How I lost 10 pounds on a 14-day keto diet
- Neso M
- Nov 29, 2018
- 6 min read
Updated: Dec 3, 2018
A ketogenic guide from a personal experience
I’m not sure what it is but after university, I have been having a serious struggle with my weight. I know I am an eater but as far as I know, I don’t eat any more now than I did before. If anything, I ate a lot more when I was at university. Dominos, Chinese food, instant noodles, Nando’s, you name it!
As part of my struggle with my weight, I have made multiple efforts to lose weight and keep the weight off. At the beginning of the year, I started a diet plan with my sister. Matter of fact, she was the person that put me on it. Hi Ugo! 😘
If I’m being totally honest, I had no clue what it was when she told me about it. I was just happy to get on a diet with someone for motivation. She sent me the protocol for the diet and we began on the 1st of Feb and ended on 15th of Feb - 14 days.
I want to share the achievable and easy diet plan with you. It is called a Ketogenic diet aka Keto.
What is a Ketogenic Diet?
First time I heard the word Ketogenic, the first thing that came to my mind was secondary school biology - Glycolysis and Krebs Cycle. I don't know why this was the first thing I thought of #nerd. If you remember secondary school biology, it looked something like this.
A plain and simple description of a Ketogenic diet is a low-carb, high-fat diet. From a scientific perspective, there’s more to it.
Ketogenic is derived from the word ketosis; a metabolic state where your body only burns fat as the primary source of fuel, producing ketones. It is the direct opposite of glycolysis where glucose is the primary source of fuel for the body.
To put it simply, depriving your body of carbs, cuts off the external supply of glucose and forces your body to use stored fat as fuel. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Who doesn’t want to lose body fat?
As appealing as keto seems, it isn't very easy to get into. You will need to give up a lot of the yummy things that make your meal complete like bread and pasta. Right now, there are several keto-friendly pasta, bread and even desserts. But at the time I was on this diet, I was living in Nigeria and these were not regular items you came across on the supermarket aisles. I went cold turkey with it.
I was working out two times a day #excessive. I went for a morning 5 to 7k run and then the gym in the evening. I also combined the keto diet with intermittent fasting - no breakfast for the 14 days.
Rules for a Ketogenic Diet
Educate yourself
Commit
Keep on eating
Get in ketosis
Stay in ketosis
Educate yourself.
Read about the keto diet and understand the protocol. Familiarise yourself with the no’s and go’s of the diet. You also need to understand how this diet really works and prepare yourself to commit to it.
What I ate
Meat, Chicken, Turkey and Fish. I mixed my proteins during the week. Basically, anything that was once alive is alright to eat.
Vegetables. Not all vegetables are keto-friendly. For example, carrots, beets, parsnips are not very keto-friendly. If you must, I suggest not a lot of it because carrots are the potatoes of vegetables. The rule of thumb here is, any vegetable that grows above the ground is acceptable. My diet was very veg heavy. I had Mediterranean roasted veg, salad, cauliflower rice
Eggs. I ate a lot of eggs. Maybe 6 eggs a day. Poached, omelette and boiled either as part of my meal or a snack.
Natural oils. Olive oil mostly as a salad dressing and to roast vegetables in.
Avocado. Always in my salads. My go-to snack was homemade guacamole and cucumber sticks.
Snacks. Nuts, olives, and cheese. Nuts are a great snack when you're hungry but try as much as possible to not go overboard with it.
Sauces. Mayo, mustard and hot sauce are acceptable.
What I avoided
Alcohol. I usually have a glass of red wine every day with dinner. I had to abstain for the diet. There are some keto-friendly alcohol beverages - pure spirits like whiskey, vodka and tequila are acceptable when taken neat. I couldn't possibly replace my glass of wine with whiskey so this was not an option for me. I stayed away from alcohol totally. It was only 14 days.
Fruits. I found this weird because fruits are a staple in any regular diet; apples, bananas and the likes. But they are not very compatible with the diet because they are packed full of sugar.
Juice and smoothies
Oatmeal
Potatoes
Rice
Legumes. Beans, moi-moi
Pasta
Chocolate
Pastry
Bread
Sweets
Processed food
Sugared sauces. Salad cream, ketchup and bbq sauces are a big no.
Commit.
Committing to any diet is really the most important rule. I was/am the queen of “next week”. I would start eating well on Monday and Tuesday; have a cheeky cheat meal on Wednesday and condemn the rest of the week.
“ I’ll start next week Monday”
You need to commit to it. Cheat days are an abomination in keto-land. If you want to see results, you need to be strict with it and commit long-term.
Keep on eating.
Once you educate yourself on the right foods and commit to keto, keep on eating. Ironic isn't it? One of the reasons I like keto is you don’t starve yourself. Eat all the right foods until you’re not hungry anymore. Plus the foods that are allowed on a keto diet are things that most people will enjoy (except vegetarians) so you won’t have that sad feeling that comes with eating on a diet.
The foods I was allowed to eat during the diet, I ate as much as I wanted on an average day. No calorie-counting or food weighing. I could not be bothered
Get in ketosis.
It takes a few days to get in ketosis. Typically between 4 to 10 days. Within that time, you should have consumed only 25 to 30g of carbs. How do you know if you’re in ketosis? You could use ketone urine strips or blood monitors to check if you are in ketosis. I did not use any of these because I had no clue where to get them from in Abuja but there are a variety on Amazon if you are interested. Another indicator is when you get a metallic taste in your mouth, you’re in ketosis.
I did not have a metallic taste in my mouth but I noticed an increase in my need for the ladies around the 6th or 7th day of the diet, to put it politely
Stay in Ketosis.
Once you are there, your body becomes a fat-burning machine! By the 7th day, I had lost 4 pounds. Maybe because I was exercising twice a day. By day 14, I had lost an extra 6 pounds. You need to keep to the keto protocol to make sure you remain in ketosis to keep losing weight.
**Warning. You could easily stop ketosis with a cheat meal or snack. If you do, you will void the 4 to 10 days build-up to get to that point and will need to start all over again. If you still have the will power to #nextweek
Do you now understand why it is important to commit to the diet?
Being social on Keto
I was on the Keto for just 14-days so I mostly stayed away from social gatherings that could make me break protocol. I passed up on a friend’s graduation party because it was late and I get really hungry at night. Keto-friendly options at night time are not what you’re feeling - Shawarma, pizza, that's what you want.
I made sure I ate and ate a lot before I went to any social gatherings so that when I got there I was too full to consider eating anything at all. If greed takes over, have only the meat or chicken option that is available. I held a glass of sparkling water and a wedge of lemon to give the impression that I was drinking. You could also drink pure spirits but bear in mind that your alcohol tolerance will significantly reduce on this diet.
After you reach your goal on a keto diet
Once you attain your goal weight on the keto diet, you can either continue with keto or try adding carbs slowly. Start with simple carbs like potatoes etc but in small quantities. If you revert to old habits, you will regain the weight. Its just like exercising, if you are consistent at the gym and you take a hiatus, you will become out of shape. It is a complete lifestyle change.
I continued with what I called Keto-lite. This included legumes, moi-moi, roasted potatoes, red wine etc but in small quantities.
Now that you know what keto is, you can give it a try. Leave a comment if you already tried keto, are on keto or planning to.
Disclaimer: I am not a nutritionist or a dietician. None of the information provided on this post should be considered as medical advice. Please consult your doctor before you make any dietary or lifestyle changes.
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