Day 619 - 3 years of keto - https://golifelog.com/posts/3-years-of-keto-1662865691826
I started on the ketogenic diet on 2 Sep 2019. It’s been three years.
To the uninitiated, the keto diet is form of low carb, high fat diet. We’re eating too much sugars and carbs in our modern diets, and that’s leading to a whole host of metabolic conditions like diabetes, inflammation, and obesity. Keto aims to counter that, by drastically reducing our carb intake, and training our metabolically flexible body to burning more fats.
And three years on, I never felt better.
Some stuff I learned along the way:
### Year zero
I started on keto as a last ditch effort to heal from a series of chronic gut issues, which included surgery. It was nice to look back at my [first week on keto](https://jasonleow.github.io/200wordsaday/articles/one-week-on-keto-intermittent-fasting-267905d763e868b56a/index). All the pains of easing into a difficult habit. Keto flu. Fatigue. Queasiness. Bad sleep. Headaches. Brain fog. Sugar cravings. It felt so impossible then. But I did it!
### 1st year
I did strict keto mostly for the first year. Lost 10kg, couldn't fit into my clothes, became quite gaunt. I learned so much about nutrition in my first year, I felt like I took a diploma course. All the little insights about eating habits and nutrition got compiled into a running log of a blog post called [counter-intuitive things I learned about nutrition and wellness while on intermittent fasting and keto diet](https://jasonleow.github.io/200wordsaday/articles/counter-intuitive-things-i-learned-about-nutrition-while-on-intermittent-fasting-and-keto-423975f00843835a30/index). One of the last few things I wrote – "Your keto today won't be your keto tomorrow". 100% true.
### 2nd year
Even within my 1st year I started to explore more meat less fat, and slowly moved out of eating fat bombs. By the 2nd year I was definitely into [meat-heavy keto, or ketovore](https://golifelog.com/posts/keto-two-years-on-1631240576181). The 10kg in weight I lost, I gained it back weight, but I didn't get back the old dad bod cubby fat - my frame remained slim. Talking to other keto veterans, they say if your clothes sizes didn't change, it's likely you gained muscle. Every month I would do some days of intermittent fasting and strict ketovore, to self-correct the occasional treat. Sometimes if I see my dad bod belly coming back, I'll go strict for a few weeks. This was also during the lockdowns and the birth of my baby boy, when it got easier to stay in routine.
### 3rd year
But by Year 3, I started to feel I needed more adjustments, in particular adding more carbs back. It's strange - I started to feel like the diet wasn't giving me as much energy as it used to. Most days ketovore, some days carnivore, some days with carb reloading. But sticking to mostly single ingredient carbs like rice, pasta. And tiny portions, like a few spoonfuls. On average, I veering towards a low carb freestyle intuitive eating sort of approach now. It's so much easier to stick to a diet philosophy and let that framework make the eating decisions for you. It's 10x harder to listen to the body and eat intuitively. Worse coming from someone who didn't have the best relationship with food and being embodied. But three years on, I feel a growing confidence in eating intuitively. I check in with my body if a food is something I truly need. I'm starting to enjoy whole, natural, single ingredient, non-/minimally processed foods. Even on carb reloading, I don't gorge on carbs like a starving prisoner released. I nibble it, eating mindfully, cautiously. And stop if it I hear whispers from the body that it's enough. This approach certainly helped a lot in feeling like I can carb reload without releasing the flood gates and going back to before keto.
It feels really hopeful now, my diet journey. I think fundamentally, coming back to listening to my body, heeding what it truly needs, not what it craves from poor past eating habits, had all along been what I was after. It's eating like that that truly brings health and a sense of wellbeing.
The diet you healed yourself with might not be the diet you eat in the long term.
Onwards!
To the uninitiated, the keto diet is form of low carb, high fat diet. We’re eating too much sugars and carbs in our modern diets, and that’s leading to a whole host of metabolic conditions like diabetes, inflammation, and obesity. Keto aims to counter that, by drastically reducing our carb intake, and training our metabolically flexible body to burning more fats.
And three years on, I never felt better.
Some stuff I learned along the way:
### Year zero
I started on keto as a last ditch effort to heal from a series of chronic gut issues, which included surgery. It was nice to look back at my [first week on keto](https://jasonleow.github.io/200wordsaday/articles/one-week-on-keto-intermittent-fasting-267905d763e868b56a/index). All the pains of easing into a difficult habit. Keto flu. Fatigue. Queasiness. Bad sleep. Headaches. Brain fog. Sugar cravings. It felt so impossible then. But I did it!
### 1st year
I did strict keto mostly for the first year. Lost 10kg, couldn't fit into my clothes, became quite gaunt. I learned so much about nutrition in my first year, I felt like I took a diploma course. All the little insights about eating habits and nutrition got compiled into a running log of a blog post called [counter-intuitive things I learned about nutrition and wellness while on intermittent fasting and keto diet](https://jasonleow.github.io/200wordsaday/articles/counter-intuitive-things-i-learned-about-nutrition-while-on-intermittent-fasting-and-keto-423975f00843835a30/index). One of the last few things I wrote – "Your keto today won't be your keto tomorrow". 100% true.
### 2nd year
Even within my 1st year I started to explore more meat less fat, and slowly moved out of eating fat bombs. By the 2nd year I was definitely into [meat-heavy keto, or ketovore](https://golifelog.com/posts/keto-two-years-on-1631240576181). The 10kg in weight I lost, I gained it back weight, but I didn't get back the old dad bod cubby fat - my frame remained slim. Talking to other keto veterans, they say if your clothes sizes didn't change, it's likely you gained muscle. Every month I would do some days of intermittent fasting and strict ketovore, to self-correct the occasional treat. Sometimes if I see my dad bod belly coming back, I'll go strict for a few weeks. This was also during the lockdowns and the birth of my baby boy, when it got easier to stay in routine.
### 3rd year
But by Year 3, I started to feel I needed more adjustments, in particular adding more carbs back. It's strange - I started to feel like the diet wasn't giving me as much energy as it used to. Most days ketovore, some days carnivore, some days with carb reloading. But sticking to mostly single ingredient carbs like rice, pasta. And tiny portions, like a few spoonfuls. On average, I veering towards a low carb freestyle intuitive eating sort of approach now. It's so much easier to stick to a diet philosophy and let that framework make the eating decisions for you. It's 10x harder to listen to the body and eat intuitively. Worse coming from someone who didn't have the best relationship with food and being embodied. But three years on, I feel a growing confidence in eating intuitively. I check in with my body if a food is something I truly need. I'm starting to enjoy whole, natural, single ingredient, non-/minimally processed foods. Even on carb reloading, I don't gorge on carbs like a starving prisoner released. I nibble it, eating mindfully, cautiously. And stop if it I hear whispers from the body that it's enough. This approach certainly helped a lot in feeling like I can carb reload without releasing the flood gates and going back to before keto.
It feels really hopeful now, my diet journey. I think fundamentally, coming back to listening to my body, heeding what it truly needs, not what it craves from poor past eating habits, had all along been what I was after. It's eating like that that truly brings health and a sense of wellbeing.
The diet you healed yourself with might not be the diet you eat in the long term.
Onwards!