Questions about Ketosis, LCHF and Optifast

carmey012
carmey012 Posts: 1
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey everyone!

I use to do the Optifast diet (900 calories a day - in canada). I lost about 80 lbs, but unfortunately put about 50 lbs back on. Now I'm trying a low carb, high fat way of eating, which is much more reasonable for the long run versus starving on a liquid diet.

My question is: If I'm in a pinch, or craving something sweet, could I drink one of the Optifast shakes instead of a meal? I'm assuming not because of the carb amount, but wanted your opinions. (Optifast 900, nutrition info per shake: 225 cal, 22.5g protein, 7.5g fat, 17g carb).

And another question: Optifast says it is designed to bring on ketosis. I thought ketosis was brought on through lowering the amount of carbs we ate. Can ketosis also develop if eating very low calories?

Thank you for help =)

Replies

  • meridianova
    meridianova Posts: 438 Member
    i'm not familiar with optifast, but based on the nutritional info you've given, those shakes seem fairly carb-expensive to me.

    if you're in a pinch, i'd go for something easy like hardboiled eggs... a couple of them either devilled or just mashed up with mayo and spices would take care of hunger nicely. and whenever i'm craving something sweet(ish), i use either the mio concentrated water flavorings or a crystal lite packet... or barring that, a diet dr. pepper.
    carmey012 wrote: »
    Can ketosis also develop if eating very low calories?

    from what i understand, ketosis happens when the body burns fat for fuel, whether it's dietary or body fat. that process is going to be intermittent at best if you're eating carbs because your body will work to burn off the glucose first, then the fat. so i'm not sure if going very low calorie would make a difference if you're doing low carb.

  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    meridianova makes some good points.

    I found I had to get the carbs down to about 20 grams a day especially when eating out because some many places add sugar to even like meats.

    Personally after three months the only thing that will trip me up is getting too many carbs.

    One reason I like coconut oil as my main fat source is it is 62% MCT or Medium Chain Triglycerides that do not go through the digestive system like the long chain triglycerides but get ported directly to the liver where they are turned into ketone bodies.

    While it takes some time to get into ketosis the goal is to start burning your own fat as an energy source to power your muscles and brain instead of running mainly on glucose.

    Ketosis works well but it takes a mental paradigm shift to understand how it works. We are not taught even in medical related professions that humans are Flex Fuel machines. Since eating carbs are all optional for us there had to be another fuel source and it is ketones from the liver breaking down Fats. About 50-60% of protein gets convert to glucose anyway so that will meet our glucose needs without eating sugar if we eat protein with our 80% Fat intake.

    What is your goal? Craving sweet left me somewhere I guess at about month two and now am about to start month four.
  • crisb2
    crisb2 Posts: 329 Member
    Here are some keto sweets:
    http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=sweet keto&term_meta[]=sweet|typed&term_meta[]=keto|typed&remove_refine=microwave|typed

    Check to see if they fit your macros first. I also like REALLY dark chocolate 70-80%.

    The shakes seem too carb-y but, if you plan out your whole day and it fits, I don't see the harm in that.
  • kmelocfp
    kmelocfp Posts: 3
    carmey012 wrote: »
    Hey everyone!

    I use to do the Optifast diet (900 calories a day - in canada). I lost about 80 lbs, but unfortunately put about 50 lbs back on. Now I'm trying a low carb, high fat way of eating, which is much more reasonable for the long run versus starving on a liquid diet.

    My question is: If I'm in a pinch, or craving something sweet, could I drink one of the Optifast shakes instead of a meal? I'm assuming not because of the carb amount, but wanted your opinions. (Optifast 900, nutrition info per shake: 225 cal, 22.5g protein, 7.5g fat, 17g carb).

    And another question: Optifast says it is designed to bring on ketosis. I thought ketosis was brought on through lowering the amount of carbs we ate. Can ketosis also develop if eating very low calories?

    Thank you for help =)

    Hi! Have you tried just a little dark chocolate? I find that I'm so sensitive to sweetness now that I've been on LCHF for a few weeks that two small bites of chocolate is more than enough now. It kills any chocolate cravings. It might help that I eat it with 2 to 3 oz of red wine. All small portions and the antioxidants are very healthy. Win/win!

    Also, I've been reading that your body will go into ketosis if it believes it's starving. So you can do that on a very low calorie diet or very low carb. For me, I'd rather eat high fat and not feel hungry all the time. So far so good, I've lost 12 lbs in 3 weeks and I have more energy than before. Not to mention that I no longer show signs of inflammation!

    Good luck to you! :smile:
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    carmey012 wrote: »
    My question is: If I'm in a pinch, or craving something sweet, could I drink one of the Optifast shakes instead of a meal? I'm assuming not because of the carb amount, but wanted your opinions. (Optifast 900, nutrition info per shake: 225 cal, 22.5g protein, 7.5g fat, 17g carb).

    And another question: Optifast says it is designed to bring on ketosis. I thought ketosis was brought on through lowering the amount of carbs we ate. Can ketosis also develop if eating very low calories?

    Using optifast as originally intended will give you ketosis from low carbohydrate (68 grams) and restricted calories ("starvation ketosis") especially if you are active.

    If you have a higher calorie low carb diet then the sugar in Optifast will likely impair ketosis but if you were very active afterwards you might get away with it.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    edited November 2014
    You can eat and drink whatever you want and still lose if the calories are correct. :)

    Sometimes I can almost feel my arteries slamming shut just from reading about the Keto diets. If it's possible, a balanced diet is a better idea for most people. But your doctor is the one to ask about the correct diet for you.

    I know when you're in you twenties or even your thirties, the idea of being a 62 year old with cardiovascular disease is much the same as being an alien. You just can't imagine it. But we are all going to get older and what we do and eat now will have an impact. So, give some thought to doing future you a favor by taking care of present you the best way you can.

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