I despise diets, mostly because initially, they make us bitch-fest crazy, and soon enough, once we’ve encountered enough success, we allow our old habits to creep up again, thinking they won’t really matter or hurt. Starve all day, so I may enjoy a tasting menu meal of “no substitutions.” Also, I’m confused by the flux of new, and conflicting, information. There’s “Eat Fat to Lose Fat” and butter coffee, Bulletproof, MCT oil, coconut oil, and the entire HFLC (High-fat, Low-carb) ketogenic (keto) movement, where you severely limit carbs, 20-50g per day total, to push your body into ketosis, enabling us to burn fat as energy instead of glucose (sugar). More accurately, here’s the keto ratio: 60% to 75% of calories from fat, 15% to 30% calories from protein, and 5% to 10% calories from net carbs.

These diets emphasize eating whole foods and saturated fats from quality sources, and that the majority of your caloric intake come from fats, moderate protein, very limited carbs. You may absolutely consume dairy on these diets, but you should probably limit it, considering that we feed babies breast milk, so they GROW quickly. Why would you want to send that signal to your brain when it tastes dairy? But you may, in fact, enjoy dairy; fat might just take longer to lose. Generally, these diets believe that fats are good; sugar is bad. You can pee on a test strip (I own these) to ensure that your body is in ketosis. You can view major before and after photos all over Pinterst. But does it last? How could you possibly remain on that type of diet come summer, with bursting fruits, the bloom of peaches in the air? You may consume plenty of fresh vegetables, but fruits are sugar, which are carbohydrates, so nay nay. Though I just purchased The Modified Keto Cookbook, hoping this is something I can stick to??? These are the keto-style books that I own:

Meta-analysis studies cull as many studies as they can find that fit a specified criteria, then, they study all the studies and give you a round-up, to get a more accurate view of research. Like this: Very-low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet v. low-fat diet for long-term weight loss: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials which found “Individuals assigned to a VLCKD [very low carb keto diet] achieve a greater weight loss than those assigned to a LFD [low fat diet] in the long term; hence, a VLCKD may be an alternative tool against obesity.” Or this study, “Effect of low-fat diet interventions versus other diet interventions on long-term weight change in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis,” which found: “When compared with dietary interventions of similar intensity, evidence from RCTs does not support low-fat diets over other dietary interventions for long-term weight loss.”

These are the low-fat cookbooks I own:

Then, there’s Oprah, and her endorsement of the conventional low-fat Weight Watchers type program, which pushes a low-fat diet, where the pyramid pretty much flips, stressing that most of your calories should come from carbohydrates (which is why fruits are assigned zero points on WW), then protein, then limited fats.

I’ve also heard that any diet works, so long as you’re able to stick to it (My past accounts of having tried Whole30 and Weight Watchers). That’s why typically a diet like Weight Watchers does work, because nothing is off-limits. You can have wine and cupcakes and still be “on program.”

Here’s the problem. When I successfully lost weight on Weight Watchers, I became skinny fat, or “MONW,” metabolically obese normal weight. I was 100% in the correct weight range for my height (5’5, 125 lbs) but my body fat percentage was 33.5% (normal fat percentage for non-active women age 30-40 is 21-33%, age 40-50 is 22-34%). I was a size 4, but I was all fat, not muscle. Skinny fat. It was not sexy fat, all tied up in my hips an bosom. It was mushy midsection and back fat. I was thin and doughy. Today, I’m fat fat, heavier than I’ve ever been, even when I was pregnant (I think). Which, I promise is worse. But not by much, because I remember writing once I lost the weight that the strange thing was that my body hadn’t changed at all; it was just narrower. My body composition hadn’t changed at all. I was narrow and still fat. And when I tried strictly going gluten-free, I gained 20 lbs.

Gluten-Free and Paleo Style Cookbooks that I own:

I’ve been eating cookies out of the freezer. Devouring my feelings. Major binges have overcome me, even last night, after eating 4 lamb chops and a bowl of bone broth, I was still ravenous. Had a spinach, celery, kale, parsley, mint, lemon shake mixed with only half an apple, and still, I couldn’t stop eating. And this was after eating regularly throughout the day, hoping to keep ahead of my hunger, snacking on 8 almonds. I couldn’t stop, ripped into my kids’ stash of peanut m&m’s, had one of Lucas’s Fiber One breakfast bars, then ate bagel chips from the bag without counting. It was bad news. Worse, I don’t even know what triggered it.

I don’t feel sad or angry or frustrated. In the past months, since September, 2015 I gained 20 lbs. WTF? A lot of the time, I think I grab for food as… wait for it… procrastination! Not to comfort or console, but when I get to the difficult part of any task, I eat! I’ve done it “as the witness” or “as the watcher,” outside of myself observing the behavior. And I wake up and say, “not today,” but then. You know. Some say to instead “take a walk,” and to them I say, “take a hike.” Replacing comfort and joy with walking or jumping jacks isn’t the solution. Ideally, you’d want to replace food comfort and joy with non-food comfort and joy. Paint your nails. Unrealistic. Check your email. No one ever emails me. It’s all marketers. Play a game on your phone. I will try. I really will.

They say it takes 30 days to create a new habit, a habit where you no longer need to talk yourself into doing something. It becomes like breathing, nearly, an automatic, think nothing of it, habit. I wonder what would happen if I attempted to follow a ketogenic diet for 30 days, no alcohol, very limited carbs, knowing that after 30 days, it would be second-nature. If it doesn’t work, I could switch back to a Weight Watchers style program if I wanted. If it would change my body fat percentage, I’d likely stay on it, if it was manageable. Anyone have any experience with a high-fat diet?

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