My Fitness Journey : Keto verses Paleo

As 2017 comes to a close and New Years resolutions begin,  I wanted to share my take on the  Keto diet verses the Paleo diet.

 It feels like the holidays were just a month ago but it’s already that time of the year again. As I reflect on this last year, I was on the Paleo diet (95% of the time) and my sugar cravings were OFF. THE. CHARTS. Looking back, I realize it’s because I had a rather high carb intake with the Paleo diet making it easy for the sugar cravings to go into overdrive.

Realizing that 70- 80% of fitness and wellness stems from diet was something I didn’t fully understand until recent years.

I’m realizing its even more important to understand how food affects my body as I get older. I also don’t have the time or desire to work out for hours anymore, only to be ravenous and eat away all my exercising efforts.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s always a better day when I break a sweat. ALWAYS better (even if just cut on Netflix and do a stretching video on my iPad while I nurse my Madmen addiction) However, at this time in my fitness journey and life, I don’t have to overexert myself in order to feel better. I do have to MOVE my body because that changes the way my brain works.

This all circles back around to finding balance.

Balance for me is (4 to 5 days a week) carving out about 30- minutes to an hour for some kind of movement AND focusing on a healthy diet every day. I did the Paleo diet for over 3 years and my weight initially dropped 15 pounds but then started to go up over the last year. This weight gain prompted me to start the Keto diet about 5 months ago.

The Keto Diet

Within the first 6 weeks on this diet, I dropped about 8 pounds. It was crazy exciting!

Every woman has different body issues and abilities, I just want to share what is working for me at the moment and I’d love to hear your thoughts as well. I turned 40 in June, and things are changing. Its often said that we can’t change what we don’t acknowledge. With regards to my body, I acknowledge that sugar is like a drug for me. I can’t moderate it. If you can, more power to you!

That’s what is so interesting to me about this Keto diet. My goal is to have less than 30 carbs a day. This is tricky, but easier than the Paleo when trying to eat out or go to holiday parties mainly because I can have cheese. (So if you don’t like or can’t tolerate cheese, then the Keto lifestyle is probably not going to be your jam) If someone had said to me, “Jean, eat the cheese and lose the weight!” I would be like “No way!”  Well, I’m telling you it’s been working for me.

Here’s the catch.

This is an elimination diet so yes, I can have cheese but no, I can NOT have more than 30 to 50 carbs a day max or my body will be thrown out of ketosis and no longer burn the fat for fuel. This is tricky, but easier than Paleo for me. When I went to parties on the Paleo, I would try to eat an abundance of vegetables but that never filled me up and it did seem to induce more sugar cravings because of the carbs in the veggies. With the Keto diet, I can combine my vegetables with fats and they not only taste better, but it fills me up. My portions are dramatically smaller on the Keto diet because the fat is so filling. I am still an eater. No “Hangry” for me. Bottom line, the fat in the keto plan fills me up and its pretty easy to find the right kind of fat if you know what to look for.

There’s a lot of science behind the Keto diet.

Did you know it’s been around for about 90 years?

If you are interested in learning more about the Keto diet check out this website to get you started. Click HERE.

Of course, I am not a nutritionist. I just stumbled upon this diet because my brother went to see a nutritionist and she recommended it for him because he’s studying for law school and the keto diet is supposed to help your brain work better.

I never thought I’d be trying to add butter, cheese and even this delicious avocado mayo to my meals. I literally have to think when I prepare my food, “Do I have enough fat here?”  Keto is so anti 90s fat-free BS and I love it.

Pass the cheese, please 🙂

Fill your stockings with Keto supplies.

Some of my favorite Keto supplies are this brain octane oil and this spicy avocado mayo.

By the way, I’m going to share more about how I make my bullet coffee soon. Basically its just the brain octane oil and butter and coffee mixed with a frother. Let me know if you have any other questions. 🙂

Outfit Details

I love Free People but these pants only look good for a couple hours and then they just get too stretchy, start to sag, and need to be washed again. I usually change out of my workout clothes after I finish, but this material would not work well for going hiking and then going to grocery store. Also, the top only comes in small medium OR large extra large. Normally I am a small medium but I believe I could have sized up here.

Thanks so much for visiting!

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PANTS | TOP | Similar HAT (mines from target last year) | similar SHOES (mine are from the sketchers store in Manhattan Beach)