A few newbie questions (again)

(mich) #1

Hi everyone, this forum is so useful, I’m really glad I found it.

I changed my eating habits at the beginning of this month. I had a slight “hangover” type headache for a a few days but I have since felt really good. To be honest, I feel great - my skin and hair look great, I feel “up” in my moods and general energy, I feel like my stomach rolls have deflated, I don’t weigh myself, but i feel lighter.

Ive done the ketosis strips and never get passed the beige/light pink squares, which doesn’t really bother me (although it does a tiny bit!) and I “feel” different, but my struggle is that I have yet to stay under 30g of carbs. I hover at 28-31g every day (according to MFP) and I can see that the reasons for this are about 1/3 cup of milk (in my coffee during the day) and wine (2 glasses a night) and the rest seem to be from vegetables, cruciferous vegetables, specifically. Is this wrong? Am I ruining my chances of ketosis?

I did struggle with keeping fats high (and also the mind games that go with that) but I think I have it sorted the past 2 weeks. I’m eating about 135g fat and about 70g protein (I’m 163cm height and about 68-70kg).

I guess I’m asking if I’m doing this right? I sort of feel that I’ve let go of so much in my diet - sugar/preservatives/wheat/other grains - and willingly, I should add!, that 1/3 cup milk and 2 glasses of wine is OK. Am I kidding myself? Am I overthinking/over analyzing this?

I look forward to your wise words. Thanks in advance.

(Togipeidia) #2

Change the milk in your coffee to whipping cream or make your coffee bulletproof i personally drink my coffee with a tablespoon of both ghee (or butter) coconut oil and cocoa butter blended with cinnamon. But I have always been a latte person. Can’take help you with the wine as I think it’s gross so I don’t have any problems giving alcohol up.

(mich) #3

Thanks Amy. I’ll try the cream rather than milk. BCP/butter in fat makes me gag, so I don’t do that.

Does anyone else have any thoughts regarding the carbs at 30g, please?

(James storie) #4

Everybody is different, you may be able to maintain ketosis at 30 grams. The most widely accepted rule is less than 20 total for best results. It may take you a lot longer to become fat adapted. I would definitely replace the milk with heavy cream and maybe save the wine for special occasions. Or just have one on the weekend!

(KB Keto) #5

Have you tried the coffee butter and actually blending it? If you spoon mix it, it’s not very good. I use one of those cheap batter powered milk frothers and it really mixes the fats into into

I second the heavy whipping cream - at least 2 tbsp. That should cut down on some of the carbs. 2 normal glasses of wine should be what… 9 total carbs? Maybe cut back from 2 to 1 for a little to see if you get better results from those 2 changes

(Ros R) #6

Strive to hit your protein macro and eat fats to satiety-you don’t have to hit your daily target. And I second getting rid of the milk and switching to heavy whip. If you are looking to lose weight, I would save the wine for special occasions/the weekend as your body will switch to “burning off the alcohol” first. Regarding MFP, are you backing out the fiber in your veggies to get net carbs?

(mich) #7

I haven’t tried that, the thought makes me gag! However I will definitely try the cream rather than milk. Thanks for the suggestion!

(mich) #8

Thanks everyone. I think I’m wanting someone to say ‘drink the wine’! It’s an excuse-I know it’s the tip-over.

I don’t really understand the fibre thing regarding carbs and vegetables?

(Becky Searls) #9

Your body can’t process fiber, it just passes through you. Therefore you can subtract the fiber from your carbs and the difference (net) is your "net carbs.

Ex- I just bought a bar of dark chocolate. It says 19 carbs but also 6 grams of fiber 19-6 = 14 g net carbs (still a treat but doable if planned for!)

Butter in coffee (if a high quality brand like kerrygold) is great-- it gives you balanced energy for hours, clear headed-ness, and really if you think about t is barely different from adding heavy cream (if you whip cream a little more, you get butter). Some people prefer coconut oil, ghee, MCT oil or some combination of all 4 in their coffee with various other add-ins like cinnamon, liquid stevia, etc.

(mich) #10

Thanks @beckyjoy, for taking the time to explain.
I assume MFP (free version) doesn’t do that for you?

(Griffin Mekelburg) #11

There is not a way in the program off the bat, but when I used to use MFP I wanted to see the same thing (net carbs). Follow the link below and the last part of the instructions will guide you how to add a script to the MFP program and then you can see your tallied net carbs :slight_smile:

(Ellie Baum) #12

Yo! If you’re feeling better and seeing changes, then you’re doing something right. For me, if I’m not feeling well then I look to change things. It’s great that you are seeking advice though and seeing how you can improve. But if dropping the wine and the milk gets you discouraged, I’d say don’t worry about it for a while. It more important to make changes that you feel like you can stick with. Maybe tell yourself you’ll give those things up for a couple weeks and see how you feel. Tell yourself it’s an experiment. That way you can make an informed decision about what you want in your life.

Hoping that doesn’t sound too contradictory. Nuance is hard.

However you should try heavy cream in coffee just cuz it’s delicious. :slight_smile:

(Dustin Cade) #13

before I tried butter and coconut oil in my coffee, I too thought it would be gross… it is not… I went from drinking my coffee black to butter and coconut oil… I really like iced coffee w/HWC… so yummy

(Ellie Baum) #14

Agreed. If you blend Coconut oil in coffee with an immersion blender or some or blender, it tastes and feels way better than you think of when you say “oil and coffee”. It’s more like a less sweet latte. I prefer HW cream but if I run out, Coconut oil and coffee is my go-to. And it’s a pleasant change from HW cream.

(Jessica) #15

I use MFP and have added Fiber as one of the items I track. I arrange it so it’s next to my carb column and I just subtract. Though when all my carbs are coming from green veggies and some cheese I don’t sweat it too much if I go over 20 net.

(Jessica) #16

Absolutely! I’ve done spoon mixed coconut oil and it’s an oil slick on top…not my favorite.

I bought a contigo coffee mug with a good sealed lid and I can drop a couple TB of coconut oil into my coffee and shake it up the first couple minutes of my commute. It froths it up and I don’t have to use my immersion blender at 4:30 and wake up my family. I can also make it at work that way and have a jar of coconut oil in my desk. I’ve been using heavy cream lately though because I’ve switched to iced coffee in warmer weather. I may be a couple cups of keto coffee in a tad bit chatty at the moment…

(Ren) #17

I have one of the 20oz RTIC canisters and I drop one of the stainless steel wire balls from the Blender Bottles in it. I put in 1 tbs butter, 1tbs of mct oil (instead of coconut oil), and add 2 tbs of full fat coconut milk, and 6-8 drops of stevia extract into it. Once I get to work, I’ll add about 18oz of coffee to the canister and shake the crap out of it. When I open up the canister to drink, it is nice and frothy and doesn’t have an oil slick on the top of it. It is super easy to drink too and tastes great. I used to not like coffee, but I dig this coffee.

(Trudi La Rose) #18

One thing I didn’t know until recently is that most artificial sweeteners can have an effect on insulin, sometimes a very big effect.

(KB Keto) #19

I found this link a helpful guide on sweeteners and keto: https://www.ruled.me/keto-diet-plan-best-and-worst-sweeteners/

(James storie) #20

No, you want to stay below 20 net. This is after fiber is subtracted. So your total grams might be up around 30 or more depending on what you eat. Although, I don’t think dairy has any fiber, so you count all of it.