Keto Diet Anyone?

Not a fan of the keto diet. Did it a few years back with a combination of other mistakes. Yeah, I lost 45 lbs (20 kg) in about 3 months, but I also lost A LOT of my muscle and not that much of my body fat. I aways felt weak, slow and sleepy.
If you decided to do a keto diet - don't overdo it. A few weeks should be enough to put enough stress on the body and to boost your metabolism in a way.
The carbohydrates (the complex ones) are not our enemy. Our body needs carbs so it can operate normally. Just put them in the early part of the day, stay under your calorie goal, avoid simple carbs, work out a little bit and everything should be fine.

Check out this low carb group: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group

There is a lot of good information, tips, recipes, etc

I did great the 1st 3 months, now I burn lots of calories, almost hit my macros but stalled for over 6weeks.

I started Keto the day after Christmas at 325 lbs after researching it for a month and a half. As of this morning, I'm 263 lbs. I had tried several diets before, and none of them worked like this one has. I don't have the cravings like I have had on other diets and I feel much more alert and full of energy (like when I was on phentermine... the only other thing that has come close to giving me these results, but I'm sure wasn't near as healthy). I already had quite a bit of muscle hidden under my padding, so I only lift every once in a while as a precaution (even though I have seen no signs of muscle atrophy). I just had read that it would help with loose skin and tightening it up.

My experience with keto flu wasn't too bad. For four days in a row...at about 1:00 pm for some reason (and only then), I'd get this major migraine to a point that I'd only want to sit down and feel a little sick to my stomach. It would last until about 5:00 pm and it got a little less intense each day and then I was over it. From what I've read, it was nothing like I've heard about in severity.

Even after all the research, I learned so much more once I got started. If you are on facebook, I recommend joining the ketovangelist group and their ketovangelist kitchen page. The first being for support and keto questions and the latter being for food ideas. They are very strict and take the ketogenic diet to a whole other level as they don't believe in eating anything that can cause inflammation or cause your blood glucose to spike. So for example, I got my hand spanked once for telling someone that bud select 55 beer only had 2 carbs per serving. While low in carbs, its not considered to be keto because its made from wheat and can cause inflammation in the body. Another example would be something like Coke Zero or anything made with sucralose. While 0 cal/carb, it can cause some people to still have an insulin response and kick them out of ketosis... so not keto. These type of things are know as personal choice and you'll just have to see how your body reacts. But this group has been a great resource that has taught me so much.

Another is pinterest and just searching the internet. Everyone has cravings, so most recipes have been given the keto treatment. Some are amazing such as the already mentioned fathead pizza dough. Others like keto cheesecake and brownies can help reach that sweet tooth. One tip I could give is to enter the recipes into your MFP first and figure out just how much you can have of something before eating it. Another drink choice that is the best I've found so far is the "Bai" line of drinks. They can be pricey buying them solo, so I get mine at sam's for $20 a 15 pack even though they put them on sale for as low as $15 a 15 pack. They have several different lines that range from ok to amazing. They also make for great mixers with spirits... just remember you aren't burning fat though if your body has alcohol to burn. Another tip is chicken is not your friend as it packs so much protein. Too much protien can lead to your body converting it to glucose and you not losing. I've had the most success when my macros are right.

I have had one stall before. I was stuck in the 280s for 3 weeks or so. I went to the ketovangelist page (the people behind the FB group). I then noticed that there were several things on the list that I was going through. Corrected those and went to losing again. I can't pull up the page because of my work's filter, but I want to say it things such as eating too many calories (my MFP wasn't updating my cals when I updated the weight) and not getting enough sleep.

Another tip I can suggest is almost like fight club.... "First rule of keto'ing is don't say you are keto'ing" What I mean is people are going to think you are crazy. And once they start seeing it work, they are going to question even more and start to throw shade at you about it being unhealthy (like really? Would you have preferred I took pills or been miserable eating processed crap or just kept the 60 lbs?) . So unless you consider them to be a close friend or someone that is just happy that you are happy... My response has become, "Ohh. I'm just eating right." Will save you from the haters.

Last tip I can think of and you'll hear this a lot... don't worry about what the scale says! I weigh every day damn near (even at night when I know its going to be way wrong thanks to eating dinner and drinking all day... but I always weigh less the next morning! lol), but I've learned to not worry about it unless its been the same for a long time. If you are one to get easily frustrated, take the batteries out of it and hide it, lol. Decide a time frame like every two weeks or once a month that you'll bring it out of hiding to weigh until you can learn to pay attention to the other more important details (known as non-scale victories) than a number such as how you look in the mirror, how you feel, tight clothes getting loose, and fitting into smaller clothes.

Good luck Keto'ing! You can do this!

EDIT: Looked back at your original post... Keto is HIGH FAT/MODERATE PROTEIN/LOW CARB. That is what separates it from Atkins and the health problems that come from high protein diets.

EDIT #2: Realized I forgot some of my favorites that have gotten me through. Spaghetti squash is my pasta fix. My wife found an awesome zucchini lasagna recipe on pinterest that is amazing. Rao's marina is the best sauce as far as low carbs goes and it tastes amazing. Sam's has it for the best price at like $6.88 a large jar (which is like $8 for a smaller jar at HEB). They also have almond flour at like $4.33 a pound in a 3 lbs bag). Ours also has this giant tub of Utz pork skins. I would say that those have been the biggest help as in TX, chips and salsa/queso/guacamole is a MUST HAVE! I haven't found any flavored ones that are keto friendly, but every plain flavored brand I've found it ok. Grinding them up with almond flour and spices makes for some awesome batter for anything you want to fry. I used equal parts of each combined with the leaked KFC seasoning recipe to make some awesome chicken wings.

Hey hey! I am new. I have been doing keto for like 2 months. So far so good. I lost 10 lbs. I would have lost more if I was more strict. But I am continueing to lose. Add me!

I started 3.5 weeks ago.. 1 week doing 50 carbs or less, lost 5 pounds. Started doing 20 carbs or less last Saturday combined with exercise has me going down almost a pound a day.. probably not healthy but it's mostly water weight. My hunger level is so farther lower since I did the 20 carbs or less that I don't even wanna go back to less than 50 carbs yet. I have so much energy left over now that I don't know what to even do..

I was 5 pounds lost 3 weeks ago and now I hit 15 pounds.. but keep in mind I'm also doing Zumba and water aerobics 5 days a week (3 Zumba classes and 2 water aerobics classes) and exercising helps you go into ketosis faster. I think that's what helped me majorly.

I just need a diet to follow for a few weeks and the problem I have is I hate fish of any kind... Any ideals, Im trying to read the chart too , oh my...

This group is great.

: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group