Failing at this big time... 2+ months

#22

You could try to have protein 3 times a day for two weeks, as well as liberate amounts of butter and other fats. Eating more protein more often can help turn up metabolism. It might also cause you to gain some weight before you start losing.

The amount of cream you use is not very high. Some people suggest cutting the cream. I on the other hand, would suggest trying 1/4 cup of cream or lots of butter in your coffee. My coffee is generally a whole meal, without the protein. It seems to work as well, as Iā€™m losing on copious amounts of cream in my coffee.

But I donā€™t consciously limit my food intake, all I do is avoid carby foods, and eat what amount of fat that still tastes good. Itā€™s more than 2 tbsp butter for a steak.

(Katie) #23

This was my thought as well. Also, are you doing electrolytes?

#24

Problem for me is that I have been eating one meal a day for years. Just dinner. No snacks, etc. So as I write this, which is lunch time for most, I am simply not hungry. In fact, I am not even hungry before eating dinner.

#25

Thanks for the response!

No stranger to Excel, how do I contact you?

#26

Steak cut is NY or Ribeye, roughly 10-12 oz.

Workout is now 3-4 days (was 6 pre-surgery for years). Workout includes 6 miles as well as lifting.

I have avoided Mayo to avoid carbs, my gross carbs (not net) is well below 20.

I have tried chop meat on bed of uncooked spinach, with the chop meat mix with eggs along with avocado. Ate that for 2 weeks without any success.

When I started, I was using half n half in my coffee with a packet of stevia, coming here said not to that. So after a week of that switched over to heavy cream per the advice here and lost the stevia.

First few days I was drinking diet soda, again dropped that over the advice from this board.

So for over 2 months averaging 14-18 gross carbs every day. Water, coffee, multivitamins, etc. Focus has been completely on low carbs, high fat as I can guess at.

#27

@Apex estimated your total calories at 1100-1300. Thatā€™s not high fat. We might be wrong, but until you start tracking and stop guessing, none of us will know.

This can also be an issue. You teach your body how to manage your metabolism. Youā€™ve told it for years that its only getting 1200 calories a day and only one meal, so itā€™s learned to manage on this. As I said above, youā€™re going to need to re-train it.

#28

Iā€™m pretty sure Iā€™ve graduated to a level here that you can private message me. How exactly? Not sure just yet! If you canā€™t figure it out, please shout out here and weā€™ll get it to work somehow!

#29

Hi @Zuleika! Thanks for that calculator link. Thatā€™s the one I had used, too.

And thanks for the tips regarding Carb Manager and Joy, both of which I just downloaded to try out. While I agree with you that thereā€™s some work up front creating a spreadsheet (yes, having to look up values), once thatā€™s done, itā€™s vastly easier than what I see on either Carb Manager or Joy (and same with MFP) ā€“ way too much typing into little boxes, something I really donā€™t like to do on my phone! With my spreadsheet I also just look up a food item and enter the amount I ate (or am planning on eating), but Iā€™ve added in a few things which are super-advantageous from my POV. Of primary importance is being freed from the idea of ā€˜servingsā€™ which is a very American approach (Iā€™m American, so please donā€™t take that as critical!). Even with being able to create oneā€™s own recipes, thereā€™s that ā€˜identify a serving sizeā€™ requirement. Why? Does one always EAT the same amount?! And also, I want to be able to edit and personalize my list of foods so that my pull-downā€™s are a manageable size. For me, a massive database of foods is a hindrance, not a benefit!

So, I guess Iā€™m just fussy AF and/or, for starters, I prefer the European approach of having all nutrient information given in a single amount and value: 100 grams. All I need to do is break the eggs Iā€™m about to eat into the bowl and weigh them, then jot down that number and let Excel calculate the macros. Whether itā€™s 127 g. one day or 54 g., Iā€™m not limited to volume or ā€˜servingsā€™ units. Ditto with something like bacon which we slice by hand off a very large hunk. I aim for something like 50 g. often, but that can vary up or down by 10-15 g. depending on how my slicing hand is performing on the day!

Basically I guess it just comes down to customization: I want to get what I want, and not what somebody else has determined I want. I like a tool that serves me, is tailored to my needs, and can grow with me as I wish!

And regarding my comment about weighing and dishes, I was referring to the general procedure of weighing versus volume, including things like baking. For sure fewer dishes when you can just add in ingredients to one bowl rather than using all your measuring cups and spoons as well! But for Keto, I think the same applies. For a bacon, egg, cream cheese, butter, mushroom, peppers, onion and hot sauce breakfast, for example ā€“ I have yet to get sick of it! ā€“ I need a single bowl and a small plate to get everything weighed and, thereafter, served. Would you need more?

Anyhow, hope I donā€™t come across as contrary ā€“ love these discussions and just so happy to be ā€˜talkingā€™ to people who donā€™t think keto is insane!

#30

Hi @amwassil !

Iā€™m fascinated by the comment ā€œas much as I dislike the metric system generallyā€. Out of curiosity, why?

Pity youā€™re not a cook, but of course thatā€™s from my pretty Foodie POV. Do you dislike the process? Or do you just not thrill over the results?

Sorry ā€¦ so many questions!

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #31

For distance: a centimeter is too short, a meter too long and a kilometer way too short; whereas an inch, foot, yard and mile are just about right. For temperature: a degree centigrade is too much; whereas a degree Fahrenheit is much more precise, but I agree that ā€˜0ā€™ as the freezing point of water makes more sense than ā€˜32ā€™. For weight: a kilogram is too much and a gram too little; ounces and pounds are just about right, but I agree that grams are far easier to calculate. For volume: a milliliter is too small, but a liter is not bad; but for larger quantities gallons makes more sense than multiplying liters, although I agree that having both an ā€˜imperial gallonā€™ and ā€˜US gallonā€™ is ridiculous.

To the good, though, calculating base 10 makes sense. Itā€™s just that the arbitrary size of the metric units have no reference to anything. Even the so-called standard meter as a unit based on a fraction of the circumference of the earth turns out to be wrong, so also yet another arbitrary unit.

I donā€™t dislike the process nor generally my results, and I do have favourites and nonfavourites. For example, I like my keto coffee and look forward every morning to drink it. Iā€™m a functional type person and food is fuel. I seldom actually cook anything and mostly eat single bowl mixes. I donā€™t obsess over food nor need it for anything other than fuel. Eating is just a pit stop: I want to get in, get refueled and get on the road again.

(Jane- Old Inky Crone) #32

:small_red_triangle: THIS, So much! Me too!

(traci simpson) #33

Me three!!!

#34

Haha, I will assume youā€™re being facetious! But then again, weā€™re all a bit like Goldilocks when it comes to whatā€™s ā€œjust rightā€ arenā€™t we?! Iā€™m glad you concede that zeroā€™s the more logical freezing point J.

As for the food/fuel and eating/pit stop thingy, you and I are on different highways here. Although itā€™s not really true, it wouldnā€™t be a stretch to say I live for food because few things make me consistently happier! But, different strokes and if it works for you, carry on!

#35

I havenā€™t used Carb Manager, but Iā€™ve used Joy for a long time. Youā€™re not restricted to ā€œserving sizesā€ or US volume measurements at all. You have a choice usually of several measurement options for every item. For example, for some sausages I buy, there are grams, ounces, or links. You can put in partialsā€“like 1.5 servings or whatever. You can add your own recipes or foods, again with both weight and servings. The foods youā€™ve eaten most recently come up as soon as you click on the button to add something and the list narrows just by typing in a couple of letters. So, after youā€™ve used it for a while and gotten most of your routine foods in, it gets much easier to use. It also has a scanning feature, so if you have packaged foods (condiments, etc.) you can just scan the bar code. Itā€™s not perfect, but itā€™s a very good option.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #36

Same for me. I think I am probably very unorthodox in how I prepare food and eat, certainly not typical. When I got into keto again I investigated several online planning/tracking tools but could find nothing that came close to the flexibility I require combining ingredients into meals and performing the ratios and calculations I want to see. The few that came closest required lots of fiddling to do so. Being well versed in spreadsheets I knew I could get exactly what I wanted with one, so I did. Another benefit of using spreadsheets is that I can see exactly how everything gets calculated. There are no ā€˜black boxā€™ generated totals to wonder about.

#37

Have they fixed the taste of that stuff? I used to use it when it first came out, then they changed the formulation and it tasted disgusting.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #38

As far as I know, proprietary ā€˜Brain Octaneā€™ is just MCT oil.

#39

Hi @ZuleikaD ā€“ my quick look at ā€˜Joyā€™ was sloppy, then, and clearly the several foods I looked at just didnā€™t want to cooperate. Since, like you, I found the un-fussy interface quite nice, Iā€™ll take back my initial judgement ā€“ looks like a good app! Itā€™s probably still not for me since Iā€™ve cooked up something of my own that works for me (and set up my own database of foods which took a few hours, so Iā€™d rather not start over J). Anyhow, very good that it exists and I hope plenty of people take advantage of it!

#40

Wow, @amwassil, those words could have been written by me ā€“ you and I feel almost identically about doing our own thing! With me, though, I wouldnā€™t have said I was exactly ā€˜well-versedā€™ in Excel, but youā€™d be amazed what a couple of weeks of hard graft does J. And absolutely I want to be able to ā€˜look under the hoodā€™ and know how itā€™s all working. Are we just badly lacking the ability to trust?! Cheers!

#41

No idea what it tasted like before, but I just take a tablespoon in the am, then follow it with flax seed. Then water, then a cup of coffee.