After four kids and various physical ailments in my life, I struggled with my weight. Over the years, my weight slowly crept up.

I was confronted with the reality of my weight gain during a routine doctor's visit in early 2015. I was mortified to learn that I had reached 275 lbs. At my height of 5'9, this meant that my BMI was 40.6, putting me just over the edge into the morbidly obese range.

I knew that I had to make changes and make them fast. I started going to Jazzercise and following the Weight Watchers diet, but my weight loss was minimal.

The Keto Diet

In the spring of 2015, a friend introduced me to the keto diet. I had never heard of it before, but my friend had already lost a considerable amount of weight on it, so I was intrigued.

I also noticed that he was able to eat a lot of meat, vegetables, and delicious fatty foods on his diet, which also seemed like a plus.

The keto diet is essentially a very low-carb, high-fat diet. The aim is to get your body into a state of dietary ketosis. You can learn more about how to get started on the keto diet here.

My Weight Loss on the Keto Diet

As you can see from this chart, I began my keto journey around August 2015.

At the time, I had been losing weight slowly but steadily with the Weight Watchers diet. I was about 256 lbs when I started keto.

My weight loss on the keto diet was rather dramatic in the beginning. Within the first month, I had dropped more than 10 lbs. And I lost another 10 lbs in my second month on keto. I've been told that much of the initial weight loss on keto is water weight.

Eventually, my weight loss evened out to 3-5 lbs per month. Here is another chart showing my progress up to June of 2016:

Frustrations and Setbacks on Keto

During the fall of 2016, I struggled with my weight loss. I went back and forth between 210 and 220 lbs for several months, well into the beginning of 2017.

It was a stressful time, which was probably one of the biggest factors. I was having trouble sticking with the diet as strictly as I had in the beginning. I also had a lot of changes happening in my life.

However, I was determined to stick with it, and eventually reach my goal of being under 200 lbs.

Breaking My Weight Loss Plateau

In February of 2017, I began focusing on my weight loss again. It's been frustrating, to say the least, and my weight has continued to fluctuate slightly.

I am happy to say that I am down to about 209 lbs as of March 9, 2017.

A few things that have helped break my plateau:

• Cutting out coffee and diet soda – I had gotten into a bad habit of drinking diet pop to satisfy my sweet tooth, which was keeping me from drinking enough water as well as giving me cravings for other sweets.
• Limiting artificial sweeteners – Another bad habit I had developed was eating sugar-free candies and Atkins bars on a regular basis. They are okay for an occasional treat, but eating them regularly can impede your body's ability to stay in ketosis.
• Situps and Pushups – A friend of mine who is also a fitness lover recommended that I try incorporating situps and pushups into my daily routine. It definitely seems to be helping.
• Drinking Detoxifying Teas – I began drinking green tea and herbal detox teas as a replacement for coffee and diet pop. Green tea has been shown to help with weight loss, and it seems to help boost my metabolism.