6 weeks in and LOVING it, but a little concerned

(Steve Ennis) #1

Hello to all my Keto-homies!

I’m 6 weeks into this diet and I couldn’t be happier. I did have a few days “keto-flu”, but for the most part I’ve felt amazing! Couple of highlights:

  • Never feel hungry. I have very small portions, I’m eating them slower, and feeling more satisfied. This was NEVER possible before! I used to eat like I hadn’t eaten in weeks!
  • No interest in drinking alcohol. This was a weird one, I’ve been a moderate-to-heavy drinker my whole live but I don’t seem interested these days.
  • It’s SO easy to prepare. I have my nuts, seeds, olives, avocado handy, I just cook up some meet and throw in some gentle carbs… so easy.

I was doing this diet trying not to worry too much about what the scale says, but then I weigh myself this morning and I’m down over 12 lbs! :open_mouth: WTF? It’s been several years since I’ve been below 210lbs, I’m at 208 and feeling pretty damned good. My buddy said today “damn, you’re melting!”

So a couple questions… what tends to “derail” people when they’re on a solid roll like I feel like I’m on now? Is the 2 month mark a challenging one? 3 months? Do people tend to get bored eating this way? There seems to be a lot of decent recipes online when I need some inspiration.

Oh, and the whole ketone blood measuring device. Do you guys recommend this??

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #2

Let’s see: 2 lbs a week at the start. Not atypical if you came in from the carbs and are a man. A lotta water being dumped, which still counts and still moves the scale and the tape measure. I maintained that rate for about four months. But I was heavier than you.

Folks fall off in lots of ways. Derailed by life circumstances, by peer pressure, by complacency, drifting priorities, discouragement, all manner of ways to fall off. The two things I think are really key are to always have a goal that you’re working to and to always have a plan before you experiment with foods that are non-keto or what I’ll call sketchy keto (Fathead dough, Rebel Creamery… it’s all keto, but bread and ice cream really aren’t spiritually keto, even if they can be made technically so). A third idea is to weigh daily when exploring your limits. Or keep a journal. Rate your mood or how your body is feeling. It’s easy to drift, very slowly, and convince yourself that popcorn is a workable keto food (yeah, I did that once. No, it’s really not a keto food even if you can cram it into your carb allotment).

People can get bored. There are a lot of recipe blogs, books and threads here with ideas. And yet, some folks just want to eat ribeyes and jalapeños for dinner. Nothing wrong with that, either.

There’s nothing especially hard about month two or month three. Fighting complacency is maybe the hardest fight until some stress comes into your life. True story, I was 14 months into maintenance once, 55+ lbs loss, best shape of my life, gym rat. I moved across the country and it all fell apart. Things changed faster than I could adapt.

I’ve been doing the ketogenic diet dance on and off for about 17 years now (I’m horrified… honestly, 2001 was my first run with Atkins). More off than on, but I haven’t really worried about my ketone level since 2001. My understanding is that being in ketosis, it’s a bit like being in love, or the mob. You’re either in or you’re out.

(Lonnie Hedley) #3

Congrats on being a man, it’s easier for us to lose than women.

The quick weight loss is likely water weight, and it’s very possible it could slow considerably. Do not get discouraged by this as weight loss is not linear. There are other great benefits to LCHF beside weight loss. It just happens to be a side effect that a lot of people are very interested in. Instead of getting bored with keto, I eliminated veggies and eat the same thing most of the time. Instead of being bored I find it provides me some structure.

BK meters aren’t necessary. It’s neat to see a number, but testing is definitely not necessary. Keep net carbs below 20g net and you’re pretty close to guaranteed to be in ketosis.

(Running from stupidity) #4

Not unless you have a lot of money and you’re a data junkie. It’s certainly not required.

These things. You will very likely stall at some point (paging @ava_ad0re) even without external complicating factors but you just have to keep pushing through. The NSV are worth it even if your weightloss is stalling.

(Lonnie Hedley) #5

Maybe if you LOVE stabbing yourself in the fingers. I’m not jealous of diabetics that have to do it multiple times a day, every day.

(Running from stupidity) #6

Hmm, yeah, good point.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #7

I’m a woman, so maybe this doesn’t count but, I lost a few pounds of water weight, then the fat loss happened around four months, now, I’m at six months, and losing again! Go figure - nothing much has changed with my diet.

#8

I’ve been keto for 10 months now, have lost 32 lbs. I am a woman, 5’9", and 59 years old. I have always been very fit and active, cross-fitter at one point, heavy duty physical exercise my entire life, but by the time I started keto in Jan I was 190 lbs. My lean weight is 145.

I tried Atkins about 5 years ago, but fell off it, I think because I wasn’t focused on increasing fat enough.

At 10 months in, I am very happy. I think making sure you increase your fat intake is critical. You have to feel satiated. Actually, I have had to increase my protein intake - closer to 200 g/day vs. the 100 g/day I was aiming for. That’s what makes me feel satiated.

I also fast - intermittent fasting daily, an occasional 24 or 48 fast as well.

If you don’t cook, then getting bored might be a problem. I LOVE to cook, and I am constantly exploring new recipes. I got a sous vide cooker in May and use it lots. I also eat meat, which I think makes keto much easier. Right now, I can’t imagine getting bored. I love fat and I love meat, and putting the two together is pure lusciousness! Sometimes I miss crunchy food, but kale chips and the like can take care of that.

I do have a meter, and find it interesting to see what my ketone level and blood glucose level is, but it isn’t necessary.

Overall, I feel so much better - keto has made an incredible difference for me regarding anxiety and depression, in addition to joint stiffness (gone) and overall well-being, that I will never go back. It’s not hard to get inspiration, unfortunately - if you look around you’ll see lots of people eating all those carbs and they look so incredibly unhealthy. And they often complain about how they feel, as well.

Best luck to you. You’re on the right path!

(Laurie) #9

Some years ago I lost 50 pounds on Atkins. I gave in to pressure to eat dessert at holiday time. That was the end for me. I’ve since gained back the 50 pounds.

Now my challenges are a bit different. I have various limitations. I’m housebound (bad knees and no car), so I rely mostly on online purchases. I have “steakhouse syndrome” and can’t swallow yummy steaks or pork chops, so when I do buy meat it’s ground meat. I don’t want to cook any more, but I do use the microwave occasionally. So yes, I get bored eating canned salmon and canned mackerel and microwaved hamburger!

Another thing is that it can be a bit frustrating to lose pound after pound and then suddenly stop. Or worse–gain back a few! But I’ve found that it pays to stick with it. What’s the alternative? I know that if I go back to eating carbs, I’ll get fatter than I ever will on keto.

Congratulations on your success so far.

(Wendy) #10

Congratulations and happy ketoing!

I’ve not really been bored doing keto. I’m 9 months in, a woman and have lost 65 pounds. Oh and I’m over 50.:blush:
I think I am pretty relaxed about my macros. I don’t obsess about my protein or my fat, eating more hasn’t seemed to put me out of ketosis. I lost the big water weight in the beginning and then continued to lose fat and inches.
I’ve not tested my ketones but I think it would be great to know my ketone level. But not sure I want to make the investment in the machine and strips.
Oh, the derailing, I think it really depends on how you define it. I have had a few non keto meals or usually just a part of a meal. An icecream on a couple of occasions. But for me I make it the exception to my keto eating and keep it as a rare as I can. I think if I were one to think oh I messed up, and keep on making unhealthy food choices for the rest of the day or longer I’d coinsider that a derail. We almost all occasionally go off plan. And if you make a bad choice just start again!
But lots of people give up the keto way of eating for lots of reasons. So know why you are doing this and stick with it. Learn the science and enjoy the healthy real foods you get to eat.

(Steve Ennis) #11

Thanks LeCheffre, I really appreciate the reply. Especially what you say with regards to the water weight. We all know that the first couple of pounds is always water weight but some people seem to try to use that to put down your accomplishments. But I’ve got to say, losing 5-8 pounds in water weight has been amazing! So much less bloating in my face, neck, and belly. I tried a keto chilli recently and it was quite nice! You’re right about life circumstances, they can derail you so easily. When stress goes up, it’s easy to get distracted.

(Steve Ennis) #12

The odd tasty treat is tough to avoid isn’t it? I had a small bag of reeces pieces this week and it was sooo good!

(Steve Ennis) #13

I’ve really been enjoying the odd fasting as well. When I focus on keeping my fats up with olives, nuts, avocadoes… somehow that makes it easy to avoid food for an extended period of time!

I do enjoy cooking as well, that really helps you’re right!

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #14

If I have a piece of advice, it’s to add things to your diet that are less sweet, but still scratch that itch. Like dark chocolate. Over a few months, your ability to detect sweetness in things will return to what it was for pre-sugar fueling, and you will likely find reeces pieces and other commercial candy overly sweet and not really fun to eat. My wife likes to have hershey with almonds in the house. Every now and again, I forget that they are awful to my palette now, and have a piece. It took a few months, but I’m using less fake sugar, and less tempted by mass market sweets.

#15

I find this to be sooooo true.

I am pretty sure the salsa at the Mexican restaurant had added sugar… It was pretty sweet.

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #16

Tried a BBQ sauce that I’ve wanted to try for a while, at 10g to 2TBS. Tasted like Jolly Ranchers taste in my mind.

When I did this so well back in 2006-2008, I could taste residual sugar in wines where that’s not supposed to be possible, Brut and Extra Brut. Going to wine country for a week in a couple weeks, and will have to relearn my wine preferences.

(Brian) #17

I thought of this when I read your post…

https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/sugar-free-bbq-sauce/

You could knock out at least some of the sweetener if you wanted to. Pretty easy recipe.

Just something that came to mind. Lots of keto friendly recipes out there.

(Consensus is Politics) #18

This diabetic cured himself six weeks after being diagnosed with an A1C of 11.8% and a BG reading of 594!

This diabetic started out sticking himself 5 to 10 times a day. That was then. Now I only do it when I want to impress the wife. She starting checking hers now several times a day. She hasn’t been diagnosed, her BG drops to normal levels within about an hour after eating, and it’s usually about 100. Mines usually about 85 :sunglasses:

(Lonnie Hedley) #19

I’m not, and have never been diabetic. I check BK and BG levels as a novelty. I’m happy to not need to do it regularly. Congrats on your progress, but I’m still not jealous of how often you had to finger stab. :grin:

#20

Just remember that ‘this too shall pass’

No matter what stage (newbie, oldie, stalling, dropping, regaining, maintaining, bored or zealot) you are at, there will be another stage around the corner.

The only thing that you can be certain about is that things will change, usually in a direction you don’t expect. That’s what keeps things interesting.