The Purple Almond

This is going to be a really quick one. I’m way behind today, but still wanted to post highlighting my success over the past 2 1/2 weeks.

Here’s what’s been happening…. I got desperate!! It seems like all I have to do is look at food and I gain weight. I was a complete failure over Christmas. Between December 7 and December 31 I gained 10 pounds!!!!!!! It was awful. When I stepped on scale I almost fainted. What in the world was going on?!! I didn’t track food, or follow any specific meal plan. but I did manage to eat a decent amount of veggies, and worked out 2 or 3 times a week. But, it wasn’t enough. I was on “vacation” and allowed myself some treats, as well as soda. BIG MISTAKE! BIG! HUGE! Well, something had to be done…

So, with things in such dire straights, I had to do something drastic. On Monday December 31, I began a 3 day bone broth/low carb smoothie fast. During that time, I lost 6.2 pounds. I wasn’t keto at that time, but definitely low carb. Then, on Thursday, January 3 I officially began the keto diet. Since starting keto, I lost 2.4 pounds But, there’s more!

If you are a regular reader, you’ll know that simply weighing every week isn’t enough, and doesn’t tell you the whole story. At the beginning of the fast, and each week since, along with weighing myself, I also measure everything, from neck to ankle. Here are my totals as of this morning:

• pounds lost – 8.6
• inches lost – 8.25 (including 2.75 around my waist.)
• fat lost – 10.99 pounds
• lean tissue gain – 2.39 pounds
• Body fat % loss –  4.19%

The weight loss has slowed considerably from the first week. I’ve done my research on the keto diet and knew, going in, that it can take up to 6 weeks to really start losing weight. Dr. Berg cautions to make sure and take waist measurements at minimum each week, because you may not see the pounds come off at first. The fat is coming off, it’s just being replaced with lean tissue.  Here’s my progress from week to week

• beginning of bone broth fast – Week 1 – (10 days)
  • pounds lost – 8.2
  • inches lost – 5.5
  • fat lost – 8.77 pounds
  • lean tissue gain – .57 pounds
  • Body fat % loss – 3.05%
• Week 1 – week 2
  • pounds lost – 0.4
  • inches lost – 2.75
  • fat lost – 2.22 pounds
  • lean tissue gain – 1.82 pounds
  • Body fat % loss – 1.14

So, as you can see above,  the pounds lost between weeks 1 & 2 was just under 1/2 pound. If I hadn’t measured everything, I’d be down trodden and ready to quit. But, because I measure each week, I know I actually lost 2.22 pounds of fat over the past week. The reason the scale only showed 0.4 pound loss was due to the 1.82 pounds of lean tissue I gained. The scale doesn’t tell you that! I can be excited because I know that I also lost 2 3/4 inches around my body and 1.14 % of body fat.

Closing thoughts

So, there you have it, some success. I am cautiously optimistic. However, I’ve gotten excited before…so I’ll just keep plugging away and keep doing what I’m doing. I feel amazing on this diet! I don’t need migraine medicine or caffeine each morning. I have more energy than I’ve had in years. I won’t change a thing!

Because fat being replaced with lean tissue is such a big part of the process, I’ve decided to focus on losing body fat % points instead of pounds, and have set a goal of 23% body fat.I’m not quite read to tell you how far I am from that, maybe later… (It’s scary telling people things like that) After all, as long as I fit into that little black dress, does it really matter what the scale says?

Until next time…Namaste my friends