There are countless diets, tips, and tricks intended to help you lose weight and feel healthier. The craze over this past year in the health and fitness world has been the Keto Diet, and I decided to give it a try. I wanted to feel healthier and pick up on a diet that worked quickly and efficiently. Sometimes, switching up your diet can set an entirely new tone for your life and can even inspire you to do more to feel your best.

Both of my parents, along with my younger brother, hopped on the Keto plan in November of 2017, the day after Thanksgiving (talk about a stellar last meal). If you aren't familiar with Keto, it is essentially a low carb diet that puts your body into Ketosis, where it starts converting the fat in your body to be used for energy. Carbs are typically what your body fuels itself with, but through the diet, your body is able to use fat instead, burning it up and helping you lose weight. You can eat things such as meats and cheeses, fish, eggs, natural fats (like butter and olive oil), and vegetables that grow above the ground. Off limits, are things like bread, rice, pasta, fruit (YES, fruit!), vegetables grown underground, candy (of course), and things like juice and soda.

With my being away at school, I decided to wait until the summer to embark on the journey into Ketosis, for fear of not having a large enough variety of options and being stuck eating a plain salad for every meal. That being said, I waited about a week after I got back home to officially start.

At first, it was hard. Really hard. Being back in my city, I wanted to go to the restaurants I had been craving while I was gone (shout out Las Margaritas) and the delicious frozen custard place that every Missourian is a fan of (shoutout Andy's). Luckily, with my family almost a year into their diets, and my mom being the chef of the family, I had the support and guidance I needed to stick to it.

My mom cooks dinner for our family every night. She has an entire Pinterest board of Keto-friendly snacks, desserts, and meals that she would make for us. As surprised as I was, every single Keto meal I had was delicious! The goal of the diet is to eat as few carbs as possible and a limited amount of protein each day while trying to fill up your daily requirement for calories and fats. I have an app where I put in my goals and my current weight, along with tracking what I eat every day so I can see how well I am doing. It takes about two weeks to get your body into Ketosis, and as soon as I was in it I was seeing and feeling the differences.

In just about two months, I lost nearly 25 pounds of unhealthy fats. It was amazing! Eventually, through the diet, you start losing a pound a day. My dad even stopped doing the diet because he didn't want to lose any more weight than he already had. Sometimes, getting on the scale can be scary and upsetting for people. While doing the diet, my favorite part of the day was getting on the scale to see if I had lost another pound. I felt better about how I looked, I felt more confident in the clothes I wore, I stopped craving unhealthy foods, and I was feeling more energized throughout the day.

Since I've been back in school, it is definitely harder to keep on track with the diet when I have a limited budget and limited food options, but I still try to do the best I can. It has definitely pushed me to look at everything I eat and I can't tell you how many times I'm craving a good salad. I was glad to have a summer at home to start this diet, and I love what it's done for me! My Keto journey was well worth it and definitely gave me the results I was looking for.