A Round up of 2015 and onto 2016

2015 was a busy busy year, from trying to set up a life in an entirely new city, to getting to grips with being a PhD student, to being sent here, there and everywhere training for said PhD. There are numerous reasons for my lack of blogging in 2015, not least because I SUCKED at sticking to keto for the majority of last year. (Combined with an oven that doesn't work properly, lack of inspiration and after 3 years, new recipes don't come as quick as they used to.) It had been so long since anyone had seen me lose weight I'd lost all credibility for doing it away from home, and I wasn't home many weekends. When I was home I couldn't be bothered, I'd started to believe that this was just another diet that wasn't going to work for me and I was destined to be fat forever and a day. It wasn't me, I was great, it was the food, or life, or hormones, or the fact I was so busy. They were keeping me from losing weight.

What a load of crap. It was 100% me, 100% what I was putting into my mouth. No matter how much running I did, I couldn't out run the amount of food I was eating. Weight loss is simple, eat less calories than you expend. Whatever way you do that, keto, weight watchers, slimming world, just tracking everything you eat in moderation. If you end up not losing weight for a long period of time (I'm talking 1-2 months), or even gaining you are eating too much food. It is as simple as that.

This all came to a head in July (see that big spike on the graph below), when I stepped on the scales and was 7lbs below the heaviest I have ever been. Fuck. I did not want to go there again. I had to re-evaluate and admit just how far I'd slid. Just how unhappy I had made myself and just what I was doing wrong to have ended up in this position.

So there was a lot of admitting to stuff in July. Admitting that I had been ketoing perfectly for 3 days a week, but undoing all that work in the other 4 days a week. I had to admit that I didn't think keto was a magic solution, just one brilliant way to get me to eat less than I was used to. I had to admit that I didn't have any hormonal issue preventing me from losing weight, I was just being a greedy cow.

It was hard, it was a lot of "I just have to get through today". There was a lot of maths because I am a nerd, and without numbers what is the point in anything! I actually went back right to when I started keto the first time in October 2013 to look and see how fast I had lost weight. In my mind I had been imagining it flying off without trouble.

This was the reality:

• Started keto 16/10/2012.
• Lost half a stone in the first week 23/10/2012 (all water weight)
• Lost a stone in 3 weeks. 6/11/2012
• Lost a stone and a half in 7 weeks. 6/12/2012
• Lost 2 stone in 11 weeks. 25/1/2013
• Lowest was 13/03/2013 which took until march then stalled April/may.
• Then gained weight...

Not a super fast weight loss, just about normal for someone of my size in the start, then slowing down to about 2lbs a week. The gaining led to the below graph from the start of 2014 to the end of 2015. I stress eat, I boredom eat, I eat when I'm alone, I don't eat in front of other people and my idea of portion size is shot to hell. It is almost impressive how much weight I can gain in a short amount of time, if it wasn't so bad for my health.

My Weight Change from the Start of 2014 to the end of 2015

From July I've been able to lose weight fairly consistently. It has not been easy or quick. In 5 months I am down 30 lbs. The majority of that by October. I have been frustrated by periods of no loss, I have been guilty of going off plan. I have had the occasional "fuck it" weekend. It has all been logged, tracked, noted and used to improve how I eat day to day.

In the forefront of my mind is that it takes a 3500 calorie deficit to lose 1 lb. I eat at a calorie deficit of roughly 700 calories a day (plus whatever exercise I do), which means it will take at least 5 days for me to lose 1 lb. While this is not an exact measure, when it's been 3 days since I've seen a change in the scale I take a step back, breathe and remind myself I'm doing the right thing. Consistency is key.

In comparison to previous years I actually prepared for the Christmas season. I had a two month stretch where I was 100% keto without a day off, then built in "time off", first it was a meal but staying under my calorie budget for the day. Caused zero problems. Then it was a day, which I didn't track my calories, again it caused zero problems I went back to keto straight away and continued losing weight.

Then I took a weekend off. This did not go well. It took me a while to get my head back in the game and my weight basically stalled. This coincided with the fact it does not stop raining where I live during the winter and I can't run in the rain because I spend too much time falling on my arse. Too much food, too much of the wrong food, less exercise = less weight loss/weight gain.

I didn't let this stop me, a day off or a meal off is no longer an excuse to say to hell with it and eat everything in sight. It's just a mistake. Nothing to be bothered by, the next choice will be better. To be honest October to December are so full of birthdays/family celebrations and a lot of time where I am not in control of my eating that a small loss, but basically maintaining was an amazing achievement for me. 

My Weight Change Since July and Reasons for the Gains/Stalls

For now I track everything, I have a big spreadsheet with my weight loss over many years. This is split into my current weight loss attempt from my highest in July (above) to hopefully what will be more lowest at some point. I only track the weight loss unless the weight gain has been the result of time off keto or over eating. The simple reason for that is that weight fluctuates, I can vary 5lbs between two days depending on how much water I've drunk, what I have eaten and where in my cycle I am. If I have noted a gain I put a note on it to say what it was and just how badly I screwed up. This helps keep me accountable for the choices I have made to not diet on that particular day. 

My food gets logged in My Fitness Pal, my exercise gets logged in Map My Run. Since my phone broke I have an actually physical diary that I write measurements in too. I joined a gym at the start of December for 3 months get me through to a period where hopefully it will rain less, and I'm doing weight training and boxercise instead, and running when I can. This is bringing it's own set of challenges because my god weight lifting make you hungry!

Now here we are in 2016, I'm aiming for better consistency with my diet, exercise is secondary to that, I think it makes you healthier in different ways but ultimately my food needs to be on track for me to lose weight. I really want to get to running half marathon distance, if not do an actual half marathon. I have the pipe dream that by the end of October it's possible I'll be at my goal, but we shall see!

I essentially eat zero carb at this point, yet another reason for the lack of recipes. There's only so much you can do with meat, eggs, a little bit of cheese and water! So I may or may not be blogging. I will of course put up the occasional update, and suggestion if I find something awesome.

For anyone interesting in the keto way of eating, below is my favourite info graphic explaining keto courtesy of Reddit (I forgot where). Although it's simple, keep carbs less than 20 g a day, eat protein enough protein to prevent muscle loss, fill the rest of your calories with fats for long term satiety.