Glad I found this forum

(Darrin) #1

Hi, I’m 54 and started on Keto about a month ago on a whim. My diet has always been fairly good, I eat a lot of fish, kale, spinach, cheese, nuts, etc., so removing bread and other carb items wasn’t real difficult. From what I read, I went into ketosis very quickly and have remained that way for about 4 weeks. I measure and monitor all my food and have not gone over 20-25 carbs in that period and haven’t had any side effects. I was about 186 when I started and about 174 now, which is ideal for my height at 5 11’’. I exercise often with swimming and biking and lifting weights again after several years away from that activity.

I’m very new at this, but wondering if it’s the ketosis that makes you lose weight or is it the fact that it just takes less food to satiate my appetite? I have no craving for large meals anymore, wine, or other stuff. Maybe it’s a little of both? My caloric intake has dropped considerably without lack of energy.

Also, I’m experiencing a very dramatic side effect, which is the lack of anxiety and I’m curious as to whether there is any scientific evidence that correlates keto and anxiety.

(Trish) #2

Hi Darrin and welcome to the forum.
I think the weight loss comes from both. That is, by being in ketosis your body is using its fat stores to ‘feed’ itself thereby reducing your fat and causing weight loss. The decreased calories help because this makes the body dip into its own stores rather than simply pulling from your digestive tract. That’s probably over simplified, but it’s basically it. You can check out Dr. Fung and his two-compartment explanation here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIuj-oMN-Fk
As for the reduced anxiety, I feel that keto is really good for that sort of thing. I feel the brain functions better on ketones than glycogen. Keto is being shown to help with Alzheimer’s and dementia patients, so really any other mental health aspect isn’t a stretch at all. Here’s something that might interest you re keto and mental health. https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/mental-health

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #3

The key to weight loss is lowering your insulin level, since insulin is the primary hormone promoting fat storage. So a ketogenic diet, by reducing the amount of serum glucose, thereby also reduces serum insulin, restoring the adipose tissue’s ability to release fatty acids to be metabolised. The lowered insulin also stops blocking the leptin secreted by the adipose tissue from being received by the brain. Once leptin starts registering in the hypothalamus again, our satiety signaling is restored, greatly reducing appetite.

The other requirement is to provide the body enough energy for it to feel safe releasing excess fat to be used as fuel. We have discovered that a diet insufficient in calories causes the body to retain fat as a reserve against need; instead it compensates by lowering energy expenditure.

According to the hormonal hypothesis of weight regulation, it is the shift in hormonal balance that causes less food to be eaten, rather than eating less food causing the body to shed weight. Yes, caloric restriction can cause weight loss, at least temporarily, but that loss is just as likely to be from muscle mass and bone density as from fat stores.

The ketogenic diet readjusts the hormonal balance to promote loss of fat, and possibly the growth of new muscle and an increase in bone density, if needed, and the increase in lean mass can occur simultaneously with loss of fat. So in essence, keto is primarily a weight-normalization diet, not a weight-loss diet per se. If there is excess stored fat, a ketogenic diet helps shed that fat, but it can also build up the body when needed. It’s just that with so many obese people in society today, fat loss is our primary focus.

I’m not sure that answers your question, exactly. Perhaps the TL/DR is “it’s complicated”! :grin:

(Susan) #4

Hello Darrin, welcome to the forum =).

I have seen a lot of people report that Keto lowers their anxiety. Maybe check the sections on our Health part of the forum for articles backing it up, or our Show me the Science section. I haven’t done any exercise since I started Keto in February myself, and am down 43 pounds, all from what I have been eating, and not eating (as I fast a lot as well). I do a 20:4 IF window for eating, and then a few fasts weekly. They help for things like Autophagy:

(K-9 Handler/Trainer, PSD/EP Specialist, Veteran) #5

Welcome to the forum! I’m new here as well.
In addition to way way less anxious moments in my life, my magnesium intake also puts me into a very chill mood most of the time; even during times that in the past I would have been spazzing over. It’s a great thing nowadays. I attribute it to this lifestyle.

(Bob M) #6

What Paul said drives CICO-phants crazy (people who believe in “calories in = calories out”). You tell them you simply changed from eating high carb to eating low carb (keeping exercise the same or decreasing it, as I did), and you lost weight. They’ll say, “you reduced your calories”. While this is likely true, you’ll ask them, “But WHY did I reduce my calories?” This is where there is a hiccup. If hormones cause you to lose weight, then weight gain/loss is not all about calories, is it? Particularly, this must mean that different foods affect people differently, thus the “calories” in those foods aren’t what controls weight gain or loss. Mind blown!

(Darrin) #7

Thank you for all that information, I really am a newbie and need to read more about the science of ketosis.

#8

Hi Darrin and welcome!

I bumped your trust level status so you can get access to sections of the forum you can’t see when you first sign up.

There’s a section in the Health forum about mental health and a variety of conditions that can benefit from the presence of ketones in the blood, and therefore available to fuel the brain as an alternative to glucose metabolism. Also, check out the Science forum, or just use the search feature to find specific topics.

P.S.
What keto helps, aside from potential mental benefits, is allow your body to use the energy it gets from food rather than store it away and inhibit access to it.

(Darrin) #9

Thanks Carol, I appreciate the advice.