My recipe (pun intended) started with calorie counting and carb counting (Keto). I used the LoseIt app to determine my daily calorie limit. I purchased a WIFI scale and weighed myself daily. The most important part of that is I gave myself permission to be right where I was and refused to judge myself. Once I did that I allowed the data to be data and let it tell the story of choices I’d made in the preceding days (carb intake especially). I exercised at least 3 times a week by walking 2 miles. It wasn’t about speed... it was about completion and being committed to the full distance. I didn’t lift weights. I tried to do intermittent fasting (IF) in the beginning but gave that up.
Half way to 206 I started IF because my calorie ceiling got too low. For that part of things I went to a 16:8 routine. I ate all of my calories in an 8 hour windows. Usually one small meal at lunch and my bigger meal at supper. I gave up ALL SUGAR. Critical step for me.
After regaining the 35 pounds I tried to follow that routine but found that it wasn’t effective. So I switched to a smaller eating window. By then I’d developed the self discipline to do one meal a day after 5PM and before 9. I drank water/coffee/diet sodas during the day and managed it well. I don’t recommend starting there.
Again, exercise has been key. There are some alcohols that are keto but I find even those slow you down. Best to give up the booze for a season. At least that worked for me.
I’m now working on eating more cleanly. Natural foods rather than processed. Still staying keto but cooking from scratch, fewer processed meats and cheeses, etc.
Eggs are you best friend (if you like them). They are a miracle food in terms of nutrition.
Alcohol is Not Good for anyone trying to lose pounds.
The reason is because, in the same way that the body can not burn any fat unless and until glucose reserves are exhausted, no glucose can be utilized until alcohol has been metabolized. Not only are you not burning any fat, you’re not burning any carbs either! Alcohol is treated as a poison, or at least it burns it off preferential to anything else.
I think “Keto” gets conflated with Intermittent Fasting. I love IF, it works for me. But I’m not giving up carbs. I can and do eat Pizza, mashed potatoes and gravy, sausage gravy, things like that.
The key is calorie reduction. There’s different ways to go about that. I don’t believe we need to feel hungry all the time either. Who wants to do that? So the standard advice often seems to be “Eat 6 small meals a day to keep metabolism up.”
That isn’t going to work for me. Drive me crazy. Worse, it’s usually coupled with diet “plan” stuff like: “Breakfast: 1 Almond, half slice oak sawdust toast, brussel sprout smoothie, water.” The hell with that. Right now my metabolic needs or whatever is around 1400 to 1800 calories. If I eat more than that, I will gain. I could choose to eat a couple large Hershey bars and still maintain my weight, but it would be miserable, because empty carbs cause more cravings .. for more carbs. Mom was right, after all (Moms are always right) “You’ll spoil your dinner”.