100 days of Keto!

(Stephanie Paris) #1

Hi Everyone! A few months ago I embarked on a 100-day trial of a ketogenic diet, tracking my progress along the way. The results: I lost 22 pounds, my BMI went from 28.4 to 24.6, and my body fat percentage dropped from 41.6% to 34.7%. I also experienced greater mental clarity, I felt more satiated after meals, my quality of sleep improved, and I felt that I had more energy. After a visit to my doctor for some blood work, we found that my inflammation markers were in the optimal range as were my numbers related to how well my body was managing glucose.

Then… I experienced a huge bout of stress in my life, which led to illness, which led to more stress. I’m a single mom with two kids, and I’m also a full time, 4.0 (so far!) college student in my third year of college studying biochemistry. My apartment lease was up in the middle of the term, and we needed to move closer to my kids’ high school and the university I will be transferring to this fall. Sooo…the month leading up to the move I caught a really bad respiratory infection. It caused me to miss a lot of classes, and delay packing my house. Then, on top of that I got the flu the day before the movers were coming. Then, another cold a week later. Then laryngitis. Long story short, I survived! But was completely eating off my “plan” and gained some of the weight back, and was of course nowhere near ketosis for a month or two.

And now I’m back, embarking on round two, with some modifications that I had planned on doing after the first 100 days. I wrote about my 100 day trial on my blog (which has the same name as my username here), if you’re interested in the details. I’ll be posting updates there, too, on my next go-around. Those of you that are long term keto peeps, are you eating keto 100% of the time, or are there days that you allow a glass of wine or carbs that pull you out of ketosis? I read people’s posts saying they’ve “been keto for 6 months” and such, and I wonder; is that 100% of the time?

(George) #2

I would like to think I’m keto 100% of the time, but have made some mistakes, most have been minor.

For example, if my son is eating some chips, I’ll take eat 1, but that’s it. Or instead of allowing myself 1 tbsp of peanut butter as a treat, I’ll take 2 big ones, etc. Nothing i beat myself up about though.

I’ve only had 1 real slip, which happened to be this past weekend, where I consumed mixed drinks (mixed with soda), and ate rice and bread just because it happened to come with a meal I ordered. That slip up resulted in a 10 lb gain in just 1 weekend. I’m sure I’ll lose that weight by the end of this week though. Point is, going off course isn’t worth it, especially since I have a ways to go till I get to a point where I’ll be happy maintaining instead of losing.

So, would I love to be able to be truly 100% keto all of the time? Yes, of course. but I understand that if I slip up, no matter how minor it is, I can get back on track, back in ketosis in no time, and reverse any temporary damage I might have caused on an extra carby day

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #3

For my first full year, yes 100%. From my initial 4-day water fast I went completely cold turkey on all my previous favourite carb-rich foods. Surprisingly, never missed them a bit. Subsequently, to present date (1.5 years add’l) 99.9%. I allow myself an occasional beer and a DQ vanilla cone. The cone puts me out of ketosis for about 12 hours, but the following day, not the day of consumption. I am going to replace the DQ cones with my own keto ice cream so very few, if any, more of them. :icecream:

(John) #4

8 months in. I drink red wine occasionally. I don’t use a ketone meter so I don’t know if anything pulls me out of ketosis or not. I do sometimes check with the urine strips and have not yet seen a test show up negative in that 8 months, but I maybe do that once or twice a month now and I am down to my last strip.

I am generally quite strict on the types of foods I consume, though I may vary up the quantity. I seem to do better when I do get some carbs in my diet rather than none, but I am talking broccoli, spinach, sprouts, lettuce, tomatoes, asparagus, cauliflower - that kind of thing. Not cookies, bread, beer. Berries and yogurt occasionally. Cheese limited, nuts limited.

I am male and don’t have any known metabolic conditions, so my results may not be applicable to you.

(Carl Keller) #5

Welcome back to good healtth Stephanie.

I’m on my 8th month of LCHF and the few times I experimented with sugar and starch, I can safely say I felt very uncomfortable doing so. It seems my taste buds have changed and sugar tastes artificial to me and potatoes (which I used to love) are bland even when smothered in butter or gravy and salt. Besides that, eating those things made me feel somewhat guilty… as if I were betraying myself.

I’m such a creature of habit and I’m really comfortably wired for the status quo. I’m sure if stress were a bigger part of my life, it would be much more difficult but I’m fortunate enough to say that it’s not. If I were you, I would make sure to plan out my meals for the week and stick to them. That means a weekly grocery run where everything you need is there waiting for you in your fridge or freezer so there’s no excuse.

Best wishes with your health and stress.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #6

I’m pretty sure you can’t gain 10 lbs. from one high carb meal. There must have been other factors. :cowboy_hat_face:

(George) #7

A few mixed drinks (mixed with soda) on Saturday night and the carby meal on Sunday resulted in exactly 9.8lbs increase on Monday morning. I rounded up to 10 lol

(Full Metal KETO AF) #8

@JRS08 This article is from a non keto perspective, even in water weight that’s an extreme gain. This short article is interesting, There’s a bunch that are very similar to it. I’m sure you’re correct about loosing it quickly because it’s mostly water.

https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a19515785/can-you-gain-10-pounds-in-a-weekend/

:cowboy_hat_face: