Hello all!
I just had my 51 day anniversary and wanted to jot down what, for me, have been the biggest takeaways.
First, some history: I am a 59 year-old male and have battled with weight loss since I was a teenager. I have always been athletic, but also have always had 10-20 pounds of excess belly fat. Over the years that number has risen steadily, and dropped here and there as I tried various diets. I think the most I ever lost was 25 lbs. Every diet I have tried has been a miserable time for me. On January 1st I noticed I had hit the dreaded 250 lbs. I fiddled around a bit and finally decided to get serious on March 6th (the day after my 59th birthday).
I had just finished reading “The Case Against Sugar,” by Gary Taubes and the 4-Hour Body, by Timothy Ferriss. I decided (finally!) that I was not going to go on any more ridiculous diets, but instead find a lifestyle with which I could become comfortable long term. I bought the Ketogenic Bible, by Dr. Jason Lowery and read it and made my plan:
-I would drink my morning coffee with heavy cream and MCT oil
-I would eat two meals a day (12 noon and six at night)
-I would cut out all processed carbs and added sugars and sweets
-I would endeavor to walk 1000 miles over the course of 2018
-I would try to eat and enjoy broccoli and brussels sprouts
So, how did it go so far?
I have lost 21.6 lbs in 51 days.
Also, there was no “keto flu.” I think this is because I eased into the keto diet by generally following a “slow carb” diet for the month of February. I do walk every day, pretty much 4 miles – which takes between 60-80 minutes, but this has become essential “me” time. I’m up to 288 miles for the year because I didn’t get serious until March.
I have started to enjoy cooking and look up keto friendly recipes, which I try to prepare on Sundays. I live alone, so I can freeze my leftovers and always have something to pull out of the fridge if I need it.
I track EVERYTHING I eat using “Lose It” and carefully weigh my ingredients so I can track my macros, which I enter into an Excel spreadsheet. I aim for 1500 calories a day with 70% coming from fat, 20% from protein and 10% from net carbs (fiber subtracted)
My biggest takeaway overall is that I feel amazing! After about the second week I feel like I came through some physical/psychological barrier. The diet no longer seemed like a restriction. It became more of a new found freedom. My thinking has become clearer and my energy levels have soared. I am no longer sleepy in the afternoon. Mostly, I really do feel like this commitment (especially to excluding refined and simple sugars) will stick.
My advice to anyone contemplating this way of eating is pretty simple: prepare yourself. Do the homework and understand what you are getting into. It may seem that you need to do something now because you are fed up with being overweight and performing sub-optimally. Use that motivation to read up on the ketogenic diet, buy a food scale, get rid of the crap in your cabinets that are not on the plan, get a food app on your phone. then go out and buy your first week’s worth of food and make a menu plan. Don’t worry about what people will say. Everyone is on some kind of weird food plan these days. The first week or two may suck, but REALLY (trust me) it will be so worth it in a month or two when you have lost enough weight to start wearing smaller clothes. And, again trust me, you will actually look forward to your morning weigh ins and to charting your progress.
I hope this helps someone out there!
Garrett
