Four Year Anniversary

#21

I’m so excited for you! Great job!

(Marianne) #22

Hello and thank you. Believe me, there are tons of people on here who have had better and longer success than I have and who know way more about the science of this than I do.

I have been pretty much zero carb/carnivore for going on two years. If I do have an occasional vegetable, my total carbs still remain under 10g. If I go to a restaurant, which is rare and only on invitation, I’ll usually stick to a steak and salad with blue cheese dressing.

What I’ve learned - eat clean foods (one ingredient foods - meat, pork, chicken, seafood, eggs, bacon, cream, ghee, etc). It’s okay to combine them if you want to make a meal, but there is nothing processed and you know what is in what you are eating. Our meals usually consist of a large piece of meat; that’s it. Incorporate vegetables or other things if you wish. It’s no sacrifice and it’s what we enjoy. Eating this way has removed the compulsion to overeat/binge and my craving for sweets/junk.

Keep the total carbs under 20g/day. Don’t count calories and eat to satiety. Eat when you are truly hungry and don’t when you’re not. Many times I’ll want to eat, but I always ask myself why - is it out of hunger or boredom or because I just like eating delicious food? Stay off the scale. Exercise and fast if you want to. They are not a requirement. You have to discover a way of eating that you are happy with and that you can maintain long term. When I first started, I found great comfort and inspiration in the success stories on dietdoctor.com. I read them all 2-3 times over.

I know it sounds pretty basic, but that’s it. Good luck on your journey!

(Eve) #23

Have you noticed a link between your diet and your mental health? I.e. if you get kicked out of keto, your mood drops? Or anything else you may have picked up on over the time you have been on the keto/carnivore diet?

(Marianne) #24

That’s a tough one. Throughout my time, I really haven’t deviated from keto or “gone out of” ketosis. I eat clean keto/zc and don’t cheat - that’s just me. I’m not faulting the people who can manage sweets or carb heavy food on occasion. Shortly after I started, I was pretty elated at discovering how easy this was, for me, and the fact that I could eat ample portions of delicious food, not exercise, and still lose weight. Clean keto also removed my cravings to binge and for the thousands of foods that I couldn’t seem to resist previously, no matter how hard I tried. I remember before I started, sixty lbs. ago, I honestly didn’t have hope of being able to lose ten lbs. and keep it off. I couldn’t control my eating and just seemed to gain weight. So, in that respect, yes, I did notice an improvement in my mental health. For the first time, I had hope of losing weight and getting healthy, food, my weight and appearance weren’t the focus of every minute of every day, and I went on about my life without those previous afflictions. Yes, I gave up a lot of things, but it was all worth it to me and no hardship.

Good luck to you on your journey! We all have to discover what works for us and what we can live with.

(Bob M) #25

Very impressive, Marianne!

(Mel Soule) #26

Happy Anniversary Marianne. Congrats on your journey. We have the same anniversary and very similar results. But…then came covid and hip surgery. Soooooooooo I’m back to my roots and trying to catch up to you. You insipire me.

(Eve) #27

Thanks for the reply
Our journeys are definately individual as well.as having the common “keto thread”, which l guess is understandable bearing in mind our bodies and our conditions are all so different .

(Marianne) #28

You’ll get there!!! Hope your hip is as good as new!