Beginner at Keto

(Injanhoi1) #1

Hi! Just started Keto. I am doing this out of curiosity. My understanding of Keto is it is 75 percent fat 25 percent protein and 5 percent carbohydrates. Is 80 percent fat 20 percent protein 10 percent carb ok? I read somewhere on the internet say they are on the paleo-ketogenic diet. What is that? I thought a true paleo diet follower has no dairy whatsoever. I love dairy and feel keto will be right for me. I’ve had a history of health problems due to carbs. The results so far from being on a Keto diet since March 18 2018 are listed below.
Are they usual occurrences?

  1. Lost 2 kg.
  2. Eat only once a day.
  3. Seem to have more energy.
  4. I had an inflamed knee before keto. This has disappeared. My leg feels great! No soreness when I
    wake up in the morning.
  5. Sex drive has dropped off a bit.
    Thanks, Chris
(Rob) #2

All of your numbers are out (105/110%) but 75/20/5 or 80/15/5 can both work depending on how much protein you need. So can 65/30/5 or 70/25/5. If you are metabolically healthy then 10% carbs, and reducing fat by 5% should work in any of those scenarios. Macros aren’t super important per se and get meaningless once you are fat adapted.
HOWEVER - Macros should NOT be your defining measurement. Focus on grams for carbs and protein and the fat makes up the rest TO SATIETY (or macros if you really must and your satiety measures are broken). Protein should be set to a gram level based on about 1g/kg of lean body mass (everything minus your body fat). Some people need less (0.6g) and some (esp. lifters) need more 1.5-2.5g. It is all n=1 for how much you need. If you ‘need’ more protein, your fat % would decrease but wouldn’t change your keto effectiveness. If you over-eat (for whatever reason), you would not want to increase your carbs to 10% of a much bigger calorie limit since your pancreas doesn’t think in %, only grams.

Paleo usually has less fat and more carbs but they are on the similar spectrum.

As for your results:

  1. Weight loss - usually just water weight to begin with as you deplete glycogen stores
  2. OMAD is very common for lean people in maintenance mode
  3. As you start to use ketones and get off the glucose roller coaster most people have more energy, and mental clarity (glucose spikes/troughs fogs the brain).
  4. Keto is anti-inflammatory diet so inflammation symptoms typically decline
  5. Libido normally goes up eventually but this can take weeks to happen while your body is still ‘fat adapting’. Similarly, exercise energy/power goes down initially and can take weeks or even months to come back but you will have much better endurance.
(Injanhoi1) #3

Thanks for the great information. I read somewhere butter which I love is 80 percent fat. If I ate just cabbage with plenty of butter and a can of sardines that would be a very good keto planned meal. Are organ meats keto? I am not sure of the fat content of them though. I am eating a bit of fruit at the moment but only a handful of strawberries each day. Would a slice of watermelon be ok from time to time? I noticed my libido is returning. No knee inflammation whatsoever. Very happy about that. Having a bowel movement every 3 or 4 days. I will probably have to add some more low carb vegetables in to make me more regular.

(Rob) #4

Pretty good

Definitely - better for micronutrients than fruit & veg

Berries are fine but track those carbs

Not disastrous but watermelon is high GI though low GL so not often

Known as non-scale victories (NSVs)

Fiber to keep you regular is a myth in keto. It is only useful as a carb burner to paper over the gut dysfunction caused by carbs. You need to let your gut biome adjust to your new WoE.

(Injanhoi1) #5

Just a question about bacon. I see in the supermarket the ratio between fat and protein can be quite different depending on which brand of bacon you choose to buy. One brand is showing 5.9 g of fat and 5.1 g of protein. The other one which I bought is showing 17 g of fat and 8.7 g of protein. I never took much notice of this until now. Is this common to see the ratios of protein to fat to vary considerably among brands?

(Rob) #6

There is a massive difference between belly/streaky bacon (US) and back bacon (Canada, UK), in fat proportion. You can get the alternative type in each country so that could account for the difference.
The other thing I’ve noticed is the amount of fat per slice depending on the particular belly used, though that shouldn’t impact the labelling since it is merely an average of samples. It could be that some brands are more honest about the uncooked fat content of their average cut? Since I cook mine to crispy and render out most of the fat so what changes is how big the rasher is when it comes out of the pan, the more original fat, the smaller the rasher that emerges. I also only record cooked NOT uncooked values.

(Jeremiah ) #7

Explaining a Keto diet…It’s a true blessing that you’ve found the forum. All our bodies are in a Unique metabolic state and its highly effected by the primary macro ratio but not limited to. When you lower your carb intake to a GENERAL 20 gms per day you force your body to seek another macro like protein and fat . The liver converts the fat into ketone bodies which pass the blood brain barrier fueling the entire body with a much more preferred fuel that balances hormones which satiates us since hunger is regulated by hormones. When we burn fat for fuel at a higher rate, stem cells are released as a byproduct from the cells and increase healing from injuries and muscle repair from intense work outs. It also increases HGH and Atp the energy byproduct of our mitochondria. It’s actually much less complex than you think but misunderstood greatly in our education system. There’s many other strategies for health optimization that take specific action I’ve studied over the years in biohacking with references from naturopathic MDs to nuerosurgeons. I’ve been on a Ketogenic diet for over a year and haven’t been more excited about Nutrition/health/fitness in my life. I plan on seeking a group of people new to Keto and a few seasoned dieters to join a Discord group that will allow live voice/video chatting in a group setting. If your interested I’ll send the Info required. It would be a great opportunity too interact with like minded people seeking to Optimize there health through Keto and other biohacking strategies.

(Anna) #8

Hi! I enjoyed reading your response to the other post. I’m doing a 5/25/70 ratio Keto plan - started 1 week ago after already losing 40 lbs on an MD directed moderate carb, low fat plan. but my MD asked me “why do you think you’re going to lose body fat ingesting all those dietary fats? Your body will burn those ingested fats, not the stored fat you’re trying so hard to lose.” Obviously he doesn’t think I can diet on my own and get the same results his plan helped me achieve. I didn’t know what to say in response. I can’t explain the 70% dietary fat in my meal plan let alone eating it to satiety. Could you possibly explain how ketosis burns body fat despite ingesting a high level of dietary fats please? All I know is I’m sooo much happier in this Keto plan, my blood ketones are 1.5-2.7, and I weigh a little less every day, sleep better and much more energy. I’m off all arthritis pain meds, GERD meds and even anxiety pills!

(Rob) #9

Congratulations on all your success. Unfortunately it isn’t surprising that a doc will not accept the truth of your experience vs. the (inadequate) training they have received or random content they have read.
He doesn’t properly understand the hormonal metabolic system in all its complexity hence his over-simplistic view of fat metabolism. You take in high levels of fat for several reasons…

  1. speed and efficiency of fat adaptation
  2. provision of sufficient energy to enable healing, etc.
  3. maintenance or raising of BMR through getting the body used to higher energy availability
  4. etc. (can’t remember others ones)

The key point is that the body is generally a better decision maker on how it processes inputs to its system than the brain could ever be. Insulin resistance (and resistance or sensitivity to other hormones) of various organs determines our reactions to inputs but this is difficult to understand, harder to measure and even harder to predict. The big trump to all of this is brute forcing things through calorie restriction which works because the body will put everything else on hold to adjust to an energy deficit until it has created a new homeostasis (usually at an unpleasantly low BMR). Docs think that because CR “works” it must be good and the best lever to pull and it is hard to get them to think otherwise since that would involve independent thinking… the very antithesis of modern medicine which is based on unthinking compliance to the “standards of care”.

From a purely definitional standpoint… lipolysis is the burning of fat, one of the products of which are ketones (and fatty acids), both of which are burned as fuels instead of glucose in many organs/parts of the body. The body fat vs. dietary fat burning question is far too murky to get a good answer. I have experienced high appetite, low appetite, weight loss, stalls and gains on exactly the same inputs suggesting that the missing X factor is the body’s metabolic evolution over time. At different times the body has been happy to use body fat, other times not, sometimes it uses body fat but replaces lipids with water in the adipose cells so the scale doesn’t show the change until way later, making it hard to tell when and why you burned the fat. It is so damn complicated and unproven, it is a fools errand to try to convince an MD who isn’t ready to be convinced. I would tell him/her to read what more enlightened MDs e.g. Fung, Unwin, Berry, etc. are saying and let him/her make their own minds up. In the meantime, do what you believe in since you probably know more than your doc.

(Anna) #10

Thanks so much! Bottom line is I feel great on this lifestyle. And the weight loss is a wonderful reward.

(Gregory - You can teach an old dog new tricks.) #13

I’ll have eggs with that spam…

(charlie3) #14

A lot of your questions might be answered by looking up foods in Cronometer, a diet tracking app that can even be set up to track keto guidelines. I’ve been pretty consistent for 2 years and believe fat adaption is still improving. Exercise helps low carb work better (it makes most things work better). I’ve found ending up with a diet I can stick to nearly all the calories coming from whole foods, meat, fish, eggs, olive oil, heavy cream, non starchy vegetables. In recent months a nemesis of mine, hunger, seems to be conquored. I can gain or lose weight with reletive ease. But it took most of 2 years to get there. Today I can’t imagine going back to the standard american diet.

#16

I do 60% 30% 10%

#17

Hello,

I am a beginner at Keto. I am combining with intermittent fasting 3 days/24 hours per week. I started in order to cure type 2 diabetes and all that goes with it. It has been 14 days of keeping track of readings and GKI. Seven of the 14 days, I have been in a high level of therapeutic GKI. Today my glucose reading was 96! I please have a question that hopefully can be answered:

Is the high therapeutic level GKI (1-3) also good for type 2 diabetes?

Thank you in advance for any responses.

love, s