Last Updated on May 21, 2023 by Michael Brockbank
Most people don’t know what the Ketogenic diet is. In this article, I break down what is Keto, what are the types of Keto, and Then share a little bit of my personal journey.
What is Keto?
The ketogenic diet is a very low carb, high fat diet that shares many similarities with Atkins and other low carb diets. It involves drastically reducing carbohydrate intake and replacing it with fat. This reduction in carbs puts your body into a metabolic state called “ketosis.”
How Keto Works
Keto switches your body to use a different type of fuel. Instead of relying on sugars that come from carbohydrates (such as grains, legumes, vegetables, and fruits), the keto diet relies on ketone bodies, a type of fuel that the liver produces from stored fat.
So, instead of burning ingested energy from carbs, your body runs on the fat you already have stored in your body.
Strict, Lazy, Dirty…What is the difference?
Strict Keto, also called Clean Keto, keeps net carbs under 25 net carbs, is a nutrient-rich diet, and all carbs should come from low-carb vegetables. Very strict tracking of macros is a must.
No added sugars, diet drinks, fast food, or wheat and gluten products. The majority of food eaten is whole, organic, grass-fed, and minimally processed foods. Most strict Keto does not include any dairy, so, no butter, cheese, or cream.
Lazy Keto is no or very little tracking of macros, which means most foods you eat and drink are estimated. If tracked, it is only carb intake and not fats and proteins. The approach to foods may either be clean like strict Keto or not like in dirty Keto.
Mostly, it is just guessing that your stats are correct to lose weight.
Dirty Keto is keeping track of your macros but not focusing on nutrient-rich foods. Processed and convenience foods are allowed as long as they fit into your macros. Things like diet sodas and drinks, low card alternatives, sugar-free alternatives, and wheat/gluten products are okay as long as they fit into your macros.
What are Keto Macros?
All this talk about Keto macros what does that mean?
What Keto macros are is the ratio of fat to protein to carbs you should consume every day. There are many macro calculators on the Internet and as everybody is different and has different needs, everyone’s macros differ.
The most common suggestion is 75% fats, 20% proteins, and 5% carbs. So what that looks like for example if your calorie intake is 1500 calories a day, the macros for that would be 125g of fats, 75g of protein, and 19g of carbs.
I personally love to use MyFitnessPal.com or Carb Manager to track everything I consume. The Carb Manager app is available for both Android and iPhone, if you’re curious.
My Keto Journey
My Keto journey has been a struggle. Not because keto is hard. It is actually very easy. The reason my journey has been a struggle is I can’t get out of my own head.
I started keto for the first time in March of 2019. My cousin and did very well until Easter, which was April 19. I lost almost 50lbs in that 2 months. Easter came and I thought to myself I can have an Easter basket and go right back to doing Keto but that didn’t happen.
I spent the next 6 months starting and stopping always giving myself excuses. In October, my cousin and I sat down and made a menu, went grocery shopping, and made a commitment to each other to do this.
We actually did amazing until Christmas.
We were able to pick it back up in January. In that time, I lost about 65lbs, re-lost the 15 I had put back on, and lost 50lbs of new.
Then came February. What you need to understand about February in my house is that all 3 of my children and I have February birthdays. Needless to say, Keto went out the window. Everyone knows what 2020 was like after February.
Over the last year, I have put back on right around 30lbs putting my starting weight this time at 373.0lbs.
Why This Time is Different
This time, I have decided I don’t care what anyone else is doing. If people want to do Keto with me fine, if not, I refuse to let them lead me astray. I have made menus and have a plan.
Lack of planning is one of the major things that lead me to fail. I am going to start making videos and writing blogs to help keep me accountable. I am tired of being fat, and I know I can do this. I need to stop being lazy and stop giving myself excuses.
About me
My name is Sam, and I am 6’2” tall. Right now I weigh 373.0lbs. When I first started my weight loss journey in 2014, I weighed over 440lbs. My goal is to get down around 225 lbs.
I plan to use my Renpho scale to tell me my body fat percentage. This means I’ll judge my weight loss by body fat percentage when I get close to my goal rather than the number on the scale.
The struggles of being overweight are very clear to me. I have been considered obese since my first son was born in 2000.
Why 2014?
The reason I consider 2014 the start of my weight loss journey is because until that point I hadn’t been serious about weight loss.
In 2014, Michael and I decided we were both done with being fat and started walking and watching what we ate. Since then, there have been lots of changes in my life. But the one thing that has stayed consistent is the awareness of my health.
The reason I have not ballooned back up to 440+ is because even when I am eating like crap, the lessons I have learned about health in the last 7 years stay with me. I eat so much less and move so much more than I did back then.
So what did we learn?
We learned what Keto is, what the different types of keto are, and how macros work. Also, we learned quite a bit about myself. The next few blogs I want to do are a breakdown of what each meal would look like from each different type of keto.
I would love to get any feedback anyone has.
So I really like this idea Chris I think I will start doing this and try to do an update blog on Fridays. I really love MyfitnessPal and even though my goal for this week was to actually track my food it is Saturday and I haven’t tracked a single thing lol.
Hey Sam, I know this post is old, but I guess it’s super relevant today since you and Michael are challenging yourselves to a weight loss contest for the next four weeks. Are you planning on sharing MFP screenshots and/or meal pics in your blog updates? I just started using MyFitnessPal a couple weeks ago and so far I love it.