Hello, friends! I’m writing to you today from my living room, where it seems I have spent the last 436 years. I know we are all in this quarantine business together, trying to do the right thing for us and our loved ones, but MAN is it HARD.
I have seen a lot (and I mean A LOT) of posts from friends who have been struggling to stay sane and healthy while stuck at home. I may or may not have been one of those friends. 🙂
For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while, y’all know I’m a big fan of intermittent fasting (IF). Not only does it help with weightloss, but beyond that, it is a preventative measure for age-related illnesses like cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and more. (But keep reading, because this blog isn’t just another IF praise story.)
For the past year, I have been experimenting with IF and different fasting windows to see how I felt and what worked best for me. What I discovered is that no matter how well the “delay, don’t deny” IF theory may work for some to lose weight, it absolutely does not work for me. I lost and then gained back the same 10 lbs over the past year, all while following and believing in this mindset. (Even in the popular Delay, Don’t Deny book by Gin Stephens, the author candidly admits to losing the majority of her weight in a myriad of different ways, BEFORE finding the intermittent fasting lifestyle, which now helps her to keep it off.)
For many people with no underlying health conditions, clean-fasting for 18-20 hours per day will allow them to eat whatever they want within their eating windows and still lose weight (that they never see again). However, after struggling with gestational diabetes while pregnant, my body changed drastically and I have struggled with insulin resistance and weight gain ever since. I had hoped that the intermittent fasting alone would correct that and help me lose, but my body was already in such an insulin-rich state that it couldn’t combat the preexisting high levels of insulin PLUS the high-carb diet I continued to eat.
Well, about the same time I was coming to this realization and feeling slam FED UP, a friend of mine posted an updated photo on Facebook, and it was very obvious that she had lost weight and looked amazing. I reached out to her and found out that she had started a new health journey in January with a company called Optavia, and she was having immense success with it, in spite of her hypothyroid condition (which we both have in common). By the end of February, I decided to go all-in and order my first month’s box. (But before you click away, please know that this is not a blog about Optavia. Keep reading!)
March: the dang apocalypse month. Here I am, getting ready to start this newfangled diet thing, and then the world shuts down, leaving me quarantined at home with ALLLL of my husband’s and child’s SNACKS. Lord have mercy.
Nevertheless, I persisted. I paused my intermittent fasting, and followed my Optavia coach’s advice down to the letter. In that first month, I lost almost 12 pounds. I would love to say that I felt amazing and had plentiful energy during that month (like my friend did), but that is not the case. 🙁 I felt like crap. I was lightheaded, cranky, and HUNGRY all the time. Not to mention, I had hot flashes at night that would rival any woman in menopause–and ladies, I am nowhere near menopause! I know it has worked well for many people, it just wasn’t for me.
So I went back to my research. For my friend who didn’t have as much to lose, cutting her calories to only 800 to 1000 per day (which is the Optavia 5-in-1 weightloss plan) wasn’t earth-shattering. But for someone who needs to lose a lot of weight, this drastic reduction in calories can easily make you feel like poop on a stick. And sadly, that was how I felt.
Sigh.
Not wanting to regain my Optavia weightloss, but needing a different solution, I once again turned to research. And this is what I found.
Within the intermittent fasting community is a large group of people who follow the ketogenic (keto) lifestyle while fasting, experiencing tremendous results.
Full disclosure: I have never been a fan of this method of dieting, because I don’t think consuming high quantities of fat over time while avoiding most carbs is a feasible lifestyle for the long term. However, I had never considered the possibility of using it temporarily, and weighing the pros and cons of that decision. After all, being overweight is the NUMBER ONE cause of cancer, so any sane attempt to change that has to be better than keeping the status quo.
Pros:
– bacon
– losing weight quickly
– eating a whole avocado every day
– bacon
– drinking bulletproof coffee
– feeling fuller longer
– did I mention bacon?
Cons:
– eating mostly fats for a while
– trying something “new” and unknown
– regaining the weight lost, if I don’t have a clear maintenance plan
Alright, so you get the gist. I really had nothing to lose except fear and the weight itself, so I decided to go for it. I am happy to report that during the first two weeks of keto, eating around 1600 calories a day (tracking calories and macros inside the free MyFitnessPal app), I lost another 7 pounds. And I am now at over 20 pounds lost in the last month and a half!
If I continue losing at my current pace with keto, I will surpass what I lost in one month with Optavia. And more than that, I actually FEEL really good. I have energy, I’m not hungry at all, and my mood has drastically improved. I am no longer having hot flashes, and I sleep so much better.
For the cynics: yes, I do realize that keto is not a realistic lifelong lifestyle. I do want to eat cake at parties and not worry about blowing up like a blimp.
Trust me, I got this.
You see, I already know that I can maintain my weight with intermittent fasting while eating whatever I want; I did that over the past year, landing on the exact same starting weight when those first 12 months were done.
So here’s my plan: continue to use the keto diet to accomplish my weightloss goal, and then go back to my intermittent fasting plan of 18:6 in order to stay at my healthy weight. (It’s also worth mentioning here that my doctor was the first person to recommend the keto diet as a way to quickly reach my goals. She’s also a fan of IF, and practices what she preaches.)
Furthermore, I really enjoyed my intermittent fasting lifestyle and always knew I would go back to it, no matter what I may try in the interim. The research shows that the health benefits alone make IF worth your efforts, even if you don’t have any weight to lose.
I hope y’all will continue to follow along while I’m on this journey! I have a feeling that this is chapter is going to be one for the books. 🙂
More updates and delicious keto RECIPES to come!
Choose well, and be well.
Blessings,
Emily