r/FattyLiverNAFLD

When first diagnosed with NASH I was knocking on the door with cirrhosis. I lost about 40 pounds (cannot get below 230 pounds) and did a complete reversal of the Fatty liver and was feeling great for a while...I cannot kick the metabolic syndrome (low calorie burn and now adding in exhaustion) and have put back on about 15 to 20 pounds and I feel worse now then before especially in the AM. I guess my question is this...is there anyone out there with fatty liver that has it, reverses it and stays on a seesaw going back and forth. I am super paranoid about pancreatic cancer as my pop had it way back in 82. He pushed through cramping only to get a death sentence. Im 49 and really want to put this condition behind me permanently. Lastly how does one jump start their metabolism. The average man just going through the day burn 2000 to 2800 calories. We have guessed my body only burns about 1400 calories a day.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot after clinic. Almost every NAFLD consult ends the same way. Which is to loss 7–10% weight, cut carbs, exercise, and wait for 6 months

I know that this is evidence-based. If someone actually pulls off 7 to 10% weight loss, NASH improves in a lot of cases, even fibrosis can move a bit.

But one thing is definitely bothering me. How many people actually manage to do that and sustain it? Because I feel it needs genuine efforts & discipline to reduce weight. So it sometimes feels like I am giving the “right” advice on paper, but in reality, I know most patients won’t be able to follow through fully.

For early-stage disease (F0–F1), I still think this approach is totally fine.

But when it’s F2–F3 (especially with obesity or diabetes), we actually have options like Resmetirom and GLP-1s like Semaglutide that are showing solid results.

I’m not saying lifestyle shouldn’t be pushed. But using it as the only plan in someone with progressing fibrosis feels a bit outdated now. And I have also made these mistakes.

Genuinely want to understand what other doctors & practitioners are doing? Are you guys actually starting these meds in practice, or are cost/biopsy requirements still making it tough to use them?

So, three weeks after a “negative/normal” CT and “stable hemangiomas” I had my fibroscan. Results came in today. Stiffness score went from 6.9 kpa and a fibrosis rating of F3 to 5.1 kpa and an F0 fibrosis score. My liver is still showing as enlarged with diffuse hepatic steatosis. Not “SEVERE” like it was before. The concern is the hemangiomas- the CT showed them smaller and stable but the fibroscan is showing them as doubling in size in three weeks. So I guess the next step is an MRI. That will definitively show the size of the hemangiomas and whether the fat in my liver has truly decreased. Waiting for the full report from my liver doctor. My primary Dr said the CT showed no change in the hemangiomas and it did not show liver enlargement or fatty liver. So overall improvement…but conflicting scans.

Hi everybody. After 6 months of thinking I had fatty liver, which my enzymes consistently indicated, I do not. They thought that based on an ultrasound, it was confirmed.

I lost 25 pounds (162 to 137), with a very strict lifestyle shift, and the enzymes did not get better. So, I saw a specialist, who immediately thought it was unlikely I had fatty liver. She said based on my averagish alcohol intake, lack of metabolic disease, and lack of obesity, it was highly unlikely.

Since then, I had a biopsy, which confirmed no fatty liver but liver damage, and now I’m waiting on results of an MRI and fibroscan.

We don’t know what’s happening, and I don’t blame primary care and the radiologist for getting it wrong, but I’m so glad I went to the specialist, so we can figure out whatever’s wrong. But also, I’m happy that I have cleaned up my eating (I’ve become more liberal but not back to my original diet) and lost that weight.

Weird journey. Thought I’d share. Also wondering if anybody else has had a similar experience after talking to a specialist.

first of all english isn't my native language so bare with me!

But I truly need to make a huge change in my diet, because of The liver. I have pretty much lived on just soda and fast food... please don't judge me, but I have had severe mental health problems for years.

I don't know if I even have energy to start to cook my own food. I'm not sure if I have ever as an adult eaten home made food three days a row. I sometimes notice after three days that I haven't drank any water during that time.

I'm surprisingly at a healthy weight, but I'm truly scared for The future of my liver if I don't cut sugar, processed food, high amount of saturated fat... please help me, how did you do it?

Hey guys, so recently got diagnosed with stage 2 fatty liver and wanted to know about the diet side of things. So, I’m now logging and controlling my diet and so far I have lost roughly 8-10 pounds over the last month and a half. Is losing weight simply enough since I’ve been looking at calorie controlled recipes without actually thinking about foods to avoid since I’ve been so focused on the losing weight portion.

For reference - most of the recipes include white rice or another form of carb to add with my protein.

I’ve cut out a lot of fried food since my diagnosis (recent biopsy), protein intake has gone up a bit (mostly chicken, and incorporating salmon when I can).

I’ve began going to the gym more regularly with an hour or so of cardio, and 2 days of weights as well.

Hey guys, I’m not sure if this is the right subreddit.

I’m a 24 year old guy in the US. I used to drink pretty heavily on the weekend like a college student.. up until 8 months ago.

I randomly decided to get a metabolic panel done and holy crap were my liver enzymes elevated. I immediately stopped drinking (I’m 8 months sober which is big because I was a binge drinker!) and I was like okay that should fix this. I got a fibroscan and I was stage 3 steotosis basically extremely fatty liver bordering cirrhosis. IM TWENTY FOUR.

I haven’t touched alcohol in 8 months and I’ve been exercising like crazy. So I just got another fibroscan and I was excited to see how much it’s improved. Nope, I’ve seen very very little improvement.

The doctor simply said “okay we will check again in 6 months”…

Fuck. That. Excuse my language. What am I supposed to do, just check it every 6 months for the rest of my life until my liver fails? Why is the doctor not offering solutions? What is the solution? What is causing this at my age?

I’m sorry, I’m just scared and I don’t know what to do

Edit: I’m very fit, I’ve always been. Before I was into fitness and still drinking, I was still fit. My current BMI is normal.

44/M -- After 2 years of right upper quadrant discomfort multiple ultrasounds, MRI, CT scans, and countless blood tests, I finally got my answer. I was diagnosed with a fatty liver last week after a FibroScan (9.5). I had slightly elevated liver enzymes and elevated ferritin as well. I currently weigh 240 lbs and I was told to lose at lease 25 lbs.

I am committed to making the changes, but I would love to hear what changes you made. Tell me about your reversal stories, your diets, and regimens. Keep it positive please, I'm already scared enough. Thanks all.

I was diagnosed with NAFLD in my 30s. It was blamed on me being overweight. I was overweight but not a lot. I ate a lot of processed food. Never had the time to cook from scratch.

My stepson was diagnosed with it a few years ago in his 20s. He had always been very thin his whole life. Keep in mind no genetic link to me here that could be a cause. He had recently, a few years before being diagnosed, gained some weight and been eating worse. Not obese, maybe 25-30lbs above healthy weight.

But the most wild?

This week, my 87 year old mother in law was diagnosed with NAFLD. It hit *suddenly*. Last year her liver labs were perfect. Last year she had ultrasound and it was perfect. She had a stroke 6 months ago. Since having the stroke, she had started eating more processed food. Boom. NAFLD out of nowhere within 6 months. My mother in law is ~5 ft and weighs 80 pounds. She has been thin and tiny her whole life.

Convince me it's not something in the food causing this for so many people now.

FGF21 has been shown to induce increased metabolic rate and liver fat reduction. One of the ways to induce FGF21 derived from studies: 7 days of a eucaloric protein diluted diet (9.0 E% protein) increased plasma FGF21 concentration by 500%.

This averages to 45g protein for 2k kcal..

Basically eating potatoes, fruits, rice without protein for weeks straight should increase FGF21 and burn liver fat, what is the issue?. Walter Kempner rice diet is basically that OR Starch solution / Mastering diabetes plan. It’s also reduces FFA and increases T3 hormone.

Doctor was doing an ultrasound checking kidneys and he found fatty level. At the time I was worried about something else so I didnt really focus which level he said. I have an appointment for Monday morning now to go ask and some more clarification but can you take a guess at the level.

He said something about the color not showing same as the kidney and that ive a fatty liver. He talked about diet a little to cut fast food and stuff and another test will be done in 6 months or a year.

Now I am not sure if he said level 3 or something else. At the time I thought I heard 3 but by the way he acted chill I didn't think of it. Isnt 3 on the serious side?

I am also going to maybe get him to check insulin and glucose since I've some other symptoms so will see.

I dont drink and I am skinny fat. I am willing to do all the work for it ofc and good luck to everyone else.

I finally, finally got my liver to be less inflamed. Liver issues running my family, no issue of alcoholism anywhere. High cholesterol also runs in my family. My LDL is pretty high at 158, my other numbers are good. Alt and Ast are good as well. I'm thinking that crestor would be an option, but is it even worth taking if everything else is okay? I really don't want to go back into the world of worrying about my liver. From what I've read about lipitor I should stay away.

I was diagnosed (kind of?) during an abdominal ultrasound for another issue about 5 years ago at the age of 25. I was having a lot of health issues at the time, turned out to all be related to an autoimmune thyroid condition + endometriosis. The problem is, because we had much bigger concerns at the time, the doctor brushed the fatty liver finding aside and never followed up on it. I don't even know what stage I was. I completely forgot about it until a couple weeks ago when the doctor wanted to get a liver function test to establish a baseline because of a medication I was starting. My labs were completely normal, but it tickled something in my brain, and when I was talking with my mom she said "well you did have that abnormal liver ultrasound a couple years ago" and I went "oh sh*t." I did some googling, realized NAFLD is actually quite serious if not addressed, and panicked. I'm following up with a doctor this week and I'm trying not to panic spiral about it, since I have ignored it for essentially 5 years.

I never really had any risk factors other than the autoimmune issues. I was an athlete in high school, I've always been a normal weight, I do not drink at all and never have, no diabetes, no high cholesterol, and no family hx of liver issues. The only thing I can think is I always had a sweet tooth, but even then never really ate a lot of fast food or drank soda, etc, my diet just wasn't super well rounded, and I've struggled with ARFID (an eating disorder).

After my autoimmune dx and the other stuff, I actually started working out more, got back into running (10Ks, half marathons, etc), had a strict autoimmune diet, etc. So it's not like nothing changed the past 5 years. But the past year I had a nasty bout of depression and anxiety due to previously undiagnosed ADHD and my exercise and diet suffered, and so I'm worried about what we might find when the doctor looks again. I'm absolutely kicking myself for forgetting for so long and am really hoping I haven't done irreversible damage.

I'm guessing diet would be the biggest change I need to make – is it really that you need to cut out all dairy and sugar, 100%? Is it possible to still have a little sugar and dairy in your morning coffee, or is it a strict elimination diet? I have a bit of PTSD from when I did the autoimmune elimination diet – that's actually how I developed my ARFID eating disorder initially (since it's driven by food and health anxiety, not body image), so I'm really scared that this process is going to trigger that again.

Hello all.

Recently been told I have fatty liver disease, all those years of sitting on my bum and eating crap has caught up with me... I rarely drink alcohol, id say once every 3 - 4 months. My first blood tests ALT level shown 72 and my 2nd a month later shown 87.

Im currently overweight, 19 stone. 5 foot 11 inches.

My diet was awful, crisps, biscuits, processed foods. I've had a complete revamp over the last two weeks, cut out all fizzy drinks and my only drinks are water, black coffee, mint tea and green tea. No milk.

Im following a mediterranean style diet, and have been walking at least 10k steps a day (averaging 15k at the moment), im also taking milk thistle supplements.

So far ive lost 4lbs of weight, which I know is a big factor in this.

My questions are:

\- Although 87 ALT is high, is it dangerously high, should I expect any sort of side effects/pain in the near future? Im completely in the unknown with this.

\- Is there anything other than the above I could be doing to help myself?

Thanks Reddit!

I had routine bloodwork done last month and they found that my ALT and AST were elevated (ALT 101, AST 65). They have never been elevated before and my doctor wanted me to repeat in a month and I thought that these results looked like early fatty liver so I improved my diet and rechecked yesterday about 5 weeks later. My ALT and AST are down very slightly (ALT 99, AST 63) but now my Bilirubin jumped from 1.0 to 1.5 and I’m very concerned now that this is liver disease or autoimmune hepatitis because of how it jumped so quickly. I’m not a drinker and I don’t take Tylenol or other OTC meds since my first lab work. My dr hasn’t gotten back to me about the results and I’m currently spiraling. What can I do about this?

I cut soda out and been strictly drinking water (and la Croix sparkling water when I can get it) but would it hurt me to have one glass of regular soda/cola once a month or so?

Last year i had done an ultrasound & fibroscan . Ultrasound showed nothing but i proceeded with the fibroscan due to getting RUQ pain frequently . Well fibroscan 2025 showed CAP 255 & kpA 4.3

Cut to now i repeated the fibriscan today . I’ve gained 5 kgs in the past 1 year

Todays fibroscan showed CAP 223 & kpA 5.5

Dr was of no use . I was told just to lose some weight & not worry ( cause i was anxious during the test )

Can someone pls explain my latest result to me . What dietary & lifestyle changes should i make . I’m worried about why the kpa score increased . What does it mean . What should i do

Some info : i am a vegetarian who eats a plant forward diet . I dont drink/ smoke / no sugar / no tea coffee . I cant walk much due to old injuries & chronic pain . But i walk as much as i can . Usually 3-4k steps daily .

Thank you all .

I think i could have nafld based on

- bmi/obesity

- insulin resistance measures (homa-ir, TyG) show me as having some about of IR

- generally being more tired the last year or so

is it worth getting a diagnosis for nafld? I need to lose fat either way, for sure, but wondering what the value of a dx could be?

thanks

Nov ‘25 I went in to have an ultrasound on my abdomen for upper abdominal pain/nausea. They found my liver and spleen enlarged, confirmed on CT scan. The following 6 months Fibro scan showed Cap of 204, Fibrosis F2. Went to gastro had an egd to rule out portal vein hypertension. EGD was normal apart from a few polyps. No infections, no viruses. I get sent to rheumatologist to rule out autoimmune hepatitis/lupus. All of those tests come back negative as well. My last ALT was 15 and ALT was 17.

I fly to my nearest hepatologist, who basically says it’s “fatty liver that’s backing up into the spleen” and he wants me to start zepbound. I’m confused on so many levels. If my cap was high then that would mean I have fatty liver, but I don’t. I am morbidly obese so I wouldn’t be surprised by fatty liver but all of this is so confusing. I am losing weight, I don’t touch sugar, I eat in a deficit and high fiber. I’ve lost about 30lbs since my diagnosis without GLp1 so I don’t really want to go that route but he was very adament I just start taking GLp1. But I feel like they’re missing something.

Has anyone had something like this happen before?