Something worked... FINALLY! And I can't be anymore happier!
This is what I looked like 3 weeks after I gave birth to Jacob, around 3rd week of June 2011
See how my LARGE shirt (yep, Bench polo shirt, male fit, size: LARGE), hugged my bulges. Also notice, that I'm hiding the other half of my bulges behind my sister's body. lolz. So imagine, how huge I was during this time.
Fast forward to my Mom's birthday party last March 2012
With my good good friend and fellow ketogenicker Jacque
I can now wear a fitted knitted top! I started with the diet at around December 2011, and incorporated cardio exercise weeks after. To date I have lost 41lbs... the first 21lbs courtsey of pure breastfeeding and late nights (super puyat the first 3 months with Jacob), the 20lbs courtesy of Ketogenic diet and exercise.
So I am now sharing with you the Kegenic Diet...
1.) Write up from my fellow Ketogenicker mommy friend
Jacque . I'm literally copying and pasting this form her blog.
Ketogenic diet requires someone to eat low carb. as a starter and if you really want to lose weight, you have to stay at a 20g. of carbohydrates per day. How do you count the carbs? Read the label. :) I've learned to always read the label. Here are some tips that you can read about. I got this from dietdoctor.com. For two weeks that i'm on this regimen, I lost about 5 lbs already and I'm so happy that i'm not craving for sweets (chocolates, ice cream) which is very unusual of me. haha. I hope i'd be able to get used to this and stick to the regimen for a long time. Apparently, i have friends who know about this too and it has become effective on them too. :) i'm excited!
LCHF (Low Carb, High Fat) means you eat less carbohydrates with a higher proportion of fat. The most important point is to minimize your intake of sugar and starches. That way you can eat other delicious foods until you are satisfied – and still lose weight.
A number of recent high quality scientific studies show that LCHF makes it easier to lose weight and control your blood sugar. And that may just be the beginning.
The basics
- Eat: meat, fish, eggs, vegetables growing above ground and natural fats (like butter).
- Avoid: sugar and starchy foods (like bread, pasta, rice and potatoes).
Eat when you’re hungry until you are satisfied. It’s that simple. You do not need to count calories or weigh your food. And just forget about industrially produced low fat products.
Real food. Add some good fat (like butter).
There are good scientific reasons why LCHF works. When you avoid sugar and starches your blood sugar stabilizes and the levels of the fat storing hormone insulin drops. This increases your fat burning and make you feel more satiated.
Note for diabetics
- Avoiding the carbohydrates that raise your blood sugar decreases your need for medication to lower it. Taking the same dose of insulin as before might result in hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). You will need to test your blood sugar frequently in the beginning and adapt (lower) your medication. This should ideally be done with the assistance of a knowledgeable physician. If you are healthy or a diabetic treated by diet alone or just with Metformin there is no risk of hypoglycemia.
Dietary advice
Eat all you like
- Meat: Any type. Beef, pork, game meat, chicken. The fat on the meat is good as well as skin on the chicken. Try to choose organic or grass fed meat if you can.
- Fish and shellfish: All kinds. Fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel or herring are great. Avoid breading.
- Eggs: All kinds. Boiled, fried, omelettes. Preferably organic eggs.
- Natural fat, fat sauces: Using butter and cream when you cook can make your food taste better and make you more satiated. Béarnaise, Hollandaise, read on the packages or make it yourself. Coconut fat, olive oil and canola oil are also good options.
- Vegetables growing above ground: All kinds of cabbage, such as cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts. Asparagus, zucchini, eggplant, olives, spinach, mushrooms, cucumber, lettuce, avocado, onions, peppers, tomatoes and more.
- Dairy products: Always select high fat options. Real butter, cream (40% fat), sour cream, fat cheese. Turkish yogurt. Be careful with regular milk and skim milk as it contains a lot of milk sugar. Avoid flavored, sugary and low fat products.
- Nuts: Good to eat instead of candy in front of the television (preferably in moderation).
- Berries: Okay in moderation, if you are not a super strict /-sensitive. Good with whipped cream.
Avoid if you can
- Sugar: The worst. Soft drinks, candy, juice, sports drinks, chocolate, cakes, buns, pastries, ice cream, breakfast cereals. Preferably avoid sweeteners as well.
- Starch: Bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, french fries, potato chips, porridge, muesli and so on. »Wholemeal products” are just less bad. Moderate amounts of root vegetables may be OK if you’re not too strict with the carbohydrates.
- Margarine: Industrially imitated butter with unnaturally high content of omega-6 fat. Has no health benefits, tastes bad. Statistically linked to asthma, allergies and other inflammatory diseases.
- Beer: Liquid bread. Full of malt sugar, unfortunately.
- Fruit: Very sweet, plenty of sugar. Eat once in a while, treat it as a natural form of candy.
Once in a while
You decide when the time is right. Your weight loss may slow down a bit
- Alcohol: Dry wine (regular red wine or dry white), whisky, brandy, vodka, drinks without sugar.
- Dark chocolate: Above 70 % cocoa, preferably just a little.
Drink most days
- Water
- Coffee: Try it with full fat cream
- Tea
2.) In depth look at the Ketogenic Diets and Ketosis
source: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/keto.htm
The main benefit of keto diets is that it increases the body's ability to utilize fats for fuel, which gets very lazy on a high carbohydrate diet. Learn the scientific facts!
by Jonathan Deprospo
What's So Great About Being In Ketosis?
Establishing this metabolic state of ketosis even for a short period of time has many outstanding benefits.
Benefit #1
The main benefit being that it increases the body's ability to utilize fats for fuel, which gets very lazy on a high carbohydrate diet. When on high carbohydrate diets the body can usually expect an energy source to keep entering the body. But in the state of ketosis the body has to become efficient at mobilizing fats as energy.
Benefit #2
Another nifty thing about being in a state of ketosis is that if the body has no further use for ketones they can simply be excreted through urine as a waste product. This means that at times your body will be peeing out body fat! This is a novel theme because you body is very efficient at storing energy substrates for later use.
Benefit #3
Ketosis has a protein sparing effect, assuming that you are consuming adequate quantities of protein and calories in the first place. Once in ketosis the body actually prefers ketones to glucose. Since the body has copious quanities of fat this means that there is no need to oxidize protein to generate glucose through
gluconeogenesis.
Benefit #4
Another benefit has to do with the low levels of insulin in the body, which causes greater lipolysis and free glycerol release compared to a normal diet when insulin is around 80-120. Insulin has a lipolysis blocking effect, which can inhibit the use of fatty acids as energy. Also when insulin is brought to low levels many beneficial hormones are released in the body such as growth hormone and other powerful growth factors.
Benefit #5
Another small but very important benefit about the ketogenic diet is that when in the state of ketosis, ketones seem to blunt hunger in many people. I mean honestly, what is not better than being on a low calorie diet and not being hungry all the time like you usually are such as on a high carbohydrate diet. Since on the ketogenic diet you have to consume a lot of fat, which hold 9 calories, you are not getting much food volume. This makes not being hungry a very good thing when on the diet. When you add such thermogenics like the ECA stack and prescription appetite suppressants you won't even think about your next meal. It's kind of funny that when the Atkins' diet first came out one of the early criticisms was that the diet blunted hunger too much! What, is it mandatory to be hungry on a reduced calorie diet?
Benefit #6
The last benefit has to do with the fact that a ketone body is an inefficient fuel source due to the fact that when the fatty acid is converted to a KB it contains 7 calories. This means that the normal pound of fat has less than 3500 calories.
read more: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/keto.htm
