Carl Franklin (born 1967) has been heavy almost his entire life, with brief periods of weight loss and good health. After he quit smoking in 1991 he gained nearly 70 pounds, which wouldn’t begin to come off until years later when he discovered the Atkins diet.
Atkins proved to be hard to stick to. In hindsight, it’s because you slowly bring carbs back into your diet, and it’s too easy to skip the fat necessary to stay in nutritional ketosis, instead opting for ‘healthy’ foods like whole grain bread and fruits.
After a divorce in 2008, Carl went back to a ketogenic diet and lost 60 pounds. He went from 379 to 319 where he hit a wall. After being remarried, the weight slowly came back on until he was over 350.
His sugars had always been in control, though, because he occasionally would eat low carb for 4 or 5 days. That was enough to keep it just low enough so the doctors wouldn’t be alarmed. Pressure from friends and family to watch out for the ‘dangers of low-carb dieting’ always scared him away from fully committing.
In 2014 he convinced his doctor to let him try a new weight-loss drug, QSymia, which suppresses appetite. It worked at first. He lost about 20 pounds, but found his appetite coming back. The dose had to be upped until he was taking what he thought was way too much. By the time he was at the third level of dosage increase his appetite was back to normal, and the weight came back on with a vengence. Of course, he was eating the FDA food pyramid, which didn’t help his hunger. He went off QSymia, and gained even more weight.
In June, 2015 Carl was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. His doctor knew about the benefits of low-carb diets, and encouraged him. In 2015 Carl learned that a close friend had colon cancer and went under the knife. This friend had gone ketogenic to keep his cancer in check, and it was working. Richard Morris was a mutual friend as well, and Carl had read about his success with keto on the social networks.
That was it. He was 366 pounds. He knew low-carb was the only thing that worked for him. It was time. He started low-carb again in January, 2016, and this time did the research that convinced him to go full-blown ketogenic. His doctor gave him the green light, and he began keto in earnest on February 1st, 2016.
When Carl started 2 Keto Dudes with Richard Morris, he had already lost 24 pounds and was on his way to recovery. After only 2 and a half months of keto eating, with no drugs and no exercise, he had lost a total of 35 pounds (11 on keto), and his HBA1C (a three-month average of blood sugar) went from 7.4 (diabetic) to 6.1 (pre-diabetic). In July, 2016, Carl was 297 (70 pounds lighter), and his A1C was 5.9 (non-diabetic). By December he was 286 (80 pounds lighter). 2 Keto Dudes is the story of Carl and Richard as they navigate the ketogenic lifestyle. And, starting with episode #150 in January, 2019, Carrie Brown replaces Richard as co-host, and brings her amazing story.