Benefits of a Keto Diet

DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor, trainer, or any other kind of professional in regards to a ketogenic diet. Everything you read below is based on my personal research and opinions.

Lack of Hunger:

One of the aspects of a keto diet that really surprised me was how I wasn’t hungry anymore.  A big part of my reluctance to diet in the past was that being hungry was HARD!  I’m one of those people that get “hangry” and nobody wants to be around me - including me!  But the natural way of a keto diet is that your appetite lessons!  I’m NEVER hungry while living the keto life.  And if I am, I eat!  It’s that simple  

Why this was the best choice for me:

In the past, the diets I have tried worked but were just difficult to follow and it was easy to cheat on them.  With keto, it’s easy to follow.  Cheating on a keto diet could be easy but if you are committed to the lifestyle, it gets easier.  I truly shocked myself with how small my portions got and how infrequently I wanted to eat.  One of my turning points was simply learning not to eat when I wasn’t hungry.  Because let’s face it.  In today’s world that’s what we do.  We eat to celebrate.  We eat when we’re bored.  We eat when we’re sad.  Food brings comfort!  But when I started paying attention and only eating when I was hungry, I found the keto diet was working.  I didn’t feel hungry anymore.  Less food in my belly means more weight loss!  And it’s EASY!

Exercise on a Keto diet:

Much of the information you will find online will tell you that you don’t need to exercise to lose weight on a keto diet and that is true.  However, I added exercise because I knew it might help speed up the weight loss but even if it didn’t, it was good for me.  This is truly a personal choice but I will tell you how it worked for me.

I started out just walking my neighborhood.  I slowly built up from just under a mile to 1½ miles over a period of a few weeks.  I felt really good about it but I had a hard time motivating myself to get out of the house to go for that walk every day.  Plus I wasn’t sure if I was doing as much for my body as I really needed to.  So I decided to bite the bullet and join a gym.  It took a few weeks to get into a routine but I ended up working out about 90 minutes a day, 5 days a week.  Some weeks a bit less, some weeks a bit more.  

Eventually, I wanted even more from my workouts so I dropped one day at the gym and invested in 1 day a week with a personal trainer.  My purpose for hiring her was to help me target and focus on specific problem areas.  And let’s get real.  With over 100 pounds to lose, I had some major problem areas.  The weight was beginning to fall off but it was leaving behind a lot of jiggle in my jangle.  So I chose to splurge on the personal trainer.  At the very least, she would help me tone as much as was possible as I went through my journey.  

At about four months in I increased my sessions with my personal trainer to twice a week.  It hurt the wallet but I felt that I was getting more from my sessions with her than I was from the gym.  The gym was great for cardio but toning and shaping, she was amazing.  Regardless, exercise was a key part of my journey.  If you can’t afford the trainer, don’t sweat it!!  But DO sweat!  Join a gym if you can but even if you can’t, there are so many things you can do on your own.  Start by simply walking.  That’s free and you can do it just about anywhere!  Find some fitness videos online and do them as often as you can.  Also free!  Just get your body moving and sweating!