January 2022
Part II of an ongoing series of posts discussing my journey with keto.
Today I talk about the dangers of not calculating macros and body images issues.
I have quickly realized that strict keto isn’t right for me. Those of you who are strict keto and nothing but … don’t criticize me for this. There are 3 types of keto and everyone needs to find the one that works best for her (or him).
I think that there needs to be a 4th type of keto. I’m not strict keto as my food choices fall outside of the ‘whole food’ category. I’m not lazy keto as I still track my macros every day. And I’m not really dirty keto. Although I eat what I want, I do always try and make good choices, but sometimes make bad choices (that fit in my macros). I guess I’m kind of a strict when convenient or a dirty tracker kind of keto person.
Moving forward, I will refer to my journey of falling off the keto wagon (and getting back on) as a ketogenic lifestyle that practices dirty tracking keto!
It’s funny how our minds work. At my heaviest, I knew it. It was obvious every single time I looked in a mirror or saw a picture of myself. When I lost those initial 40 lbs, nothing changed when I looked in the mirror or saw current photos. I was still the fat, frumpy person that I had always been. Others certainly didn’t see me that way. My Mom was worried. She said that I was losing too much weight and was starting to get skinny. Skinny? Me??? Never. At best, I will be average.
Anyway – despite never being able to see that I HAD lost weight, when I looked in the mirror 2 days ago, I could definitely tell that I HAD gained back a lot of the weight that I had lost. You can imagine how that translates into my mind. If I saw myself as fat and frumpy before, I now see myself as fatter and frumpier than ever.
I definitely need to work on this as I restart my journey. I’ve started to do some reading about this. I keep coming across the diagnosis of BDD; Body Dysmorphic Disorder. The Mayo Clinic has a really great page that talks about BDD. I still need to do further reading to figure out how I can look in the mirror and see what is really there, not what I think is there. I’ll talk more about this in future posts as I learn more.
Dysmorphia – seeing isn’t always believing.
When I first started keto, I incorporated zero exercise into my regime. The dogs got walked on a regular basis, but I didn’t do any additional exercise. Yes, the weight fell off. But, I paid for not exercising. Excess skin is not a pretty thing!
I feel that blogging about my journey makes me a bit more accountable. I want to write a success story, not an “I’m still weak” post. So, if I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna do it right! That means doing everything I can to prevent that excess skin issue from happening again.
Not only will I be doing some strength training on my bowflex, I’ll be making sure to get in my 10,000 steps per day. (I wrote about this topic in Week 1 of the 10 Week Keto Challenge).
Fortunately, one of the ladies that I work with sets up ‘step-challenges’ for staff each year. Participants kick in $2.00 to join. Everyone then decides on how many steps they want to get in each week. We log our steps each day on a shared google doc. If we don’t meet our step goal for the week, we owe $2.00. At the end of our step-challenge (the last week of the school year), we take the money and buy lottery tickets.
It’s only $2.00, but it’s a good motivator!!!
2 weeks in and I’m frustrated as hell!!! But, I’m making some progress. They might be baby steps, but they are steps nonetheless. I didn’t cheat – I stayed low carb and had no ‘real’ sugar (based on my previous month, this is kind of like Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon).
When I first started keto back in June of 2020, I dropped 5.9 lbs in the first 2 weeks. The loss is definitely not going to be as significant this round. At the end of week 2, I am only down 1 lb. It’s still progress though! There are some key reasons for this minimal loss; all my own doing.
I have been using urine strips to measure my ketones. (I’m checking every 2nd day). I’m definitely in ketosis. But, I need to get deeper.
In my last post, Falling Off The Keto Wagon – Part I, I said that I was going to consider doing some intermittent fasting. Now I know that I NEED to implement this. This week, I’m going to follow the 16 hour fast; 8 hour eating window.
In upcoming weeks, I’m also planning to follow the carnivore diet for 5 days. You can read all about this method of getting into deep ketosis by referring to my Preparation Week – 10 Week Keto Challenge post.
Another option is for me to follow the 3-Day-Kickstart-Keto Menu Plan from I Breathe, I’m Hungry.
I’ll keep you posted as to how these ideas turn out. Watch for future posts!
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