I've been on the keto diet for around two months now. So I figured now would be a good time to come back around and tell you all how I did on my second month on the keto diet.

You may recall that before I started the keto diet, I had ballooned to a new high weight of 393.8 pounds. I lost about 18 pounds pretty quickly in my first month on the keto diet. Now at the end of month two, I'm happy to say that I've lost another 10 pounds. That's a combined loss of 28 pounds in two months, which brings me down to 365.8 pounds!

Now looking back on the last 60 days, those number sound great, but believe me those pounds were hard fought and I learned a lot of things about myself and about the keto diet along the way.

Lesson 1: Weight Loss on Keto is NOT Linear

The first thing I learned is that weight loss on keto is not as linear as it is on other diet methods. While those first 18 pounds just seemed to melt away, the next 10 pounds came in fits and sarts. I stalled multiple times in my second month. After doing some research, I think there are a couple of reasons for this.

Some keto dieters have reported experiencing something they've dubbed Post Induction Stall Syndrome (don't make it into an acronym!). Basically this is just a term that some have used to label a phenomenon that many have experienced where they experience weight loss stalls leading into or immediately after getting fat adapted. (It typically takes about 6-8 weeks of eating keto to achieve full fat adaptation).

This was really unnerving for me psychologically. I found myself comparing my progress this time around to other times where I had attempted to lose weight and on a week over week basis, I definitely felt like I was lagging behind significantly. Zooming out to view my progress over the last two months, I'm definitely on par for matching the speed with which I lost weight the last time around, but I gotta tell you that in the moment it felt excruciatingly slow.

Lesson 2: Know Your Numbers

The reason this happens is because - unlike other diets, the ketogenic diet is primarily a healing process. As you ratchet down the carbohydrates you consume, you're giving your body a chance to heal from what could potentially be years or decades of insulin resistance. This process doesn't happen overnight, and even though you may not see progress on the scale, behind the scenes, your body is doing some pretty miraculous things to heal the damage wreaked on it by the standard western diet.

That said, in order to truly wrap my brain around what was happening, I took comfort in digging into the science to convince the rational side of my brain that all the effort was worth it, even though it wasn't reflecting on the scale.

I would have weeks where I would totally nail my calorie deficits and nail my macros and still not post any significant loss for the week. There were days where I did everything right and I posted a gain for the following day.

But all the while I just had to keep reminding myself that my blood pressure was lowering, my fasting blood glucose had gone from pre-diabetic to normal, my anxiety was gone, my eczema was clearing up, my chronic snoring had been cured and my liver enzyme was back in the normal range after my doctor said that I might have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Knowing my biomarkers were all marching in the right direction was a huge comfort for me. So if you're looking into doing the keto diet, I'd highly recommend getting a full blood panel run before you start and tracking your progress as you go alone. It will help to ground you in the fact that you're making enormous progress even if it's not reflecting on the scale.

Lesson 3: Get Through the Hump (Fat Adaptation Period)

Many people start keto hoping for immediate results. And many people get it in the first couple weeks after their body dumps all its glycogen stores. But many don't stick with it long enough to experience the truly amazing things that happen on the other side of full fat adaptation.

For me, one of the things that probably contributed to the fact that I wasn't losing weight as fast as I wanted to was the fact that I got another gout attack in the second month. I knew this was possibility before I started keto. In fact, it was a doozy of a gout attack that gave me the push I needed to start to get healthy again. The risk for gout attacks does increase as you're beginning the process of getting fat adapted, but then studies suggest that the risk decreases after you're fully adapted.

Even though I did experience multiple attacks in my first 60 days on the keto diet, they much less intense in terms of duration and severity. That said, I did fall into the trap of taking some allopurinol during one of the attacks, which led to definitive weight gain the very next day. This only served to strengthen my conclusion that allopurinol accelerates weight gain, at least for me specifically, and so I decided to stop using the medication and treat the condition with natural remedies. Over time, my body did heal and I'm now feeling better than ever. Here's to hoping that I don't experience any more gout attacks now that I'm fully fat adapted.

Lesson 4: Eat More, Less Often

Something I was surprised to learn was that I had more success with eating more calories, but eating less frequently. I had previously been shooting for just under 2,000 calories per day and had not been very strict about intermittent fasting in the evenings. In the last weeks of the second month, I started consuming about 2,300-2,500 calories, but limiting my consumption to an 8 hour window with a strict 16 hour fasting period every day. As long as I hit my macros within those calorie and time limits, I was almost guaranteed a weight loss for the next day.

Lesson 5: Carbs Hate Some People More Than Others

I also learned that I might only be able to tolerate around 20 grams of total carbs per day. Many on the keto diet can stay in ketosis by shooting for 30 or so grams of net carbs per day. But it wasn't until I started getting aggressive about cutting out carbs and achieved consistently less than 20 grams of total carbs per day that I started seeing consistent results.

Achieving that level of carb restriction took a lot o intentionality. I ended up cutting back on things like broccoli and replacing it with things like macadamia nuts which are calorie dense and have a high fat content. That said, I did notice greater satiety the more I restricted carbs and favored fat and protein.

Lesson 6: Keto Cures Stress. Whiskey Doesn't.

That last thing I noticed about myself that was pretty unexpected was that I found that I just don't have as much of a taste for alcohol now that I'm on keto. I'm not morally or philosophically opposed to have alcohol, and I know that many on the keto diet enjoy adult beverages from time to time, but I just found that I didn't feel like I needed or wanted to have a drink at any point in the second month. That's saying something for me, because prior to starting this diet, I would look forward to pouring myself a stiff one at the end of the week. But I think being on keto has helped me to better manage my stress. And now that I've experienced how clear headed and pain-free life can feel when I'm in an un-inflamed state...I just don't feel myself reaching for whiskey glass as often anymore.

Lesson 7: Keto is Journey, Not a Destination

Moving forward, I don't know if I'm going to hold myself to time based check ins like I used to. Being on keto, I've realized for the first time that the journey to health is only possible with a true lifestyle change and if you're living your life trying to power through as quickly as possible so you can start eating "normally" again - then that's a recipe for unsustainability.

Instead, I'll be doing milestone updates. Maybe I'll check again at 50 pounds and see what's changed by then. Regardless of how long it takes, I know that I'll be getting healthier every day, regardless of what the scale says.