So what is this crazy thing that I am doing? The Ketogenic diet. I am neither a scientist nor a nutritionist, but I will briefly explain a little about keto. Keto is a pattern of eating that doctors have used for people with epilepsy, for example. While it’s crazy to think that the way you eat could even help to decrease seizures for a serious illness, that just goes to show how important what we put into our bodies is. The Ketogenic diet is a low carb, high fat, moderate protein diet. Usually in terms of macronutrients it looks like: 5% carbs, 70% fat, and 25% protein. Our bodies use carbs as it’s main source of fuel. Yummy yummy carbs that our body craves and our brain rewards us for eating. However, on a Ketogenic diet, you deprive your body of those carbs by eating less than 50g of carbs a day (most Keto dieters start out with 20g or less). Without the carbs to use as fuel, your body has to turn to the next source of fuel: fat. That sounds counterintuitive- lose fat by eating fat? However, without carbs, the body has no choice but to burn fat for energy instead. In the beginning, it’s kind of a shock to the body. You might go through something termed as the “keto flu” in the first week, where you may feel tired, dizzy, etc. You will also drop a lot of water weight (generally up to 7 pounds, but I’ve heard of people losing as much as 15) as your body uses up the stored carbs in the first week (carbs hold onto a lot of water). Once your body realizes it doesn’t have enough carbs to fuel itself, it will start producing ketones, hence the name Ketosis diet, as your body goes into a state called ketosis when it does this.
There are many benefits to the Keto diet. As their body becomes accustomed to Keto, many people report losing a lot of weight, alleviating symptoms for all kinds of ailments like PCOS (which I have), pre-diabetes, hyperthyroidism, infertility, etc. They also report feeling more energy, better sleep, better mental clarity, less hunger, and more.
I personally just started my 3rd week of Keto. During week 1 I lost 8 pounds. I went through the keto flu for about 2 days and I peed allllll the time because I drank a lot of water (Keto makes you thirsty!). In week 2 I lost 3.5 more pounds, and 2 inches off my waist. I noticed that I did have a lot more energy, better mood, and generally did not feel as hungry. The hardest part of Keto is that you can’t cheat (well you can but that would be very sad) because cheating can kick your body out of ketosis, so you basically have to start back over. People who have been on the diet for a few months and have become “fat-adapted” to where their body has completely shifted and grown accustomed to burning fat for fuel, can better re-enter ketosis after cheating. Some of them are also able to eat more carbs (30-50g) without being out of ketosis.
In addition to Keto, I am also doing intermittent fasting. I follow the 16/8 method, where I have an eating window for 8 hours and I fast for 16 (including sleep). Usually my window is even shorter. I give myself from 12:30-8:30 to eat but I usually stop eating around 6 or 7 to be honest. Intermittent fasting also has great benefits in terms of health and weight loss by itself so I feel it’s kind of a double whammy, combining it with Keto. But, I feel GREAT. My body feels good now that I’m not stuffing it with processed foods and sugar and carbs all the time. I want to try the Keto diet for 30 days to see how I feel and what it does to my body, and if I can, make it a lifestyle.
Keto Nera 