I've been on a pseudo keto diet for 15 days now. I say pseudo because I am following the philosophy of not eating sugar or grains (rice, beans, pasta, bread - you know, the good stuff) but I am not a 'macro' nut regarding tracking fats and protein. Every time I want to feed my face I ask three things: 1. Is this healthy? 2. Will this food help me be healthy? 3. Will I lose some of this menopausal thickness if I eat this healthy food? Seriously. I was saddened to not have a waist while carrying a wide load because, baby, I always had back. Unfortunately the itty bitty waist has become a dwindling bygone. It's a horrible feeling not being able to button my jeans and having to dig out the elastic waist pants. I was always tired and my hair was falling out. My face was breaking out. My skin is in bad shape with dryness and deepening creases. I was starting to look my age. GAH! As I see it though the only drawback to this journey is my boobs become first tribute when I start to downsize. On the flip side it's great my double chin is disappearing! Really...it's not touching my neck anymore. Look, I'm not on a path to be 15 year old me. It isn't realistic to think I'll ever be that thin again. Do I want to be healthier and a few pant sizes smaller as a result of eating healthier though? Heck yeah!!
It is so easy to put on weight and not notice. This is especially true when you work at home in yoga pants every day. Not having to put on trousers and jeans regularly is a disservice to your waistline people! Make good practice of putting on pants that have a button and zipper occasionally. That is most telling way of knowing if your waist is expanding. Eating like I didn't need to watch what I eat was a killer too. This is how I got to where I am now and why I need to lose some weight (ok, a lot) to decrease my blood pressure and keep my hypoglycemia in check. Nothing more fun than breaking out in to a cold sweat and shakes when you're in the drive through at McD's. Yeah, that was my life because I didn't give my body the right fuel.
The first few days were hell detoxing from the sugar. Day one was pretty miserable adjusting to not grabbing the crackers to fill the hole in my belly but day two...holy crap! I was hungry ALL darn day. I would have eaten the drywall if I thought it'd stop the gnawing agony of my stomach trying to digest itself. Day three was not so horrible but I was craving wine and sweets. Day four however is when I suspected I entered, or sort of entered, ketosis. Nah, I'm not going to go full "expert" on ya because that I am not. Here's the simple breakdown, "Ketosis is a normal metabolic process, something your body does to keep working. When it doesn't have enough carbohydrates from food for your cells to burn for energy, it burns fat instead." (See: WebMD) THAT is the whole point of being in ketosis - burning your fat reserves for energy thus reducing weight and ass spread. Yay for a smaller ass! 
One of the more challenging parts of activating my fat cells for energy is all the hormones that are being released from these fat reserves. One of those hormones released form fat stores is estrogen. I have always been unbalanced and this has resulted in many years of womanhood suffering. Not to mention other atrocities that are better left unspoken. That is where all my problems began as a teenager with developing endometriosis and later developing fibroids and ovarian cysts. I am a raging estrogen factory and has resulted in a very difficult life pretty much every day of the month. I was recently - about two years ago, placed on a progesterone regimen to balance my hormones out. While it has helped to this point the new flood of estrogen being released from fat stores has made life a little, well, interesting. Needless to say the chains on my mood swing haven't snapped thank goodness but I have been experiencing some of the old discomforts resulting form the estrogen wash through my blood stream. I did not know estrogen and several other hormones were stored in our fat cells so this came as a surprise.
The benefit of changing my diet so far has been pretty darn awesome aside from the few surprises that came up. Not only am I down 10 pounds I am sleeping better. What was becoming a "I think I need a cpap" snore has waned to almost normal again. That's what I'm told anyway. C'mon. Everyone snores! Thankfully it's not loud like it was. I have more energy during the day and a better mental focus now because I am sleeping better. I didn't experience the keto flu that everyone complains about - or I did and had no idea it was happening. My acid reflux has really calmed down and not needing the little purple pill as often. I was a bit brain foggy in the beginning but that didn't last too long. I know my super wonderful boyfriend will beg to differ on that one - sorry Sugar, I'll always be part ditz.
Anyway. Two weeks isn't long enough to start seeing results but I sure am feeling them. To me, that is a great start!
