Taking a holiday from Keto

(Chazza) #1

Recovery_SEP-DEC2017
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I have never posted weight loss progress photos but I feel this one is significant especially to those who have fallen out of ketosis and struggling to get restarted.

I started keto way of eating since March 2016. Broke strict diet for 2 weeks plus in late July 2017 when on holiday.

How?

  1. Eating nuts everyday, mainly cashews (I wasn’t tracking amounts I had daily – but was a lot)
  2. Going thru a jar of peanut butter in 2 days (Ingredients:100% nuts)
  3. Ate a lot of cheese
  4. Consuming sauces which I knew contained sugar, when eating out
  5. Eating food deep fried in veg oil and coated in flour batter
  6. Not watching daily calorie intake
  7. Not fasting properly (I would fast 16 hours most days but eating late and past my fasting time start)
  8. Eating butter as my fav fat bomb

What happened?

  1. I returned home bloated and put on more than 5kg. I could tell from my clothes and I had a gut.
  2. Hooked on nuts, peanut butter, cheese – took me weeks to cut down consumption to a minimum
  3. I got sick after not falling sick since starting Keto
  4. Feeling tired and needing naps
  5. Not sleeping well at night
  6. Bloated 90% of the time and tummy pains when I had a meal (In the first picture dated Sept 2017, I could not even suck my tummy in, it wouldn’t get flat despite all attempts to suck it in)

Did I doubt I would ever get back to Keto life again? Heck yes!
As you can see from pictures, even after 3 months, my progress at the start of Dec was poor. Thankfully tho, my body was able to get back to IF and normalised.

What I did

  1. Ate 1 main meal a day within a 2-3 hour window
  2. Ended up fasting for 20-22 hours daily
  3. Still having cheese and nuts but in smaller portions
  4. Cut out dairy like cream – changed to coconut milk/cream (still had butter)
  5. Made recipes using coconut flour (avoided almond meal recipes)

Did I exercise?
No, due to injury I could not do any exercise.

How long did it take me to lose 5kg?
15 November – 65kg
24 December – 59kg
24 February – 58.5kg (Not much of a loss but I suspect because I am not strict with my nuts intake (daily consumption)

Takeaway lesson
Abs are made in the kitchen. No amount of sit ups will reduce your gut…what you choose to eat, will!

#2

Good analysis and summary! I like your conclusion, too!

AR

(Rob) #3

Abs-olutely!

(Carolus Holman) #4

I thought Heavy-Cream was good on KETO, is it based on individual experience? Just wanted to know because I have Heavy Cream all the time. Thanks! Those pics are amazing!

(Brian) #5

Dairy is something that some people have trouble with. I don’t so long as I don’t way overconsume it.

Heavy cream has less carbs than half n half or milk. For me, I use a little HWC in my coffee and in the occasional recipe. It works fine for me but for some it just causes problems.

Gotta go with what works for you.

:slight_smile:

(Chazza) #6

Am sure you’re heard this before and that it is all very individual. When I first started Keto in March 2016, I was tracking my food very meticulously and strict with daily macros. When I looked back on it, I was having heavy cream but the most per day would be 1-2 tbsp of it.

After 6 months I stopped tracking and really got into baking…I love my desserts. I was using a lot of cream, cream cheese, almond meal and cheese. I did gain back some weight, some of which could have been muscle as I was weight training then. But I knew all the food above was adding to the weight. But I never gained back my belly and still felt fine.

Breaking away from Keto last year, even for those 2 weeks, definitely proved that the Standard Diet I was eating, would never be good for me.

If you can have heavy cream all the time and no consequence…I’m jealous lol

(Chazza) #7

Agreed@Gotta go with what works for you.

I swapped heavy cream for coconut milk/cream in a lot of my recipes and used coconut flour recipes instead. I think it did make some difference.

(Tammy Kidd) #8

I find this very interesting and inspiring! I have been keto almost 3 years now. Former type 2…and i have been at the same weight for almost 2 years. I can’t seem to get rid of the belly fat! I have been fasting either IF or some EF and my bloating goes away but the pounds just don’t move lol. thank you for this post!

(Chazza) #10

Firstly, fantastic on reversing Type 2! :slight_smile:

I was stuck at 60kg (that seems to be my body’s go-to weight haha) for a long time after dropping to 55kg (my ideal weight) when I was very strict on Keto for 6 months when i started. As many would say, try to eliminate food from diet to see what’s making you stall. Or sticking to just one main meal for the day and some dessert (optional). I find the one meal a day just easier cause then I don’t have to stress about counting carbs or calories.

But I keep it flexible as well – so if some days I feel I want to eat earlier and end up having 2 smaller meals during the day, then I do.

And also mainly focus on how your clothes fit (I know we all like that lower number on the scale…I know I do). But I have a denim skirt which I struggled to pull up over my hips when I went up to 65kg. And now, it goes up easily and is loose. That’s how I could tell I lost weight and also by looking in the mirror :slight_smile: