My Keto Diet Starts 7Jan18

My Ketogenic Diet first days have started!!  I wanted to start my diet on January 2nd, 2018, but I could not start due to a cold.  This caused me to wait until January 7th, Monday to start the diet.  It has been one week at this publishing since I started the diet.  I have embedded my Youtube announcement also.  Please see my Youtube Channel for my Keto Journey on video.  “Secondhalflions Keto” will get you there or click this link to see it.

My YouTube on my start with Keto.

So why the Keto Diet?  I have been on Paleo for over two years.  My basic diet guidelines:

• No Grains
• No Sugar
• Fruits Yes
• Vegetables Yes
• Meat, Fish, Chicken, and Turkey

On this diet, I lost a strong 23 lbs.  Feel great and glad to have been on this diet for the last two-plus years, but I have hit a wall.  Stuck for the last 12 months at 216 to 220 depending on the month.  Not loosing or gaining, but not progressing.  Trouble is I worked out very consistently the last two years.  Even very advanced workouts, with extreme discipline, but it did not help.  Mostly my primary slip up was drinking alcohol.  I knew that it was not a paleo correct decision to drink on a weekly basis, but I did it anyway.

I was already Paleo, why do I need to go all Keto now?

I had bought into the notion that you need to eat five or six smaller meals during the day.  I did this very religiously.  I consistently ate my three larger meals and two to three snacks.  This all added up to roughly 1800 calories, plus whatever I drank that day.  Sometimes nothing, sometimes several drinks.  This was a very damaging pattern.  About three or four months ago I learned how stupid that way of eating was for me.

Five or Six Meals a Day is Creating Insulin Resistance!

I learned I should eat all my calories in three or maybe even two meals per day.  This floored me.  I immediately started eating only three times per day, and it made all the difference.  I lost several lbs over the last few months eating that way.  Cutting out the snacks, protein powders, and the protein bars made a difference in my body and energy levels.  The intermittent fasting really made a difference.  I started eating some fat with my coffee to tide me over until noon when I could eat a proper meal.  This meant two meals per day, with a fat coffee (like bulletproof coffee) morning.

Bulletproof Coffee is a Great Keto Breakfast.  Get ahead on your Fat for the day, and your brain will love it.

I love Dr. Berg and his advice.  He is the one that introduced me to Intermittent Fasting.

With this progress coming on and my feeling better I knew I was on the right path.  As I investigated the options on how to progress I read in detail about the Keto Diet.  Nothing is further from my belief system about nutritional health than eating that much fat.  75% of my calorie intake from fat?  That can’t be right.  I also knew to give this a go, a real serious go, I would have to go totally none alcoholic.  OUCH!  Do I want to do that?  It took me two months of debate to decide if I should commit to a diet that just can’t be done with any drinking.  After a two month debate, I decided to start the diet and commit to it until I get to my goal weight of 175 lbs.  That is roughly 45+ lbs from my starting weight on January 2, 2018.

No Alcohol on Keto!!!!!! Can I do that? This held me up, big time.

Let me be clear that fat has been a lifelong fight.  Even when I was a very fit US Navy Diver, working out all the time, I was still pudgy.  My mother used to shop for me at the “Husky” section at Sears and Roebucks.  This name “husky” was another name for fat!!!!!!  A nicer name, but it still felt like fat!  Not big boned, full figured, etc, but actually fat.  When I was being set up with my beautiful wife, (and let me say I was in good shape at that moment), I was described as “stocky”.  I don’t care what you say these are not really great names or comments on my physical appearance.  Let’s just agree that I am a linebacker, and will never be a wide receiver.  No matter how much I wish I was, I will never be slender or skinny.  That does not mean I can’t get my body fat down to under 14% and look as good as possible.

More importantly, I can be healthy.  I recently found out that I will be a grandfather in 2018, and I will be a healthy grandpa for sure.  Each morning I write my goals.  The first one I write is, “I will dance at all my grandkids weddings.”  This is my primary life goal. To be a positive influence on my kids and grandkids, as they are my legacy in this world.  My online kids are second to that, but very important to me, for sure.

So my Keto guidelines are:

• No sugar, eat 20 grams of carbs for less.  This will be four to five handfuls of spinach or greens, along with little other vegetables, such as asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, or Brussel sprouts.
• Eat no more than 100 grams of protein maximum, which is about one gram for every kilogram of body weight.  I seem to be getting this without any problem, as I am eating my fat.
• Eat the balance of my calories, totaling 1800, in fat.  This equals about 147 grams of fat.
• Try to keep this to three meals, no snacks, but if I get hungry have a fat snack of 100 cals or so to keep me satisfied until the next meal.
• No alcohol, no sugar, etc.  lots of water, coffee, and tea.

This is what I am following and all seems to be working correctly.  I will lower my calories as needed to get the weight loss I need.  I will allow two weeks for the water weight to get wrung out of me.   This week I will start measuring my Ketones with the Ketonix Breath Monitor and will let you all know how it is going.  This is happening in the first week of the diet pretty well.  I got down to 210 this week, but it is all water I am sure.  Can’t wait for the weigh in next week on the 21st, Sunday to see how the week went.  I should be able to workout this week as the coughing has slowed down.  All looking up for sure.  The journey continues towards 175 lbs.  Love this Keto!!!!!!!!!!!!!