About five weeks ago I made the decision that I needed to lose some weight. This is the first time in my life that I have felt the need to deliberately “diet”.  I have always had a fairly high metabolism, so reversing weight gain has only ever really required some more exercise and eating less.  That’s not the case any more, so I set about finding the “right way” to lose weight for me.

My starting point has been that I know that anything with carbohydrates in it (things like bread, rice, potatoes, fruit, milk – many of the most delicious things!) are dynamite for me and key to my recent weight gain.  So cutting out those things was the logical starting point.

What I put together in the end was a diet that is based on “ketogenic” principals – eliminating carbohydrates, eating moderate amounts of protein, and eating various fats for energy (avocado, olive oil, butter, cream, eggs, cheese, and fat that comes with meat).

I have combined that with intermittent fasting, initially having two meals a day, at 1.00pm and 5.00pm to give me a twenty hour fast which people who recommend fasting say is the minimum time required to get a benefit from fasting.

After a week I discovered that I really didn’t need the second meal, so I cut it down to just a snack.  I now eat one meal a day – and because of the fasting my stomach has shrunk somewhat and the one meal I do eat is smaller than when I started this process.

On the advice of the people who promote keto style diets I have been drinking extra water, supplementing electrolytes, vitamins, and magnesium.  

And it’s all going very well I have to say.  I don’t get hungry between meals.  My grocery bill is less than *half* what it used to be (a bonus that I wasn’t expecting).  And best of all – I have been losing weight: around seven kilograms in five weeks.

Now I don’t really care about keto diet puritanism and I have eaten out at least once or twice a week in that time, while still trying to avoid carbs, but not being fanatical about it – and I have still lost weight.

What I see as the benefit of keto style dieting is this: it lets you eat a *lot* less and supports intermittent fasting without getting hungry.  And that I think is the key – at the end of the day my calorie intake is below even my base metabolic rate – and I have been exercising on top of that as well, so my body is burning my stores of fat to make up the shortfall.  I can see the difference already – even if I can’t feel it when I’m doing chin-ups! (Yet).

So to anyone who is unhappy with their weight and would like to change it and are looking for a solution, I would highly recommend trying a keto style diet.  Note: I’m not a doctor or nutritionist, so please research keto diets and get professional advice to decide if it suits and is appropriate for you.

On this note I have been told that keto dieting may not be appropriate for women going through menopause, so as I said above, professional advice is recommended!

I will be continuing on this journey for several more kilograms yet and I will report back along the way.

John