About a year ago I was extremely frustrated with my weight. I had tried multiple diets from juicing to 28-day challenges and nothing seemed to work. As a petite person it is extremely easy to see where all the weight gain was which gave me a complex I did not like. Over time I started to buy clothes that were bigger than my size to cover up my problem areas which were mainly around the abdomen and hip area. I didn’t feel good about my body. I decided to try Keto and I lost weight on Keto and kept it off a year later.
A coworker mentioned “Keto” and surprisingly I had never heard of it. Her daughter had been so successful over a 3-month period that she and her husband decided to try it. She said her daughter had lost close to 28 pounds over that time and that was enough for me to go like, “I am trying Keto even if it doesn’t work”. I quickly got on the internet to educate myself on what Keto is and what I needed to do to be successful.
I remember the week that I started Keto like it was yesterday. After telling my family what I was doing and getting skeptical responses I was not deterred. Weight gain can be demoralizing and when you struggle with how you look and how your clothes fit you know it’s time to change. I want to share my experience with you and what I did through this weight loss journey.
If you would like to start Keto here is my guide to see how I lost weight on Keto and kept it off.
Table of Contents
What I did When I Started Keto
When I started Keto, I changed my lifestyle. I adapted the low carb, high fat diet cold turkey. Overnight I got rid of all the ‘bad’ carbs I had been eating and stocked my fridge and pantry with Keto approved food. I created a food list that you can find in my guide of what you can eat and what you should avoid if you decide to start Keto.
It is important to remember that Keto is a low carb and high fat diet. This is critical because if you eat too many carbs and keep eating a high fat diet you will gain weight ridiculously fast. On the Keto diet it became very important that I track my macros and I used the Keto diet app for that. I would simply enter the food I planned to eat and it would measure how much I was eating.
To follow the diet correctly each meal should have 70% fats, 25% Proteins and 5% carbs. If you don’t follow this general guide you will probably not lose weight. The diet app was important because it helped to measure how much I was consuming for each category. Also make sure that you don’t consume too many calories because again you will gain weight.
I bought these strips in the first few months to measure my level of ketosis. You don’t have to do that but it helped me to adjust my meals to get into ketosis. I remember dancing when the level moved up because it meant that I was doing the diet correctly.
Also, I started intermittent fasting. See how I combined Keto and intermittent fasting in this post. This was a game changer for me because I started seeing the scale move fast. If I cheated while on the diet, fasting helped me to get back on track fast. I also did moderate exercise because I am an active person. You don’t have to exercise to lose weight on Keto! I lost weight on the keto diet and a year later I am still good.
My Successes:
I Lost Weight and Kept it Off
Having struggled with my weight for such a long time I was extremely happy to find a diet that worked. The biggest takeaway from my weight loss journey is to know that everyone’s body is different. If you start the diet with someone else, they may lose weight faster than you. Don’t let that discourage you keep going and tracking your weight loss. Try not to get on the scale everyday because you may get discouraged. I liked checking on a weekly basis because I was able to see notable gains. I lost weight on the keto diet and maintained it a year later.
Another thing to check is how your clothes fit you. I started to notice that my clothes looked better on me. Progressively I could wear clothes that I intended to donate because they had become too small. It felt so good to wear my favorite outfits that I had given up. Stay on track, follow your macros and you will meet your goal. I lost a little more than my goal and have been able to maintain my ideal weight a year later.
More Energetic
Prior to starting Keto, I was extremely sluggish, and, on some days, I didn’t have the energy to do much. After getting over the Keto flu, which is real, I noticed that I was more energetic. I was enthusiastic about things that were normally so annoying. My skin also started to glow, and people would say I looked good. I loved that I also felt good and that I lost weight on Keto.
Having adopted a low carb diet, I didn’t rely on carbs for energy anymore. Instead my body used fat reserves to keep me energized. I stopped having afternoon slumps and I didn’t dread working in the afternoon because I felt good all day. If I happened to add a quick workout it was even better.
I Slept Better
My sleep pattern improved dramatically. Due to high energy levels during the day my nights became more relaxed. Nighttime became my recovery time and I aimed to get 8 hours of sleep every day. I can’t even begin to tell you how good this felt. Waking up rested and energized for the day had a great impact on my overall wellbeing. I stopped waking up in the middle of the night and I would get a whole night rest.
Please note that for Keto to work you should aim to get at least 7 – 8 hours of sleep every day. Your goal should be stop eating at around 8 PM to allow for your body enough time to digest your last meal prior to sleeping. Remember to keep the last meal light. A rule of mine is to eat for the future. So if you are going to sleep you don’t need a large meal for the next 8 hours verses if you were going to work you would need the energy hence eat more.
Increased Productivity
A few weeks into Keto I noticed that I had more mental clarity and focus. I had more will power to get tasks that I usually procrastinated. Perhaps it was due to the increase in energy levels and having less carbs in my body, but my productivity had a notable increase. I would resolve problems at work faster and I could maintain my focus for a longer period. If I had set a goal to get something done somehow or someway, I accomplished it.
A study by the American Diabetes Association found that ketones from a low carb diet have been shown to improve cognitive impairment and memory scores. The brain relies on energy to function and if you have high levels of energy it impacts your performance and productivity.
I Read Food Labels
Do you read food labels? I didn’t until I started Keto because I had to check the carb and fat content of my food to ensure I stayed within my macros. This is probably the most beneficial thing that I learned. There is so much sugar in the food that we eat and drink. I would see something labeled healthy and low calorie but once I read the label the sugar content would be enough to knock me out of ketosis.
Make sure that you start reading food labels. It will surprise how unhealthy food that is labeled healthy is. With Keto you always want to consume sugars like monk fruit or stevia because they have a low net carb count.
Also, if the carbs are mostly sugar in something you want to eat or drink it is not good for you. On the other hand, if it’s mostly fiber that’s a healthy Keto food because the net carbs will be low. My goal was to eat 20 – 25 grams of carbs per day and if a drink has 30 grams of sugar it would mean that I couldn’t consume any more carbs that day which is not something you want.
Cut Back on Sweets
Due to the carb restriction I was finally able to kick my sugar addiction. I am amazed at how much I relied on sugar for energy. If I felt that afternoon slump, I would grab a candy bar which of course wasn’t good for my weight. With Keto I had to learn how to eat more healthy snacks. I turned to nuts and these chocolates that were Keto friendly. Eventually I even stopped craving sweets and stopped eating the chocolates. I still eat nuts when I get hungry, but I love that I do not crave sweets anymore. This has gone along way as I lost weight on the keto diet and a maintained a year later.
I Tried New Food
The first week on Keto I was constantly trying to find recipes that I could adopt fast and easily. There are tons of recipes that are Keto friendly that will surprise you because they are so good. I would try different styles of cooking my proteins and the food would come out so good my family would eat it too.
Breakfast became one of my most creative meals because this was one of my hardest meals to replace in terms of Keto. I found this recipe and I made this video which I have linked here for Blueberry bread. This is absolutely one of my favorite cakes I have ever made.
Keto forced me out of my comfort zone, and I have continued to get creative in the kitchen. I love that I can now cook a wonderful salmon meal right in my kitchen which has saved me money as I don’t eat out as much anymore. This is another great benefit of the Keto diet because I stopped eating out often as I wanted to know exactly what was in my food and I needed to stay within my carb limits which is difficult if you eat out often. I have saved money while on Keto and I lost weight on Keto.
My Struggles:
Feeling Hungry
When you start Keto, you will feel hungry before your body adapts to the low carb consumption. I recommend finding a balance for your meals because you should not starve yourself. Find foods that have a high fiber content and that keep you feeling sated. I drank coffee to help with my feelings of hunger, but I hated that feeling. Over time my body adjusted and for a while I was fasting intermittently and would only eat one meal a day. Again, consult a doctor before you do something like this. I would eat until I was full, and I think because my stomach got smaller, I would get full faster.
Find a balance for yourself to sustain the diet because you don’t want this to be a miserable experience. You may need to talk to a nutritionist who can guide you through the process.
Low Carb Diet
The low carb diet can be extremely restrictive which is one of the reasons people quit. If you have medical issues this may not be a diet that can work for you. I found that in the initial stages of the diet I was struggling to keep my low carb goals. If I drunk a smoothie that had blueberries and strawberries for example and then had another meal that had carbs in it, I would be limited in how much I could consume. I didn’t like that I had to watch my carb intake so closely. It felt tiring sometimes.
Meal Planning
Every week I had to plan my food for the week. While this was good for the overall success of the diet there are weeks, I just felt like it was big task to think and prepare food for the next week. However, if you don’t plan then you plan to fail so I would always find myself in the kitchen prepping for the next week and sometimes I would be resentful. Seeing the scale move in the right direction kept me motivated but there were days when I hated it.
Low Calorie Intake
I felt that it was hard to get enough calories on the diet which for some people it would be great as a calorie deficit leads to weight loss, but I didn’t want to starve myself. Low carb and low calorie go hand in hand and if you aren’t consuming a lot of carbs the calorie content also becomes low. I think that even as we try to meet our weight loss goals, we should also ensure that we consume enough food to keep ourselves healthy.
Always Thinking About Food
This was something I noticed weeks into the diet. I was constantly thinking about food. What I was going to eat, when I was going to eat and the carb content. Then there was the tracking which is made a lot easier with the Keto diet app but still I had to enter the food I was eating into the app everyday which after some time got tedious. I didn’t like that it was becoming an obsession. I have become better about it and I more relaxed about the food I eat but initially I started to get irritated by this constant thoughts about food.
Cheat Meals Hurdle
If I cheated it would take longer to get back into ketosis which is frustrating given the amount of time and effort you put into this diet. There were days the water weight just wouldn’t drop, and I would get discouraged. Remember to monitor how you feel and how your clothes fit because the scale can be demoralizing. You can attend a friend’s birthday, company event, wedding and any other life event and enjoy the food without thinking about macros. Just remember to get back on track because one or two cheat meals is okay but if you cheat all week you will gain back the weight.
I have continued to do Keto since last year although not as strictly as I was in the beginning because I lost the weight. Every now and then if I cheat excessively, I see a jump in the scale but once I correct with intermittent fasting and diet changes my weight goes back to what I think as ideal. I still eat carbs and all that good stuff, but I have learned moderation. You can try lazy Keto long term and correct when necessary.
Keto has been a success for me and a few of my friends have also been successful so I encourage anyone to try it. Always consult a doctor before making big changes in your life and read this as my personal experience with the Keto diet. I recommend it because I lost weight on keto and a maintained it a year later.
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INTERMITTENT FASTING AND KETO. DOES IT WORK?
