The Experiment: Day 146 ~ It’s Good To Take A Little Rest (And you’ve got to eat. And a glass of wine is nice too.)…

Yes, I am taking a page from this camel’s book. Finally, when you have been pushing and your brains are falling out your ears you just need to declare that you are taking a break. For me, as Wednesday is my day out for therapy and errands, I have taken a break from technology today. I am doing this blog post but the rest I am letting go of until tomorrow. I think I look just about like him too.

And there’s more. And this is not very easy to write about, but as transparency is important to me, and full disclosure absolutely essential to my mission here on this blog, I have to share what’s been happening for me that is a problem. It is not the fault of the ketogenic diet, I can assure you, the fault is mine and today is the day I had a little collapse of sorts emotionally and got redirected, perhaps steered back onto a better path. Let me explain.

One of the amazing things about the ketogenic diet is that when your body starts burning fat for fuel instead of sugar you simply stop being hungry. It happens to everyone once they are in ketosis and have completely eliminated all sugars from their diet. I have my coffee in the morning and rarely eat before 3 p.m. This is not unusual. However what has happened for me is that after losing 25 pounds the first two months my weight loss stalled — this is also not uncommon on keto — but for me it has stalled, going up and down a pound or three, for almost 2 months. And after what I have been eating has been examined the problem is that I am eating too little. I mean I have been eating very little food at all for the last couple of months. Not being hungry + the fact that I have just never been into cooking/meal preparation + the fact that I get lost in my work and go for hours and since I’m not hungry just don’t eat. Some days it has been one scant meal. Mostly I didn’t even realize I was doing this, partly it was a relief not to be hungry after a lifetime of overeating, and then part of me thought that I would take advantage of not being hungry and maybe I would lose weight faster. Well, the truth is I have caused my body to hold onto what it could for dear life because it thought I was starving it.

Today, though I really wasn’t hungry, I made myself cook bacon, eggs, and half an avocado which I ate before I went to therapy. And my dear friend Jeff is bringing me a wonderful hot keto dinner. And even more than that, I have not had a glass of wine in over 4 months. He is bringing a bottle of cabernet. Yes, you can have wine on keto. Dry red wine or plain spirits. Casey whom I follow on keto and have talked about here lost about 100 pounds and never stopped having wine in moderation. And Jeff’s friend, a doctor who not only wholly believes in keto but went from 468 pounds to 165 pounds on this diet and has kept it off for almost 20 years told him that I was starving myself, and to take me some good food and that I should have a small glass of red wine in the evening, that it would be good for me. And so timidly, and a little warily, I am going to have a small glass of wine with my dinner. This doctor said when I started eating more and even had a small glass of wine with dinner, which I always enjoyed, I would lose weight. Tonight I shall, and I will see how it goes. This is the next step in my journey.

I started on keto on October 11. I had stopped sugar two weeks previous to that and wine the week before I began the diet. I have followed it religiously, I have not had ONE bite of non-keto food from the beginning, but I started at 333 pounds, lost 25 pounds in the first two months, and then have only lost a pound and a half since then. I got down to 303 pounds a week ago after being at 310 for nearly 6 weeks. Today, when I got on the scale and weighed EXACTLY 306.6 for the third day in a row I broke down crying. Jeff said “Honey, you’ve got to eat.” And today I have. And moving forward I will.

This is an incredible journey. And it seems that everything in my life for months has been kind of a steep learning curve of one sort or another. The ketogenic diet is absolutely wonderful and also a huge learning curve. The technology I am working with right now is a gigantic learning curve for me. Finding my way in this new land where I don’t need medication but do need to be vigilant about self-care is a learning curve. I am finding my way, slowly, and thank goodness I have the right people around me to help me through this. My therapist was absolutely wonderful today as she always is. The man who takes care of my med management I see on Monday. As I said I am off meds but still being monitored. I have dear family and friends around me. I am not alone.

So here I am, I have had another awakening. I am learning more. It is another step on the journey. Tonight I take it easy with my darling pugs, and I have a good dinner and a glass of wine, and I Keto On! as I shall continue to do, being more mindful of eating enough, and taking breaks from my work when I need it. Another day done, another lesson learned, and on I go…

Happy Valentine’s Day Loves…

The Experiment ~A 365 Day Search For Truth, Beauty &
Happiness: Day 1 ~ Introduction To The Project
“Do or do not. There is no try.”
Yoda

Comments

  1. Happy Valentine’s Day Maitri ❤️. Isn’t it amazing that when we don’t eat enough we don’t lose weight? I have experienced this myself. I’ve heard other people say, “why aren’t I losing weight, I only eat one meal a day.” Happy eating.
    Love, Jean

    • Thank you so much Jean, Happy Valentine’s Day to you too honey. 🙂 And you know, this whole thing is such a new and foreign thing to me. After overeating and being overweight since I was young to eat this way and NOT be hungry and NOT want to eat is a curious thing. It’s felt like A GIFT to me. But I have not done myself any favors by barely eating, in fact, as you point out so aptly, quite the reverse. I had a wonderful dinner that Jeff made, and a small glass of red wine. WHAT a treat! I really enjoyed it. And I didn’t need any more than that, and it was lovely. It’s all kind of hard for me to wrap my head around and I hate that it’s taken me 4 months to really understand this but it is what it is. And onward and upward I go.

      I hope you have had a lovely Valentine’s Day. Love and a sweet warm hug to you honey…

      Maitri

  2. I love this face!
    I’m glad Jeff is there to help with nourishing you and reminding you of the joy of tastes.
    Take good care of yourself, dear Maitri!

    • Isn’t it wonderful? I love that face too. And I had a lovely dinner and glass of red wine which was SO wonderful to have after so long of not having any, AND I’m down .8 of a pound this morning. Now it’s only one day and weight can easily fluctuate that much from one day to the next but I was worried it would go UP if I had the wine and it didn’t. We shall see how it proceeds.

      Sending you a big hug sweetie… 🙂

  3. Salut! I do love a good Cab! Enjoy!!

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