Keto

kaleighsweightlossjourney

Hi everyone my names Kaleigh and I am thinking about starting a Keto diet. Does any of you have success stories with Keto? Struggles getting started and sticking to it? Thanks in advance!

Poobah1972

I'm personally doing Keto right now with my fiance. Were doing really fantastic right now, I'm currently in my 7th week. Both of us are dropping the pounds quite steadily. Were seldom very hungry, as that is one of the key factors that make Keto or Low Carb so attractive as a weight loss method. However in the end it always boils down to CICO (Calories In / Calories Out).

It's rather large topic, so If you have any other questions I could try to answer anything specific you may be wondering.

As starting out, I recommend keeping your initial plan fairly simple... As a new way of eating can all seem pretty daunting, regardless of method.

I tend to stick to egg's and bacon for breakfast.. But there is many variations of that. Then again I love egg's and bacon. After that I tend to eat leftovers for lunch from the previous nights supper. And supper more or less is your choice of meat with a salad or Vegitable.

Meat's tend to be Turkey/Chicken Legs, Thighs or Drumsticks, roasted with the skin on. Steak's are usually strip loin, or prime rib. Pork chops are your friend. Italian sausages, Ground beef are all great. Salmon too if your fan.

Veggies tend to be, Brussel Sprouts, Brocolli, Cauliflower, Aspergus, or Basic Salads (I like to put feta cheese in my salad. Dressings can be full fat or Calorise versions it's really up to you.

The thing is, even though I list all those tasty meats... You will find eating low carb, you just won't be hungry like you used to be. So that 10oz strip loin I used to eat in it's entirety, I know only eat 5 ounces of... I may only have 4 ounzes of a Prime Rib (1 steak being 4 servings for my Fiance and I). etc.

If you ate lean meats, took of your skins, ate egg white only extra, your fat count will be far to low. Now you could eat chicken breast etc, but you should make sure your upping your fat content somewhere else in your meal.

As for snacks, There is cheese, lunch meats, and Nuts (Pecan, Brazil, macadamia being the best options, and almonds in the middle of the pack.). I also snack on about a 3/4 of a cup of a combination of raspberries, black berries and strawberries which are the closed things to fruits that are easy to fit into a Keto plan. p.s. I usually eat my berries in a No sugar added Vanilla pudding, cause I like the combination.

Word of advise, increase your consumption of salt slightly, and consider a few supplements, like Potassium, Calcium and a multivitamin. I also highly encourage daily consumption of one serving a metamucil if you encounter any difficulties with constipation that some people do, usually if your not eating enough Vegitables and fiber.

There is a lot of other items and tricks to make low carbing more normal and everyday... but like I said, just make it simple at first... And if you a Bread lover I recently found an amazing recipe. (See Signature).

Best of luck to you, and I know you can do it. I know, cause I lost over 200 lbs over 13 years ago? (saddly I've slowly put it all back on as I reverted to old habits. But that's not a fault of the diet, it's more a fault of poor decisions)

---

For the real Low-Carb bread that cooks, smells and tastes like bread... Click.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10825652/best-low-carb-bread-no-flour-was-used

lemurcat2

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum

The above link goes to an excellent, friendly group with lots of good threads and long-term experience doing keto or low carb. I'd highly recommend it. (There are threads for meals and so on too.)

If you have any trouble getting in post here and I'll let the admin know, as I know there have been some bugs.

lemurcat2

As for your question, I guess I'd need to know what your experience is with dieting and keto, why you want to do keto, and what struggles you perceive or have had.

My view: keto is in no way superior to any other way of losing, so if you have been told it's faster or better in some way, that's not a good reason to do it, especially if you haven't tried or have had success on other ways of losing.

That said, I think it is helpful for some, because it helps them control cals. This is especially people who struggle with hunger on some other ways of eating.

Personally, I lost 90 lbs eating moderately low carb to moderate carb (I focused on nutrition and eating sufficient protein and was never hungry).

While at maintenance, I started experimenting with different ways of eating and decided to give keto a try. I didn't really struggle with it, and didn't mind it -- I continued eating as many veg as I had liked to otherwise, which actually was a problem for the carb limit even without fruit or any other significant sources of carbs, but I convinced myself it could be done healthfully. I had no particular benefits from it, although I didn't dislike it, so when I started missing fruit I decided to go back to moderately low carb. For me, the biggest problems were just preferences: I had to eat more meat than I like to hit my protein goal, missed fruit and other healthy higher carb foods (like beans and lentils and potatoes), and also missed the flexibility of being able to make a quick and healthy pasta sauce and have it on actual pasta.

One thing any restrictive diet like keto does that can be helpful if you are the right kind of person (for others it would be a major problem to feel so restricted) is that you pretty much have to eat mindfully, as random foods you might otherwise eat without thinking probably don't fit in your way of eating.

I'm a fan of trying just cutting cals in a healthful way and improving the diet and then trying lower carbs if you want to see if that helps the diet feel easier, and gradually reducing carbs to see if it continues to help rather than immediately going to keto, but I also understand that for some something totally new can feel inspiring, so I'm not going to discourage you (and I currently am eating low carb, although not keto, and hanging out over in the linked thread with lots of keto folks).