Where to begin! When I first read about the diet, I thought it was absurd. How can a high fat diet help me lose weight? However, this absurd diet is the only thing that has worked for me! I’ve been overweight for a lot of my adult life and have tried many different ways to lose.
Before I go on, I want to mention that I am definitely not one of those “carbs are our enemy” and “destroy ALL THE gluten’ people but Keto is something that works for me and has changed my life for the better in many ways:
1. I have lost 30 pounds so far which is the most I have lost in years. I had previously been losing and gaining the same five pounds over and over.
2. I have tons of energy all day. I still drink coffee because I like to, but I don’t need it like I did before.
3. I drink way less alcohol and way more water. I don’t have room for the carbs on most days and that has brought my drinking down from pretty much every night to only a couple times a month.
4. My skin is better. I have a lot of skin issues like eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis, blepharitis, you name it. And while all of these things are chronic and may never fully go away, it is much more manageable now. My patches are smaller and I have to use far less of my prescription creams and such.
5. Part of my keto day is fasting and I have found that my mental clarity has improved. I am far more productive at work and I’m more motivated in my down time to work out or do something useful with my time. I used to be a Grade A Couch Potato and while I still enjoy hanging out on the couch, it isn’t my main source of entertainment anymore.
6. My chronic depression/anxiety, which I’ve had some form of since I was a kid, is more manageable than it’s ever been. I will say, during the keto flu, I was actually more anxious, but again I’m prone to it and it’s pretty common due to Pseudohypoglycemia which you can read more about here. It could be a combination of the things I mentioned (weight loss, better skin, etc.) but I feel happier and less anxious which has led to me finding new opportunities and meeting new people. I still have anxiety but it doesn’t stop me from doing things anymore.
7. A combination of the keto diet and a book called Brain Over Binge, helped me overcome binge eating; another terrible habit I developed as a kid. I felt like I tried everything to stop bingeing and nothing helped. I was a couple times a week binger and it led to weight gain and feelings of shame, and more bingeing. When I’m doing keto I don’t feel deprived of anything, I can eat pretty much any time, and with the aforementioned happiness and energy, I haven’t binged in months.
Before I go on, I want to mention that I am definitely not one of those “carbs are our enemy” and “destroy ALL THE gluten’ people but Keto is something that works for me and has changed my life for the better in many ways:
1. I have lost 30 pounds so far which is the most I have lost in years. I had previously been losing and gaining the same five pounds over and over.
2. I have tons of energy all day. I still drink coffee because I like to, but I don’t need it like I did before.
3. I drink way less alcohol and way more water. I don’t have room for the carbs on most days and that has brought my drinking down from pretty much every night to only a couple times a month.
4. My skin is better. I have a lot of skin issues like eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis, blepharitis, you name it. And while all of these things are chronic and may never fully go away, it is much more manageable now. My patches are smaller and I have to use far less of my prescription creams and such.
5. Part of my keto day is fasting and I have found that my mental clarity has improved. I am far more productive at work and I’m more motivated in my down time to work out or do something useful with my time. I used to be a Grade A Couch Potato and while I still enjoy hanging out on the couch, it isn’t my main source of entertainment anymore.
6. My chronic depression/anxiety, which I’ve had some form of since I was a kid, is more manageable than it’s ever been. I will say, during the keto flu, I was actually more anxious, but again I’m prone to it and it’s pretty common due to Pseudohypoglycemia which you can read more about here. It could be a combination of the things I mentioned (weight loss, better skin, etc.) but I feel happier and less anxious which has led to me finding new opportunities and meeting new people. I still have anxiety but it doesn’t stop me from doing things anymore.
7. A combination of the keto diet and a book called Brain Over Binge, helped me overcome binge eating; another terrible habit I developed as a kid. I felt like I tried everything to stop bingeing and nothing helped. I was a couple times a week binger and it led to weight gain and feelings of shame, and more bingeing. When I’m doing keto I don’t feel deprived of anything, I can eat pretty much any time, and with the aforementioned happiness and energy, I haven’t binged in months.
8. I was a junk food junkie. I love sweets and would typically binge on cake or something equally as terrible for you. Keto allows artificial sweetener (if you really need it) but thankfully I hate artificial sweetener so it has really helped me break my sweet tooth. I don’t even crave it anymore. Now I’m like I want to “cheat” and eat a strawberry!
9. My fiancé and I cook a lot more now, which means we go out to eat a lot less. We were spending hundreds of dollars a month eating out before we started doing keto full time. We would house a whole pizza and breadsticks plus dessert, or Chinese food meant for 6 people (judging by how many fortune cookies we got) and now we have fun cooking together, we eat a lot less, and we save money.
We have been brainwashed to think of fat as bad, and once I let myself off the “low-fat, low-cal, sugar-free (but packed with all kinds of other crap)” bandwagon, I was able to jump into keto and eat high quality foods and gain a lifestyle that I’m happy with.
**Disclamer* This is my experience and is anecdotal. I am not a nutritionist or a trained medical professional and all research was done on my own. As always, check with your doctor if you are diabetic or have any other health issues that could make keto dangerous. Though a lot of doctors are still on the low fat, high protein kick and think of keto as a “fad” so it’s best to do your own research as well. **