This is my first post, I got that news from my Doctor in June that no one wants to hear, and unfortunately for me it was over a year old. I had gone to see him in May 2012 literally for a pain in the neck. During that visit they did a physical and blood tests, I went on to Physical Therapy for 6 months which took care of the neck pain.

I never thought about the blood test because no one called back to say there was something wrong. I went in this year hip pain and found that I was pre-diabetic and all of the bad things were high and all the good things were low, and the worse part was this info was 12 months old and by the way I had gained another 40 lbs during that year. I had gotten sick in Nov 2012 and did two bad things, I starting eating all the bad foods and stopped exercising all together.

After yelling at the Doctor for not giving me that information 12 months before (if I knew better I would do better) because I knew if I had known I would have made different (notice I didn’t say better) choices in the past year, but I knew that I had to make a change in my life.
I had lost weight several times and always gained it back (plus more) because my objective was only to lose weight, this time was going to be different because I have a different perspective and a new objective. My opjective this time is to get healthy and exercise as part of a daily routine and the weight would take care of itself. I also keep telling myself that I didn’t gain this weight overnight and I am not going to lose it overnight.

Fate then stepped in one night while I was watching Sherlock on PBS, there was a quick promo for Eat, Fast and Live Longer, I set my DVR to record it and forgot about it. A couple weeks later I watched it and felt like Jake Blues in the church scene, it was like a light was coming down on me and I saw it for the first time, I became a believer. I saved the show and I watched it again a couple of times, I ordered the US version of the book and cookbook and started fasting 2 days a week.

My doctor had done more blood tests and put me on blood sugar medication because my hemoglobin A1c test had come back at 8%, that was July 1st 2013 and I was 325 lbs (23.2 stone) which surprised people because I am 6′ 6″ and I hide it well. I had used low carb plans (Atkins) before with great success but I always gained it back plus more.

I started what I call the 4–2–1 plan, I fast 2 day non consecutive days a week, eat a low carb but not calorie restricted diet 4 days a week to keep the fat burning benefits of ketosis going and then I give myself 1 day a week to indulge and eat whatever I want, usually a Saturday pasta dinner and wonderful dessert. I also walk 4 to 6 miles a day.

I went back to the see the doctor last week, I am down to 295 (21 Stone) and my hemoglobin A1c is now down to 2% and I don’t think of this as a means to lose weight but as a method to get healthier and live longer. The doctor told me to stop taking the medication; I told him I had stopped 5 weeks before. In the months ahead (yes months, I know this is a long term deal) I know the weight will come off and I may decrease the number of low carb days.

I have become an passionate advocate for the Fast Diet and tell everyone I can, I had taken the book with me to show my Doctor and he is very interested because of the rapid improvement in blood chemistry I showed.

Charles