Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

[Rich]

Humans are only able to draw down about 31 Calories per day per pound of body fat

I was explaining this to my wife, and she asked me to repeat it (I could see the gears turning). I replied, “Your body can only consume itself so fast, so you still need to eat fat.” She busted out laughing.

[Christopher]

Hi there. I’m new here and reading through the FAQ. I think I may have found an edit. Under the question “Do I need to take nutritional supplements?” is a new paragraph:

What is Fat Adaption, and how is it different from Nutritional Ketosis? …

Should this be one of the FAQs?

[richard]

Oh thanks - I’ll fix that up

[Val_Bundy]

Humans are only able to draw down about 31 Calories per day per pound of body fat

ok so does this mean for example if I am 250lbs then my body will burn 7750 calories?

[Peter]

1. if your body is 250lb of pure fat

2. if you are expending 7750 calories of activity

Yes.

[richard]

if @Val_Bundy is 250lbs and let’s say 40% body fat then we are talking about 100lbs of body fat. I chose 40% to make the numbers come out easy to calculate … but really it could be any amount.

does this mean for example if I am 250lbs then my body will burn 7750 calories?

Let’s say for the sake of easy calculations you have 100lbs of body fat. So the maximum amount of energy that can be drawn from 100 lbs of body fat is 3150 kCal/day. You would have to need to use that amount of energy for all of that to be withdrawn from body fat.

Let’s say your normal metabolic rate is 2000 kCal a day (again choosing easy numbers to calculate). And that you fasted (so no energy coming in) and got onto a treadmill and did 1500 kCal of running maybe 3 hours worth - ugh. Now you have gone 500 kCal over your available energy and now you will do two things … your metabolic rate for the rest of the day will drop a little, and you will burn a little protein to make up the difference.

This is all assuming no hormonal interference. Insulin will further limit your access to energy. The more insulin you have in circulation the less of your maximum amount of energy you can get from body fat.

You pretty much have to have fasted insulin below 4 mIU/l to have your body fat release energy at it’s maximum rate.

[Val_Bundy]

Oh! thanks…that makes sense!

[Pnj1204]

Been keto for just a few days and as with everything else in my life, I go full speed. Been less than 12g carbs each day. I’m feeling wonderful, focused, and energetic. Haven’t felt hungry in two days. My only concern has been my mouth/tongue. Somewhat painful and tingly. Is that the “metal taste” I read about?

[VLC.MD]

Been keto for just a few days and as with everything else in my life, I go full speed. Been less than 12g carbs each day. I’m feeling wonderful, focused, and energetic. Haven’t felt hungry in two days. My only concern has been my mouth/tongue. Somewhat painful and tingly. Is that the “metal taste” I read about?

Try this thread

Keto tongue?

I used it on fried eggs this morning and couldn’t tell the difference. However I taste-tested it on my tongue first and it is quite a bit saltier than Himalayan pink salt or regular salt so I used very little on my eggs. You definitely do not need to use much when cooking with it.

[luvketo]

According to Thomas Dayspring and Peter Attia, neither LDL-C nor particle size matters but rather only total particle number. Could it be that these patients with supposedly normal or lower LDL-C actually had a discordant high particle number?

[luvketo]

details=How can I test to see if my insulin increases in response to ingesting x?]This is something you can do to test to see if you brain is going to play tricks on you and secrete some insulin when you eat an artificial sweetener. It doesn’t happen to everyone one and the only way to find out is to test.
What you can do is do a glucose curve and see if you are still at baseline at T30 (the sweetener doesn’t produce glucose in your blood), and then your glucose goes below your baseline at T60 then you probably secreted some insulin in response to the sweetener and you will probably have to restrict use of that sweetener.[/details]

So, I drank decaf coffee with 60ml heavy cream and 2 squirts of liquid splenda. Baseline blood glucose:72 30min:73 60min:65. Is this significant or am I ok with sucralose.

[luvketo]

Sorry, one more time point 90min: 60
I had just finished a 5 mile walk when I started this test so am not sure how valid this is

[Shallimar]

I think you may have to test again without the walk as that is a variable that you can’t really know if it had any bearing. If you have the same result of the lowering BG when rhe walk is not a factor then it would seem that you have indeed responded to the sweetener by having an insulin surge which then lowered your BG.

[Shallimar]

Oh, also could have been the cream though. I had the same thing happen after eating bacon and eggs. BG took a big downward turn at T30 and T60. I guess since I didn’t put any glucose in but the protein made my pancreas put out insulin. Best way to test would be to put some sweetener into a small amount of water and drink that only. Then there are no variables.

[LVeigh]

Hi. I am brand new, and brand new at using forums so I don’t even know how to start my own entry. Not sure if this is the correct category. I’m a food addict and T2D and see this diet as my only hope after almost 40 years of carb bingeing/addiction. I consider myself at the 8 day point, following the calculated macros (from “Conquer Type 2 Diabetes with a Ketogenic Diet” by Davis and Runyan), planning meals so that I spread the macros across three meals. I have spent a fortune on macadamia nuts and grass fed everything and coconut oil and my tiny freezer is stuffed the gills. In the FAQs I read that three days on the KD and you are deeply into Ketosis. I’m sorry, but WTF? My keto strips show trace or low at best. I’m weak and fatigued–can just barely walk the dog-- and I’ve been weepy all week (no female stuff, I’m 67). My blood sugars have improved but seem to have crept up a little the last couple of days without observable cause, my sleep is crappy, I’m apparently not in ketosis, I’m not mentally alert or physically energized. My lean goal is 68k; I’m doing 68g protein, <20g carbs and 115g of fat and I log this. I drink 8 oz of water every hour and salt the heck out of things. WHAT IS WRONG?

[shezfunn]

Hi LVeigh, I wanted to give you an e-hug, I am also T2D, and 57 years old. I started my low carb journey in late February 2018. I havent lost but 12 to 17 pounds, a little less and a little more at times. Hang in there. The sluggishness and crappy sleep do get better. I am actually sleeping better lately (even though I still use my CPAP machine) than I have in years. I try to stop eating in the early evening and start back eating about noon the next day or later if i can manage it. When I started doing that it seems like I started to see progress. I hope you feel better soon.

[LVeigh]

Cheryl, may I ask if you’re on insulin? I take two injections a day and can’t eat until 30 min after each one. The kicker is that they need to be 10 hours apart, so as much as I’d like to eat following your schedule, it doesn’t seem as if I can do so.

[shezfunn]

I dont require insulin, I take metformin twice daily, and Victoza once daily subq, your injection schedule will make it impossible right now for you to change your eating timing. My A1C in August 2017 was 10.8, in January 2018 was 7.5, then just recently in May 2018 was 5.9. My doctor didnt want to take me off on the 2 meds that I am currently on until I have another A1C done in a couple of months. I know so well how difficult it is to change your life style. I work so I pack a lunch/coffee/and sometimes supper 7 days in a row, then i have 7 off days in a row, there is ALWAYS high carb food in the break room (emergency department of a hospital) so my carb addiction is always tested. I found that after i started resting better, drinking my water and getting accustomed to the fatty foods we are allowed I started to feel better, I hope that you can too.

[Screenack]

FYI, I spent a little time cleaning up the markdown of the FAQ. The markdown for formatting the details of the FAQ is persnickety about line breaks and extra characters. in short use the “details=” and the close details tags on their own line. Otherwise, the FAQ is unreadable with the mishmash of markup and narrative text.

[salehman]

does anyone know how to modify your stats, a1c etc, to record the changes