My Own Personal Iowa

"If you build it they will come" is like, the #3 most famous movie line ever (behind, I would argue, "We're gonna need a bigger boat" and "Life is like a box of chocolates.")  In Field Of Dreams, Kevin Costner builds a baseball field in the middle of Iowa and a bunch of dead players come to play the game. People drive to Iowa from all over to watch them. Now obviously this is fiction because people won't even drive to their local ball parks to watch baseball- they sure as hell are not driving to Iowa for it. In the movie, the ghost baseball games are just as agonizingly long and I didn't see a single beer vender. Wait, I'm straying here....

The keto diet is SO attractive to many because it requires no exercise. You can literally watch hundreds of pounds drop in a year or 2  without ever getting up off your sofa. I see these people and their before/after pics all the time on my keto forums. It's crazy and surreal, but it actually works. In fact- many people find weight loss SLOWS when they add exercise. I'm no nutritionist or body coach so I can't begin to explain why this is but use that magical tool Google and you can catch the low-down. So does this mean all people who do keto do not work out? NO. I've observed many do opt to work out, some become serious gym rats. Some are serious runners. Others incorporate HIIT training into their plans. Others opt for milder but regular exercise like walking. It can slow loss, but it isn't going to stop it. Despite anything anyone on any diet tells you the FIRST LAW of thermodynamics, the most basic part of physics, is that calories in-calories out matters. If you eat at a caloric deficit you WILL lose weight. Anyone who says they're not is either miscounting their calories in or miscounting their calories out. Now there are metabolic disorders that can have an effect, so this is applied to your average normal semi-healthy (hard to say healthy when we're overweight) person. We also know that lean body mass (muscle) takes up less space on your body than fat. You can weigh the exact same weight as the person next to you and be fat while they appear lean and strong. All of this can make exercise an attractive option for many on keto.

So up to this point, almost 3 months in, I have had very little exercise beyond walking. I was losing just fine. Here's the thing. I've been building my own private Iowa. My field of dreams is in my gut, my thighs, my neck. And it's taking shape. And now it wants a little sport. The more I lose, the better my natural cardio rhythm is- I don't get winded anymore doing normal stuff like stairs. I have these bursts of energy too and I WANT to move more. So this past week I started moving more. Just basic toning moves- squats, planks, sissy push ups... and turning to my little home gym - treadmill and bike... and introducing more hiking on hillier and longer trails. My weight loss may slow down at this point, I'm a little nervous about it... but I'm also excited about the idea of toning up and and pulling smaller measurements in my thighs and arms. I will be sure to let you all know how this impacts my journey from here out.

Right now? I feel good! 

And for a quick food round up, Mothers Day meant keto pancakes for breakfast and a ribeye steak with fried radishes for dinner. Everything was delicious as usual! You can't go wrong with keto pancakes and ribeye steak I guess. ;-)

Re the radishes, since I haven't tried these before- just sliced and pan fried in butter with some garlic, salt and pepper. They lose their radishy taste. I didn't think they tasted exactly like potatoes- but they were okay. I feel like these are a side I will have to eat a few more times to really get used to and appreciate because I didn't love them, but they were tolerable. 

Keto on, even in Iowa!