A month on Keto and remembering the warrior

I have been doing the Ketogenic diet for about a month now. It's been pretty easy overall.  There are some things about restricting myself on certain foods that is never easy, but as far as eating plans go, this one does leave me satisfied.  There isn't the dramatic weigh loss, but I feel like its a slow and steady sort of loss.  And quite honestly, I don't have lots and lots of weight to lose.  I have enough though and my main objective is to lose all the regain.  I think I will get there.  I notice though, as I still seem to have the need to weigh every morning, that it fluctuates up and down, but ultimately lower than where I started.  So, I feel pretty good about that.

This week I haven't used the treadmill very much and haven't walked that much either.  Last week I really overdid it and walked a lot!  My right hip has been aching a lot since then so I think the break has been good for me.

I thought it was time to share a picture.  It's not terribly indicative about progress, but the photo on the left was taken right before my surgery, and the one on the right was taken this past weekend.  It's just a face close-up, but I think it shows some changes overall.  I still have a round face, but that's the natural size of my face.  My neck looks wrinkly, but there was a lot of fat in my double chin, plus I am 55 years old so that's going to happen.

I need to remember how far I have come.  I have done a lot to make myself healthier and I don't miss the size of the previous me.  But, there are a few things I want to consider and say.  I don't want to put the old me in a box of the old me and the new me.  Old me was brave.  She decided to make a difference and break free from the prison of her fat.  She went through some very dramatic and traumatic things in order to make that happen.  She dealt with carrying around 100 extra pounds of weight at one time and she suffered a lot from diabetes and high blood pressure.  She hid her body away from others and suffered from agoraphobia because of her embarrassment being around people she thought might be critical of her.  She is the one that had to make the decision to change her world and her life after many, many years and layers of fat.  She had to shake it loose.  And, she did.  She did this for us so that she and I could have a healthier and hopefully longer life.  She has given us a chance to live again.  To walk, run, lose medications, find clothes that fit, climb hills, breathe easy, bend over, cross her legs when sitting, be in public situations comfortably....feel "normal".

She is a warrior and she is me.  And I will never forget this because where I am now, despite any few pounds of regain or frustrations from time to time that I am not perfect in my attempts, this place now is a good place to be.  I am comfortable in my skin, loose and lumpy as it may be, and with time and effort, it will become what I want it to be.  But, honestly, even if I stayed right here and never lost another pound, I could live with that too.