starting keto...maybe?

daniels8186

I have been thinking off and on about starting keto but i am really scared.Im not worried about the bread,rice,flours so much but about the sugars and the fruits.I'm also worried about gaining the weight back or damaging my metabolism even more,While my body is detoxing the sugars i am really afraid i will be short tempered especially now at home with my kids.Does anyone have any input or suggestions on how to do this?or not do this?

Lillymoo01

With your apprehension, it sounds like keto may not be sustainable for you long term. How about starting off by going low carb (around the 100 gm)? That way you can still enjoy your fruit and if all goes well you could gradually reduce those carbs even further if that is the way you want to go.

Remember that weight loss is eating at a deficit and how people go about achieving that is very individual. What is great for some won't be for others.

daniels8186

i am eating at a defecit and working out now but i am not losing anything.But perhaps you are right and i will start off by limiting.thank you for your input

lgfrie

I think the most important aspect of dieting is to diet in a way that's comfortable and you feel good about. That gives you the best odds of staying on plan after the first month or two, when it starts to get tedious and you'll really need it to fit with your food preferences and cravings. NOBODY gives up basic staples they love for 6 months or a year or two years, so if you have a long diet ahead, it has to fit like a glove with your food preferences.

You already have a lot of reservations about keto and haven't even started yet. Maybe it isn't the right approach for you.

Everything else is just a minor footnote to that. But here's a couple of footnotes. You can't damage your metabolism. The initial weight loss from keto is water loss due to lack of carbs (which cause water retention), and it'll come rocketing back when you go off keto - but it's just water so it doesn't matter. You will probably be short tempered when you stare at your 20th consecutive day of not having all the great things you love, including sugar, fruit, along with bread/rice/pasta. Keto requires you to give up a lot of pleasurable foods and offers nothing in return besides some initial water loss. Some people thrive on it because restrictive/elimination diets always work for a percentage of people, but it doesn't sound like you'll be one of those people.

sue7043

Hi. I tried keto. The good: you won’t be hungry-there are a lot of foods allowed that are satisfying to fill the void at first. You’ll lose weight fast, probably. Also, you could measure progress with the ph sticks. The bad: Weight comes back super fast if you don’t maintain and it’s hard to maintain indefinitely. Also, I’m with you- I wonder about how healthy it is. Isn’t it frustrating that there is so much conflicting information out there from seemingly well-qualified professionals? Maybe there’s no right answer and you have to experiment and figure out what works for you. If you decide to do it there was a blog that I liked called Go Keto with Casey. She has a good resource page. Just a suggestion. Good luck!

daniels8186

I'm just spinning.I haven't' found something that works and keto is something that's so prevalent.But thank you for your input.I agree whole heartedly with the things you said.

yirara

Are you using a food scale to thoroughly weigh everything you eat?

btw, keto doesn't make everyone full. Some people enjoy eating this way and indeed feel full and eat less. Other people feel full from eating pasta, rice, bread, etc. Again others thrive on protein. If I had to eat keto I would be constantly hungry and miserable. Actually, I did on a vacation to a country where I mostly got meat, with the occasional fat-soaked rice or flat bread. I never felt full and energetic for the whole trip.

daniels8186

i am using the food scale for meats and a measuring cup for veg and greens.I use measuring spoons for pb and oils.That's mostly what i eat now

Jeanaiah

Ehh.. if you can give up carbs then why not give it a try see if it works good for you. But remember, once you start eating carbs again, you’ll gain the lbs you’ve lost (cuz really, it’s not good for long term)

PAV8888

daniels8186 wrote: »

i am using the food scale for meats and a measuring cup for veg and greens.I use measuring spoons for pb and oils.That's mostly what i eat now

Less junk to clean if put the jar/bottle on the scale and "tare" and look at the negative value!

Plus your scale is much more accurate vs your eyeball + volume measurement devices!

Unless your room temperature is... uncomfortable, conversion tables for volume to weight exist and for most oils are around 14g per tablespoon.

Conversion info from United Nations food and agriculture organization (FAO) : http://www.fao.org/3/ap815e/ap815e.pdf

gallicinvasion

I see a lot of use of the words “scared” “afraid” and “worried.” Thinking about a change to your way-of-eating shouldn’t incur fear! And if it does, it’s probably not sustainable for you.

Keto is not magic. You don’t need to eat any special way in order to lose weight. You just need to eat your regular foods, in smaller portions. Log all your food in your food diary so you can be sure you are eating fewer calories than your maintenance level, and you will lose! It will also be easier to maintain your weight loss, Since you don’t have to make any drastic changes to your eating that you might not like to stick to.

claire6240

I did Keto a year ago and lost 1 stone and thought yay but then it stopped and I missed fruit and struggled when eating out. We went on holiday and I ate carbs and found it hard to stop. I put all the weight back on and more. I did fell a lot healthier while doing Keto but I missed my fruit and veg. It totally depends on the person.
However I’ve started this way of eating for almost a week and lost almost 5 pound already which is amazing. I’m eating less carbs but not drastically less like Keto and same for fat and protein and I think this is a lot healthier way of loosing weight and the only thing that will ruin it is not tracking your macros and over eating. It’s amazing how much you don’t realise your over eating until you record it.
Hope this helps anyway x

daniels8186

clare6240 can i ask what you are eating now? I've been tracking but have been gaining a lb a week and i don't do much in sugar or really anything in refined carbs but i am still incredibly bloated.

Thanks everyone for your input

psuLemon

The biggest key to long term success is following a diet that you are comfortable with. But also keep in mind that can change throughout your lifetime. Outside of the restored water weight (maybe 5-7 lbs). The reason most people regain the weight when they come off is because they over compensate and go eat all the forbidden high calorie junk foods they weren't eating before.

Next, Ketogenic won't screw up your metabolism. Third, your body doesn't detox sugars. It does reduce carbohydrate utilization and move towards utilizating ketones for a fuel source (exception is red blood cells and your central nervous system which require glucose). If you feel fatigued or have headaches, its from electrolyte depletion, which means you need higher amounts of sodium/salt, potassium and magnesium. You can mitigate that by salting foods and eating adequate levels of dark leafy greens and avocados.

Forth, you can eat some fruit. I regularly consume blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries.. sometimes blueberries. I do eat avocado 4-5x a week. I do tend to eat at the higher end of the spectrum for keto (40-50g) but i am male and active. If you are short and sedentary, than you will probably require less carbs.

Now, the bigger question is, do you need to be in ketosis? No. In fact, I don't track if i am or not. But i do notice, the lower my carbs, the more full i get and the longer i can go between meals. I also tend to eat on the higher end of the spectrum for protein. I eat 1g per lb of weight. This is 30-35% protein. So my fats are more like 50-55%.

By doing this, i have been pretty consistently losing weight. I do have periodic carb refeeds (like today if you want to look st my diary). This is for lifting performance and sanity. Since i am leaner, i tend to do this every 2-3 weeks. Since i don't have a metabolic disorder that requires glucose management, this works. Note: a real refeed is very high carb, very low fat and isn't the same as a cheat meal or cheat day (wouldn't suggest a cheat day).

In the end, you can start by lowering carbs and eventually going down to Ketogenic levels. If you don't care about being in ketosis, then don't stress. What's really important is developing long term habits (i.e., eating more whole nutrient dense foods and exercising) that will carry over even if you aren't one a Ketogenic or low carb diet.

If you need tips for starting, i would recommend Thomas Delauer. While some of his content is stretching and clickbait, the majority is well meaning (more whole foods, higher protein, more fish, cooking in quality oils, etc...).

Other tips: do not do fat bombs or consistently make keto desserts. They are ok for occasions (bday parties, etc...), but they are also highly caloric.

Luciicul

daniels8186 wrote: »

I have been thinking off and on about starting keto but i am really scared.Im not worried about the bread,rice,flours so much but about the sugars and the fruits.I'm also worried about gaining the weight back or damaging my metabolism even more,While my body is detoxing the sugars i am really afraid i will be short tempered especially now at home with my kids.Does anyone have any input or suggestions on how to do this?or not do this?

Sounds like perhaps you don't fully understand the underlying principles of keto? I would recommend you make sure you understand it before trying it. (That goes for any diet: make sure you understand how it works, why it works, etc).

I don't eat keto, but do eat a liberal LCHF wholefood diet, which operates on the same underlying theory/principles for weight-loss, but is not as strict in number of carbs as keto. I do eat some fruit, mostly lower-sugar options and berries. I don't eat sugar, it is terrible for health. More info about different levels of low-carb here https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/how-low-carb-is-low-carb

To complicate things further, there are different variations of "keto", and it can mean different things to different people. This is why I clarified when explaining my own diet, that I eat a liberal LCHF "wholefood" diet - as this is significantly different (imho) to someone who eats a processed LCHF diet.

People who are most critical of "keto" are usually thinking about a processed keto diet. If people eat junk, it's not going to be good for them, even if they can lose weight while doing it. This is true of any approach.

While it's true initial weight loss on low-carb includes some water loss, I don't see why that matters. I lost over 120lbs on low-carb - that's not all "water weight"!

It's also true of every approach (regardless of whether keto or something else) that weight will be regained if don't stick to it. And 95% of diets don't work in the long term. That's the paradox we're all dealing with - the odds are against us.

But, we have to try something to lose the excess weight that is making us ill. Up to you which approach you try, keto is one option a lot of people have success with, and there are other options you could try too.

What @psuLemon has said above all makes good sense. If you join one of the keto or low-carb groups you will find others who eat this way, and discover the variations in approach too. Lots of tips to minimise keto flu symptoms - and you'll find that it's carbs that are most responsible for that "hangry" irritable feeling, so changing to low-carb will likely reduce your mood swings in the longer term.

The person who I most follow for advice in this space is Dr Jason Fung, he has a book "The Obesity Code", but I started by watching some free videos on youtube and reading his blog. He combines LCHF wholefoods with intermittent fasting.

I also make use of the free content on the Diet Doctor website. They have lots of good info.

[Both of these website have a good amount of free content, but also promote a paid membership option - I have not signed up for the paid memberships, just made use of the free content.]