10 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Going Keto

newbies
beginning
(VLC.MD) #22

It tastes different ?
I’m not sure what my beef is.
I want to try grassfed beef but I dont think my grocery stores are “fancy enough” to carry such delicacies.

(Jen) #23

To me- tastes like barnyard. It’s hard to describe but gamey.

#24

I signed up for butcher box and paid $149 including tax and shipping for a substantial amount of grassfed beef. Enough beef to last two of us about 2 months. We make lots of sides and veggies so we usually share a steak. I’m very pleased with my purchase and can’t wait for my next shipment (which I pushed off for a month because I still have quite a bit left in my freezer). They also have some of the best bacon I’ve ever tasted available as an add-on although it is currently backordered they said.

(Stephanie Tebbs) #25

I actually signed up for Butcher Box as well after this post. We go through a lot more beef that you do so we will need the monthly box but the quality is really good. It’s still expensive in my eyes but we spend less money overall on groceries since we aren’t buying carbage that it doesn’t hit the bank too hard.

(Doodler for @KetoKailey) #26

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this! I am new here, but have been lurking and reading up!

#27

A tip I’d add is to make concentrated salt water and add a teaspoon to your morning mug of water - and take extra salt water if feeling “off” during your adaptations. I make himalayan salt water (called “Sole” in French) by putting the large chunk crystals of the salt into a water jar, and water absorbs salt to a total of 26% then it’s done. Just a little of this concentrated salt water added to your morning water mug and to your mobile water bottle helps the body deeply hydrate on a cellular level.

NOTE: Good to take it incrementally when beginning, and ideal to start it before you go keto as it helps the body detox. To avoid detox headaches, start with a half teaspoon of the concentrate added to your morning water mug, and then slowly build up to a full teaspoon in the morning and slowly increase any additional intake. (I buy my himalayan salt stones on Amazon where I get free shipping).

You can also add a bit of lemon juice if you like, which makes it even more electrolytic!

Tip for ensuring you drink enough water: keep a water glass or water bottle at your work area or carry it with you in your bag, and require yourself to drink from it frequently - and refill it appropriately. If you get hyper-focused and go without water for a couple of hours - or if you exercise without extra hydration strategies - it can bring you down pretty quick and make you terribly weak.

What I did for covering my potassium was to eat one half of a banana most days the first couple weeks - though it made me have to watch my carbs more severely, it was reassuring to know that it was part of helping me prevent the terrible dehydration and flu-like symptoms that some get.

Last but not least, and very important in addition to the hydration focus: take the 70%+ fat macro very seriously - it’s a huge change and sometimes folks overestimate the fat they’re eating just because any additional fat seems like a lot.

If, at the end of the day, you review and realize you’ve not heaped enough fat on your food - go ahead and take a good spoonful of delicious virgin coconut oil, or butter, or ghee before bed. It will help you sleep better - and it will also assist if you’ve suffered any dehydration that has slowed down your bowels at all. Pay attention and catch it early - you’ll then avoid having to take gut wrenching laxatives.

Most of all, enjoy the elemental transformations you’ve begun and the body recomposition journey you’ve embarked on. And if you ever need inspiration or courage there’s this forum and other online stories from various people who’ve published their 60 day keto challenge experiences!!!

P.S. Ignore scale, but make sure you have initial weight and measurements written down. Then wait at least 60 days (I waited over 4 months) to feel how your feel before re-measuring. It’s really fun to notice the inches that have disappeared, transformed into FUEL. Also, keep in mind - esp if female - that the body composition changes happen over time and that there’s a lot going on that we don’t see: the visceral/organ fat changing, the fat in muscle tissue being burned, the insulin sensitivity increasing, the precancerous/cancerous situations being turned around… a lot of metabolic healing.

(Jeannie Oliver) #28

I am new to this forum, but this is the second time I have seen these percentages suggested. My problem is that when I entered these into the MyFitnessPal app to try to set up my goals, I got a little notice that made me feel as though I am suffering from Grain Brain–specifically, they don’t add up to 100!

#29

Lol- grain brain!!

(Dan Dan) #30

Should be 70%Fat LoL but you new that :wink:

(Don) #31

This is probably one of the best threads I have read so far. Thanks!

(Ken) #32

How about:

  1. Eventually, after I’m fat-adapted and especially after I’ve lost my excess fat and am in Maintenance, I’ll be able to eat limited amounts of carbs on an occasional or periodic basis. As long as I understand that I avoid a chronic carb-based pattern, I won’t regain any fat.
#33

I have never used %. Simply do net carbs 20g (which I rarely achieve TBH), 60g protein based on my height and LBM/ideal weight and then whatever fat I decide to eat that day without really measuring or planning

(Hala) #34

Hello I m new in keto since November 2017 I was wondering I’m taking magnesium b6 supplement and another laxative supplement and both contain sucrose … but I’m always testing my ketone level before and after and nthg change … I’m always 0.5 or 1.4 it depends morning after hitt and night … my question is I have to be aware of the sugar in the medicine ? But it’s hard to find something with erythnol or stevia … wht I have to do and btw I take lactase before anything dairy bcz I’m lactose intolerance so I have to avoid dairy ? Or it’s ok to have the lacta supplemnet ?

(MooBoom) #35

This is true! When I fell off the wagon it took a month before I started gaining weight and feeling the ill effects of a SAD diet, I’d been strict keto for 6 mths prior. Getting back into ketosis after 5 mths of SAD is easier now too, it’s like my body recognises the fat adapted state and desperately wants to stay there. Smart body!

#36

So I need to race my way to fat-adaption, so that I can afford to fall off and fail.

I know keto is not a race but a marathon, but if you keep falling down during the marathon, you cannot even cross the halfway line.

(Ken) #37

It’s a Marathon in terms of losing fat and eliminating metabolic derangement. Once you’re there, it’s more of a jog with occasional breaks and exceptions, but always returning to jogging so you don’t get out of shape.

#38

But the problem is that I keep falling down, so it is almost impossible to reach the “there”. <_<

And my birthday is nearby… And I didn’t even try to gain the experience to make keto-compliant cheesecake to replace the normal cake yet…

If I could make the cheesecake correctly and perfectly, at least when people wanted to celebrate for my birthday, I could say: just use my cheesecake for that purpose. <_< then I can pass through my birthday without making it a cheat day.

But I basically lost my confidence.(already bought the ingredients, but always lazy and no time to prepare and make)

(Ken) #39

First of all, stop thinking of Carb intake as a “Cheat”. It’s not Heresy. Focus on the actual Science. If you’re primarily lipolytic, (real term for the misnomer “Keto”) then what significant Carb intake does is temporarily halt lipolysis. When it becomes chronic, glycogen levels refill, and you transition back into lipogenesis. The state when you have partial glycogen stores, but not enough to overfill is called Maintenance. Now, if you’re a Noob, and your goal is fat loss and hormonal normalization, you want to stay lipolytic as much as possible.

My real point is that occasional Carb intake in the form of a meal, or even a day or two will not cause you to regain fat. There’s plenty of people out there that eat carbs on the Weekends, but eat lipolytically the other five days and are successful at fat loss. Obviously that can be adjusted, if an occasion falls on a weekday, you go ahead and eat carbs but cut out one of your weekend Carb days. What this also does is keep your body secreting limited Amylase, so when you do eat a few carbs their impact is not so drastically felt.

This limited Carb strategy can be employed as early as after two weeks of being lipolytic, but IMO it works better after at least two months. Until then, I recommend occasional Carb intake be limited to a single meal, with a couple of days between as the primary focus is becoming adapted, in the sense of reduction of lipogenic hormonal resistance states, usually referred to with another typical misnomer, “Fat Adapted”. You actually adapt out of eating carbs, not adapt in to eating fat.

Follow the Science, not the Dogma.

(MooBoom) #40

@240lbfatloss
Ken, brilliant response. Couldn’t agree more! :raised_hands:

#41

What a super post. May I add?
SALT It helps immensely with every aspect of this diet. More salt than you think is good or right
Fasting is not mandatory It didn’t work for my body and not all of us engage in fasting
Figure out what works for your body If that means monitoring blood levels of whatever, great. But it can also mean just watching what happens FOR YOU. Like for me? Avocado carbs are almost non existent for me. I can eat as many in a day as I want, and the deeper I go into ketosis. Not all carbs are the same. Sugar alcohols stall me but do not raise my glucose or cause an insulin spike. Stuff like that - this is a very individualized journey