I went into this low carb, insulin reset diet as another learning experience. What I found was a wake up call.
A lot of knowledge and life bombs here 💣
With the dramatic life changes for us all over the course of the past 2 weeks, cliché as it sounds, everything happens for a reason at precisely the right time.
I also listened & shared an incredible podcast on my stories & facebook group on protocols about insulin control & longevity with @jasonphillipsisnutrition & @drmolly.com this morning on my walk.
Why the reset? I had been overly stressed, trying to cut, eating a high amt of carbs (via jasmine rice/rice Chex/occasional alcohol) while intermittent fasting & focusing on 2 (occasionally 3) larger meals a day.
Backstory, for my new followers:
👉🏻I have Crohn’s, struggled with a missed diagnosis of IBS basically my entire early life & was overweight.
👉🏻Don’t digest fruits or vegetables or fiber or seeds or skins well
👉🏻Thrive off animal meals & animal-based nutrition
👉🏻Struggled with disordered eating & bingeing
👉🏻 Spent 4-5 years healing my gut & getting myself out of metabolic adaptation because I ate poverty macros for fuggin forever
👉🏻Tried to competitively CrossFit on Paleo, Quito, low carb & did all the dumb shit for years
👉🏻I eat lowfodmap, gluten-free, dairy free, bullshit free 😆, and basic af, not cute meals are my jam. Why? Because that’s how I like to eat, Karen.
My cut started out well, but as we progressed I noticed my energy was all over the place I was starting to feel more out of control eating larger meals (I was fuller throughout the day). My fasting blood sugar was consistently higher (for me) around the 95 to 100 range, staying elevated even 2 hours after eating.
Mine typically sits around 80 to 85 in a controlled environment, fasting.
My digestion was decent, but I still felt inflamed, puffy, & like I was carrying a lot of “fluff” around my middle which I did not have in my 20s. (I was more low carb as far as my diet approach in my 20s, & my workouts were lower intensity). I didn’t CrossFit until my 30s.
My lifestyle now is very different from even December 2019. My stress is higher & I’m traveling more.
My last cut was amazing (I had not dieted in 2 years & was coming off of a surplus) My schedule & stress were more controlled.
💭🤔 HELLO!!!! Katie, you’ll be 38 in July, you don’t have the same body you had in your 20s. Dude, you’re almost a legit Cougar 😻😂
💁🏼♀️It’s time to get real, refocus, & realign.
To those of you in your 30s, let me tell you, things change quickly. You don’t recover as quickly, nights of bad decisions haunt you for weeks, and you’d rather go to bed by 9:30 than stay up & go clubbing. PS you still don’t have your shit together in your 30s. 👍🏼🤘🏻
I’ve learned this is the time to accept, adjust, & think about longevity more so than a ripped set of abs.
I love being lean & feeling light & strong, but just because you look the part doesn’t mean you’re healthy on the inside. Abs, striations, & single digit body fat — don’t help you live to a ripe old age.
MY CHANGES:
👉🏻Focus on a low carb approach, primarily animal-based nutrition. Why? Because I thrive off animal meats & already don’t digest fibers and plants well. I will harp at you till I’m blue in the face, go your own way! Don’t send me fucking hate messages because I eat animals. I’m not telling anyone to eat this way, I’m simply sharing my experiences and reasoning why.
👉🏻I also am not “CrossFitting” because all the gyms are closed, therefore, my activity is more lower intensity. This would warrant lower carbohydrates for my needs are not as high.
👉🏻I am also sleeping more, reducing caffeine intake, & fasting at least 14-16hrs overnight to recover, give my digestion a break & allow my body to balance itself out.
👉🏻I need an approach that is going to keep me fuller, longer, with less energy crashes to sustain long days working at the clinics & hospitals. I don’t like worrying about food & a bunch of meal preps, just my personality. I prefer two large meals a day. Naturally, protein and fats will do this. they take longer to digest and are harder to digest by the body — keeping blood sugar more stable, energy levels more stable with you feeling fuller, longer like a cherry on top. Which is why I’m taking a higher protein, higher fat approach.
👉🏻Macro wise, I am loosely tracking just to make sure my calories are in check. Keeping my carbs 50 g & under. Not really paying attention to where my protein & fats fall, obviously I’m getting plenty of both with animal-based nutrition with the inclusion of nut butters.
👉🏻I Am tracking weight, progress photos, & blood sugar with a simple glucometer (am fasting, 2 hrs post meal, bedtime) just to see how my body tolerates specific ratios, salt intake, stress, & food choices. Not because I’m focusing on the weight on the scale. Obviously when reducing carbohydrates, you’ll naturally lose water, so a lot of this is water weight loss, initially.
THINGS IM LEARNING:
✅CrossFit is not in aesthetic sport. Stop choosing CrossFit to look like a bodybuilder. Align your training, lifestyle, & align your food. Manage you mofo stress!
✅I personally feel much better on a carnivore-ish diet which aligns better with my lifestyle right now.
🌀My digestion is exceptional, my bloating is gone, bowel movements routine & normal, my puffiness is gone, I feel lighter.
🌀After nine days I’m noticing aesthetic changes finally. Stomach is starting to lose that patchy fat in my stubborn areas above and below my belly button.
🌀Yes with the training differences I’m getting smaller, and softer but I’m fitting more naturally back into my happy setpoint. My weight is staying around 113 pounds.
🌀I don’t hurt as much (minus my broken toe I have right now).
🌀No energy crashes, I have absolutely no cravings for sugar and I’m offen satisfied with one large meal during the day after my fasted walk.
🌀I love walking, it is my savior mind and body. I don’t need to work out six days a week and I need to sleep more. Duh.
✅The more data we have the more we can make educated informed decisions about our lifestyle & food choices. Do we need to worry about tracking & measuring all of the time — NO! But there’s a time & a place for it so you can learn & make educated decisions about how to live your life for YOU.
Quit whining, complaining, yo-yo dieting, yo-yo training, yo-yo living your life aimlessly because you’re not educating yourself. Get tested, invest in mentors, coaches, doctors to help you. There are free podcasts, wonderful people & resources on social media, books you can purchase & things out there at minimal cost.
✅Your goals should be centered around 4 different areas: healing, performance, aesthetics, & longevity. Your seasons will change, adjust accordingly.
✅People just think glucose is just a measure of carbs, it’s not, it’s a measurement of your lifestyle. Stress, food choices, sleep, your workouts, air pollution, under eating, over eating, toxins, artificial shit you put in your body or on your body — it all matters. It all affects your physiology, hormones, gut health, & processes that go on internally.
✅You have to ask yourself what level of stress you are OK with in your life. Adjust accordingly. If you choose this stress level, don’t bitch when you don’t get what you want.
✅The biggest thing people ignore are their mindset & their thoughts. So why are people having such a hard time right now being at home with their thoughts?
BINGO.
I hope this helps you wherever you are in your journey. Remember only you know your body best. I am not endorsing anyone to follow any particular diet I want you to learn, I want you to follow your heart, and I want you to ALWAYS listen to your gut. ❤️
Let me know if this was helpful in comments👇🏻
Hugs 🤗
Xoxo Coach K