I Got off My Ass. And Doing so Kicked My Ass. I Plan on Doing It Again.
/Weight Loss Fluctuations (6.9.2025 to 6.15)
My recent blog posts—and recent thoughts—have tilted towards the idea of expanding my experiences and my challenges. The last several years of my life have been dominated by cosmetic and health changes that have occurred since I laid off the carbs, laid off the excuses, and then, unpredictably, shared my understanding of how those changes came to be and my thoughts and opinions on the 'larger picture' of it all. Those changes lead me to write in this space, create videos, and build a private support group. It also enabled me to meet leaders in the field and become friends with respected experts whom I would never have had a chance to meet, let alone connect with.
Such a beautiful site. 200 feet of water, cascading into a hidden gem of a park in Colombia: “Cascada Los Frailes”
But there is more to life than minimizing starchy foods and learning to eat only if truly hungry. There is, in short, more to life than food, what jeans size one wears, and avoiding the need for medications to treat chronic metabolic conditions. So I've embarked on a concerted effort to get off my ass and live life even more fully than I have been. It's not that I've been isolated, anti-social, timid, or deprived of opportunities to do whatever may strike my fancy. I merely found such delight in sitting in front of my computer, studying how to make my videos easier to watch and how to format blog posts in a way I find appealing, in the hopes that others will read one long enough to get something out of it. I've been privileged to speak to crowds of people in different cities and to meet people from all over the world. These are wonderful things. And, frankly, the turn my life has taken in the last several years has amazed the hell out of me.
Never, ever, never could I have predicted what my world has become, and I'm humbled by it all. Like I said: amaze-balls!
even the restrooms are colorful at ‘parque nacionál de los frailes’
our bed, in our casita, on our little coffee farm. I traded a safety net for a mosquito net. it has been a net gain.
Yet I can see there's more that I can be doing. Not in a 'responsible adult' way, although I try to be that. But in a 'what's next?' kind of way. In a 'the point of feeling better and being as healthy as possible is to live life fully' kind of way. Granted, sitting in a comfy chair, reading, and putting one's mind in neutral classifies as living a full life—no bucket list items required. For me, the 'what's next' thing has been a while coming into focus. Even now, things are a bit pixelated. The trick for me has been to grow comfortable with the fuzziness of what may lie ahead. In my youth, working without a net was my signature move. Buy a one-way train ticket to a new and very different type of city from that which I had always known one week after graduating from university? Did that. Marry someone I knew for three months, neither of us speaking the other's language very well? Yup. Then, as happens, one thing led to another, and the responsibilities of life required a net. At times, several nets. After a while, the nets were less things to catch one from crashing to the ground and more like those nets that are stretched over a trapped animal.
Wow, that sounds dramatic. But I wasn't trapped by anyone or anything other than my self-imposed, creeping stay-putedness. While there may be a lot to recommend a quiet and, dare I say, boring life, the time has come for me to get off my tuches. I can always sit back down on it. But for the last week, here in Colombia, I've behaved—and I've felt—differently. One example is an excursion we took to a nature preserve about forty-five minutes outside of Pereira, where we stay between visits to our little coffee farm. My Lovely Mate, his cousin Jenny, her partner Guillermo, and I traveled to the preserve. It's a vast, natural park with many examples of the diverse flora and fauna for which Colombia is famous. Beautiful.
The 'working without a net' thing, though, was jumping right in to take the three-hour hike up pretty technical trails. Reminder: this is the Andes mountains. The hills are no joke. And it's the rainy season, so mud abounds. The others had no difficulty, being younger, athletic, and non-comfy-chair people. The hike leads to a 200+ foot waterfall that seems to have created its own weather system. The plants along the trails are humungous and pre-historic in proportions. If a T-Rex had popped its head through the giant ferns and Monstera, it wouldn't have seemed out of place.
I wouldn't have attempted such an adventure before I lost the weight and recaptured my health. Even more recently, I would have begged off joining the group. Complacency had slowly taken over vigor. Having conquered (and I use the work consciously) my disordered relationship with food, I became cocky. The phrase 'fully cooked' comes to mind. "I've got this! I did it!" In short, I declared victory and withdrew. Withdrew not from a happy life, which I have. But from expecting more of myself.
Complacency, thy name is—or was—Casey.
Now, I'm pushing not only the peckishness (a phrase often used around Go Keto with Casey) but also pushing the perimeters. I've built boundaries for myself. Don't we all? So, I made it to the waterfalls. I slogged through the mud. I was the oldest, most out-of-shape hiker. I was supported by My Lovely Mate (at times physically, to prevent me slipping down into the Jurassic hills; always emotionally) and by Guillermo, the marathon-running, oh-so-gentlemanly fellow. Between the two of them, I was safe. The thing is, I might have made it anyway. In the spirit of transparency, I was nearly hobbled the next day. Moving was a chore.
I got off my ass. And it kicked my ass. And that's not a bad thing.
The next pushed perimeter I may not come across to others as someone who needs buffering from the experience, even though the attention and affection are appreciated. Maybe others will think, "What an inspiration that old lady is!" (They had just better not even consider the word 'spry.' Refer to me as spry, and we'll have to have a problem. But that's a topic for another day. ... )
In the past weeks, I've slept in a casita on a finquiita, which is a few kilometers from a pueblo. There's mosquito netting, a view, and a hot cup of coffee prepared for me by the man who slept with me under that netting. I've traveled the hour and a half into the densely populated city, traveled further, past sites I had never imagined, into a place where the word luscious is nearly the only one that suffices, and I scaled the trail. I washed my face in the waters at the base of an epic cascade, the spiritual moment of it all not lost on me.
My comfy chair didn't enter into my thoughts. Not for a moment. I'll enjoy returning to its cushy cradling. But only for a bit. Not forever. There are more boundaries to be broken. I don't know which ones they are, but I'm open to finding out.
Perhaps you have things you feel are beyond you or are behind you. Past you. I have done so. That is changing.
It may kick my backside over and over. If it does, I'll limp around for a day or two. Then I'll jump back in. Because the point of feeling better is to do that which we want to do.
What I want now is to push the perimeters. I'll let you know how that goes.
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!
