Sticking to Keto - the Secret
I have lost a significant amount of weight on two occasions in my life. The first time, I was heading into my 30s and I succeeded in keeping the weight off for almost five years. I pretty much followed the principles I had learned from failed attempts at Weight Watchers and I exercised a lot. The second time, I was heading into my 40s, I did it on Keto and it has been six years. I am known to say that the greatest non scale victory of this endeavour has been the knowledge that I'll never gain the weight back. I have a five pound threshold. I don't allow myself to go five pounds below goal weight or five pounds above. To be honest, I could still find another 20 pounds on my frame that I wouldn't miss if it were gone. In my late 40s, I don't like the look of my face without a little flesh on it. I'm 5'4.75" and I wear a size 8 or 10. I could be smaller. I'm happy here.
Both times I lost weight, something snapped inside me to instigate it. I plain old got sick of being overweight. At my height, it was not preferable to fit into a size 12, 14, 16. Everything in those sizes are too long for my petite frame. Getting dressed in the morning was exhausting. Looking at pictures of myself was depressing. I withdrew socially. I had to lose the weight.
In June 2013, I started "Atkins Induction" on a whim. I hadn't read anything about it until the morning I started. I hadn't known anyone to try that ridiculous fad diet in years and my opinion of it was not too positive. I was desperate and I knew it could help me get the ten pounds off and that might motivate me to continue in a "more reasonable" fashion. Day 1. Breakfast. I knew I could have eggs fried in butter and coffee with the fattest cream I could find. I ate that and headed off to work. When I got to work, I googled the Atkins diet and started reading.
That evening, I made sure our kitchen was full of all the things I'd need to succeed. My husband (bless him) thought I was nuts but agreed to support me for a few weeks. He was still eating his "normal way" but he (the grocery shopper of the house) would make sure I had what I needed. He would even cook for me. I know that these things alone make my experience pretty unique and I'm grateful.
I've been in Keto for over six years and sometimes I get asked if I ever get bored of it. The simple answer is yes and I will write soon about how I get around it. It's not that big of a deal as I sit here at my goal weight, not trying to lose a pound, and I want to share a bowl of popcorn with my husband once every six weeks. During the spring and summer of 2013, it did matter. I was on a course to lose weight and I had to stick to the program.
Keto for weight loss does NOT work if you cheat. There's a famous meme about it along the lines of Keto and marriage having "no cheating" in common. I only had 30 pounds to lose but some people lose 100 or more pounds on it. How do they manage to be consistent for so many months?
For me, the answer was reading. I read everything I could get my hands on about the Atkins Diet (where I started) and, soon, the Keto diet. In addition to seeing very exciting numbers on the scale every week, acquainting myself with the science behind why Keto works was highly motivating. Of course, nowadays on Instagram and YouTube and just about everywhere else you look, you can find inspiring success stories which also help. Great Keto bloggers like Keto Connect (I have no affiliation with these guys whatsoever by the way but they are full of great info) can give you great tips, great recipes. They even know all the best keto snacks to buy on Amazon.
I read, I used my imagination. One day at work, I was trying to think of what would make a good 2pm snack on Keto. Do you know what I came up with? Devonshire Cream! You can buy this at the supermarket in Canada, where I was living at the time. You may not be able to buy it everywhere but, if not, you can always google a good recipe for clotted cream. Same thing. Really, it was a lifesafer. A couple of spoon fulls of that in the afternoon when you're already in ketosis and keto adapted - no problem!
There are far more resources out there for Keto now than there were when I got started. Use what's available to you. Atkins and Keto are not exactly the same but I do really recommend Dr. Atkins first book "Diet Revolution" (the 1972 version) to help you understand how ketosis works in your body and how to get there. Otherwise, find a blogger or an instagrammer you really like. Google your questions. Leave comments below and I'm always happy to answer you. I've succeeded on this to an extent I'm really happy with and I know you can too. I'm here to help and I will be writing lots more on this and other topics. Keep in touch!
***
*Hey guys, my blog is pretty new and I'm just trying it out as a hobby. I have signed up with Amazon Affiliates to see if eventually I could monetize these writings and, because of that, you'll see there's a link in today's blog to a product and a book that I know and love. As an Amazon Affiliate, I may earn from qualifying purchases. In the interest of full transparency to any readers I may have, my total earnings to date have been $0.00.
Both times I lost weight, something snapped inside me to instigate it. I plain old got sick of being overweight. At my height, it was not preferable to fit into a size 12, 14, 16. Everything in those sizes are too long for my petite frame. Getting dressed in the morning was exhausting. Looking at pictures of myself was depressing. I withdrew socially. I had to lose the weight.
In June 2013, I started "Atkins Induction" on a whim. I hadn't read anything about it until the morning I started. I hadn't known anyone to try that ridiculous fad diet in years and my opinion of it was not too positive. I was desperate and I knew it could help me get the ten pounds off and that might motivate me to continue in a "more reasonable" fashion. Day 1. Breakfast. I knew I could have eggs fried in butter and coffee with the fattest cream I could find. I ate that and headed off to work. When I got to work, I googled the Atkins diet and started reading.
That evening, I made sure our kitchen was full of all the things I'd need to succeed. My husband (bless him) thought I was nuts but agreed to support me for a few weeks. He was still eating his "normal way" but he (the grocery shopper of the house) would make sure I had what I needed. He would even cook for me. I know that these things alone make my experience pretty unique and I'm grateful.
I've been in Keto for over six years and sometimes I get asked if I ever get bored of it. The simple answer is yes and I will write soon about how I get around it. It's not that big of a deal as I sit here at my goal weight, not trying to lose a pound, and I want to share a bowl of popcorn with my husband once every six weeks. During the spring and summer of 2013, it did matter. I was on a course to lose weight and I had to stick to the program.
Keto for weight loss does NOT work if you cheat. There's a famous meme about it along the lines of Keto and marriage having "no cheating" in common. I only had 30 pounds to lose but some people lose 100 or more pounds on it. How do they manage to be consistent for so many months?
For me, the answer was reading. I read everything I could get my hands on about the Atkins Diet (where I started) and, soon, the Keto diet. In addition to seeing very exciting numbers on the scale every week, acquainting myself with the science behind why Keto works was highly motivating. Of course, nowadays on Instagram and YouTube and just about everywhere else you look, you can find inspiring success stories which also help. Great Keto bloggers like Keto Connect (I have no affiliation with these guys whatsoever by the way but they are full of great info) can give you great tips, great recipes. They even know all the best keto snacks to buy on Amazon.
I read, I used my imagination. One day at work, I was trying to think of what would make a good 2pm snack on Keto. Do you know what I came up with? Devonshire Cream! You can buy this at the supermarket in Canada, where I was living at the time. You may not be able to buy it everywhere but, if not, you can always google a good recipe for clotted cream. Same thing. Really, it was a lifesafer. A couple of spoon fulls of that in the afternoon when you're already in ketosis and keto adapted - no problem!
There are far more resources out there for Keto now than there were when I got started. Use what's available to you. Atkins and Keto are not exactly the same but I do really recommend Dr. Atkins first book "Diet Revolution" (the 1972 version) to help you understand how ketosis works in your body and how to get there. Otherwise, find a blogger or an instagrammer you really like. Google your questions. Leave comments below and I'm always happy to answer you. I've succeeded on this to an extent I'm really happy with and I know you can too. I'm here to help and I will be writing lots more on this and other topics. Keep in touch!
***
*Hey guys, my blog is pretty new and I'm just trying it out as a hobby. I have signed up with Amazon Affiliates to see if eventually I could monetize these writings and, because of that, you'll see there's a link in today's blog to a product and a book that I know and love. As an Amazon Affiliate, I may earn from qualifying purchases. In the interest of full transparency to any readers I may have, my total earnings to date have been $0.00.
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