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This week marks the end of my month long Keto diet trial run. Time flew by and I can’t believe I am almost finished. I am ending the month with both positive and negative thoughts on Keto. I find Keto to not be a sustainable lifestyle. Having only 25 grams of carbs was a lot harder than I initially thought. An apple alone is 25 grams. It was challenging and there were plenty of days I went over the amount. As the month went on I stopped counting carbs and stuck to low carb items like meats and veggies and called it a day.
Week one and two of Keto I was starving, which is to be expected since I cut out a lot of foods that filled me up like sweet potatoes and sugar. I found myself snacking more on veggies during the day to satisfy myself. I know I did not eat enough fat during my month, but no way are you going to convince me butter is an ok choice. My healthy fat came from avocados, bacon, and periodically cheese. By the 3rd week my appetite suppressed a little and I was no longer having thoughts of eating my own arm. I am proud that I didn’t give up during those first few weeks, even though it was the most challenging time.
Now that I am coming to an end of my month I am a lot more lenient on what foods I eat. During Memorial Day I had s’mores, a smoothie, and mash potatoes (at the wedding the food was stacked so there was no way around the mash potatoes, and I didn’t care). With being on a clean diet, when indulging a little I do not have the guilt of having sweets or carbs like I would of have before. As I said, after a while I stopped counting carbs. I found counting carbs was making me teeter-tot on unhealthy thoughts. If I went over my carb count by lunch then I felt guilty for eating dinner. There were plenty of times I felt like I had nothing to eat because I was afraid I wouldn’t go into Ketosis if I over ate. I recognized this thought pattern and immediately stopped counting carbs.
Another part of my experience, and this is the TMI section, my menstrual cycle was abnormal. It start early and lasted longer than ever before. I was pretty worried about it at first. I knew changing my eating habits would affect my body and my cycle, but I didn’t realize how much. I reached out to a friend of mine who did a month long Keto and she said she did not experience any abnormality in her cycle, but was very fatigue and would have headaches. I didn’t experience any fatigue or lightheadedness. I guess our bodies will react differently to changes. I ended up turning to Dr. Google and the change in my cycle was normal.
What I did love about being on Keto was how much healthier I felt. I wasn’t bloated, my digestive system was healthy and normalized, I had energy, and I felt detoxed. During my time in Columbus I went to my doctor for a checkup and it looks like I lost 5lbs. I am a little disappointed as I was expecting to lose more. Maybe at I continue clean eating the pounds will come off. The best part of the whole month, however, was how much I cooked instead of ordering on Seamless. It was very enjoyable. Even on the weekends where I tend to do most of my online food ordering, I found myself wanting to cook.
To share a little of what I ate during the day:
Morning: eggs with spinach and blueberries or strawberries (sometimes bacon was added)
Mid-morning snack: matcha latte with almond milk. If hungry I would have almonds.
Lunch: salad with spinach or kale, tuna or chicken, tomatoes, avocado, and lemon juice.
Afternoon snack: either raw mushrooms or celery with almond butter.
Dinner: fish (usually salmon, snapper, steak tuna) or chicken. Side veggies like bacon wrapped asparagus, steamed broccoli, or Brussels sprouts. If I ordered through Seamless I would get chicken collard wraps with veggies, zucchini spaghetti, or a salad.
Dessert: almond milk with collagen peptide (taste like a milkshake). If really craving sweets I’d have a scoop of Halo ice cream.
*I also drank during my month which is a no, but I didn’t want the diet to completely change my lifestyle as I originally thought this would be long term rather than only a month. I do not regret a single glass of champagne.
My overall thoughts on Keto and what happens next on my health journey? I think Keto is a great detox month long diet, similar to Whole30. I feel so much better and healthier than I did before I started. I do not think it’s a sustainable lifestyle to count carbs that low, nor do I find it a healthy mind-set. There is something called Keto Cycling, much like Paleo, where you are 80/ 20. 80% of your meals during the week are Keto Diet, 20% of your meals are not. I find this to be more approachable and sustainable. I am going to incorporate sweet potatoes, dark cacao, fruits, and Kombucha tea back into my diet but not over indulge in them. I am also going to continue to eat clean, cook, and stay active. I believe that is the best way to live and for best results. Would I do Keto again? Yes I would. Overall I enjoyed it. It was a nice restart to my system and diet that I desperately needed.
This was such an interesting read. I give you so much credit for sticking with it – I love my carbs!!!
xx, Danielle | Pineapple & Prosecco
When I try to eat healthy, I’m basically doing a Keto diet. But normally I simply can’t eat that few carbs. Carbs are my fave! Thanks for sharing your Keto meal plan with us.
I feel like diets such as this will always be a challenge for me because I have an endless food allergy list AND a stomach disease! Whew! But it sounds like it’s super fascinating and potentially really helpful for your body! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I don’t believe in diet and never tried one. But this sounds great. So good for your body. Thanks for sharing the information.
Rita | http://www.styleroundtheclock.com
I was on Keto for like two months and I recently had a cheat week (going on two weeks now) and it’s so hard to go back. Once these banana chips are out the house, I’ll be full on keto again. It totally works and I feel a huge difference in my body and energy by keeping off the carbs.
It was so great to read this! My boyfriends mom eats keto so we try to as well when she’s around to make things easier, but it’s definitely difficult!
Rachel
http://www.hello-her.com
I have tried keto but never stuck it out!! I need to again!
It’s not an easy diet to do that is for sure! but definitely try it again!!
I tried but it was so hard to stay around that carb amount. EVERYTHING has carbs, even fluids! For now, I just cut out a few things that were causing issues but I would love to try again!
agree! I would definitely do it again but I think doing it for only a month religiously is best.
I’ve heard people talk about Keto but didn’t know much about it, so this was an interesting read for me. I agree that the 80/20 rule sounds more do-able, because carbs are basically everywhere. I think I may even try it out sometime just to get back on track with healthier eating habits.
I’ve heard so many people chat about the keto diet but didn’t know much about it– thanks for sharing!