10 Weight Loss Tips and Losing Weight After Menopause—Here’s What’s Working (Plus a Q&A)

Are you struggling with losing weight after menopause?!

I still can't believe what I'm doing is actually working, I especially didn't think I could lose weight after menopause!  And honestly I'm a little afraid to put all of this out there because what if it stops working and the weight comes back on?  Those of you dealing with menopause or peri-menopause know:  this time of life can be quite the ride with our hormones constantly keeping us guessing.

Something in me thinks this will stick because my “head game” is different now.  

But if not, don't judge me and I won't judge you either, we're all just doing our best!  Even if you're not dealing with menopause, give yourself some grace.  Many of you have auto-immune issues or other health struggles that make this more difficult.  Others have deep longstanding habits that are not easy to break overnight.

So I'll share what I've been doing and some tips that help me and then if I miss anything, just ask in the comments and I promise to reply.

First the short version:

Before I tell the whole story, here's the short version:  I eat mostly keto/low-carb meals but not all by any means.  I do a lot of 24-hour fasts, but not every day.

In mid-January I decided it was time to get serious (after Kierstyn and I took a girl-trip to Florida and I saw cringy pictures of myself), but I knew that this needed to be sustainable and that losing weight would need to be slow for it to last.  So I told myself that I just needed to do something different every day.  That mindset kept it simple in my head and DOABLE.  It also helped me celebrate lots of little “wins” along the way.  Matthew Kelly says in his book, Perfectly Yourself: 9 Lessons for Enduring Happiness, that it's important to celebrate progress:  “There’s nothing more powerful than the way we speak to ourselves”.  We're all normally so hard on ourselves aren't we?

That's the short story, now I'll explain in more detail…

God is hilarious

I sort of think that this may be another instance of Him letting me deal with this (weight issues from menopause) so I could hopefully help all of YOU who are also struggling with stubborn weight.

He's done this many other times by giving me the craziest stuff to figure out and then share about to hopefully help YOU guys!  Stuff like:  when I got shingles, athletes foot, migraines, a UTI/kidney stone, a sort of depression, another time anxiety, and even ringworm.  When Kent had high blood pressure, Kasey got chicken pox, Kierstyn had lice.  When we had our vaccine mix-ups and doctor office run-ins…  Yep, there's been a lot!  Go here to see the whole list of natural remedies that I've figured out over the years.

Today I'll share with you what I've figured out so far about losing weight after menopause, along with blood sugar control, etc…….

Quick back-story

As most of you know, we've eaten pretty well here for many years now since my “food conversion” in 2004—mostly real, whole, nourishing foods, and my weight was fairly stable and I could eat as much as I wanted until lovely peri-menopause and then menopause came.  It's crazy how much our hormones affect everything you guys!  For years it was up and down depending on if I was cycling or not.  Whenever I was not, then 10# came on and I'd have more belly fat, then if I'd start up again things would level out.  According to Sally Fallon and also Dr. Berg, our little “gut”, as I not so lovingly call it, is needed for hormone production as we age.  But there's a limit!  And now that I'm officially in menopause, everything just stuck and I honestly thought that since I already ate mostly real foods that that's just how it was going to be, and that losing weight after menopause was not possible.

However, I had to get honest with myself:  our food is SO GOOD that I was eating too much of it, especially because my business requires a LOT of sitting on the computer so I'm not all that active for big parts of the day.  And besides, food is often our entertainment too since we're all foodies around here!

Sustainability

I didn't want to do what I'd done before:  hit it hard for a couple weeks eating ALL low-carb meals, zero sweets or bread, lose a few pounds, then slip back with an extra pound or two with it.  I think when you're too rigid and tell yourself you're “on a diet” or that you can never have (fill in the blank) again, it's likely not going to last; and when you cut out entire food groups, such as all grains or starches, when you do start eating them again you either can't tolerate them (do we lose the enzymes needed to digest them?) or again, you just gain more back later.

(By the way, I do think that some have health issues that can be resolved by eliminating certain trigger foods, and doing a month without sugar, gluten or dairy is a good way to find out.  HOWEVER, once you know if you do have food sensitivities, there's no reason to cut that food out forever.  Well, refined sugar should be cut out forever, but prob not gluten unless you have celiac disease. Instead I suggest you use homeopathy to try and overcome it.  People fix food intolerances all of the time with homeopathy—it's safe and it works!  Email me if you want more info:  [email protected].)

UPDATE:  What about safe starches?

A reader friend, Diane, suggested I re-read some articles from Paul Jaminet (author of The Perfect Health Diet)—he makes a good case for eating a small amount of carbs each day, such as potatoes (sweet potatoes and regular potatoes), white rice, bananas, berries and other fruits in moderation.  (I did this but not every day, plus I added sourdough in here and there as I've been experimenting with my starter and got this perfected!)

• Here's the article about safe starches
• And this follow up Q&A.
• One more with clarifications on those with diabetes or pre-diabetes.
• And here's where Paul Jaminet talks about how good it is for us to fast (he suggests 6-hour fasts).

So here are my 10 best weight loss tips and what I'm doing:

1. This is HUGE and you'll hear me mention it here a lot, especially when it comes to losing weight after menopause:  “Do something different every day”—there's a lot more on this below.
2. For quite a while now I've been fine with doing 24-hour fasts (read about my 5-day fast here, that was too long!), but only did them on Fridays.  Now I do them at least 3 days a week, sometimes 4 or 5.  Yep, that means one meal a day, so you'll need to be sure your one meal is nutrient-dense with protein and plenty of healthy fats like butter and cheese, and maybe some low-carb vegetables.  If you're not used to fasting for so long, you'll probably need to work up to this.  (Here's my new post on how to make fasting easier!)  ***One important key is not to pig out for that one meal and just eat normal or even better, eat mostly keto/low-carb.  (If you subscribe to my newsletter, you can get a free keto cookbook, just pay shipping.)  You'll hear me say this a lot:  I'm not rigid about this though.  Mostly I stick to it but once in a while if I want eggs and bacon on a fast day, I have it.  I'm learning to listen to my body more, but not so much that I give into cravings.  (Update:  nowadays Kent & I do a 48 hour fast once/week–it's a good reset for our cells and gives us more chances to pray!)
3. I've also been eating keto/low-carb meals off and on, but now I eat them much more consistently, while at the same time not writing off sweets or grains completely and forever, in order to make this sustainable.  More details about this below too.
4. One thing I've been doing since beginning in mid-January is being diligent about taking my supplements every single day, here's what I take, I've listed them in the order of importance (in my opinion), so if you can't swing them all, at least do the first few:
   • 2 of these probiotics.  The better your gut health is, the easier it is to be successful because the amount and type of healthy bacteria in your gut directly affects how well each meal satiates you (makes you feel full) and it also helps you have less cravings.  Read more here:  Do probiotics help with weight loss?  
   • Also for gut health:  I take this colostrum and slip it into recipes a lot too.  That company also makes weight loss products.  Many people love them but I haven't tried yet because I hate swallowing pills.  Here's what one of my friends said:
     • 1 Vitamin K2 with food, so if I'm fasting that's just 1 a day, if I eat earlier I take one with that meal too—here's why I do NOT miss taking these either.  (Hint, it has to do with kidney stones!)
     • 2 of these liver detox/support caps—because liver health is HUGE when it comes to blood sugar regulation.  (Also use the code KOP for a discount.)
     • 2 Vitamin B complex—also good for regulating blood sugar, for mood, memory, energy, a metabolism boost, and building up the immune system.  This is good to take especially when eating less grains.
     • I take CLO daily, and more if I've eaten a lot of nuts or nut butters and I feel anxious—I can tell when my omega-6/omega-3 ratio is off because the whole family irritates me, lol.  More about my all-natural chill-pill here.
     • I'm not sure if these next two made a difference or not, it could've been a huge part but I just don't know.  I started taking these because the doc where I have my thermograms recommended them due to a questionable area (nothing worrisome she said, we just need to keep an eye on it) and apparently these help to regulate estrogen: 1 each of this one and this one.  I don't know how much they affect my hormones though since I still have the mild hot flashes the same as I have for years.
     • 2 of these desiccated liver caps—because liver is so nutrient-dense and we don't eat enough.  I wanted my body to have all the nutrients it needs to be healthy while I was trying to drop some weight.
5. I eat raw sauerkraut with dinner a few times a week—I try to remember every day.  I have loved it more the more I eat it, it's like my body knows I need it or something and it just hits the spot.  Thanks to the WAPF I've known for years that I should do this, but only remembered sporadically, however now that I'm being more consistent, I do think it has something to do with my weight loss.  Whether it's the nutrients, the natural probiotics, the enzymes, who knows!  But everyone really should eat some raw fermented foods with every meal.  I have always had great digestion, but if you don't, even more reason you should do this.  (Kent's brother Kip made us a BUNCH not long ago and I'm so grateful!)  “Many sources say raw fermented foods are beneficial to the digestive system by increasing the healthy flora in the intestinal tract or creating the type of environment for them to flourish. Sauerkraut and its juice are traditional folk remedies for constipation. Fermentation actually increases nutrient values in the cabbage, especially vitamin C. Fermented foods are also said to facilitate the breakdown and assimilation of proteins. They have a soothing effect on the nervous system.”  (From Sauerkraut: The Miracle Cabbage)
6. Does grocery store meat make you fat?  That post explains more, but basically, just as we have for years, we prioritize safe, healthy, pastured meats instead of conventional/grocery store/factory meat, because those animals are fed a diet to fatten them up faster, and that's exactly what it'll do to us too.  Mostly we buy from our local farmers and local butcher (who buys from local farms), but if you can't find a good local source for safe meat, you can buy it online here.  (I know and trust the owner there, use the code KOP for a discount.)
7. I avoid toxic skincare with endocrine disrupting ingredients that cause weight gain.  (Here's what I use instead.)
8. The hardest tip and the one you will like the least:  sometimes you just have to be okay with being hungry.  Lots of times you will hear people talking about their weight loss and say, “I never even felt hungry!”, but especially at first before your stomach shrinks a little and you fill up quicker, you WILL feel hungry.  You'll feel hungry when you're fasting too (especially if you need to feed the rest of your family and you smell the food!), but unless you're a child, you're pregnant or nursing, or you're malnourished (which is a very rare), that's okay, because that's when your body goes into fat-busting mode! (Dr. Fung also says to consult a doctor before fasting if you have gout, diabetes 1 or 2, if you take medications, or if you have gastroesophageal disease.)  Here's what I do:
   • Just acknowledge it, “Yep, I'm hungry, it won't kill me”.
   • Say a prayer:  I say, “Jesus I hunger for you more than food,” and then pray for someone who has REAL problems.  (That might be you, and if so, lean on Him instead of food to satisfy you.  It's not always easy, I know—give yourself grace and keep working at it.)
   • Get busy doing something else.  Go for a walk, go learn something new, or even better:  go help someone in need!  Just do something.  That's easy for me because I'm never bored.  I'm jealous of you peeps on quarantine who are actually bored!
9. I've been walking more as I can, see below for more details on how much exercise actually plays into weight loss.
10. I've been better the last few years about getting to bed earlier, not always perfect, but so much better than I used to be.  Partly this is because I know how important it is, not just for weight loss but for all areas of our health, but ALSO because another thing about menopause:  I just get tired earlier!  I'm so much more fresh in the morning anyway and more efficient.

You know yourself best, but what works best for me is to not be too rigid about any of this.  Remember it needs to be sustainable.  More about this below too.  I know I keep saying that, but there's lots to cover here!

More about this:   “Do something different every day”

One of my favorite quotes by Susan Jeffers (which applies to all areas of life):  “If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.”  So I knew that in order for real long-term change to happen I had to just do something different every day…

Here are some specifics on what I mean by that, along with how my day-to-day looked:

• If I'm making the family spaghetti, I eat mine with zoodles.  (Spiralized zucchini)  This is pretty yummy and if you don't want to mess with spiralizing them, you can buy them like that and just fry them for a few minutes in butter with a little garlic.  In the beginning if it looked enticing and I really wanted some pasta I'd eat a very small bowl of it with lots of butter of course, because that's still very different than my normal big bowl, but it's crazy how I haven't even wanted it lately and I'm normally a huge pasta lover. Over time cravings really do subside, it's nuts how that actually works!
• If Kierstyn or Kasey whip up a batch of brownies or chocolate chip cookies and the house smells amazing, I have one.  This is very different than my norm of eating a bunch of the dough and then having 2-3 when they're warm and fresh out of the oven.  It feels like “cheating”, but it's much less carbs than in the past.
• If I make homemade rolls for the fam I'll have ONE if I want it, with a lot of butter (made with part einkorn flour which is better).  But yesterday I made Kent cinnamon raisin rolls that he asked for and I didn't even want one, and not just because raisins are gross, because I made half without.  Again, less cravings are a thing.  (Also, I make these keto rolls for the whole family more often because everyone loves them!) Overall I'd say I have 1-2 servings a week of bread, and I actually do that on-purpose because again, I don't want to cut out a whole food group and have my body wig-out on me later when I have it again and not be able to handle it.  So if I haven't had a bread in a while I'll have an egg on toast.  (We get fermented bread from our local baker.  But also I'm working on a homemade einkorn sourdough right now since you can't find yeast anywhere due to stupid Covid, and also sourdough is such a good-for-you bread!  Problem is, it's also tricky finding einkorn flour or any flour right now!  Update:  I nailed it!  Here's my easy sourdough instructions and here's how to make my beautiful sourdough boule!)
• If I make Alfredo or some type of meat and white sauce for the family over rice or pasta (I feed 6 hungry people every night and need a starch to fill them up!), I'll still have mine with the same meat, white sauce (made with a little einkorn flour), and cheesy yumminess, but over lightly steamed cauliflower instead and it's SO tasty.
• I went to a baby shower a while back and had one piece of the yummy quiche plus some fruit—this was not exactly low-carb but it was very different for me because I wanted to go back for more quiche plus I wanted about 5 of the yummy-looking mini cupcakes, but I had zero.  The more I told myself no and had some self-control, the better I felt about myself and the easier it became.  Not to mention that I had more “wins” in my mind and the weight was coming off!
• Often I'll make keto meals that are good on their own for me and I can just add rice for the family, like with this cashew chicken.  Or when Kasey made sesame orange chicken one day, I had the sauce separately and dipped chicken into a little bit of it—even though that did have a flour (einkorn) coating on it and the sauce had some sugar.  But when the family had it over pasta, I just had the chicken and vegetables.

• If Kent and Kal (our oldest son) are having Moscow Mules on the deck, I'll have one too but instead of vodka, lime, and ginger soda, I'll have HALF the ginger soda and the rest sparkling lime water.  It's still a treat, and besides, everything tastes sweeter when you're not eating as many sweets!  Or if I want a glass of wine, I enjoy this keto/no-sugar wine guilt-free.  If we're at friends' I'll have half my normal pour and sometimes fill it up more with sparkling fruit water.  (Zero calories and no fake sweeteners, it's just sparkling/fizzy fruit-flavored water.)  These options make it still an enjoyable moment, but less sugar than normal.  Other times I'll have JUST the sparkling water, but in a wine glass.  🙂

• When we're going somewhere and I need to make a dessert (back before quarantine!) I'd play with the recipe to make it with only unrefined sugar if possible or at least less sugar, and then I'd limit my taste-testing and only have one piece.  Or for Easter I made a lemon bar dessert from this cookbook that was AMAZING and had only 13 carbs per serving.  Even when I was “bad” and had THREE, it still wasn't anywhere near the carbs in a normal lemon bar.  Note that I don't use no-calorie sweeteners, I'm just not sure how I feel about those or if they might actually just react like real sugar in your body anyway?  And the only time I've ever had good luck with stevia was in this beverage.  I've heard good things about monk fruit sweetener but haven't tried it.  Mostly I just use maple syrup or palm sugar as a replacement and use less of it and/or eat less of what I make.
• Same when we have a meal with barbecue sauce.  I don't make the versions that you see online with fake chemical sweeteners, I just eat a little bit of it AND I'm not having the starch with the meal like the rest of the family is, so that's still very different for me.  (So if the family has barbecue chicken, rice, and broccoli, I'd have the same only no rice and just a little of the BBQ, which is homemade with unrefined sugar.  Or if the family has it with potatoes, I might have only half a potato or have mine with a sweet potato instead which has a lower glycemic index—serving it with lots of butter helps that too!)
• One night we had a bunch of apples to use up before they went bad so I made cinnamon buttery apples with maple syrup—I just had a small serving and was satisfied with that because it felt like a “cheat” to have any at all.  It's such a head game!
• Usually if I have a sweet tooth after dinner, instead of making a dessert like I might have in the past, I'll pop a couple of these butter mints into my mouth.

• This keto chocolate almond bark is also a great option to keep in the freezer for a quick grab if you have a craving.  The sea salt makes it extra satisfying!

• If we have tacos or burgers, I'll just have mine as a salad, I don't miss a bun or a tortilla at all.  Here's more about my “Bunless Burger Bonanaza with a secret ingredient.” 🙂  Adding this part later:  lately when Kent makes his smashburgers, and the bun is grilled with butter and the cheese is crispy and melting all over, THEN I'll still have a bun!
• Just so you know I'm not always sparkly at this, at one point Kierstyn made creme brûlée twice in one week because she was trying to perfect it as part of an assignment from her chef school.  That stuff is my FAV so I had small dish.  Thankfully it's not TOO bad as far as desserts go, because it has so many healthy fats to lower the glycemic index, plus she made it with maple syrup instead of refined sugar.  This would’ve been fine but after a couple days when no one ate up the big dish still in the fridge, I scarfed it down and enjoyed every bite!  I also had a few lower-carb berries on top:  blueberries and raspberries.
• Last night for dinner Kierstyn made hollandaise sauce for another school project and the family had it with cinnamon rolls too, but here was my plate (plus we had this Napa salad)—it's not like eating this way is a hardship!

• Watch my stories on Facebook (@KellytheKitchenKop) and/or Instagram (@KitchenKop), where I’ll often post what the family and I are eating.
• Get lots more recipe ideas below and don't forget to get the free keto cookbook by signing up for my newsletter here. (Just pay shipping.)

Be firm in your “why”

The reason I'm so committed isn't only vanity (but of course that's part of it), what keeps me thinking of this as a long term thing is that I do NOT want to get diabetes—my Mom had diabetes, some aunts and uncles and all of my siblings have it too, and I just don't want to go there if I don't have to!  Once you start down that train then it means meds with side effects that make everything even more difficult.  My A1C was still not terrible BUT it was starting to creep up and that freaked me out.  My fasting blood sugar and post-prandial (after a meal) numbers also weren't as low as they should be.  But these days they're awesome and I know once I check my A1C again that will be better too!  (Update:  my A1C in January was 5.8, which was getting dangerously close to the diabetes zone.  I checked it again in late August and it was 4.8!!!!!)

Exercise

As good as exercise is for shaping your body and also for stress relief (walking always gives me such a good perspective on life!), when it comes to weight loss, what you EAT makes much more of a difference!  In my early 40's when I started running, I think it helped my shape and appearance overall but I never lost weight.  Mostly I just walk nowadays because it's easier on my joints.  (Adding this later:  I now also LOVE pickleball and biking, find what you love!)

But I also try to “do something different” with exercise too.  For example, besides trying to get out and walk more often, lately I've been walking downtown and going up a HUGE hill.  Then getting back home means more hills.  Or we've gone on some family hikes recently that are on more difficult terrain so that switches things up too.  Or I might break out in a run if I feel like it here and there, just because I can.

My goal is to be out there daily and most weeks I make that happen because I love it and get so much done while walking, but if things with my business are nutty that week it might only be 1-2 times.  Again, I give myself grace, but on these beautiful spring days I can't wait to get out there and soak up the sun.

Because I thrive on multi-tasking, I often pray while walking, or walk with a friend, or call friends or family to catch up.  I also listen to podcasts and audiobooks, or even read or watch videos on my phone—ask me how embarrassing it is to wipe out while doing that though, ugh.  It takes practice to get better at it and walking on safer, flat surfaces helps!  I make sure to sometimes just look around a bit and thank God for everything and enjoy the moment or the changing seasons.

The more I do it the more I enjoy it and the better I feel, so then I want to be out there even more!

Maintaining

Moving forward I may or may not lose more weight.  I actually would've been geeked with just losing 10#, but now I'm at 18# and counting.  (About a month later I'm at 22# down now.)   Mostly I plan to stick to what I've been doing to keep my blood sugar healthy and if more weight comes off or not, it's okay.  If I have a day that isn't AS different as I'd like, I won't freak out, I'll just fast more for few days and watch the carbs so it'll level off again.

What I'm loving!

• I love that I've lost inches too, so all of those tops that were too tight for a few years after the menopause weight hit, well now I can wear them again.  I was so close to putting them in the donation pile!  (No more constantly sucking in my stomach either.)
• I love that I put shorts on recently and went for a walk and they didn't ride up on my inner thighs and make me CRAZAY.
• I'm actually excited to shop for a bathing suit for this summer and not hate it.  (It's not that I'll have a hot-babe body or anything, obviously, but that's not my goal.  I just don't want so much padding that makes everything look OFF and makes me feel frumpy.)
• I could still wear size 8 pants before but they were getting tight; I found some size 6 shorts in my drawer yesterday that fit great, and then I went shopping and some size 4 shorts fit!
• One more:  I don't see back-fat anymore when wearing sleeveless shirts.  🙂
• Best of all is when I check my blood sugar levels and they're right where I want them.

Your Questions

I'll answer a few questions here that some of you asked and that I didn't already cover above…

• “How much do hormones affect weight loss?“

As mentioned above, hormones HUGELY impact our weight, BUT I've learned that diet (fasting & keto/low-carb) CAN override it.

• “How do you find an accurate scale?“

I've had trouble with this too.  For several years I thought I was one weight 'til I went to the doctor and it said I was 6# higher—this matched my sister's scale too, I was so ticked!  So then I went through a couple more before I found one that was accurate, this is the one I have now.

• “Is it possible to get rid of saddlebags? Diet, exercise, nothing seems to work!”

I'll bet if you do everything I've explained you can lose inches in your hips and thighs too!  I've lost inches all over, including there.  You may have to change up what you're doing and be even more “different”.

• “Do you count your calories or macros?“

Nope, I don't feel like that's sustainable, not for me anyway.  If you need to do that just so you're sure you're not eating too many carbs or calories then you can probably just get used to doing it and it's no big deal, but since I was losing anyway, I just kept doing what worked and didn't mess with that.  (Adding this later:  I'm now doing that just because it feels like a fun challenge each day to get it where I want.  See this new post/video for more on that:  What do you eat and why are you counting calories?!)

• “What do you do when eating out, especially if it's a not great restaurant?“

This was before quarantine, but here's what I did then…  I try to find good choices, but if I can't then I just eat less of it.  For example if we're at some friends' and they're serving pizza, then I'll just have one piece.  That's another example of how to keep this sustainable.  I know that never eating pizza again isn't realistic, maybe it is for some, but I want to be able to have a piece if I want it.  Plus I really don't want to become a high maintenance dinner guest.

We also have a favorite restaurant and a dish that I LOVE there, I loved this even before I was watching my carbs more:  grass-fed sausage with sauerkraut, it's so good.  Along with a yummy salad as an appetizer and one glass of wine, it's still a pretty enjoyable night out!  What's different about that?  Normally I'd have two glasses of wine first of all.  I also wouldn't normally choose a lower-carb meal.  AND we often get dessert when we go out.  Don't get me wrong, I still plan to get dessert sometimes, especially if it's my favorite creme brûlée!  I'll also still have the bread that's served to the table if I want it.  Sometimes I won't care, but if I do, I'll have one piece!  If I keep up with the fasting and mostly keto meals for much of the week, I won't have to be so strict ALL of the time.

Again, catch my newer post here:  How to make fasting easier.

• “I think the hardest part would be still having to cook for my family and not eating it. And I love to bake too!”

I also love to bake, mostly because I love sweets, so I've had to just NOT for the most part.  Sometimes the kids still bake and then I just have a taste or one cookie or whatever and then get away from the kitchen.  If I do need to make a dessert to take somewhere or for special occasions, again, I just think of it as a challenge to make a lower-carb version that still tastes amazing without using fake sugars.  Even if it does still have sugar, making it with less and then also eating less of it is still different.

As far as having to cook for the family, think of it as a challenge to come up with meals that are adaptable like I talked about above.  Sometimes that's not possible though.  For example if they're having carby leftovers.  So in that case I'll either just have a very little bit of it, or I'll make myself something else like a yummy salad with chicken or maybe some of this yummy buffalo cauliflower, or if I'm busy I'll just have celery and peanut butter or some ham or turkey rollups!

• “I come from a family who all really love food!!  Can we still enjoy food?“

Of course, God made it enjoyable because we need to eat to live, but just as you've heard before, we shouldn't live to eat, so I’ve had to tone that down in my own mind.

However, it's tricky as a Mom because we have to think about food every day!

I do still love food though, so if I'm hungry and get thinking about eating, as I said above, I'll think of it as a challenge to do some meal planning.  I'll look at keto cookbooks or these meal plans, and get ideas for meals I can make that will be tasty, plus easy to adapt so I can add a starch for the fam to fill them up.

• “I try to fast but then I'm SO hungry that I eat as much in that one meal as I normally would in a whole day!“

That's exactly why fasting before never really made a difference for me weight-wise.  I even sort of knew this after running into my friend Amanda at a conference a couple of years ago.  She has the Eat Like a Bear site where she tells how she lost 140#—she told me she was losing well by eating one meal a day and that the one meal was a huge salad with some type of meat on it.  I remember thinking, “She's crazy!  I can eat one meal a day, but one big salad won't cut it!”  However, now I do that often and am quite happily satisfied.  As I keep saying, it's all a head game!

Portion control is huge but remember, over time you actually do feel full more quickly.  (Again these probiotics and this colostrum, along with the sauerkraut with meals or other fermented foods like kefir, all help with that because they're building up your healthy gut flora.)

Portion control isn't always easy, especially because real food is so GOOD, and also at first after fasting all day you’ll be hungry!  You may be like me, that you used to be able to eat anything you wanted with no issues.  It's not like I drank soda pop at all or had sweets often, and I thought that since I was “eating real food” and “not eating that much” I'd be fine, but I definitely was still eating too much for my activity level and stage in life, i.e. menopause!

But I've learned that self control can change your life

Self discipline can help EVERY area of your life actually.  So the answer is at the same time so simple yet so difficult:  if it's a fast day just don’t eat when you're hungry.  Stop eating even if you're not completely full.  Get busy doing something else. Tell yourself no.  I think food was at least a slight addiction for me, so I get it.  But I don’t want my cravings to control ME.  Learn to be okay with being hungry, most of us don’t even know what that’s LIKE to be hungry and haven't skipped a meal ever!  You have to want to lose weight and be healthy more than you want to be full all of the time, and until you do, probably nothing will work. 

For more on how self control can change every aspect of your life, read this book, especially chapter 6 called, “Beyond Instant Gratification“:  Perfectly Yourself: 9 Lessons for Enduring Happiness.

Any more questions?

I’ll answer every single comment (or private email if you’d rather)—I always do, especially for those who are part of my “Kitchen Kop Krew” who get my newsletters (you get lots of free stuff for signing up, plus I share more personal stuff over there).

Help me back?

Phew!  This was a long post with over 6800 words and it took me several days to write.  I also wrote two more posts to go along with it:  Do probiotics help with weight loss? and How to make fasting easier.

If the info here helps you at all and you'd like to help me back, you could either use this tip jar (thank you!), or remember me when you're looking for clean, non-toxic makeup and skincare, and when you need to replenish supplements here or here—because when you buy through those links or any links via my shop page it helps me a little and I'm grateful!

FAV KETO RECIPES!

• I love this cream cheese dip with veggies or with the parmesan cheese whisps from Costco—the crunch and taste are satisfying and there's only ONE ingredient in them.

• BEST Keto Salad that Cuts Cravings

• Buffalo Cauliflower with Feta Ranch Dip—Kierstyn and I fight over this stuff.

• Egg Roll in a Bowl from my friend Mary Jo, so yummmmmmm

• Find all of my keto/low-carb recipes here.
• This post has a bunch of low-carb foods I love, although they're all no grains AND no dairy, but I do eat a little of both of those.

Share your thoughts about all of this below!

More you might like:

• Do probiotics help with weight loss?

• If you're a wine drinker this is keto/low-sugar wine is so worth it.  🙂

• Walking vs. running and how walking brought my peace back

• How to Eat Carbs Safely and Lower the Glycemic Index of the Foods You Love

• Lowering stress and anxiety by realigning your priorities

• Weight Loss, the Right Way {Scary Stories of Bariatric Surgery and Should We “Just Exercise More”?}

• Sally Fallon's tips on weight loss

• Could THIS be the reason for gluten sensitivity epidemic?!

• Should We Embrace Our Muffin Top?!

• For the record, you probably know that I’m normally not into “weight loss products”, but here's what my friend used and she lost 4″ from her tummy area in 2.5 months with no change in her diet!  So if you want to check it out, find what she used here.  Here's what she said about how she took it:
  • In the morning on an empty stomach I take 3 Leptitrim6 daytime capsules & 4 Flex6 capsules.
  • An hour later I put the following in my blender (and sometimes add ice because I love it very cold) and blend well: 2 scoops of the vanilla shake, 2 tablespoons of powdered colostrum, 1 packet each of LimuZ and Siesmic, & 10 drops or so of OxyQuest.
  • Then before bed I take one scoop of the nighttime Leptitrim6, again in the blender with cold water or water + ice.”
  • Note that she didn’t start these all at once but worked up to it in the weeks prior.
  • I asked, “How does it taste?”  She said, “I look forward to it, I enjoy it. By the way, there’s a lot of flavor in the 2 packets (LimuZ & Seismic), so I’m not sure they would work with chocolate. That’s why I love the vanilla.”
  • (Note that if you’re a normally sensitive person to new things, you’ll want to take that into consideration, same as with anything new.)
  • You can check out the weight loss pack here, or get products individually–just click “shop now” and look around. (You save $184 in the pack though.)
  • You’ll also get free shipping on your first order.
  • Be sure to take “before” photos!!

• More posts on fasting and keto are here.