I can freely say I am an untrained expert on losing weight thanks to more than two decades spent struggling with excess weight myself. I have tried virtually EVERY popular diet over the years, and many of them worked just fine… for a period of time. However, none of them stuck as a way of eating or better say – a way of living.
Like most people, I tend to go back to old habits as soon as I reach a milestone on my weight loss journey. Never have I reached my goal weight. And never have I been fully satisfied with my reflection in the mirror. With some diets, I came pretty close to my ideal weight, but at that exact point I somehow “lost compass” and started eating my “cheat meals” on daily basis. An ice-cream here, a chocolate there (I am a sweet tooth, you got that right) and my scale went crazy.
In 2010 I weighed over 100 kilograms (220 lbs). I was never sure what was the highest number because the first time (in years) I stepped foot on a scale was after losing some weight. In a certain point, it might have been even more than 110 (240 lbs). I am a tall girl (177cm / 5’9″), but that is an alarming number no matter how tall you are. I was an emotional eater, food was a compensation for accumulated stress, dissatisfaction, and overall negativity.
An eating plan that helped me lose the most of my weight was Food Intolerance Testing which is a finger prick test that identifies specific immune system-based food intolerances and it determines which foods are causing negative reactions. In the simplest words: you give them a drop of blood, they test it to a list of most common foods (lists can vary from 50-250 foods) and you get your results within a few days. I was fully committed to this for 9 months and I have lost over 20 kilograms / 44 pounds (pics below).
After almost a year of following my Food Intolerance eating regime, I started gaining small amounts of weight, gradually. At first, it was just a kilogram or two during winter until 2012 when I reached almost 90 kilograms again! Soon enough I realized I would regain all my weight and something had to be done. So, I started counting calories. That proved to be a bit overwhelming, but at the same time pretty effective. I lost about 7 kilograms that summer and I was getting close to number 80 again.
The next craze I had to try, because I got stuck around 80 kilograms for a few years, was The Chrono Diet. Chrono nutrition is a concept developed by the French Doctor Alain Delabos, who studied “Chrono Biology” and adapted his finding to the nutrition. This diet was rather helpful for a few months and it helped me lose 5-6 kilograms (12 lbs).
All of these diets were effective. But all o them were short-lived. I needed something to stick for a while, I dare not say “forever”.
In 2017 a friend told me he was on Atkins diet. I’ve heard about it long before but it always seemed a bit too restrictive (even though I knew close to nothing about it). I regained some weight (8 kilograms / 17 pounds) by the end of the year while working on a cruise ship, so I decided to give it a go.
As you may know, Atkins Diet is a low-carb diet; a program devised by Robert Atkins. And frankly, I wasn’t very happy on it so it didn’t take me long to quit. If I am to put a finger on the reason for me failing Atkins, I would say the timing was not right.
Only a few months later I started reading about ketogenic diet, its benefits, and rules. After a month of research and education, I started my keto journey. It was a rocky start, as for many, but 6 months later I am still sticking to it. I would like to say that the ketogenic diet will not be just another diet. At the moment it seems like a perfect WOE for me. What I hope is to reach my goal weight for the first time in my adult life (67 kg / 147 lbs). It is just a few kilograms away so I hope you will be there to celebrate with me!
For more information about Food Intolerance, check The Food Intolerance Bible, it helped me a lot when I was starting.
https://amzn.to/2PfcbeT
For more useful information about counting calories, check the book below
https://amzn.to/2JJixx6
For more information about The Chrono Diet, read the book below, there is a ton of useful information.
https://amzn.to/2APzuTD
