Hey, all. So I wasn't going to announce this, because I was worried I might back out and decide not to continue with it. As some of you know, I've struggled with my weight for a long time and a few months ago, I tried a ketogenic diet. I lost 15 pounds total, which was awesome, but I stopped because I had a cheat day and got addicted to sugar again. Ugh!
Well, I weighed in after my wedding and honeymoon, and by some miracle, I've kept off 12 of those 15 pounds during the two months where I wasn't keto. I was astounded. No way had I managed to keep off all of that weight after pigging out on cake, Georgia Boys BBQ, and other bad-for-you-sweeties. But the scale we have is pretty accurate. So I have to assume it didn't lie to me.
Armed with the knowledge that I'd managed to keep off the majority of the weight over such a long span of time, I've decided to go back on the ketogenic diet. Only this time, I'm changing a few things. I'm not going to try and make cinnamon buns or anything that I'd normally eat bread-wise. Why? Well, honestly, I don't really like bread. It's just such a staple in the American diet that I've eaten it without realizing I don't particularly like it. Potatoes, on the other hand, will be harder for me to get over. I do love me some hash browns and baked potatoes. Oh well! Maybe in a month or so, I'll have a small cheat meal.
I'm also not going to do cheat days very often. I made the mistake of having one cheat day and had a ton of sugar, and WHAM, all of my hard work went away. I became addicted to sugar again. AGAIN. Ugh! Sugar is my worst weakness. I usually can manage to ignore the cravings after a few days, but the very minute I eat sugar again, it's like I never went on the diet at all. I just can't control it. So, this time around I've decided not to have any sugar on my cheat days, or if I do, it'll be in small amounts and never from things like candy or pastries. We'll see how it goes, but I want to try and stay as far away from refined sugar as possible, since that's what undid me last time.
I started being completely keto last Wednesday, and I've been weighing myself every day to make sure I'm sticking with the program. Holding myself accountable and all. I understand that as a woman, weight will fluctuate for a while, so I'm not doing anything super extreme when I do gain back a partial pound or so--mostly, I'm just trying to make sure that the trend is still downward and healthily so. This morning, though, I had a pleasant surprise! I've lost two entire pounds. That's a good feeling, since that means I'm almost back to the point where I stopped losing weight. I'm hoping this time around, I don't plateau for a little while. If I could lose another 15 pounds, I'd be pretty stoked, even if that means plateauing after those 15 drop off.
The amount I want to lose overall... well, it's going to be a long journey. That's why I'm so determined to stick with this for as long as I can. I feel better, feel less hungry, and am more determined than ever to become healthy. Losing weight and making sure I work out to keep from being skinny-fat is a huge part of that. I'm also trying to make sure I balance the oils I take in, and focusing on protein being my main source of incoming food. As time goes on, I'll adjust. Salads and fresh greens, too, play a large role in my new diet. Don't worry, for those who know keto well--I make sure to have plenty of oils and fats. Cheese, bacon, and oil-based salad dressing play an enormous role in my meals, too. ;) I'm not about to starve myself of the exact fuel my body needs!
There are tons of other benefits for me being on keto. The first and foremost is the energy. WOW. What a huge difference. In the few days (what, five??) that I've been on keto, I noticed almost a light-switch like change in energy levels. This happened last time, I think, but slower. I also didn't have the keto flu this time around. If I did, it was super short. Like less than a day. Odd, huh? I keep waiting for the flu to hit me, and nothing. Overall, I'm far less hungry, which is amazing, but it also worries me a little. I have to force myself to eat sometimes. This is the first morning I woke up hungry enough to actually eat more than a few slices of bacon and an egg.
Speaking of eggs, I think one of the bigger challenges for me will be eating them. I'm not a big fan of eggs. Period. I used to love them, but the last round of keto burned me out on them pretty hard. Like to the point where I feel nauseated just by smelling them cooking. I'm not exactly sure why that is, but I'm taking the cue and listening to my body. I think I'll back off on eggs for a little while and see how I feel in a few weeks.
Overall, I'm excited with how quickly I'm seeing results. Super glad, too, that I'm not living to eat, but eating to live. Usually I'm too hungry on diets to get very far without over-indulging on calories, and since I'm waiting until tomorrow to start working out (for medical reasons and because I wanted to be over the keto flu first), I really didn't want to over-eat during the first week. That said, I'd be lying if I didn't note a little concern over how little I've actually wanted to eat the last few days. It was a bit scary for a time, because I didn't even think about how little I was taking in. Today, I seem to have a normal appetite--not overly hungry, but also not completely uninterested in food. Hopefully I can keep to that balance, but we'll see. The first few weeks are usually the most important in terms of how the body balances out. My hunger may also be aresult of the whiskey tasting I partook in last night. My bet is that I may have kicked myself out of keto, but we'll see.
More updates will come as I continue forward. :) This blog isn't meant to be about the keto diet; I want to note that there are tons of other resources across the Internet about the diet itself, so please don't take my results or my alterations as proof of the diet. Do research and inform yourself. I can't eat most fruits due to allergies, and as I mentioned, I'm not overly fond of baked carbs (beer is another story, and I'll miss it), and I hate cereal with a scathing passion... so keto makes sense for my needs. Listen to your body. Listen to its needs. And more than anything, don't get discouraged. You will plateau. You will cease to lose weight at a certain point. That's okay. Just keep to the changes you've made, and eventually, the plateau will break (might have to cut calories, but be careful and do research first!).
Thanks for reading!
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