So after a month of absolutely no movement on the scale…okay, that’s a lie. After a month of playing around with the same damned five pounds on the scale…I’ve decided to do a little experiment. I’ve decided to try a ketogenic diet.
A what? Yeah, I know. Actually, if you’ve dieted throughout your life then you already know what this is but instead of calling it by it’s technical term you’ve probably called it “Atkins”. It’s basically all the same thing…eating minimal carbs, lots of protein and too much fat– though “too much” is actually supposedly just the right amount.
The basic principles are this: 5% carbs, 75% fat, 20% protein. Wait, scratch that… 0% carbs, 80% fat, 20% protein. Wait, no, that’s not it either… The truth is there are LOTS of variations of this “diet” all with the main goal of VERY few carbs, some protein and lots of fat…basically it boils down to whatever ratios work to get your body into ketosis.
So what the heck is ketosis? Well the definition as listed in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is: an abnormal increase of ketone bodies in the body.
Yeah, okay, so what does that mean? Um…so you know how our bodies prefer carbohydrates for energy because they are easy to breakdown and convert to sugar for quick use? Well, Ketosis is what happens when you deprive your body of those quick-use carbs leaving it only two options for use as energy – muscle and fat. The goal of course being to get your body to use fat instead of muscle resulting in fast FAT loss. The way to do this is to severely restrict your carbohydrate intake and increase your fat intake. It sounds completely counter-intuitive but it works…or at least that’s what “they” say.
These ketones can be detected in your urine so of course I ran out an bought some keto-sticks to be sure I’m doing it right. Turns out, I am!
So basically, I’m keeping my carbs under 50g per day and eating way more fat than I usually would– that’s a total mind challenge for me. Even though I understand the science it still seems…weird, for lack of a better term.
Anyway, that’s what I’m experimenting with now. I started 4 days ago and I haven’t lost any weight yet, according to the scale. So instead of getting all stupid about it (AKA stressed), I bought four “weigh-ins” at Vitality (a local health/weight loss clinic in my area) where I can get on their fancy scale that will tell me my stats.
This was today’s weigh-in:
What I find is the coolest thing about this is that I’m only 4.7% away from my “desirable range”. WHAT?! And my BMI is 37.7%. One year ago it was over 60%. Insane, no?
Anyway, I’m gladly eating cheese…full fat cheese! Yummy, delicious CHEESE! Smoked Gouda, Horseradish, Champagne and Pepper Jack. They are all so good and have ZERO carbs! It’s pretty much like heaven. I’m also using more oils and other fats that I don’t normally use in my cooking in order to increase my fat intake. I’m far less hungry than usual and I feel great! From what I understand most people feel really crappy for the first several days but my body seems to be loving it. I have had no negative side effects at all. In fact my workouts feel stronger and I’m not getting the afternoon slump so I’m pretty pleased. I’m only planning to do this for two weeks as I don’t necessarily believe it’s the healthiest long-term solution…though there are many people who would disagree with me on that. (Maybe they aren’t eating cheese)
Besides more than whether or not it’s GOOD for me, I know it’s not sustainable. I WILL want to eat a cup cake or a piece of pizza at some point and I’m certainly not going to deprive myself of those things forever. So, two weeks it is.
I will keep you posted, of course!
If you’re interesting in learning more, Google has lots of answers but before you try anything crazy/extreme you should talk to you doctor first to make sure it’s a good option for you.
The end. 🙂
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