Just checking in

foolforcarbos

I write this mainly for myself, and again - a huge thank you to the folks that provide us myfitnesspal - and the use of this food logger and calorie counter

I am starting day 25. I have gone from 177 lbs to 157 lbs - so far. Sure. At first the weight, mainly water, flew off. But I also knew I was burning off some fat, which is the goal. So how much was simply water weight? Who knows. Who cares. It's gone.

I started at 44 inches around the belly button. I am now at 37.5. My goal was 35 inches, so who knows. I also started off using the Keto diet as a marker to learn what to eat. Sure, there were days I ate under 50g of carbs, but there were days I didn't. I would eat between 60g-84g of carbs. I stated from the start I didn't plan on being in ketosis all the time, if ever - but just hijacked their diet to figure out where to start, knowing it was really a lifestyle change I wanted. Knowing what was healthier to eat. And for me, personally, dumping all those carbs and processed foods from my diet. I basically just moved over to whole foods - or if consuming a processed food, that it was made from whole ingredients.

My sugars are down the most. I rarely eat over 35g of sugar a day. Which according to the AHA is still high, I guess. Hate to say what it used to be, not that long ago. As well, I am not eating eggs all the time, nor bacon. Won't do bullet coffee because I hate coffee, but I am eating a pretty good balanced diet, though still no pasta and no starches, no cheat days.

Where do I plan on ending - and start maintaining? Currently, I am set at 1,450 calories a day. I have readjusted my caloric intake three times and think I may need to take it down one last time, to get those last ten pounds off, when I near that. I have another 7-9 lbs to drop before that final push. There are days, thus far, that I now struggle to figure out how to hit eat 1,450 calories, so I eat an apple a day, or drink a 12 ounce glass of organic whole milk to end the day. But there are days I get off the water, from kayaking, and crave carbs. I just found things to eat that mimic carbs in my mind, but not allow my body these carbs.

Anyway, I say this meaning I know I can eat under 1,450 calories a day. So my goal is setting a weight were I will eventually, in the end, be eating around 2,000 calories to maintain weight. Why? Because that seems like a lot of calories all of a sudden and when doing the math, would put me at 140 lbs, for my height, weight, and age. I do not plan on returning to my 125 lb weight from my high school years. There still may be a day my goal is to get closer to 135. But at 125 lb in high school, I was scrawny and everyone made fun of me for being such a little kid. Not going back to that. That was back when I could touch my pinky finger to my thumb, around my wrist. That's just too skinny. Those days are gone, for good.

Was I told I was going to hit a wall, or plateau - and did I hit that wall? Sure. For, I don't know, eight to ten days I didn't really do much. I gained a pound or lost that same pound, but I just kept up with the program. Didn't get discouraged. Kayak a little longer. Kept telling my self things will work out. Didn't freak out. And so the plan is to just keep going. And if/when I hit the next wall or plateau, just keep up the program and keep going. Who knows, in a few days I may be back starring at a pound or two I thought I had already lost. Will just do what we can to take that pound out again.

There are now a lot of days, my final calories are between 1,250-1,450. But due to kayaking (and hiking), my net calories are 340-400 a day. Instead of a cheat day, I sometimes eat the additional calories I am allotted after kayaking, but only half of those, never all. I want a deficit. Always. Seeing as I'm trying to lose weight. So having days of low net calories makes sense. Eventually, I will be at the weight I want and thus, my net calories will offset the extra food I earn through exercise, as maintaining weight. In other words, one day I will work out, by going kayaking and hiking, and say hey, look at all the calories I earned - what can I really eat (cheat) today

Now lastly, I know what some here are going to say, it's only been 24 days and you have a lifetime to go. To those people, you can tell me how others have failed and once again tell me I may be no different - and that it has only been 24 days. Sure. But if I am making this a lifestyle change, on what to put in my mouth, I like my odds this time around. So say what you want. It's my body and my mind - and I plan on being skinnier for a long time. Again, thanks MFP.

The best lesson I learned is reading labels and avoiding certain ingredients, mainly in all those processed foods. I like clean labels. For that statement alone, people will hit the Disagree button. Whatevers. Maybe I will even go hit the Disagree button just for laughs.

barmami

Tomorrow will be 1 month on keto. Strict keto too. I did it once before a couple years ago and saw great results. Fell off the wagon with my new job at the time and seasonal depression. Started February 23 as a challenge from my boss doing the carnivore diet. I have lost 7 lbs. roughly and have been in keto sis every day. I wonder why I’m stalling? I stay under 20g carbs per day and pay attention to my macros. I take vitamins, drink lots of water, MCT oil and ACV shots. What can I do to boost another surge of weight loss? Hoping tomorrow (which will be the official one month mark) that the scale will read 196.8. Congrats on your journey.

foolforcarbos

I am lucky, I guess, that my body is reacting nicely to what I am doing. Sure, I went a stretch, 7-8 days of nothing happening. But I see it this way: I have only been on this for 25 days. So I need to expect more stretches where nothing will happen.

Now, one may refer to this as setting new set points, which is possible. Or maybe our bodies fight to keep that fat, and hate to shed it, till you tell your body it's coming off one way or another LOL, which is mental and I did address that, or it may be as we get older, its harder.

But first, you are experienced at this. You know what results can feel like. I am sure you are logging everything. So maybe you are eating too much fat, and need, for now, to get your protein up. If you feed your body the fat you want to lose, then the body won't burn the fat you want to lose. At think, from what I gather, at the start, hit more proteins and keep the carbs down, and your body won't have anything else but fat, within the body, to burn.

But, I will post a few links so that maybe you will get better (?)/correct information. Because you are doing more with the MCT oil, ACV shots, and it sounds like you are going 20 for 20, 20 carbs or less for 20 days, that's more than I am doing. The only other thing you could do is put in the sweat. Start working out. Not a gym rat. Not anaerobic. I a talking slow easy aerobic exercises or walks that burn calories, but not cause that extra protein to start turning into glucose and thus, mess with your insulin. Which I wonder, are you measuring. Because if you are, then again, that would be more than I am doing and would again defer you to smarter sources, than me

But let's see what we can come up with. I say first, less fat. More protein. More aerobic and not anaerobic. Less stress, which I think caused part of my plateau, and less standing on the scale and more faith you know this will work. Give the scale a rest. Measure what you want, waist, belly, chest, neck, thighs, whatever, but just keep doing and see if your clothes start to bag a little, or things feel looser. One month is like my one month. Baby steps hoping for giant leaps.

Take a look at these, and see if there is anything you would agree with, that you may want to try:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZXVqvn1uhw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRb_itmYX70

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIf9J8avo-Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdiUs37IaGA


Maybe you will connect with one of these that talks to you as just the right way and what you need to hear, and you'll be like, cool - I got this.

Keep me posted. I will try to ask questions of you or throw things out to jog your memory - so that you start losing again, or at least know you have someone who cares and wants to see this happen, again, for your second time around. Don't knock that you took on a whole lot of new in your life and had to place the keto or whatever on hold. You're here. You want to knock this out again. And you will. Keep me posted. I'll try my best rah rah speeches, I promise.