What has been your experience with the ketogenic diet?

 I know it's January. The time of year when countless men and women step onto the scales and are met with a wave of self-loathing. I know this feeling all too well, because that was me.

I once tipped the scales at just under 400 pounds. I couldn't walk without pain, frequently threw out my back, and was on both antidepressants and anti-inflammatories, neither of which seemed to be making a difference. My doctor recommended the keto diet to help manage my inflammation.

I began my keto journey in August 2018. At the time, I didn't expect it to last. I had a serious addiction to sugar, especially candy and baked goods. But I decided to take it one day at a time. Initially, I kept it simple, tracking my food intake and primarily eating steak and mushrooms because they were easy and satisfying. After a few weeks, I started to expand my meal options.

With over 200 pounds to lose, I set small, manageable goals of 10 pounds at a time. Losing five pounds seemed achievable, and once I reached six pounds, I felt motivated to push through to ten. I repeated this process over and over, and now I’ve lost 107 pounds and am striving to reach 110 pounds.

My trainer always told me that achieving a weight loss goal should be followed by establishing a new, healthy habit to maintain momentum. For my current 10-pound goal, I introduced intermittent fasting, which has been incredibly helpful. My next ambition is to get back into cross-country skiing, something I haven’t been able to do in over a decade, and maybe even try cycling in the summer.

Three years ago, I was put on a waitlist for gastric bypass surgery. Six months ago, they called to schedule it, but I’ve been postponing because I’m not sure I need it anymore. I want the satisfaction of losing 200 pounds through my own efforts.

I’m now 15 pounds away from not qualifying for the surgery, so my big goal is to reach 265 pounds by May. I remember how desperate I felt when I initially applied for gastric bypass. I would have done anything to qualify. To have come this far on my own is incredible.

And you know what? It hasn’t been that hard. It’s just about time and taking it one action at a time, one day at a time, one fast at a time. If I have a day that doesn’t go as planned, who cares? I pick it up again right away—not tomorrow, not Monday, not next week.

That’s where weakness lies, and where your brain can trick you into continuing bad habits. Ask yourself if your habits or choices are serving you. If they’re harming you, why continue? Dig deep for the answers. Therapy might be necessary to tame some demons, and that’s perfectly okay. Slay away.

I learned that I need to start dinner as soon as I get home from work. If I wait and relax first, I end up munching my way through a dinner’s worth of calories.

But above all, just keep going. Even if you have to reset every other day, you are still on track. You are learning, growing, and working on yourself. Soon enough, your resets will be farther apart, months will pass, and one day, you’ll walk past a mirror and do a double take.

Think of weight loss like tearing away squares from a roll of toilet paper. One square may not be noticeable, five or seven may barely make a dent, but one day, you’ll look and see that half the roll is gone, and your goal is in sight.

Just don’t quit.