I had stumbled upon keto diet accidently in 2016 through a reddit forum when I had worried that my pee smelled funny (sorry for gross imagery right off the bat), like ketones. I knew the smell from working as a laboratory chemist for 5 years. It turns out that the smell was a cleaning product, one of those that you clip onto the bowl.
The forum I had stumbled upon did talk about people noticing that their urine smelled different when in ketosis. I had never heard of this before so I started digging. I learned a lot about keto and the benefits, but I didn’t get into the diet until last year. Some of the benefits which got my attention:
Weight loss
Lower body fat, better cholesterol levels
No insulin spikes and crashes
Lowered feelings of hunger
Consistent level of energy
Brain power, memory, and focus improvement
Easier to fall asleep and wake up
Lowered acne and skin lesions
After putting off starting keto diet for a long long time, I started Keto in February 2017 when I was 30 years old. My fiancee (now wife) and I were planning our October wedding and I knew I needed to go on a diet. I weighed nearly 200 pounds and was well over a healthy weight. My goal was to get to 175 pounds by October, which was my weight when I graduated high school in 13 years earlier.
Keto Food Pyramid
At first, I threw out all of our snacks since all of them had carbs. Chips, cookies, sweets, crackers all gone. I made a meal plan and went to the store to get food for the new diet. This consisted of meat, cheese, and leafy green vegetables. Also included were items like heavy cream, cream cheese, coconut oil. I made weekly meal plans and I tracked all calories that I ate with a health app on my phone. I stuck to a very hard diet regimen right away.
As some of you may know, you can have some carbs on keto but I wanted to get into ketosis as soon as possible. I cut out all fruits, all breads and grains, all starchy vegetables, all sweets, and beer. I went through a keto flu, it lasted about a week. I thought it would be longer, but I started noticing changes right away.
I lost 10 pounds in about 10 days and I was amazed. Other things I noticed right around that same time:
I didn’t feel hungry
My sleeping patterns were better, and mornings were easier
My mood was improved
My brain power and focus was improved
After losing 10 more pounds I loosened up on my diet. I still refrained from eating breads/fruits/sweets/starches, but decided that I could have some beer and be fine. I also stopped a hard regimen on meal planning and counting every calorie and carb that I ate. I found the process tedious and unnecessary. I continued to lose weight.
Over the next few months, I had quit smoking and I quit drinking beer and alcohol altogether. On our wedding, I weighed 170 pounds, down nearly 30 pounds since I began.
Me, before and after keto
As I’m writing this now, I am down to 162 pounds. I no longer feel I need to lose any more weight, though the pounds keep coming off. I believe I am in the best shape of my life since I was in high school. I eat whole foods much more often because of the diet. I have energy to work for 9-10 hours and then go for a run every day. I also bike to work when weather permits and my stamina in physical activities is much improved. I began snowboarding again after a 10 year hiatus due to being out of shape.
Since Christmas of this past year, I have begun to “cheat” on my diet, where I will eat dessert and popcorn with my wife. She is not on keto, and I like to share an experience of indulgence with her. I go one week cheat and one week clean. I have not noticed a major change when on, except sometimes it is harder for me to fall asleep if we have dessert right before bedtime.
In conclusion, the keto diet has worked wonders for me. I wish I could tell everyone about its benefits and my experience. I am glad you are able to read my story! I am going to continue posting about keto and some more recipes. If you like my take on keto, please follow and resteem! Cheers!