Did you experience appetite suppression and mental clarity with keto?

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Replies

  • Yoyo_Fitness
    Yoyo_Fitness Posts: 84 Member
    When you say 20g of carb, do you mean net carb? otherwise you will starve yourself!! anything under 50g of net carb would put your body under ketosis, but less would speed up the process. taking MCT oil would help. I have been feeling great with the cyclic ketogenic diet. The key is to find your sweet spot - some do well with very low carbs continuously, but women need more so that the hormone production will not be affected. I've been experimenting with 2 days low carb, 3rd day, re-feed, but only moderate amount of complex carb like sweet potatoes, pumpkins, white rice (120-150g net carb). most of the carb should be eaten in the evening. Fructose (sugar from fruits) I limit to 25g a day even on the re-feed day. It is important to take the best quality fat as well - not all the fat is the same. I only eat grass-fed butter (I process it into ghee), olive oil, sesame oil and so on. Theoretically you can eat as much as you want, until your body says stop. Start the day with a cup of Bulletproof Coffee and you can continue an intermittent fasting, i.e. your body continues to burn fat. Add at least 2 tablespoons of grass-fed butter, and 1tsp - 2 tbsp of MCT oil to give your brain a boost. if you are writing a thesis, you will be able to maintain such a mental clarity! if you do it right, you won't get hungry. if you do, eat some eggs with butter. as long as you don't eat carb, it does not break the ketosis and your body will continue to burn fat instead of sugar, and your body will stop craving for sugar.
  • VeganRaptor
    VeganRaptor Posts: 164 Member
    I felt terrible- constantly low energy, nausea, irritability, difficulty concentrating, increased anxiety. Horrible time and I will never try it again :P
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    Yoyo_Fitness wrote: »
    When you say 20g of carb, do you mean net carb? otherwise you will starve yourself!! anything under 50g of net carb would put your body under ketosis, but less would speed up the process. taking MCT oil would help. I have been feeling great with the cyclic ketogenic diet. The key is to find your sweet spot - some do well with very low carbs continuously, but women need more so that the hormone production will not be affected. I've been experimenting with 2 days low carb, 3rd day, re-feed, but only moderate amount of complex carb like sweet potatoes, pumpkins, white rice (120-150g net carb). most of the carb should be eaten in the evening. Fructose (sugar from fruits) I limit to 25g a day even on the re-feed day. It is important to take the best quality fat as well - not all the fat is the same. I only eat grass-fed butter (I process it into ghee), olive oil, sesame oil and so on. Theoretically you can eat as much as you want, until your body says stop. Start the day with a cup of Bulletproof Coffee and you can continue an intermittent fasting, i.e. your body continues to burn fat. Add at least 2 tablespoons of grass-fed butter, and 1tsp - 2 tbsp of MCT oil to give your brain a boost. if you are writing a thesis, you will be able to maintain such a mental clarity! if you do it right, you won't get hungry. if you do, eat some eggs with butter. as long as you don't eat carb, it does not break the ketosis and your body will continue to burn fat instead of sugar, and your body will stop craving for sugar.

    Plenty of people eat less than 50g of carbs. You don't have to be net carb at below 20g. I work with a few people who can't eat above 20-30g total due to medical issues being exacerbated by carbs.

    The bold is not true. It largely depends on if you get full off of fats or not. So for some, eating unlimited fats is beneficial and others would eat well above your maintenance calroeis.

    And as a point of semantics, if you eat large amounts of fats, fat oxidation goes up. But this should not be confused with burning body fat. Even I, at 250g of carbs, can increase fat oxidation if I increase total fats in my diet.
  • Yoyo_Fitness
    Yoyo_Fitness Posts: 84 Member
    Psulemon, what I wanted to say in bold was that the hungry feeling is 'real', and not one of those sugar cravings I used to get when I was eating lots of sugar (from fruits for example). so when I am full, I just stop eating. I am just happy doing what I've been doing, that's all I wanted to say, but I am still experimenting with the amount of carbs I should take, and how often I should re-feed myself. People should just try and find out what suits them the best. I still maintain my calories to gain healthily in my pregnancy coz I don't want to gain too much. so far my body is in a good balance!
  • todduga
    todduga Posts: 18 Member
    Tried it for a few months and HATED it. My run distance suffered immensely and I felt terrible all the time. Just wasn't for me.
  • RowdysLady
    RowdysLady Posts: 1,370 Member
    Catawampous wrote: »
    Ok first let me preface this by saying I am am not promoting this way of eating. I am only leaving information as it pertains to ME with regards to the questions asked. I have been at this for about 3 weeks now so in the time frame of the OP's problems. I will not provide any type of evidence to support my claims because again, these answers only apply to ME. So as long as we understand that ... here are MY answers as they apply to ME ;)

    I started looking around for something that would help control my hunger. I get especially ravenous at certain times and could never understand why. Someone, I can't remember who, posted something about being extremely hungry after breakfast. Breakfast was oatmeal. Something we shared in common. From there, I started researching. I'd never even heard of Keto before. The more I dug in, the more I liked what was being said. Being an information sponge, I read a LOT on it and decided to use myself as my own experiment. I am a pretty cynical person when it comes to huge claims. I've fallen for them before and am not likely to do so again.

    Appetite reduction ~ Yep. Definitely. I would say within the first 48 hours I noticed a huge difference. It kept getting better and better as time went on and now I can say I am rarely hungry. I do not feel that "OMG I am so hungry I want to eat hubby's arm" feeling. If I am feeling hungry at a time when I normally don't, I look at my diary and most often it's because my fat intake has been too low.

    Mental Clarity ~ Some. I don't have that 2pm to 4pm mental "man I'm tired" feeling I use to get cluttering up my head. Or that "I just want to go to bed" feeling after dinner. I do have issues with focus and dyslexia and some reading comprehension challenges. I am not seeing a huge swing in this at this particular time. I don't know that I will either. But I do believe that part does take some time. Like a matter of months vs weeks.

    Being Keto/Fat adapted ~ I can't answer that for you as I think it's based on individuals. But based on what I've read on this, it can take months also.

    Conclusion ~ For ME, it's working so far. I feel happy, healthy, there is a definite upward tick in my moods and a general feeling of well being.

    OP your thesis is important. Since you've already tried it and didn't have success, maybe you should try it at a time when something as important as this isn't on the table. Just my opinion of course. You do You!

    I hope my answers help you out some. Good Luck on your thesis!!

    I could quote this almost to the letter. For me...
  • btrsun10
    btrsun10 Posts: 37 Member
    Again, this is based on ME and MY experience, no one else's.
    LCHF is working brilliantly for me. In the first week of seriously lowering my sugar and carb intake, my hunger totally vanished. My 2pm post lunch slump disappeared and I didn't feel the need to go to bed as soon as I got in from work.
    I lift heavy weights 3-4 times a week and am progressing every week. I walk (fast) 6-7 times a week for approx. an hour and am finding my fitness levels are increasing as I'm not constantly out of breath. Just to add - I've always done this level of exercise.....these are not new to me but I am getting better at them and I'm filled with energy.
    My hair is shiny, I keep getting asked if I've had it done which is a lovely bonus. My dry skin has cleared up.
    I'm steadily losing weight and inches.
    LCHF works for me as I love cheese, butter, cream, peanut butter, nuts, eggs, bacon, meat. I was never much of a fruit eater so don't miss it at all. The things I love are things I avoided in the past because it had been beaten into me that fat is bad. Turns out it is not bad for ME and I'm so happy about this - feels like every day is a cheat day.
    I eat approx. 1800 cals a day and am very very satisfied.
    Honestly, carbs do not fill or satisfy me. I was always left hungry and looking for the next thing to eat.....usually more carbs and then the vicious cycle continued.
    This is just a post to tell you how it is working for ME. I understand it does not work for everyone but for ME I see this as a very sustainable WOE.
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
    I need lots of vegetables especially starches (potatoes, sweet potatoes, grains, rice, lentils, beans) to keep me full. Remove these from my diet and not only am I hungry, im going to be a cranky *kitten*. If theres ever a day when im lower carb you can guarantee ill have an unpleasant attitude and will be real snappy.

    Not for me!
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