Frustration Loading

 

Oh my gosh you guys!  In the past year my weight has been steadily increasing and I was really beginning to worry about it.  I was told it was due to two things – my heart condition and the medication I’m taking, but geez Louise, not only were my pants getting tighter but I felt like garbage and I was really struggling with my energy levels.  They were up and down like a roller coaster.  And my mental state was suffering as well.  I was feeling terrible about the weight gain and my overall sluggishness.  It was really tearing me down.  To add insult to injury I’d also been having a lot of skin issues.

 

I made the decision in June to dump the recommended “cardiac diet” and go back on Keto and try to get some of this weight off and then I’d follow a healthy low carb diet after that.  Amazingly though, my weight would not budge.  Even after my staycation when we did all that hiking and healthy eating.  Nope.  In fact, I actually gained two more pounds and I was feeling absolutely hopeless.  I was about to do a giant face plant into a huge Costco size tub of ice cream and gobble it all up in one sitting.  With chocolate syrup.  And sprinkles.  I was feeling so discouraged.

 

But, instead, I got on the Mayo Clinic patient website and did some research.  The Mayo Clinic was never averse to my Keto lifestyle, but one of my cardiologists here in Boise was having kittens over it and wanted me to do a Mediterranean diet instead.  Yeah, way too many carbs for me on that plan.  I tried it and even modified the carbs some, but it still left me feeling sluggish and I told her that.  She wanted me to stay on it, so I did, for a while.

 

After much thought, I put aside my ice cream dreams and decided to stay strictly Keto only this time around I did a more drastic approach, because being overweight and retaining fluid isn’t good for my heart either.  This time I decided to commit to a four week Keto-OMAD diet and see if that might jolt my body into letting go of this weight.  It isn’t an approach I took lightly, or would necessarily recommend for just anyone, but it worked.

 

Keto-OMAD is a One Meal A Day approach to reset your body and get you moving into a fat burning cycle to shed weight.  You basically just eat one meal a day and clear liquids the rest of the time like broth, water, coffee or tea, etc.  The first four days nothing happened (my body was being stubborn!), but I didn’t gain anything so I kept going and on day five I was down a pound.  Definitely heading in the direction I wanted to see.  After one week though I was back up half a pound, but I kept with it and at my next weigh in on day ten I was down two pounds.  I kept going.  After three full weeks I was down five pounds and was stuck there for a while but I was feeling much better.  My mind was clearer, I was sleeping better and my energy level was up and steady.  I felt like I could consistently do things and think more clearly.  I kept on going.

 

According to my Mayo Clinic research I was not losing weight too fast and I knew my nutrition was good so I kept it up and completed week four.  Now that I feel I have a better handle on things I’m back to my usual two meals per day and steadily losing the extra weight I don’t need to carry around and most importantly I feel so much better.  Will I go back to eating carbs?  Yes.  But, not very often.  I like my Keto lifestyle.  I feel better both physically and mentally when I eat lean and clean.  If the Mayo Clinic says I can, then I can.  My cardiologist here is just going to have to deal with it.  She also told me not to go hiking up any hills while the Mayo Clinic cardiologist and my other one here in Boise told me to hike away!  No restrictions.  We’ll see what she says when I see her on the 24^th of this month.  I’m thinking it will go well.

 

In my own personal opinion not all physician advice is correct for everyone.  There are always differing opinions.  I trust my doctors at the Mayo Clinic and I know that being overweight with heart issues isn’t okay for me.  I have to be active and sharp otherwise, my quality of life is diminished and that’s definitely not okay with me.  Oh!  And my skin issues have begun to go away.  What I’m doing now feels right but, if I show you pictures of my meals and you see carbs I don’t want you to freak out or anything because I will occasionally indulge myself.  My goal is to simply get myself as healthy as possible and still enjoy my life.  And true to my nature, I just have to do my own thing.  We all need to do our own thing. 😁