
All 30 years of my life, my fluctuating weight has been a source of angst and overall uneasiness for me. Even as a child, I’d dread physicals and checkups, knowing that I’d hear the same refrain: “You need to lose weight.” In my preteens I’d already been on SlimFast (didn’t work out so well), and in my late teens, I successfully lost 50 pounds, due to spending my whole summer with my vegan mother. Still, maintaining that weight loss proved to be a challenge as the worries of being a grown-up weighed on me. I later deserted my lifestyle changes and began to lean heavily on my emotional drug -- food. The weight gain didn’t hesitate to follow.
Postpartum, managing my weight became a horse of a different color. Before, I always knew that I could shed a few pounds with diet change and working out. But now, after pregnancy and a C-section, I had to be more sedentary than I’d ever been. If not, my incision wouldn’t heal. I’d lost a good amount of weight after birth, but it didn’t last long. I could barely move. Even now, I know my body isn’t the same as it once was. Because of this, I couldn’t rely as heavily on working out to get my body in the shape I’d like it to be in.
“Abs are made in the kitchen.” “Weight loss is 75 percent diet, 25 percent exercise.” I’m sure everyone’s heard these quotes before. This gives rise to the many popular diets that claim to help people lose tens of pounds in a matter of weeks. Even without the exercise, the diets themselves appear to help quickly burn fat. All over YouTube, my favorite influencers’ bodies are melting rapidly and they all attribute it to one diet: the ketogenic diet. It seems to be a new and improved version of low-carb diets, like the Atkins diet. For moms who are interested, or already practicing the keto diet, here are some yummy recipes that can be prepared in 30 minutes or less.