Ep. 59- 3 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting Keto

If you want to start keto or already doing it and not getting results, you’ll want to pay attention to this episode.

I am sharing 3 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting Keto in 2015.

3 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting Keto

#1 Keto is NOT a Diet

The first thing I wish I knew back in 2015 when I discovered keto is that it’s not a diet.

Keto is short for Ketosis. Ketosis is a metabolic process that happens in your body when you don’t have enough glycogen stores and your body needs to switch to burning fat for fuel so it makes ketones in your liver.

The “Ketogenic Diet” on the other hand, is a way of eating that supports your body getting into ketosis.

I was confusing ketosis (the process) with a ketogenic diet (food you eat that helps your body make ketones.)

You can be in ketosis WITHOUT eating a ketogenic diet and you can eat a ketogenic diet and not be in ketosis.

I didn’t understand this for years.

Let me explain further.

Let’s take two women; Susie and Megan.

Susie is an athlete. She does not eat a “ketogenic diet” but is mindful of her carbohydrate intake.

Her diet is more Paleo but she works out like crazy.

She is a Crossfitter and is training for the Iron Man.

Her goal is not weight loss and she doesn’t track her macros or calories, she eats intuitively but is mindful of her carbs.

She also practices IF without even knowing it. She is not hungry in the mornings so she listens to her body and doesn’t eat until 11 am.

She also stops eating around 6 pm because if she eats too close to bed she has a hard time falling and staying asleep.

Without even knowing it, Susie's body is going in and out of ketosis daily because she is depleting most of her glucose storage through her workouts and fasting periods.

Susie’s body is what I call “metabolically flexible” without her even trying.

Then there’s Megan.

Megan is 40 lbs overweight and decides to try keto because she got down the rabbit hole of #ketotransformations on IG and is excited and motivated to start her keto journey.

She follows a bunch of random keto “influencers” and starts copying everything they eat.

When she shops for groceries, she looks for items labeled “keto” and throws them in the cart immediately.

Her diet consists of lots of processed meats, cheese, fat bombs, a small number of veggies (gotta watch those carbs), and a TON of keto junk foods.

Although she is technically eating “ketogenic foods” her body is unable to get into ketosis and instead of losing weight, she ends up gaining weight in her first few weeks of keto.

That is the difference between “ketosis” and a “ketogenic diet.”

They are not the same thing and there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to how many carbs you can eat. 

#2 It’s not JUST about the carbs

Speaking of carbs, the second thing I wish I knew when I started keto is that it’s not JUST about the carbs.

I became obsessed with counting carbs.

That’s all I cared about.

I would look at labels and if something had any carbs in it, I would not buy it.

I limited the number of vegetables I ate due to their carb content.

My #1 goal was to make sure that I didn’t consume more than 30g of total carbs each day.

This went on for a good 5 years.

Then the sh*& hit the fan.

My microbiome was a mess.

I started experiencing thyroid issues.

My cortisol was through the roof.

I gained weight.

My sleep was terrible.

All because the only thing I focused on was “not going over my carb limit.”

The issue was that I wasn’t approaching keto in a holistic way and that got me in trouble.

Aside from the health issues, I was developing extreme carbophobia (fear of carbs) and I didn’t even realize it until I needed to bring them back to heal my adrenals 6 years later.

I was afraid of eating an apple in fear of being “kicked out of ketosis.”

It was bad.

Of course, watching your carb intake is important if you want to switch to ketosis, but obsessing over carbs is not healthy nor sustainable.

If you make it just about the carbs and ignore your hormones, gut, stress, sleep, and mindset, things will not end well, take it from someone who’s been there done that, and wants to burn the t-shirt.

#3 Going at it alone means making tons of unnecessary mistakes

The last thing I wish I knew before starting keto was that trying to figure it out on my own will cost me lot’s of wasted time and money.

I wish I had hired someone to help me navigate through my keto journey and show me the RIGHT way to do it.

I spent so much money on unnecessary things such as supplements, and fake ketones, not to mention the thousands I spent on testing and doctor visits due to the health issues I experienced from doing keto wrong.

I don’t think women realize how complex keto is and how careful you need to be if you’re going to do it.

It’s not like going vegan or gluten-free. Keto is very complex as it changes your metabolism in a pretty extreme way.

Why on earth would you want to risk messing it up?

The unfortunate thing for me was that when I started keto, there weren’t many people that could help me.

Keto was relatively new as a diet for the masses and there were only a few books out and some podcasts. 

Luckily, you have options. There are a ton of keto coaches and nutritionists now and if you don’t want to work with me because you don’t align with what I teach or my programs are not in your budget, find someone that works with you.

When you’re looking for a coach, here are a few things you should consider:

1. Do they have the proper knowledge?
2. What is their experience?
3. Did they get the results you want?
4. Have they helped others get the results you want?
5. Do they coach or cheerlead?

Obviously, I’d love to be your coach and if you want to work with me you can go to www.bsbtribe.com to learn more about that but the point of this is don’t try to figure this out on your own and make the mistakes I did.

In conclusion, I want to say that there are more things I wish I knew before I started keto but these would be the most important.

Now, if you’re at the point where you don’t know what to do next and feel like you are going down the wrong path with keto, I want to invite you to my Free Live Training, How to Easily Lose Weight (on Keto) Without Obsessing over Macros or Calories. 

In this training you will discover:

✔The Secrets to Long-Term Success With A Ketogenic Lifestyle so you can avoid the dreaded post-keto weight gain

✔ The Quickest Way to Shed Stubborn Fat That The Top Keto Experts Don't Talk About so you can finally shed those pounds (and keep them off)

✔ The Sneaky Mistakes That Keep You Stuck on The Restrict-Binge Cycle so you finally stop regaining the weight you're losing

✔ Understand Why Dieting is One of The Worst Things You Can Do to Your Body so you'll never have to go hungry again

Spots are limited so register today.

I’ll see you there!