50 YO Female New To Keto
Hi Carb Manager mates!! My name is Michele and I have been doing keto since Feb 11th. As of today, I have lost 14lbs and I am down 1 1/2 - 2 dress sizes.
My habits tend to be super strict during the week and then I usually allow myself some wiggle room on the weekends. Took a while to figure out the nuances of what causes a stall and I think I've got it down to a science now. Can't have regular keto level protein because it kicks me out of ketosis, can't have too much xylitol and the like because even though it doesn't effect my ketones, it stalls me. Can't have too much dairy either for the same reason.
I started 16-18 hour daily fasts about a week ago and am finding it easy and showing results. I am doing the long fasts for autophagy. I have impingement syndrome caused by arthritis in my hips and I am hoping to fix it or at least slow it down. I also have 10 years of menopause on the books with adrenal syndrome and insulin resistance to reverse. I am a massive sugar addict. Like... I literally know how a junkie feels about their dope. That is the result of 30 years of binge drinking, which is the main reason I am doing keto... to get, and stay, off the sugar. Quit drinking back in 2014 so that is no longer an issue, thank the gods!! But my body is still healing from all that abuse....
I am discovering that keto is not without its down sides, and have been experiencing a pretty serious issue with belching and dysphagia, feeling like I have air trapped in and moving up and down my esophagus. If it doesn't resolve itself by the time I hit my goal weight, I will be transitioning out of 'keto' and switch to low carb paleo. I am also having some kind of hives reaction over the last week or so with an itchy scalp, but I am convinced it's because of too much dairy. I went a little crazy with the heavy cream, lol... it's just SO delicious!!!
I would love to hear what some of your struggles since starting. What other 'weird' side effects are you having? Thanks in advance for sharing and good luck to all of you :)