Keto Diet Before and After

As you can see from the before and after photo, I've lost 30+ pounds since starting the keto diet less than a year ago* (same weight as my 2013 self). Moving forward, the challenge now is to maintain a healthy lifestyle with balance that includes the occasional carb-fest once every few weeks. But I gotta be honest - I think it's going to be easier by eating more fat, because it's been the best diet for curbing hunger and unhealthy urges. Thinking back, there are several major habits I needed to break to get to this point.

Before Keto Diet

• Ate something sweet everyday - Cookies, pastries, ice cream
• Ate bread everyday - Toast, rolls, croutons, crackers
• Ate fast food 3-4x per week - Wendy's, Wawa, Dunkin Donuts
• Ate processed food - Mostly snacks and breakfast cereal/bars
• Stayed up past 2AM routinely - I was always a night owl
• Ate high calorie/carb meals before bed - Usually sugar or bread

After Keto Diet

• I still eat something sweet most days! - 90% Chocolate or Swerve
• No bread - Make a couple low-carb versions
• No fast food - OK, I got a baconator without bun a few times
• No processed food - Grocery store perimeter is fresh, aisles are junk
• Morning person - This took me a LONG time, but the keto diet has helped
• Limit food before bed - I'll snack a bit, but try to eat large meals late afternoon

There are days that I give in and get a chocolate chip cookie. The old me would be eating about 10 of them. But what tracking has done is keep me concerned with the monthly or running average - one cheat will not kill me or my momentum. In fact, it has helped because I will often plan a cheat around a time when I'll be more active than usual. This may not make a major difference, but it definitely makes me feel better about it! And I laugh, because now a bad day for me is eating over 100 carbs even with a reasonable amount of calories. Before the keto diet I was regularly eating 200-400 carbs everyday and probably 500 calories too many. The key is to make a few small changes at a time and develop the positive habits. If you overwhelm yourself with everything at once, it may be a recipe for failure. What are your before and after results on the keto diet?