Advice for 2018 newbies with a lot to lose - keep it simple

simpleketo
omad
intermittentfasting
zerocarb
gluconeogenesis
#41

Hello!!
I am pretty new to Keto but not new to low carb. I first lost 35Lbs in the old days of Atkins. That was 14 years ago…I can yo-yo with the best of them. Now I’m 60. Over the last 2 years due to “the usual suspects” - less sleep, high carb too prevalent, stress outs, family stuff, work stuff…you know suddenly I found myself having put 20 lbs of that back on, joint pain, indigestion, generally felt like poo. Extreme bummer.
Now, today I can say I found what worked -for me- to reboot and get back to some feeling of health. I have a longer time to go and other goals to set but hope this might help another newbie:

  1. It was just Tuesday of this last week that I felt “the magic happen” So for me it took 18 days to really get into ketosis- clear head, much less joint pain, no indigestion, better sleep. Good enough blood sugar and keto (Precision X-treme) levels at 4:15 AM before food of 80 and 0.7 respectively.

  2. I decided to NOT do intentional exercise for the following reasons:
    From my Atkins experience I recall that I must adapt.
    I felt like you know what and knee pain + treadmill = a likely disaster.
    I did not want to pile on multiple goals at once.
    I wanted to just observe and learn (this forum is very helpful!!)
    I needed to understand Macros, Intermittent Fasting, etc.

I made mistakes:
I think I went overboard on Eggs for a bit. I’ve found that for me 1 egg a day is a limit. I don’t know why and I’ll experiment in another month or two to see what has changed.

Not enough food - Worst mistake too early in the process. I was trying to go by macro percentages that I was not ready for. I had to back up and proceed a bit more slowly.
If I was hungry, I ate. Bacon, red meat, fish, butter, salads, a few nuts here and there. No calorie counting.
I stopped thinking about macros for the last week and ate Keto-worthy high fat and went from about 20Gram carbs a day to a range of 0 to estimated 15 at the moment. That helped!!

  1. At this point I am feeling pretty darn good and:
    Unintenionally fasting. I haven’t thought consciously to fast, I’ve found if I make a coffee with butter and cream and a “keto bread in a mug” at about 4 AM, I feel comfortable until anywhere from 11 AM to 2 PM, which seems to vary depending on the stress level.

I eat again but never after 5 PM. It isn’t anything lavish. Highest amount of fat I can squeeze in, totally carnivorian, perhaps some carb as in fresh vegetables. I am not feeling hungry at this point, it is more mental than anything, and, my family is freaking out a little, they think I’m gonna die any minute, so my eating seems to calm them down a little…

I am finally getting about 64 oz. water every day. That took a while to adapt to.

I have not weighed myself. All of my clothes fit much better. I feel lighter and more nimble. Joints feel nearly normal. My mental clarity is an even better gift, no foggy brain.

I will not go on and bore you but if you are new, or starting again, there is more good information available now than ever before. I think the most important advice for getting a good start is:

  1. Don’t worry about calories or macros at the beginning. If you’re going to worry then worry about reading labels, worry if you’re picking up junk in your shopping basket.
  2. It is possible, and relatively easy to cold turkey quit processed food if you are eating enough fat.
  3. Don’t pile on multiple goals like exercise, desired blood levels, “gonna run a marathon”, etc.
  4. It will take a variable length of time to get to Keto. I think that most folks are like me, I think you will know when “the magic happens.”

For me, I’m gonna wait another week til I know how much residual knee pain I have and then I will plan from there. I’ll probably do core stuff - windshield wipers, planks, a wee bit of yoga. I might try to plan a fast but it will not be extreme, maybe 20 hours.

Thank you!!

(Candy Lind) #42

If you have to remind yourself to eat, you are already on the way to IF! And it sounds as if your “eating window” will be an unusual one with your hubby’s schedule, but who cares? I suggest that you work to shift and lengthen your fasting window, by eating to satiety at the nighttime meal, and then trying to “stretch” breaking your fast out to noon or 1 to begin with, maybe even later if you are not hungry. If you do that, you’ll be approaching a 16-hour fast already. Once you’ve been doing 2 meals a day for a while, you might even be able to stretch it to where you can eat just one meal a day. The long fasts will do a lot towards stabilizing your insulin and lowering BG. (BTW bacon and eggs taste wonderful 24 hours a day! LOL)

I’ve been doing 16:8 or 18:6 IF most days for a while now, and today I’m finishing my first 24-hour fast. It’s still amazing to me that I don’t feel like “grazing” all the time like I used to. I actually kept it up for a time when I first went low-carb, but I gradually realized I was eating when I wasn’t hungry and that I really needed to stop it. I really prefer to concentrate all my calories into a small window now. :innocent:

Good luck, and congrats on finding the BEST keto forum anywhere!

(Candy Lind) #43

DEFINITELY take your meds. Check BG levels frequently and if they get too low, talk to your doctor about backing off on meds a bit. There was actually one person here who was on Metformin, stopped taking it on her own when starting keto, and didn’t start losing weight until she started taking it again. Your hormones are so deranged at this point, you have to make changes slowly, then see what works and what needs tweaking, always mindful of how you feel. Things might not go just how you think they will at first. Have faith in the keto process, stick to it, and you WILL lose weight and feel better - maybe not in that order!

Are you really feeling OK on that amount of water? Maybe you are drinking other things as well. I barely get by on twice that amount of fluid. I feel terrible and get cramps in my extremities if I don’t drink enough.

(Hala) #44

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 ? Plz can u reply bcz no one is reply my msgs plz

(Linda M Au) #45

Thanks! I’m definitely heading toward about 14-16 hours with no eating. I was always a late-night eater, but it’s been getting ridiculously easy to just not eat a late-night snack anymore. That’s pretty neat.

Most of the cravings I have left are psychological – meaning that I’ll think, “Gee, donuts sure did taste great.” And sure, they do taste great. But for the first time in my life, that thought isn’t leading toward temptation and it’s NOT leading toward actually eating a donut. I just brush the thought aside and think, “Okay, so what CAN I eat instead?” Then I’ll grab a few pieces of sharp cheddar and a handful of olives.

The most surprising part of this new journey is how my thinking has been changing… and how smoothly that has been happening. I think I was finally ready. :slight_smile:

#46

Hi There,
I drink coffee, probably 3 or 4 cups a day. I’m trying to keep the artificial sweetners at a distance but I do have a diet soda twice a week at most. But yes I feel ‘good’ at 64 oz. water per day.

(Arlene) #47

This statement is solid gold! Converting from eating huge amounts of candy, donuts, etc. was a try and try again project for me. Slowly, however my mind is changing; just as you said. I can still remember how that donut tastes, vividly. The difference is that now I am also able to remember how those donuts made me feel. Even though I can remember the addictive mouth excitement of these sugar/fat stomach bombs, I have no desire to sicken myself with them. I never thought I would be able to think this way. Once in a while I will see a bag of potato chips and think “if only”, but then I tell myself I just want the salt.:grinning:

(Linda M Au) #48

I’m using Mac’s Cracklins pork rinds in place of chips (I use them with onion dip for maximum chip-like effect). They’ve really helped wean me off things like chips. (I still dislike the smell of pork rinds, but it’s just a transition phase for me so I don’t give in to the chips. Like you, I think it’s the saltiness I crave.)

(Candy Lind) #49

First off, sorry you weren’t getting an answer. It’s likely because it wasn’t directly related to this topic. Best to start a new topic under “Newbies” with your questions so they don’t get lost.

Yes, you should avoid supplements with sucrose. You may have to pay more, but the less carbs the better. It might be impossible, but do the best you can to avoid anything with ingredients ending in “ose” which is a sugar or sugar alcohol.

What is this “laxative” supplement of which you speak? And are you checking your blood sugar as well as your ketones? If you are T2D, your goal should always be to avoid blood sugar spikes. Most ketone meters do both.

Next - if you are lactose intolerant, why don’t you simply avoid dairy? It’s not like you can’t get what you need from other sources - and many people, even those not “officially” lactose intolerant, report that dairy keeps them from losing weight (if that’s one of your goals).

I hope these comments help you, and please don’t hesitate to ask more questions. Your best bet when you’re new? Keep it simple. Low carbs, moderate protein, and fat to satiety, however that applies to you personally.

#50

Hi Candy – I am not diabetic. No meds, at all.

(matt ) split this topic #51

2 posts were split to a new topic: Laxatives

(Aliescha) #53

On a keto restart since falling off the wagon in December. Just completed my second week. Blood ketone levels are at 1.0-1.2 when I have tested. My problem is that I kind of feel weak and tired. I want to start exercising, but can’t find the motivation.

I know I am feeling better. I’m more motivated to do daily activities and such, but can’t get motivated to exercise.

Any ideas or suggestions? My energy levels seem to be really up and down and it’s frustrating.

(Candy Lind) #54

Two things: try more salt, and JUST DO SOMETHING. Even if it’s just a walk around the block or a superfluous trip to the mall or the store, expend some energy. It will get better.

#55

I know lots of people are sheep… And I am also a sheep…
So if I wanna go for keto, I need to make sure that my surrounding is keto-encouraging environment. At least not keto-discouraging.

As in, there are some options of keto-compliant food that I can eat till there is no tomorrow when I eat out, instead of being fussy and always asking something like “what is the ingredient used here and there” blahblahblah, in the end making the queue very long.

I wanted to cook, and I actually don’t dislike cooking, but the troublesome part to me is actually cleaning up after cooking. <_<

(matt ) #56

Clean AS you cook. Not after you cook.

(Dan Dan) #57

keep it simple, don’t cook complicated dishes and clean up will take only minutes :wink:

#58

It is the need of oil that makes cleaning up troublesome. And it includes something like frying egg.
Oily on the pot, around the stove…

(Dan Dan) #59

I fry eggs, bacon, fatty meat every meal and it takes me about 5 minutes to clean all dishes, skillet, utensils, stove and kitchen counter. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

(Doug) #60

This. For me, this is the deal. :slightly_smiling_face:

(Candy Lind) #61

This is SO ME. :persevere:

Even when I try to do that, I still have stuff that’s left after I’m done. It’s a never-ending battle.

I guess I just don’t have the “organized cook” gene. I know people who can do that; never works for me. :pensive: