And now for a happy story, as I feel like we need more of them after what’s happened this past week.

There’s a big story behind the two pairs of jeans in the header pic. Emphasis on “big.”

It was the day after Christmas, 2021. I looked at naked myself in the mirror right before my morning shower and made the same face whenever I get an unexpected bill. I had some nice Christmas presents that year, but an in-shape figure was not one of them. Simply put, my ass was out of shape. Before that realization, I grudgingly accepted my out-of-shape ass, and if I ever felt the least bit self-conscious over it, I’d eat a little less and exercise more. After all, those were the ways to weight loss, right? But despite cutting back on the bacon & chips and running a little more on my workout days and having my fruit and potatoes, I saw no damn results. I stayed around the same size and weight, and that day after Christmas, something in me actually wanted change. I didn’t seek out to make a heavily cliched New Year’s resolution that day, but it happened.

Then I wondered: how the hell am I gonna make that change?

Right after that wake-up call, I researched all sorts of diets that could help me out. The one that intrigued me the most was the Keto/Low-Carb lifestyle. Back in the 2000s when I first heard of a low-carb diet (then known as the Atkins diet), I balked at the idea of giving up my starches to shed the pounds. No way was I gonna let Dr. Atkins take away my potatoes and crackers. As I read more on the keto way of eating, I found out that it was those same potatoes and crackers that were fattening me up thanks to their high carb/sugar count, which I found unusual considering that I always thought I was eating healthy. Who knew so-called healthy foods were also doing damage? Or so I read.

I can’t say how and why I chose a lifestyle sans refined carbs and sugar, although maybe it had to do with two things. One: I tried almost every other diet/weight loss product out there and nothing worked. I lived through the days of “slimming tea” and Hydroxycut, so I should know. And two: having had weight struggles since childhood, at that point in my life, I’d try almost anything to shed the adipose. If giving up former faves like whole wheat bread, whole grain crackers, and bananas was the way to a new figure, then so be it.

Knowing that it was going to be a bumpy transition from high-carb to low-carb considering my eating habits, I chose to ease into it instead of quitting carbs cold turkey. I’ll admit, my heart ached when I had to say goodbye to my precious chips & crackers (one of my former addictions), apples & bananas (yep, I can’t have too much of them anymore), falafel patties, and croissants from Costco. But as the days went on, I started noticing some changes. Clothes started to feel a touch looser. My energy levels increased, as did my need to use the bathroom. I read that water weight was the first to go upon starting a low-carb/keto lifestyle, and while I also heard about that “keto flu”, I was lucky to not have experienced that (thank you, ketoade). By the end of the month, I had dropped a pant size. It was just one size but I was stoked.

Continue reading →