For the Mind

So, I was asked the question this weekend, how can I lose 10 pounds by Christmas? My answer was simple…start eating a keto lifestyle, diet, whatever you want to call it. This week’s post is how to lose 10 pounds on keto by Christmas. Totally do-able!

First let me say, it’s mid October and I probably could have called this how to lose 10 pounds by Thanksgiving, but we will take baby steps.

Step by step, I will share with you what you need to do to lose 10 pounds on the keto diet before Christmas. I have also included a video explaining all the steps and my personal recommendations of how to accomplish this weight loss and also how to keep it off. I am going into my 2nd Christmas now on Keto and this absolutely can be done while enjoying your parties, get togethers and favorite family traditions.

Benefits of a Keto Lifestyle

Losing 10 pounds is a great accomplishment so there is your first benefit of following a keto diet and lifestyle. But in the big scheme of things a keto lifestyle has so many benefits in addition to the weight loss. I can tell you from my personal experience and those around me in the keto community that we benefit from:

• Decreased inflammation…in every part of your body and organs
• Increased mobility and with that comes an urge to exercise
• Increased energy
• Better mood, overall increase in happiness and joy
• Confidence in your body, appearance, general sense of accomplishment
• Can wear smaller clothes, fit in a plane seat, ride a roller coaster, sit comfortably in a stadium seat or at a concert. (yep, these are my experiences)
• Younger looking skin. I have had some people tell me my skin looks like its glowing!
• Possibly decrease or stop meds because you are reversing your chronic disease processes (under physician supervision)
• See your lab work improve-I have decreased my cholesterol, lowered my autoimmune markers
• Increase your immunity because you are eating whole foods, packed with good fat, vitamins, minerals, nutrients and have kicked the processed junk!
• Less colds, allergy symptoms, viruses
• Feel like a Warrior!

In all seriousness, these are just a few of the benefits I have seen following a keto diet/lifestyle since March of 2020. Besides losing 90 pounds, I feel like my life, health and future are so bright. I do believe we are a direct reflection of what we put in our bodies. If we put in sugar, carbs, and processed foods that are loaded in fillers and chemicals into our bodies then that is what we are going to get out of our bodies; inflammation, wrecked health and us wondering why we feel so horrible all the time.

Step #1-Download Carb Manager or a Carb tracking App

The first step to losing 10 pounds on keto by Christmas is to track your carbs. A keto diet is a daily dietary intake of 20 grams of net carbs or less. Period…

I say ‘Period’ because in a nutshell that is all you need to know. But how do you know this? Because you are going to track your food in a carbohydrate tracker. I use Carb Manager. You can down load it on you smartphone and set it up TODAY! I am sure there are multiple other apps that track carbs but I like and use Carb Manager, it is that simple. Here is how to set it up.

• Download the Carb Manager App on Google Play OR the Apple App Store for whichever phone you have. (It can also be used on desktop!)
• Set up your profile-you will enter height, weight, age etc here
• Go to ‘Macros Calculator’ and set the ‘My Macronutrient Goals’ to 5/25/70-Keto then hit ‘Apply Macros Goals’
• You are ready to start tracking!

In the pic above you will see the setup I just explained and the tracking page. The tracking page is easy to use for each meal or snack you just hit the ‘add’ sign and start adding in food. The Carb Manager database searches for foods that you enter or that you scan and will give you the breakdown of what that foods nutritional value is.

For Keto we are looking at a daily goal of a total of 5% of our food from Carbs, 25% of our food from Protein and 70% of our food from Fat. This is a Keto diet, the protein and the fat keep your body fueled and full. Here is a pic of how the carb manager app looks, we will talk more about it in the video.

Keepin’ it real-The honest truth!

There is something I must mention here in Step #1. I have had folks say to me, ‘I have tried the Keto Diet and it did not work for me’. I am just being honest and #keepinitreal. If Keto didn’t work for you then you didn’t do Keto. Most people fail in Step #1 because they don’t track and they don’t eat by the Keto macros. There is no reason to make this hard, it is so simple and I have all the faith in you!

Step #2-Get rid of the Junk food and get to the Grocery Store

There were a lot of words other than ‘junk food’ that I wanted to use here if you catch my drift…wink, wink. This is the time to clean out the pantry, fridge, spice cabinet. Get rid of temptations and hidden sugars. If in doubt check it on the Carb Manager and see if it is something you really want to put in your body. Read the nutrition label, can you pronounce the ingredients? Do you know what they are?

In my personal experience, Keto is the easiest when you are eating whole, single ingredient foods. Basically a good cut of fatty meat, with a bit of low carb veg and some berries on occasion. Now, is this strict…yes. Do you have to do keto this way..no. Personally, I chose keto for the weight loss and the health benefit of decreased inflammation, so I eat a ‘clean’ keto diet.

When you first start keto though, you may want to, and may need to add in some other things so that you transition a bit slower and can sustain it. There is absolutely no cheating! Don’t do that to yourself. To get into ‘ketosis’ and start the process of your body burning fat for fuel you have to be eating keto. So cheating won’t get you anywhere except back to saying ‘keto didn’t work for me’.

I have a simple Keto Kickstart Grocery List that I have put together that I feel is a great Keto beginners list. This list is a compilation of the foods that I use everyday to live a keto lifestyle. On this list are clean keto foods and some ‘extras’.

Keto KickStart Grocery List-get it here!

Pick and choose from this grocery list the foods that you like and start meal planning from this list. Remember the simpler you keep it, the easier it is and I believe the bigger results you will see. Shop the fresh meats, the low carb veg and get a small amount of some fresh berries to start.

Step #3-The Before

It’s time to take some measurements and a before pic. Get a waist, a belly and a booty measurement at the least and record your starting weight. It is important to do this step as you will see results from head to toe. With the focus on 10 pounds by Christmas, a picture may not do justice, but your before and after measurements will! So snap a pic but be sure to take some before measurements.

Step #4-Just Start

“The Start is as Big as the Finish”…….

Sara from Keto On the RIse

Ok, it’s time to start. You have the app, you got rid of the junk, groceries are bought……..now start.

Here is an example of a day in my life of eating keto:

As you eat throughout the day, continue to update the carb manager app so that you always know what you’ve had and what you have left on your keto macros. Strive to meet those macros every day.

Step #5-It’s just the beginning.

So, you started, you haven’t cheated, you feel great, you’re down 10 pounds. My advice to you is keep going! Whatever your overall goal might be; weight loss, decreased inflammation, immunity boosting, better mental health, the longer you continue to go keto, the better you feel.

I honestly hate the word ‘keto diet’. Keto is not a diet, it is a lifestyle, a way of eating that our ancestors lived on. Healthy, clean wholesome eating that can reverse the effects of years of eating processed, sugary-high carb, factory made foods that have pushed our bodies into diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and kidney disease.

You can take control of these things by eating a ‘keto diet’ and it is as easy as these 5 steps I’ve given you on how to lose 10 pounds on keto by Christmas!

In the video below, I talk about these 5 Steps in even more detail, these are big steps…but will be your best Christmas present ever! Follow me over on my Facebook page and YouTube at Keto On the Rise for follow up videos on Keto 101.

Stay On the Rise,

Sara