I am 57 years old and have been overweight and out of shape for as long as I can remember. As an emotional eater:
- I ate when I was sad
- I ate to celebrate
- I ate to beat boredom.
I made food my go-to for all my emotions. It didn’t help that I love food; the greasier or sweeter, the better.
That was until six weeks ago.
My history with diets
I never like to use the word diet. It was limiting and difficult to maintain, so I preferred to say I was working towards eating better.
And from the way I talk to others, you would think I was successful at dropping weight and getting into shape many years ago. My favorite phrase was, “You wouldn’t put sugar in your car’s engine. Why is it ok to put it into your engine, aka your body?”
Yes, I can be a very obnoxious person.
However, when I was alone, I had no willpower. Any cookies in the house were gone too quickly. An extra piece of pizza, why not? If I liked it, I was going to eat it.
The Keto Diet
Then one day, something happened. My stepson suggested he, my husband, and I go on the Keto diet. My first reaction was, “No, I don’t think so. I am not a big meat eater, and it didn’t sound healthy. But my husband is a serious carnivore with diabetes and needs to lose weight too, and I thought it was something we could do together.
I decided to research the diet and discovered some surprising things about the overall health benefits of eating keto. The article Is the Keto Diet Healthy? I Uncovered the Truth about this Diet breaks down this popular diet’s scientific research and history.
The results from our first two weeks on Keto.
The three of us started strong. We plundered the internet for recipes and tips. We then shopped for all the tasty keto-friendly foods like bacon, avocados, cheese, and roasts, all the yummy things often forbidden on other diets. We made scrumptious garlic mashed cauliflower.
Going into week two, my husband and I shared how much better we felt. He did have a short bout with what many terms the Keto-Flu, but I never was affected.
I lost 10 pounds, and my husband had similar results. But that wasn’t the best part.
The unexpected results from keto
Gone was the bloating, heartburn, and my clothes felt looser. But it was how I felt that had the most significant impact.
I have struggled with brain fog for the past few years. I was easily distracted and often found myself forgetting many daily things. I started researching causes, and much of my reading attributed it to menopause.
But that wasn’t the case for me. After two weeks on Keto, I began thinking more clearly than in previous years. The cobwebs were gone, and my attention span and interest in things improved rapidly.
Weeks 4-6.
By the third week, my stepson was returning to his door dash habits, and my husband slipped a little along the way too. Knee surgery and a sedentary period led to boredom in eating for him.
I am thrilled with the results and am staying true to the plan. I am now approaching a loss of 20 pounds and enjoying a dramatic decrease in joint pain, especially in my knees. I can climb stairs quickly and without wincing, and my clothes are getting loose, which is all the motivation I need to keep going.
Check back in August for a final update and see where this experience and my relationship with food go from here. Until then, please share comments or your own experience with us below. We would like to know what you think of the keto diet.
