[SV][NSV] Long post, my story so far! keto

36-year-old male, 5’9”

TLDR:

• Started keto: mid-August, 2016

• Initial: 210 lbs, 35-inch waist

• Current: 163 lbs, 31-inch waist

• Difference: 47 lbs, 4 inches

• Moral of the story: do keto, it’s awesome!

My Story So Far: Long, long ago, I told myself that 180 lbs was my maximum weight, and that if I ever went over that, I would start paying attention to my fitness. Well, add a career, a wife, laziness, and plenty of distractions like video games and alcohol, and I found myself as a fat, out-of-shape 36-year-old. I decided something had to be done.

This was about the time that Pokemon Go was released, so I started walking 6 or 7 miles per day. At the same time, I started eating healthier. Vegetables, whole grains, and less fat. Basically, I followed what the general public would consider a “good” diet. I did lose some weight over two weeks, but then I learned about keto.

I was listening to Joe Rogan’s podcast, and he mentioned something about keto and/or a low-carb, high fat diet. I did some research and decided to give it a shot. This is when the weight started flying off. I dropped Pokemon Go when my walking turned into running. After about 3 months, I was down almost forty pounds and running 10k in under an hour. This was mind-blowing! I’ve never been a runner, but at 36 I was running the longest distances of my entire life.

Unfortunately, two things happened: Thanksgiving and a running injury. The injury happened because of overdoing my running. My ankles started to develop tendonitis, so I had to curb my running significantly. At around the same time, I decided to give myself a cheat weekend to cook a nice Thanksgiving dinner. As I’m sure many of you know, that cheat weekend turned into a “cheat-three-weeks.” During this time, I gained about 8 pounds and was up to around 170 lbs.

At Christmas, I started back on the keto-life and went to the gym instead of running. Now I’m back down to a bit over 160 lbs and my appetite is under control again. Here’s to a good long time on keto. If I can do it, anyone can!

Pros, Cons, and Personal Weaknesses:

• I’m amazed at how controlled my appetite is on keto. I can often eat once per day.

• High energy! I used to be dead-tired after work. Now I have energy all day long.

• I love to cook bad food, bread is awesome, and sugar is tasty! I can cook a mean beef wellington, lasagna, and plenty of desserts. Not anymore, although I'm getting handy at cooking keto.

• I live in Asia… Avoiding rice and noodles is hard!

• Personal weakness: I like alcohol, increasing my calorie count, and I’ll over-indulge on mixed nuts if I buy them.

Favorite Recipes:

Broccoli with cheese (I hope you don’t need a recipe for this one!)

Keto Meatloaf: Mix ground meat of your choice with a few eggs, some almond flour, cheese, and extras/seasonings of your choice. My favorites are jalapenos/cilantro/onion/bell-pepper or basil/parsley/onion/parmesan/red-pepper-flakes for a Tex-Mex or Italian meatloaf, respectively. Line a loaf pan with bacon, press in the meat mixture, cover with bacon. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for about 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 30-40 minutes until done.

Wings: Buy a bunch of chicken wings and/or drumettes. Place them on a wire rack and let them sit overnight in the refrigerator. The next day, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and if you want, paprika and/or red pepper. If you don’t mind a small carb bump, put all of the wings in a bowl, sprinkle on some baking powder, and mix until everything is evenly coated (this does not take a very large amount of baking powder, so I’ll allow myself this luxury sometimes – you get a crispier wing than baking them without the powder). Now for the really important part – bake at 225 degrees for 20 minutes, and then bake at 400 degrees for a further 40 minutes. Serve with your favorite keto-friendly dipping sauce.

Advice-to-Newbies and Thoughts:

• Try not to cheat! It’s not so much that cheating for a day will make you suddenly gain weight. Even the short amount of time out of ketosis isn’t the worst. It’s the habits! Cheating for a day can let you tell yourself, “Why not cheat tomorrow morning?” “Why not just one brownie?” A few days of this and the appetite control you’ve built up will be lost.

• Follow a schedule. If you skip breakfast, skip it consistently. If you eat breakfast, eat it consistently. The same goes for lunch and dinner. My body really likes knowing when it will be eating.

• To count or not to count? I’m (mostly) a lazy keto-er. I’ll keep a mental track of carbs and calories, but tracking everything is just not for me. Your mileage may vary – if tracking everything helps you, do it.

• Exercise! Yeah, yeah, I’m sure someone will reply saying that you don’t need to exercise on keto. That’s true – you don’t need to exercise to lose weight on keto. You should exercise to tone your body, improve your cardio and respiratory functions, and FEEL BETTER! You’ll be surprised at your energy levels on keto. Use that energy for something – walking, swimming, lifting weights, even just doing push-ups. As you make progress, your body will feel better, and as you hit new milestones, you will feel even better about yourself.

• I’m still mostly a newbie myself, but feel free to ask any questions.

Submitted December 29, 2016 at 03:39PM by Battle-Tag http://ift.tt/2hvF7wP keto