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4. Healthy ketosis.
⚡ My lifestyle and hormones changed my metabolism - damn it!
⚡ My younger years, active lifestyle, better sleep and fitting food had me favouring stored fat for fuel.
⚡ Mum had me burning stored sugar for fuel - meaning - I now store fat - well!
⚡ Healthy ketosis - the breakdown of stored (and in my case, unnecessary) fat.
⚡ I know moving regularly, practising power naps, and fasting intermittently drive up ketosis.
⚡ Let's reboot my metabolism.
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Once it was clarified that I was a "sugar burner," as seen by my interest in frequent sugar highs, sporadic interest in exercise, inconsistent mental and physical vigour, and ongoing weight gain, I realised I needed to make a change.
Furthermore, it was obvious from the data I needed to lower my blood glucose balance to cease the frequent (glucose) surges. Oops, processed snacks! Guilty!
My nutritional rules approach was simple.
🍴 Zip refined sugar – wow! It's in everything!!
🍴 Back off the gluten-based carbs – basically, processed food made from barley, wheat or rye – what! no veggie toast!
🍴 Eat anything with eyes, or is found in a garden – the volume was to my appetite.
🍴 Choose protein first, then add the fibrous carbs and a few healthy dietary fats – escorted with water.
🍴 Basically, eat fulfilling food that leaves my appetite dormant for hours.
🍴 Brush my teeth immediately after meals.
Note – while lowering my daily calories was never discussed, I presumed this would be a focus at some point. 'Eat less move more' made sense to me – or so I thought!
Organising my 'new' (actually, old school) diet took some time. Then, of course, I needed to convince the kids that what we are now eating is better! Back to the kids in a second.
Dropping the processed (refined) sugar thing sounds easy. But, damn it, it's everywhere. It's cheap and easy, it's tasty, and my kids reinforce the message.
Clearly, I needed a change in mindset – food behaviour.
Enter: Snacking on a small volume of healthy fat proved a winner. Almonds, macadamias, cheese, avo, coconut, and sunflower seeds naturally lowered my interest in larger main meals and switched my brain from sugar interest. Wow!
So with minimal sugar and blood sugar spikes, and the natural lowering of total daily calories, I was thrilled when I felt & saw the outcomes. And while 'fasting' was not directed, it happened naturally. Sometimes I'd forget I was hungry and miss a meal. Well, until my exercise ramped up!
Boom! Hello fat-burner! - I felt better because I was a better mother, employee, and partner. My sleep improved, I looked better, and my brain functioned more evenly. It was all about ME for me!
Back to the kids. Boiled eggs are an absolute FAV in our house, but my 2yo can clear a room with her farts afterwards! Our family takeout instances drastically decreased because eating at home was easier and cheaper, and you didn't wake up feeling "ugh". My kids even stopped asking for it, and wanted mums special home made chips. (My 1st attempt at homemade nuggets weren't as successful, with my 6yo telling me I needed to get a job at Maccas to learn how to make nuggets!).
My metabolism (and weight) changed because I reduced dietary sugar, increased healthy fat grazing, and started exercising.
3 things – that's it!
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I had a long history of participating in sports throughout my childhood and twenties, so I was relishing the sensation of air in my lungs and the endorphin rush that came with regular activity.
Run, Rachel, run…
With increasing fitness, I enjoyed pushing my upper limits regarding effort and time on feet.
The only problem was with increasing effort, yet still working a 60-hour week, mothering two kids, and being nice to my partner, I was forever falling to upper respiratory illness and muscle niggles! It was one week in, one week out!
I quickly realised that my previous pace and mileage were problematic. Despite how powerful my intellect (motivation) was, I could not tolerate more strenuous exercise.
I should mention my hunger. Exercise, harder exercise = hungry Rachel, and occasionally back towards the sugar! Damn it!
Insert Pampy's DTI intensity guide – my 'right' exercising effort. This totally changes the playing field. Initially, the easier pace (and effort) felt like I was plodding and was boring as hell. I would complain to Pampy about how slowly I thought I was moving. Does this guy not know how good I used to be?
8 WEEKS ON: I haven't been sick or hurt. I now get it! Go slow to go fast! The exercise is fruitless if I'm sick, injured, cranky or hungry. I DO NOT DEVIATE from my DTI now!
I monitor my slower conversational tempo via a heart rate monitor. I know I could run faster, but I don't. Further, at my DTI, I feel I could run with Forrest Gump.
Finally, I also throw in 3 x 10-minute strength exercises. A few squats, some push-ups & a bit of tummy work does the trick.
Check out Pampy's DTI intensity guide – CLICK HERE.
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Rachel Rules.
✅ Choose fulfilling earthly food (anything real) – and select protein first.
✅ Limit processed food (refined sugar & vegetable oil-based food), and
✅ Move, regularly – a few 'extra' heartbeats and air filling the lungs, followed by some strength work.
How do I know or recognise I could be slipping?
My sign & symptom checklist.
☐ I'm being drawn towards "make me feel good quickly food"?
☐ I think my sinus must be playing up.
☐ I need an extra coffee to kickstart the day.
☐ I would like to kill three people before 10 am – including one of my daughters.
☐ I don't care if my favourite dress feels tight.
If I am ticking more than 2/5, I need to redial Rachel Rules.
It's strange, but I now seem to tolerate the occasional blow out! Yay, Rach!
Once I found my groove, I stuck to it pretty steadfastly for some time. The incentive to continue comes from results – so you only have to do it for 7 – 10 days, and you WILL see results that will drive you to keep going – trust me!
One of my friends saw me post the weight loss and said – "you look great, how did you do it?,
please tell me it wasn't diet and exercise", I responded with "It was SIMPLY diet and exercise". It is simple and if I can do it, you can too.
Despite the fact that making poor choices is a part of it all, I am aware that breaking bad is absolutely essential for my long-term health.
Rachel.