Starting Keto
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I measure my food on a scale by ounces0
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Funny the OP posted the original question of this thread 6 weeks ago and it was their only post to date. Shows how many folks here are bursting at the seams to put their opinions, input in to these keto threads
Couple things I noticed on this thread I'd like to comment on:
Eating very low carb and/or keto stifled my cravings and provided a satiety that I did not have previously. Though i ate keto for a couple of years, my weight loss method was low carb and a calorie deficit. My maintenance mode is low carb.I just can’t get the carbs down. I am not eating any starchy foods or vegs and no sugars. For breakfast I eat 2t coconut oil with spinach, cheese bacon and 1/4 avocado. Lunch is normally leftovers. Yesterday was a taco salad 1/4 meat, handful of lettuce, 1/4 Romano tomato, sour cream and 1/4 avocado with salsa as my dressing and for dinner I had pork shoulder with a Keto mushroom and onion gravy. Snack I had 12 almonds. I still got like 18% on my carbs. Don’t even know what to do to get it to 10%. I want to eat my veggies.
Unless you have a medical reason for eating a ketogenic diet there is really (in my opinion) to worry about being in ketosis.
Consider this: if ketosis caused weight loss, all those who choose to eat keto long term...would lose weight until they wasted away to nothing
What ketosis is great for is altering cravings and hunger to help make weight loss easier (in addition to some proven medical benefits such as elilepsy).
Your food choices are nutritious IMO. How long have you been eating like this and are you losing weight?
In your statements "Unless you have a medical reason for eating a ketogenic diet there is really (in my opinion) to worry about being in ketosis.Consider this: if ketosis caused weight loss, all those who choose to eat keto long term...would lose weight until they wasted away to nothing"
If you think there is no other benefit to being in ketosis then you may want to do further research, reading, watching videos of reasons why it is beneficial in lot's of other ways. I'm not gonna get into explaining it all. I find there is way too much personal opinions on these forums and not enough of people doing their own research and not enough medical testing, doctor relations etc.. See a doctor, get lab tests, if you get results you think are positive to your health then get more lab tests, see if your doctor thinks it's related to just fat loss or the ketogenic life style. If you want to get further into it look around and join a medical/nutritional/ketogenic lifestyle group in real life, connected with real physicians who specialize in it, not on the internet. I do believe you will find out a lot more real information that way.
No you will not waste away being in ketosis even after the fat is gone off of your body. There are thousands and thousands of elite athletes all over the world living ketogenic lifestyles and staying fit, lean and healthy while doing so. If you consume the right ratio's of macros and get in sufficient nutrients daily you can 100% maintain body composition while doing so. It's done all over the world. (protein is key) I suggest you do some research into it. And people all over the world are also building lean muscle mass (as I am) while being in full ketosis every day even though their fat is gone. So much new science out there and so, so many recently new (within the last few years) anecdotal journals/testimonials out there of people doing just this. Scientific medical studies about nutritional ketosis is going on all over the world. Look into it. I've been in full ketosis for over a year. I lost 90 lbs of FAT (no lean mass lost) and I have continued on with the ketogenic lifestyle and I continue to gain lean mass while doing so. Do some research on the "ketogenic metabolic advantage" and see why ketosis isn't affected by CICO in all ways most folks on this forum think it is. Join pure ketogenic lifestyle forums/groups. This forum is 99% about CICO ONLY.... Real science, not anecdotal information all over out there for you to find. But hey, we can all spew out what we want on the internet right?? It's up to every individual to find out for real what is true and what works for their metabolism. If you think it's all smoke and mirrors then hey it's your body and your right.
Unfortunately you do not truly know you are in ketosis by just eating under 20 grams per day of net carbs. That is just a guideline that's been put out all over the internet as a general number to then see if you can get your metabolism into ketosis doing so. Every metabolism differs from person to person. One person may be able to get their metabolism to convert to ketosis by eating under 35 grams net carbs a day, another by eating under 20 grams net carbs a day, another by eating under 10 grams net carbs a day etc etc. The only true way you will ever know is by testing blood ketones on a regular basis. I am part of a ketogenic control group. We have lot's of variances in peoples carb intake of what level carb intake to be at to get into and stay in full ketosis. My wife is a great example where she can't get in and stay in full ketosis without dropping to 10 grams or less net carbs per day. On the other hand myself I can consistently add in a couple days a week of up to 35 grams or so net carbs and have other days sticking to 15 to 20 grams net carbs. There is no "magical formula" every one is different and you have to put the time, effort, and dedication into finding out how to dial in your own metabolism. Insulin Resistance can play a big part in all of that.FWIW, I have never checked ketones. I stay under 20 net carbs a day, so I am reasonably confident I am in ketosis. I figure, if I am not, there is not much hope I ever will be.
I suggest a much more accurate digital scale if you want to be very accurate about what macros/calories you are consuming daily. If your scale is not very accurate and it is an ounce (not gram) scale you could be out several grams every time you weight a piece of food. This can add up over time.I measure my food on a scale by ounces
Stay consistent with your water and electrolyte intake daily. Your weight will vary (especially at the beginning of fat loss doing low carb/keto) greatly at times just based on the amount of water your body is holding on to or getting rid of.They are all carbs. I lost 6 lbs the first week and than all came back the second weeks. Still haven’t eaten anything grains or sugars.
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PaulChasinDreams wrote: »Unfortunately you do not truly know you are in ketosis by just eating under 20 grams per day of net carbs.
To be more specific, net carbs per day for the past week have been 3, 3, 5, 5, 6, 8, and 3. I have been eating this way since 2016. You are right though. I don't really know. I can call myself "low carb" if you think that is more accurate I guess.
I monitor blood glucose, and that is really the metric I care about. I set out to lose weight, and so I kept an eye on those numbers too. With ketones, I come back to the observation that if I am not in ketosis, I probably never will be.
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PaulChasinDreams wrote: »Unfortunately you do not truly know you are in ketosis by just eating under 20 grams per day of net carbs.
To be more specific, net carbs per day for the past week have been 3, 3, 5, 5, 6, 8, and 3. I have been eating this way since 2016. You are right though. I don't really know. I can call myself "low carb" if you think that is more accurate I guess.
I monitor blood glucose, and that is really the metric I care about. I set out to lose weight, and so I kept an eye on those numbers too. With ketones, I come back to the observation that if I am not in ketosis, I probably never will be.
If you are eating that low of net carbs a day then I would make a large wager you are in ketosis cause those numbers are very low and I have only seen a small % of our group have to be under 10 grams net/day to stay in ketosis. But it does happen. I always recommend to anyone trying to get into ketosis to but a blood ketone monitor. So so many people go by the posted advised carb intake all over the internet and "think" they are gonna get into ketosis when in fact it's not only not true, it's actually far from the truth. Take 20 people and put them all on a 20 net gram per day carb intake for two straight weeks. You would think that going by what is posted all over the internet that all 20 of those folks would be fully in ketosis after the 2 weeks right? Well how bout even a month? NOPE not true. Only around half of our group went into full ketosis at 20 net grams carbs per day for one month. The range was all over the place in fact. This isn't just true with our control group either. It's true with lot's more people we have been tracking for a long time now. A risk comes up too of letting the carb count wonder from day to day. Some people absolutely can not go above certain numbers and they right away bounce out of ketosis. They lose the metabolic fat burning advantage then have to try to get back into it again and as you probably know not all people can convert their metabolisms as fast as others. A yoyo effect. I'm fortunate where I can get right back in it if I fall out. I've done so many experiments over the year that I know where my limits are with macros etc. But some folks have a tough time with it. My wife has to fight like crazy to stay perfectly consistent and below 10 gram net per day to stay in it. If she goes above it can take her a week or two at times to get back into it. More proof that shows we are all very different inside due to different organ function, insulin, genetics etc.. So many variables that go unmentioned too often.
I as well have monitored blood glucose for over a year now. I was pre diabetic. I did have a fatty liver, high blood pressure etc..90 lbs of fat ago. Thankfully I am in perfect health now and will never divert away from living this way. Completely under two doctors supervision the whole time. Ketogenic life style has also gotten several people off of diabetes meds in our group completely and have "reversed" their conditions. Try to get old school doctors to put that on a medical file lol. Most won't. Old science says that's impossible lol. No. No, it is not.1 -
PaulChasinDreams wrote: »I as well have monitored blood glucose for over a year now. I was pre diabetic. I did have a fatty liver, high blood pressure etc..90 lbs of fat ago. Thankfully I am in perfect health now and will never divert away from living this way. Completely under two doctors supervision the whole time. Ketogenic life style has also gotten several people off of diabetes meds in our group completely and have "reversed" their conditions. Try to get old school doctors to put that on a medical file lol. Most won't. Old science says that's impossible lol. No. No, it is not.
I was diagnosed diabetic in 2016. I am off meds now (16 months!). My meter is predicting a 4.8 A1C.
I am not exactly under a doctor's supervision with the diet. I get panels and A1C checks, but that is it.
The doctor gave me the Diabetes Association diet, which was not doing anything to improve my numbers. I found the MFP forums and stopped eating carbs. When I got my A1C out of the stratosphere, he commented that it was so nice to see a patient actually following instructions.
I said I had basically ignored what he told me, and I asked if he wanted to know what I was doing. He laughed and said, "No, just keep doing it." After he left the examining room, the nurse said, "You can tell me."4 -
PaulChasinDreams wrote: »I as well have monitored blood glucose for over a year now. I was pre diabetic. I did have a fatty liver, high blood pressure etc..90 lbs of fat ago. Thankfully I am in perfect health now and will never divert away from living this way. Completely under two doctors supervision the whole time. Ketogenic life style has also gotten several people off of diabetes meds in our group completely and have "reversed" their conditions. Try to get old school doctors to put that on a medical file lol. Most won't. Old science says that's impossible lol. No. No, it is not.
I was diagnosed diabetic in 2016. I am off meds now (16 months!). My meter is predicting a 4.8 A1C.
I am not exactly under a doctor's supervision with the diet. I get panels and A1C checks, but that is it.
The doctor gave me the Diabetes Association diet, which was not doing anything to improve my numbers. I found the MFP forums and stopped eating carbs. When I got my A1C out of the stratosphere, he commented that it was so nice to see a patient actually following instructions.
I said I had basically ignored what he told me, and I asked if he wanted to know what I was doing. He laughed and said, "No, just keep doing it." After he left the examining room, the nurse said, "You can tell me."
That's ridiculous that he didn't want to know what you're doing. It's like they don't wanna help people sometimes.3 -
DonutEatThat wrote: »
That's ridiculous that he didn't want to know what you're doing. It's like they don't wanna help people sometimes.
He is pretty old school. It was not in his med school textbook in 1978 or whatever. He is not progressive at all.2 -
DonutEatThat wrote: »
That's ridiculous that he didn't want to know what you're doing. It's like they don't wanna help people sometimes.
He is pretty old school. It was not in his med school textbook in 1978 or whatever. He is not progressive at all.
That's kinda crappy. I can appreciate old school doctors, especially ones that have been around a long time and have seen a lot, but he should have been curious to see what you're doing, even just to put in your file.0 -
PaulChasinDreams wrote: »I as well have monitored blood glucose for over a year now. I was pre diabetic. I did have a fatty liver, high blood pressure etc..90 lbs of fat ago. Thankfully I am in perfect health now and will never divert away from living this way. Completely under two doctors supervision the whole time. Ketogenic life style has also gotten several people off of diabetes meds in our group completely and have "reversed" their conditions. Try to get old school doctors to put that on a medical file lol. Most won't. Old science says that's impossible lol. No. No, it is not.
I was diagnosed diabetic in 2016. I am off meds now (16 months!). My meter is predicting a 4.8 A1C.
I am not exactly under a doctor's supervision with the diet. I get panels and A1C checks, but that is it.
The doctor gave me the Diabetes Association diet, which was not doing anything to improve my numbers. I found the MFP forums and stopped eating carbs. When I got my A1C out of the stratosphere, he commented that it was so nice to see a patient actually following instructions.
I said I had basically ignored what he told me, and I asked if he wanted to know what I was doing. He laughed and said, "No, just keep doing it." After he left the examining room, the nurse said, "You can tell me."
This is so awesome to hear! Very very happy and proud of you for doing what you are doing and to follow what you thought was right. Unfortunately your story about your doctor is very common place now days. Have you heard the old saying "a patient cured is a customer lost" This isn't the case with all doctors of course but it is a fact that it is the case with lot's that people I have been involved with used to see regularly. Not anymore though.0 -
My doctor just says keep doing what you are doing, the blood work, fat loss and muscle development proves what you are doing is right for your body. The standards of practice are an issue for doctors in the U.S. since it can open them up to all kind of liability if something goes wrong. It's why not many can acknowledge alternatives. When the big pharma wolf is dictating out standards of practice to the sheep you ain't winning if you don't take control of your own health.
Starting A1C: 7.1. Current: 5.1. Low carb/keto was a big part of this but even more important these days are timing of heavier carbs for muscle/exercise needs.
There is no one size fits all for ketosis on the high end which is why the 15-20 number is way way to generic. 30-40 are more realistic for semi-active people and way more sustainable. Ketone testing has had me as high as a 0.8 nutritional level on a 70 net carb day / 100 total a few times recently. Had a 1.0 at 85 net awhile back. Exercise/timing of carb loads are how. It's all good and not anything I target regularly. At the end of it all I just care that I am a fat burner vs a sugar burner.2
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