I realized I am on 5 medicines that help me maintain my weight loss

I realized I am on 5 medicines that help me maintain my weight loss.

1-Victoza (also for DM)
2-Metformin (also for DM)
3-Invokana (also for DM)
4-Phentermine (part of Qsymia)
5-Topiramine (part of Qsymia)

I lost 5% of my weight in the last 5 months without being hungry or increasing my exercise.
 I only walk about 1-2 miles a day and I stopped lifting weights when I started Qsymia 6-24-15.
On Qysmia I went from 241 lbs to 228 lbs today.
I was on a 28 day cruise in August during this period.

Ever since Jan. 2011 when I switched to an Atkins diet or Low Carbohydrate High Fat (LCHF)
I have not been hungry.  I was 258 lbs at that time.  My data at this link


On 2-17-06 I weighed 280 lbs.
I went on a traditional low calorie diet called the 3 hour diet by Jorge Cruise.
On 6-1-2007 I hit my personal plateau of 200 pounds.  I could not lose weight on 1400 calorie diet and 2 hour day exercise.  I was cold all the time.

My BMI was 28 at 200 lbs and thus I was technically overweight.
At 5 '11" I should probably be about 175 lbs. which would be a normal weight for me.
I was shooting for 190 lbs because I have always lifted weights and 190 is probably optimum for me.
Unfortunately, I did not understand the biology of the Reduced Obese at that time.  I slowly gained back 50 pounds over four years while doing 2.5 hours of exercise a day and eating low glycemic fruits before 2011.

This 1 minute 40 second video explains what happens to reduced obese

So friends, I hope you can learn from my experience and studying for the American Board of Obesity Medicine.

1-Find a diet you can stay on the rest of your life. Four basic diets to choose from? link

2-Walk at least 20 minutes a day. How much exercise to maintain weight loss? link

3-Once you hit a plateau start one of the four new diet medications link.


As a Fellow and Diplomate in the National Lipid Association I was concerned about being on a diet with 60% fat,  much of it saturated fat and cholesterol.

I documented for me it was not a problem which you can see in my data as I did serial CIMT's and LDLp's.

I think it is a mistake to try to treat a lipid problem with a low fat diet in an insulin resistant patient, especially if they are on insulin.

My lipids are the same before and after being on Atkins and I am on the same dose of statin, Lovaza and Niacin.

There may be some hyperabsorbers of cholesterol and patients need to be followed closely.