Bill and I have been on a keto journey since August 2020 and I have experienced what I would consider a success. I have lost over 60 pounds. Bill, on the other hand, has lost an astounding 165 pounds! People who see me every day don’t really notice that much of a difference in me. People don’t even recognize Bill. Honestly, sometimes if I am looking for him in a store, I don’t recognize Bill! It’s difficult not to feel a bit in the shadows of his success.
Comparing A Keto Journey
I know many people struggle with this. It is hard not to say, “Well, he lost 15 pounds in the first month of doing keto. Why am I not doing that?” But it’s so important to keep your story at the center of your keto journey. My story is not dissimilar to others’ stories. I was never small. As a teenager, I had a boyfriend who offered to buy me a whole new wardrobe if I could just lose 20 pounds. Yeah – he was a keeper – not!
In my mid to late 20’s, I was actually in really good shape. I was proud of the way I looked, although I still didn’t have tons of confidence. At that point, I weighed 180 pounds. In my 30’s things went south a bit, and I started gaining weight again. Finally, by the time we started keto, I weighed 230 pounds.
I Lost Over Two Feet
Today, I weigh in at 167 pounds. I have lost over 27 inches over my body in a little over a year. That’s over 2 feet of size gone! I have gone from an average size of 18 to a 12, and from a size 1X to a size medium. Those are amazing accomplishments! And yet, as Bill inches closer and closer to my weight, part of me panics and thinks that if he becomes smaller than I am, it means that my accomplishments mean little, however I know in my brain that’s ridiculous, but emotionally, it makes me feel a bit like a failure.
As women, we often compare ourselves to others. We look at other women and think, “She’s prettier than me, she’s smaller than me, she’s got better legs than I do.” When we go on diets with our significant others and they have more success than we do, we get frustrated and discouraged. It is so hard not to get into that cycle of putting ourselves down.
A Keto Journey is About Lifestyle
I try to remember that keto is about living a lifestyle. It is not about the weight loss, although that is a nice perk. It is about feeling better and gaining confidence in ourselves. It’s about having some control about what goes into our bodies. But keto doesn’t immediately give us a positive self-image or confidence.
I need to work on that part of this lifestyle. I am proud of myself. If I look at where I was and where I am now, and that has to be my comparison. It’s not about how I measure up to others. It has to be about my journey and my story.
Wendy
