Ok, this is going to be a long one!
I lost 8 stone last year. That’s 112 lb and 50kg. I had a lot of weight to lose so its not that magnificent. I also have more weight to lose so that is why i’m continuing the keto diet this year!
*Disclaimer* I ain’t no scientist or nutrition expert obviously, i’m just relaying what worked for me when doing the keto diet. Not all people are the same and what works for me may not work for someone else. That being said I also incorporated exercise into my lifestyle too. so everything I say in this blog post is just my understanding of Keto!
So, January 12th 2019 is the day I threw out every single thing in my house that had sugar or carbs in it. The only way i knew how to succeed was to begin from the start, the one thing i’ve always said is you will not be able to lose weight if you’re not 100% committed. It simply will not work pal. Get it into your head that nice things are bad for you so they no longer exist, forget about them!
So Keto is short for ketogenic diet. Being on a ketogenic diet means you’re trying to get your body into a state of ketosis, and to me this just means you’re trying to get your body to burn fat instead of energy. Your body will run on your fat reserves instead of just energy.. does that make sense?
So skip ahead a load of science and stuff, a Keto diet is basically just a Low Carb, Sugar, Gluten free as well as high fat and protein diet. 25g of Carbs per day is the usual, then you can use online calculators that take a few factors into consideration like your age, BMI, weight, height and activity level to find out what your macros are. So for example my macros are 131g of Protein, 105g of Fat. These macros are calculated using your own measurements so when I started my macros were far higher than they are now. From my understanding the bigger you are the more you have to consume to get your body into ketosis (burning fat)
(the website i used is https://calculo.io/keto-calculator) There are so many website and pages about keto and if they are looking for money close that shit down! you can get all the same info and recipes for free with just a little bit of research!)
Ok now all that sciencey stuff is out of the way I can tell you without any shadow of a doubt that you will be like a DEMON BITCH FROM HELL for the first week or two, this kind of depends on how much sugar is in your current diet. When i started i had to physically fire a mars bar into the garden beside my house because if i didnt i was going to eat it. I was jonesing for a tiny little morsel of chocolate or sugar.
Once you get over that something incredible happens! You’re appetite goes bye bye and your energy levels go through the roof, you better hope you have a gym membership to burn off some of that extra energy or you can say good luck to sleep. There was one night last year about 3 weeks into the diet i did a 12 hour day at work and went to the gym and swam for a full hour and i was still walking the hall buzzing off my nut with all this energy and not a cup of coffee or tea did i have that day! C’mere to me now pals I know im fond of a little exaggerating but this part i’m not. I literally had to force feed myself because I wasn’t hungry and I Had waaay too much energy!
I was eating twice a day and using Intermittent Fasting as well but that’s another blog post altogether. I was eating things like Tuna salads, Chicken and ham salad and fry ups with eggs and bacon! The main things you can’t eat are root vegetables (Potatoes, Carrots, Parsnips etc.) or and fruit is a no no! Gluten is out, sauces with sugar or artificial sweeteners are gonzo. Bread no longer exists. If you like meat, eggs, dairy and leafy greens then you are elected. I have so many recipes with exact measurements that i can share, just tell me what you do and don’t like and ill do up a meal plan for you!
The general idea is to have half your plate with protein and leafy greens and then 40% of the plate is fat and then remaining 10% should be left for the naturally occurring carbs in the foods you’re eating. My best advice is when having a meal include a good bit of Irish meat, whether that be beef, chicken pork or fish have a big portion of it. that counts for a big chunk of your protein and fat, then load up on your leafy greens for example with a salad, go mad with the lettuce and spinach. When you have this your protein is basically covered, its the healthy fats you need to worry about. Cheese, Milk, Mayonnaise, Olive oil, avocado’s etc. Then Boom, you are ketoing. This is just a basic example of what your meal should include, there are so many more recipes that include way more types of food! A simple tappity tap into google and you’ll have a list of recipes as long as your arm.
Salt! It’s very important. You’re eating a lot of natural whole foods on this diet that simply don’t have enough salt, not having enough salt in your diet can cause problems like joint pain. Your best bet is to get a grinder of pink himalayan salt and just add a wee sprinkle to one of your meals per day! (Plus it adds a bit of extra flavour to some of the blander meals)
My secret is that after the first 2 months on keto i was well in the swing of things but i was starting to get bored of eating all the same things week in week out, so i allowed myself a treat every weekend, whether that was a portion of pancakes in honey bees or a bowl of popcorn while watching a movie. I Found that when I treated myself i worked harder during the week because i knew i had a treat the weekend before and if i wasn’t good during the week i wouldn’t be able to have a treat the following weekend. It’s really just that simple.
Berries and fizzy water are your bff! Berries like blackberries, blueberries, raspberries and strawberries are the only “fruit” you can have. My way of measuring is that take a very small palmful not handful of each, chop them up, add them to a bowl with cream and keto granola and it’s tastier than any dessert under a bajillion calories! Fizzy water saved my god dang life! I know most people hate it and think it tastes horrible but if you can add a little bit of barley and fruit cordial to a pint of fizzy water then it tastes far better and fills you up so much when you’re feeling the hunger pains!
I could go on all day about keto with little tips and tricks but these are the basics of starting and staying on the keto! But one more thing i will say is that Dr. Berg on YouTube is fantastic for explaining keto in simple terms! go check him out!
If i can do it then you can most definitely do it too! I believe in you and you should believe in yourself too it’s the only thing that will stand to you!
I’ll be doing an insta story soon detailing more of the diet so follow me there to see that!
Shauna xoxo
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