Starting keto properly - long post!
UMDavies
Posts: 87 Member
Morning all 
So I'm just starting out fully keto this week and I wanted to write it down somewhere to introduce myself and make sure I've got it all straight in my head! Please forgive the long post, and let me know what you think
I'm a 22-year-old student and I started my current weight-loss phase last June at my heaviest ever - 13st 9lbs (191lbs), which is too heavy for my 5' 8" height. I carry it pretty well and I've tried not to be too self-conscious about my weight over the years and focus on other things instead, but it's always impacted my self-confidence. I feel like I've been on one diet or another for my entire adult life, and even for a couple of years before that. Since last June I've been working on an internship as part of my degree, and having the regular routine of an office job has helped me shift 20lbs combined with exercising and watching what I eat. I've been low-carbing since around May without really planning to be - I was diagnosed with PCOS last year and I really noticed the mood swings, sugar crashes and general lethargy that I was getting when I ate carb-heavy foods. So I cut down on my carb intake, but for the last couple of months I wasn't seeing any change in the scale and was just losing and then gaining the same 2lbs constantly.
I'd been using MFP for years but, for some reason, had never really made use of the whole community side of things. I joined this group a couple of weeks ago and have been lurking ever since! I started reading about ketosis and a ketogenic way of eating, and it feels like a lightbulb went off in my head This makes so much sense to me as a scientist (or studying to be one anyway!), and since starting low-carb (<70g per day) two weeks ago I've lost 4lbs - at last! So I'm ready now to commit to going fully keto
My plan is to have bulletproof coffee for breakfast with 20g butter, 1 tbsp of double cream and 1 tsp of coconut oil. I had a disastrous experience with using too much coconut oil the other week (DO NOT start with 2 tbsp in your coffee unless you want to become intimately acquainted with your toilet!) so I'm going to build it up slooooooooowly over the next few weeks. I may try adding an egg once I've got a bit braver too Then lunch is usually a meal I've batch-cooked at the weekend, so I'll just tweak my recipes to include fewer starchy vegetables and more fats/protein. This week the plan is a roast chicken thigh with ratatouille at ~12g net carbs. I find I need a snack around 2:30pm so I have some cherry tomatoes and two mini Babybel cheeses. Then supper will be pretty similar to lunch, although I've got into the habit of having soup - smoked haddock chowder (with lots of cream!) and broccoli & stilton are on the menu this week. I batch-cooked them at the weekend as well, so my freezer is full of little tupperware portions of food! Finally, I'm drinking 1 mug of bouillon a day and taking 4 x 99mg potassium tablets - I know this is less than optimal so I'm on the look out for something stronger - any recommendations?
I had a bad weekend as I knew I was starting keto on Monday, so I justified eating a whole bunch of crappy food as an 'I can't eat this as of Monday so I should eat ALL THE CARBS now to make up for it' - if I lost ½lb for every time I'd done that I would be at my goal weight! But I really noticed how awful it made me feel and how I didn't even enjoy eating it after two weeks of low-carb. I'm feeling horribly bloated today and I just know it's going to make getting to ketosis harder than if I'd carried on properly low-carb over the weekend and then switched, but oh well - it's done now. I do feel like I never want to see another packets of crisps/chocolate bar/biscuit/cake again right now, so I'm hoping feeling utterly disgusted with them/myself will make the cravings easier to manage this week!
If anyone has any advice or things they wish they'd known when they were just starting out, please share LET'S DO THIS!
So I'm just starting out fully keto this week and I wanted to write it down somewhere to introduce myself and make sure I've got it all straight in my head! Please forgive the long post, and let me know what you think
I'm a 22-year-old student and I started my current weight-loss phase last June at my heaviest ever - 13st 9lbs (191lbs), which is too heavy for my 5' 8" height. I carry it pretty well and I've tried not to be too self-conscious about my weight over the years and focus on other things instead, but it's always impacted my self-confidence. I feel like I've been on one diet or another for my entire adult life, and even for a couple of years before that. Since last June I've been working on an internship as part of my degree, and having the regular routine of an office job has helped me shift 20lbs combined with exercising and watching what I eat. I've been low-carbing since around May without really planning to be - I was diagnosed with PCOS last year and I really noticed the mood swings, sugar crashes and general lethargy that I was getting when I ate carb-heavy foods. So I cut down on my carb intake, but for the last couple of months I wasn't seeing any change in the scale and was just losing and then gaining the same 2lbs constantly.
I'd been using MFP for years but, for some reason, had never really made use of the whole community side of things. I joined this group a couple of weeks ago and have been lurking ever since! I started reading about ketosis and a ketogenic way of eating, and it feels like a lightbulb went off in my head
This makes so much sense to me as a scientist (or studying to be one anyway!), and since starting low-carb (<70g per day) two weeks ago I've lost 4lbs - at last! So I'm ready now to commit to going fully keto My plan is to have bulletproof coffee for breakfast with 20g butter, 1 tbsp of double cream and 1 tsp of coconut oil. I had a disastrous experience with using too much coconut oil the other week (DO NOT start with 2 tbsp in your coffee unless you want to become intimately acquainted with your toilet!) so I'm going to build it up slooooooooowly over the next few weeks. I may try adding an egg once I've got a bit braver too
Then lunch is usually a meal I've batch-cooked at the weekend, so I'll just tweak my recipes to include fewer starchy vegetables and more fats/protein. This week the plan is a roast chicken thigh with ratatouille at ~12g net carbs. I find I need a snack around 2:30pm so I have some cherry tomatoes and two mini Babybel cheeses. Then supper will be pretty similar to lunch, although I've got into the habit of having soup - smoked haddock chowder (with lots of cream!) and broccoli & stilton are on the menu this week. I batch-cooked them at the weekend as well, so my freezer is full of little tupperware portions of food! Finally, I'm drinking 1 mug of bouillon a day and taking 4 x 99mg potassium tablets - I know this is less than optimal so I'm on the look out for something stronger - any recommendations?I had a bad weekend as I knew I was starting keto on Monday, so I justified eating a whole bunch of crappy food as an 'I can't eat this as of Monday so I should eat ALL THE CARBS now to make up for it' - if I lost ½lb for every time I'd done that I would be at my goal weight! But I really noticed how awful it made me feel and how I didn't even enjoy eating it after two weeks of low-carb. I'm feeling horribly bloated today and I just know it's going to make getting to ketosis harder than if I'd carried on properly low-carb over the weekend and then switched, but oh well - it's done now. I do feel like I never want to see another packets of crisps/chocolate bar/biscuit/cake again right now, so I'm hoping feeling utterly disgusted with them/myself will make the cravings easier to manage this week!
If anyone has any advice or things they wish they'd known when they were just starting out, please share
LET'S DO THIS!0
Replies
-
Sounds like you've got a solid plan in place!1
-
Hi UM,
You're certainly welcome here, lotsa friendly folks, ask anything...
Dan the Man from Michigan
Keto / IF / Sedentary
92 pounds down, 32 to go.
Previous Discussions on the LCD & Keto Groups
DittoDan's Keto Sub Groups Blog
It's Ketogenic or Bariatric Surgery! How I Found the Ketogenic Diet
Blog #10 Keto: Abbreviations, Acronyms & Terminology Used on the LCD & Keto Discussion Groups Updated
Blog #13 DittoDan's Milestone's, First's And Good Changes Since Starting the Ketogenic Diet Updated
DittoDan's Keto Blogs
How I got Off of Diabetic Prescriptions Drugs Since I Started Keto Updated
Blog #11 Really Good Keto Websites
Low Carb Discussion Group on MFP (LCD)0 -
That's a lot of potassium, because you're already getting a good bit in your chicken thighs. Potassium is not required to be tracked in nutritional labels, so check USDA information. Getting too much potassium can be quite dangerous. I'd look to balance that potassium with magnesium.
Cherry tomatoes are fairly high in carbs, but I would recommend this: Gear up to eating more at your meals. If you get enough fats and such at your meals, your "need" to snack will naturally taper. I found that my meals were more snack sized when I was going just CICO, but eating larger meals, and drinking water between, those "snacks" will appear less and less, and generally only on "hungrier" days.
And many of us have posted "getting started" information on recent posts, so I'd strongly recommend reviewing everything posted here in the last month...0
