Would you recommend keto
ashleyeatsbetter
Posts: 34 Member
I seemto stay full longer when I have more fat in my diet than without. For those of you that have done or are doing keto, would you recommend it? What do you like/ dislike about it?
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Replies
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I've done it for over four years and had great success so I know that it can work well. I recommend it to people who express interest in it, mainly if they have some form of IR and metabolic disease.. Those people seem to benefit the most and seem to have the best success with it.
I like a few things about it. I like the health benefits and the reduced hunger. Not having to white knuckle it and rely on willpower all day in order to lose and maintain weight was refreshing. I like the food too, although it took a while to get used to skipping convenience and baked foods.
I dislike hearing about people's ignorance of the diet. I'm thankful that its gone more mainstream so I don't have to hear people mistakenly telling me how it will give me a heart attack when they notice that I skip most carbs.16 -
I’ve been doing “lazy” keto for two months and I can easily see myself doing it indefinitely. I can still eat most of my favorite foods with some minor tweaking, I have steady energy all day long as opposed to the spike-crash-gimme cookies or I’ll cut you cycle I used to deal with, I’m sleeping better and waking up rested. Husband says I’ve stopped snoring. Also I’ve lost 25 lbs which is awesome but still secondary to all that other good stuff.
I’ve tried other ways of eating before but this is the first time I’ve been able to almost effortlessly sustain one. I don’t get cravings anymore and I don’t feel deprived. The only downside I’ve seen is that grocery shopping and meal planning gets a bit more expensive when you’re not stretching out meals with starch.3 -
If you prefer fattier foods for satiaty, it's certainly worth giving a try. Just don't buy into all the spin from Ketovangelists. Many of the alleged benefits to the diet are benefits you get from losing weight, which you can do on any diet. And Keto doesn't have any better long term success rates than other diets.
That doesn't mean that it won't be the right fit for you. Maybe you will find that it matches well with you, and that's great. Just don't believe all the hype.16 -
It is entirely personal preference. Keto doesn't do anything special for weight loss, but it's fine to do it if you enjoy it. If you feel more satiated when you eat more fat, then there's nothing wrong with eating that way as long as you're also getting your protein and micronutrients. You can follow a keto diet, or just eat a higher proportion of fat without following any named diet.4
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If you prefer fattier foods for satiaty, it's certainly worth giving a try. Just don't buy into all the spin from Ketovangelists. Many of the alleged benefits to the diet are benefits you get from losing weight, which you can do on any diet. And Keto doesn't have any better long term success rates than other diets.
That doesn't mean that it won't be the right fit for you. Maybe you will find that it matches well with you, and that's great. Just don't believe all the hype.
I'm coming at this from a unique situation, since I'm already in maintenance, (6 years now), and not trying to lose weight. I decided to try lower carb last month, after hitting a pretty big funk in maintenance, and wanted to shake things up.
I decided to do a general, lower carb style of eating, with a loose goal to hit 100g net carbs or less, (not following any structured plan). Since starting my carb intake has continued to creep down though, and yesterday I was at around 30g net carbs, so I'm in keto territory now, (not intentional, it's just progressed there naturally).
My little n=1 from going lower carb/higher fat, as someone who is already at a lower BMI:
-significant decrease in appetite. I now have to be intentional about eating because I'm just not hungry anymore. Along with this I no longer think about food all the time and I no longer have a lingering hunger in the background all day
-the decrease in appetite has led to me eating less calories and that, along with the water-weight 'whoosh' from initially reducing carbs, has caused a 9lb weight loss in a month. My current BMI is now 20.8 and I'm trying to get my weight stabilized/stop losing
-I've now had two cycles start and I didn't have my normal PMS symptoms both times. This could be coincidental, but I've had the same PMS pattern for around 25 years, so it does make me a bit suspicious that the changes may be related to my dietary changes?
-I'm transitioning from a plant-focused diet (a Blue Zones/DASH style), and that experiment left me with a lot of bloating/gassiness/digestive issues. That's all been resolved with the dietary changes, (I'm putting most of the blame on the 1-2 servings a day of beans that I had been eating, since I'm still eating small amounts of grains now and not having any issues)
-just had blood-work done and saw a fasting glucose number of 80, the lowest number on my chart, to date, (used to be a pre-diabetic, back before I lost the extra weight, and my normal readings since transitioning into maintenance are in the high 80s/low 90s)
OP, my lower carb experiment has been really eye opening to me-I went into it with no expectations and a month in I'm surprised by some of the experiences I've had so far with it. I'm also really enjoying the food changes that I've made, and while I went into this thinking it would be a short-term thing to switch things up, I have no desire to quit and will keep going with it for the foreseeable future.
If it's something that interests you then there's no harm in giving it a try-maybe even start at a higher carb intake than keto levels to ease into it and then see where that takes you
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I reccomend it, I will hit 50lb this month because of keto. The worst part is the repetition of my meals. So much tuna, eggs, nuts etc..8
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ashleyeatsbetter wrote: »I seemto stay full longer when I have more fat in my diet than without. For those of you that have done or are doing keto, would you recommend it? What do you like/ dislike about it?
I think the first thing is to figure out what "more fat" means to you because it doesn't necessarily mean "high fat."
It really doesn't matter what other people recommend. Keto is a fine plan (as far as anyone knows) for some people and you may be one of them. You may also be better off with just adding more fat to an otherwise fairly normal diet. Only you can decide so I suggest experimenting and see what works for you.8 -
If you are interested, then go ahead and give it a fair try. Learn about keto-adaptation and electrolytes first or else it may not go so well.
*By fair, I mean you need minimum 3 months to make a fair decision. Trying for 4-6 weeks as some do is not useful. This is specifically because your body goes through changes when you consistently eat a ketogenic level of carbs (not the same as carb cycling). The adaptations take time and I often see where people stop during the adaptation period because they mistakenly believe that keto is making them unhealthy. In fact, the short-term lack of energy will likely peak at 4-6 weeks.11 -
midwesterner85 wrote: »If you are interested, then go ahead and give it a fair try. Learn about keto-adaptation and electrolytes first or else it may not go so well.
*By fair, I mean you need minimum 3 months to make a fair decision. Trying for 4-6 weeks as some do is not useful. This is specifically because your body goes through changes when you consistently eat a ketogenic level of carbs (not the same as carb cycling). The adaptations take time and I often see where people stop during the adaptation period because they mistakenly believe that keto is making them unhealthy. In fact, the short-term lack of energy will likely peak at 4-6 weeks.
Agree with this. I'm just over a month into a lower carb woe now and I'm really enjoying it, but it's way to early for me to declare that it's the way of eating that works best for me. I'm transitioning from a mostly plant focused woe and a month into that I thought it was going really good-but by month 3 I had hit a mental wall pretty hard with it, as well as started having digestive issues.
Op, if you're interested in trying lower carb/keto then it's a good idea to give it at least 90 days, to really see how it works for you-this will also allow instances of social events, eating out etc, so you can see how this style of eating works with that (I've been through one holiday and numerous social situations since starting, good learning experiences!).2 -
321 days keto and loving it!
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I wouldn't recommend it to most people as a optimal way to control diet. I recommend strength training to everyone of all ages and the lifters practicing keto noticeably have a lesser ROI unfortunately and make it bit trickier to drive progress. Though I'm all for it if that means adhearance to both training and diet.7
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@zeejane4 appreciate your detail-rich share.2
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I have been doing keto for 3 weeks now where I have been net 20-40g of carbs. I had two bad days where I was closer to net 60g. Started at 178 and now at 174. So not really any faster, especially after the glycogen depletion.
Pro's
1. What I like (and this was similar to Paleo). The increase need to meal prep has given me some real vigor into planning new meals.
2. I am eating more fish (big plus).
3. Slowing losing weight and hit my low weight again (since I lost my original 50 lbs).
4. Don't really miss candy
Cons
1. Sometimes when I need a quick meal, it's difficult because there aren't many choices.
2. I miss having tons of fruit and oats
3. My gym performance (especially my bench) has suffered.
4. Have to spend a lot more time figuring out meals.
I plan on being a bit more strict to see if I notice any big changes. No changes in energy or "mental clarity". I tend to think those benefits are largely driven by people making better food choices and often seen by those coming off of SAD diets. If my gym performance doesn't improve soon, I will move to a TKD style diet and consume gummy bears or some kind of glucose pre workout to see if that mitigates or improves the problem.8 -
I have been doing keto for 3 weeks now where I have been net 20-40g of carbs. I had two bad days where I was closer to net 60g. Started at 178 and now at 174. So not really any faster, especially after the glycogen depletion.
Pro's
1. What I like (and this was similar to Paleo). The increase need to meal prep has given me some real vigor into planning new meals.
2. I am eating more fish (big plus).
3. Slowing losing weight and hit my low weight again (since I lost my original 50 lbs).
4. Don't really miss candy
Cons
1. Sometimes when I need a quick meal, it's difficult because there aren't many choices.
2. I miss having tons of fruit and oats
3. My gym performance (especially my bench) has suffered.
4. Have to spend a lot more time figuring out meals.
I plan on being a bit more strict to see if I notice any big changes. No changes in energy or "mental clarity". I tend to think those benefits are largely driven by people making better food choices and often seen by those coming off of SAD diets. If my gym performance doesn't improve soon, I will move to a TKD style diet and consume gummy bears or some kind of glucose pre workout to see if that mitigates or improves the problem.
I second the con of not having quick meals around-there's definitely a learning curve with having food prepped and on hand for busy times. I now always have hard boiled eggs, pistachios, whole milk Greek yogurt and string cheese on hand for those times when I'm just too busy to prep a meal. I'm also experimenting with prepping meat ahead of time, so I have that on hand. Last night I marinated a bunch of chicken tenderloins and cooked them on my G.F. grill, and I'm going to see how they taste cold, (they're tiny tenderloins, similar to a chicken tender at a fast food place).
But yeah, on the other hand it's pushed me to try new meals and food, and to be more thoughtful about my meal prep which is a good thing 0 -
Would you be able to sustain it? If yes, I recommend it, if not, I don't. There is a large spectrum of workable macros, not just extremely low fat or extremely high fat. If I were you, I would gradually eat more fat and fewer carbs until you reach a point you feel provides you with enough fat to keep you satisfied but enough variety to not be restrictive.5
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I would recommend it if you are one that won't miss all of the starchy carbs. I was never a big sweets person, so I don't miss things like candy, but I was always a salty and savory lover, so chips and potato dishes have been a bit harder. I will sometimes play around with my daily macros so that I can enjoy something like Nachos (I use grain free Siete chips) or a few french fries. I can stay in Ketosis up to 50-60+ total carbs, so I find that I can do that once every week or two with no issues. Also, fat is very satiating for me. For example, yesterday I roasted a Pork Shoulder for dinner. As I was cutting it up, I was eating pieces of the crispy fat and ended up getting too full for dinner. Whoops! It's definitely been a very helpful tool for me to keep my hunger in check and my calories down.
So, should you try it? Sure, why not. You have nothing to lose other than a few excess pounds, right? But if you are going to try it, I'd recommend giving it at least 60 days to see how your body responds. Good luck!2 -
@psuLemon curious as to why you chose to take Keto for a test drive.
From everything I’ve read, you need more time in Keto-land to adapt until which, expectantly, workout performance will lag.
My comment caveat: I have zero personal experience with Keto.0 -
pierinifitness wrote: »@psuLemon curious as to why you chose to take Keto for a test drive.
From everything I’ve read, you need more time in Keto-land to adapt until which, expectantly, workout performance will lag.
My comment caveat: I have zero personal experience with Keto.
I actually regularly run experiments to see how effective it is for me. It also makes me more informed when I am working with people. Currently, i recognized that moderation wasn't effective for weight loss for me for some vanity pounds. So i figured, I would try keto to see if I needed something very restrictive to help with vanity pounds.
And I have heard once you get fat adapted, performance will improve, but I haven't seen any evidence in the literature about that... probably because there is limited information available as it relates to keto and lifting. A lot of the body builders I know doing keto all comment on the same thing.. significant decreases in performance. This is why I will probably consider doing TKD and time glucose around my lifting program.2 -
I ketoed every time I prepped for a show (back over 30 years ago). And while I could eat a bit more and stay satiated longer, like every competitor after a show, we indulged in the foods we ACTUALLY ENJOYED afterwords. My take is that if it's not a diet you can sustain for all the time you want to stay in shape, then it's not one you should primarily look at.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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Stumbled across Nina Teicholz's Twitter account, one thing led to another and stumbled across this which may be of interest to some visiting this topic discussion:
https://ninateicholz.com/ketogenic-diet-myths-vs-facts/#more-4946
Nia Teicholz is an investigative science journalist, Professor (Adjunct), NY University, Executive Director, The Nutrition Coalition, and Author, New York Times bestseller, The Big Fat Surprise.
Caveat: I'm not peddling Keto and judge I'd struggle with it but I constantly read to learn more. Have one MFP friend (of my two) who does Keto and I always shake my head in disbelief when viewing his food diary.
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pierinifitness wrote: »Stumbled across Nina Teicholz's Twitter account, one thing led to another and stumbled across this which may be of interest to some visiting this topic discussion:
https://ninateicholz.com/ketogenic-diet-myths-vs-facts/#more-4946
Nia Teicholz is an investigative science journalist, Professor (Adjunct), NY University, Executive Director, The Nutrition Coalition, and Author, New York Times bestseller, The Big Fat Surprise.
Caveat: I'm not peddling Keto and judge I'd struggle with it but I constantly read to learn more. Have one MFP friend (of my two) who does Keto and I always shake my head in disbelief when viewing his food diary.
To address the performance issue:
Reading through the quoted studies that she is using, even for the first myth, would cause me some pause. Most of the studies are preliminary studies with very small groups (8-12 people) and often short in duration. And in both cases, the comparison was a ketogenic diet vs a western diet. And we all know a western diet is terrible and not something elite athletes would follow. The one study that followed 15 individuals for 6 months to ensure fat adaptation, did show that there wasn't adverse effects for performance, but the control group improved performance. So making an assessment based on a couple of studies that have very small control groups is a bit short sighted.
Unfortunately, since Keto is "trendy", the people representing it are journalist, MD, chiropractors and personal/celebrity trainers. Most of which have very little to no education or training in the field. I do happen to love the work I see from Volek and Phinney, although, it's not extremely applicable to me since it's largely endurance cardio, which tends to not be explosive and is in the fat burning zone. All the sports I play require explosive power.
ETA: Having said that, a person should monitor their performance to see how they are effected. Required adjustments may be needed. Ultimately, a person may also have to figure out what their main goals are and have them prioritize. For me, vanity is superseding my lifting gains. Once I get down to sub 10%, then I will bulk with higher carbs.3 -
I'd recommend it in a heartbeat for anyone with epilepsy. But my body doesn't function well on keto or any other very low carb diet. Also, I love vegetables way too much to be stressing over the carb content of broccoli and mushrooms.2
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pierinifitness wrote: »Stumbled across Nina Teicholz's Twitter account, one thing led to another and stumbled across this which may be of interest to some visiting this topic discussion:
https://ninateicholz.com/ketogenic-diet-myths-vs-facts/#more-4946
Nia Teicholz is an investigative science journalist, Professor (Adjunct), NY University, Executive Director, The Nutrition Coalition, and Author, New York Times bestseller, The Big Fat Surprise.
Caveat: I'm not peddling Keto and judge I'd struggle with it but I constantly read to learn more. Have one MFP friend (of my two) who does Keto and I always shake my head in disbelief when viewing his food diary.
Curious what about his diary that you are judging? I follow a Keto diet and think that my diet is pretty healthy, albeit lower on veggies and fruits than some ketoers, it all depends on the day.0 -
@WholeFoods4Lyfe my judging is how it would be a challenge for me.0
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One thing I never see mentioned with keto is the fact that several studies have found a potential link between a high intake of saturated animal fat and colon cancer, which is the third most common cause of cancer deaths in the US. I say potential link because the causation has not been definitively proven, as it has been with cured meats and alcohol (both of which have been proven to elevate colon cancer risk). I am BY NO MEANS saying that keto raises your risk of colon cancer. But if you have any family history of colon cancer, I would think twice about keto.3
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One thing I never see mentioned with keto is the fact that several studies have found a potential link between a high intake of saturated animal fat and colon cancer, which is the third most common cause of cancer deaths in the US. I say potential link because the causation has not been definitively proven, as it has been with cured meats and alcohol (both of which have been proven to elevate colon cancer risk). I am BY NO MEANS saying that keto raises your risk of colon cancer. But if you have any family history of colon cancer, I would think twice about keto.
Can you please post links to these studies? I have a family hx of Colon Cancer and my GI doctor is very supportive of me following a Ketogenic Diet and I've never heard of this alleged connection. I don't drink and don't eat a lot in the way of cured meats other than some bacon occasionally, so I'd love to read some actual scientific studies about this. I worry that this is just Keto-fearmongering by a community that just doesn't know much about it. FTR my grandfather who died from colon cancer, was not a drinker and to my knowledge was not following a Keto diet.0 -
WholeFoods4Lyfe wrote: »One thing I never see mentioned with keto is the fact that several studies have found a potential link between a high intake of saturated animal fat and colon cancer, which is the third most common cause of cancer deaths in the US. I say potential link because the causation has not been definitively proven, as it has been with cured meats and alcohol (both of which have been proven to elevate colon cancer risk). I am BY NO MEANS saying that keto raises your risk of colon cancer. But if you have any family history of colon cancer, I would think twice about keto.
Can you please post links to these studies? I have a family hx of Colon Cancer and my GI doctor is very supportive of me following a Ketogenic Diet and I've never heard of this alleged connection. I don't drink and don't eat a lot in the way of cured meats other than some bacon occasionally, so I'd love to read some actual scientific studies about this. I worry that this is just Keto-fearmongering by a community that just doesn't know much about it. FTR my grandfather who died from colon cancer, was not a drinker and to my knowledge was not following a Keto diet.
I think it's red meat rather than sat fat, and with everything in nutrition it is hard to separate out causes, but personally I think it's enough to limit red meat. Here's a discussion (along with other topics) with links to studies; http://theoncologist.alphamedpress.org/content/5/5/393.full
I also limit sat fat, but will note that one can do keto without eating a lot of red meat and without a crazy high amount of sat fat.3 -
WholeFoods4Lyfe wrote: »One thing I never see mentioned with keto is the fact that several studies have found a potential link between a high intake of saturated animal fat and colon cancer, which is the third most common cause of cancer deaths in the US. I say potential link because the causation has not been definitively proven, as it has been with cured meats and alcohol (both of which have been proven to elevate colon cancer risk). I am BY NO MEANS saying that keto raises your risk of colon cancer. But if you have any family history of colon cancer, I would think twice about keto.
Can you please post links to these studies? I have a family hx of Colon Cancer and my GI doctor is very supportive of me following a Ketogenic Diet and I've never heard of this alleged connection. I don't drink and don't eat a lot in the way of cured meats other than some bacon occasionally, so I'd love to read some actual scientific studies about this. I worry that this is just Keto-fearmongering by a community that just doesn't know much about it. FTR my grandfather who died from colon cancer, was not a drinker and to my knowledge was not following a Keto diet.
I think it's red meat rather than sat fat, and with everything in nutrition it is hard to separate out causes, but personally I think it's enough to limit red meat. Here's a discussion (along with other topics) with links to studies; http://theoncologist.alphamedpress.org/content/5/5/393.full
I also limit sat fat, but will note that one can do keto without eating a lot of red meat and without a crazy high amount of sat fat.
The 20-30% relative increase in colorectal cancer is processed meats (bacon, sausages, etc...). The is no increase when it relates to red meats like beef.0 -
pierinifitness wrote: »@psuLemon curious as to why you chose to take Keto for a test drive.
From everything I’ve read, you need more time in Keto-land to adapt until which, expectantly, workout performance will lag.
My comment caveat: I have zero personal experience with Keto.
I actually regularly run experiments to see how effective it is for me. It also makes me more informed when I am working with people. Currently, i recognized that moderation wasn't effective for weight loss for me for some vanity pounds. So i figured, I would try keto to see if I needed something very restrictive to help with vanity pounds.
And I have heard once you get fat adapted, performance will improve, but I haven't seen any evidence in the literature about that... probably because there is limited information available as it relates to keto and lifting. A lot of the body builders I know doing keto all comment on the same thing.. significant decreases in performance. This is why I will probably consider doing TKD and time glucose around my lifting program.
My performance in the gym vastly improved when I started incorporating Highly Branched Cyclic Dextrine intra-workout.0 -
pierinifitness wrote: »@psuLemon curious as to why you chose to take Keto for a test drive.
From everything I’ve read, you need more time in Keto-land to adapt until which, expectantly, workout performance will lag.
My comment caveat: I have zero personal experience with Keto.
I actually regularly run experiments to see how effective it is for me. It also makes me more informed when I am working with people. Currently, i recognized that moderation wasn't effective for weight loss for me for some vanity pounds. So i figured, I would try keto to see if I needed something very restrictive to help with vanity pounds.
And I have heard once you get fat adapted, performance will improve, but I haven't seen any evidence in the literature about that... probably because there is limited information available as it relates to keto and lifting. A lot of the body builders I know doing keto all comment on the same thing.. significant decreases in performance. This is why I will probably consider doing TKD and time glucose around my lifting program.
My performance in the gym vastly improved when I started incorporating Highly Branched Cyclic Dextrine intra-workout.
I would expect it to. It's really just maltodextrin, which is a very fast metabolizing sugar. You would get the same performance improvements, at a fraction of the cost, if you consume honey, gummy bears, jelly beans, or any other pure glucose source. Both glucose and maltodextrin metabolize within 30 minutes or less (depending on dose).1
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