Keto ultimately failed for me the last 2 times I tried it. I understand why now. As I did research and spoke with people about ketogenic diets, the main theme that was thrown around a lot was "calories don't matter, it's all about the carbs"... I think that is skewed. I was told that it didn't matter what I ate and how much, as long as I was under 20g of carbs for the day.
That usually ended up with me eating a bag of pork rinds at night because I was so hungry. That then led to me using French Onion dip with my pork rinds. Still under 20g carbs per day, so it had to be ok right?
Wrong.
What it did was make me lose weight at such a slow pace, that I ended up giving up both times. The first time i went from 395 to 360 over the course of about 3 months. Granted, a lot of cheating happened, but I was always super strict with my carbs when not on a cheat day.. Still super slow.
The second time I went from 390 to 365, but that included 2 weekends back to back where i walked miles a day working conventions; a lot of exertion while not eating a lot (too busy). I was actually 372 before the weekend, so that 7 pounds was literally busting my ass all weekend. This was another 60 day time frame. Then I just started justifying cheating, and well, the rest is history.
2 months later; I had gained back up to 385. I decided to make the change but to do it different this time. If you go back to the beginnings of this blog, you will see that I lost substantial weight a few years ago eating small meals throughout the day. My best friend encouraged me to do that again.
So what I decided to do was a hybrid, a cleaner Keto diet, without all the cheeses and "this is high in fat, low carb, so binge on it" foods. No more night snacks, no more justifications, just clean ketosis. I call it Klean Keto.
My diet is Chicken, Beef, Broccoli, and Avocado. Mostly. In my last post I showed you what a day looks like. I have taken the 1/4th avocado out of each of the meals, and instead use a whole one at night in an Avocado Chocolate milkshake thats about 4-5g net carbs.
I was challenged by a vendor for VapeMania 15, Shawn, to a weight loss challenge. He had recently started Keto. He probably didn't know I had been cheating for 2 months solid. He also probably didn't know that I had just started back on my diet 2 days prior. Either way, I accepted. On Sept 4th, 2015 at VapeMania 15 (my convention) we will have an official weigh in to see who lost the most. The loser will donate $500 to the winner's charity, and wear a dress and make up the second day of the convention. This challenge has really gotten me more excited.
So what's the secret?
It feels like a game, a sport; and I don't fucking lose.
I started 11 days ago. 7 days ago I weighed in at 383.3, the next day I weighed 385.5. This morning, I weighed 372.6
Already in 11 days, I am lighter than I was going into that convention. I am feeling way better, I am abstaining from snacking at night, and I am losing the weight.
The other change is I'm actually going to the gym. Not every day, not yet. I'm slowly building myself back up to it, and within a couple weeks I expect to be able to work out 5-7 days a week again. I had a panic attack trying to do cardio 2 nights ago, and I think it's because I was trying to push myself too hard a little too soon, so I got off the eliptical, went and worked out weights for an hour, did some abs, then came back and did another spurt of cardio. It was a total of 15 minutes on the elliptical; but it's a start.
I expect to be able to go a full hour by July 11th, easy. The panic attack thing sucks, and I know I just have to fight through that shit.
I am not going to lose this competition, and I'm not going to quit. I am the type of person who is completely content with eating the same thing every day; so this is easy for me. Tomorrow I cook the next week's food, and that's a 2 hour workout in itself too!
I am more active already, I've chosen to go walk around the mall and Barnes and Nobles a few times already in the past week, when normally I'd choose to be stationary. I am wanting to move more; and that's a good thing.
Here's to July 11th, where I'll give an update on my weight and cardio time, and keep talking about how this cleaner keto is superior to lazier keto.
-Freeze
