One of my favorite podcasters, Jack Spirko over at The Survival Podcast, has started a new YouTube series describing his low-carb/keto journey. As I listened to his first video in the series, something that he said really spoke to me. He talked about how he’d used low-carb eating to get down to around 220 pounds, but then he started getting sloppy. Before he knew it, he’d gained back a decent bit of weight and his blood tests weren’t looking so great anymore.
Now, why would something like that speak to me specifically? Well, for those of you who’ve followed me through my journey, I think you know the answer to that question. Since starting my blog back back 2011, my weight has been as high as 291 and as low as 218. And over these past 8 years, I’ve known what to do and how to do it, but I haven’t always done what I needed to do for one reason or another. At the time, the reasons seemed like good reasons, but in the end, I think my struggles have been exacerbated by a lack of accountability.
This idea really sunk in for me when I was listening to Jack’s third episode. At the end, he thanked his audience for keeping him accountable. That simple expression of gratitude got me thinking about a few things.
As most of you know, I’m still struggling with some depression. So I’ve identified that, but now what? Having that knowledge doesn’t necessarily change things for me in the moment. It doesn’t mean that I’m suddenly going to feel motivation to do the things that don’t really feel like they matter. It doesn’t mean I’m going to suddenly find direction and meaning in the midst of these tough things that I’m processing right now. It does, however, mean that a fact exists for which I need a work-around because it’s getting in the way of me living my life to the fullest extent possible. It’s no different than my blindness really. The fact that I’m blind doesn’t mean I’m off the hook. It means that I have to push to figure out work-arounds to get me where I want to go. It means I have to think creatively, and it means I can’t give up!
As I let all this sink in, I started wondering how I can behave my way out of my current situation. How can I fake it ’til I make it? Inspired by an off-hand comment that a guy in a video made about accountability, everything came together all at once — keto on the cheap!
I know the path is a wandering one, but stick with me here. I’ve been eating badly for a while now, and that’s certainly not helping my mental health any. We’ve been spending money that we shouldn’t be spending on unhealthy yet delicious food, and those choices have added to my stress. I have to get my eating on track, and we have to get our food costs way down. Remember though, I’m dealing with depression that lies to me and tells me that food is the only thing I have to look forward to some days.
Now enter the idea of “keto on the cheap”. Letting go of carby foods scares the heck out of me right now, but sometimes those things that scare us are exactly the things that we need to do. So starting September 1, I will get back to a keto eating plan, and I won’t be flying by the seat of my pants. I will have a plan so that my physical, financial, and emotional needs are met, and I will update folks on social media for the purposes of accountability. Surely, I’m not the only one struggling this way, and by sharing my struggles transparently, if I can help just one person, it’ll be worth it to me.
There haven’t been too many things that I’ve been excited about recently, but I really think I can make something out of this idea, and in helping myself, hopefully I’ll help others as well. Stay tuned!
Related Links
- The Survival Podcast — one of my favorite podcasts
- Jack’s Low Carb Journey – Episode One — the first video in the series of videos that got me thinking