Alright, I have officially fallen into the newest health care craze: The Ketogenic diet.
Hi, guys. My name is Tanera and I’ve been struggling with my weight since practically forever. Even as an elementary schooler, I always noticed that I had a very round and protruding belly, though back then I still thought I was cute lol. Also, my niece is 2 years older than me, and yet we fit into the same clothes up until about middle school, when I became too big to even fit her clothing size anymore. Looking back at pictures of myself when I was younger, I don’t think I was as big as I thought, but I always just assumed I was fat because of my stomach, where I carry most of my weight. So, even as I gained weight, I didn’t see it as much as I should have. Then I started to see myself in pictures and I was like WOW, this is a problem. I was in the 190s all throughout high school and in a terrible cycle or eating horribly during the school year and then dieting and working out everyday during the summer.
Then I continued that same behavior in college. Instead of gaining the freshman 15, I gained 30 POUNDS, in the FIRST SEMESTER of my freshman year. I was astounded and ashamed with myself. I managed to get back down into the 190s my junior year for my upcoming study abroad to Spain, just to pile it all back on after I returned. Right after graduating college, I came to South Korea to teach English, weighing about 230 pounds. Moving to SK did help me to lose weight initially because Koreans eat a LOT of spicy food, which I just don’t eat, and their snack options were nowhere near the delicious treats I could never resist back home. The first few months in SK, I dropped 15 pounds without trying. I worked off the other 15 by intermittent fasting and working out.
Of course, life got busy, work got busy, especially when I took on extra classes that lasted until 10pm at night. I stopped focusing on my diet and exercising. I also went home to visit during vacation some months later. Needless to say I let my weight rise back up to 215 pounds. I was so ashamed. I really wanted to at least get back to my high school weight so I started intermittent fasting again and working out. It didn’t work this time. My weight did not budge at all. My friend had suggested to me before to try Keto but I was like nah. Cooking everyday sounds like a hassle and the diet seems to be too restrictive and complicated. However, at the time I was also following a lot of weight loss and dieting tags on Instagram to encourage me to lose weight and a lot of them praised Keto as well. So, I did my research. Like a lot of it. I looked for every blog post, website, and Youtube video I could find. Before and after photos, day by day/week by week journal entries about keto, food lists, mistakes, and anything I could think of. I knew if I was going to do this, I had to go all in. I had never stuck to a diet before without cheating, because I thought I could not live without the sugar (chocoholic=me) and carbs (fries and chicken nuggets are life). I was terrified of letting myself down, as I so often did. But I took the plunge and decided to go for it. To get to a healthier weight. To change my relationship with food and my bad habits like emotional eating. To prove to myself that I could do something I thought was impossible. To fit into my clothes because it’s too dang hard to find clothes that fit in SK!
Please wish me luck. It’s a new journey for me, but I feel confident and I am going to fight urges and fight for a better me every step of the way.
Keto Nera 