4 days in and maybe not getting enough fat?

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #21

I have the same issue with green tea. The tea I get occasionally from Starbucks is so bitter that I have to add some sweetener. However, if I make it at home (green tea w/ peppermint tea) its not nearly as bitter.

(Katie) #22

Two things to consider, apart from what has already been suggested:

  1. Check the label on the stevia packets–are there any other ingredients that are non-keto sweeteners?

  2. What sweetener do the Atkins bars contain? Some companies add sweeteners that they say do not cause blood sugar/insolin effects, but they do in reality. Beware of maltitol and IMO; allulose should be okay.

(Marianne) #23

Lots of good advice here.

The good thing is once you discover a stable of foods you really enjoy, it gets much easier to put together your meals and know what their approximate values are. I’m not a veggie person so I don’t have trouble keeping my carbs very low. If you can, try to get to under 20g total carbs per day. If it is too restrictive to you, however, don’t do it. You need to enjoy what you eat, otherwise, is won’t be something you want to maintain long term.

If you make your own salad dressing, make sure you are using olive, coconut or MCT oil (not vegetable or canola - is that a vegetable?).

My husband and I love pork loin, boneless pork ribs or boneless pork chops. When having that or chicken breast, we supplement it with a wonderful rich sauce or a cream soup that I make. I will send you the recipe. You won’t believe what we can eat on this and still lose weight! Still amazes me. What a gift. :blush:

(Susan) #24

This was me last February when I started Keto as well! The advantage you have that I didn’t back then was this amazing Forum!! I didn’t discover this wonderful place until June.

We are all just sharing what works for us, and what we have found messes us up, to help you make some good choices for your own Keto journey =). We all want you to succeed too!!

(Marianne) #25

Wow, Susan; I didn’t realize that. I give you a lot of credit for doing it on your own for so long. I don’t think I would have ever started if I didn’t find the forum. I came upon it first, lurked for a couple of weeks getting information, and then jumped in. I was still very afraid and had a ton of questions, but people here really supported me and got me through. There is so much information and support on here.

(Jane) #26

Canola is a made up name that stands for Canada Oil Low Acid. It is made from rapeseed and the manufacturer didn’t think the public would accept that name on a product. Originated in Canada.

(Marianne) #27

Well, that explains it!

:rofl:

Apologies to our neighbors to the North - couldn’t resist. :hugs:

(Susan) #28

I did Keto my own way from February-June when I found the forum -I messed up on a few things, like I bought a few things that I didn’t really need and a protein shake that was not really Keto, but I was losing weight, so felt I was doing okay, but became more strict and doing it more properly when I found the forum =).

(Kimbrie Sauvageau) #29

I understand that giving up things we enjoy is tough. Enjoying the food we eat and drink is an emotional attachment for most. I know I personally gave up a very high content of processed and fast foods, sugary snacks, and my beloved IPA…I had to decide that this program being successful and following through on the guidelines that are very available all over the web, especially in this forum, was more important to me than that wonderfully hoppy and satisfying beer. I am not sure what your personal motivations for trying this program but I feel you need to definitely track your food for a couple weeks so you can see how many carbs you are actually getting, maybe your protein is too low, I dont know but my point is that the nutrition side to this seems pretty important to achieve the results that are set out for. From what I can tell it takes a great deal of willpower and discipline for sure. Good luck to you and hang in there! :grin:

#30

SO, it’s been about a week, and I’m still on the plan and getting better at eliminating carbs and sugar - FINALLY doing NO sweetener of any kind in my coffee (just heavy cream) - a huge change for me! I also made some home made chicken soup (with dark meat chicken, celery, sun dried tomatoes, and green pepper) and wondered about having enough fat in it - bacon to the rescue - it tasted great! For veggies, it’s been mainly broccoli slaw and broccoli tops - with either butter or low\no carb and sugar dressing.

A question - how important is watching calories on the keto diet? I’m thinking about all the fats I’m eating, and wondering do I also need to watch the calories, or just keep focusing on low\no carbs and sugars and let the keto diet take care of the fat?

(Jack Bennett) #31

Generally you should be fine just keeping an eye on the macros.

If your body fat loss slows, you may want to cut back on really energy-dense foods like nuts or cheese.

Edit: I went to my email and found this article just now.

(Susan) #32

As long as you track and make sure that you are keeping your carbs at 20 grams or less, no sugar, and are getting enough proteins, healthy fats, enough water and electrolytes you will be fine. Do not worry about calories for now at all. Later on people realize that they have to adjust their eating pattern as they are a lot less weight and only need less calories as they have tinier bodies, but that is later for Maintenance. For now making sure that you are keeping carbs as low as possible and not having sugar that is more important =).

cronometer.com is free and helps me keep track of this personally. It is good because there are secret carbs lurking.

Like this-- it might have seed oils -make sure you read the ingredients, I have never seen a dressing that is actually seed free, and doesn’t contain any artificial sweeteners -so I am wondering what you are using.

Best wishes in your journey =).

#33

Something else I’m wondering about - I’m often full after breakfast for a good while and skip lunch - breakfast is 2 or 3 eggs, some chopped green pepper and chopped mushrooms, maybe some chopped onion, and some meat - bacon, or sausage. Dinner is usually some meat with plenty of marbling and some veggies with low \ no carb\sugar dressing - OK to skip a meal if I’m just not hungry?

(Susan) #34

Yes but many of us prefer doing Lunch and Supper and skipping breakfast instead -as the longer you can go between eating, is better. By example, I eat lunch at 1pm and supper at 4:30 on my eating days (when I am not fasting) and that gives me from 5pm until 1pm the next day (a 20 hour daily fast) with no calories. My eating window is 20:4 IF -during the 4 hours, I have two meals, lunch and supper, and no calories in between, so no snacking between the two meals, and no calories during the 20 hours of not eating (but I drink plain black coffee/tea/herbal tea and water).

Or, you could do like @David_Stilley does and have breakfast and then Lunch for an 18:6 scedule --so a big breakfast, then wait 6 hours and have a big Lunch and then not eat until breakfast. This is really good for your body to complete eating earlier like he does. I just find with making the family meal for about 4:30 when my hubby is home from work works better for me is all.

#35

So, I’m 9 days in now and still not seeing any weight loss. I know that everyone says to not pay attention to the test strips, but I do use them every few days and they show that I’m “slightly” into ketosis. I’ve been highly focused on significantly reducing carbs and sugar, and I would have thought that I’d start seeing some weight loss by now. I’ve eliminated all of the straight carbs I’d been eating (pretzels, bread, potatoes, sugary drinks, and deserts after dinner), and no added sugar at all. I’m cooking with butter, avocodo oil, or bacon, and any meat I eat is absolutely on the fatty side - rib eye steaks, pork shoulder, chicken wings, etc. I read about water weight loss early in the program, but I’m an older guy and I head to the bathroom a lot anyway, so whether my body is shedding water more than before is hard for me to tell - I do make it a point to drink more water than before. Table salt has always been an issue for me, so while I’ve cut back to to blood pressure issues, I still use salt so I believe that my electrolytes are OK. I’ve even increased my exercise frequency to 4\5 times a week - 20 minutes on a stationary bike, 20 minutes on a treadmill, moderate hand weights, and stretching.

And still no weight loss. I gotta believe that it’s simply a matter of too many calories. I’m gonna try getting on one of the keto meal plan suggestions, paying more attention to portion size, while continuing to closely watch carbs and sugar.

Any other suggestions?

(Jane) #36

I like to plug in the foods into my tracker Chronometer and then set to 100 g to compare. 100 g of half and half is 4.7 g and 100 g of heavy whipping cream is 2.7 g. Depends on how much you use and how low you are trying to get your carbs. Could be insignificant or not. I definitely use half and half when traveling for my job when I can’t get cream. If they only have the powdered crap I drink it black.

(Jane) #37

I think you may just to need to give it more time, but for sure I would track very diligently for at least a week and post here. I mean weighing the peppers and onions also! I know it is a pain, but posting a couple of days of what you eat here can really generate a lot of ideas. Without that, we are all just guessing. Well, it is a guess anyways - but a more educated one! LOL

(Marianne) #38

I agree; I think it would be helpful for you to track for a while. Carbs can really sneak up on you. This will give you a definitive idea of how many carbs and fat grams you are consuming. If you can, maybe try to do 20 g of total carbs instead of net. Please don’t start counting calories yet, and go easy on the exercise, if the only reason you are doing it is to promote weight loss. I’ve heard it can have an adverse effect in the beginning. Do your clothes feel any different?

:frowning: I do believe if you hang in there and maybe make a few adjustments, it will happen for you.

#39

It’s still barely any time, be more patient. And as others wrote, track carbs, maybe calories if that makes you calmer or help but I would be careful with my carbs and give it time, you might get results easily soon, it’s just not quick in the beginning in your case. Not everyone loses a lot in the first week and our bodyweight fluctuations can hide a small loss.
Maybe you eat something that interferes, I’ve heard stories. But for now, just do your best to keep your carbs low and be patient, really.

#40

These were the two things that jumped out to me: all that Stevia and possibly too many carbs from veggies.

It may be hard to cut back on the Stevia, but you may find you can do so more easily as you continue. My sweet tooth diminished greatly over time. Others have stated that things that were once mildly sweet became almost cloying.

Keep trying to see what works for you. And give yourself time. GOOD LUCK!