We all want to lose weight for different reasons for our health, to achieve the norms of the society, or to feel better. Personally, I lost weight for both health purposes and to feel good about myself. Growing up, I was a fat kid. My heaviest was at over 100 kg! As a fat kid, I was teased, bullied, and skipped on opportunities. It helped that I had the brains and I was always on top of class but other than that, being fat was bad for me overall. So, when I reached the age of 20, I became more self-conscious thus the drive to lose weight. In doing so, I tried different approaches: working out, health supplements, keto diet, and now Intermittent Fasting. Let’s talk about the keto diet. When I did it in 2017-2018, I saw RESULTS! But I stopped after almost a year despite being satisfied with it and here are why:
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It Starts With the Keto Diet
The keto diet or ketogenic diet is a kind of diet where a person has to consumer low to zero carb and high fat. By replacing our carb intake with fat, our body undergoes ketosis wherein it uses the fat reserves to fuel us each day. This is why keto diet has proven REMARKABLE results in weight and fat loss journeys. In fact, when I tried it two years ago, I was highly impressed and blown away by the results. That was the slimmest form I have ever been in. But again, why did I stop? Well, for one, the diet is HARD.
Since it is LOW CARB, HIGH PROTEIN it means that I have to let go of many Filipino food and we know how carb-heavy our Pinoy diet is: rice, potato, flour. When I was still doing keto, I completely avoided my treats and these are some of them. Lucky for me, there were some grocery-item-finds that are keto-friendly.
Food to AVOID when doing keto:
- Rice
- Flour (pastries, cake, bread, etc.)
- Starch (potato, cassava, squash, etc.)
- Sugar
- milk
- fruits
Food ALLOWED when doing keto:
- chicken
- pork
- beef
- fish
- fat
- butter
- soy
- beans
- avocado
- veggies
So now that you have the list of the food that are allowed and not allowed when doing keto, do you still wanna continue? lol You know what, it really was challenging. Personally, skipping rice and pastries was easy after a few days of adjusting. What was hard for me was skipping on my drinks. I am a coffee person and I love my Starbucks Mocha with extra whipped cream on top. But in keto, those are not allowed and that was when I learned to embrace my love for americano, cold brew, and black coffee
Keto: Test of Mind and Body
As they always say, “no pain, no gain” And that is the exact case for keto diet. Letting go of the food that I love and used to eat regularly when I was still in this diet was easy. If it were just for my body and taste buds, that is not a challenge at all. However, the real test is in the head. Cravings are the real bitch when they hit. So to curb these cravings, I usually thought of why I did it in the first place and that is to look better.
Of course, diet alone will not yield results. So, during that time, I partnered my diet with regular exercise. At the time, I was still in circuit. Can you imagine the test that I had to face then? The hunger from working out plus the craving for the treats that I used to love was a killer. By the second month, however, I already saw results that is why I persisted.
Keto Diet: The Good and the Bad
Now that I was feeling better about myself, I contemplated on whether I should still continue the diet. By after a year, I decided to stop for two reasons: the diet is difficult and expensive, and two, keto is harmful for the liver in the long run. Imagine eating lots of fatty food to compensate for the lack of carb in the body. While it burns off the fat, you also intake fat which increases the lipid levels in the body.
So, there you have it, Bingers. Have you also been thinking about getting into keto diet? I hope my experience enlightened you, guys. Hey, I am not a professional and these are all from my personal experience. It is still best to consult with your doctor before undergoing keto diet, okay? 🙂
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