What a diet!
I have tried several diets in my life. It is not that I need to lose weight, but I like to experiments what my body wants and what does not feel nice. About six years ago I tried the Paleo diet, and in general, it was a great experience. A little bit later I also decided to eat without gluten because my daughter is Celiac and I wanted to feel it myself. So, last September when a work colleague told me about a diet he was doing, I was immediately interested.
In fact, it was the perfect set up. In the middle of September I took a blood test and the results where correct, so it was the right moment to try things and see the impact on my body some months after. Alexander, my colleague, informed me about all the diet details and also about the expected results. In his case, the results were quite impressive, weight loss and other beneficial side effects. But I needed to try for myself. Before starting it, I read a lot about it and watch video explanations of all kinds. Then I decided to give it a go, but not to the “pure” KETO diet but a variant that I thought it could be better for me. Of course, I have tried things in the past and the results needed to be taken into account.
The idea was to reduce the carbohydrates intake to less than 20g a day. That target was easy to reach for me. I just need to remove from my diet some things like bread, potatoes, rice, and cereals, and substitute them with vegetables. That was not a problem since I love season veggies. But I have to increase the fat intake, and I’m not really used to that. One avocado a day plus rising the oily fish portions helped with that. The worst part was to remove the fruits. I love apples, pears or bananas and that was not allowed due to the fructose.
I was ready, and everything was fine, but about ten days into the diet I was feeling dizzy and a bit weak. That is called KETO flu, and some electrolytes are the cause. I had to adjust the salt and increase foods like spinach and some nuts. After that everything came to normal. Even if I was eating much more fat than before, I started to lose weight almost immediately, slowly but steadily. When I started, my weight was around 81 Kg which was a bit high for me. I wasn’t thinking about losing weight, but I felt it was a nice side effect. I’ll be thinner so I’ll be able to run better.
The most important symptoms started about two months later in early December. I began to sleep less, a lot less. To feel much more focus and awake and to be more creative in anything that I was doing. It was like somebody removed a thick blanket that I had over me. In the beginning, I did not associate that effect with the diet, but as I became much more evident, I realize that it was another side effect. It is difficult to explain that without sounding weird, but it is impressive.
I followed my diet without a single miss except for a couple of days in Paris (difficult there) and the Xmas days, from the 24th to the 27th. After that, I came back to it. Since then I have made a few adjustments here and there, and in the graph, you can see the effects of my weight. I have included an apple every day, and I also relax it sometimes on weekends.
A couple of things more. The only alcohol I take is red wine or Cava. During all this period I went to the gym and ran almost every day. I guess that helped to accelerate the effects.
Probably, you may be wondering: what are you eating?. Well, I can tell you the diet of a couple of days:
Day One:
- Breakfast (7h): Black coffee (no sugar or milk). I’ll explain that in another post.
- Lunch (12:30): Big salad with Lettuce (or similar), tomato, Avocado, celery, sprouted grains. A small piece of meat with broccoli and cauliflower. Some seeds and some natural fatty yogurt (no sugar or honey)
- Snack (16:45): Yogurt and apple
- Dinner (19:30): Vegetable cream and a cut of salmon. A piece of chocolate 99% cocoa.
Day two:
- Breakfast(7h): Black coffee (no sugar or milk).
- Lunch(12:30): Big salad with Lettuce (or similar), tomato, Avocado, celery, sprouted grains. In the mixture, I included two boiled eggs this time. Some seeds and yogurt.
- Snack (16:45): Yogurt and berries
- Dinner (19:30 PM): Grilled meat or fish with broccoli and cauliflower. A piece of chocolate 99% cocoa.
This two are just an example of winter menu. That will change a lot as the summer comes since I eat mainly season food.
There is a complement to the diet that I’ll tell you about in another post.