Trying keto! I need help!

JessiJayne92
JessiJayne92 Posts: 55 Member
edited November 23 in Food and Nutrition
I need help and tips on getting started. I understand the low carb, high fats, but knowing me I'll do something wrong and not ever get into ketosis. Please add or message me so I can throw my questions at you. :) Thanks in advance!

Replies

  • lynndoesketo
    lynndoesketo Posts: 1 Member
    I am starting keto on the 1st.
  • JessiJayne92
    JessiJayne92 Posts: 55 Member
    I'm so confused! There's so many different things I'm reading and it's overwhelming.
  • boehle
    boehle Posts: 5,062 Member
    I could never go completely keto.
    I do pretty low carb/high fat most days but still count calories.
    https://www.ruled.me/guide-keto-diet/
    https://ketodietapp.com/Blog/post/2015/01/03/Keto-Diet-Food-List-What-to-Eat-and-Avoid
  • JessiJayne92
    JessiJayne92 Posts: 55 Member
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    You want to lose weight? You have to eat less. There's nothing more to it, but because that's hard enough, I'd focus on that.

    I've lost 33 pounds, I'm just stuck now and can't seem to lose any more, keto seemed like it would help get it off and keep it off. I eat 1350 calories a day. I don't know how much lower I can go.
  • boehle
    boehle Posts: 5,062 Member
    JessiJayne92 wrote: »
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    You want to lose weight? You have to eat less. There's nothing more to it, but because that's hard enough, I'd focus on that.

    I've lost 33 pounds, I'm just stuck now and can't seem to lose any more, keto seemed like it would help get it off and keep it off. I eat 1350 calories a day. I don't know how much lower I can go.

    I obviously don't know your food consumption but one thing people in the low carb world/keto world have told me that makes them stahl.. Nuts, Cheese and Low carb wraps.
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
    MFP has a few keto groups that you might want to explore:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1143-keto
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1494-reddit-keto
  • JessiJayne92
    JessiJayne92 Posts: 55 Member
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    JessiJayne92 wrote: »
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    You want to lose weight? You have to eat less. There's nothing more to it, but because that's hard enough, I'd focus on that.

    I've lost 33 pounds, I'm just stuck now and can't seem to lose any more, keto seemed like it would help get it off and keep it off. I eat 1350 calories a day. I don't know how much lower I can go.
    As you lose weight, weight loss slows down. Well done, btw. 1350 calories should be low enough to produce a deficit, but you may have to be more accurate when you log. You will lose as long as you're in a calorie deficit, but you need more time to see the trend, because weekly loss can easily be drowned by daily fluctuations.

    Keto has no additional effects on anything besides water weight, and possibly satiety.

    Thank you!! I've read so many people swear by it though, that they've lost weight. So it has to work for people.
  • JessiJayne92
    JessiJayne92 Posts: 55 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    moosmum1972 wrote: »
    JessiJayne92 wrote: »
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    JessiJayne92 wrote: »
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    You want to lose weight? You have to eat less. There's nothing more to it, but because that's hard enough, I'd focus on that.

    I've lost 33 pounds, I'm just stuck now and can't seem to lose any more, keto seemed like it would help get it off and keep it off. I eat 1350 calories a day. I don't know how much lower I can go.
    As you lose weight, weight loss slows down. Well done, btw. 1350 calories should be low enough to produce a deficit, but you may have to be more accurate when you log. You will lose as long as you're in a calorie deficit, but you need more time to see the trend, because weekly loss can easily be drowned by daily fluctuations.

    Keto has no additional effects on anything besides water weight, and possibly satiety.

    Thank you!! I've read so many people swear by it though, that they've lost weight. So it has to work for people.

    Anything that reduces your calories works...keto isn't magic.

    ^ This. Keto works if the foods you're eating create more satiety/better adherence and you don't eat as many calories. Because calorie deficit is necessary for weight loss. For some people it makes for better satiety and adherence - for others it doesn't.

    Keto doesn't work if you eat more calories because of the highly increased dietary fat content (fat is 9 calories per gram, protein and carbs are 4 calories per gram).

    Keto does not supersede the laws of energy balance.

    Most people who "swear by it", especially in the early stages, are being fooled by water weight loss, which isn't the same thing as fat loss. Every gram of carbohydrate is accompanied by approximately 3 grams of water (see the "hydrate" in "carbohydrate"?). When you restrict carb intake, you also flush water content from the body, which results in a relatively quick "whoosh". That's not fat you just lost, but if a lower number on the scale is all that matters without regard to what was actually lost, I guess you could call it "results".

    Makes sense. I guess I'll just keep my carb intake low, which I was in the first place. I won't get all wrapped up in the craze, just take a few components of it. Thanks.
  • RechaelAndrea
    RechaelAndrea Posts: 23 Member
    JessiJayne92 wrote: »
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    You want to lose weight? You have to eat less. There's nothing more to it, but because that's hard enough, I'd focus on that.

    I've lost 33 pounds, I'm just stuck now and can't seem to lose any more, keto seemed like it would help get it off and keep it off. I eat 1350 calories a day. I don't know how much lower I can go.

    From what I've read, it's all about finding the right macro balance for YOU along with a calorie deficit. Here's a really good calculator: https://keto-calculator.ankerl.com/

    Keep trying and tweaking until you find what works best for you!
  • RechaelAndrea
    RechaelAndrea Posts: 23 Member
    I keep a 65/30/5 macro ratio fat/protein/carb percentage. I also have a 40% calorie deficit. We'll see how it goes. I keep reading and researching and nerding it up!
  • RechaelAndrea
    RechaelAndrea Posts: 23 Member
    Also, I've heard to switch up the kinds of food you eat. https://ketodietapp.com/Blog/post/2015/01/03/Keto-Diet-Food-List-What-to-Eat-and-Avoid

    And also keep your water up. I started taking XCT oil bulletproof coffee. Tracking every bite and sip to see how my body responds.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    JessiJayne92 wrote: »
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    You want to lose weight? You have to eat less. There's nothing more to it, but because that's hard enough, I'd focus on that.

    I've lost 33 pounds, I'm just stuck now and can't seem to lose any more, keto seemed like it would help get it off and keep it off. I eat 1350 calories a day. I don't know how much lower I can go.
    As you lose weight, weight loss slows down. Well done, btw. 1350 calories should be low enough to produce a deficit, but you may have to be more accurate when you log. You will lose as long as you're in a calorie deficit, but you need more time to see the trend, because weekly loss can easily be drowned by daily fluctuations.

    Keto has no additional effects on anything besides water weight, and possibly satiety.

    For weight loss benefits, that is it - a possible few pounds of water weight and satiety/reduced carb cravings. A few keto'ers seem to lose weight better on a ketogenic diet but that seems to only apply to some who have insulin resistance or metabolic issues. And that advantage is small - a handful of pounds over a year For the rest, there is no real weight loss advantage.

    I think many swear by it because weight loss is perceived as easier because you may be less hungry. For me it was a real blessing to not feel hungry or light headed every couple of hours. It makes it pretty easy to stick to compared to past attempts to reduce calories.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    JessiJayne92 wrote: »
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    You want to lose weight? You have to eat less. There's nothing more to it, but because that's hard enough, I'd focus on that.

    I've lost 33 pounds, I'm just stuck now and can't seem to lose any more, keto seemed like it would help get it off and keep it off. I eat 1350 calories a day. I don't know how much lower I can go.

    How long did you diet? It may be worth taking a diet break or refeeding. And then coming back with a moderate deficit.
  • blambo61
    blambo61 Posts: 4,372 Member
    Satiety is a big deal. If we never were hungry, none of us would probably be fat. It may help with satiety and in that case may be beneficial. I use it for earlier meals in the day (I eat low carb) but have my carbs in the evenings. That helps reduce my appetite and keeps me from having afternoon carb crashes. I still get my carbs in though and can eat all types of foods (in the evenings). Best of both worlds for me.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    Orphia wrote: »
    JessiJayne92 wrote: »
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    moosmum1972 wrote: »
    JessiJayne92 wrote: »
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    JessiJayne92 wrote: »
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    You want to lose weight? You have to eat less. There's nothing more to it, but because that's hard enough, I'd focus on that.

    I've lost 33 pounds, I'm just stuck now and can't seem to lose any more, keto seemed like it would help get it off and keep it off. I eat 1350 calories a day. I don't know how much lower I can go.
    As you lose weight, weight loss slows down. Well done, btw. 1350 calories should be low enough to produce a deficit, but you may have to be more accurate when you log. You will lose as long as you're in a calorie deficit, but you need more time to see the trend, because weekly loss can easily be drowned by daily fluctuations.

    Keto has no additional effects on anything besides water weight, and possibly satiety.

    Thank you!! I've read so many people swear by it though, that they've lost weight. So it has to work for people.

    Anything that reduces your calories works...keto isn't magic.

    ^ This. Keto works if the foods you're eating create more satiety/better adherence and you don't eat as many calories. Because calorie deficit is necessary for weight loss. For some people it makes for better satiety and adherence - for others it doesn't.

    Keto doesn't work if you eat more calories because of the highly increased dietary fat content (fat is 9 calories per gram, protein and carbs are 4 calories per gram).

    Keto does not supersede the laws of energy balance.

    Most people who "swear by it", especially in the early stages, are being fooled by water weight loss, which isn't the same thing as fat loss. Every gram of carbohydrate is accompanied by approximately 3 grams of water (see the "hydrate" in "carbohydrate"?). When you restrict carb intake, you also flush water content from the body, which results in a relatively quick "whoosh". That's not fat you just lost, but if a lower number on the scale is all that matters without regard to what was actually lost, I guess you could call it "results".

    Makes sense. I guess I'll just keep my carb intake low, which I was in the first place. I won't get all wrapped up in the craze, just take a few components of it. Thanks.

    Carbs don't cause fat increase.

    Just saying that, because around some parts of the internet, people seem to think that carbs also cause road rage, unemployment, and climate change. :wink:

    That made me laugh and reminded me of an oldie but goodie MFP thread: Corn used my man-parts as a speedbag
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    blambo61 wrote: »
    Satiety is a big deal. If we never were hungry, none of us would probably be fat. It may help with satiety and in that case may be beneficial. I use it for earlier meals in the day (I eat low carb) but have my carbs in the evenings. That helps reduce my appetite and keeps me from having afternoon carb crashes. I still get my carbs in though and can eat all types of foods (in the evenings). Best of both worlds for me.
    In my opinion, satiety is a big deal in that it's complex, not the major part of obesity it's touted as. I ate too much for several reasons - force feeding as a child, delusion about needs and body size, marking my independence, trying to get enough pleasure, fear and demonizing of food. This lead me to not just eat too much, but to eat unbalanced, no matter if I was dieting, or trying to not think about how badly I ate. The result was chronic malnutrition as well as overweight.

    Now I eat a balanced diet, I eat food I enjoy, I'm not afraid of enjoying food, I feel that I'm in charge. I'm certain I'm well-nourished, I feel satiated on a cellular level, which sounds corny, but really is the only way to describe it. When I'm hungry now, which I am before every meal, I feel anticipation, not panic. My appetite increases as I eat, and satiety takes some time to set in, so I'm often most "hungry" right after I've eaten.

    Even if I'm optimally nourished, I still get cravings, but they are very weak and infrequent, compared to before - they are tolerable, they pass, I give in to some, but not all, sometimes it takes discipline to not give into them.

    Three years into maintenance, and my weight is starting to regulate itself now, I don't do anything conscious to get my weight down when it's hovering at the high end of my goal range.
  • mommyof4boysinmaine
    mommyof4boysinmaine Posts: 1 Member
    I'm starting keto today too... I started my day with 3 scrambled eggs, topped with tomato salsa, and 3 slices of bacon.. I had coffee with cream... but I know I will need lots of advice too!! Any tips are helpful!! thanks!
  • dcimo6603
    dcimo6603 Posts: 1 Member
    The biggest thing with keto is you must track your total caloric intake. Many people simply eat too much. I cycle between keto and low carb because keto is very difficult to do long term. I am severly type II diabetic and other things that respond well to keto. I manage without any medication as long as I watch my diet and exercise regularly. The second thing is to watch your protein intake. Most of our fat sources are animal based and they always contain too much protein. Your liver will convert protein to sugar and this will throw you out of ketosis. Being in ketosis will control your hunger and keeping your fat burning metabolism going all the time makes burning body fat easier. There is an adjustment period while your muscle cell build fat burning mitochondria. Once your body is fat adapted your ketone levels will drop and your muscles wil burn body fat directly. Once you reach your goal you will probably stay in a low carb diet. To keep the fat burning metabolism going I suggest using intermittent fasting. I eat all my food in an eight hour window, usually from noon til eight pm. This forces your body to burn some body fat every day and keeps that mechanism open all the time avoiding the low blood sugar crash that kills so many diets. Right now I am on a 1200 cal diet and I am a 6' 2" man, and hunger doesn't bother me. I am losing weight now but in a couple weeks my metabolism will slow and so will the weight loss, then I will cycle into low carb for a while. Good luck and track those macros for success!
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    dcimo6603 wrote: »
    The biggest thing with keto is you must track your total caloric intake. Many people simply eat too much. I cycle between keto and low carb because keto is very difficult to do long term. I am severly type II diabetic and other things that respond well to keto. I manage without any medication as long as I watch my diet and exercise regularly. The second thing is to watch your protein intake. Most of our fat sources are animal based and they always contain too much protein. Your liver will convert protein to sugar and this will throw you out of ketosis. Being in ketosis will control your hunger and keeping your fat burning metabolism going all the time makes burning body fat easier. There is an adjustment period while your muscle cell build fat burning mitochondria. Once your body is fat adapted your ketone levels will drop and your muscles wil burn body fat directly. Once you reach your goal you will probably stay in a low carb diet. To keep the fat burning metabolism going I suggest using intermittent fasting. I eat all my food in an eight hour window, usually from noon til eight pm. This forces your body to burn some body fat every day and keeps that mechanism open all the time avoiding the low blood sugar crash that kills so many diets. Right now I am on a 1200 cal diet and I am a 6' 2" man, and hunger doesn't bother me. I am losing weight now but in a couple weeks my metabolism will slow and so will the weight loss, then I will cycle into low carb for a while. Good luck and track those macros for success!

    Protein is actually not a big threat to being thrown out of ketosis. The body does not create sugar (via gluconeogenesis) when there is excess protein eaten. It creates sugar only when there is a need. That being said, excessive protein will lower your ketones, but excessive protein is well above 200+ g.

    Cycling into more carbs will not speed up your metabolism, as I understand it. I believe eating more will increase your metabolism, and so will more protein, but replacing fat with carbs will probably not increase your caloric burn. I could be wrong.

    Congrats on your success with controlling your health issues with diet! :)
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    dcimo6603 wrote: »
    The biggest thing with keto is you must track your total caloric intake. Many people simply eat too much. I cycle between keto and low carb because keto is very difficult to do long term. I am severly type II diabetic and other things that respond well to keto. I manage without any medication as long as I watch my diet and exercise regularly. The second thing is to watch your protein intake. Most of our fat sources are animal based and they always contain too much protein. Your liver will convert protein to sugar and this will throw you out of ketosis. Being in ketosis will control your hunger and keeping your fat burning metabolism going all the time makes burning body fat easier. There is an adjustment period while your muscle cell build fat burning mitochondria. Once your body is fat adapted your ketone levels will drop and your muscles wil burn body fat directly. Once you reach your goal you will probably stay in a low carb diet. To keep the fat burning metabolism going I suggest using intermittent fasting. I eat all my food in an eight hour window, usually from noon til eight pm. This forces your body to burn some body fat every day and keeps that mechanism open all the time avoiding the low blood sugar crash that kills so many diets. Right now I am on a 1200 cal diet and I am a 6' 2" man, and hunger doesn't bother me. I am losing weight now but in a couple weeks my metabolism will slow and so will the weight loss, then I will cycle into low carb for a while. Good luck and track those macros for success!

    Protein is actually not a big threat to being thrown out of ketosis. The body does not create sugar (via gluconeogenesis) when there is excess protein eaten. It creates sugar only when there is a need. That being said, excessive protein will lower your ketones, but excessive protein is well above 200+ g.

    Cycling into more carbs will not speed up your metabolism, as I understand it. I believe eating more will increase your metabolism, and so will more protein, but replacing fat with carbs will probably not increase your caloric burn. I could be wrong.

    Congrats on your success with controlling your health issues with diet! :)

    Cycling carbs, in fact, does not increase metabolism. If a person does a two day refeed (well at least two), with very low fat very high carb (like 2x bw) than it can reduce cortisol levels and restore leptin. This is a strategy that is very beneficial for the very lean as it will help reduce huger issues and stress caused by being in a deficit. In fact, this a good strategy that is very beneficial and should be utilized more as you get more lean.

    Additionally for @dcimo6603, a 6' male consuming 1200 calories is a great way to increase muscle loss, driving a lower metabolic rate (since muscle drives BMR). IF does not improve metabolism at all. The misinterpretation of increases to HGH while IF, which occurs at 4 days and is a starvation response, doesn't mean one will gain or maintain muscle more. No one gains tons of muscle fasting. That just isn't how it works. A person gains or maintains muscles through progressive overload lifting, adequate protein (which drives protein turnover) and taking a more moderate approach.

    Regarding fat burning.. yes, a keto diet will burn more fat.. but you will store more fat; it's very simple; eat more fat burn more fat, eat more carbs burn more carbs, eat moderate fats and carbs burn moderate fat and carbs. Substrate utilization doesn't mean anything really until you are an endurance athlete, powerlifting or doing highly anaerobic exercises (where carbs are king) . There is no advantage to losing body fat while on a low carb or ketogenic diet. When you equate for calories and protein, multiple studies have shown not additional benefit. If any diet has been demonstrated to be more beneficial than any other, it's a high protein diet. When calories are equated for, but protein is higher in one group, the higher protein group always loses more body fat.
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