For years my body ran on one fuel: sugar. Toast, chocolate, the easy carbs — burn it, crash, eat again. Then I cut the heavy carbs, and somewhere around the first weekend my body started doing something it hadn't done in decades. It started making ketones and burning fat for energy.
That's what people mean by dual fuel. My body can now run on glucose or on fat. And once it learned that trick, 75 pounds came off — without me white-knuckling it.
Here's the short version. The full story is in the video below.
The turning point
I'm 52. Gen X. For years I'd go to the doctor, get the blood tests, get weighed, and hear the same thing — maybe it's time to start some medicine. And I'd say the same thing back: let me try lifestyle changes first. Then I'd go home and change nothing.
About a year and a half ago, something clicked. I wasn't out of time, but I could feel it running out. So I finally did the thing I'd been talking about for years.
What I actually did
Not extreme. No carnivore, no strict heavy-fat keto, no 18-hour fasts. Just low carb:
- Cut the refined sugar and heavy carbs first — bread, the dark chocolate I was eating by the bar
- Kept modest whole carbs — a few roasted potatoes or some quinoa with dinner
- Mostly protein and real food, the way I was already mostly eating
- Landed in the 50–100g of carbs a day range — that's the sweet spot
The first few days are the worst part
The keto flu is real. The first two or three days I slept badly and felt rough while my body burned through its sugar stores. By a week or two it leveled out — and then it got easier, not harder. That surprised me.
When it clicked
I had ketone strips, and within about a weekend they showed my body was making ketones. That's when the weight really started dropping. People at work noticed it in my face first, then I was dropping pants sizes — and I wasn't grinding for it. I just stuck to the plan.
Think about it this way: go to the gym and pick up a 45-pound plate. Now imagine carrying almost two of those strapped to your body all day. That's what I set down. Crawling around laying vinyl flooring, getting up off the ground — all of it got easier.
And it wasn't just the scale. Energy up. Sleep better. Mobility back. The stuff that actually matters heading toward 60.
The one regret
I wish I'd started stretching and walking sooner. The food fixed the metabolic side, but the aches don't fix themselves. Get on the floor, stretch a little, get back up. If that's hard, that's your signal.
Watch the full story
The video has the whole arc — what the first week really felt like, how we do Sunday meal prep so the weekdays are easy, and the "I remember pizza" running joke with my coworker. If you've been telling yourself let me try lifestyle changes first and never have, this one's for you.
I spent years knowing what I should do and not doing it. The day I finally did, everything got easier. Press play. 👇