How being laid off helped me make a positive change in my life (hint: Keto)

Being laid off sucks. Business needs and what leaders think they require in terms of talent and structure can change completely over the course of one year. It may not have anything to do with performance. How we decide to feel and what we choose to do during a period of unemployment is completely up to us. There is only so many hours in the day that one can spend networking, sending resumes and going to interviews. What to do with the extra time? I decided to figure out how to lose an extra 20 pounds that I’d recently put on.

I knew I needed to change my diet to loose the weight because I was already physically active. I was eating healthy but my diet consisted of a lot of bread, pasta, rice, noodles, pastries and beer. I had never dieted a day in my life! I knew that counting calories and feeling deprived and hungry would not work for me. I had heard of the Keto diet but I didn’t know much about it so I started watching YouTube videos to get educated.

My primary go to gurus are Thomas DeLauer and Dr. Berry but there are many other experts on this topic on YouTube. There is also an interesting documentary on Netflix called The Magic Pill. Through watching many videos, I discovered what the Keto diet is all about and how it could help me lose weight in a healthy way without feeling hungry or deprived. So I decided to give it a go.

It was much easier to begin the Keto diet while unemployed as I had time to research, shop and make my own meals. I stopped eating bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and stopped drinking beer immediately. Giving up my peanut butter and toast in the morning was very hard for me. Thankfully, I found a low carb bread at Healthy Planet by Dimpflmeier. It doesn’t taste as good as normal bread but it allowed me to slowly adapt as I could have my one slice per day with some peanut butter on it and still stay below 30 net carbs per day.

The Keto diet consists of eating foods that are high in fat, medium in protein and low in carbs. In order to meet the low carb goal, I have had to read all the food labels and you’d be surprised how much carbs we consume each day. I had to change some components of my meals. I eat my spaghetti sauce with zucchini and I have my coffee with cream. I eat more eggs and I have bacon. I used to snack lots in the evening and I still do to some degree but now I snack on avocados, pork rinds, cheese and/or olives. I no longer drink beer but I have a glass of wine here and there and I now quite enjoy my gin soda with lime.

It sounds so counter intuitive to eat fatty foods but watch the videos and get educated! You will see that it is actually good for us and can help with my diseases such as diabetes. My body is functioning great on this diet, the sugar cravings and most carb cravings are gone. But it was not easy at the beginning.

For the first two weeks of this new diet, I did not feel great. It takes some time for the body to get over using carbs to using fat for energy. But once I was over the hump, I started feeling amazing. I have more energy than before and my brain feels clearer and sharper. I lost 20 pounds in 4 months. Eating in a Ketogenic way has become part of my new lifestyle.

If you have any questions about Keto and how to find great Keto products in the Toronto area, please do reach out and I’d be happy to share my knowledge.

Disclaimers: No one has paid me to write this article, promote their product or YouTube channel. Please consult your doctor before starting Keto.