Keto diet

sandyc2023
sandyc2023 Posts: 3 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Is going on a keto diet worthwhile or will it make it more difficult to balance out the calories I need to take in every day to assist with weight loss?

Answers

  • sollyn23l2
    sollyn23l2 Posts: 1,788 Member
    edited December 4
    Only you can decide that. It works well for some people, not at all for others. Ask yourself... do you like fat? Like... really like fat? Are you the kind of person that eats all the globs and rind of fat off your steak and enjoys it? Do you not really care about carbs? As in, it wouldn't bother you to never have another bite of rice, bread, or pasta... ever? If that's you, you might do well on keto. For some people it helps them stay in a deficit.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,617 Member
    I guess I'd ask why you're considering keto.

    Sollyn is right, it helps some people lose weight, if the food choices are satisfying for that person, making it easier to stick to calorie goal.

    A few keto fans here have said that will be true for everyone, but as a mostly whole foods, standard-ish macro levels vegetarian who doesn't find fat filling but loves veggies (including the starchy ones), and who actually lost weight without keto and has maintained the same way for 8+ years since, I'm skeptical about its universal satiation perfection. (I tried low carb back in the day. I was miserable. But that's just me.)

    Some people consider or choose keto because they have relevant health conditions, or their reading has persuaded them that it has health benefits even among those who are generally healthy. I'm not going to debate that, because I'm not well versed enough in that area. If you are focused on those health implications, I can't speak to how well it might work. Knowing what you're thinking might help us comment in some useful way, though.

    I do know that quite a few people who eat carbs way above keto level seem to be quite healthy. The Adventist Health Study is one to consider, though there are some limitations in how that was conducted . . . including some limitations that apply to many or most longer-term nutritional research, since we don't commonly keep people in cages and monitor their every bit of food intake for years. :D

    As far as whether it'll be easier to balance your calories with keto, that's pretty individual, as Sollyn suggests. If you find fat filling, maybe it would help you. If you don't, it might make things harder. If you're now struggling to get adequate protein on reduced calories, you'll still need a certain minimum with keto, so I don't think it would help you much on that front.

    If you love your veggies and fruits like I do - which is more than most people do, I admit - it would definitely make balancing calories harder by not being subjectively filling or a happy way to eat. But you're not me.

    Best wishes!
  • wm3796
    wm3796 Posts: 100 Member
    I believe that you should choose whatever you can do as a lifestyle change(permanent food choices not just temporary). So if you think you can live with keto lifestyle then go for it. Don’t pick a short term diet plan , lose the weight, then expect to go back to regular eating habits. That is usually recipe for weight gain and back to square one. Lots of people do keto , lose the weight, go back to regular food choices and gain it all back ( and sometimes additional weight). Good luck! Change can be hard but so worth it!
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,264 Member
    edited December 5
    Almost all people that are successfully adapted to a keto diet and have been on one for more than a month or 2 don't count calories, like myself, so your question is kind of a moot point.

    There's been a lot of curiosity about low carb and ketogenic diets in general over the last decade and is by far the most googled diet on the planet. With over 75% of the US population overweight and obese the low carb/keto diet gained a lot of traction due to the promise of rapid weight loss and improvement in the long list of non communicable diseases associated with the declining metabolic health of this population. Unfortunately most people have a very hard time adhering to those restrictions and quit pretty quickly and look to other solutions and calorie counting is popular, especially in the US. A whole food diet, organic and local is my back up diet which I do incorporate more so in the summer, with good results, as it relates to someone that consumes a keto diet. imo. Oh, and to people that believe people on keto don't consume plants, think again and suspect I consume more vegetables than most people, fruit not so much, mostly berries.

  • Corina1143
    Corina1143 Posts: 3,832 Member
    I've never looked into keto. Just not interested in adding rules that aren't necessary. There's already plenty of rules in my life. But through time, I've accidentally learned about keto. I am that person Sollyn described. I'd as soon eat dirt as wonderbread, rice, pasta, etc. I do eat potatoes, and those days, of course, aren't keto. I love protein-meat, eggs, cheese, fat free yogurt. I love fat-- fatty meats, milk, cream, cheese. I eat lots of vegetables, some fruit.
    It would be so easy for me to go keto. But I don't see any benefit for myself. I'm not diabetic, pre-diabetic, or, as far as I know, insulin-resistant. I had high blood pressure when I was in constant pain. The pain stopped, the blood pressure dropped. I don't think keto would help me with weight loss, since carbs arent really a problem for me. What other health benefits does keto offer?
    That's the questions I think you should ask yourself. Will it help you with anything other than weight loss? Do you flourish or fade away with more rules? If you lose with keto, what will you do to maintain? Will you stay keto for the rest of your life? Go back to your old way of eating and regain the weight? Or start then to learn a new way of eating to keep it off?

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