50 YEARS, 50 LESSONS!
By no means am I claiming that I have learned every lesson needed in my 50 years of life but I do think that I have picked up many items that I have found useful, specifically in pursuit of my health, weight loss and building a sustainable ketogenic lifestyle. My 50th birthday is this Saturday and I figured it was a good time to gather some of those bits of wisdom in one place and share them with you. Here we go!
Time passes anyway whether we are working on positive change or not.
There is no “on track” or “off track” when it comes to your health, there is just one track and your choices define it. Being “off track” often mentally allows us to justify our negative behaviors continuing.
Not every way of eating is right for each person, be willing to find yours.
Ketosis is a metabolic process linked mostly to carbohydrate restriction.
A healthy ketogenic lifestyle is about more than just cutting carbs.
Weight loss is primarily driven by caloric restriction, how that restriction is achieved in a sustainable manner is the puzzle to solve.
You can’t just stop poor habits, you must replace them with new ones.
When we use food as a coping mechanism, simply changing your food plan will not handle the reasons you are using food to cope.
Being mindful in our choices is important, and often begins with uncovering the purpose, or why, driving them.
Don’t confuse something being simple with it being easy.
Keto is by definition a restrictive way of eating but restriction with purpose is not a negative thing.
Keto isn’t just burgers, bacon, and butter.
When starting a new way of eating, give yourself at least 30 days following a plan before you decide to make major changes. The impulse to course correct daily is real!
Don’t let trying to make the perfect plan paralyze you. Pick a path and begin.
There’s no shame in asking for help or seeking it out, there’s no virtue in struggling and failing alone.
After decades of not listening to my body’s signals, being able to trust them and understand them takes time. I am talking years.
Admitting you struggle with a food addiction is not a character flaw or something broken inside of you, it can be honesty that will help you begin healing.
Anyone promising you can achieve your health goals while “eating your favorite foods every day” does not understand how a disordered relationship with food operates.
How you need to eat today to achieve your mental and physical goals may not be the way you need to eat for the rest of your life, but it could be. Be open to all possibilities.
Stop looking to do exactly what someone else did to achieve their goals, and instead learn from them, apply the pieces that work for you and be okay with discarding the rest.
Just because a label says “keto” does not mean it is a good choice.
Fruits and vegetables can be a part of a well formulated ketogenic diet.
Trends come and go, don’t get sucked in by promises with no proof.
Don’t just focus on the scale as your only metric for measuring progress, it will not always act as you wish and with nothing else in place it can be hard to keep moving forward.
Loving yourself and your today does not imply that wanting to make change is a negative thing.
Surround yourself with people who are fighting similar battles. They cannot do the work for you but the mutual support can be a beacon of light when days feel dark.
Be willing to ask questions and challenge dogma, nothing is completely black and white in the end.
Weight loss isn’t a journey with a definitive end point, our goals and actions will evolve with the intention of building lifelong habits, not reaching a number and “going back to the way I used to eat.”
Healthy sustained weight loss is about more than just your plate, it is about your mental health, your intentional physical activity, your sleep, your hydration and more.
If you have trouble managing desserts and sweets, replacing them with “keto friendly” versions won’t magically make them manageable.
Counting total carbs keeps us honest about what goes into our bodies and how it impacts us. Net carbs is often used as a way to squeeze in highly processed sweet treats.
Off plan food choices should be made in a mindful manner, planned deviations (thank you Samantha Souza!) not “cheat meals.”
Deciding if an off plan choice is “worth it” is about more than just that individual food in that moment. It is about the impact and frequency of the decision in regards to your current mental, physical and emotional state.
Other people may judge your choices, you cannot control that. Do what is in the best interest of your wellbeing, as challenging as that can feel at times.
There will be good days, and there will be bad days. Remember how you feel can change and most likely will.
Celebrate your small wins, not just the big ones. This doesn’t imply you are done with your work, but reminds you that you are making accomplishments happen.
I may not ever know the exact reasons behind why I ate the way I did in my past, but I can acknowledge that I was always the one putting the food in my mouth.
It’s okay to not have all the answers and that doesn’t mean you cannot take action to move forward.
Building a plan of daily manageable actions can be a powerful step towards lifelong change.
Be willing to identify when your actions don’t match up with your stated goals and work to bring them in line together.
Somedays it is enough to focus on one hour at a time.
There is no guaranteed stamp of 100% cured when it comes to making behavioral changes, but we get better at identifying our challenges and managing our response to them.
You can be successful without going bankrupt to buy only the priciest well sourced ingredients, make the best choices you can manage.
Even when this work, and make no mistake it is hard work, feels overwhelming be sure to reflect daily on gratitude. Especially on the days that feels hardest!
There is no perfect keto cookie. Some come close to the “real thing” but most fall short and will not scratch the itch. I wasted too much time trying to find one.
Be willing to find the right keto path for your body. I find greater relief from cravings and food obsession, and get greater satiation from a higher fat moderate protein approach. The opposite may be true for you.
Asking myself “Why am I eating this?” and answering honestly has been the most powerful intentional habit around food I have built.
It is possible to feel better and be healthier at 50 than you were at 20.
Some days it is about the confidence you have that you can make change in your life, and some days it requires a hefty dose of optimistic hope and a leap of faith.
Making your health a priority can be a true challenge when you have spent your life focused on the priorities of other people. It can feel selfish or too overwhelming to manage. It is not.
There you have it! I hope that you will find a nugget or two that matches up with your list of lessons learned, and maybe even a few new ones to add! Me? Right now I am just extremely grateful to be alive, healthy and able to share these lessons with you!
Interested in working on your own lessons? Click here now to get to our Coaching Programs Page
