Ketogenic diets
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I am pro-keto. But everyone has to fine what works for them. I started a ketogenic diet on 01.12.2014, and have since lost 56.5lbs. I find it incredibly easy and physically, I feel AMAZING. I had my cholesterol, triglycerides, etc. checked six weeks into this change and all my levels were good. I hope to have them checked again in the next few months. It is the easiest way of eating that I have ever followed. It absolutely works for me. I love it.
I'm curious--why do you find keto the easiest way of eating that you have ever followed?
Because when I just restricted my calories I was hungry ALL THE TIME. I never felt satisfied. Following the ketogenic diet, I feel more satisfied and full. I am just not as hungry. When I solely restricted my calories, I felt the need to cheat all the time, and I found myself binge eating a lot. My weight fluctuated constantly, and with keto my weight is consistent as hell. It just works for me.
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My opinion: unless your doctor says otherwise, give it a try. I have PCOS, too. I followed a pretty strict LCHF ketogenic diet for a couple of years (kept carbs under 30 grams most days) and took metformin 500 mg 2x daily, worked with an endocrinologist and logged my glucose readings 4x daily (and other healthy stuff, including exercise). Ketosis was measured by urinalysis strips. I had good weight loss and resolution of some of my PCOS symptoms. Also, my HBa1c labs dropped from diabetic range to normal range, so the endocrinologist was happy.
There was one basic rule I followed on keto: for my family I would cook a regular meal (meat, veggie, starch). I would eat the same meat and veggie that they did, but instead of eating the starch, I would substitute with another veggie serving, and would basically eat meat and double or triple veggies. No sugar, no starch, and very limited fruit (berries only, and only when I could fit them in my carb count).
There is a really good article about starting a ketogenic diet - very helpful. Give it a read. The author, Dr. Eades, recommends eating a ton of healthy fat to get you kickstarted. Consider MCT oil - you can get it at the health food store.
See:
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/ketones-and-ketosis/metabolism-and-ketosis/ and http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/ketones-and-ketosis/tips-tricks-for-starting-or-restarting-low-carb-pt-i/
Good luck 0 -
Agreed. My endocrinologist and registered dieticians I have worked with for my PCOS and diabetes have uniformly recommended low carb diets.I also have PCOS and have found a ketogenic diet helpful and effective for me. Most PCOS women are insulin resistant and therefore have trouble losing weight with the traditional calories in/calories out model. We process sugar and carbs differently so those macros should be taken into account also. My endocrinologist recommended a low carb diet.
I say give it a go!0 -
I also have PCOS and have found a ketogenic diet helpful and effective for me. Most PCOS women are insulin resistant and therefore have trouble losing weight with the traditional calories in/calories out model. We process sugar and carbs differently so those macros should be taken into account also. My endocrinologist recommended a low carb diet.
I say give it a go!
How much have you lost on keto? How long have you been doing it? Do you plan to maintain this method of eating for a lifetime or until your hormone imbalance is corrected?0 -
I would recommend: http://www.reddit.com/r/xxketo/ (Which is keto for women and lots of women discuss PCOS)
And
http://www.reddit.com/r/keto/0 -
It's a big time investment.
I spent almost two weeks feeling like crap until I was producing Ketones.
I love it now.
I feel full and sated while staying in my calorie goal, usually.
You will be eating dramatically different foods than normal, but make sure not to skip the veggies. Use almost all your net carbs for veggies instead of using them for cheating or you could make yourself sick.
I found it even harder to adapt too than ditching grains for the Paleo diet prior to going Keto, they were both huge, time consuming and honestly a bit pricy transitions but I have no regrets.
You should really check out a Keto group because posters here are just being snarky and making fun of it as a fad diet and comparing it to raspberry ketones and colon cleanses. There is a Keto group on MFP.
I consider myself to be Primal/Keto, but of course I cheat a bit with diet soda.
One side note... it's far harder to "cheat" in Keto.
On Primal you could be all like "It's 80/20" and still be a legitimate Primal eater, but in Keto, once your blood meter or Keto stick says "0" you're officially kicked out of the keto club for a couple weeks until your body produces Ketones again.
So... it's really hard to cheat.
I'm still relatively new, so I don't have profound results to report like I do on Paleo/Primal, but one step at a time and I'll keep ya'll updated.
Feel free to add me as a friend if you like.0 -
I too have PCOS and do a very low carb way of eating. I tried Keto....too strict. But, I have to say, I am no longer having success with low carb lately either. I will eat under 50 carbs a day, workout 7 days a week....no weightloss at all. With PCOS it is trial and error. It is very hard to lose weight with PCOS and becomes quite frustrating. Good luck with whatever decision you make.0
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One side note... it's far harder to "cheat" in Keto.
On Primal you could be all like "It's 80/20" and still be a legitimate Primal eater, but in Keto, once your blood meter or Keto stick says "0" you're officially kicked out of the keto club for a couple weeks until your body produces Ketones again.
So... it's really hard to cheat.
interesting- I have seen people talk about fluxing in and out of keto over the course of a few days- which always raised my eyebrows- I was under the impression it took a little while to GET to keto- and it was as you say, once your out it takes time to get back to it.
have you been checking the keto sticks to confirm??0 -
I have PCOS, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes. I have been following a low carb diet for awhile, but I started low carb high fat the end of February. My cycles are normal now and on time now. I have conceived since starting low carb high fat although it was ectopic. I could not ovulate on Metformin or clomid in the past. I only ovulate if I eat low carb. I have been able to go off insulin. I am on NO diabetic medications at all. My blood sugars regulated within days of starting this way of eating, so weight loss was not the cause of my improved blood sugars. Ketogenic is not for everyone, but it seriously improved my quality of life. I feel fantastic. My most recent labs were all normal including cholesterol and hgba1c. Good luck to you. I hope you find something that works for you.
Also I would like to add, I slowly added more carbs until I found the maximum I could eat and still keep my blood glucose under control. I actually eat around 40 to 50 total carbs. My net carbs if you minus the fiber is usually around 20 or so.0 -
I used ketosis for six months and lost 60 lbs. However, when all was said and done, it was still just a calorie deficit combined with exercise that was making it happen. The keto portion of it helped me with my self-discipline. I didn't want to "cheat" because then I'd have to go through the keto-flu again.
What I LOVED about ketosis was the natural appetite suppression, and the lack of a 2pm or 5pm "crash". However, working out for six mile runs was very difficult, and immensely easier once I got out of it.
I can't speak to PCOS as I've never had it. But my wife has had problems trying to have a third child and thinks it might be related to my ketosis. Personally, I think it's because of my vasectomy, instead.0 -
I have PCOS, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes. I have been following a low carb diet for awhile, but I started low carb high fat the end of February. My cycles are normal now and on time now. I have conceived since starting low carb high fat although it was ectopic. I could not ovulate on Metformin or clomid in the past. I only ovulate if I eat low carb. I have been able to go off insulin. I am on NO diabetic medications at all. My blood sugars regulated within days of starting this way of eating, so weight loss was not the cause of my improved blood sugars. Ketogenic is not for everyone, but it seriously improved my quality of life. I feel fantastic. My most recent labs were all normal including cholesterol and hgba1c. Good luck to you. I hope you find something that works for you.
Thanks. I am not trying to conceive anymore. I successfully conceived two beautiful daughters in my early 20's. PCOS came up because I decided that I wanted to have a better body for the later part of my life and started losing weight. After successfully losing for 2 years, it suddenly got very hard. Then, the hormone imbalance became obvious and my moods were all over the place. Now, my goals are to simply get the insulin resistance under control so I can coast through to menopause. LOL!0 -
Personally, I think it's because of my vasectomy, instead.
Is she not aware that you had one? :laugh:0 -
As someone who has followed Atkins on and off for the past decade, I'm a fan of keto-style diets. When I was only dieting, Atkins provided fairly easy to follow guidelines that left my feeling satisfied at the end of the day, and I was able to lose 30 to 40 lbs at a stretch. However, since I wasn't exercising or counting calories, it was easy to get bored and fall off the wagon. Now that I'm eating good foods, exercising, and logging calories, I'm confident I'll hit my goal weight in another 3 months or so.0
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One side note... it's far harder to "cheat" in Keto.
On Primal you could be all like "It's 80/20" and still be a legitimate Primal eater, but in Keto, once your blood meter or Keto stick says "0" you're officially kicked out of the keto club for a couple weeks until your body produces Ketones again.
So... it's really hard to cheat.
interesting- I have seen people talk about fluxing in and out of keto over the course of a few days- which always raised my eyebrows- I was under the impression it took a little while to GET to keto- and it was as you say, once your out it takes time to get back to it.
have you been checking the keto sticks to confirm??
Everyone has different mileage, and how you handle the situation makes a difference.
A small cheat might not even kick you out.
A slightly bigger might not if you're more adapted and follow up with lots of fat and a hard workout (forcing your body to burn carbs than have nothing else for energy but the fat.)
Some people are more sensitive than others.
I use the keto stix to check, but I have a meter I just haven't bought strips for it yet.
I'm still learning and trying to figure out how my body reacts to certain things.0 -
I have PCOS as well, and have found that LC/HF diets (not unlike Keto, but I haven't specifically sought out being in Ketosis) work very, very well. I actually just got my insulin number back after having let too many carbs in general and too much sugar back in, and it's higher now than when I was low carb, but hadn't yet started Metformin (and that's with the maximum dose). With LC/HF + Metformin, my insulin was down to 12, from 18/19. When my insulin gets that high (and I'm guessing the limit is around 15 for me), I stop losing weight, but when it's down under my cutoff, I can lose weight without much effort, and have lost somewhere around 20lb with the combination of LC/HF and Metformin since I started it again late last summer.
I've found it to be the most sustainable of diets, as well, because the lower carb and no sugar drastically reduces carb cravings, and basing meals around fat and protein allow me to eat less food and feel satiated (making staying in a deficit very easy). And yes, it's a lifestyle change, if I didn't think that before today's doctor appointment, I certainly do now. My body can't handle a lot in the way of sugar and starchy carbs, as it so readily demonstrated, so I'll be maintaining it for the foreseeable future.
And no, nutritional Ketosis is not dangerous. Ketoacidosis is, but that's the Keto version of hyperglycemia and generally only happens in situations where the body's ability to make insulin is deficient or shut down, such as in Type I and some Type II Diabetics, and even in those cases, it's quite rare (there are quite a number of Type I Diabetics who use a Ketogenic diet to minimize the amount of insulin they have to take, and are very successful on it).
Ketosis does happen in states of fasting, so yes, you'd be in Ketosis during your fast periods if you intermittent fast. However, Ketogenic diets are intended to keep you in that state of Ketosis, even after meals.
Here are some tips, though:
1. Give it no less than a month before declaring failure. Low carb and very low carb diets have an induction period of up to two weeks (depending on the number and type of carbs you were eating previously, as well as how your body reacts to said carbs). During it, you will feel like crap. This is known as "keto flu" or "carb flu," because of its flu like symptoms. They will go away, however, and you'll start feeling better after a couple of weeks. Too many people, though, will try it for a week, feel miserable, and stop, declaring it an utter failure. Keto doesn't work like that.
2. Don't fear fat. If you want Keto to be a success, you absolutely must learn to eat fat. Low carb, low fat, high protein diets are a recipe for failure usually, is not a ketogenic diet, and can be downright dangerous if not carefully monitored by someone who knows what they're doing (see also: rabbit starvation). Carbs and fat are fuel, and fat is required for nutrient absorption and hormone regulation. It is also the cornerstone of the successful ketogenic diet, because it is what satiates us and it becomes the primary fuel source. Ketones, after all, are the byproduct of burning fat.
3. Don't worry about calorie deficit during the induction period. The induction period is stressful enough on your body, I don't recommend adding to it by enforcing a calorie restriction. Eat enough food to feel satisfied and learn how to navigate the diet, then once you've gotten through the induction phase, you can make sure you're not eating too much. Additionally, the ketogenic diet usually has the opposite effect on people -- you end up having to track to make sure you're eating enough food. Eating fat often feels like you're eating 5000 calories when you're actually only eating something like 1200.0 -
I used ketosis for six months and lost 60 lbs. However, when all was said and done, it was still just a calorie deficit combined with exercise that was making it happen. The keto portion of it helped me with my self-discipline. I didn't want to "cheat" because then I'd have to go through the keto-flu again.
What I LOVED about ketosis was the natural appetite suppression, and the lack of a 2pm or 5pm "crash". However, working out for six mile runs was very difficult, and immensely easier once I got out of it.
I can't speak to PCOS as I've never had it. But my wife has had problems trying to have a third child and thinks it might be related to my ketosis. Personally, I think it's because of my vasectomy, instead.
QFT AND the LOL-ing in the office.0 -
Hi everyone,
Thanks to the OP for creating this thread. I have PCOS and my endocrinologist has set me a challenge of dropping circa 60lbs by my appoinment in November (Nov 26th to be exact). I have been asked to eat very low cal (800-1000 cals) which I really am struggling with. I am wondering if a keto diet would be useful to me. I have insulin-resistant PCOS, so I think I am going to do some more research into ketogenic eating and see if it is worth a go. I really need to kick this PCOS. My husband and I would like to start a family in the not too distant future, so I am really keen to kick the PCOS to the kerb.
Feel free to add me
Clare0 -
I used ketosis for six months and lost 60 lbs. However, when all was said and done, it was still just a calorie deficit combined with exercise that was making it happen. The keto portion of it helped me with my self-discipline. I didn't want to "cheat" because then I'd have to go through the keto-flu again.
What I LOVED about ketosis was the natural appetite suppression, and the lack of a 2pm or 5pm "crash". However, working out for six mile runs was very difficult, and immensely easier once I got out of it.
I can't speak to PCOS as I've never had it. But my wife has had problems trying to have a third child and thinks it might be related to my ketosis. Personally, I think it's because of my vasectomy, instead.
Endurance cardio while in ketosis needs a more abundant supply of water and electrolytes. Between the lesser amount of glycogen and the fact that ketosis causes the body to dump sodium, it's easier to cause electrolyte imbalances. Keep those in check and it should no longer be an issue (most of the people I know that do long runs keto-adapted have found that while their speed goes down slightly, their endurance goes through the roof and they're less likely to hit "the wall" or at least hit it as hard).
To the OP -- that's another tip, don't fear sodium. You actually run the risk of being deficient if you are keto and intentionally try to avoid it.0 -
Personally, I think it's because of my vasectomy, instead.
Is she not aware that you had one? :laugh:
She has no idea, she just thought it was a weird and temporary fetish when I walked around with bags of frozen peas in my shorts for three days after. Still, it should prove a literally different point when she finally does get knocked up! :drinker: Keto, yay!0 -
Hi everyone,
Thanks to the OP for creating this thread. I have PCOS and my endocrinologist has set me a challenge of dropping circa 60lbs by my appoinment in November (Nov 26th to be exact). I have been asked to eat very low cal (800-1000 cals) which I really am struggling with. I am wondering if a keto diet would be useful to me. I have insulin-resistant PCOS, so I think I am going to do some more research into ketogenic eating and see if it is worth a go. I really need to kick this PCOS. My husband and I would like to start a family in the not too distant future, so I am really keen to kick the PCOS to the kerb.
Feel free to add me
Clare
I would never be able to live on 800 calories. You can definitely eat more than that and lose weight. That sounds so miserable.0
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