I've lost weight before, but it was painfully slow and I did it under the guidance of a personal trainer. It took me a year of personal training and calorie counting to even lose 10lbs, but I say I was pretty successful in converting fat to muscle though. However, once training ending, it wasn't sustainable for me. I found I had to work out non stop and count every calorie to maintain my weight. I also have chronic illness so if I was sick for a week, I'd gain back pounds so fast and fight to keep them off.
Since that time I tried a lot of things to at least keep my weight at a healthy and manageable level for me, but nothing worked. I watched the scale keep climbing. I went from S in clothes to L and XL. I tried all these fad diets, I kept cutting my calories low, probably to some dangerous levels, I had the doctor run all sorts of tests, NOTHING WORKED. I read books, I did research, I crawled around on reddit looking for women with experiences like mine.
I've always suspected my trouble with weight was related to having endometriosis and the hormone imbalance it causes along with years of meds that many feel slow down metabolism. There's not a lot of actual research in the area of endo at all, let alone the impact on weight, but one thing I did learn was that extra fat could feed estrogen, which in turn fed the disease. I also knew it could lead to less inflammation.
During covid I had (TRIGGER WARNING FOR THIS NEXT SENTENCE) 2 miscarriages, which are common with my disease. It was sort of the kick in the butt I needed to really try something again even though I'd given up hope.
I decided to try keto, as sort of a last ditch effort. I didn't expect it to work, and I didn't expect to enjoy it. But I wanted to at least try it because I'd read it can be a good choice for people with stubborn fat, and a good choice for infertility. So I researched the hell out of, spoke with my doctor, lined up the right electrolytes, and was shocked when the weight and inches started melting off.
I've been on Keto for 6 weeks. The first big batch of weight loss was water weight for sure. You shed a lot of water once you lower carbs to the point of ketosis, because you don't need all that water to process carbs anymore. But even just losing the water weight was encouraging as I am someone who always looks puffy and squishy from it. Then it's just been fairly consistent about 1-3lbs a week depending on my eating and how much activity I get in. Even when my illnesses flare up, I'm going up maybe half a pound to a pound and then it comes right back down.
I'm enjoying all the dietary changes a lot. I switched to a konjac based pasta. I was skeptical but I actually like it more than regular pasta now because it doesn't sit so heavy in my belly. I switched to the dreaded cauliflower rice and cauliflower pizza crust. Again, was surprised I liked it better. I'm a big choc-o-haulic and I switched to really dark choc, and some keto-approved choc snacks and they're perfect for kicking the craving for me. I drink loads more water. I actually feel full for a change and never overeat anymore. I thought it would be hard at restaurants but it isn't as bad as I thought it would be.
I don't know what it is but cutting carbs specifically seems to have been the magic thing I needed. I am not sharing this to necessarily endorse keto. it can be dangerous if it's not done properly, dehydration can come easily, and you should 100% talk to your doctor. But I wanted to share it for those of you who also feel like you've tried everything and see nothing but either no results or results that crawl. I've lost more right now than I did in a year. That's crazy.
I'm hoping to do another month and a half of keto to reach my goal weight, and then I'm going to try and stop worrying about the scale number and start focusing on the muscle percentage. While I've been doing some working out, I'm going to up everything and focus on building muscle. I think I will keep the low-carb life style, but perhaps not keto style low forever. Opinions are divided on if keto is safe long term or should just be short, but for my specific situation my doc thinks 3 months is a good benchmark. It may be worth it for any women struggling with hormones issues to investigate for sure. I tried everything before!!!
So 6 weeks, 34f, keto, down 13lbs, and down 3-4 inches in all the main chubby areas (even boobs sadly, haha)
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