Ketogenic-low carb diet??

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  • ThatMouse
    ThatMouse Posts: 229 Member
    OP, not sure if you're still searching for opinions, but I figure I'll offer my experience with keto and coming out of it.

    I did keto in the beginning of my weight loss (I tried Paleo, but after doing more research, keto snagged me) namely because when I started, I had fatty liver. I was also concerned about what eating a high-fat diet would do to me, so I read up on it and did some research.

    I can't remember the exact papers I read (oh noes! someone poke holes in me!), but one of them mentioned that a ketogenic diet was excellent for mobilizing lipids in the liver. According to the studies, the liver lipids were the first fat stores mobilized, which helped to eliminate non-alcoholic fatty liver.

    I figured, I'll give it a shot. Got a blood test done 3 weeks into the diet, and was subsequently called by my doctor. The liver lipids (or whatever measures them) in my blood work were in the 300+ range - at which point, had I not been on a diet meant for it, I should have had jaundice or been dead (according to him, I don't know). But I was fine, I felt fine and I showed no signs of illness. So I went for another batch of blood work that weekend. Liver lipids down to 33 - half my original count of 66 (fatty liver) and down 10x from the high 3 weeks into keto. Explaining my diet to the doc, we came to the same conclusion that the liver lipids mobilized first, and that was caught in the 3 week blood test, and the current blood test was what my results were now while on the diet.

    I've been fatty liver-free since! (Probably the same thing could have happened on a regular "eat less" diet, but I'm not sure. Maybe keto's just a bit faster at getting the liver lipids? No clue.)

    I did keto for about... er... 6 months or so? Maybe 8? Before I realized that I was having a really hard time sticking to it. I missed my breads and my pastas and, most importantly, my fruits. So I decided to ditch it and see what happened. After some initial water weight gain, I discovered that I kept losing just fine so long as I was in a caloric deficit.

    So now I'm continuing the caloric deficit and, in likely a month, will reach the 10lbs lost since moving out of keto mark. I plan to follow just a simple caloric deficit with a target protein macro as I work my way down.

    Keto for me will always be a nice suggestion because it helped me establish healthier eating habits and moderation. It also really helped me kick my sugar addiction - I can't eat a bag of gummies anymore without getting a massive headache, so I find it doesn't have the same pull on me. Keto's ability to satiate also really helped and it was key to me re-learning how to feel hungry.
  • smcred
    smcred Posts: 2
    Thanks for your story. Very helpful to know about the effect on the liver and "riding it out."
  • hermann341
    hermann341 Posts: 443 Member
    Once upon a time, my cholesterol was over 400 and my triglycerides were over 500. I tried Atkins for about 6 months, lost over 30 pounds and reduced my cholesterol to 180, and my triglycerides were in the normal range, too. Without even exercising. All as predicted by Dr. Atkins. I'm not sure what my cholesterol is currently (about 220 last time I tested 2 years ago), but I tend to reduce my carb intake (especially from breads, pasta, and potatoes) and I'm doing cardio 6 times a week, so I'm not too worried.
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
    In
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
    Once upon a time, my cholesterol was over 400 and my triglycerides were over 500. I tried Atkins for about 6 months, lost over 30 pounds and reduced my cholesterol to 180, and my triglycerides were in the normal range, too. Without even exercising. All as predicted by Dr. Atkins. I'm not sure what my cholesterol is currently (about 220 last time I tested 2 years ago), but I tend to reduce my carb intake (especially from breads, pasta, and potatoes) and I'm doing cardio 6 times a week, so I'm not too worried.
    The reduction in cholesterol would be due to you dropping weight not due specifically to your diet. If you lose a significant amount of weight your cholesterol will more than likely reduce no matter what you're eating.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    The reduction in cholesterol would be due to you dropping weight not due specifically to your diet.

    Although reduced carbohydrate without weight loss did reduce cholesterol in women with PCOS http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cen.12175/abstract

    and plenty of other studies show interactions between diet composition and lipid profiles

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