I am so sorry but this was a classic case of bait and switch …to be honest 200 of the 270 pounds that I lost were a whole man. ( See Relationships for more).
At some point in my life eating my feelings became a challenge of sorts. It was a sport that I was winning at all the time. If only it was an Olympic sport. The sad part of it all was that this particular sport only required me to be sad, happy depressed, mad, disappointed, excited and a myriad of other endless emotions. And of course most of the movement occurred hand to mouth. I was shoveling food into my mouth regardless of what my stomach was communication to my brain.
The big picture was that a separation after 17 years of having a partner, I was now left with the prospect of raising two young children by myself and it was overwhelming. I was avoiding thinking about how I could provide for them that it put me into such an unhealthy space mentally.
Eventually the prospect of raising my girls by myself forced me to change. I knew that I needed to get mentally and physically well so I could have the ability and energy to raise them in the best way I could.
It was almost a positive that over the years I had been on every diet one could imagine.
Decades later I knew my habits better and knew what would realistically work for me. I acknowledged that I would always love food and cooking so whatever changes I needed to make had to accommodate those loves. Exercise had to become an intentional routine more so for the endorphins that would flood my mind and help with my depression.
I started by eating clean, low fat, home made fresh fruits and vegetables, lean protein and whole grains. I felt great but not satisfied. Then I dabbled in counting calories, eating an insanely low amount of calories and running around a nearby track as if I was being chased by rabid dogs. I felt punished and amazingly my weight loss did not match my punishment. The on a trip back home to Zimbabwe I started paying attention to someone in South Africa talking about Banting , a low carb, high fat diet. It seemed counterintuitive to loose weight by eating butter, fats and oils. The low carb, low sugar part made sense but I really had to understand better how it worked. Getting your body into the state of ketosis was the goal. Simply put, when your body does not have carbohydrates to burn for energy it is forced to burn fat that makes ketones that can be used for fuel. At that point your body goes into ketosis. The more I delved into low fat diets, Atkins, Banting, Keto, the more I realized that even though they were all similar a Keto diet was more strict and I needed that challenge. The premise was the same. Fat wasn't the culprit...carbohydrates were. The hardest part believe it or not was eating so much butter and cooking your food in a lot of it! This was going against everything I had ever been taught about health. The key was to be creative and still make sure I was eating a lot of vegetables and berries along with protein and fat, fat, fat. It seemed I needed to dispatch fat into my body to eliminate the fat in my body. Within two weeks the changes were dramatic. I was working out almost daily, power walking and running around with my girl. Within a couple of month I was sold! I had so much energy and mental clarity and that allowed me to become a better mother to my girls. That to me was the biggest gift I could give them and myself.
Here are some of the foods I ate and still continue to eat now to continue to loose weight. I have had an honest conversation with myself and what works realistically for me is eating keto 80%-90%of the time. Which mean if I want to have a cupcake on my birthday I do and if I want to have a couple of glasses of wine I do. I eat carbohydrates when I want to but I have found that I can only tolerate small amounts. It is all about balance. Over time this has become easier because when I don't adhere to my keto lifestyle I feel my body regressing and sapped of energy.
I also have to credit these companies that provide keto friendly ready to go snacks.
Innofoods.ca offers a variety of delicious coconut clusters packed with superfoods in a variety of high quality chocolates and nuts. I keep a bag in the freezer for those, "I need something sweet now" They are like my children, I cant pick a favorite.
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