Okay, its truth time. With the stress of our impending move that never seems to happen, I am guilty of stress and comfort eating. I’ve also been guilty of eating way too late in the evening. I haven’t been getting enough sleep and I’ve certainly not been exercising and providing myself the self-care I know I should. As a result, I’ve steadily been gaining back all the weight (and then some) I had worked so hard to lose. Yes, I am guilty of manufacturing an excuse to go to the store so I can buy a doughnut while I am there. More than once.
I feel less like myself again. My joints are hurting more, and I’m tired–even though I have a cpap machine.
I need something easy and structured in my life right now, so I’ve decided to go back on my keto diet. I am a lot more deliberate about what I eat when I do a keto diet. I record everything I eat which helps with mindfulness. Knowing I have limited choices for food also helps me not be tempted to just grab something convenient. I’ve done a keto diet before with great results, so I’m sharing my best tips.
And for the record, my heaviest weight when I started was 228.6 lbs.
1. Have a detailed plan.
Doing a keto diet is not something you can just jump into without preparation. You need to think about pitfalls you may face, how you will handle social functions and obligations, including if you invite anyone over to dinner. You need to think about if it will it be hard for you to watch your family eat cheeseburgers while you are not.
Once you identify pitfalls, you can plan for solutions. In the case of the cheeseburger, I recommend planning to eat a turkey burger framed by two slices of beefsteak tomato and wrapped in lettuce. (The plan I follow allows me up to four cups of tomato, brussell sprouts, and certain restricted vegetables per week).
I recommend planning as much as a month at a time. You want to make sure you always have your keto-friendly foods stocked. Freezing some quick keto meals is a huge help
2 Have a meal prep day.
Once you have your plan, go to the store and get your food, you should plan on preparing a few things you can eat for the week or throw in the freezer. I make my own taco seasoning and cook it with ground turkey and bell peppers
3. Always carry a keto-friendly snack in your bag when you go out.
The worse thing in the world when you’re on a strict keto diet is to find your errands have taken longer than you thought and you need something to eat asap.
4. Remember the more strict you are, the better your body stays in ketosis.
Yes, that one little grape will throw you out of ketosis. Is it worth the hunger pains and headaches you’ll go through for one measly little grape?
5. Know your body and take time to transition off-preferably to whole foods.
I tend to be carbohydrate intolerant. When I’ve done a keto diet in the past, it was recommended I eat some carbohydrates in the morning as I transitioned off. Toast and English muffins were often recommended. Once I have breads in my diet though, I tend to want more and more carbs. And I feel lousy after eating them. All this completely defeats the point of all my healthy eating. This time my plan is to 1) eat simpler and real carbs like fruits as my transition off and 2) continue to eat lots of vegetables first in any meal.
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If you’re like me and doing a ketogenic diet, I wish you every success. Remember to focus on real, whole and unprocessed foods of all colors of the rainbow. I’m currently down 12 pounds and I already feel better. I can walk a mile without my back hurting me. Yay for small successes!
Stay strong and have a “bee”utiful day!