So you have probably read the first part of this little blog series about how I was feeling about my body after having two babies. If not, read part 1 here. Now I am going to share what I did about it!
I did a lot of research while I was pregnant with Boone about healthy eating because I knew that once I had him I would need to make a major change. What I came up with that I thought would work best for me is the Ketogenic Diet. I talked it over with my doctor to make sure that it would be okay to do while I was nursing Boone and got the all clear. I am so thankful that my husband agreed to do it with me because that made it way easier and gave me an accountability partner!
The Keto diet is very low in carbs and high in healthy fats ( hello avocados!). The goal is to get your body to switch from burning carbs as energy to burning fat as energy. I am not a doctor so do not ask me about all the sciency stuff - just research it! I did not want to be counting carbs and macro-nutrients all the time (like you are supposed to do on a true keto diet) because I didn`t want to be obsessing all day about what I was eating. Instead I just cut out all the processed junk that is high in carbs, cut out sodas, cut out high carb fruits and root vegetables, and just ate really clean but still yummy food. I kept a rough carb count in my own head and then after the first few weeks I found that I didn`t need to.
I started about three weeks after I had Boone, once I had established a good milk supply. I experienced all the benefits almost immediately. I really thought that all these awesome benefits I read about online were too good to be true - but they weren`t! I had more energy. I was not craving sweets. I wasn`t hungry for a snack every few hours. I didn`t feel like I needed a nap to get through the day. I was hooked for those reasons alone!
After a few weeks my friends and family started to notice that I was slimming down. A few more weeks and I started to notice in a change. ( I have fat goggles when I look at myself so it took awhile. Fat goggles are a real thing!) I tried not to weigh myself but occasionally I would and the number just kept going down. After just four months I was back at my pre-baby weight! That was no small feat because I gained a LOT more than the recommended amount. The best part was that is what so easy to keep up with because I was seeing results and I was not starving myself!
The whole experience was really an eye opener for me. It can seem impossible to lose weight, but in reality I was just putting garbage into my body. No wonder I had gained so much! Even foods that I had perceived to be healthy were in fact packed full of added sugars and at the time I just didn`t know any better.
