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To Keto or Not To Keto?
Replies
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How many people are on Keto for years and don't you miss eating carbs?1
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How many people are on Keto for years and don't you miss eating carbs?
Some do, some don't. When i miss carbs, i will eat them. I don't have a metabolic disorder so I don't have to worry about producing high amounts of ketones.
For example today, i was craving fruit, so i am going to have 75g total but will still high net 50g. So between that and my workout, i should still be in ketosis.6 -
At 50g you can still eat carbs but I notice that most people on Keto will eat vegetables only.0
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How many people are on Keto for years and don't you miss eating carbs?
Do you mean is in an emotional sense or other wise? While doing my n=1 currently with pomegranate juice I am high carb out of necessity. Since that n=1 is going to my liking I have order pomegranate supplement options to see if I can get the same gut microbiome response without the carbs.
Really all I cut out to do Keto is added sugar and any form of any gain and keep total carbs <50 grams daily. On KETO it shifted me to a more plant base way of eating. Sugar now makes me fell like death warmed over.
Now that my focus is on learning how to increase the health of my gut microbiome I do eat more carbs if they contain fiber that is thought to improve the balance of my gut microbiome.
My emotional attachment to added sugar is still there in the background until I feed it again.
There is no one magical way for everyone to eat but we each have to listen to our own body. When I eat something that had a lot of sugar added I know it within the hour one way or another.3 -
At 50g you can still eat carbs but I notice that most people on Keto will eat vegetables only.
There are a lot of myths revolving around keto and too many people make stupid "allowed" and "banned" food charts for IG that are inaccurate. When you actually know how ketosis works, then its much easier to manage. There is only one thing required to get into ketosis... carb restriction. And depending on your size and activity level, will determine what threshold number you have. Cyclist or endurance athletes can do it with 200g+ in some case, while sedentary short women may need to be closer to 25g net.
In my case, which I am probably not the norm, but I run a cyclical keto diet (CKD). In this, I will incorporate very low fat, very high carb refeeds into my diet every few weeks because I am lean and I can start to feel weak and super hungry.10 -
At 50g you can still eat carbs but I notice that most people on Keto will eat vegetables only.
There are a lot of myths revolving around keto and too many people make stupid "allowed" and "banned" food charts for IG that are inaccurate. When you actually know how ketosis works, then its much easier to manage. There is only one thing required to get into ketosis... carb restriction. And depending on your size and activity level, will determine what threshold number you have. Cyclist or endurance athletes can do it with 200g+ in some case, while sedentary short women may need to be closer to 25g net.
In my case, which I am probably not the norm, but I run a cyclical keto diet (CKD). In this, I will incorporate very low fat, very high carb refeeds into my diet every few weeks because I am lean and I can start to feel weak and super hungry.
Good points. Keto is not some kind of cult thing like some make it out to be. I was crashing and burning in 2014 when I cut out sugar and grains. It worked for me is all I know. I am really getting fed up with adults who think they have to tell others how to run their lives. My body tells my brain how it needs to eat to hang around longer and no one else is living inside my body.
To Keto or not to Keto is just a personal choice and more like smoking or not smoking or taking a daily walk or just wearing out the sofa. It is a tool and nothing more. My body was very sick so Keto was a tool that worked for me at least in my case.6 -
At 50g you can still eat carbs but I notice that most people on Keto will eat vegetables only.
In my case, which I am probably not the norm, but I run a cyclical keto diet (CKD). In this, I will incorporate very low fat, very high carb refeeds into my diet every few weeks because I am lean and I can start to feel weak and super hungry.
I have been doing something along these lines, myself. I was eating keto levels of carbs (less than 30g net most days) from March thru June with no issues. Come July and I started riding my bike for an hour plus 5 days a week and found I could not sustain the rides - I nearly bonked one Friday so I checked my blood sugar reading - I was at 56 after the morning ride! I took the weekend and had a carb-feast, and have since allowed myself to net anything under 100g a day. My blood sugar after the morning rides is consistently in the mid 70's.
I have no idea if I am still maintaining ketosis, nor do I care, I just know that I am not bonking after my rides and I am still losing weight at the same rate I was before allowing more carbs in my diet.3 -
At 50g you can still eat carbs but I notice that most people on Keto will eat vegetables only.
In my case, which I am probably not the norm, but I run a cyclical keto diet (CKD). In this, I will incorporate very low fat, very high carb refeeds into my diet every few weeks because I am lean and I can start to feel weak and super hungry.
I have been doing something along these lines, myself. I was eating keto levels of carbs (less than 30g net most days) from March thru June with no issues. Come July and I started riding my bike for an hour plus 5 days a week and found I could not sustain the rides - I nearly bonked one Friday so I checked my blood sugar reading - I was at 56 after the morning ride! I took the weekend and had a carb-feast, and have since allowed myself to net anything under 100g a day. My blood sugar after the morning rides is consistently in the mid 70's.
I have no idea if I am still maintaining ketosis, nor do I care, I just know that I am not bonking after my rides and I am still losing weight at the same rate I was before allowing more carbs in my diet.
You can also run a targeted keto diet (tkd) where you consume 30-50g of glucose (jelly beans, sour patch kids, gummy bears, etc...) about 30 mins prior to the ride. That should help. If you don't like the candy approach, you can do white rice an hour before. Same carb gram total.2 -
At 50g you can still eat carbs but I notice that most people on Keto will eat vegetables only.
In my case, which I am probably not the norm, but I run a cyclical keto diet (CKD). In this, I will incorporate very low fat, very high carb refeeds into my diet every few weeks because I am lean and I can start to feel weak and super hungry.
I have been doing something along these lines, myself. I was eating keto levels of carbs (less than 30g net most days) from March thru June with no issues. Come July and I started riding my bike for an hour plus 5 days a week and found I could not sustain the rides - I nearly bonked one Friday so I checked my blood sugar reading - I was at 56 after the morning ride! I took the weekend and had a carb-feast, and have since allowed myself to net anything under 100g a day. My blood sugar after the morning rides is consistently in the mid 70's.
I have no idea if I am still maintaining ketosis, nor do I care, I just know that I am not bonking after my rides and I am still losing weight at the same rate I was before allowing more carbs in my diet.
You can also run a targeted keto diet (tkd) where you consume 30-50g of glucose (jelly beans, sour patch kids, gummy bears, etc...) about 30 mins prior to the ride. That should help. If you don't like the candy approach, you can do white rice an hour before. Same carb gram total.
I’ve seen a few lads in the gym use this approach and make good progress even bulking1 -
At 50g you can still eat carbs but I notice that most people on Keto will eat vegetables only.
In my case, which I am probably not the norm, but I run a cyclical keto diet (CKD). In this, I will incorporate very low fat, very high carb refeeds into my diet every few weeks because I am lean and I can start to feel weak and super hungry.
I have been doing something along these lines, myself. I was eating keto levels of carbs (less than 30g net most days) from March thru June with no issues. Come July and I started riding my bike for an hour plus 5 days a week and found I could not sustain the rides - I nearly bonked one Friday so I checked my blood sugar reading - I was at 56 after the morning ride! I took the weekend and had a carb-feast, and have since allowed myself to net anything under 100g a day. My blood sugar after the morning rides is consistently in the mid 70's.
I have no idea if I am still maintaining ketosis, nor do I care, I just know that I am not bonking after my rides and I am still losing weight at the same rate I was before allowing more carbs in my diet.
You can also run a targeted keto diet (tkd) where you consume 30-50g of glucose (jelly beans, sour patch kids, gummy bears, etc...) about 30 mins prior to the ride. That should help. If you don't like the candy approach, you can do white rice an hour before. Same carb gram total.
I’ve seen a few lads in the gym use this approach and make good progress even bulking
I have been debating on trying it once i get lean enough. I already know that being in the 155-160 lbs range is not where i want to be.1 -
At 50g you can still eat carbs but I notice that most people on Keto will eat vegetables only.
In my case, which I am probably not the norm, but I run a cyclical keto diet (CKD). In this, I will incorporate very low fat, very high carb refeeds into my diet every few weeks because I am lean and I can start to feel weak and super hungry.
I have been doing something along these lines, myself. I was eating keto levels of carbs (less than 30g net most days) from March thru June with no issues. Come July and I started riding my bike for an hour plus 5 days a week and found I could not sustain the rides - I nearly bonked one Friday so I checked my blood sugar reading - I was at 56 after the morning ride! I took the weekend and had a carb-feast, and have since allowed myself to net anything under 100g a day. My blood sugar after the morning rides is consistently in the mid 70's.
I have no idea if I am still maintaining ketosis, nor do I care, I just know that I am not bonking after my rides and I am still losing weight at the same rate I was before allowing more carbs in my diet.
You can also run a targeted keto diet (tkd) where you consume 30-50g of glucose (jelly beans, sour patch kids, gummy bears, etc...) about 30 mins prior to the ride. That should help. If you don't like the candy approach, you can do white rice an hour before. Same carb gram total.
I’ve seen a few lads in the gym use this approach and make good progress even bulking
I have been debating on trying it once i get lean enough. I already know that being in the 155-160 lbs range is not where i want to be.
Will be interesting to see your progress if you do decide to run it0 -
I agree - 'keto' (or just high-fat-low-carb) works for some people. It isn't a magic fix for everyone. I certainly didn't expect it to work for me because of my passion for all things carby (I could eat sugar on meringue!) .
It turns out that the 'passion' was actually caused by eating carbs.
Some people can moderate (eat a few carby things) without bad effects on their weight-loss or healthy feelings. I think I'm one of these, but eating too many carbs starts to bring back hunger - so I'm careful for a few days after having them.
I am still aiming to lose 9lb (45lb down so far) so staying lower carb at the moment but I know that I can add a few and maintain my weight.
This is promising for the future but I'll never go back to eating as I did when increasing weight all the time. That is over. After 2 years low-carbing, I know I can fit in with family and friends, enjoy birthays and parties... and still stick to this way of eating for at least 90% of the time. It is now normal - and enjoyable.
Will-power is not involved; understanding of my body's reaction is.
In answer to the quesiton above, I don't spend my life longing for carbs now that I rarely have them. The desparate insatiable desire has gone and I can have them - occasionally - and enjoy them like a normal person.
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I tried keto for a while, but my body was tired and grouchy without carbs. I am an active person. I did lose weight and stuck with it for months, but it just isn't for me. I never stopped dreaming of pasta and my homemade breads or bagels. For me, it wasn't a life worth living. I did feel good when I wasn't exhausted. I spent all day thinking about how much I wanted certain foods. I think a lot of other people stop craving them pretty quickly. It made food and eating into something I resented rather than enjoyed. What I learned is that I would legitimately mourn as though I lost a friend if someone told me I could never have a bowl of pasta again.
Or a gooey, real deal chocolate brownie. The spice of life for me includes having a fully varied diet. We all have different things that make life enjoyable though.
You never know how you will like something until you try it for yourself. Plenty of people swear by a keto or keto-adjacent diet and I respect that they know their bodies the best. And then I go stick a piece of bread in the toaster to have with my eggs.
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I love all the keto foods but my stomach wasn't happy at all! I know I probably would have adjusted eventually but I just couldn't deal, I can and do follow lower carb but strict keto just isn't for me0
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If you like the foods keto allows, knock yourself out. If keto is going to make you eliminate foods you enjoy, it's only a matter of time before you fall off. Pick the diet that you can sustain for the rest of your life.8
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@maggiemax18 People get enamored with keto because when you restrict carbs in the beginning you lose "weight" quickly. Sure, some might definitely be fat in the first couple of weeks but you're losing a lot of water weight and stored carbs (glycogen). This reflects favorably on the scale though so people think it's a no brainer to continue on.
Keto has been around since the early 1900s, originally formed as a diet to help treat conditions like epilepsy...it's been around forever. If you actually enjoy keto, that's great; it CAN work. The PROBLEM is, I personally cannot think of a single person I personally know who has started keto and lasted very long because they enjoy carbs like most of us.
Carbs are not essential like fats and protein but are in many enjoyable foods and are beneficial for exercise performance, etc. If you're less active, have smaller carb portions. But, you can eat higher carbs and more moderate fats and lose weight as well...depends on the person and their preferences.
Personally, I'm on a slow "bulking" plan right now and eating 375g of carbs per day; just bumped up from 360g. My weight has come down a pound on average since I begun testing to find an appropriate surplus to be in...Means I need more total calories in my life because CI vs. CO matters most. My fats are only at 70g per day with about 1.1g/lb. of protein.
If carbs were inherently fattening, I'd be getting pretty fat on that many at 182 lb. right now haha. Just need to have the right portions for your body, preferences and activity levels.
Well put.0 -
Not a fan of the long-term effects of Keto...I want to live a long healthy life.4
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How many people are on Keto for years and don't you miss eating carbs?
In my case I did not really miss eating carbs for about 4 years and only added fruit and honey for the health of my gut microbiome hoping to reduce the risks of health failure and premature death. I still do not eat food with added sugar or any form of any grain 99% of the time. At a birthday today I did eat 3 tacos for the first time in years. Medically speaking personally I never plan to risk a zero carb Way Of Eating. With Covid-19 around and 70-80% of my immune system coming from my gut microbiome eating for their health is Job #1 in my mind today.
I think Keto was best in my case to slow my rush towards death from 2014-2018 but my carbs were really never much under 50 grams daily because I was eating more plant based foods than in many years. Yes I still eat meat but it is more fish and chicken than in past years.
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As can be seen from previous comments, if you can give up carbs long term and be happy, then by all means give Keto a try.
For me personally, I will not consider any diet that tells me when and what I can eat. Besides, I run a lot and any diet that makes my performance suffer is not even a consideration.4 -
When I was doing KetoI lost good! I’m going back on it! I actually gave Sunday lunches as my cheat meal.1
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I took a break from keto and was eating potatoes ,rice and such and was dealing with headaches/migraines often so on January 1st I decided to go back on keto and the headaches/migraines vanished 6
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When one has health issues that resolve on keto and getting off they start returning it is something we circle back to naturally.0
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ALL DIETS work if you follow their programs correctly and consistently. It's when you go off them that they don't work. Personally I tell all my clients NOT to diet. I tell them to use this app and count calories and be consistent. I look at their diaries and we tweek things up when they aren't progressing.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
Honest question. Isn't calorie counting the main definition of dieting?
If you are carnivore, wfpb, keto, Mediterranean I see it as a lifestyle that you follow forever and you don't count calories.6 -
ALL DIETS work if you follow their programs correctly and consistently. It's when you go off them that they don't work. Personally I tell all my clients NOT to diet. I tell them to use this app and count calories and be consistent. I look at their diaries and we tweek things up when they aren't progressing.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
Honest question. Isn't calorie counting the main definition of dieting?
If you are carnivore, wfpb, keto, Mediterranean I see it as a lifestyle that you follow forever and you don't count calories.
No, I think dieting (being on a diet) is intentionally eating fewer cals than you burn, however you achieve it. One can obviously do that without calorie counting.
One's diet is the way one eats, whether one is trying to lose, gain, maintain, or not thinking about it at all. One can follow the keto diet in this way, or as an attempt to diet, or--as is commonly the case--both. For many, it may be necessary to count (or otherwise control) cals to lose weight even when following a named diet, although for others it may create a deficit (which is what people hope when not counting cals and instead adopting one of these ways of eating in order to diet).
Also, one can adopt a diet for a while without following it forever just out of curiosity or because you think you might like it or feel better on it.
I would not say keto, wfpb, med, carnivore, etc. are "lifestyles," as presumably there is a lot more to one's lifestyle than the diet they follow. You can talk of a blue zones or Med lifestyle (although the latter seems dumb to me as the Mediterranean region is so varied and culturally different), by which what is normally meant are the things the various blue zones supposedly have in common: "exercise regularly [I would add in a lower impact kind of way, like lots of walking in daily life], drink moderate amounts of alcohol, get enough sleep and have good spiritual, family and social network." That's from a Healthline article, but it's consistent with what I've seen claimed a lot.
My lifestyle certainly has more to do with my work life, friendships, family, spiritual life, activity level and type, sleep, hobbies/what I do when not working/interests, where and how I physically live (location, weather, type of space, cluttered vs neat), and and various other sources of stress or positive mental states vs. just what I eat/drink.5 -
@lemurcat2 I agree with most of it and that is how I perceive dieting.
Then the question is why you say don't diet, because diets fail... Then you talk about calorie counting and calorie deficit. That is dieting. It's confusing sorry.3 -
@lemurcat2 I agree with most of it and that is how I perceive dieting.
Then the question is why you say don't diet, because diets fail... Then you talk about calorie counting and calorie deficit. That is dieting. It's confusing sorry.
?? Why I said that? Don't think I did.
IMO, people who say "don't diet, because dieting fails" are missing the point. The question is whether one has a sustainable plan for maintenance, which one can, however one loses the weight.3 -
@lemurcat2 I agree with most of it and that is how I perceive dieting.
Then the question is why you say don't diet, because diets fail... Then you talk about calorie counting and calorie deficit. That is dieting. It's confusing sorry.
?? Why I said that? Don't think I did.
IMO, people who say "don't diet, because dieting fails" are missing the point. The question is whether one has a sustainable plan for maintenance, which one can, however one loses the weight.
Lol I knew you would have asked me that. Sorry it's easier in Latin languages, we have an interpersonal subject to make a general discussion.
I didn't mean you as in you, infact the question was towards a person who said that. I meant you as in who has said that in this community.0 -
Not that it matters, and your English is great, but I'd have said either:
(1) Then why do people commonly say "don't diet, because dieting fails" and then go on to recommend calorie counting; or perhaps (but less good, it just is an interpersonal subject), (2) Why would one say "don't diet, because dieting fails" and then go on to recommend calorie counting.
That's assuming I am now understanding properly! ;-)0 -
@lemurcat2 thanks. I like the second example. I'll start using it.0
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