Keto Diet

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appleofmyeye63
appleofmyeye63 Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Just starting the Keto Lifestyle. Any thoughts or is anyone else out there successful?

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  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
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    There are millions who have made a success of keto diets and even more moderate LCHF diets.

    Only advice is do your homework on a healthy approach to the diet.

    Best thing to do would be to search out a keto group on mfp for some encouragement and advice on making it work.

    Good luck
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    Many are successful. I've been following for most of the last 3 years, and anticipate I will use it for the foreseeable future.

    Look for the Low Carber Daily and Keto MFP groups. That's where most keto'ers hang out. I'm afraid I can't link to them on this device.

    Best wishes.
  • ljashley1952
    ljashley1952 Posts: 273 Member
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    My daughter has been following keto for about 5 weeks and she is down 13 pounds. She is short, but is pretty physically active. She works out, hikes and runs a little. That is a good amount for her in that time.
  • erjones11
    erjones11 Posts: 422 Member
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    I find low carb and keto easy for me. I have no problem sticking to it. But don't see it as a license to eat as much as you want. If you eat too much you will still not lose weight and may instead gain. Measure and track everything you eat. Knowledge is power and discipline.

    I would say far more people seem to not like it then those who stick with it. If you find you don't like keep with counting calories and you will hit your goals.
  • philrtx
    philrtx Posts: 68 Member
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    enickma1221 wrote: »
    My advice is as follows:

    You can't halfass this. If you don't stay under 30 grams of carbs per day, you'll be burning glucose, but have no glucose.

    Well stated. I would cut even lower while actively losing, plans that allow for more carbs, particularly plans that call for more carbs for the sake of losing at a "safer" rate are being overly cautious.
  • FlyingMolly
    FlyingMolly Posts: 490 Member
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    enickma1221 wrote: »
    I've done keto several times over the years. My advice is as follows:

    You can't halfass this. If you don't stay under 30 grams of carbs per day, you'll be burning glucose, but have no glucose. Your body will resort to burning muscle mass for fuel (including your heart), and you'll feel like crap while accomplishing very little.

    Glucose cleaves to water in your muscles, so during your first week of low carbing, you'll be burning glucose reserves in your liver and muscles. As the glucose burns, the water is released, so you'll probably see several pounds of water weight drop right away. If you want to actually burn fat, you've got to stick with it.

    Your brain is the last thing to switch over to ketones, so during week 2, you'll be walking around in a miserable fog until BAM! your brain suddenly switches fuel sources and you feel amazing.

    Breyers makes a low carb ice cream.

    Several restaurants have low carb burgers where buns are replaced with lettuce leafs. Watch the condiments. Most have sugar.

    Don't focus on strength training. Ketones are well suited to endurance exercise like running, but fare poorly for heavy lifting by comparison.

    If you're a drinker, hard liquor is your friend. No beer, wine, anything with a net carb load, etc. If you're into mixed drinks, make sure you're using diet soda.

    Once a month, cycle out of ketosis and carb load for a day, then straight back to low carb. It will keep you sane.

    Good luck! If any other thoughts occur to me, I'll post them.

    I mean...or don't.

    I'm never below 30 total carbs, and almost never below 30 net, and I'm still safely in ketosis and feel great. I aim to keep my net carbs at or under 10% of my calories (that means taking in 40 calories per gram of non-fiber carbohydrates), and it works just fine. You can't go into it looking for loopholes and making excuses, but you also don't need to be quite as strict as most of the numbers you'll see thrown around.

    More good news! Week 2 doesn't have to be terrible as long as you make sure to get enough salt--I have to go and eat a pinch plain most days to make it work, but it works. The first time I went into ketosis I didn't know, so I didn't do that, and I suffered for it. I've never had the same trouble since. Yay, salt!

    It took me a while to get back into the swing of things at the gym. It's true that my explosive power is less than it was (I used to be a box-burpee person and now I'm not), but after a couple of months I went back to lifting with no problems. I've made strength gains since, and I was pretty strong to start with. You can lift on keto; just eat beforehand.

    Totally agree with the monthly break idea! I actually do two consecutive days so that I'm less inclined to cram in carbs I don't want or enjoy. It keeps things more relaxed and lets me out of trying to game-plan holidays, birthday parties, and so on once in a while.

    I'm a binge-eater and will likely be on keto for the rest of my life, at least intermittently. On it, I don't binge. For me, after so many years of trying and failing to fully manage my eating, that's worth the math and the cooking and the salt and the weird looks from people when I pull out the oddball lunch I've packed. My husband tried keto for the heck of it and just isn't really a fan, but he had a healthy relationship with food in the first place and didn't really "need" it for anything. It isn't magic or even alchemy; it's just a different way of eating that might work for you or might not, depending on what you're looking for. :)
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    All goes to show that keto can be done many ways. I've seen vegetarian keto'ers, omnivores and carnivores. Some eat frequently whereas others fast frequently. I've seen a keto'er who was very active who ate well over 100g of carbs but timed it around exercise so he was always in ketosis. Some cycle in and out of ketosis but others prefer a steady carb level. Some eat only whole foods while others follow set diets and yet others eat keto junk foods. Some like lower protein but most go to moderate or high. Lots of variation...

    The only constant is carbs are kept low enough to keep you in ketosis almost all of the time. :)

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