New to Keto - What are folks eating?
fionawilliamson
Posts: 110 Member
Hi everyone, so I have only been at this a couple of weeks and have been doing pretty good with what I have been eating, well I think I have. I was using a different app to track my food but have switched to MFP. I have a bit (ok a fair bit) of weight I would like to lose. I like to think that's not why I made this change, but in truth it's a big part of it, lose some weight, improve my health. Thing is I don't see any movement on the scale, I do feel great, lots of energy, not missing the carbs at all, but I can't help but think I am missing something. Would love to know what you guys are eating in the course of a day.
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Replies
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Zero scale weight loss?
If you haven’t had at least a pound or 2 yet, I’d be wondering if you are eating more carbs than you realize or something that is technically no carbs but does have a blood sugar effect is interfering.
I would expect you’d at least lost some water weight so I’d really look at the ingredients of things you’re eating for hidden sugars.
Avoid packaged foods of any kind even if they brag on their low net carb count.5 -
I know Sunny_bunny I don't get it either, I really do eat pretty clean, cut out processed foods months ago, drink water and coffee, no soda or juice. I honestly just don't get it. Wondering if my protein is too high. Here's what a typical day looks like:
11 am - 2 eggs, 1/2 avocado, 2-3 cups of coffee with cream
mid afternoon - smoothie, 1/2 cup blueberries, spinach, almond milk and MCT oil
7:00 pm - either spinach salad with baked chicken or egg and some cheese OR something with ground beef or chicken with spinach, mushrooms, asparagus, green peppers
snack - walnuts or almonds maybe some green vegies like peppers or celery tuna salad.
I use coconut oil for cooking.
I do a bit of exercise, maybe 5 days a week, 45 minutes on an elliptical.
I do like this way of eating, I was truly a carb junkie and it was impacting my blood sugar, it's not all about weight lose but I sure was hoping that would be a benefit.
help1 -
Your sodium looks really low, unless you are getting extra that you are not logging.
Also, you should really consider measurements and photos - metrics other than the scale. I lost about 5% body fat earlier this year with very little scale movement, but a whole lot of changes in measurements and how clothes fit and how I looked in photos. It's not all about the scale when you are improving your health.2 -
Thanks tcunbeliver, I do add salt to my eggs and avocado and when preparing meat. Didn't think to mention it
And yes you are correct, I have knows people to lose very little weight but really change in appearance. 0 -
Also, if you have ANY health conditions going on (you mention impact to your blood sugar), the body will spend all it's resources healing before you might have scale movement. Some people with chronic conditions have had 6 months of internal healing before the scale moved...fionawilliamson wrote: »Hi everyone, so I have only been at this a couple of weeks and have been doing pretty good with what I have been eating, well I think I have. I was using a different app to track my food but have switched to MFP. I have a bit (ok a fair bit) of weight I would like to lose. I like to think that's not why I made this change, but in truth it's a big part of it, lose some weight, improve my health. Thing is I don't see any movement on the scale, I do feel great, lots of energy, not missing the carbs at all, but I can't help but think I am missing something. Would love to know what you guys are eating in the course of a day.
This above here ^^ tells me that you're probably doing just fine. As others mentioned, you need to be replacing the 3500-5000 mg of sodium your body dumps daily through this process. It seems excessive, but you're replacing what the body is excreting. Especially in the beginning 12 weeks, you really need to up that sodium far beyond anything you've done before... And you'll hold in more water, the less sodium you give your body, as it tries desperately to hold onto that precious resource!
They say that it can take 6 weeks to see true impact of dietary changes, and 12 full weeks to determine if keto is right for you. Additionally, if you hit that 12 week mark, and you're still feeling great, and the scale isn't moving, it's time to determine if feeling better is worth it...because when you get your mind and whole body healthy, the scale cannot help but to catch up eventually! Good luck, @fionawilliamson - stick with it a while longer before evaluating how you really feel about it.1 -
Thanks @KnitOrMiss, appreciate your response. Great info about sodium, I hadn't realized low sodium would result in water retention, makes sense. I know I need to do more research and expand on what I am eating. It's hard for me to get over that 'fat is bad for you' message that I have heard for years and years. Love this forum, lots of great info.
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Completely agree with what others have posted. Looks like you're making some great choices with what you're eating .. way to go!! For me, ditching the scale and focusing on how my body was changing was an absolute necessity in the beginning. Not seeing those numbers move was frustrating and made me constantly question whether I was doing it 'right'. It wasn't long before I noticed a drastic difference in the way I looked and felt. The scale tends to have a lot less 'weight' when following this WOE.
I'd also recommend adjusting MFP to be keto friendly if you haven't done it yet. Keeping track of net carbs, especially when you're a veggie eater can be tricky. Here's a link if you need it.
http://www.ketomacros.com/low-carb-mfp-setup/0 -
fionawilliamson wrote: »Thanks @KnitOrMiss, appreciate your response. Great info about sodium, I hadn't realized low sodium would result in water retention, makes sense. I know I need to do more research and expand on what I am eating. It's hard for me to get over that 'fat is bad for you' message that I have heard for years and years. Love this forum, lots of great info.
@fionawilliamson The running joke is to eat anything that is labeled "heart attack on a platter" and just skip the bread, potatoes, and other carby sides or sauces... Choose chicken thighs over breast (unless you prefer sauces), fattier beer roasts and steaks over leaner ones, pork chops and shoulder roasts instead of tenderloin, etc. That's the easy starting place.. And remember, you can eat any food at any time of day. Steak for breakfast? Why not? Eggs for dinner? Yum!0 -
I eat fish, beef, pork, chicken, vegetables, some fruit, eggs, dairy, nuts/seeds, fats/oils.
I have a food scale and still use it sometimes even with 1600+ days on MFP, 3/4th of which has been in maintenance. An ounce of cheese is small. 4 ounces of chicken isn't much and 32 grams of peanut butter is a very sad thing to see as a serving
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fionawilliamson wrote: »I know Sunny_bunny I don't get it either, I really do eat pretty clean, cut out processed foods months ago, drink water and coffee, no soda or juice. I honestly just don't get it. Wondering if my protein is too high. Here's what a typical day looks like:
11 am - 2 eggs, 1/2 avocado, 2-3 cups of coffee with cream
mid afternoon - smoothie, 1/2 cup blueberries, spinach, almond milk and MCT oil
7:00 pm - either spinach salad with baked chicken or egg and some cheese OR something with ground beef or chicken with spinach, mushrooms, asparagus, green peppers
snack - walnuts or almonds maybe some green vegies like peppers or celery tuna salad.
I use coconut oil for cooking.
I do a bit of exercise, maybe 5 days a week, 45 minutes on an elliptical.
I do like this way of eating, I was truly a carb junkie and it was impacting my blood sugar, it's not all about weight lose but I sure was hoping that would be a benefit.
help
I don’t think your protein is too high at all. You’re not even eating any at your lunch.
To be perfectly honest, I’m wondering how much cream and MCT oil you get daily? They are very energy dense and could be preventing you from having an energy deficit.0 -
Diary is public but I realize many operate form a cell phone so can't see it. Only 4 days in December have food entries. 3 have breakfast only, 1 has what appears to be a complete day. Each breakfast shows 2 tablespoons of light cream. The 1 complete day shows 1 tablespoon of MCT oil. Not excessively energy dense (meaning not excessively high in calories within the overall) referencing the query.
OP are you still using the other app? Are you in a time zone where breakfast and lunch have not occurred today? Do you jot things down and enter them at the end of the day? Today has only your breakfast. Many find pre-planning helpful. Enter things before they are eaten. Sort of selecting foods to meet their chosen macros.
I think there is far too little information to give you concrete assistance. Your food choices appear to be keto. Your carb limit of 34 is OK. While you are going over on carbs, you are not going over significantly. I would stick to your calorie limit and your carb limit for several days and enter EVERYTHING you eat in your food diary EVERYDAY. Weigh/measure your if you are not already doing so. No guessing unless you are an incredibly great guesser.
I'll take a guess (and I'm not a good guesser) that you feel better because you are eating low carb and have improved the quality of what you eat. In regards to weight loss, I dunno. I would guess your calories of 1340 are a sufficient deficit and you should be losing at least initially.
You indicated you were dieting before, using another app. For how long? You didn't lose weight previously or just not since you've switched to MFP. Accuracy in the database, selecting accurate entries, entering the actual amount eaten are what make the difference IMO.
Do you have any medical reasons for eating keto? I ask because various conditions can make weight loss more difficult. PCOS? That seems to be a common reason for folks eating keto and folks who have PCOS could share their insights. Type 1 Diabetic? Same applies. ETA: I missed the comment above about impacting blood sugar.
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And remember, you can eat any food at any time of day. Steak for breakfast? Why not? Eggs for dinner? Yum!
"breakfast"? Around my parts we call that "first steak" and then we have "second steak" and maybe "third steak" and "yet another steak" (depending on how hungry I feel.
Not a complete joke:
I changed those a while ago when playing around. Sadly, I never bother to log.4 -
@FIT_Goat - Oh, goodness. I just laughed so hard. Had to say, that post just totally made my day.
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