Week 2: Weight Loss not much

Coming from an almost 10-lb weight loss on the first week, my second week of doing Keto showed underwhelming results. I only managed to lose 1.7 lbs, after hoping for another miracle week. This made me decide to stop taking my weight measurement on a weekly basis, rather, just get my measurements monthly instead.

What I’m probably doing wrong

Some of the reasons why I think I’m not losing as much weight are as follows:

Eating (too much) greens. On my first week, I barely ate any greens – but I saw somewhere that we shouldn’t include greens in the count. There are conflicting theories here, but as I want to still eat healthy, I continued consuming mostly lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, and eggplant. Of course, I still log them on MyFitnessPal to make sure I don’t exceed my macro-ratio for carbs.
Not drinking enough water. My body has already adapted to the Keto diet so I’m not feeling as thirsty as I was on the first week. Therefore, my water intake slowed down (less than 2 liters a day), so I’m also not excreting water as much. Since I did not stop taking in more sodium than usual (to keep my electrolytes), I’m probably holding more water in my body as compared to the first week.
Lack of exercise. The bulk of my weight loss during the first week is more likely from water weight, so I need to start exercising, even just a bit already. This is to ensure I burn fat from the food I eat (which I limit to a certain calorie count), and eventually start burning the fat from my body. I also noticed that I’m not as tired and quickly exhausted compared to the first two weeks, so I should be ready for some strenuous activity. I plan to go back to running at least 4 times a week starting this week!

Again, these are just based on my personal assessment, and may not be backed necessarily by science. There are however a lot of resources/videos on YouTube which explain the whole chemistry behind Ketosis and weight loss, so you might want to check those out!

Keto Food for the week

These are some of the food I have been eating this week. One of my favorite restaurants, Persia Grill, surprisingly has some Keto-friendly options on their menu.

Tomato, olives, lettuce salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing

Another staple for Keto is Samgyeopsal. It’s Korean pork belly barbecue, and the side dishes are good for Keto, too! There are a lot of Samgyeopsal places near our house so this for me is accessible when I want to eat out for a change. This one’s from Gangnam Style (yes, after that infamous song by Psy).

I also eat home-cooked meals when I have time, so for this week, one of the food I prepared is Nilagang Baboy (like a pork stew/boiled pork soup):

While this recipe called for potato, I replaced it with another root crop (locally called “gabi”) to make the soup a bit more sticky. I decided it would be OK, as long as I don’t eat the whole pieces by themselves.

There you go, that was my Week 2. Sorry the update is a bit late (I’m supposed to post every Tuesday), but things got busy this week at work. Hopefully I’ll be on time next week! Keep calm and Keto on!

Day 8: I lost 4.4 kg!

This is it, judgment day! The result of my weigh-in would determine my motivation for pushing through with Keto. I took my bulletproof coffee with me to work, went straight to the office clinic, and stepped on the weighing scale.

Drum roll…

I was jumping with joy inside when I saw the numbers on the weighing scale stop at 167.3 lbs. This week was totally worth it. As you can see on the screenshot, my “goal” was just to lose 1.5 lbs per week, but this was just too much! I’ve read a lot of these success stories on the internet about how big of a weight loss one gets during the first week or two. Experiencing that personally makes it REAL.

This only motivates me to push further and get to my goal of 125 lbs (or as close to that as possible) in a year’s time. I don’t know if that’s reasonable but we’ll get there!

Some changes

As the first week is done, I don’t think I will be able to continue with the daily Keto blog – so I’ll make it a weekly update instead. Also, for this week, I’m planning to eat more vegetables for nutrients and fiber, since I didn’t get to do this much on the first week. I’ll also be exploring some recipes, and restaurants that serve Keto-friendly food and will post about those as they happen.

So, thank you for going with me on this journey through this blog! Please do continue visiting my site for the weekly updates and other Keto-related posts in the future! 🙂

P.S. Header photo is my lunch of pork steak with some squash and string beans! Yum!

Day 7: Keto Week 1 Done!

HURRAY! I made it through supposedly the worst week of Keto – the first one! I normally work from home on Mondays, so here’s a rundown of my meals for the day:

Breakfast and no Lunch

For breakfast, my brother cooked Delimondo Ranch Style Corned Beef and sunny side up eggs. I don’t think I’ll get tired of corned beef, although I know I can’t have too much as it has higher protein than fat. You can cook it up in butter to bump up the fat content, but it tastes better with normal cooking oil.

I got to work until around lunch time. I wasn’t hungry, but I was feeling sleepy so I prepared my bulletproof coffee and had that for “lunch” instead. My energy level was OK the entire afternoon, and it wasn’t until around 7pm when I got hungry again. I am a bit worried about not feeling hungry – will this potentially result to ulcer? I have to research more about it, but I was drinking enough water and ate when I really had to so I think it should be OK. But you can never be too careful, so I will research and tell you more about it.

Barbecue dinner

My friend told me she sometimes eats barbecue for dinner, and I haven’t eaten this yet since I started Keto, so I told my brother to get me some barbecue (and isaw). Barbecue is a bit of a gray area because the sauce has some banana ketchup (which has some carbs and sugar), but I checked MyFitnessPal and it said my Macros should be OK.

I was a bit sad they ran out of pork barbecue, but the isaw, gizzard, and chicken neck were all perfect. I needed a change in “taste” and this was a perfect meal to celebrate the end of the week.

The Stats

I managed to end my day within my calorie target of 1,478 and surprisingly, good macro ratio!

Tomorrow, I finally weigh in!

Day 6: Surviving the first week

Before I start this post, here’s Day6 with an apt song – Congratulations.

I am happy I made it through the past two days. It hasn’t been easy, but the fight continues!

Tired of fat

The sight and smell of oil and butter makes me want to vomit, so I went out and looked for a place where I can eat Keto-friendly food that’s not prepared the usual way I prepare my food. I had a blogging session with a friend at a nearby cafe, where I ordered Baked Salmon with mushroom sauce. I skipped the baby potatoes and the free iced tea that came with it. Instead, I ordered an iced americano and drank it together with the Stevia that I brought with me. After that fun blogging session, I decided that it’s time for me to buy a mirrorless camera. I have a trip coming up the end of this month and I need a camera since I already sold my old one to my sister.

I wanted the Olympus OMD EM-10 but I ended up buying the Sony A6000!

For early dinner, I had sizzing porkchop with gravy, minus the rice. It came with a free cream of vegetable soup, which I ate just half a portion of. For midnight snack (yes, I got hungry), I had some lechon and achara, and I thought I ate a lot.

The stats

I felt like I pigged out today, and indeed I did not meet my macros target. However, I didn’t blame myself too much because there will always be a slump. Surprisingly, I ended the day with a calorie deficit still, despite my feeling full so that could be the Keto working its magic!

Tomorrow completes my first week and I can’t wait to weigh in and see if this entire ordeal will show results!

Day 5: The Keto Struggle Continues

Is this the Keto flu? I don’t really know. Despite feeling like sh*t the day before, I still woke up early (around 7 am), but still not feeling well. Since I didn’t have anything planned for this Saturday, I decided to skip on my bulletproof coffee and just spend the day recovering, in bed. It was also too hot outside, and there’s nothing better to do at home anyway. I went back to sleep, and woke up at lunch.

I cooked the rest of my Bisaya adobo. Taste buds were better than yesterday. Water also tasted normal already. I spent an hour or two watching Keto videos on YouTube and although there are a lot of conflicting theories or ideas about what you should eat or not, I just felt like as long as I monitor what I eat, it should be fine.

Enter Erwan’s Keto Breakfast Recipes

I’m not a big fan of Erwan, but I agree with every point he said about diets in general. Also, I realized I could eat more than just fried food if I got a bit more creative. So, I’m excited to try some of these out in the next few days, once I gather the ingredients. Keto doesn’t need to taste fatty every time, it can be flavorful, too!

Eggplant, again

For dinner, I didn’t want to cook anymore, so I just ordered food from Pink Panda. The most Keto-friendly one I could find was Tortang Talong (Eggplant Omelette), so I ordered that. I ate it right away, and later realized I had to take a picture for the blog, so here’s a not-so-appetizing photo of a half eaten tortang talong. Yum!

After dinner, I felt like I have fully recovered. I was dancing around to Seventeen (LOL) while cleaning the house a bit. I felt so much better, like I’ve returned back from Keto hell. I tried to sleep early, but I had so much energy so I wasted it away watching YouTube (tech videos this time – hello Nokia 8110 4G), and arguing with myself whether to get a mirrorless camera or not. I also played a bit of Pokemon Ultra Moon, until I finally got sleepy. I ended the day with an 800-calorie deficit, and a macro ratio of 63-24-12 (and that’s OK).

I’m just glad to have survived those 2 days, and I am ready for another week!

Day 4: The Keto Struggle Is Real

My first 3 days of Keto diet was smooth-sailing. I barely had anything to complain about, so I was positive that this would really work for me. My fourth day, however, was a totally different story.

It started in the morning. I woke up at 7, but I felt so tired, so I went back to bed. I woke up again at around 10:30, already late for work, but feeling so groggy. It felt like all of the fat intake has taken over my body. Good thing Friday is my work-from-home day, so I didn’t have to go to the office feeling like sh*t.

Bulletproof coffee first

I prepared my bulletproof coffee for my first meal, even though it was already almost lunch. I didn’t like the taste of it. I struggled finishing that coffee because to me, it just tasted like fat. Period. I wanted to puke, almost. Gulped it down, anyway, and proceeded to work. I didn’t have any meetings for the day, so I took it easy. At around 1 PM, my stomach was already grumbling. It felt like a party in there, but I wasn’t invited. I cooked scrambled eggs, added a lot of salt because I wanted to taste something other than fat, and fed it to the party. I was dying to eat some carbs – noodles, chips, ramyeon – but I stuck it up. If I gave up today, it will seem like I’m all talk (since a lot of people know about me going on Keto).

Eggplants for dinner

I thought that I had to stop eating meat just to get rid of the sluggish feeling. I fried some eggplants, drowned them in soy sauce (I’m exaggerating), and ate them. It was still quite oily since the eggplant absorbs the oil during frying. It tasted good, though, and I felt like my taste buds were working again. Prior this, even water tasted like oil. I finished up work, and went to bed early because I still wasn’t feeling well. The slight headache from the afternoon felt like it was turning into a full-on migraine, so I shut the lights and tried to sleep.

Hello, it’s 12 AM

My bladder woke me up at midnight. After peeing, my stomach felt light and empty. Where did all that fatty feeling go? So, I cooked fried pork for my second dinner. It tasted so good because I had marinated it in soy sauce and vinegar since lunch time. This is how we cook adobo in Cebu, not that watery, saucy kind with bay leaf and pepper corn. I only cooked three small pieces because I was going over my target calories for the day (although, technically, it’s already the next day).

After eating, I watched a couple of episodes of Friends, before hitting the sack again, praying that tomorrow will be a lot better than today.

Day 3: Bad Breath, Good Sign

How do you know when your Keto diet is working? According to a post from healthline.com, there are at least 10 common symptoms, both positive and negative, that will signify Ketosis. I’m just on my third day but I can already relate to some of these. As early as the 2nd day, I have already experienced 5 symptoms.

My signs of Ketosis

Bad Breath – To quote the friend who introduced me to Keto, “It’s a small price to pay for sexiness.” The smell comes from acetone, a Ketone excreted through breath and urine when one is in Ketosis. Ketones, by the way, are the byproducts created by the body when it converts fat to energy. This means one thing – the Keto diet is working, and fat is now my body’s source of energy! Good news is that this will eventually go away.
Frequent urination – Ketosis releases water being held by fat cells. This is also a reason why we need to drink more water than usual to prevent dehydration. That naturally results to more trips to the toilet.
Dry mouth and cracked lips – Similar to #2, there is a risk of being dehydrated when you’re not drinking enough water while doing the Keto diet. I try to drink at least 3 liters of water, and dry mouth/cracked lips throughout the day reminds me to keep drinking water!
Appetite suppression – And this is very true to me, I could live with only 2 meals a day, no snacks. Breakfast is bulletproof coffee, so my actual meals are just for lunch and dinner. They say that you are less hungry because the body now does a better job of regulating the hormones that trigger the feeling of hunger in your brain. Who knows exactly what the reason is, but I swear, I am feeling full throughout the day!
Increased energy and focus – I wake up feeling refreshed and energized, and for the first time in the longest time, I’m actually excited to start my day. On the first day, I felt so sleepy after lunch, but on the second and third day, I had so much energy which made me a lot more productive at work.

Other symptoms include weight loss, but I don’t want to measure myself until at least a week after. Now, there are better ways to really tell if you are in Ketosis such as urine strips and breath analyzers. I have just ordered urine strips so that I can really prove that I am where I want to be, and that my body is now using fat as its source of energy! I will let you know once that arrives and I test it.

Food of the day

Since I’ve started sharing photos of what I’m eating on this diet, below is my lunch for Day 3.

Three eggs, butter, salt and pepper – that’s all it takes to prepare a quick, delicious and high fat meal!

I bought this from the office cafeteria because I had to have some vegetables for nutrition purposes. Balance is key!

For dinner, I fried some leftover salmon belly (in butter and oil) with some salt and pepper.

These were so good that I exceeded my fat allocation for the day! I ended at 81-15-4. At least my carbs are still in check! I will just try to adjust my macros tomorrow.

As an added bonus, I love how I am looking forward to actually cooking my meals because I know what ingredients are going in to it versus just buying them from somewhere! And I get to save money, too!

That’s all for today!

Day 2: Keto and MyFitnessPal

Some people think that with Keto, as long as you avoid carbs and sweets, you can eat as much as you want. If you’re really after losing weight, I don’t think that will help. Depending on your goal, you need to adjust the total calories you take in daily. There’s a Keto calculator which I tried using to compute the amount of calories and macros (fat, protein, carbs) I should take in daily.

But before that – you need to get your Body Fat Percentage first.

Keto Calculator

I used the Keto calculator from Ruled.me (my go-to website for Keto), which is very easy to use. You just need to input your data (weight, height, age, body fat percentage, etc.), as well as your goals for going Keto (lose weight, maintain, gain muscle). It will then come up with an estimate according to your inputs.

My target calories and macros – for losing weight!

Now, how do you track all of these? You can always manually count your calories, or better yet – use an app that makes this a lot easier!

Enter MyFitnessPal

I have been a fan of MyFitnessPal back in the days when I was simply just counting calories to lose weight. No, it didn’t work that much because I was really just looking at the calories, and eventually got tired of it.

What makes this a good app for Keto is that it will not only count your calories, it can also count your macros!

MyFitnessPal will also calculate your goals based on a similar input as Keto Calculator. Although it’s difficult to get the exact numbers, mine was quite close to the Keto Calculator results so I decided to just go ahead with the MyFitnessPal version.

After setting your goals, all you need to do is log in all of your food and drink intake, including your exercise, to properly track your calories and macros!

Logging in your meals isn’t that difficult either! This is my Day 1 log.

Obviously, I overate for the day, but I made up for it on Day 2 (with a deficit of 293). Don’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t meet your targets for the day – just try to compensate for it the next day – as long as you don’t overdo it, also. Balance is key! You can either log as you eat, or wait until the end of the day if you want to do it just once, but I suggest you go for the former, so that you can track and adjust as needed throughout the day.

Now, a photo of dinner

I didn’t get to take a photo of my lunch (I had corned beef with eggs), so here’s my dinner instead.

Pork sinigang for dinner! See before picture in the header!

I made sure to check the nutritional value on MyFitnessPal to ensure I don’t exceed my limits for the day. Upon checking in advance, I had to limit my dinner to just one bowl of this yummy sinigang because I would go past my target if I had more. I still ended the day meeting the exact 70-25-5 ratio!

Day 2 was a success! I wish Ketosis would already kick in by Day 3, because I can’t wait to lose weight!

Day 1: Easing into Keto

So, Day 1 started with me taking my baseline weight measurement. I’m starting at 80.3 kg (177 lbs), which is within my average for the past year (I fluctuate from 170-179 lbs). My goal is to bring my weight down to my ideal weight of around 130 lbs (for my height) – and that’s a loooot of weight to lose (around 20 kg). If I can lose that within 6 months, I’d be very happy! I’ve read a lot of success stories over at Reddit and that makes me excited for what’s to come!

Anyhow, despite it being my first day, I didn’t feel any huge difference yet in terms of my overall mood. I drank a lot of water to prevent the Keto flu as everyone calls it – 3 liters resulted to a lot of visits to the toilet. I felt so sleepy after lunch, which might be because this is my usual time for coffee, and as I’ve had my bullet coffee in the morning, I didn’t want to drink more.

For lunch, I prepared some fried pork (with butter), paired with some greens from the office cafeteria. I skipped out on the dressing because I’m sure there’s a lot of hidden sugar in there.

For dinner I cooked salmon belly sinigang, which I forgot to take a picture of. Added some greens in there as well for additional nutrients. I know there are some carbs there but I’m hoping the fiber cuts the net carbs to a lower figure. I’m not really calculating anything as of this point yet, just applying the basic guidelines of avoiding carbs and sugar, and consuming more fat.

Tomorrow I’ll measure my body fat percentage at the clinic so that I can compute my daily calorie intake and follow a more stricter diet!

My overall mood was a bit better than my normal workdays – I had a lot of energy in the morning from the bulletproof coffee, felt sleepy towards the afternoon but got over it by taking a power nap. I also usually have difficulty sleeping at night, but at 10 PM, I was already passed out in bed – which I cannot complain about at all!

So far, so good. Day 1 is a success. I’m excited for the rest of the week! 🙂

Day 0: Starting Keto

One of my goals this year is to lose weight and improve my overall health. There are many ways to do this – but I’ve always had difficulty in sustaining diets or exercise. Enter Keto.

A friend introduced me to Keto (short for Ketogenic) over lunch (we had eat-all-you-can samgyeopsal) and she managed to convince me to at least give it a try. These were the points that she made which made me consider going Keto:

Weight loss – of course, this is the whole point of going on a diet. With Keto, you cut off your carbohydrates so that your body will run on fats instead. I have a lot of stored fat.
Diet without deprivation – among all of the weight loss diets, Keto allows you to eat as much as you can as long as you maintain that 70-25-5 ratio of fat, protein and carbohydrates. We were eating eat-all-you-can meat after all.
Energy and mood improvement – I have suffered from energy loss, depression and anxiety for the past few years. My friend has mentioned how much her overall mood and energy has improved after going Keto. This is a big factor why I’ve decided to try this diet because I just want to bring the energetic and positive me back.

I did some research on the Internet and watched some videos on YouTube about first-hand experiences of people on Keto. A week after my talk with that friend, I am now ready to start my Keto journey!

Today’s groceries in preparation for my first week. Don’t worry, I will have some greens tomorrow.

If you’re interested in trying Keto, there are a ton of resources on the Internet, but this is my favorite website. I can’t wait to try out their recipes too, when I run out of ideas on what to eat. I’ll get my weight measured at the clinic tomorrow (my weighing scale is busted) and will update you on the progress via this blog!

If you’ve tried Keto and have some tips you want to share, let me know via the comments below!