Calories and Keto Part 2.......

​     As I mentioned last week, I've been thinking a lot about calories and precisely how many I can ingest and still lose weight. It appears that if I consume more than 1200 calories daily, I start gaining weight.  With a diet of 1200 calories, fats should constitute about 240 to 400 calories. One gram of fat is usually equivalent to 9 calories of fat. With that in mind, a person o a 1200-calorie diet should consume about 27 to 47 grams of fat.  A single tablespoon of butter contains twelve grams of fat, while a tablespoon of sour cream has two and a half grams.  Fat calories add up quickly but are an essential component of the keto diet. Therefore, while monitoring the calories, I must also include the correct amount of fat for keto. The deeper I'm into this diet, the more I learn.  When I finally figure it all out, my time will be up! I still have about fifteen pounds to lose and only a few months to accomplish that. I want to be fit and fancy by the end of September, but my chances of achieving my goal are slim. I might have to take some extreme measures. For example, I might move into fasting several days each week, and if I can manage that, I may lose weight more quickly and still meet my goal. In the meantime, I have not suffered while maintaining the keto diet. In fact, I've eaten delicious meals throughout this time. I've learned to create recipes that exclude refined carbohydrates, and I've been feeling very healthy for the past year and a half. I intend to make the keto diet part of my life, primarily because it controls the seizures and auras that have plagued me most of my life.  So even if I don't lose all the weight I wanted, I am fitter and healthier, and the seizures are no longer part of my life.  Therefore, I don't always feel as vulnerable as I once did. Since our visit to the doctor, Steve and I began drinking a statin smoothie daily instead of going on chemical statins, which can impact the liver negatively. Neither of us wants to take a chance like that, having seen what a damaged liver does to one's health.  I got the nutritional facts for each smoothie component before touting it as a keto-friendly addition. I make it with 2 cup spinach, 1 cup almond milk, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 1 tbsp hemp hearts, and 1 tbsp psyllium powder.  Feel free to add matcha green tea and a chunk of avocado if desired.  Bend the ingredients for several minutes.  Steve and I split the 200-calorie smoothie.  Hopefully, it will reduce our cholesterol which is on the brink of bad.  Also, I've decided I'd like to look less witch-like, so during the following weeks, I will begin researching how short of surgery, I might improve my looks.  It might not work out well at my age, but we'll see!