Staying on the Keto Wagon

In my private support group on Patreon, members can access a "topic suggestion spreadsheet" and—you guessed—suggest topics for the short videos I record every weekday morning. (After over 850 of these "snippets," it helps to have input about subjects people want to hear!)

One recent submission was from a who advised they kept "falling off the wagon" after about ten days following the ketogenic protocol. They had, in the past, successfully followed the diet. They lost weight, felt great, and all the good things that can come when one lays off carbs. But there was some back-sliding with the predictable results: weight gain, joint pain return, generally feeling lousy. But this time around, staying on track seemed more challenging. In their words:

"Hello, Casey. I have been restarting every 10 days since the beginning of November. I have done keto well and have lost 50 pounds in the past (several times), and now, as I'm older, I feel like I keep falling off the wagon. I cannot get away with anything - I can't have caffeine (can't tolerate it anymore), etc., and I gain weight super fast now. I have just been in a bit of a rut for several months where I start to get back on board, start losing, and then ten days in - I lose focus or something. I guess I'm wondering about being able to really establish this habit ... since I keep getting off course at the 10 to 14-day mark. Thank you!"

A conversation I had just had with another patron inspired my response. During a one-on-one session, they shared with me a point made by a medical professional who cautioned against using phrases like, "I fell off the wagon." That is a passive way of diminishing our responsibilities for our choices. Let's face it—we don't fall off the proverbial wagon: we jump. One of the few things over which we have control is what we decide to put in our mouths. Absent someone force-feeding us, it is our forks in our hands which we raise to our pie-holes.

It may sound harsh, the idea that we are powerless in the face of food. But, c'mon, y'all. After all, we've been through in our lives, as varied as our histories are, do we want to peddle the idea that we are helpless in the presence of cheese puffs, that chocolate bunnies staring at us with their creepy eyes render us defenseless? Are fries omnipotent?

No way! No matter our age, gender, or stage of life, we've been through harrowing things. We've buried loved ones, lost homes to bankruptcy, had partners betray us. People have broken our hearts. We've endured terrifying diagnoses and even scarier treatments. But we crumble when presented with a muffin?

Please know that I used all the mental dodges back in the day. I didn’t do myself any favors. Just the opposite. Look at my before photos to see where self-delusion got me.

"I’m stronger than a cookie" is one of the best-selling slogans on my teespring shop. It's on stickers, shirts, mugs. I bought a shirt myself. And what does that have to do with staying on the wagon? It comes back to what we tell ourselves. Words matter. And those we say to ourselves matter the most. We don't fall, and no one has the power to push us. We decide (whether we want to own that fact or not.)

A suggestion I made was to, first, stop repeating in their head how they’ve failed before. Replace it with affirmations, replacing negative with positive thoughts: I will stay on track for 11 days. Then devise a visual reinforcement for those 10 days. It can be marks on a calendar, post-it notes with numbers 1-11 on them, 11 marbles moved from one to jar another. Whatever inspires. Then, after getting to day 11 successfully, do it again. Soon, there will be weeks of success stacked up. And it becomes easier and easier.

We are strong. We have survived. We choose.

Now, stay on that wagon and enjoy the ride. The view is great from up there.

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Disclaimer: I’m not a medical doctor, researcher, or Ph.D., but instead, I’ve been fortunate to have had the time and resources to research the ketogenic diet, also known as LCHF (low carb/high fat). The information I share is based solely on my understanding of that research. We are all responsible for our own choices, including what we put in our mouths, and there’s no substitute for each of us checking things out ourselves. And I’m not a medical professional in any way. Go Keto With Casey is not a medical site. “Duh,” you might say. But best to make it clear to all. I welcome questions, comments, and even civil criticism. I’m still learning. So, if you have something to add, go for it. Links in this post and all others may direct you to affiliate links, where I will receive a small amount of the purchase price of any items you buy through those links. Thanks!

Missed My Goal. Shrug. I Made a New One.

If you read this post about my bold move to set what I thought might be my last weight loss goal over the last couple of months, you will know the quest was optimistic. And the progress was pretty awful. The scale has had more ups and downs than kids at a trampoline park. And since I update my weightless spreadsheet daily, and since the target date of January 8, 2017 has come and gone, there's a new chart. Started this morning.

Now, I know some of you have just read more about math and charts than you care to, so I'll move on. The point is that missing a goal ain't nothing but a thing, as we say in the South. My weight ended up lower, albeit it much less than I had aimed for, than when I started this most recent leg of my decades-long, spreadsheet documented quest to lose weight. In fairness to myself, it was an aggressive goal. I was feeling full of myself because I had just lost 9.1 pounds over the month of October. That in itself was kind of outrageous. I hadn't lost that much in a month since starting the ketogenic (low carb/high fat) diet in January of 2014. But I had been flying solo here in the house for that month whilst Lovely Mate was out of the country. It's amazing how often we eat just because food is around or because it smells good.

"So", says I to myself, "why not go for broke, jump two segments on your massive spreadsheet and make this your last goal?" (More math talk but these goals are all based on several complex formulas that even I don't remember the reasoning behind. I just love formulas!) "And while you're at this", I continued, "make it by January 8, the anniversary of when you started this whole thing!" 

That's how I managed to set myself up with a goal to lose more weight than I had ever lost in the shortest time frame. AND go through the holidays to boot. Brilliant! What could go wrong?

Actually, nothing did go wrong. I lost a bit of weight, 2.7 pounds, not 14.3 pounds. And I went down another size in my last StitchFix shipment (see this post). All good. I simply didn't hit a goal.

My Keto Anniversary. For more information on the ketogenic diet, see below. ☞ SEE MY WEIGHT CHANGE CHART: http://caseydurango.com/my-next-goal ☞ READ MORE AT MY BLOG: http://caseydurango.com ☞ FOLLOW MY FACEBOOK PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/ketocasey/ ☞ INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/CaseyDurango/ ☞ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/CaseyDurango

So, what now? 

A new goal, of course! This one more realistic and without me circumventing my spreadsheet's formulas. It clearly knows better than I. The new goal is to lose 5.8 pounds by March 6. We'll see how that goes.. I've missed several over the course of these three years. Missed some by a little, some by a bit more, made some with time to spare. Here's the thing, in the many years of trying to lose weight before starting the ketogenic diet, I never made one goal. Not one. I would try to lose 10 pouds. Whiff. 5 pounds? Nope. One year I just wanted to lose 1 pound a month. I put on 1.2 pounds.

So even when I 'missed' goals over these last three years, I always ended up that segment lower than I started. Always there has been progress. Slow? Perhaps. But progress. As I sit here today, lighter than I was on this day last year, much lighter than the year before that and 92.1 pounds lighter than when I started, I'll take progress for progress' sake. And if I never lose another ounce, I'm the happiest person you're likely to encounter. Keep the faith. And maybe start yourself a spreadsheet! 

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Disclaimer: I’ve been fortunate to have had the time and resources to research the ketogenic diet, also known as LCHF (low carb/high fat). The information I share is based solely on my understanding of that research. We are all responsible for our own choices, including what we put in our mouths and there’s no substitute for each of us checking things out ourselves. And I’m not a medical professional in any way. Go Keto With Casey is not a medical site. “Duh,” you might say. But best to make it clear to all.  I welcome questions, comments and even civil criticism. I’m still learning. So, if you have something to add, go for it. Links in this post and all others may direct you to amazon.com, where I will receive a small amount of the purchase price of any items you buy through my affiliate links. Thanks!

Snow and Thoughts on Bulletproof Coffee

It's currently snowing in our part of the world. Lovely Mate and I are happily hunkered down, not needing to be anywhere or do anything. It's a nice snow. Although pretty deep, it's light and fluffy. Our power is on, we have loads of streaming options for our over-the-top, world's-largest-tv and a fire going. Plenty of supplies on hand. Not the "bread, milk and toilet paper" cliche that the South is known for at first mention of snow. No, we have bacon, heavy cream, mayo, ribeye and Maker's Mark. (That last is for me. He's all about the coffee).

And in regards to coffee, I've gotten lots of comments and questions about so called 'bulletproof coffee'. It's a concoction of coffee, and usually butter and/or coconut oil and/or cream. I wrote and made a video on the topic, here. I like bulletproof coffee. It's rich and tasty and extremely satisfying due to the very high fat content. It's also extremely dense, calorically. Due to the very high fat content.

All good, right? After all, the ketogenic (low carb/high fat) diet is all about fat, isn't it? It's right there in descriptor written in the parentheses! But hold up a second. The fact that when one follows the ketogenic diet, carbs are low and fat is high doesn't mean fats are limitless. It is more to differentiate that this is not a high protein diet. Protein needs to be moderate. (For how much is moderate, there's a formula that makes my head hurt, based on weight of lean body mass in kilograms.) For me? I eat about 3-4 ounces of protein most days. All of it from fatty sources like bacon, eggs, ribeye, sausages, cheeses, etc.,

The point is, keep carbs to about 20g per day, protein moderate and the rest is, by default, fat. If one only eats when hungry, (the most challenging part for me, as I speak to here) it won't necessarily translate into loads of fat in a day. Just that the fat percentage will be higher than the other two macronutrients (carbohydrate and protein).  Somehow there's gotten to be an idea out there that one has to load up on fat, as if eating thousands of calories of fat will trigger weight loss. No, the key is to lower carbs to the point that our systems start burning body fat for fuel. If we over eat - or drink - dietary fat, our body needn't turn to our reserved fat stores for fuel.

That said, bulletproof coffee can be a boon or those who need a good meal replacement. But if you're not getting the results you want, even with low carbs, look to whether you're fueling your body from without or from within.

Now, to binge watch some tv on this cold, snowy day...

Hunkered down for a rare snowstorm. Plus, thoughts on bulletproof coffee and 'buying' ketone products. For more information on the ketogenic diet, see below. ☞ SEE MY WEIGHT CHANGE CHART: http://caseydurango.com/my-next-goal ☞ READ MORE AT MY BLOG: http://caseydurango.com ☞ FOLLOW MY FACEBOOK PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/ketocasey/ ☞ INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/CaseyDurango/ ☞ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/CaseyDurango ___________________________________________________________________ "Butter in Coffee?"