KETO BLOG SERIES
ORIGINALLY POSTED JULY 13. 2020
A multi-series blog all about my keto journey and how Rick and I lost over 70 pounds on a keto diet.
- Part 1 – Where to start (the acceptance)
- Part 2 – The 411 (the science)
- Part 3 – Intermittent Fasting and more (the musts)
- Part 4 – The good, the bad and the ugly (before and after pics)
The Good
- There is a lot of great info out there to help. Since Rick’s results are quite drastic (he’s lost almost 50 pounds in under 3 months)! You go Rick! Many people have asked him about his diet. We are happy to answer questions but he also found this website here that does a great job explaining keto. There is also a video totally worth watching here.
- If we can do it ANYONE can do it! Rick and I are 49 and 50 years old. We both are healthy and have always been very active (Rick was a collegiate swimmer and works out 3-5 days a week. I was a marathon runner who transitioned into triathlons completing an Ironman in 2016). Regardless of our activity and fitness levels, eating what we wanted when we wanted and middle age caught up to the both of us resulting in extra unwanted pounds. Not until we started living a keto lifestyle did we lose weight. Here is a testimonial from Rick:
“Keto and intermittent fasting has been by far the easiest diet for me to stick with. I am fortunate to have Tami because she helped with my initial education, and also because she eats this way which makes things much easier. Because I have significantly reduced the carbs I eat, I do not get hungry throughout the day, and I find myself eating more vegetables than I did in the past. I used to eat carbs at every meal, so the thought of keto initially seemed impossible. I found that the quick results of the diet motivated me to stick with it and within a week I could feel the change.” -Rick Kraus
- Losing is winning! I started my keto diet on July 1, 2019. I have lost 25 pounds in the last year. During ketosis my weight came off slow and steady (lost .5 – 1 pound a week on average). Although my loss was slow and steady Rick’s loss in ketosis was completely different. His weight loss was fast and furious! Rick started his keto diet April 15, 2020 during quarantine. Today (barely 3 months later) he is within 2 pounds of his goal weight!
- Weight loss is maintainable. I reached my goal weight December 2019 (5 months of strict keto – I did this by staying under 20 grams carbs a day). Since my goal weight was achieved I increased my carb intake to 50 grams of carbs a day and eat a low carb diet (I call this dirty keto). I am usually not in ketosis (the state where my body burns fat instead of carbs). If I gain weight, I immediately lower my carb intake to 20 grams carbs a day to get back into ketosis (it takes 3 days to get your body to ketosis). Since December I have been “dirty keto” and have not gained any weight back.
- Decreased appetite and no cravings. Rick and I both found that with our keto diets and IF (intermittent fasting) our appetites decreased and we lost all craving for carbs.
- More energy and overall feeling of well being. We both feel like we added years to our lives just by getting our weight into healthy ranges. The plus side of that is feeling better overall in regards to increased energy and how we look and feel overall.
The Bad
- Knocking yourself out of ketosis. If you are not careful it is very easy to knock yourself out of ketosis. It takes 3 days for your body to get into a state of ketosis (burning fat instead of carbs) so knocking yourself out and having to start the 3 days over is brutal! Don’t cheat on this diet! It will work against you badly. It ONLY works if you stop eating carbs and increase healthy fats. As soon as one carb too many goes in your system you have completely derailed your efforts for ketosis. Plus, since you are increasing healthy fats, the fats only burn off in ketosis. If you knock yourself out while eating the healthy fat guess what….YOU WILL GAIN. This is NOT a diet you can cheat on at all. Cheating or one slip up will set you back days!
- Keto flu and keto breath – both are temporary possible side affect you may experience as your body adjusts to a lower carb intake. Neither Rick or I experienced either of these side effects.
- Constipation – MCT oil will help! Another health benefit of this stuff! The blog here goes into the benefits of MCT oil here. My favorite brand here.
- Hitting macros is hard – For ketosis I stay under 20 grams of carbs a day. My macros are having a diet that consists of 75% healthy fat, 20% protein and 5% carbs. The Loseit! app helps me track this. This equates to 90-100 grams healthy fat, 85 grams protein and 20 grams carbs a day. I struggled often with getting enough healthy fat into my daily diet to make up 75% of my food intake in a single day. There is only so many avocados a person can eat in a day! Go here for some healthy fat options. I finally discovered MCT oil and it was a game changer!
- Stalls – They will happen. Stalls are when you start to see weigh loss on the scale (I weigh myself weekly, Rick weighs himself daily) and it suddenly stops even though you are eating well and in ketosis. Rick has had stalls for 2-3 days. I’ve had two stalls that each lasted 1-2 weeks. This is normal (and frustrating) but most people on keto experience at least one stall. My suggestion. Get stubborn and wait out the stalls. Another way to get out of stalls is to IF. If you aren’t already intermittent fasting. Try that to get the weight loss moving again.
- Not a diet to do while working out intensely. Walking, some strength training is fine. Anything strenuous is not recommend.
The Ugly!
Before you start your keto diet take some before pictures. I didn’t do this (because I was disgusted with myself…hence why I started keto). In hindsight I wish I would have taken some good “before” pics so I would have them to compare my results to. Even though I didn’t do that, I was still able to dredge up a few “before” photos of Rick and I that we are not very proud of. However, considering where we sit today and how we look and feel, we both agree it’s appropriate to share how we went from before to after on our keto diet – the good, the bad and the ugly.
