The Good, The Bad and The Ketosis

Alright so I am sure you have heard someone you know or seen via social media the wonders of being on the Keto diet.

Goodness knows before I did it for myself I heard and seen nothing but magical transformations, but honestly the premise behind the diet wasn’t too appealing to me. I started it part out of curiosity, as I spent the past year practicing with different eating styles to see what worked best for my body and part in support of someone I love who was starting their own wellness journey.

Little disclaimer I am not in any way a Keto expert and I am just sharing my personal experience on it.

For those reading who have no basis of what this diet is about here is the general idea. In order to function our bodies burn food into fuel. Averagely this fuel comes from the burning of carbs. On the Keto diet you are limiting or excluding all carbs so your body is forced to burn something else for energy, so it then begins to burn fat. So all in all it is a low carb, high fat diet.

So let us begin shall we….?

Truth be told I was a little paranoid about doing this correctly. I mean I wasn’t too hell bent on loosing weight but I knew I didn’t want to gain any weight while being “on a diet”. So I used an app to assist me in getting “my numbers”

MYKETO can download for a few bucks on the app store and is a great tool at least in beginning ( in my opinion) . It was really helpful the first few weeks because I had a hell of a time getting in the proper amount of fat. This is a bit tricky as you don’t want to go over calories or protein. The app allows you to log in your food, scan barcodes and calculates the percentages of everything for you like your fat, protein, calories, and of course carbs.

What was nice about using the app is that it gave me an idea of where to start (because I had no freaking clue!)

Ok so what happened the first few weeks in regards to my body…

Maybe you have heard of the keto flu, I didn’t experience anything too crazy, a little foggy at first but honestly for me that’s not too odd I can get a little space cadet from time to time. I did notice the first week I ran hot, I felt myself getting warmer that usual, not like a fever but like not needing my blanket in the evening type thing. I also noticed I had dragon mouth which just meant my mouth would get dry and I began carrying around mints which wasn’t something I HAD to do before. I started this at 153lbs and was down ten pounds my first two weeks, some water weight I am sure but still fast as far as dieting goes. I took me 3-4 days to get into ketosis (the stage in which my body is now using fat for fuel) I know this because I peed on stick and it turned reddish lol there are many ways to tell if your body is now a fat burning machine with all kinds of interesting internet gadgets but I used the pee sticks that can be found at GNC for 14.99 :)

Now my mental game the first few weeks was a different story …

While it seems I was crushing this keto thing if you were looking solely at how religious I was doing it and how the weight was coming off, the truth was I was STRUGGLING. This diet was against all I had learned about weight loss previously as I used to avoid mayo, cream cheese, and hot wings and these were now some of my weekly staples. I began to be triggered by food which hasn’t happened in quite some time. Honestly my mindset the first few weeks took me back to a time when I boarder lined eating disorders. Tracking everything I put in my mouth via the app was making me feel some type of way. I didn’t like how much I thought about my food during this time, the pre-planning, the worrying, and just my mindset in general. I realized I still had a real fear of gaining my childhood weight back which meant I probably had some childhood hurts left.

Remember our issues don’t come form weight they come from the experience as a result of weight. As it wasn’t the chuckiness of my adolescence that scared me but the rejection, the bullying and the isolation that was related to it.

When I realized these old issues coming up I sat with them, I acknowledged them and once again made peace with them, I’m thankful for Keto for letting me get in touch with this and begin again to heal it.

As the next few weeks went on I worried less about the numbers I stopped plugging in everything into the app and now on my 2nd month I don’t even track anything, minus peeing on the stick from time to time. I generally know based of my first few weeks what I can eat and how much of it. I am much happier now that I have lost the manic side of how I was approaching this diet. I think its easy to go off the deep end with it though.

So the Good ( for me) :

Weight loss / Leaning out (exercise not required, I hardly worked out while on Keto)
Satisfies through out the day/ reduced hunger and cravings
Internally insightful (Hello old wounds)
Educated me on how my body functions on a different eating modality
Encouraged home cooking and food experimentation
Enforced self soothing that doesn’t include food ( I couldn’t eat cake because I was sad lol)
Feeling more confident

The Bad (for me):

Triggered issues with food
Effected my mood ( was a bit impatient and had “low” feelings more than usual my first week or two)
Its a LOT of meat to eat LOL
Its hard to be spontaneous or social on Keto
it effected my potty visits ( I needed to get a high quality probiotic)
Lost a bit of food enjoyment ( was eating for fuel not for satisfaction)

All in all it has been a positive experience, I have had my frustrations with it like getting bored with my food, getting upset with my mood, and just the overall challenge of this “lifestyle” but it has encouraged me to get back on my depression medicine, taught me new recipes and how to experience and look at food in a new way. Deepened my education and relationship with food and self, I had no clue how much sugar and carbs were in my food prior and now feel I can make better decisions for my body whether or not I am on keto ( which I plan to stop on Christmas)

this Keto journey of mine will be 2 months when I am finished and as of now a little less than a month and a half now I am 15lbs down.

I am happy with the results but more proud of myself for doing something so unknown to me and sticking with it even when it got tough. I have learned so much more about myself as a person and that is priceless.

if your interested in doing your own Keto Journey here are my tips:

start with an app to give you an idea of your “numbers”
grab the pee strips form GNC because they are fairly cheap
make pinterest your best friend to find recipes
be leery of labels as they are not always truthful with the amount of carbs in the item ( you can scan the barcodes with an app to get a better reading)
sit and feel out any emotions it brings up
remember its a way of eating and not a religion
don’t be afraid to try new foods (Miracle noodles for Whole foods are a God sent)
remember you are amazing just the way you are and loosing weight is a bonus

Look Id love to tell you there is a one fits all secret to weight loss and wellbeing but there isn't . Keto may work for you it may not, but your worth any "healthy” decision you make for yourself. Maybe that’s ditching carbs, or maybe its ditching that shitty boyfriend, that toxic job whatever!

Just know you can do ANYTHING and I am here to help.

Love,

Jen