As of 17 December last year I’ve switched back to a low carb/keto lifestyle. I call this my Saturnalia diet since I started it on the ancient Roman festival of welcoming the sun back into the world. My blog post, It’s a keto Christmas, focused on that.
I’m currently on Day 49, and it’s going well. Since I’m working out too (yoga/ resistance band workouts/ light cardio) I’m probably going to build some muscle, so I don’t think weighing myself will be too accurate going forward. Nevertheless, I’ve lost 7lbs in 7 weeks, which is a good steady rate of fat loss. My clothes are looser and I can now fit a fleece under my previously tight fitting winter coat. I think a better objective way of gauging my fat loss is by comparison photos, which I’m hoping to do on a monthly basis.
The first and third photos were taken today. Whilst I have digitally added the sugary junk in the first photo, just for the fun of the post, the photo shows an otherwise accurate representation of how I look this month, which I use to judge my rate of fat loss compared to December and January. The tape measure helps too. I have lost 1 inch of fat off my arms, thighs, waist and hips since last month. If ever I feel like I’m not making progress, I can always look back at the starting point of my keto journey in April 2020. Back then, I was at my heaviest weight ever and I was a UK 16-18 dress size, with a BMI of 31 (above 30 is obese). Here’s a photo from back then.
It isn’t easy for me to be a healthy size. My genetics and hormones are against me. Obesity runs in my family and I myself was obese just a few years ago. I struggle with sugar and carb addiction and I am an emotional eater. I have to be very strict with my diet and do exercise in order to try and reach a healthy BMI. I do not have a high metabolism, at all.
My overall goal remains the same for this year. Regardless of how much, or how little I lose, I want to stick to keto/low carb for the long term and try to exercise regularly. Being healthy – in body and mind – is my priority. I find that I sleep better and have less emotional ups and downs when on low carb too, so it’s a lifestyle that definitely agrees with me. If you’re doing low carb yourself and are interested, I’ll be posting updates from time to time, so feel free to let me know about your diet journey too!
Leilanie Stewart 
I started my dieting journey on Feb 1st. This is really hard, since my sugar cravings can be through the roof. But I will persist since I am already pre-diabetic and two months shy of 60. Today I walked about 2 miles, since the weather was very nice. Thank you for posting your updates, this really helpful.
Hope it goes well for you, Mary. I really find low carb is the best thing to keep my insulin and sugar cravings down. Hope you get the results you want too. ☺️
Thank you
Useful post, Leilanie. Considering many argue against Keto, this post might help understand the diet better and how it is helpful for improving overall health.
Glad you found it useful. I definitely find that my health and energy levels are much better when I follow a keto/low-carb lifestyle so for me it’s worth cutting out all the carbs ☺️
you look great, keep up the good work!! I have been keto for a number of years now and it never stops to amaze me how it changes people’s lives 🙂
Thanks Maggie, and glad to hear keto works for you too. It’s an incredible lifestyle for sure and definitely works better than any other diets I’ve tried ☺️