CICO vs. Keto+CICO. Me & Keto Win.

Sorry I don’t have pictures. I’m not that cool. But I do have a clear n=1 story.

I use LoseIt! to track calories in/out. 4 years ago, I started at 181 lbs with goal to get down to 160. I ate what I’d always eaten....just less and sometimes more with exercise. At 18 weeks, I reached my goal of:

21 lbs lost with 90 HOURS of exercise. CICO only

This year, back to 184 lbs (and that was after 4 days of walking around Disneyland), I turned 40 and had a year of crappy health concerns beyond my weight. 4 benign thyroid nodules, face flushing, knee/quad & back aches, muddled thinking & forgetfulness, persistent cough & inability to breath deeply, no energy. Blood tests and biopsies all came back with “normal” ranges for everything. I didn’t feel normal.

That birthday week, I also learned about keto and insulin’s role as a fat storage hormone and inflammatory agent. I learned that on keto, I could eat all the foods I loved. And all the foods I hated or didn’t care strongly for were on the no-list. Fruit is gross. Potatoes are meh. Pasta is the yum conduit, not the yum. Rice, well...I’ll still be having sashimi occasionally to keep my body on its toes.

So, 9.10.18 I started keto. 12 weeks later, I hit 25 lbs lost with NO EXERCISE. Do you know all the fun I had with my family with those 90 hours instead of beating the streets running or at the gym? So much fun. I’ve also had all the other great keto lifestyle enrichments like mellowed mood, reduced hunger response, no more aching joints, work all day with sustained energy, mental clarity, etc.

I plan on adding purposeful exercise back in next March. My weight goal is now 135 and that would be a pipe dream w/o keto. My ultimate goal is metabolic flexibility. Keto will be my predominant lifestyle always. And keto and fasting will be my predominant tools for weight management and metabolic health.

So excited to advocate for the HFLC lifestyle.

TL;DR: 4 years ago, it took me 18 weeks and 90 hours of exercise to lose 21 pounds eating the Standard American Diet (SAD) and counting calories. This year I lost 25 lbs in 12 weeks with no exercise eating keto & counting calories.

Me and keto win.