Trying to figure this out....
gr8expectations
Posts: 6 Member
Hi Everyone,
I am new here. I am desperately trying to get some weight off. I will turn 50 next month, am having some major joint problems (that originally started with an injury) and no orthopedic doctor wants to help because I am at 5 6" and 315 lbs. I have counted calories for the past who knows how long and maintain at 1800. I have always struggled to lose weight and am sure I am insulin resistant. My last A1C was 5.7 and a fasting glucose of 104. Not good as it has crept up a bit from last time. I have cut back to 900 - 1200 calories now... my doctor wants me to get bariatric surgery but I don't want to do that... I came across the butter makes your pants fall off video on youtube and that led me to the diet doctor web site. I have read Robert Lustig and Gary Taubes books. I am thinking this might work but am trying to squelch my fear of high fat. A friend of mine told me to do original Atkins... and I would take of 20 pounds in a month. I need to get an Atkins book I guess. Here is my question: Do you count carbs/net carbs on the keto diet or just make sure that 70 - 80% of your diet is fat. To get all that fat in and keep the other nutrients in line, I am wondering how to eat. Bacon and eggs for breakfast, cheese, etc. I am a person who drinks a lot of protein shakes. I like the convenience of them. I am currently using GNC Lean 25 and this has 9 net carbs per serving but is low fat. I think that this stuff might not be good on a Keto diet (Maybe I could add some heavy cream?) Sorry for all the different thoughts here. Just looking for some insight and support.
I am new here. I am desperately trying to get some weight off. I will turn 50 next month, am having some major joint problems (that originally started with an injury) and no orthopedic doctor wants to help because I am at 5 6" and 315 lbs. I have counted calories for the past who knows how long and maintain at 1800. I have always struggled to lose weight and am sure I am insulin resistant. My last A1C was 5.7 and a fasting glucose of 104. Not good as it has crept up a bit from last time. I have cut back to 900 - 1200 calories now... my doctor wants me to get bariatric surgery but I don't want to do that... I came across the butter makes your pants fall off video on youtube and that led me to the diet doctor web site. I have read Robert Lustig and Gary Taubes books. I am thinking this might work but am trying to squelch my fear of high fat. A friend of mine told me to do original Atkins... and I would take of 20 pounds in a month. I need to get an Atkins book I guess. Here is my question: Do you count carbs/net carbs on the keto diet or just make sure that 70 - 80% of your diet is fat. To get all that fat in and keep the other nutrients in line, I am wondering how to eat. Bacon and eggs for breakfast, cheese, etc. I am a person who drinks a lot of protein shakes. I like the convenience of them. I am currently using GNC Lean 25 and this has 9 net carbs per serving but is low fat. I think that this stuff might not be good on a Keto diet (Maybe I could add some heavy cream?) Sorry for all the different thoughts here. Just looking for some insight and support.
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Replies
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Keto sounds perfect for you, but the shakes may have to go at 9 net carbs per serving, as most keto plans suggest less than 20g carbs per day for getting into ketosis and becoming fat adapted (using fat for fuel versus carbs). Also, they are likely sweetened with artificial sweeteners and/or sugar alcohols, and those can act like sugar on insulin spikes in some folks, and hinder their progress.
Keto usually looks something like this in the beginning:
5% of calories from carbs or <20g
65% - 75% calories from fats
20- 30% calories from protein
These macros can be adjusted for what works for you. Some folks do better on slightly less protein depending on just how IR they are for macros that look like this:
5%C/80%F/15%P
Also, exercise is usually limited during the time period where you are trying to switch over from using carbs for fuel to fat (ketones), and many folks don't worry about calories in the beginning while trying to adapt. Also, you can take a less severe approach, and work your way down on carbs, while increasing your fats, and watching your protein intake. You don't have to go cold turkey. Depending on how many carbs you normally eat now, just dropping them to 100-150 g per day may make a significant impact. Just remember, when you reduce carbs, you increase fats. Do not do a low carb and low fat diet at the same time.
Try using this calculator to find an appropriate calorie level, macros, and deficit.
http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com/
If you don't know your BF %, use the link to pictures to estimate it.
Most of us that have done LCHF/Keto diets see incredible improvements in Fasting Blood Sugar, A1C numbers, Total/HDL/LDL/VLDL, Triglycerides, etc. Mine has definitely improved on this way of eating.
Fat is not an enemy. I know that's hard to get over all we've been told, but it was a lie. Someone will come along with links for you. I'm not really good at keeping them.0 -
I am very similar to your story, except I am taller and older. I started on August 29th @ 314 lbs. I have been diabetic for 13ish years. I'd love to have your glucose numbers! Why would those be bad? I haven't had anything close to them in 13 years.
Simply: keep your carbs to 25 grams a day, Protein 75-100 grams, the rest in fat. Usually your macros will be 70% Fat, 5% Carbs, 20% Protein.
It looks like you are a little short on your calories. Try 1400-1800, but with the macros above.
Instead of me writing a whole bunch here, read the short 11 page blog I have here:
DittoDan's KETO Starter Blog
If you want to loose more than the standard 1-2 lbs a week, read my blog carefully, especially on the intermediate fasting pages.
Enjoy and welcome to the friendliest KETO group around!
Dan the Man from Michigan
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sljohnson1207
Thank you so much for the detailed response! I checked out the keto calulator link and this is awesome! I did not know that protein will hinder weight loss! The bariatric doctors push it... protein protein protein they say. It keeps you full. Even though I have not had bariatric surgery, I figured they were onto something so I have been trying to do low cal, high protein to mimic what people do after wls. I can easily maintain that way, but never was successful dropping weight. I am going to give this a go. I will play around with menus in MFP to get these percentage right on my diet. I know I don't get hungry on low carb so I really think I can do this! I have to figure out something other than bacon and eggs to eat, though! Will scour the internet more!0 -
The problem is that most people already eat a fair amount of proteins, esp. if they eat meat, and aren't vegetarian or vegan, then you have doctors pushing MORE protein. It's overtaxing on the system, esp. when combined with low fat and low carb. How are your poor kidneys supposed to process all that protein. Excess protein in the body is turned into glucose and is effectively just like eating carbs, though a little bit harder for the body to do. Excess protein often spikes insulin levels in pre-diabetics and diabetics because of this. You can eat a lot of fats on LCHF and stay so full, you may find it hard to eat your allotted calories, esp. at first.
After weight loss surgery, they push protein because the stomach is so small, that eating normal amounts of food is impossible. And well, yeah, protein becomes very important in order to spare your lean tissues which are metabolically active and burn more calories. Plus, like my mother, after gastric bypass 11 years ago, she is chronically protein deficient, even though that is what she always eats first off her plate.
If you haven't had WLS, don't eat like someone who has. And if you really give LCHF at good try, I bet you won't want/need WLS, because you will be doing it on your own, and let's face it, that is a lot less risky. May be slower, may be harder, but it is WAY less of a risk to your life. Your numbers aren't that bad...I can't believe they'd suggest WLS at this stage, unless those numbers are that way because of medications and/or you have really high blood pressure or some other comorbidity.
What did the calculator tell you for TDEE and for your macros? Something like 1800-1900 calories, 20-25 g carbs, 110 g protein, 150 g fat??? That may be a 25% deficit, and cause about 1 lb per week loss.0 -
I really like this keto calculator http://www.mydreamshape.com/keto-calculator/ because I can put in my percentages from MFP at the end of the day and see how I did.
I did the high-protein diet (35% protien, 10% carbs, 55% fat) for a few months at 1200 cal/day and it was really hard to get in that much protein without going over my other macros. Then I stalled out for a few weeks at -15lbs from starting weight and started researching everything I could for ideas. The fact that too much protein could be bad for weight loss was a surprise to me too. I changed my macros to 5% carbs, 70% fat, and 25% protein and the weight has been falling off ever since. Maybe because I was relatively close on the macros before, I never experience "keto flu", but I am definitely in ketogenesis now.
Good luck!
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You mentioned a protein powder, I like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Optimum-Nutrition-Platinum-Hydro-Chocolate/dp/B002QZN8JW/ref=sr_1_5?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1418933393&sr=1-5&keywords=optimum+nutrition
Though to be honest I do prefer real food and just used that some post workouts once I joined a gym and don't use it consistently. But it is low carb, the mint chocolate version tastes pretty good to me.
The reddit keto faq is one great resource that I haven't seen mentioned here yet: http://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq
The posters above know what they're talking about, so I won't repeat much, but a couple thoughts:
-- Some people do lose 20 pounds in a month (or 10-15 or some other large number). Its water weight, its great to see it happen, but it may not necessarily happen that way for you. Don't count on absolutely seeing some miracle large number right away, but do enjoy it if it happens. The reason keto is great is that it can be sustained long term by many people without huge cravings and without debilitating hunger, allowing for long term, healthy loss of body fat. The water weight loss early is a bonus for many folks, that's it.
-- You mentioned Atkins, keto is in many ways (maybe all?) the induction phase of atkins sustained over a long period of time.
-- I love fat, always have, so I'm not sure on reliable suggestions to get past the fear of fat and to increase fat. Some easy suggestions though that probably seem less scary are things like cooking chicken thighs with the skin on instead of boneless skinless chicken breasts, buying 85/15 ground beef instead of the extra lean stuff. That makes a huge difference and leaves you with less need to find ways to add heavy cream to everything if you don't want to do that.
Good luck!0 -
Thank you everyone for the detailed responses! I am looking forward to reading, learning and applying all of this. So many resources! I am gearing up to get started. Went to Sams club today and carried my reading glasses around with me so I could read all the labels. Ended up with some meats and cheeses... eggs and heavy cream. Thing I haven't purchased for a very long time! Dan - it does sound like your story is similar to mine! My hip is getting very bad and I went through the whole six months bariatric prep course and testing. I too thought the sleeve sounded like a better option. The sleeve also is the only option that is absolutely irreversible and they really do not have any long-term studies on it as far as I can tell. Everyone seems happy after a year or two, but what about in ten years? It also is very disconcerting to me that they cannot explain exactly how it all works (metabolically speaking). Anyway, they had me scheduled for surgery on 12.23.2014 and I called two weeks ago and told them I wasn't ready. Especially when I can eat low calorie anyway and it hasn't helped... no one can definitively tell you whether bariatrics will help you or not in the end and it is so risky with so many potential complications... I am going to give it my best and look forward to communicating with everyone in the future!0
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Also, sljohnson1207 you asked about TDEE from calculator. I came up with 2486! Then 25 grams net carbs, 95 grams protein and the rest in fat. If I shoot for 1986 calories that should put me at a pound a week to start. So per my calculations that is about 167 grams of fat... so that is really close to your estimates! This is going to take some practice!0
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You'll get the hang of it. And also, keep in mind that if you are consistent on those numbers and don't lose a lb per week, then you may need to adjust them. They are estimates, not exact.
If you get keto flu, make sure you drink salty broth and up your sodium intake. You may also need a potassium/magnesium supplement. And it gets better, so stick it out. It may suck for a few days to a week, but it will be worth it.
Eat ALL the fats! They are not bad for you like we've been brainwashed into believing.0 -
Lots of good advice already.
I've been on keto to control my hypoglycemia. Your A1C isn't too bad. Mine was 5.3 the last time I was tested and I had very frequent lows.
My diary is open if you would like daily menu examples. They're not perfect but they get my macros where they need to be. I eat approximately 5% carbs 23% protein and 72% fat.
I was looking into the quest protein shakes myself. The peanut butter has only 1g net carb. I would probably add some heavy cream to it..and maybe half the serving (for myself because I have trouble staying under on protein some days).
I definitely second the broth for sodium!! Also, I had trouble with my gut bacteria in the beginning..and found that fermented foods helped. Pickles mainly.
Best of luck.0 -
I have a question about tracking net carbs on MFP. I've set my Food Diary page so I can see carbs and fiber next to each other to make it easy to calculate net carbs. What I wondered was how do you adjust for foods with sugar alcohols, like sugar free syrup?0
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http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/sugaralcohols.htm
Search for: "Comparison of Sugar and Sugar Alcohols" on that page and you can see how each sugar alcohol compares to actual sugar. Personally, its Erythritol or nothing for me, and with Erythritol it might as well be nothing so I don't worry about it.
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