Hello everyone, some info about me and my "progress", +help appreciated

keto
food
(Matej) #1

Hi, my name is Matej, nickname Sttyx(long story to explain) and I am 27 years old from Slovakia.
As I am writing this post, I noticed it will be a wall of text so warning before for everyone.

I started Keto lifestyle(I do not want it as diet only) on 3.6.2019, and before I spent about 5 days of researching and making notes. My height is 185cm and I weight 151kg(at the start of keto). I am currently at home from work, due to disk hernia, so I had no excuse and had to do something with my weight.
Currently according to calculators etc I burn 4k-5k calories/day for my weight. I cook my own food, no dietary supplements - only 100mg of Potassium(one/day, I do not know If I can increase it) and for the past 9 days my meals were under 1800 kCal(mostly around 1300kcal). I am unable to keep 4.6g of potassium every day, I can manage up to 2.5g. Any tips ? :slight_smile:

Morning of second day since I started I had ketones in urine. At this day I stared IF 18-6. After another 2 days(on 4th or 5th day) I turned to OMAD because I could skip breakfast easily and after having a meal I was full until noon of the next day. So far I had lost 6.5kg. I estimate at least 3kg of water, because the first 3kg I lost in 2 days. I try to drink at least 1.5l of water per day, but I am not really thirsty most of the time. As of 12.06 morning I have 144.6kg. For the last days it seems to be coming 0.3-0.6kg off every day.

I have a problem with watery stool since day 2. I do not have the “runs” or proper diarrhea. I go to toilet for n.2 once a day and always its watery. Water with flakes of solid stool.
I red that I should increase fiber and decrease saturated fats. I currently eat about 20-35g net carbs, 50-80g of protein and 80-120g of fat.
I also for the past 5 days been doing shakes. My shake usually is 100g strawberry(from our garden), 70-90g cauliflower(washed,raw), 1 avocado(cleaned about 120g), few drops of stevia, one teaspoon of Xylitol, some bio peanut in butter like sauce(almost like peanut butter, but it has whole peanuts, in creamy sauce, that sticks together) 20-30g (I hate peanut taste and I am allergic but no reaction to this product, also only 4g of sugar per 100g) along my main meal for the day. Only reason why the shakes is that in one meal I am unable to get the 300g of veggies and enough fats/protein for the day.
I also do bulletproof coffee about 30minutes after eating(coconut milk with no sugar/sweeteners as substitute for normal milk, few drops of stevia). I also do coffee in the morning but mostly its just black without anything else. Protein comes from eggs, ham, pork/chicken meat. I am counting carbs,protein and fat before eating, so measuring everything.

I feel great, I have energy right after waking up, through whole day until I go to sleep. I do not feel any big mental clarity or any change to how my brain functions. I did noticed I am less moody and quite happy. I was not genuinely happy + feeling great for at least 5 years.

So, now that I write this I understand it will be a wall of text. Better to put up a warning.
Anyway, do you guys have any tips for the watery stool, or anything that you saw in the text ? I would be grateful for every response(please do not use acronyms, I probably do not know them) :slight_smile:
Thank you all who managed to read all of this, and please excuse my grammar mistakes.

#2

Hi ya, @Sttyx! Welcome to the forum, and thanks for the introduction.

Personally, I decreased my potassium and increased my daily salt intake. I would do a search for salt information on the forum, but long story short, we generally don’t take enough of it. I finally figured out to take about a teaspoon of Himalayan sea salt in some water, drink it down real fast. I do that twice a day.

https://www.ketogenicforums.com/search?q=salt

So, lots of people around here still question their bowel health. It can be a really moving experience. :slight_smile: (What? Did you really think I wouldn’t go there?)

One of my favorite posts about bowel health and fiber is right here:

https://www.ketogenicforums.com/t/question-about-bowel-movements-bowel-health/68487/2

If you want to look into it more, you can do a search for fiber, and see what you find.

https://www.ketogenicforums.com/search?q=fiber

That’s awesome, Sttyx! I like to think of this as my lifestyle too. I’m not dieting, I’m LIVING!

Thanks again for the introduction, and I look forward to seeing you around the forum. :+1:

(Carl Keller) #3

Welcome Matej.

@dlc96_darren is on point when he says to focus on sodium. This is the key to balancing our electrolytes. Here’s a recent thread where we were discussing potassium:

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #4

Were you having this much raw produce before? If not, your body may be adjusting to this. If not this what have you been eating since day two that was different than before? A certain artificial sweetener, added oils like coconut or MCT oil? Keeping a food journal can be helpful and eliminating things in turn and keeping records can help determine if one particular thing is causing you problems. I read that potassium supplements are usually well tolerated but can cause stomach upset in some people. Also, congrats on your weight loss and welcome!

(Full Metal KETO AF) #5

Why not skip this and eat two smaller balanced meals. Besides doing this you’re not OMAD anyway.

Why OMAD? If you have a problem consuming enough at one sitting for the day then OMAD may not be good for you the same as me. And who told you that you need 300g of vegetables? You actually don’t need to eat any at all. In fact I bet if you stopped the shakes and vegetables for a trial period as short as a week the loose bowels will stop. Make sure you’re consuming enough salt. Also the coconut milk and oil aren’t tolerated well by a number of people. Your shake is about 10-12 carbs and that’s a lot of berries to eat everyday. Eat quite a bit more fat and protein instead. Strive for less than 20g of carbs daily.

This is less than I eat and I weigh 162 lbs. You are calorie restricting, this is too low and the amount of calories you need for your body to run efficiently cannot be met with body fat at this rate. You are slowing your metabolism doing this.

:cowboy_hat_face:

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #6

Where did you read you have to have that much veggies? That’s nearly 10 ounces! There are plenty of ways to get fats.

Are you just that active that you burn 4-5k calories a day in your current situation? How did you figure that amount.

Where did you get those numbers? For now, just focus on under 20g of net carbs and let the rest take care of itself.

(Matej) #7

Thank you all for inputs. I will write this reply in the manner that all questions from you guys/gals and any explanation will be in section. Wall of text again.

SALT :
I never salted my food too much. Only some veggies in raw form. I use sea salt in cooking of course. Or with my mixed eggs, omelette etc. Could sodium bicarbonate(used to use it when having acid reflux) be a good substitute since I hate salt taste ? I cut on salt for 10 years or more, so adding too much salt to food would be quite hard for me. I tried one teaspoon of salt in water few days ago, and I nearly vomited.

CRAMPS
I know salt, magnesium, potassium etc can affect cramps. I had cramps - muscle cramps only - in legs, jaw(while yawing), stomach muscle, back. Quite often. Legs mostly at night. Stomach/back/neck mostly after some weird movement, or just bad posture of sofa/chair. The jaw was most common, 5/10 yawing would cause muscle cramp. After starting KETO I did not experience any cramps anywhere in my body

Acid reflux/heartburn
These two in my language are the same one thing. So, there were many things that could cause acid reflux for me. Tap water(we have one of the “best” tap water, safe for drinking of course), raw or cooked paprika, bananas, various sauces…these used to give me acid reflux within few minutes after eating. I also had many nightly accidents with acid reflux. Raging from waking up to bile taste in mouth and using sodium bicarbonate to rushing to toilet for vomiting(not always fast enough). Few times I woken with acid vomit already in my mouth. My father also has problems with acid reflux, but not so severe. After starting KETO I did not had acid reflux/heartburn ONCE.

Veggies :
I am used to raw veggies. Not cauliflower but tomatoes,cucumber,radish,berries,kohlrabi, cabbage, carrot. Well some videos and mostly Dr.Berg is claiming to eat 8-10 cups of salad(salad and veggies in my language have the same meaning). For potassium and not to damage liver(fatty liver), since it has to process a lot more of fat. So that is the reason.

Shakes/OMAD
My bad, after reading my first post I wrote it poorly. I consume the shake with my one meal. I eat about 15-25 minutes, I try to eat slowly, and I drink the shake. I often finish the shake after the meal. I do not feel hungry at all, that is why OMAD. I can eat up to 500-600g of meal, and use 0.5l of the shake and I am a little bit stuffed, but not lethargic or unable to move. Yesterday I did not had a shake and no difference in overall feeling. I strive for less than 20g of carbs(net carbs for me tho). Yesterday I were at 17g of net carbs.

Calories output
Well, I read how much a simple activity use up calories. For example, for 75kg male sleep is 1.3 calories per 1 minute. For every 6kg of weight, add 10% to this. So when I started I had 151kg right ? So 151-75= 76kg /6 = 12.6 * 10 = 126%. So 1.3 is 100% + 126% = 1.3 * 226% = 2.938 calories per 1 minute of sleep. I track my sleep, sitting, walking, standing, low exercise and calculate my estimate calories output. I check with online calculators and it is within 5% margin of error. Now some pages/papers differ in the calories/1minute of activity, but mostly they do not differ too much. It is just a theoretical output, the same as my input. This is result for my body to maintain/lose weight.
I do not use THIS calculator, but one in my language, and result is similar. 1302 calories for 9hours of sleep, and the one I use claims 1526.5 kcal, because it is specified for men(women 1247.1 kcal, avarage 1386.6 kcal).

Calories input
I will write here what I ate from a day with lowest input and highest input. Because I do charts/statistics.Also I am trying to lower fat intake from 75% to 65-75% to see if the watery stool gets better.
Lowest was 1030-1110 calories. I ate that day 2 black coffees(10kcal), 3 eggs(250kcal, omelette, salted),35g of spring onion(9.67kcal),200g of cabbage(cooked on pan with the eggs, 48kcal), 100g tomato(22kcal,raw, salted),95g cucumber(14kcal,raw,salted), 50g of Edam cheese(86kcal,added to omelette), 50g of twisted cheese string(132kcal, bio, sheep cheese), 25g of salami(135kcal, added to omelette), 150g of strawberry(63.2kcal, shake),130g of avocado(318.2kcal, shake),70g cauliflower(22kcal, raw, shake). I had 52.1g of protein(25%), 27.8g of total/net carbs( I sometimes forget to minus the fiber from total carbs so I am unsure if it is total or net, 10%) and 79g of fat(64%).
Highest calories intake : 1920kcal . 2x coffee -10kcal, 290g of tomato(62kcal,raw, salted), 52g cucumber(8.4kcal,raw,salted), 64g Edam cheese(217kcal),25g salami(135kcal),44g of lettuce(3.5kcal),200g pork ground meat(490kcal, 80% protein 20% fat), 130g chicken breast(147kcal, lean), 180g string cheese(475kcal, sheep cheese,organic). I had approximately 1834-1920kcal, 138g of protein(30%), 29.86g net carbs(6.45%), 132g of fat(64.27%). After this meal, my watery stool was a little bit more solid. And I was stuffed. I did not eat it in one meal, it was in the beginning when I had 2 meals/day.

Carbs
I know I should be under 20g of total carbs. That is the goal. You cannot(you can but…maybe should not) go right for this in the first week or month ? At least that is what I think. Also some propagators of Keto advise it too. I am eating the strawberries only because we have them and I love them, after a week or two we will not have any. So that is 6g of net carbs per 100g down. 80% of carbs in my meals comes from veggies. If I let them out completely, I will be at 2-6g of total carbs. Which would speed up my weight loss, BUT I do not think its healthy for fat person with digestion/liver problems.

Fatty Liver, blood glucose, cholesterol
I do have fatty liver. I do not use medications. That is why the intake of veggies. Also the potassium should help with it. I cannot exercise for now because under ozone injection for the disk hernia. My cholesterol is 3.3(last checkup 3 months ago), with slightly lower amount of good cholesterol, and slightly higher amount of bad cholesterol. Like I have 92% out of 100% for good cholesterol and 110% of the bad one. I do not have the numbers with me(are in medical cart). My average morning blood glucose/sugar is 3.8-4.2 mmol/liter( I think I used the correct units). 5.6 is entry state for diabetes(at least according to my GP). After full blood test when the disk hernia happened, I was stated healthy(well I am not, but she mentioned, she would love to have my test results :smiley: ). The only issue is fatty liver(around 35% higher number for liver blood test), blood pressure average 135-140 to 85-95( no medication, calm, when at doctors its usually 160/100 because I am nervous around them), hearth rate is around 100-110 calm(they attribute this to weight, but I had higher bpm even when I was 14 years old with BMI 25). I have slow metabolism. Experiment once on corn and it came out after 18 hours later. I do not have headaches after starting Keto. One day I had, but it was neck pain emitting to head because of bad position while sleeping.

So that should be all info you may need or answering questions. I made notes of your replies in my notebook. I ran out of avocado so fat intake will be lower and potassium too. I will increase sodium a little bit and see. Thank you all and I am excited for your replies :heart:

(Matej) #8

Just a little update. Yesterday I made a meal, that has 2406grams and contains 3378kcal, 184g of protein, 56.73g of net carbs, 252.825g of fat.
I ate 500g of it yesterday. It taste great and I am terrible cook :smiley: . From 500g portion I ate 700kcal, 38g of protein(21.7%), 11.78g of net carbs(6.73%), 52.4g of fat(67%). I ate at 3pm yesterday. Now its 1:13pm and I am not hungry. My metabolism is slow, and body has a lot of fat so if needed, it could take it from stored fat if needed. Also lost another 0.4kg. Now all is theoretical. If someone wants to check the math I can pm it. I have it all in my notebook. Every food that goes into it, its weight, kcal, protein,carbs,fat etc.
Why increasing kcal intake if I feel great and I am not hungry ? Most of the day I sit or sleep, I know that after I get back to work I will have to increase it, just because of a lot more work(10hours shift, IT technician at Amazon, so some of you might know what my work is, but we do quite a lot more here, than colleagues in Germany,UK or USA)

#9

It’s important to get enough salt, get enough other electrolytes, and keep them in balance. I take magnesium and potassium every day and haven’t needed to up my salt intake much. The magnesium and potassium really help with muscle cramps and general muscle stiffness. I’m liberal with salt when I cook and eat. That seems to be enough for me. But if you’ve been restricting for a long time, it sounds like you could be missing it in your diet.

Drinking a glass of water with a teaspoon of salt sounds revolting; no wonder you almost vomited. Occasionally, when I’m fasting I sprinkle a little salt (a pinch) into a large glass of water (about 475 ml). But a teaspoon? Ugh. There are better ways to get more salt in your diet. Cheese and cured meats are both salty foods for a start.

I think those calculators can be useful for getting estimates (and the are just estimates). I plugged your numbers into a reliable keto calculator and it said 2700 for someone who is sedentary, which I assume you are if you’re recovering from a herniated disc. Slightly more active (light work outs, lots of walking which is likely if you live in a city) would be about 3000. So you’re probably not far off.

But in the early days of keto, I wouldn’t try to eat to a calorie target. It can be useful to track what you are eating, so you have information, but don’t restrict.

But for the next few weeks, I’d just eat all the protein and fat you want and keep carbs under 20g. Don’t over complicate it. See how that goes for you. I wouldn’t try things like OMAD etc. until you’re really in a groove with just straightforward plain under 20g/day keto. Once you’ve got that down, then you can tweak.

Berries are a great low-carb food! Eat the low carb foods that you love. I bought a big container of strawberries at the market a couple of days ago and I will eat all of them over the next few days. Last night I had about 150g with some whipped cream. So good!

You don’t need veggies, but if you want them and like them go ahead–as long as you’re under 20g carbs for the day, you should be fine.

(Matej) #10

First of all thanks for reply. In the text you are reacting, I also mentioned that I did not had any cramps after starting Keto. Not even those in my jaw during yawing. Yesterday and today I tried 3g of salt in 300ml of water, with few drops of stevia do balance the saltiness. I managed to gulp it down, slowly, without any problem. I do not think that I am missing magnesium or salt. I drink mineral waters, 3 different brands with different amounts of minerals and one is specialized for magnesium.

I know the calories input/output is jut theoretical. I lose 0.4 to 0.5 kg every day for the 4 past days so I could calculate how much calories that would be but it would be even more misleading since I do not know if I had fat loss, water loss, muscle loss or all combined. And if combined, I would be unable to know the % fat/muscle/water.

The reason for the veggies is to get rid of fatty liver which I have and also to not damage my liver more, since I am eating way more fats that I was used to. At least dr.Berg is claiming to eat more veggies for this reason. He claims in his videos that if person has fatty liver he should aim for more veggies than healthy person on Keto.