Restarting after long hiatus [Long Post]


(Maxwell Parker) #1

Hey,

After relapsing in the end of 2015, I am back. My roommate wants to be healthier and I said let’s be healthier together. I told him about Keto, but he wasn’t interested. Previously, I went from about 102kg to 82kg, gained muscle from doing gym 3-4 times a week, did well in university due to no “fog” and my work ethic improved drastically. Then I went back to stress eating and I went back up to 100kg. I have been steady at 95kg for a while now.

My roommate is pretty much eating nothing. He said, “I’m so hungry right now. I’ve only had 2 boiled eggs, toast for breakfast and had 2 pieces of fish with veg.”
From what he tells me, he’s pretty much not eating enough. I said to him that he would slow his metabolism down and even gain weight if he didn’t eat right. He said that this was how his best mate became fit.

I told him how I lost my weight; eating eggs in butter, bacon, steak, chicken in fatty sauces, lots of cheese and a whole range of tasty foods. He said about the typical “you need carbs”, the same thing that everyone seems to believe. My goal is to prove him wrong and keto is so good for us. He thinks he needs sugar, pasta, potatoes and all those things.

I am taking it slow and just starting with changing what I eat and doing my normal amount of activity at work. Once the dust has settled, I am going to go out and buy myself a power cage to reward myself. I just had a blood draw this morning and look forward to seeing the results of my starting point.

Weight loss is not my main goal, it is a benefit of achieving my main goals though. My main goals are:

  • To improve brain cognition and function
    This was a massive benefit that I noticed last time. I could concentrate on tasks, university studies were easy, information retention was increased.

  • To save money
    I stress eat and that means I eat takeout - a lot - which means I have no money. I would buy groceries with the intent to eat right and then just spend every last dollar on takeout. By the end of the week I had to throw most of the groceries out. Last time I paid off my credit cards and actually had money in my savings account. So. Saving goals: new car, and nice tripod for my camera.

My questions to any readers here:

  • does anyone here have a power cage that they use at home? And do they keep using it? I am afraid that I will stop using it after I buy it.

  • What are your tips/coping mechanisms for preventing stress eating and binge eating after a shit day?

I am glad this community is here now. I used the reddit facebook group for a while, but I found that the posts were too numerous, too much fighting and had no structure that a forum can provide.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to your comments.

  • Maxwell Parker

#2

Look into free exercises on the internet. There are many exercises you can do at home without buying any gym equipment at all. If you are tight on cash, why not first learn what you can get for free first. And then go from there.

You already did keto before, so you know it works. So, go for it! You got this! And your roommate will soon get jealous of your progress and likely follow your lead. If he doesn’t, don’t sweat it. It’s not your problem. Think about you. You have goals, like saving money, getting healthy, etc. don’t adopt his problems.

Go to the search symbol on this forum and type in FAQ (frequently asked questions) and you will see studies showing the benefits of keto. You can send them to your roommate. If he is wise, he will read. If he doesn’t, don’t worry about it. Focus on yourself first.

Hope this helps! Good luck!!


(Maxwell Parker) #3

I did go to the gym for a while and used the stronglifts app which was great. I was so strong. Thanks for the FAQ suggestion; I have a bookmark folder of everything I’ve ever read.


#4

Hi and welcome back to keto. I was going to say the same thing as @fiorella about doing free exercise. Look at HIIT and body weight stuff online and get out in the open air if you can too - so many more benefits to health and well being and it is FREE!

My tip re stress eating when you get in is t o always have something that you can eat immediately if you are hangry when you get home. You do not want to have to wait for getting dinner prepared if you need something NOW! So maybe have some stuff ready to go in the fridge - hard boiled eggs, meat, mayo, cheese. Just something that you can grab a bite of while you get dinner ready. The other thing you could do is to spend some time at the weekend prepping some ready meals for yourself for when you know you are going to come home tired and hungry. Portion them up and freeze or keep in fridge depending how long they will be sitting there. Then you can simply pop in the microwave or oven and have a meal fast.