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There was a time she could barely climb a flight of stairs without getting short of breath.
Now Megan Faraday runs and exercises three to five times a week.
"My total attitude to life has changed completely," the 25-year-old says.
"I'm more outgoing and like to put myself out there more. I've struggled with anxiety my whole life and it's a lot easier for me to deal with now."
The drastic change in her life is all down to weight loss.
Within the space of a year Megan has shed more than 50kg. And she did it in a way that was comfortable for her.
Megan, from Ontario in Canada, followed a lazy keto
diet.
It’s her version of the popular ketogenic diet which allows for foods high in fat and low in carbohydrates, Yahoo.com writes.
She skipped counting every macronutrient like proteins and fats she was eating. Instead she focused on the amount of carbs she was consuming every day.
"It's keto without all of the hardcore rules," she told Good Morning America.
"I figured out how to calculate net carbs [the total grams of carbohydrates in a food minus the grams of fibre] and just went from there."
The 25-year-old swopped fast food, breads and pastas
for fresh vegetables and lean proteins.
"It's a lot of things you would be eating otherwise, just minus the carbs. Things like chicken wings that you wouldn't normally think of as diet foods," she says of her approach.
"And it's easy to make regular recipes that I would’ve been eating before more keto-friendly."
Within the first month she had lost nearly 8kg. Seeing the weight melt off made her determined to stick to her diet.
"I think the reason why this time really stuck
with me was it was so easy for me to get into the swing of things with
keto," she says.
"Seeing the weight come off was the biggest motivator. I saw that and it just kept me determined to keep going."
Megan has slowly started reintroducing carbs into her diet but is doing so in moderation.
"I'm a lot happier now, a lot happier with myself.”
- Keep it simple "I keep my diet really simple because I like to know exactly what I'm eating. It's easier to track it when you're not trying to make super complicated recipes."
- Drink water – and lots of it "Everybody says that but it's seriously so important."
- A good support system is important "Have people you can reach out to when you're having a bad day or someone you can ask a question to. It's so much easier than trying to navigate it on your own."
- Do it for yourself "You can't be worried about doing it for other people. There will be times you don't see the scale move. You need to keep moving past that and know what your goal is for yourself. You need to make yourself happy at the end of the day."
SOURCES: YAHOO.COM, GOODMORNINGAMERICA.COM, MOMS.COM
