The first impression is (almost) always right
Seven days, since I last enjoyed the treat of a trickle of maple syrup in my morning coffee. It seems so far away already, the enslavement of my soul to basmati rice. This unconditional love for mashed potatoes I was cultivating since childhood. Cookies ? Never heard of. Shoo.
The change was brutal and drastic, without any sort of warm-up, but at the same time, peaceful. As if it was meant to be. I wouldn’t go as far as pretending it was painless though. I found out quickly there was something I enjoyed much more than the benefits of the diet itself, a kind of guilty pleasure that comforted me into my choice, and helped me following the sacrosanct nutritional plan.
Everyday is different, and this visceral desire to experiment with my flesh vessel, how change affected my emotions and the different triggers that set me in motion as a human, completely seduced me. It must be the little scientist buried deep inside me.
We are all different. This is my first impression about the ketogenic diet, one week in.
gentleman, start your fat burning engine
Everything starts with a plan. New terms to get familiarized with, like net carbs. Do carbohydrates pay taxes, too ? I was a bit puzzled by the sudden realization that food could be categorized and ranked by its content in different macro-nutrients. It wasn’t a discovery like fire or the wheel, of course. I just never realized people would actually decide what to eat, based on that.
I always ate what I felt like having in the moment, now I have to ask each ingredient for a curriculum vitae and extensive references. Mpft. Hopefully for me, the candidates are plentiful, and the ones making it into my new diet, delicious. I was expecting (almost expected) to feel cravings immediately, but it didn’t happened.
My breakfast has not changed since the first day, even if it should. Eggs, avocado with a bit of cream cheese and some plain fat yogurt, a consistency that could be the psychological crotch helping me going through the day with ease. My appetite was drastically reduced in the first few days, too. During this period of time, I experienced a bit of brain fog. The symptoms weren’t as extreme as what I’d read about, so far.
Add to the mix some busy days, a lavish second and last meal in the day, unconditional support of my partner, adequate supplements, a loooooooot of water (I never went to the bathroom as much as this week in my whole life), and all was going fine and dandy in the little universe of my nourishment.
Here you can see a little sample of the meals I am eating. (And that are cooked for me too, because I am very lucky.)
I can assure you, it is as delicious as it looks like ! 🙂
There might be a possibility that I am having too much cheese … But shhh. I’ll just do extra sport.
Going through the first real test
I felt the wind of change on Friday. It wasn’t really a crack in my willpower, more likely the signs of a prophecy you heard about without really paying attention to it, until the first omen appears. This unholy manifestation, a twelve pack of full butter croissants invading our dwelling, made me shiver through the bones.
Seen as one of the top reasons why people fail to diet is the fact that they share their living quarters with other human beings, these latter not having the obligation to comply to this nutritional change. I can understand this, but the house had its share of snacks and sodas since day one, and I didn’t thought about it at all.
What was this all about ? Weekend was coming. A tradition (arbitrary and personal one) that gives me the opportunity, on those blessed two days, to enjoy some glasses of rum and coke, potato chips and other processed dried meat such as ‘saucisson’. It is something I have been doing for years. Soon to be decades.
When I think about it, two days after it happened, I realize it wasn’t that much of a trial, though. I already can walk past a liquor store without crying, which is a bit of a fast improvement. On a serious note, I do not regret what I identified as the one and only real sacrifice I made.
full steam ahead, sailor
I am not delusional, though. Based on my observations through the years, I do know that it is hard to judge a long term diet on a single week. No one knows what can happen, today, tomorrow, my iron will could crumble for an apple crumble and all the efforts would go down the drain.
This is something I really enjoy about this diet. There is absolutely no feeling of hunger, for me at least. Neither any really bad secondary effect, even the opposite. I feel more energized, less heavy when I move, and I am not steered by a never ending quest to sugar anymore.
By walking everyday for half an hour around the block, I even managed to lose a bit of weight ! There is still a lot to melt, but it is not the main objective. More of a bonus. When the swimming pools open their doors again, this will come naturally.
I am starting the second week now and all is going according to plan, even better than expected. Will it remain this way ? I hope, and will tell you everything about it next week !
