Beginner Keto Tips


#1

I am a beginner and I’ve found some things seem to work for me:

  1. Be patient, don’t give up or cheat
  2. Stay hydrated and consume electrolytes
  3. Read labels for hidden carbs, only eat approved foods until you get an idea of what’s good
  4. You don’t have to exercise to lose weight but it is healthy: cardio and weights
  5. Try fasting once you’re fat adapted
  6. Give up alcohol and drink black coffee if you really want to lose weight
  7. Don’t completely pig out on butter, oils, cream, and bacon if you have a lot of weight to lose: eat plenty of green vegetables, eggs, nuts, avocado

What are your tips for beginners?


(John) #2

I would add:

  • Don’t replace unhealthy snacking with regular keto snacking. Try to confine your food intake to 2 or 3 full meals.

Occasional keto-safe snacks are OK in the beginning if that’s what gets you past a craving or hunger pang, and to keep on hand for emergencies (like- you get stuck at work late) but once you are more adapted you should try to get to where you don’t eat between meals.


#3

That’s a good tip. That reminds me to eat until satiety but not stuffed or still hungry.


#4

I’m a couple of weeks in and love Keto. I easily have just one meal a day and enjoy it more than the old standard way of eating. I would have to take the nuts off my list as I can’t eat just a handful. And I have to watch butter; I can just eat it by the spoonfuls if I let myself! Yum. Love my well marbled Prime ribeyes, also bacon and eggs. Not a big vege eater so I don’t eat much of those. I don’t count calories or macros. I just follow DietDoctors 7 basic rules and it seems to be working. (Dietdoctor.com)


(Running from stupidity) #5

“Tracking is educating yourself - do this to learn about your food and how you react to it.”


#6

If you’re starving in the beginning - it’s okay to eat more food!

Listen to keto podcasts. They really helped inspire me and keep me on track those first several weeks, and I learned so much about the science behind keto.


(Ketoviking) #7

Backing this up. Tracking has taught me how to “eyeball” certain foods and how much consumption I have had that day. It takes time but helps when you’re out there. To back up what some ppl have said, you don’t have to eat the whole meal if half way through you’re not hungry. This was the hardest thing to learn for me, coming from a 6 small meals a day approach to eating. Now if I have 1 full meal and maybe just a hardboiled egg I’m good.


(Scott) #8

This is the part of keto I doubt I will ever master.


(Jay Patten) #9

Emphasis on the when you are fat adapted because too many people try to skip fat adaption and go right to fasting. Then they quit because they are starving and heck, there’s a McDonalds right down the street.


(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #10

Alcohol, like coffee only worse, gets a bad rap. Some think alcohol converts to glucose. It does not. What it does is provide the simplest, easiest ‘fuel’ for the metabolism to use and the metabolism will use it as long as it has access to it. Then carry on with whatever else is available, glucose or ketones.

Alcohol does not kick you out of ketosis, it just interrupts ketone/fat burning while the metabolism burns the available alcohol instead. There is evidence that metabolism of alcohol also increases insulin slightly, but likely too little to do much of anything unless you’re dealing with insulin issues. In which case, yes, alcohol is probably best avoided. A lot of stuff gets added to alcoholic beverages that do interrupt ketosis, various sugar syrups and carb flavourings, etc. Beer is indeed a ‘barley sandwich’, but many beers contain far fewer carbs than others. Wines contain a range of unfermented sugars. Hard liquor contains zero carbs unless you add them. So there is no need to “Give up alcohol.”


(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #11

There is good evidence that caffeine probably enhances fat-burning. But I don’t think there is any need to drink black coffee unless you like it that way. Adding fat in the form of whipping cream, coconut oil and/or MCT (ie the ‘fat bomb’), and protein in the form of whey or collagen (ie true ‘keto coffee’) enhances fat-burning even more.


(Alec) #12

Not everyone quits, but it is undoubtedly MUCH harder when you are not fat adapted.

I came to keto after 8 months of 2 days a week fasting. The first 4 weeks of fasting were hard, and knowing what I now know, not a good idea. I am sure that I did lower my metabolism by doing this while not fat adapted. Not forever, but for a time my body was learning to live with lower availability of calories.

The hardest part was the evenings, and also I got very cold at night. My body was just shutting down unnecessary calorie usage. Now being fully fat adapted, I don’t get cold because there are PLENTY of calories available while fasting.


(Scott) #13

I was so many months in I assume I was fat adapted however when I did my first 40 hour fast for a colonoscopy I felt very cold. It was a food fast because I still had my scotch. It was a clear enough liquid for for me.


(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #14

Check out this:

Assuming the device works at all (some apparently do not!), it works well enough to confirm whether or not you are actually burning fat. Ketones measured in your blood are not necessarily being utilized. I think that other than simply confirming that ketones are present, blood ketone level doesn’t really tell you much. Yes, I know that’s a controversial statement.