Things I have learned during 4 years of Keto
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OP here
It's now been 5 and a half years and 110lbs lost. Still eating Keto 99% of the time, although I take a break from tracking here and there, and keep an eye on my weight. If I gain a little I make myself track again.
I just wanted to expand on (9.) Go easy on the saturated fat. After 4 years of bacon and butter my cholesterol has gone from normal to through the roof. I can't help but regret my decision to have a BPC every morning. I'm doing much better without it and getting fats from fish, avocado and olive oil.
My cholesterol did go up each year on Keto, from normal when I started. A lot of people around the keto traps say "cook everything in butter, eat all the fatty meat" and for a lot of people that's probably fine. But there are a fair number of people who will experience high cholesterol if they eat this way. Dietdoctor has a good article on it. My doctor threatened me with statins in the end and I begged him to give me 6 months to bring it down. I did manage to do so, but I have cut out a lot of saturated fat (meat, butter etc). I do have heavy cream in my coffee, but I'm no longer doing bullet proof coffee which is basically about 300 calories of pure fat. Yes, it does stave off hunger until lunch time, but I don't think it's necessarily a good practice.
I think a lot of people who are particularly newer to keto latch onto the "high fat" part of keto and think that means they can eat a fatty diet. What the "high fat" bit actually means is that you can eat a bit more fat to stop you getting hungry, but also part of that "high fat" should come from your body stores. That's how you lose weight. Be mindful, eat sensibly, and choose healthy whole foods. Can't go wrong.
Thanks for this. Did you mean this article? https://www.dietdoctor.com/guide-high-cholesterol-keto-diet7 -
Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »OP here
It's now been 5 and a half years and 110lbs lost. Still eating Keto 99% of the time, although I take a break from tracking here and there, and keep an eye on my weight. If I gain a little I make myself track again.
I just wanted to expand on (9.) Go easy on the saturated fat. After 4 years of bacon and butter my cholesterol has gone from normal to through the roof. I can't help but regret my decision to have a BPC every morning. I'm doing much better without it and getting fats from fish, avocado and olive oil.
My cholesterol did go up each year on Keto, from normal when I started. A lot of people around the keto traps say "cook everything in butter, eat all the fatty meat" and for a lot of people that's probably fine. But there are a fair number of people who will experience high cholesterol if they eat this way. Dietdoctor has a good article on it. My doctor threatened me with statins in the end and I begged him to give me 6 months to bring it down. I did manage to do so, but I have cut out a lot of saturated fat (meat, butter etc). I do have heavy cream in my coffee, but I'm no longer doing bullet proof coffee which is basically about 300 calories of pure fat. Yes, it does stave off hunger until lunch time, but I don't think it's necessarily a good practice.
I think a lot of people who are particularly newer to keto latch onto the "high fat" part of keto and think that means they can eat a fatty diet. What the "high fat" bit actually means is that you can eat a bit more fat to stop you getting hungry, but also part of that "high fat" should come from your body stores. That's how you lose weight. Be mindful, eat sensibly, and choose healthy whole foods. Can't go wrong.
Thanks for this. Did you mean this article? https://www.dietdoctor.com/guide-high-cholesterol-keto-diet
Yes, too lazy to do a google 2 -
Yes, when friends ask me how I lost the weight and keep it off because they want to start too, I always suggest that they concentrate on lowering the carbs (especially processed) first then they can up their fats some after they get the hang of lower carb eating. It seems it's always easier to add fats than to lower carbs, but then you just end up with an even worse SAD.9
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mandycat223 wrote: »After two years on this WOE, I agree with everything except the part about drinking water. To be sure, some recommendations are just
I have experienced this phenomenon not only first-hand, but also in my 90-yo FIL, who says, matter-of-factly, "I'm never thirsty, and I hate water."
(His kidney, heart, GI, docs and GP all tell him he's dehydrated and command him to drink more fluids, but he has to be prodded like someone being handed a pint of warm cod liver oil and a narrow straw....
)
This so reminds me of my mom (96.) Every Dr and nurse keeps telling her to drink fluids. She just won't follow through. Last appt yesterday her kidney function is almost to danger level.2 -
canadjineh wrote: »Yes, when friends ask me how I lost the weight and keep it off because they want to start too, I always suggest that they concentrate on lowering the carbs (especially processed) first then they can up their fats some after they get the hang of lower carb eating. It seems it's always easier to add fats than to lower carbs, but then you just end up with an even worse SAD.
I just tell them to lower the carbs. If they start having bacon and eggs for breakfast instead of oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins (and a few pieces of toast with jelly), the fats take care of themselves. If they can lower carbs and keep an eye on calories, they are on the way...7 -
This is a great post - hope you are still out there doing well.0
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This may be the single best post I've ever seen on Keto way of life. So much of this are things that I've discovered and fully believe. Great post.5
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Thank you for sharing! I started the Keto WOE 4 years ago. I lost 85 lbs and was able to stop many medications. However, last year was tough. I moved. I started a new job. My teenaged son decided I was the devil for moving him away from his life long friends and classmates. (That is thankfully much better now.) I had the flu TWICE. I hurt my back, ended up being off work and unable to be physically active due to THREE spinal surgeries.
Did I mention that I'm an emotional eater? I am, so I ate ALL those feelings. I fell off the wagon and it rolled over me. I re-gained 60 of the 85 lbs I lost. I felt terrible!
Now I'm on the mend, and back to my Keto roots, and I love hearing other people's experiences.
I also agree with everything you said. Keep shining!
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Hi I’m Nikki,
I used to be an avid user of MFP a few years back but then life happened and tracking my weight, goals and chatting to like minded people slipped off my priority list!
As a rule I follow a low carb/zero sugar diet but recently started dabbling in a more LCHF/keto way of life
A bit about me: I’m 33, live in Nottingham, Uk and work as a HR professional 🤓
Working my way through these threads so forgive me for hijacking this post but the original post is so good I couldn’t help myself x6 -
cynlyn2010 wrote: »Thank you for sharing! I started the Keto WOE 4 years ago. I lost 85 lbs and was able to stop many medications. However, last year was tough. I moved. I started a new job. My teenaged son decided I was the devil for moving him away from his life long friends and classmates. (That is thankfully much better now.) I had the flu TWICE. I hurt my back, ended up being off work and unable to be physically active due to THREE spinal surgeries.
Did I mention that I'm an emotional eater? I am, so I ate ALL those feelings. I fell off the wagon and it rolled over me. I re-gained 60 of the 85 lbs I lost. I felt terrible!
Now I'm on the mend, and back to my Keto roots, and I love hearing other people's experiences.
I also agree with everything you said. Keep shining!
Well done on getting back into it!
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Bump for the new folks.1
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Good to see this post still helping people. Nearly 5 years in and I stand by all of these points. I do agree that some people don’t need to weigh and track everything, but most people - those who have been long term overweight and can’t intuitively know what’s “enough” will struggle to simply eyeball portions and lose weight. This is especially true when you get close to goal and need to eat less to lose.
I gained 5kg over Xmas, but I’m back to low carb now, and back at the gym. No gaining it all back here
I am proof of that! I try and test myself before weighing my food to see if I will guess correctly and I never do. I also forget what the number was on the scale if I don't write it down immediately. Either my short-term memory is wack or my head is full of other concerns. If I eat out I am doing lots of guessing and it will backfire on me. I guess both over and under.0 -
AKTipsyCat wrote: »This - thanks for the reminder. 3. I am not cured of my binge eating. I will never be cured. In the same way that heroine addict clean for 4 years can not have "just one fix"
me either0 -
brightsideofpink wrote: »#22 is a deeper thought that it may come off as, and people would do well to really consider it.
22. Will power is not a thing. Lack of will power is not why I failed at low fat calorie controlled diets for 20 years. And will power is not why I have not failed at Keto/Low carb. Control over my hunger (from low carb) is the only reason I have been successful.
I'd add this from my own experience: will power is temporary. And if you're stubborn and can dig in, you can get it to last longer. But there is a price to that. You'll find that you're resentful of your "diet" and less inclined to see your path as anything beyond that. I lost 70 lbs doing CICO and was successful. But the beginning months were hell- will power sent me to bed every night hungry. Will power made me work out hard for an hour just so I could have a small snickers bar. Will power made me cranky. Will power didn't stop me from thinking about food all day. Will power made me mad that I had to go without. It was at least 6 months before either my hunger levels adjusted and I felt comfortable on less. Its no wonder people quit as soon as they start.
Now that I'm trying a low carb approach, its one of the biggest changes I noticed. I am not ignoring or powering through hunger. I am instead working to not actually be hungry. Satiety is key to short and long term success.
Exactly!3 -
Great post!!! All true.1
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Awesome Post! Thank you so much for sharing 1
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October 2014 was when I stopped cold turkey eating food containing added sugar or any form of grain hoping for pain management for my 40 years of arthritis pain from Ankylosis Spondylitis. It started working after two weeks well enough I decided to not start Enbrel injections. After the wife broke her hip this summer and the daughter studying in Germany this semester I am glad I had changed my way of eating to keto/low carb high fat because between caring for the 6 mini horses and 6 puppies that now about 100 pounds each at 9 months would not have been possible. With no weight loss effort/goal I lost 50 pounds the first year and I have not regained it eating all that I want so 5 years without going hungry.
Three weeks ago I got up early and drove 200 miles in the truck to St. Louis Missouri by myself to touch and drive my first all electric car a deep blue pearl 2016 Nissan Leaf SL. I bought it and was back home in Kentucky by 11 pm with the car on a trailer.
5 years ago I needed help just to get into and out of most vihicles. I don't miss the 40 years of life defining IBS and blood sugar and pressure as well as other health issues now at the age of 68.
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I like this that you wrote:
12. You do NOT need to eat at Keto levels if you do not have a health reason to do so. You can do just as well with the hunger and the cravings and the weight loss eating 50 - 70g carbs a day, while enjoying a lot more vegetables and soluble fibre (also good for healthy heart and cholesterol levels). In fact increasing my carbs to this level has seen a loss of 4kg a month this last month compared to barely 1kg a month before.
I need to eat lots of veggies and am not sure how they would work out for my carb count - I am exploring this. Also everything else you wrote is very helpful.3 -
I think in my case Keto was what I needed to meet with initial success after years of failing to get my health decline managed and learn how to use Google to learn why Keto worked out so well for me.
Understanding how and why Keto worked so well for my body is an on going effort but as my knowledge AND understanding increases more and more things start to come into focus easier.
Frankly my deep dive into the gut microbiome info got off to a slow start but over the past 6 months how and what to eat to evolve my gut microbiome in a more positive balance seems to be paying off.
Learning about pomegranates over the past several weeks is positive so far. I had never heard of pomegranate seed oil but yesterday three bottle arrived from Israel.
Being 69 and always starting a new n=1 test on myself is one way hopefully to keep my brain growing new cells.
While I still stay away from sugar and all forms of all grains I can not keep my carbs under 50 grams daily when testing things like pomegranate juice to test enhancing my gut mucous lining to provide a better home for certain types of my gut microbes. I am really impressed with the results from pomegranate juice and now am trying supplements from pomegranate to see if I can get the same results without getting that boat load of carbs daily. High quality carbs still lead to inflation in my case.
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Love the post!! I wish I had read this the first time I started a keto diet a couple of years ago. I was following a well known program that said calories don't really matter as long as you keep your carb intake to under 20 gm per/day and eat a lot of fat. (Butter in your coffee anyone?) Of course I gained weight, felt like crap most of the time (probably because of low mineral levels), and gave up after only a few weeks. I hated stepping on the scale because I really thought I was doing everything right, but kept gaining weight. After joining MFP and this Forum, I realize what I was doing everything wrong. I'm going to try this again and with the MFP calorie counter, I can track everything to keep me honest and accountable.3
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I thought I'd bump this because I just happened to stop by and it is still a great post by @DietPrada . Reading through the comments was a stroll down memory lane. Wonder where they are now.
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#12 is intriguing, because most resources I've read have stated that to be effective you need to be below 20g of net carbs per day. Having a greek yogurt with berries, and a handful of almonds almost puts me over that count. I seem to be averaging about 50 grams a day. I'm wondering if this is still too high for weight loss. Granted my carbs are coming from vegetables and other whole foods with a handful of blueberries thrown in on a daily basis.0
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This is the best post on how to 'keto' I've ever seen. Thanks for writing it!2
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Amazing post, Thank you ♥️0
