Keto Tips + Things I'd Wish I'd Known
CaitMinusWeight
Posts: 26 Member
I was sifting through the Community Message Boards just now and came across someone asking for Keto Tips. There are tons of things to know about Keto and I'd love your input! Please feel free to leave any tips you've found helpful or things you wished you'd have known when first starting Keto.
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There are a lot of health benefits to Keto and ultimately you should do what feels right for you. Just a couple of tips that I can think of off the top of my head are:
- Know that your first week of Keto you'll lose mostly water weight.
- Always plan ahead for your meals and make sure you have low carb snacks at the ready! Being unprepared to start and maintain a Keto diet gets a lot of people their first or even first few attempts at maintaining the low carb lifestyle.
- Using platforms like Pinterest to help plan meals or find already planned out meals for the week is a lifesaver!
- Eating healthy is awesome, but adding in exercise will give better results. (You probably already knew that.)
- Some folks tend to think that once they reach their goal weight, that they can go back to eating how they used to. That really depends on how you were eating and whether or not you were exercising before. If you go back to high carb intake and don't exercise, you very well may gain the weight back.
- Always seek the advice of your physician to see if the Keto diet is right for you. People with Diabetes Type 1 & 2 have been known to benefit from the Ketogenic diet as well as women who suffer from PCOS, but the diet can benefit others as well!
- Sugar is sneaky and is used in a lot of things you wouldn't ever suspect. Labels are your friends!
- If you mess up, it's okay, but don't make the entire day a cheat day. It can take you out of Ketosis.
- Eating healthy can often be expensive. Look for places like Aldi's, Trader Joe's, etc. to shop.
- Tell your friends and family about your lifestyle change to Keto. This will help them stop offering you things that aren't Keto-friendly or at least let them understand why you've declined their offer.
- In a pinch and have to eat out or eat fast food? There are tons of resources online, (you can Google it!), that will tell you what's Keto at the place you're eating. (I don't suggest you eat out all the time though.)
- Use a Keto Calculator to find out what your specific nutritional goals should be. There are tons of calculators available online.
- Eat more often, but smaller meals. To me, this is extremely helpful, because I don't get that hunger pain and then eat too much. It also helps me reach my nutritional goals better. Below is what my Daily Food Diary Setup is. (I don't always do desert
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Can you give me a listing of meals that go with your daily diary?l have my first week planned and entered but i don’t have any wiggle room for snacks and I would like to see what you do please??1
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Keep your sodium up during the first couple of weeks - it will help with the keto flu!11
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Perhaps I should know this...but does the tracking system automatically determine net carbs?1
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Perhaps I should know this...but does the tracking system automatically determine net carbs?
You mean MFP? It doesn't but just subtract fiber from your total carbs to get your net carbs. For foods that contain sugar alcohols which we don't need to track as well, there are a lot of choices with sugar alcohols taken out in the database.
Some people prefer to just track total carbs and eat whole foods. You just need to play around with your food choices and see how they react with your body. Sugar alcohols don't seem to spike my blood sugar, but for some people they do. It's a big experiment!6 -
This is just an example. Sometimes it's easier to find "like" items as well. For example, I went to dinner with family at a small local restaurant, therefore their menu is not on MFP. Sometimes you have to guesstimate. Also, I go off net carbs. Some people chose to do Total carbs. For me net carbs works and is giving me the desired results I'm looking for, for now at least. Also, I'm not a doctor lol Please consult your physician before making any dietary changes.ratclifflisa5765 wrote: »Can you give me a listing of meals that go with your daily diary?l have my first week planned and entered but i don’t have any wiggle room for snacks and I would like to see what you do please??
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@CaitMinusWeight Is there honestly a sugar free Dilly Bar? I miss Dairy Queen!1
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@CaitMinusWeight MFP does not track the net carbs right? So are you doing that manually? TY!0
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@CaitMinusWeight Is there honestly a sugar free Dilly Bar? I miss Dairy Queen!
The dilly bar is no sugar added, but it's definitely not sugar free.0 -
jaciromeo263 wrote: »@CaitMinusWeight MFP does not track the net carbs right? So are you doing that manually? TY!
The MFP app doesn't track net carbs, so I do that manually. But, there is a script you can download for Net Carb tracking if you use the web-based MFP.
This is where I found the instructions to do that:
https://cavemanketo.com/configuring-mfp/
Hope that helps!2 -
I’d also recommend ensuring you take daily multivitamins, potassium pills, and magnesium pills while on the Keto Diet.10
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Perhaps I should know this...but does the tracking system automatically determine net carbs?
I checked all the help areas for this on the site and found that the site people say they can’t calc net carbs due to users being all over the world and some products in other places are already recorded as net: so I don’t think they’ll ever do net carbs😭
What I did is arrange my stats in order of fat then carbs then fiber and finally protein. I set my carbs goal to 16 (that’s what I am allowed based on maintaining percentages of the total calories I should take in based on my weight and height). Then I set fiber to 0 (since it’s not a goal). The totals at bottom help me quickly do math of total net carbs for the day
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CaitMinusWeight posted this above and I’ve reposted below. Today I downloaded the link (cavemanketo.com) to my computer and now my daily results show a net carbs column next to my total carbs. I followed the suggestion to stop tracking “sugar” since it falls within carbohydrates and selected fiber (so it can subtract the fiber from the total carbs in the table). Very helpful today!!CaitMinusWeight wrote: »jaciromeo263 wrote: »@CaitMinusWeight MFP does not track the net carbs right? So are you doing that manually? TY!
The MFP app doesn't track net carbs, so I do that manually. But, there is a script you can download for Net Carb tracking if you use the web-based MFP.
This is where I found the instructions to do that:
https://cavemanketo.com/configuring-mfp/
Hope that helps!
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Very helpful info.1
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jaciromeo263 wrote: »@CaitMinusWeight MFP does not track the net carbs right? So are you doing that manually? TY!
I moved my Fiber column to be placed right next to my Carb column so that the calculation could be done easily with a glance!
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My biggest help at the beginning when it came to headaches, cravings, mood (keto flu symptoms) was to stay on top of electrolytes. ALL of those symptoms can be avoided if you have the proper amounts of sodium, magnesium and potassium2
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A big help in progress for me was the advice to not snack (I know this is hard at the beginning)
It has always been drilled into me to eat more often or graze all day to keep my metabolism up. But, I have recently learned that when trying to lose weight, you don't want your insulin spiking that often and you should have at least 2 hours between meals for this purpose. For me, this has made a huge difference. And once you are fat adapted, you are not hungry in between!
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Measurements! There are times when it is easy to get frustrated with the scale, but you may be losing inches. Especially if you are exercising or doing any muscle toning and building, the scale may not move, but your body fat percentage and your measurements could be changing for the beter, so tracking those is a good idea.7
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What are some remedies that folks have used to battle the nail polish remover taste in your mouth? While I was thrilled to get such a clear sign of ketosis, I am less than thrilled with the feeling that I can strip paint with each exhalation.0
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I miss Dairy Queen!
Oh me, too.
Though I couldn't eat it even if I wasn't doing Keto, because about five years ago I could no longer eat any brand of ice cream for some reason. And frozen custard is even worse (so long, Freddy's). Cramps nearly severe enough to warrant emergency care. The thing is, I'm not actually lactose intolerant as I can eat other dairy and dairy based products, even froyo, with no problem. Go figure.
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What are some remedies that folks have used to battle the nail polish remover taste in your mouth? While I was thrilled to get such a clear sign of ketosis, I am less than thrilled with the feeling that I can strip paint with each exhalation.
you could always try sugar free gum, that might help. And congrats for reaching ketosis!!1 -
Some food flare up my autoimmune disease. Also I am discovering that some food sensitivities can make the weight stall. Dairy and cheese might not be my friends. Experimenting this week.1
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Hi, does anyone know the risks of having high cholesterol with this diet? I will consult my MD, but it's midnight lol.0
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10 years ago I did a version of high protein/low carb dieting, and increased my exercise. I lost about 40 lbs in 1 year and went from a size 12-14 to a size 4-6 (160lbs to 122 llbs). Labs showed my cholesterol was above 140. Doctor said I was too young to be on a statin and asked if I would be willing to try to modify my diet to lower fat (yup); he also put me on daily doses of flaxseed oil, fish oil and niacin. In 3 months I repeated labs and my cholesterol had dropped 20 points. He was so impressed by the results, he called to ask if I had seen another doctor and been put on a statin.
I still take these as daily supplements, though my weight went up again after an injury in 2014. KETO seems to be working for me - down again this morning on weight and another 1/2” off waistline.
I’m getting my labs next week, so thanks very much for sharing!0 -
Some food flare up my autoimmune disease. Also I am discovering that some food sensitivities can make the weight stall. Dairy and cheese might not be my friends. Experimenting this week.
So week #2 cutting out all the milk, yogurt, cheese but heavy whipped cream, cream cheese and coconut milk. Also curry paste brought from store is bad for me. Higher fat seems to work as long as it is higher than proteins and carbs of that day. Found ways to incorporate fat with eating sardines, keto friendly cakes and breads. We will see how this week goes.1 -
What I wish I would have known when I started:
1. Be consistent with measurements and pictures so when the scale shows no magic numbers I don't get discouraged.
2. Electrolytes are always key no matter if you're a newbie to keto or a veteran
3. Find your brand of keto and stick to it. There's so many keto variations out there. Find what works for you and do that.
4. When you find your keto brand share it with others but be kind. What works for one won't work for all.4 -
What are some remedies that folks have used to battle the nail polish remover taste in your mouth? While I was thrilled to get such a clear sign of ketosis, I am less than thrilled with the feeling that I can strip paint with each exhalation.
Just keep doing what your doing. It goes away. You're body is becoming fat adapted. I used to eat DoTerra (I'm NOT a rep) peppermint beadlets or just put a drop of pure peppermint essential oil (I use plant therapy blend, can buy on amazon) on my tongue to help with the taste and bad breathe.1 -
What I wish I would have known when I started:
1. Be consistent with measurements and pictures so when the scale shows no magic numbers I don't get discouraged.
2. Electrolytes are always key no matter if you're a newbie to keto or a veteran
3. Find your brand of keto and stick to it. There's so many keto variations out there. Find what works for you and do that.
4. When you find your keto brand share it with others but be kind. What works for one won't work for all.
These are great....and true!0
https://youtu.be/-QwD4xoSmRg