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To Keto or Not To Keto?

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Replies

  • kmbrooks15
    kmbrooks15 Posts: 941 Member
    I don't think I could stick to keto. I have PCOS, and the recommended macros for PCOS are 20% carbs, 40% fat, 40% protein, and that works for me. My trainer also highly recommended NOT doing keto because of the lack of sustainability. I tend to agree. I could probably do it for a short amount of time, but I will have to eat low carb permanently to maintain my weight due to PCOS, so I think keto would not work for me. I've lost 18.6 pounds in a little over two months doing the 20% carbs, so I think what I'm doing is working, so I'm sticking with it.
  • kmbrooks15
    kmbrooks15 Posts: 941 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    ALL DIETS work if you follow their programs correctly and consistently. It's when you go off them that they don't work. Personally I tell all my clients NOT to diet. I tell them to use this app and count calories and be consistent. I look at their diaries and we tweek things up when they aren't progressing.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png

    This is what my trainer is doing. She has access to my diary and will make suggestions on new foods to try or things to tweak. So far I have not needed any major tweaks to what I'm eating, so it's working!
  • JoPat409
    JoPat409 Posts: 87 Member
    The very word “diet” suggests something short term. At some point you have to find something that you can maintain or lose weight with. For some people it’s never ending different diets. If that works great. I had to get to a place where I just ate less and accept that I might feel hungry at times of the day. But it passes. And most times it passes fast. Once I got over that hurdle I found it much easier to eat less.
  • refactored
    refactored Posts: 455 Member
    edited October 2021
    I have been told by a renal specialist to not do keto after my blood tests showed impaired kidney function. My concern with keto is how acidic it can make urine which in turn can lead to kidney stones. Also because kidney disease can occur in the absence of any symptoms, I would think it would be reasonable to have blood tests every 6 months to monitor kidney function of you do choose to do keto.

    Here is pdf of a recent review and meta-analysis: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9721/9/2/39/pdf

    It concluded ...
    The estimated incidence of kidney stones in patients on ketogenic diets is 5.9%. Its incidence is approximately 5.8% in children and 7.9% in adults. Uric acid stones are the most prevalent kidney stones in patients on ketogenic diets followed by calcium-based stones. These findings may impact the prevention and clinical
    management of kidney stones in patients on ketogenic diets.

    As always the study does have its limitations and these are outlined in the paper. Hopefully there will be more research into this area so people can be informed of the risks.
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    refactored wrote: »
    I have been told by a renal specialist to not do keto after my blood tests showed impaired kidney function. My concern with keto is how acidic it can make urine which in turn can lead to kidney stones. Also because kidney disease can occur in the absence of any symptoms, I would think it would be reasonable to have blood tests every 6 months to monitor kidney function of you do choose to do keto.

    Here is pdf of a recent review and meta-analysis: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9721/9/2/39/pdf

    It concluded ...
    The estimated incidence of kidney stones in patients on ketogenic diets is 5.9%. Its incidence is approximately 5.8% in children and 7.9% in adults. Uric acid stones are the most prevalent kidney stones in patients on ketogenic diets followed by calcium-based stones. These findings may impact the prevention and clinical
    management of kidney stones in patients on ketogenic diets.

    As always the study does have its limitations and these are outlined in the paper. Hopefully there will be more research into this area so people can be informed of the risks.

    You may want to follow the medical advice of your doctor.

    You do understand your linked info is without actionable results. May-, Estimated terms shows a lot of guessing. How many stone were found in the control groups?
  • refactored
    refactored Posts: 455 Member
    It wasn't a randomised control trial (RCT). It was based on a review of other studies that included retrospectives. I think the point is that the potential risk of kidney stones with keto isn't will studied. Would there really be much funding for such an RCT anyway?
  • Cstratton82
    Cstratton82 Posts: 3 Member
    Yes...if you are going to do it your entire life. Like EVERY diet if it is temporary your results will also be temporary!
  • LeavingBusy
    LeavingBusy Posts: 3 Member
    I just started keto, but within my daily calorie allowance. What I discovered is that I am satisfied with the food I’m eating and feel satiated. On other macro combinations I’m feeling starved all the time. Some days My hunger is so diminished that I leave calories uneaten. Gasp!
    I have a higher chance of being successful long term eating this way because I don’t h feel like I’m starving to death which creates a diet-sabatoging binging backlash.
    Not going to lie, I’m already missing potatoes and pasta but obviously those foods trigger my appetite.
  • Hiawassee88
    Hiawassee88 Posts: 35,754 Member
    edited July 2022
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    ALL DIETS work if you follow their programs correctly and consistently. It's when you go off them that they don't work. Personally I tell all my clients NOT to diet. I tell them to use this app and count calories and be consistent. I look at their diaries and we tweek things up when they aren't progressing.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png


    "It's when you go off them that they don't work." Truer words were never spoken.

    Two words. Portion control.

    No one can talk you out of keto if you really want to. @LeavingBusy Missing potatoes and pasta? Wait until the keto is finished and then fall right back into the foods that you have always eaten. Cross your fingers or hope that you will never find them appetizing ever again. Gut it out until you can't.

    Rebound weight gain with friends will marsh a mellow. Starting over and over, again. Any food can trigger the appetite if it's genuine hunger. Why not throw all of the dieting out with the bathwater. Learn to sit in your life with the foods you love. Portion control it, waaaay into the future. There's no finish line with portion control.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,281 Member
    I just started keto, but within my daily calorie allowance. What I discovered is that I am satisfied with the food I’m eating and feel satiated. On other macro combinations I’m feeling starved all the time. Some days My hunger is so diminished that I leave calories uneaten. Gasp!


    Not sure the point of the gasp! as if this is a source of pride or joy - one is actually suppossed to eat to one's calorie allowance not aim to go under or leave calories uneaten ( on average and approximately, of course)

    I also noted you say you just started keto- It seems this honeymoon phase is common with many people on any new diet, not just keto - where they don't feel hungry at first because the novelty and enthusiasm of change.
    Something to be aware of.
  • BuellerFerrisBueller
    BuellerFerrisBueller Posts: 35 Member
    The Keto Diet is very polarizing. Everyone sees it as the biggest revelation ever or as snake oil. There's very little middle ground.

    I'm a vote against the Keto Diet. If carbs were as fattening as the Keto proponents claimed, I'd be on _My 600 Pound Life_. Instead, I'm about the same height and weight as Taylor Swift and Claudia Schiffer. (But I'm not as good-looking, as charming, or as graceful.)

    What I recommend is avoiding junk food or at least minimizing your consumption of it. The various polarized dietary factions endlessly argue about so many things, but they all agree that refined sugars, refined grains, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners (like aspartame), deep-fried vegetable seed oils, hydrogenated fats, and FD&C coloring chemicals are bad for your health.
  • Hiawassee88
    Hiawassee88 Posts: 35,754 Member
    edited July 2022
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    Ooo dear. You won't find everyone in agreement here about refined sugars, refined grains, HFCS, artificial sweeteners.....
    We have some pasta and pizza eaters that would tell how the cow ate the cabbage and clean your clock. The unvarnished truth about rice and noodles, pizza and pasta washed down with a diet soda. I'll wait for one to come along, shortly.
  • JaysFan82
    JaysFan82 Posts: 853 Member
    I've never seen someone do Keto and successfully keep the weight off longterm and my office is full of people who've attempted it.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,281 Member
    MFP has several members who have done so though.
  • JaysFan82
    JaysFan82 Posts: 853 Member
    Oh I believe you, but I don't know them personally.
  • Hiawassee88
    Hiawassee88 Posts: 35,754 Member
    edited July 2022
    We've gotten caught up in the trap that less is more. It's not enough to eat the foods we like, they must be better quality foods. We have to eat low carb and then push that into no carb. Add some intermittent fasting and extend the hours into days that we fast.

    Less is more until it's not. The way we eat sets the rhythms for everything else. Stress, sleep and movement.
    If you can't sleep, some compensate with more food and/or caffeine. It may affect movement and leave you with less energy to do everything else. The cycles continue.

    "ALL DIETS work if you follow their programs correctly and consistently. It's when you go off them that they don't work. Personally I tell all my clients NOT to diet. " @ninerbuff

    After 5 years, about 5% of people on-non surgical weight loss programs can keep off the weight. With weight loss surgery it's 7% even with procedures like the gastric bypass. There's no such thing as a free lunch for those wanting to maintain long term weight stability. It takes focus and wrestling with ourselves. Start coasting and it can easily go out the window.

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18392907/
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5764193/
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3901982/

    Camps, S. G., Verhoef, S. P., & Westerterp, K. R. (2013). Weight loss, weight maintenance, and adaptive thermogenesis. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 97(5), 990–994. https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.112.050310

    Castellanos, E. H., Charboneau, E., Dietrich, M. S., Park, S., Bradley, B. P., Mogg, K., & Cowan, R. L. (2009). Obese adults have visual attention bias for food cue images: evidence for altered reward system function. International Journal of Obesity, 33(9), 1063–1073. https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2009.138

    de Ridder, D. T. D., Lensvelt-Mulders, G., Finkenauer, C., Stok, F. M., & Baumeister, R. F. (2012). Taking stock of self-control: a meta-analysis of how trait self-control relates to a wide range of behaviors. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 16(1), 76–99. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868311418749

    DeLany, J. P., Kelley, D. E., Hames, K. C., Jakicic, J. M., & Goodpaster, B. H. (2014). Effect of physical activity on weight loss, energy expenditure, and energy intake during diet induced weight loss. Obesity, 22(2), 363–370. https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.20525

    Doucet, E., St-Pierre, S., Alméras, N., & Tremblay, A. (2003). Relation between appetite ratings before and after a standard meal and estimates of daily energy intake in obese and reduced obese individuals. Appetite, 40(2), 137–143. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0195-6663(02)00143-5

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  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    The Keto Diet is very polarizing. Everyone sees it as the biggest revelation ever or as snake oil. There's very little middle ground.

    No I dont think that is true at all
    Not on MFP at any rate
    Many posters who do keto can recognise it isnt for everyone or the pros and cons of it and many people who do not do keto can recognise the benifiit of it for others

    Speaking for myself I dont see it as the biggest revelation ever or snake oil.
    I do see it as a way of eating that works for some people sometimes but is also a bit of a trendy fad for others

    you seem to be trying to make a false dichotomy that is not really there.

    Exactly this.

    I have a generally positive view of keto as a diet that can be done healthfully and that for some is an easier or more pleasant way to have a deficit. Personally, I prefer to eat somewhat low carb (not because I think carbs are inherently fattening, calories are calories when it comes to weight loss), but because I tend to prefer eating that way, especially when at a deficit.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,216 Member
    I've been low carb basically since 1998 and have maintained my weight effortlessly for the most part while losing 50 lbs in that initial transition without tracking calories. I tried Keto a few times but it required me to monitor carbs and protein which I did with intermittently checking ketones and the end result was I didn't feel or see any benefit, so I just stick to my original plan and no monitoring.
  • DFW_Tom
    DFW_Tom Posts: 220 Member
    Strict keto is hard to do, but is a good way to transition to a low carb eating style. Keto for a couple of months -> relatively low carb permanently. Whatever it takes to get away from too much sugar and eating processed, commercially prepared mixes. Everyone's digestion of carbs differ. Some, like LeavingBusy, "gasp" at the realization that they can start loosing weight without being on a portion restriction plan that leaves them miserable when they try Keto.

    The "calorie in-calorie out" method of controlling portions while eating "healthy" is far too simplistic for today's cheap, easy and highly refined standard American diet. The type of calories consumed plays a key role of being able to control portions for many. Any attempt to reduce weight by a change in eating style is doomed to failure if it can not be a permanent, life long change.
  • COGypsy
    COGypsy Posts: 1,352 Member
    DFW_Tom wrote: »
    Strict keto is hard to do, but is a good way to transition to a low carb eating style. Keto for a couple of months -> relatively low carb permanently. Whatever it takes to get away from too much sugar and eating processed, commercially prepared mixes. Everyone's digestion of carbs differ. Some, like LeavingBusy, "gasp" at the realization that they can start loosing weight without being on a portion restriction plan that leaves them miserable when they try Keto.

    The "calorie in-calorie out" method of controlling portions while eating "healthy" is far too simplistic for today's cheap, easy and highly refined standard American diet. The type of calories consumed plays a key role of being able to control portions for many. Any attempt to reduce weight by a change in eating style is doomed to failure if it can not be a permanent, life long change.

    Along the lines of what @AnnPT77 was saying, I lost 60 pounds and have mostly maintained that loss for a few years now. However, I don't find fat particularly satisfying, so I focus on carbs, which do fill me up, and protein, which is pretty satiating to me as well. More notably, probably 75% of my diet is delivery/takeout/dine-in restaurant food. No problem losing or maintaining and all of my health markers (blood pressure, A1C, resting heart rate, weight, nutrition panel, etc.) are spot on.

    I would imagine that I'm pretty much the poster child for what you think of when you refer to the standard American diet. You're absolutely correct that overhauling your eating style isn't likely to lead to sustainable weight loss. There are just a whole lot of eating styles that lead to the same outcome.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    edited August 2022
    DFW_Tom wrote: »
    Strict keto is hard to do, but is a good way to transition to a low carb eating style. Keto for a couple of months -> relatively low carb permanently. Whatever it takes to get away from too much sugar and eating processed, commercially prepared mixes. Everyone's digestion of carbs differ. Some, like LeavingBusy, "gasp" at the realization that they can start loosing weight without being on a portion restriction plan that leaves them miserable when they try Keto.

    The "calorie in-calorie out" method of controlling portions while eating "healthy" is far too simplistic for today's cheap, easy and highly refined standard American diet. The type of calories consumed plays a key role of being able to control portions for many. Any attempt to reduce weight by a change in eating style is doomed to failure if it can not be a permanent, life long change.

    Just to point out, regardless of diet preference, failure is extremely high.
  • DFW_Tom
    DFW_Tom Posts: 220 Member
    COGypsy wrote: »
    I would imagine that I'm pretty much the poster child for what you think of when you refer to the standard American diet. You're absolutely correct that overhauling your eating style isn't likely to lead to sustainable weight loss. There are just a whole lot of eating styles that lead to the same outcome.

    COGypsy, I am sincerely happy for you and others like @AnnPT77 who have found ongoing success in weight management. But surely you two aren't suggesting that what has proven to work for you is the only way to lose weight and keep it off for everyone any more than what I have found works for me is. The original question was "to keto or not to keto". The answer differs from person to person, and I am not able to come up with an answer that fits everyone. Heck, I can't even figure out what, "agnostic of diet preference," is suppose to mean.

    To be clear: The often repeated advice to eat less and exercise more, to follow the MyPlate or food pyramid guidelines, that CICO is all you have to do for long-term success, has proven to be an utter failure for many that has led to a surge in obesity and chronic diseases. Everybody is different. What works for one might not work for others. The goal is to find what works for you for the rest of your life. If that is strict Keto, fine. Its not easy to do though.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,216 Member
    Those pesky gut microbiota and hormones are feeling neglected in that sterile world of CICO imo.

  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,216 Member
    edited August 2022
    Yeah, food effects the microbiome and our hormones and each macro has a distinct effect on each, which was kind of my point. I look at CICO as a treatment for the symptom without really treating the root cause and how could it, it's just a measurement of heat. If someone is successful with CICO I'm on board and happy that it works. For me a higher protein diet where satiation was a key factor for my success and lowering highly refined carbs and starches without the need to count calories and if I needed to count calories I would have tried something else until I found what accomplished that, but I've know for over 20 years that a higher protein diet delivers satiation in spades, or at least animal protein, plant proteins didn't do the job for me personally but I would imagine it's because I'm not a growing plant and my physiology best matches the proteins found in animals, but I've never looked into it. Cheers