The Start To Our KETO Adventure

In the Begining

Back in 2015 Devin and I took a look at our lives and knew something had to change. We were extremely overweight and had no energy. We talked about how we could change our lifestyle and started on different diets, pills, shakes, patches, wraps....etc. You name it we tried it. I am grateful for all the different programs we tried because it taught us a lot. We learned about calories, water intake, carbs, fats, proteins, and so much more. In those two years we lost together 72 lbs (Devin:44 and I:28).

It isn't enough though, we are still considered Extremely(Morbidly) Obese. We are worried about the effects this will have on our health and we want to be able to be examples to our kids. For the 2018 New Year, we made a resolution that we could do hard things. I read about the Keto diet a while ago but was too scared and told myself there was no way I could even try that. It sounded insane and I loved food way too much. After last years "plateau" -Basically the whole year we stayed the same, I had to change my mindset. Why do I let food control me? If we could just change the way we eat, we could actually get somewhere. 

"We can do hard things!"

So what is the KETO diet?

It's an Extremely low carb (<25g net carbs (Carbs minus Fiber), High Fat (70 % of our diet) and Moderate Protein. We are also mixing in intermittent fasting and small workouts. 

What we did to get started:

First we researched....ALOT! We found lots of helpful websites with info and recipes. We also found groups on facebook and read a lot of success stories (for motivation). Then we calculated our Macros (fats, carbs, and protein). We bought a food scale to help with portion control, took nasty before pictures, and took our starting measurements and weight. 
Our favorite website: www.ruled.me

Then we threw out most of our carbs and sugar in our house...okay, okay, we ate them all before January 1st (ooops). We planned a week of meals and went grocery shopping. We meal prepped salads and made sure were were prepared!

a few examples of what we eat

The first week was hard, I had terrible sugar cravings and dreamed of eating tubs of frosting. Devin at one point was about to eat too many calories and threw the food and stormed out of the room. We felt hungry and our bodies wanted sugar and carbs. We mentally had to be stronger. In the first 7 days Devin lost 11.2 lbs and I was down 5.6 lbs. This second week has been a lot easier and we are enjoying the food. I have found this week I had a lot more energy (not a single nap). My house has been cleaner and honestly it gives me something to do during the day. I like to plan meals, make grocery lists and I LOVE math! It has also been fun trying new ingredients and recipes. These past 11 days I have tried more new things than I have since I left home for college, such as almond flour, stevia, coconut flour, coconut oil, and PB fit powder. 

We are excited to see where 2018 is going to take us. We are also excited to have you follow our journey. We are going to use this blog to update our weight-loss and to share great recipes and workout ideas. I hope you have a fantastic day. 

Kaylynn Jackson