Total weight loss: 35 pounds

For anything to be successful, one needs to look back over the successes and failures to plan for a better future.

Things I’ve learned:

Plan meals in advance

Always have keto-friendly snacks on hand

Always have keto-friendly cooking ingredients on hand

Remember which cheat meals didn’t satisfy

Keep a list of fast food keto-friendly foods in mind

Look at bread, rice, buns, tortillas, pasta, cakes, cookies, donuts, and other high carb food and think negative thoughts: “how pasty looking that is,” “it looks good, but it’ll make me feel lethargic and half-dead after I eat it,” “that rice under Chinese or Indian food, will make me gain, and really doesn’t have much flavor; cauliflower rice tastes just as good”

Even if you eat twice the amount of almonds you’ve planned, it’s still better than potato chips

Cheat meals/days must be thought out VERY carefully. Pick something that will really satisfy you and allow you to keep on the keto plan longer

Drink lots and lots and lots of water

Drinking no-carb alcohol may be okay, but keep it in limits. Over indulging makes me gain water weight and being drunk makes me really tempted to binge on whatever high carb party food is on the table.

There is ALMOST ALWAYS SOMETHING YOU CAN EAT in a fast food place or restaurant. For example, what about chicken marsala in an Italian place?

And there is usually some salad option anywhere you are. Burger joints, just remove the bun.

Mexican and Chinese restaurants give me the most difficulty, because any low carb option is not the reason I would go to the restaurant in the first place.

If you MUST go to a Chinese buffet (I attended a funeral dinner at one), you can find options, but they probably aren’t going to be your favorite General Tso’s. How about the salad bar choices? eggs? the insides of eggrolls, and I even ate the insides only of crab rangoons. Leaves quite a pile of discarded shells on the plate and look like you really waste food.

That’s all I can think of right now, but these ideas have helped me realize the first real weight loss I’ve achieved in more than 15 years! YAY KETO!