I started my keto journey in August 2018. At five-feet tall, I weighed in at over 210lbs. I hated my body, and nothing I tried worked. I think for me the breaking point was seeing my wedding photos from January 2018 and realizing just how far things had gotten.
My One-Year Ketoversary
I’ve never been a small girl. I was an athlete most of my life (soccer player, bodybuilder, runner) and was always built stocky, very muscular. At my heaviest, I was still a runner, but I’d end up with knee or ankle injuries every few weeks that would knock me out of the game for a month at a time.
It took a long time for me to be okay with publishing the image above. The shame I felt about my own meatsuit ensured I’d always crop my photos carefully so you (internet people) couldn’t see my body.
We can have discussions about whether or not I should have felt that way or not, but I did. Should I have been less superficial and concerned about what I looked like? Probably. Should I have loved my body regardless of what it looked like? Yes. But the truth is I didn’t, and I learned to avoid mirrors and photographs, and the physical pain of being active was enormously discouraging. We all have our own demons, right?
I had tried “low carb” before – and honestly never ate much junk food, and rarely even finished my meals, so I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t make any progress.
And what does low carb even mean, anyway? I ate fewer carbs, but didn’t have any idea of what would be low enough – or even what foods had carbs in them beyond the obvious candy bars, ice cream, etc (which I never even ate). This led to failure and frustration and the resignation that I was powerless to ever be smaller.
When I first started learning about Keto, it was as important to understand food better – really start looking at labels and understand what I was eating. The structure of Keto gave me the opportunity to learn more about what was in the food I was eating, and how it affected my body.
My husband and I began Keto in August 2018, and have lost nearly 100lbs between us. We’re not hungry, and we’ve never had more energy. We run three times a week and often participate in 5k races. (I’d show you those photos but everyone looks goofy when they run, or at least I do, so…)
Oh alright, here you go. I told you. Goofy.
Keto (or losing weight at all, for that matter) may not be for everyone – and I’m not going to try to convince anyone that it should be.
It’s been working great for us and many folks we know, so I built this site to centralize the stuff I learn and the recipes I love. And probably also to keep me motivated. While I find sticking to Keto pretty easy (I already love meat and cheese, but I do still crave bread sometimes), sometimes old habits start to creep in, and having a website where I hold myself accountable seems like a pretty good idea.