truth.
But somehow with that blood sugar test, I decided that I was going to find out what I could to get the blood sugar down. Fortunately it was not high enough that the doctor wanted to put me on any medications.
Also, I remembered that I’d lived my whole young life thin and healthy eating good food, all kinds of food. It couldn’t just be that food was the problem. As mentioned, my doctor recommended that a whole foods diet with “nothing in a bag or box” would likely help, and I was willing to try that.
I also decided to go back to a low-carb approach despite my doctor’s reservations, and lost 33 pounds (15 kg) last year by experimenting with several low-carb regimens, including New Atkins, Dr. Westman’s manual, and the Drs. Eades Middle Aged Middle, and all were very helpful, though I did not follow them strictly all the time.
And for months now I get up out of chairs without thinking about it, walk upstairs quickly without even touching the rail, am swimming, walking, and lifting weights, and sleeping through the night. In short, I have my self back – younger-feeling than I have felt in a very long time.
So if the proof of the pudding is in the eating, for my money this is the right pudding. As to blood sugar, I will be re-tested in a couple of months, and I’m confident that the lab numbers will speak for themselves.
As far as Diet Doctor goes, I had also read your website off and on since what you might call its early days, and it was there that I began to see more and more compelling information about high-fat as a crucial part of the low carb diet, and this made great sense to me based on the way I had always eaten when I was thin.
I am now thoroughly convinced that, as Dr. Michael Eades and many others have pointed out, if you are a person whose metabolism has been broken by the standard western diet, LCHF is the way to heal it, and it’s likely going to be the way to continue for life. (I have also been so happy to see so many of the pioneers in LC and LCHF coming together on your site to increase information and helping people like myself to be comfortable with trying this way of eating.)
And now here is what you actually want to know: I took the challenge over these two weeks because I had a number of large stressors going on for a couple of months this spring, and I had been a bit sluggish with some of what I was allowing myself to eat too much of.
Weight was starting to climb again and body size not changing. I know that solidarity and encouragement can be helpful, and when I looked over the challenge, I thought it was a perfect fit for me, especially because I don’t like to do group things in person.
What I liked most about it was the lack of “boot-camp” feeling, the gentle approach, having not too varied foods or complicated shopping lists (some items a bit more pricey than I can afford, but mostly affordable), and very helpful to have an email every day for checking in and accountability.
These really helped a lot! I was able to complete the challenge with no trouble, and I stayed strict low carb except for drinking some milk, and admit I made your chocolate “mousse” once each weekend (this will be a rare treat, and I noticed that though I can have some cheese, sour cream, and regular cream, milk and even drained yogurt have too much sugar and immediate show a gain with abdominal bloating).
As to results: based on my weigh-in this morning, I lost 7 pounds (3 kg) (probably 3 of those fat pounds given how much flour I’d been eating in the month before, but still at my age of 59 and as a woman, that is astonishing), GERD/reflux just about gone, and much less of the joint pain that had returned (the first four days were awful, though!).
This was for me so much easier to follow even than previous low-carb trials, because I was just eating and not turning meals into a medical procedure or lab experiment. There was absolutely no anxiety about whether I was doing it “right.” That made a huge difference for me as well.
I really like the simplicity of most of your recipes. Some of them are a bit too heavy for summer on the US Plains (it’s very hot here even in June!) and so I just skipped those but still made sure to get enough fat – this has been the biggest challenge to adapt to eating more fat. Also simplified some of the chicken recipes by baking the chicken first and then adding sauces when re-heating.
I plan to continue from the challenge now with a 16:8 intermittent fasting schedule on weekdays (for the simplicity and also to give my stomach a rest) and continue mostly strict low carb until my weight stabilizes, I hope within the normal range.
The challenge is something I would recommend to anyone who asks about it (I don’t give unsolicited eating advice to anyone anymore – that was great advice from Dr. Bitten Johnsson).
Finally, and more seriously, since my blood sugar test, my younger sister has told me she has full-blown Type II diabetes, and because she is very much wedded to traditional medical thinking, I very much fear that it will wind up costing her life.
So this commitment is very important to me on a number of levels. I hope that my example may be an inspiration to her, and that it will lead to benefits and healing for her as well as myself.
Thank you so much, Dr. Eenfeldt, and to all of your team! Thanks also for being in touch.
Best regards,
Adrian
Hi,
I have found it quite easy to follow. The recipes are really good, some I have adapted slightly. I now have a good idea of what I need to do to prepare meals.
I am definitely less hungry, and I have found it hard not to eat just because it is a meal time! I am often not hungry in the evenings, but skipping dinner doesn’t seem right!
I have been on a low fat diet for as long as I can remember so switching to butter and cream has been fabulous, forgot how nice it all tasted!
I lost 6 lbs. (3 kg) in 2 weeks, so very happy.
Thanks,
Emma
Dear Dr. Eenfeldt,
Thank you for asking! And many thanks for the informative website.
My name is Liz. I’m 65, female, white, 67 inches tall, 234 lbs. (106 kg) beginning weight this go round, and live in North Carolina, US.
High blood pressure, normalized with two medications. Some arthritis. And oh yes besides every other diet I’ve tried low carb a few times in the past.
I now know my low carb diet wasn’t a strict low carb diet. And I didn’t eat added fat as the need for fat wasn’t very clear for me until I read your website. I’ve been following your 3 week plan precisely.
Down 14+ pounds (6 kg) after 2.5 weeks. Husband and daughter have joined me.
My wishlist for the website would include some direction on after 3 weeks. I’m there. Now I know you can’t hold our hand for the entire diet, understandably, but I would find it reassuring and effective if the website had a small page on after the 3 weeks, or ongoing dieting following the challenge, somesuch.
I’ve seen some of the “low carb” recipes on the internet so I for sure understand why you can’t list recipes sites.
My plan as of today is to try other recipes, I know how to count carbs and can for sure find the hidden ones. (Lawry’s seasoned salt, sugar #2 ingredient… go figure… Just found that one last week.) I will be diligent not to let vegetable carbs push me over my limit. And I will continue to eat fat. That’s my plan. A webpage might help keep me in the right direction.
Thanks again for asking. Senior women can be too chatty, but I’ll keep you posted on the family’s progress – no more than once a month I promise.
Keep up the good work.
Liz
Dear Andreas,
Thank You for starting the next chapter of my life!!
I have been on your challenge for two weeks and lost 3.6 kg (8 lbs.). I don’t feel hungry even with the 18:6 fasting I have been doing for 11 continuous days.
I will stay on this diet or life change as I can already see the numerous benefits!!
I appreciate all that you and your team have done.
Warmest Regards,
GeoffPS. I am adapting some meals of my own and if they work out I will email the recipes!!
Dear Andreas,
Wow, thank you, thank you I am so grateful for your website, amazing recipe’s and valuable information.
I have dieted for 20 years without much success and always felt hungry, deprived and miserable which has lead me to be constantly thinking about food.
I have found other diets too difficult to keep up, but your comprehensive 2 week challenge with all the recipes (that are yummy and so easy to make), shopping list, daily emails and all the great videos and information on your website have made this challenge so easy.
I have now finished the 2 weeks and have tried my best to stick strictly to the program but as usual life gets in the way sometimes like the High Tea outing that had been booked long ago. I still lost 2.5 kg (6 lbs.) and my 18 year old daughter has lost 3.5 kg (8 kg).
I am so amazed because I am not HUNGRY or looking to eat all the time. For the first time ever I am full after my evening meal and not looking to fill up on sweets! I am looking forward to continuing this way of eating and my family really loved all the food that I prepared and no one even complained that the carbs that had been always on the menu were missing!
I love your program and will continue along the LCHF journey. I believe for the first time since I can remember that always thinking about food and feeling permanently hungry are no longer part of my life.
Fasting is something that worried me but now I see that if you eat the right foods and listen to your own body it is beneficial and easy to do.
Thank you for the week 3 information. I am looking forward to eating myself healthy and educating my teenagers on the best way to eat.
Feeling very grateful.
Louise.
PS. These 2 weeks I have eaten a lot of the dairy in the recipes and in the past this has caused me some issues like excess phlegm, but I have not found this to be
the case, could this be because the carbs are not being consumed?PSS. After the High Tea on day 13 where I ate loads of carbs – bread, cake, sugar etc. I felt really sick!
I loved it!!
I stuck to it as closely as I could, maintaining about 20-30 carbs per day, sometimes more, most of the time less!!
My first of my “goal” pants are no longer snug. As I am male, tight pants are not as becoming on me as you would hope.
Haha, I have more goals yet to reach so I am keeping the LCHF going!
R.I.P. bread, my dear friend. I have switched out bread for two slices of cheese!! It works well enough. You just have to use less sauces, like mayo, otherwise it gets messy.
I would love to give you some numbers, but I don’t think the scale I have is reliable. One day I would weigh 180~ lbs. (82 kg) the next 170~ (77 kg) the next back to 180~ lbs.! So no good data there. I think I’m at 170 lbs. (77 kg) or less now. (From 180 lbs.)
Thank you so much for providing this information FOR FREE!! I could not ask for more.
Another loyal fan,
Joshua
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