Greetings and a few questions

newbies
(John Harford) #1

Hello everyone,

I’m glad to join the forums! This site and the podcast has been incredibly valuable resource as I work my way through the first two weeks of keto. I’m happy to see a vibrant and independent commercial industry serving the keto community, but I find it difficult on many other keto sites navigating all the advertisements and plugs for products. This place seems down to earth.

In any event, just a little back ground about myself then to my few questions. I started Keto because if it’s stated health benefits, and not really for it’s weight loss. I did loose 10 lbs in 2 weeks, but I’m not sure how much more I will loose. I’m 43, 175lbs, and 6’0. Again, the weight loss is nice, but what I’ve really enjoyed is the energy, focus, and lack of pain in both my knee and shoulder (I had minor injuries with them a few years ago). This leads to my first question:

  1. If I’m not in it for the weight loss, is it ok to be in Keto? Is it too extreme for the person who is not looking to loose a lot of weight, or correct a major illness like diabetes? How long should I stay on Keto? Is there a recommended time limit?

  2. I hear a lot about fasting both in Keto and out. People get good results seemingly limiting their eating to 6 hours a day. Can you do this, and achieve ketosis while eating carbs?

  3. Is it bad to take carb breaks? Such as at an event, wedding, or similar? Do you need to start all over again? During the first week, I did suffer some headaches but made sure to get my salt, magnesium and potassium.

Thanks for the time and the wonderful podcast!

John from right down the shoreline in Guilford, CT.

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #2

1- it’s fine to do it for health. Expect some recomposition. Might be good to take a few measurements periodically and see what’s happening that way. You stay on keto or some form of LCHF forever.

2- fasting is probably the fastest way back to ketosis after carbing out.

3- If you have fixed your health and achieved your goals in doing the diet, you may find that you can get all the benefits with a higher carb count. You may not find that. Mileage varies. Some folks do a planned carb blow as part of their program. N=1 experiments. You kind of do need to start all over if you want to stay in ketosis, though there are methods to minimize the damage from a carb blow. I do it and just suck it up through induction. What is bad: going three days off plan. Enough to mess up your habits and reduce motivation to get back on. I’m still doing this for a reason, I’m still restarting for a reason. The reason is an occasional day off becomes an occasional week off, becomes a month off, becomes reversion to old habits.

(John Harford) #3

Thanks LeCheffre,

I’ll be getting my blood work done in 2 months time and looking forward to the numbers. My doc will be happy to see I’ve lost weight but not sure if he’ll be into keto. Will share when I find out.

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #4

My finding is that a great doctor will be open to keto. A good doctor will not necessarily love it, but will like your test results enough to consider you an N=1. A bad doctor will push SAD.