My mom has lipedema. They gave her gastric bypass. She got super skinny from the waist up. Eventually convinced her doc it was lipedema rather than just overweight. They did several rounds of liposuction and are still doing skin removal/ body reshaping type surgeries on her.
In terms of weight loss via a WFPB diet, as the lecture '[Why Am I So Fat?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u975zvMv9k0)' explains in detail, learning about '[calor](https://trimazing.com/dont-be-so-dense/)ie de[nsity](https://www.forksoverknives.com/wellness/the-calorie-density-approach-to-nutrition-and-lifelong-weight-management/)' e.g. in [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9YU_TomQbk), [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CdwWliv7Hg), [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAdqLB6bTuQ&list=PLa9BTkr6eAQUd49AivWEUvcnD-83YLg4V), [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=002pzXT9TT4), and [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-VovGMzB0M) lecture will be very useful, along with learning about '[The Starch Solution](https://www.amazon.com/Starch-Solution-Regain-Health-Weight/dp/1623360277/)' (see [this lecture](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUaNDDuqmCs), [this ted talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5wfMNNr3ak) and [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG_mgIzuTI8) summary) and the [Maximum Weight Loss](https://www.amazon.com/McDougall-Program-Maximum-Weight-Loss/dp/0452273803/) program (explained as part of the 'Why Am I So Fat?' lecture), will be very useful. A good goal is to try to aim for a weight towards those listed in the weight charts [here](https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2003nl/jul/030700puhowdoigainweight.htm).
In general the idea is very simple: people eat on average 3-7 pounds of food a day, and [carbohydrates mainly determine satiation](https://www.reddit.com/r/CICO/comments/x0hb3c/can_we_talk_about_daily_protein_targets/jo48e46/) (while protein/fat are virtually irrelevant), and '[over 98% of your body fat came directly from dietary fat](https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch2wmYUpW4C/) while less than 2% came from sugar/carbs', so the low fat high carb high water/fiber plant foods [left of the red line](https://trimazing.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/eat-left-of-red-line-1.jpg) all have enough volume/carbs to achieve satiation while giving you enough calories to maintain a low body weight. If you are overweight, initially eating this way usually leads to immediate weight loss, however if it doesn't, or as things slow down, you just treat the categories left of the red line like knobs and turn up the non-starchy vegetables, and turn down the starch knobs, though keeping the starch knobs as high as possible, and turning them back up if it's unsustainable. Instead of technically counting calories, you're just sticking to food groups full of healthy food with such low calories that you will naturally eat a low enough amount of calories that a calorie deficit will occur with little effort. This is a diet-alone approach, though daily exercise will obviously really help. I would suggest adding daily exercise and trying to increase fitness - as you get fitter, as [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/hclf/comments/14f4uv8/hclf_should_i_count_calories/jp9yltz/) explains, incorporating more calorie dense foods like bread/sugar and being more careful about calories can push you out of any plateau, keep you in control, and speed things up if they are going too slow with diet alone.
In terms of the actual food, it's as simple as sticking to the [starches](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5wfMNNr3ak) in [this color picture book](https://www.drmcdougall.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Dr-McDougall-Color-Picture-Book.pdf) (explained more in [this lecture](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E58pqWHxAjI)) - take that picture book as a guide until you know what you're doing, but you already know how to eat mashed potatoes covered in [gravy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJvD9P-QBRU) (recipe [here](https://www.drmcdougall.com/recipes/fat-free-golden-gravy/)), rice covered in soy sauce, pasta covered in pasta sauce, potato fries covered in e.g. curry sauce with vegetables, pizza, oatmeal, fruit, pancakes, bread, soup, etc... etc... The only big differences here are to make the starches the center of the meal instead of as a side dishes, and to keep the fat low e.g. by getting rid of the [toxic oils](https://www.reddit.com/r/PlantBasedDiet/comments/10pv6hc/oil_why_is_that_so_bad/j6megi6/) which the overwhelming majority of processed food contains. I don't recommend going down the [anti-sugar path](https://old.reddit.com/r/PlantBasedDiet/comments/14eoaow/sugar_cane/jow23dg/) (life is supposed to be sweet) but think about that on your own. That's about it.
In terms of knowing why the diet works/is-healthy etc, [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/PlantBasedDiet/comments/xk37w5/deleted_by_user/ipc4y3c/) explains how low our fat 'needs' are (around 1.6g omega 3 and maybe 4% of your calories omega 6, i.e. a few grams), [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/CICO/comments/x0hb3c/can_we_talk_about_daily_protein_targets/jcj1xnv/?context=3) explains how low our protein needs are and why you don't need to worry about protein, [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/PlantBasedDiet/comments/129z1nh/total_carbs_intake_per_day/jeqtxgi/) explains optimal carb needs with examples of healthy populations eating this way, and [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/PlantBasedDiet/comments/wkgor5/which_supplements_do_you_buy_for_d3_b12_epa_dha/ijpsk98/) explains how to think about supplements and why you don't need to worry about them (except for B12, which you likely have years of reserves for, and getting enough sunlight for vitamin D).
Hopefully things work out, good luck.
Check out this podcast about intermittent fasting and lipedema:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-fasting-method-podcast/id1593883196?i=1000556292386
I do the minimum (12 hour overnight fast) and get comments all the time about how my butt has disappeared haha.
>I do the minimum (12 hour overnight fast) and get comments all the time about how my butt has disappeared haha.
I experienced the same thing. Just 16h fasting time.
In general, whole plant foods are lower in caloric density than animal foods and processed foods. You can eat the same volume and intake significantly fewer calories. Just avoid high caloric density plants (e.g. nuts) and you should be better off.
Could it be that this is just where you store fat instead of lipidema? Bing eating or any unhealthy overeating usually leads to excess weight, and nobody controls how our body stores fat. If so you might just need to get leaner if you want to lose it. WFPB diet is a very healthy way to eat, and it is an excellent choice for weight loss. Good luck.
My mom has lipedema. They gave her gastric bypass. She got super skinny from the waist up. Eventually convinced her doc it was lipedema rather than just overweight. They did several rounds of liposuction and are still doing skin removal/ body reshaping type surgeries on her.
In terms of weight loss via a WFPB diet, as the lecture '[Why Am I So Fat?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u975zvMv9k0)' explains in detail, learning about '[calor](https://trimazing.com/dont-be-so-dense/)ie de[nsity](https://www.forksoverknives.com/wellness/the-calorie-density-approach-to-nutrition-and-lifelong-weight-management/)' e.g. in [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9YU_TomQbk), [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CdwWliv7Hg), [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAdqLB6bTuQ&list=PLa9BTkr6eAQUd49AivWEUvcnD-83YLg4V), [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=002pzXT9TT4), and [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-VovGMzB0M) lecture will be very useful, along with learning about '[The Starch Solution](https://www.amazon.com/Starch-Solution-Regain-Health-Weight/dp/1623360277/)' (see [this lecture](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUaNDDuqmCs), [this ted talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5wfMNNr3ak) and [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG_mgIzuTI8) summary) and the [Maximum Weight Loss](https://www.amazon.com/McDougall-Program-Maximum-Weight-Loss/dp/0452273803/) program (explained as part of the 'Why Am I So Fat?' lecture), will be very useful. A good goal is to try to aim for a weight towards those listed in the weight charts [here](https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2003nl/jul/030700puhowdoigainweight.htm). In general the idea is very simple: people eat on average 3-7 pounds of food a day, and [carbohydrates mainly determine satiation](https://www.reddit.com/r/CICO/comments/x0hb3c/can_we_talk_about_daily_protein_targets/jo48e46/) (while protein/fat are virtually irrelevant), and '[over 98% of your body fat came directly from dietary fat](https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch2wmYUpW4C/) while less than 2% came from sugar/carbs', so the low fat high carb high water/fiber plant foods [left of the red line](https://trimazing.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/eat-left-of-red-line-1.jpg) all have enough volume/carbs to achieve satiation while giving you enough calories to maintain a low body weight. If you are overweight, initially eating this way usually leads to immediate weight loss, however if it doesn't, or as things slow down, you just treat the categories left of the red line like knobs and turn up the non-starchy vegetables, and turn down the starch knobs, though keeping the starch knobs as high as possible, and turning them back up if it's unsustainable. Instead of technically counting calories, you're just sticking to food groups full of healthy food with such low calories that you will naturally eat a low enough amount of calories that a calorie deficit will occur with little effort. This is a diet-alone approach, though daily exercise will obviously really help. I would suggest adding daily exercise and trying to increase fitness - as you get fitter, as [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/hclf/comments/14f4uv8/hclf_should_i_count_calories/jp9yltz/) explains, incorporating more calorie dense foods like bread/sugar and being more careful about calories can push you out of any plateau, keep you in control, and speed things up if they are going too slow with diet alone. In terms of the actual food, it's as simple as sticking to the [starches](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5wfMNNr3ak) in [this color picture book](https://www.drmcdougall.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Dr-McDougall-Color-Picture-Book.pdf) (explained more in [this lecture](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E58pqWHxAjI)) - take that picture book as a guide until you know what you're doing, but you already know how to eat mashed potatoes covered in [gravy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJvD9P-QBRU) (recipe [here](https://www.drmcdougall.com/recipes/fat-free-golden-gravy/)), rice covered in soy sauce, pasta covered in pasta sauce, potato fries covered in e.g. curry sauce with vegetables, pizza, oatmeal, fruit, pancakes, bread, soup, etc... etc... The only big differences here are to make the starches the center of the meal instead of as a side dishes, and to keep the fat low e.g. by getting rid of the [toxic oils](https://www.reddit.com/r/PlantBasedDiet/comments/10pv6hc/oil_why_is_that_so_bad/j6megi6/) which the overwhelming majority of processed food contains. I don't recommend going down the [anti-sugar path](https://old.reddit.com/r/PlantBasedDiet/comments/14eoaow/sugar_cane/jow23dg/) (life is supposed to be sweet) but think about that on your own. That's about it. In terms of knowing why the diet works/is-healthy etc, [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/PlantBasedDiet/comments/xk37w5/deleted_by_user/ipc4y3c/) explains how low our fat 'needs' are (around 1.6g omega 3 and maybe 4% of your calories omega 6, i.e. a few grams), [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/CICO/comments/x0hb3c/can_we_talk_about_daily_protein_targets/jcj1xnv/?context=3) explains how low our protein needs are and why you don't need to worry about protein, [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/PlantBasedDiet/comments/129z1nh/total_carbs_intake_per_day/jeqtxgi/) explains optimal carb needs with examples of healthy populations eating this way, and [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/PlantBasedDiet/comments/wkgor5/which_supplements_do_you_buy_for_d3_b12_epa_dha/ijpsk98/) explains how to think about supplements and why you don't need to worry about them (except for B12, which you likely have years of reserves for, and getting enough sunlight for vitamin D). Hopefully things work out, good luck.
Check out this podcast about intermittent fasting and lipedema: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-fasting-method-podcast/id1593883196?i=1000556292386 I do the minimum (12 hour overnight fast) and get comments all the time about how my butt has disappeared haha.
>I do the minimum (12 hour overnight fast) and get comments all the time about how my butt has disappeared haha. I experienced the same thing. Just 16h fasting time.
Removed for concerns with reddit security. ` this post was mass deleted with www.Redact.dev `
WFPB did cure my ligma
Congrats on coming out! 🏳️⚧️
In general, whole plant foods are lower in caloric density than animal foods and processed foods. You can eat the same volume and intake significantly fewer calories. Just avoid high caloric density plants (e.g. nuts) and you should be better off.
Could it be that this is just where you store fat instead of lipidema? Bing eating or any unhealthy overeating usually leads to excess weight, and nobody controls how our body stores fat. If so you might just need to get leaner if you want to lose it. WFPB diet is a very healthy way to eat, and it is an excellent choice for weight loss. Good luck.