It's not an epic amount, but it still counts!

135lbs to 110 in 7 months (Dec 2016 to July 2017). Been maintaining since July.

100% Keto whilst losing. Now I add in some primal carbs here and there, and started weight training in August. I've made
some sweet gains (not pictured). Will update the black bathing suit pic in the summer with ALL MY MUSCLES. LOL!

BTW: I'm 49.

Congrats KJ. Around a pound/week weight loss, that's darn good considering your starting weight. And it looks like you've mastered the "lifestyle" part by maintaining it. I look forward to seeing the muscles you add on.

Wow! That's really awesome! You look great!

Fantastic! You're really inspiring! And you're killing that dress

Thanks everyone!

Rig, yes, it was very painful losing so slowly. You know the first 7 was water and came off lickety split, but the
rest of it was agonizingly slow as owl snot. I almost gave up a million times, but the fact that I had to buy new
work dress pants TWICE, and replace ALL of my sweaters told me the bigger picture. Albeit ^%&^!! expensive.

I also had to replace all of my underwear... lol! And I have to wear my wedding rings on my right hand. I'd have them
resized, but yanno, that'd just jinx the whole thing. Hahahaha!

Thanks again everyone, I appreciate the comments!

Julia

Julia you look fantastic. That is Epic in my book

I hear ya on the jinx part of this recipe.

Amazing! And you did this using keto, you say? I want to know more. Did you see losses right away when you switched to keto eating? My husband and I agreed that we'd be 100% keto for January. My husband really likes doing something more extreme/challenging in January because he says that when he has an end date in mind he can stick with anything. I agree, but I don't want to go back to feeling like crap if I'm feeling good at the end of the month.

We tried keto a little in December, but I guess I wasn't 100% doing it because I'd still drink dry wine or have a bite of something here or there. So, this month I'm all in. I hope to have results that are motivating enough to keep going.

I was worried that keto wouldn't work well for women, but hopefully that is incorrect as it's more sustainable than most plans for me because I like the food.

Hi!

Yes, the water weight came off first, but I was also drinking a ton of water, so my body released the
requisite 7lbs of it fairly quickly.

After that, the weight loss was agonizingly slow (to me it seemed) but I knew I was losing inches too,so not
a huge deal, but still discouraging at some points.

This time around I also counted calories. I'd never done keto before and counted calories because they said you
didn't have to, but I did because I am a pig and a libra and I can justify ANYTHING at any time. I also, for once,
didn't start a diet AND go balls out at the gym. I basically did NOTHING the entire 7 months exercise wise but
walk. That said, I do usually walk 5 miles a day and 10 miles a day on Saturday and Sunday, so it's a lot of walking,
but I did/do it because I like the way it makes me feel, not for exercise benefit or some sort of dedicated thing I thought
I HAD to do.

I also went with the days that I didn't feel hungry. There were probably three weeks worth of 500 calorie days (not
in a row) peppered within the 7 months, if not more. I've been around long enough to know that there would be Snake Days where I would eat ALL THE FOOD, so to not give one crap about a 500 calorie day here or there, since my body
was using my own fat to fuel itself and THAT was why I wasn't hungry.

I wanted to throw in the towel MANY TIMES, but I made a commitment to myself to stick it out for a year. I knew I didn't get fluffy overnight, and knew I wouldn't lose it overnight either. Also at 49 I knew it would take longer as well... though, according to my labs, I am NOWHERE NEAR MENOPAUSE. How? WHY? Will I have to deal with shark week until I'm 70??? NOOOOOOO!

Also, I really made a point of getting in extra salt, potassium and magnesium. I have done keto before without keeping a solid eye on those things and freaking felt like death warmed over and quit. This time I powered through with supplements and powdered propel!

I don't drink alcohol either. Had to give it up 5 years ago.

Welp, hope that helps!! Let me know if you have any questions or if I was too discombobulating in my reply!

Julia

What supplements did you use? How much? I'm not sure where to start with that stuff, but I know I'll need it if I'm going to stay with keto.

Great work and fantastic results Julia. Thanks for telling your story.

How tall are you?
Also, how does keto/low carb affect your mood?

nikitakolata wrote:What supplements did you use?  How much?  I'm not sure where to start with that stuff, but I know I'll need it if I'm going to stay with keto.  

Well I've been taking 800mg's of magnesium a night forever, for sleep, so I've never really gone over that unless there were
some, um, bathroom issues and I would take 1200mg's a night for that.

As far as the potassium went, I used a lot of that salt substitute stuff on everything. NuSalt or No Salt or whatever the heck it's called.

I have potassium supplements too, but only really took them when I felt off. I never had a set amount that I'd take, I would just go by how I felt.

Not helpful, but you know what is, is the reddit site which is r/xxketo - it's ALL women doing Keto. There are some recipes on there for "Ketorade"
(you can google it too) for amounts of stuff.

I just bought the magnesium, potassium and nusalt at the grocery store. Vitamin aisle and salt aisle.

Annieh wrote:Great work and fantastic results Julia.  Thanks for telling your story.  

How tall are you?
Also, how does keto/low carb affect your mood?  

Thanks Annie!!!!

I'm 5'3.2 (ha ha, used to be 5'3.5, but yanno... shrinkage.

Keto affects my mood definitely in the right direction. I'm generally pretty happy, hyper and annoying and Keto exacerbates that in a good way.

Well, maybe not for my family, but yanno, *I* am always in a good mood and VERY energetic.

Also, no more mood swings (at first there were, but a month in it was smooth sailing) and no random hot flashes either. That's when I thought
I was starting peri-menopause or menopause, but no, it was just from eating shit carbs in the form of crap. Once I stopped all processed nonsense
they disappeared. Then I got labs done and my doctor said I still have the hormones of a 30yo. Sigh. I mean, it's good, but come on. Ah well.

Way more focused at work too, and not being hungry is a plus. That said, when I DO get hungry, get the fresh hell out of the way because I will EAT THE CHILDREN if I have to.

Hunger never comes upon me like "hmm, yeah, I could eat something, maybe" anymore. It's more like "DAMN, MAMA HONGREE! MOVE!"

Weird.

Also, another thing I learned is to start off with super boring food. Low food reward is a thing. If you made all of these delicious keto meals you see online
or in cookbooks, it'll all taste too damn good and you won't want to stop EVER. Lunchmeat and cheese = boring. Not going to over eat that. Turkey from
thanksgiving just with salt? Not gonna over eat that either. BBQ chicken with just salt and pepper and no bbq sauce? Good luck. Hard boiled eggs, snore. Tuna
made with mustard instead of a gallon of mayo? Extra snoozeville. But I just pull out low food reward when I feel myself going off the rails and need to get back
on track.

Differentiating between mouth hunger and REAL hunger is still a struggle sometimes, so if you ain't hungry for a hard boiled egg, you ain't hungry. For me at least.

lol, on the low food reward. I don't find your kind of food boring, I like it, and I like how it makes me feel. It would bore my husband though, however he doesn't seem to get bored of sandwiches every day.

Julia, thank you for all your input on what works for you. It really helps me think outside the box.

While not “officially” keto, I’m sure I’ve dipped there naturally. I have had those eat all things days and that concerned me that i wasn’t doing things properly. Happy to hear it’s normal.

Annieh wrote:lol, on the low food reward.  I don't find your kind of food boring, I like it, and I like how it makes me feel.  It would bore my husband though, however he doesn't seem to get bored of sandwiches every day.

Haha, mine was the same way... loved those darn salami sandwiches day in and day out.

He started in February to get his astronomically high cholesterol down, so bye-bye to the sandwiches. I thought for sure he'd
bail by April, but nope, he's still going strong and has lost about 25lbs too... probably more, but he weight trains every day and
is pretty rocked in the arm and shoulder area.. definitely swapped out some muscle for fat. He still has a tiny tummy though CUZ OF
THE BEER... He wasn't able to give that up, but since he knocked 100pts of his cholesterol (350 highest - hereditary), he can have all
the beer he wants as far as I'm concerned. Okay, not really, but you know what I'm saying. Ha ha.

His mother moved in with us in October of 2015... she was none too happy when we both started keto a year later... No more Togo's, pizza, taco bell, McDonald's, A&W...

All the crap she loves. OH WELL!

We get it for her once in awhile if we're getting it for the kids, but otherwise, it's steak, more steak, steak (did I mention steak?) and other bbq-ables. Take out too, but
that'll be bbq too, or El Pollo Loco... always something meaty. Snort.

Narrowminded wrote:Julia, thank you for all your input on what works for you. It really helps me think outside the box.

While not “officially” keto, I’m sure I’ve dipped there naturally.  I have had those eat all things days and that concerned me that i wasn’t doing things properly. Happy to hear it’s normal.

Any time!

Definitely normal.. sometimes even three days in a row... then BAM, shark week.. 7 days early .... grrrrr! LOL!

Great progress, Julia! You look amazing! Thanks for sharing your success story!

Well I can’t contribute my “eat all things” days to shark week. That’s been gone from my life for 10 years. Surgically. Maybe if I had found primal prior it might have straightened me out. TMI for the boards but it wasn’t pretty.

I’ll keep plugging away and be sure to ask you questions as they arise.

So has keto helped your MIL in anyway that you can see?

SapphireSongs wrote:Great progress, Julia!  You look amazing!  Thanks for sharing your success story!

Thanks so much!!!!!!

Narrowminded wrote:Well I can’t contribute my “eat all things” days to shark week. That’s been gone from my life for 10 years. Surgically. Maybe if I had found primal prior it might have straightened me out. TMI for the boards but it wasn’t pretty.

I’ll keep plugging away and be sure to ask you questions as they arise.

So has keto helped your MIL in anyway that you can see?

Maybe it was PHANTOM SHARK WERK HUNGER PANGS!!!

See, I can justify anything.

Oh my MIL is not keto one bit. She might have to have meat
every night for dinner, but she still has bread with it
or something else processed carb laden.

She also drinks a bottle of wine every.single.night
too.

Her lunches are also 100% carbs.

It’s so funny because she was raised on a working
farm with 6 siblings (all still alive and she is the youngest by 10yrs at 79!!!!!),
but she really prefers anything and everything that’s processed.

She thinks she’s doing great if she rubs up against
a carrot once a month

Wow, you MIL must have a body of iron, or maybe it’s just pickled from the wine and nothing can touch it

KetoJulia wrote:She thinks she’s doing great if she rubs up against
a carrot once a month

Yep, this is my MIL too. Same thing - raised on a farm, ate super well as a kid, but can barely conceive of what to do with food that doesn't come out of a package and firmly believes there is always room for ice cream. She was just diagnosed as Type II diabetic, but assures us the doc didn't tell her to change anything about her diet.

Congrats to you, Julia. Outstanding success!

Narrowminded wrote:Wow, you MIL must have a body of iron, or maybe it’s just pickled from the wine and nothing can touch it

I think you're right! However her smoker's cough would make you think otherwise, but other than that, healthy as a horse..

IT HAS TO BE DEH WINEZ.

Meant2Move wrote:

KetoJulia wrote:She thinks she’s doing great if she rubs up against
a carrot once a month

Yep, this is my MIL too. Same thing - raised on a farm, ate super well as a kid, but can barely conceive of what to do with food that doesn't come out of a package and firmly believes there is always room for ice cream. She was just diagnosed as Type II diabetic, but assures us the doc didn't tell her to change anything about her diet.

Congrats to you, Julia. Outstanding success!

Thank you!

Yeah, one day when she first moved in, we got chicken burritos from this great taqueria. She hated hers 'this isn't real mexican food, i prefer the burritos at Taco Bell'.

MKAY! You mean the kind you can make at home yourself with a flour tortilla, canned refried beans and some cheese? Oh, ALL RIGHT THEN.

I love it when I see her opening a can of pears or peaches, in heavy syrup and putting one or two on her plate, as if that's her contribution to nutrition along side of the Fritos. Snort!

Ah well, it's obviously doing her no harm, so whatever!

My mother is also type 2 and according to her she can eat whatever she wants, just take her insulin and do it in moderation, whatever that means.