I’m not exactly new to dieting (though I don’t particularly like that term). What my boyfriend affectionately refers to as yo-yo dieting, I prefer to call “my nutrition hobby.” I love the science of nutrition and have tried many different eating styles over the years, from veganism to Atkins and everything in between. When the ketogenic diet became all the buzz, I knew I needed to try it.
It took me a while to commit to going full-on keto. My nutrition philosophy has always involved eating relatively low to moderate levels of carbohydrates. I lost about 40 pounds when I was a senior in high school by adhering to a low-carb diet and have kept the weight off for all of my adult life.
But while eating low-carb isn’t particularly new to me, adding in fats — obscene amounts of fat, actually — definitely is. As a self-proclaimed nutrition nerd, I approached keto with a balanced philosophy. My goals were:
- To increase my energy levels and regulate my blood sugar by eating a diet that doesn’t trigger an insulin response.
- To lose a little bit of weight (roughly 10 pounds, which I had gained over the past couple of years as a result of straying too often from my usual moderate-carb ways).
- To eat healthy, wholesome fats on the keto diet (not greasy burgers, processed vegetable oils, or tons of cheese).
- To obtain the benefits of the keto diet without tracking calories.
- To eventually add carbs back into my diet, having by then “adapted” to ketosis and therefore being able to simply burn through carbohydrates before reverting to fat-burning mode.
I successfully ate keto, adhering to macronutrient ratios of roughly 70 percent fat, 20 percent protein, and 10 percent carbohydrates, for 30 days before beginning to add carbs back into my diet. Here’s how it went.