 Hi guys it's Monica. I thought I would do a diet update video and I'm going to try to answer some of the questions that I've received from a few of you. Anyways you know I just want to say that to me diet, health and fitness it's all such a personal thing in my opinion because one diet can work fabulously for somebody and then just be horrible for someone else just not work. I also believe like skincare that your body gets used to whatever you're doing and sometimes you have to shake things up to get your body to respond just like your skin can get so used to what you're doing for skincare that you actually do have to shake it up to see changes again or to get into that right mode again if that kind of makes sense. So I've had these questions thrown at me on diet why have I stopped doing keto and I thought you know I probably addressed that in my previous video when I did the collab which I will link that video as well but I have a history of yo-yo dieting and I think I probably know my body better than you know anyone else does so not to rehash a whole long drawn out diet story. I'm sure many of you have been the same place that I have been. I've been up and down up and down and every time I go down and I lose when I fall off when I get trapped back into doing things I shouldn't do I have a hard time resetting myself I have a hard time finding my motivation once I lose it and then when I gain I gain more and faster. So anyways I did really well with keto I did really well with keto for a you know short period of time in the sense that in my opinion when you use the word keto many people use it wrong the ketogenic diet is very specific on what you can eat how much of it you can eat you count your macros your macro nutrients you calculate that to your body and in keto packaged foods fast food atkins bars so many things like that are not keto approved substitute sugars diet coke you know dietonic not keto approved so I was a pure keto person for a relatively short period of time I don't know maybe maybe a year you know I mean as pure as I could get I found it to be very very hard to be a true keto person that said I'm not good in the kitchen I'm not a cook I don't have a whole lot of an imagination when it comes to recipes so the women that I know that do keto really well do a lot of that they do a lot of meal prepping they cook naturally on their own they have a good imagination they can follow recipes they can do a whole lot of things that I can't do so I'm not naysaying keto I'm just saying for me it ultimately was too hard for me to follow so I went from keto to low carb I did low carb for a long time and over the course of my keto I lost a lot of weight I did get sick at the end I lost my gallbladder I hit a lot back to me I already talked about all of that and then when I kind of recovered I just stuck to a low carb lifestyle and my lifestyle is such that I never have or very rarely it's going to have to be a treat but in general when I go grocery shopping I I go around the store I don't go up and down the aisle so much I don't buy rice I don't buy pasta I don't buy bread I don't buy cereal I don't buy oatmeal I mean oatmeal is a very rare thing and my husband has it so I go around the store I literally do I buy good protein you know fish chicken I do when I'm going to have my beef it's the I have to have a rib eye if I'm going to have a steak it's a rib eye and I'm spoiled I do a lot of vegetables I do a lot of high fiber fruits so in my endeavor of the years that I have been low-carbing one thing that I realized is not every carb is a bad carb and it isn't so and your body needs to have my body my body needs to have a mixture of nutrients to feel good to look good to respond to be active and I found that denying myself all carbs but 20 grams for me for me not for you or anyone else was too hard too restrictive and for me it set me up for failure not only did I have some health ramifications hair other things that you know may or may not have been contributed to my diet but I think played some role at least in the hair but anyways I digress I don't want to go into that part of it but I the most important thing for me the thing that I have come to understand fully about myself and it's sad that it took this many years but the most important thing for me is the realization that calories for me do count I have to monitor my total caloric intake I just have to and I have to monitor my output in that sense like what am I how many calories am I burning and when I was pure keto I never counted calories and then when you get lazy you end up overeating you end up having too much fat too much beef too much protein at least I did and then when I was low carving strict low carving in the sense that I'd have 30 maybe 40 grams of carbohydrate carbohydrates a day I wasn't really counting my calories and so after a while I stopped losing weight I started to gain weight even though I was still low carving and what happened was I wasn't mindful of the calories in calories out it's going to be a whole lot of you that I'm not going to agree with me this is probably a very controversial diet video in that sense why did I stop keto you know that's my reasons I still low carb but if you put me next to a person that is a true low carb or they're going to say I have too many carbohydrates I probably do and with my current diet program that amount I do a two-day deep cleanse where I don't eat I mean it's like a two-day fast fast and I have small little nutrients that I'm allowed to have during that two-day period and then I have so far switched it up with two male replacements a day I'll tell you I I feel fabulous if I want to get rid of a bloat if I overate on something if I was bad I just know the next day I can make a tweak to my diet and I can get right back on program and I personally for me I love it I started my new diet which is a combination of the low carb I still have very low carb no bread no pasta nothing like that in the house no white stuff no flour but I do have fruits mostly they are strawberries blackberries blueberries raspberries berries but in the season I'm an apple fanatic honey crisp apples I had honey crisp apple today once they go by and I can't get any more fresh apples I won't have them so in the summertime or late summer when the corn is fresh I'm a corn snob I have to have corn on the cob I can't eat canned corn or frozen corn but fresh corn on the cob grilled on my my barbecue grill perfect so I do have more carbs than a traditional low-carb would allow however I think in general my carbs are you know on some days they're they could be as low as 40 and as high as 90 on some days and when I have a really bad cheat date their day they're much higher so when I started doing the male replacements and that's not for everybody either you know and it's not it's it's something that even when I get to the point where I'm at like where I'm at I can do one meal a day and then if I have to I just reset myself but currently doing a two-day cleanse every month seems to be my magic my magic pill I guess if you want to call it that I cannot tell you how good I feel and I've lost just about right now since the end of June about 24 pounds and it's kind of a slow loss but I love it I love it so I yeah keto just didn't work for me long-term I respect anyone that does keto I think it's great but I still believe fully in my heart you'll never convince me otherwise that's still calories in and calories out you have to monitor that you have to really be aware of that I had my blood work done last year when I wasn't on my male replacement when I was just trying to low carb and still high fat and all that my blood work this year compared to last year is phenomenal phenomenal I am excellent in every range that my doctor just couldn't couldn't believe it so you know knock on wood that that stays that way but and at this point in time I'm cresting on to 25 pounds since the end of June I've been on two vacations I've been to a convention in Boston I've not felt deprived I've had my cheats I go out on a date night I you know I live a good happy balanced life I can eat an apple I could go have a corner on the car I can have fruit uh you know I can I mean I can have things that I normally when I was keto I would never have or when I was strict low carb I wouldn't have so but everyone's a different phase in their life and this is where I'm at now this is my diet update I love love love what I do is it cheap and free no but I also know me which might not apply to you if when I have some skin in the game I work really hard at it you know you know what I mean by skin in the game I mean I pay for products I pay for male replacement I love the ingredients I love the balance of it I pay for all that so when it's just like when you go to a training program and I struggle with this at work I put on a training program it's free I have some people that will just blow it off because they have no skin in the game so when you pay for something I believe you work really hard at it I want to make this go I find that this lifestyle that I'm living my diet if you want to call it that is a super wicked easy lifestyle for me super wicked easy really and I know now I sound like I'm a Boston East Coaster well I am guys wicked wicked but yeah it is it is really super easy and it is something I I can live with and I'm happy happy happy happy with my results I really am and I I'm going to try to do these regularly updates monthly I'm not going to try to convince anyone to not do what they're doing hey you know if it's working whatever you're doing is working weight washers high fat low fat low calorie high calorie doesn't matter if it's working for you I'm with you all the way I'm just doing something that's working for me and it's working for me on my terms and I don't feel deprived and my skin looks pretty good my face you know I can see the weight loss in my face I can see it in my tummy I can see it in my my boobs oh probably get to monetized but yeah I can see my weight loss but I you know when I have a very jolly face so you know my face is not firm it is droopy so you know trying to do face exercise just to kind of prevent it but I don't know if that's going to work I just know right now that health wise I am I am far healthier than I have been for the last several years and I'm not talking about when I was fat fat fat I'm talking about when I started to lose weight I'm healthier now blood work wise a heart rate I'm healthier than I was in my keto days in my pure low carb days I'm healthier now I feel it and people around me are noticing it and people around me are commenting and these are people in my real life so it's working for me and that's my update I'll do another one in a month maybe in a month from now I'll have hit you know 25 or whatever ultimately my goal is 30 and I have not even really started to work out I want to work out I want to lift weights I want to get myself back into some sort of a maybe spin class or get on that elliptical behind me which I haven't gotten on and God knows how long but anyway so I'm rambling as usual I hope I address your questions I didn't stop doing keto because I'm against keto I didn't I stopped doing keto because it didn't work for me I stopped being a pure low-cover because it didn't work for me ultimately meal replacements nutritional balance having good carbs because I really believe not all carbs are bad but having those good carbs and eating more of a rounder nutritional program balanced meal for me makes all the difference so that's it guys I thank you so much for watching I thank you so much all the time for all your support all your comments liking the video supporting me supporting the channel and just being my friend you guys are just awesome you're all my friends and I appreciate every single one of you bye guys