Time for another diet detox post! Now that the stodgy meals of winter are over, and Valentine’s Day, Easter and a couple of birthdays are also out of the way, it’s time for my keto eating plan to commence again. On Monday 28th April, I started my transition back to low carb very slowly. Since last Thursday 8th May, I then started strict keto again. Keto flu is never fun – I tend to get headaches, leg cramps and feel cold as my body shifts from glucose burning to fat burning (ketosis).
This time, my reason for going on a strict keto eating plan is primarily for medical reasons, which I’m not going to get into in this post. In the past, whenever I did keto purely for weight loss maintenance, I found it hard to stick with, as aesthetic factors simply weren’t enough for me to overcome my love of carbs. When it’s for medical reasons, my health concerns are obviously more important than my carb addiction, and so I find it easier to stick to keto in that case.
Once I’m on keto, it almost completely suppresses my appetite. When I do the 16:8 in conjunction, it becomes even easier and I find that I barely think about food, unlike when I’m glucose-burning and always thinking about my next snack in between meals.
This summer my plan is also to exercise more, particularly weight-bearing and high intensity activities. During the weekend I went for an 11km hike around Belvoir Forest Park in Belfast with my family. Luckily my foot is totally healed after the tendon injuries from hiking a few weeks ago.
So, what’s my keto goal this time around? Same as always: to reduce belly fat, suppress my appetite, and most of all, control my medical issues that improve substantially while I’m in ketosis. Let’s see how long I can manage my keto eating plan this year.
Leilanie Stewart 