Another new person intro

(Rob) #1

Hello!
I’m a mid 50s male … started keto the last week of March 2018. Would like to drop some pounds (saw a picture of myself in a bathing suit early March - yeah I live in a place where you can wear a bathing suit in March - and asked myself “When did THAT happen?”). More interested in long term health benefits.

The first week I just tried to keep my net carbs under 20. From there I calculated my macros and track everything I eat with an iPhone app. I want to give myself every chance to succeed. diet is till relatively unvaried but I add recipes as I go and cook up a bunch of something I like and portion it out.

I weigh myself once a week … on Fridays. Although I know for the last 3 weeks I’ ve been at or under my total calories and always under on the carbs, I only saw my first weight loss today. I don’t think I’ve consumed any “sneaky carbs” (carbs are EVERYWHERE … I check) and I’m careful to weigh or otherwise measure portions (THAT’S 4 ounces of beef? … can’t be).

I started exercising again this week. I do cardio on 4 days and weight training on two of those days… serious sweat … which if nothing else is happening in terms of inches or pounds, the sweat makes me feel good. Hope to add more weight training as my body adapts. First couple of weeks it felt like my limbs were made out of lead and I didn’t do much of anything outside of going to work.

Picked up a Precision Xtra blood tester and the keto strips. First test (earlier this week) showed 1.5 … a test last night after a meal was only .4 (That’s point 4 for those not wearing their reading glasses) . I read someplace that testing ketos after a meal may not be a great idea. I realize this is a long haul thing and weight/inches and probably keto levels will vary occasionally in discouraging directions in the short term.

I’d eventually like to meet some other folks in my age range for support, commiserating, etc. . Dropping pounds in my 30s or 40s was easy … in my 50’s … not so much. I’m fortunate in that I know a couple in my area that started keto a few months before I did … they’re the ones that convinced me to try the lifestyle … and we talk a couple of times a week,

Anyway … excited to be on this journey and look forward to participating in the forums and meeting some of you. I tend to ask a lot of questions … but I do know how to use a search button first :-).

(*Rusty* Instagram: @Rustyk61) #2

Welcome @MarvinGardens. I’m in the same age range as you. I’ve been in ketosis almost 8 months, that was 65lbs ago. Like you, my main goal is health. The weight loss is a great side benefit. Good luck I. Your journey. The best advice anyone can give is is to make sure you read and search this forum for your questions. It’s a great resource.

(Pete A) #3

Hi @MarvinGardens. I’m 54 and like @rustyk61 I’ve been Keto 8 months and lost 70 pounds.

The diet will work, don’t believe that it was “easier” when younger, just different :yum: It sounds like you’re off to a great start!

(Doug) #4

Hey Rob, welcome. 11 months left in my 50s here, and it’s never too late. :slightly_smiling_face:

(Leslie) #5

Ketosis is sometimes best achieved by adding intermittent fasting to your routine. I recommend starting by reducing your meals by one; either the first or the last of the day. Consider the fast a period of time every day when you are not eating. Anything over 16 hours straight has been scientifically proven to be very effective at inducing ketosis and burning fat, especially belly fat.
Eliminating one meal is generally very easy to do.
For me, eating all my calories in a four hour window has been extremely effective.
Remember that even if you decide to eliminate meals in order to fast, you still need to get all of the nutrients you would ordinarily be getting.
I hope you find this helpful

Keep calm and keto on

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #6

Especially in the early days don’t deliberately count calories. As Dr. Eric Westman says, “Yes, calories are important, but you shouldn’t count them, if you want to lose weight.”

The key is to replace all those carbohydrate calories you’re no longer eating with fat calories. In fact, don’t worry about the calories, just eat enough fat to be satisfied and to go from one meal to the next without hunger. Your body will soon begin to signal you when you’ve given it enough energy in your food, while still being able to metabolize your body fat.

If your body thinks you’re in a famine, because you’re cutting calories, it will respond by lowering your basal metabolic rate and will hang onto your body fat. Give it enough energy, on the other hand, and even your fat cells will start to burn fat.

(Steve ricci ) #7

53 here, 4 months and 35 lb. I feel great, keep it up and trust it.

(Rob) #8

Leslie,

Interestingly enough one thing I have found is that in terms of appetite suppression I’m better off not following the traditional advice (traditional in the mainstream weight loss sense) of several small meals. I do better with a few larger (large being very relative at this point) meals. I enjoy finding new recipes for things I like eating … but eating has been relegated to meeting a basic need … period … and I’m ok with that (hopefully that made sense).

One thing has become very apparent to me by reading through the posts in the various areas of this forum … and that is outside of some fundamental guidelines eveyone has to become in tune with their own body and how it responds to diet, exercise, etc. For a few weeks I have counted macros carefully, gotten to the gym and done my workouts, ensured I had a genuine carb and calorie deficit, drank enough water to make going to the restroom an aerobic activity - with less than stellar results.I’ll give that routine another week and then shake it up a bit if I’m still not seeing (minimally) my ketone levels come up and either a). some movement of the scale or b.) some movement of the measuring tape or c.) some difference on my% body fat device.

I appreciate the post and apologies for the long response. Being new to the forums I wanted to reply individually to everyone who took the time to drop me a line.

(Rob) #9

Paul,
Thanks for the response! I have come to conclude that this is in some ways a very individual journey and aside from some basic guidelines (Guidelines - that word always conjures images of Pirates of the Caribbean and “The Code”) a person has to find out how his body responds to all this. Said that to say I’m keeping tabs of the various bits of advice I’ve gotten from others and literally filed it away as an option to try when plans A, B and C have been less than optimal. I sense a kindred spirit with the quote on what I’ll call your signature line. I was delighted to see bacon on the “yep you can eat that” list.

(Rob) #10

Steve,
Thanks for the encouragement. Found it interesting you said “trust it”. I’m getting to that point but initially that was my biggest struggle. I didn’t have a real hard time eliminating carbs (ok I miss fresh fruit), or any of the other changes … the changes were actually inspiring. This way of eating is so counter intuitive to me (and many of the “nay saying” non keto folks I know) that “trusting it” has been one of the harder parts.That said, I’ve put all my eggs in the keto basket and I’m going to give it every opportunity to benefit me in some way.

(Rob) #11

Hello Pete and thank you for the welcome! Sounds like you have met with some measure of success in this lifestyle change. That’s quite an imprssive result you’ve achieved and shows some stick withit-ness (not sure how that is really spelled). Have you had your cholestrerol/triglycerides (essentially a lipid profile) done since you started keto? Its an area of interest to me as my hdl has always been low … occasionally the triglycerides creep up. I’m by nature slender built (although nature has had different ideas over the last few years) and changes in my weight have brought real changes (not in a positive sense) to my blood work. I have noticed many people have seen vast improvement in their lipid profiles but that doesn’t seem to be a universal experience.

(Rob) #12

Hello Rusty,
As you may have experienced when you started … I found keto to be kind of overwhelming … to the point i put off starting. I decided to simply start out counting carbs and jumped in. I’ve since refined that approach … gotten more disciplined, and a little more educated. With so much advice out there on keto, I decided I needed to find a very small number of places at first to settle into and start learning more. After looking around, it seemed this forum was active enough and the members from what I’ve seen are “real”, personable and willing to share what they’ve learned. As to your last point, one of the othre things taht attracted me to this forum was the great information that was already posted. I’m active on a few other forums … different topics unrelated to keto … and have found it takes a little while to figure out how to effectively search that particular forum.

I have a personal policy … not saying everyone will agree with it … that I spend 30 minutes searching for an answer to a particular question. If I don’t find it or if the information was scant … I’ll post a question. The search function should be everyone’s friend :-). Obviously I don’t feel the same way about proof reading (cause of death on my death certificate will be self inflicted grammar) or spell checking.

(*Rusty* Instagram: @Rustyk61) #13

Buddy, I agree with everything you stated. If more people would search for their answers first, we’d have a lot less of the same old threads popping up. Not that a lot of us don’t mind answering them, it’s just when you see the same questions over and over those questions tend to get overlooked.

I’m glad you have chosen a lifetime of health, you are on your way to a better life. Enjoy my friend and glad to have you around. I look forward to learning something from you in the future! :nerd_face::policeman:t2:‍♂

(Diane) #14

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

(Steve ricci ) #15

It gets easier. I say those words cause they were said to me 15 yrs ago after a cycling accident and i gained 50lb. My brother said only eat what had a face on it at one time. And he said " trust the science". I lousy 43 lb in 4 months and got back into competition.
Thanks foot the kind words

(Got Fat? Eat Fat) #16

Just Registered… hello… this is Athar… 30 years old… not new to ketosis thought… did it for a year back in 2012… and back at it… been 2 weeks now… but this time im here to stay… just have a quick question… dunno if this is the appropriate place to ask but i’ll ask anyway :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: so im 186 cm and weigh 116 kg… LBM would be around 75kg… what i wanted to ask was how much protein can i intake without being kicked out of ketosis… because today after two days of intense workout (compound exersises) im not recovering like i used to… strangely i was fine with a low amount of protein about 77 grams but then i hit a pleateau so i used exogenous ketones and powered throught to the next weight… all well and good and i increased the protein for repair… now i know its been a long read but bear with me a bit longer… i just wanna know even with the high protein why am i not recovering like i used to before i hit the pleateau…
PS. I started intermittent fasting 16/8 as well and been on it for two days… possible link? Thank you all…

(Rob) #17

Protein shouldn’t kick you out of ketosis at almost any reasonable level. See all the threads about protein and Dr Bikman. 1g/kg LBM is good for most people but if you are lifting etc. try 1.5 or even 2.

(Got Fat? Eat Fat) #18

Thank you for your quick reply… what i also forgot to mention is ofcourse im in a calorie deficit… so if i increase protein should i be decreasing fat? Because those measly 12-13 grams of carbs tag along no matter what i eat… i mean i dont mind… but a true zero carb diet would get boring all too quickly… sorry for these long texts but i want to express as much as i can for a consolidated response… so yea or do i just increase the calorie count… also what should the deficit be when power lifting and strength training… i see mix views all over the place… let me know… thank you…

(Rob) #19

I like it :slight_smile:

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #20

One of the points of eating keto is that it’s not necessary to count calories, because eating fat to satiety makes the process of setting a calorie level automatic. It’s very hard to estimate calories in and calories out and keep them within the 20-or-so calorie limit that the Calories In Calories Out hypothesis demands. The endocrine hypothesis, by contrast, suggests that the body can do a better job of regulating itself than we can, as long as we encourage the process by eating food that doesn’t stimulate insulin production. Not only that, but the body responds to a caloric deficit by lowering the basal metabolic rate and shutting down non-essential processes (such as hair growth) and hanging onto its store of fat. When assured of enough energy, on the other hand, the body will ramp up metabolism, metabolize stored fat, and sometimes will even burn extra calories (this is why you will see posts by people on keto who feel hot all the time). Good luck on your journey. Keep calm, and keto on!