Can you believe it’s Day 12 already??
Yesterday we learnt a little bit about macros.
I know the ‘science’ and maths behind Keto can be pretty boring, but it’s still important.
It’s like learning your ABCs before you learn to read. You need the baby steps before you can learn the big stuff.
Today I want to talk about a few longer term learnings that will help you maintain your keto journey, by answering some FAQ that tend to come up in these challenges!
The key message of today’s email though: nutrition.
I have rattled on a hundred times that I am not running a weightloss challenge. I don’t tell you to weigh yourself at the start.
My goal for you is health. Feeling the best you can be, and your body operating at it’s peak capacity.
So with that in mind…
FAQ
Q1. Can I just eat low carb foods without worrying about vegetables?
You will be in ketosis by doing this, however it is not optimal for your body.
Variety is crucial to a healthy gut microbiome. Eating the same foods over and over again can achieve some initial weight loss, your overall health with suffer in the long run.
Consider every meal you have as chance to make a good decision for your body. Ultimately, food is fuel. Detach the emotion, celebration, excitement, punishment or reward from it. No food is good or bad. It’s how we fit it into our life that matters.
Q2. One website told me to track my calories to a deficit, another said calories don’t matter. What do I do?
I go by this approach: at the start, focus on getting into ketosis using fresh, home cooking.
Learn what carbs are, how to make vegetables and salads delicious and change those habits that lead you to eat a carb heavy diet.
You will likely see dramatic health changes.
THEN, if you have body fat to lose (known only through a body fat scan, NOT home scales or BMI), you can consider reducing calories until your body fat also reduces. keeping in mind to make sure you get enough protein to avoid muscle waste.
Q3. My friend lost 4kgs in the first week, but I didn’t lose anything. Did I fail?
No. Your body is not the same as your friends. Even if you ate exactly the same food, I can guarantee you different things will happen in your body.
There’s a hundred reasons that could be blocking you, but the biggest one? Give it time.
Let your body change it’s fuel source in time. It will take time to heal any damage, recover any issues and learn the new routine.
Q4. Why do we drop so quickly at the start and then it levels off?
Every little carbohydrate gram in your body has 2 – 3 grams of water attached to it.
So, when we flush our body of carbohydrates, we also flush all the water it is holding! This is why when you eat a really carb heavy meal, you can weigh yourself and you’re 3kg up from the night before. That’s not fat, it’s water.
So if we’ve been eating a carb heavy diet prior, this water flushes out over the first week and we drop ‘weight’ quickly. But after that, that’s when the fat burning starts. It’s HARD for our bodies to burn fat so it’s slower.
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So, that’s a few common questions I’ve had over email and messages over the past 12 days and hopefully it helps answer some queries for you.
If you’ve got something you’re unsure on that you can’t seem to get a straight answer out of google, let me know!
And as always, remember to be patient and kind to yourself. We are not born knowing this stuff, and in fact we are undoing a whole heap of incorrect learning.
Love
Rachel xx
