Hello from newbie Annja

(57 yo female started keto Jul '19) #1

Hello everyone, this is Annja, a 54 yo woman, new to keto.

I have been obese in the past, but managed to get back to a normal weight by going the low-calorie struggle. Now I can only prevent myself from creeping back up if I count calories. Every time I try to stop calorie counting things go wrong again. This is not sustainable in the long run. I hope keto can give me a way of living without the counting.

Sometimes my English will be a bit strange as I am from The Netherlands. I started about a month ago (may 2019) to go low carb and am slowly trying to go towards keto. I already discovered I need to upgrade my kitchen a bit. I would like to cook and prepare more.

I also am interested in fasting. I want to do a week long fast one day. I started doing 1 day (36 hour) fasts on mondays to see how my body reacts. This I did 5 times and next fast will be 3 days. Every time is different. I like to see one learns fasting. I also like the body hacking part of it. I keep track of some data like blood glucose, blood pressure and heart rate. I keep a log of how I feel.

I have a lot of questions that will come later :slight_smile:
Thanks for reading.

Edit: here is my accountability topic:
https://www.ketogenicforums.com/t/annjas-newbie-keto-and-fasting-path/89018?u=annja

Vintage Ladies Keto Klub
(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #2

Welcome Annja!

(Allie) #3

Hello Annja and welcome :slight_smile:

It sounds like youā€™re on the right path and doing things the right way for you. Please do not panic if you find thereā€™s a slight weight gain in the beginning as this is often in response to the body healing after a long time of calorie restriction.

(Lazy, Dirty Keto šŸ˜) #4

Hello and welcome! Congrats on your progress so far!

It will, you just have to trust the process and learn to listen to your body. I tracked incessantly at first and now I only track when Iā€™m going out to eat at a restaurant with friends. Iā€™ve managed to lose 70 lbs since September 2018 with no exercise (started exercising recently to tone up as Iā€™ve reached my goal weight.) I find this WOE to be very easy and I love it. Everyone here is very helpful. Good luck on your Keto journey!

(Paul H) #5

Welcome Annja! Sounds like you have the right ideas! Your English is good! Yes changing your cupboards and getting the variety of the right products to cook with is very important and takes time. Some things you will like more than others and itā€™s all about what works best for YOU! :slightly_smiling_face:

(Carl Keller) #6

Hi Anja.

While calories do matter, we donā€™t need to count them when we are eating the right foods. Fat and protein donā€™t impact your blood glucose and insulin levels the way carbs do. I hope that you discover you can eat without depriving yourself and being constantly hungry if you choose the right things to eat.

Fasting can be a great tool for helping improve your insulin response. Just be careful about fasting too much. We need to avoid pattterns of restriction and let our bodies know starvation is not a threat. If it thinks there is famine, itā€™s likely to slow your metabolism and thatā€™s the last thing we want to do. So make sure you are including days where you eat plenty of LCHF food and you satisfy your hunger.

(Susan) #7

Welcome to the forum, Annja, I am 54 as well =).

(Scott) #8

Welcome Annja. I too lost 50 lbs by restricting and counting. I also gained 30 back when I stopped. I thought I had been retrained on how to proper portions. I found keto and have lost 25 pounds without counting or restricting. I feel as though maintaining after I reach goal weight will be effortless. I like this way of living!

(Empress of the Unexpected) #9

Welcome!

(Little Miss Scare-All) #10

Hi Annja. :metal::black_heart:

(Bob M) #11

Hi Annja, I have been low carb/keto 5.5 years now, and have never counted anything (or been concerned about a ā€œmacroā€) in that time. The only time I counted anything was when I was testing increased protein to see what would happen to my blood sugar, and then I counted calories and breakdown into protein, fat, and carbs. But only for that one test.

Lost about 60 pounds (say, 30kg), (re)gained maybe close to 10 pounds of muscle. At my lowest weight now since ā€“ well, a long time. Getting close to having to buy new pants, but weight loss is slower after so long.

I try to restrict when I eat, try to limit the number of times I eat (but eat as much as I want, when I do eat), try to fast longer than a day when I can, try to keep carbs low, eat mainly meat, some vegetables, some dairy at times. Try to get some exercise, try to have time with the family, try to get to bed at a reasonable hour. If I go off plan for any reason (like next week, fancy dinner scheduled with the wife), I get back on the plan and fast again when I can.

So, I personally donā€™t think calorie counting is needed. (Though Iā€™m sure someone is about to chime in and tell me Iā€™m wrong.)

(57 yo female started keto Jul '19) #12

Hi all, thanks to all of you for all the kind replies. I feel warmly welcomed. This is an important reason for me to subscribe to this forum. I do not know anyone in my daily life (yet) who knows about the ketogenic diet and fasting. I really need some people around on this subject :smile: I am impressed by the things you people achieved.

Thanks for saying so. I read it in different places, but I tend to forget. I am not overweight, so I should give it some slack.

Haha yes :grin: I checked your profile and was impressed about how different lifes can go. I have no children, let alone grand children. Yet we meet in this world.

I wish I found keto 10 years ago, so loosing weight would have been easier and probably healthier. As I think of it: I probably did find it, but dismissed it then. I suspect many do at first.

Relaxing is also what I am incorporating now ā€˜seriouslyā€™. Also enjoying the food.

(Marianne) #13

Welcome! This is the premier place for information, support and inspiration about keto.

(57 yo female started keto Jul '19) #14

How did you stop tracking? Did you need to force yourself to stop it?

(Lazy, Dirty Keto šŸ˜) #15

Yes I had to force myself. I have a very obsessive personality and had to break myself of the habit. I just had to keep reminding myself that Iā€™ve eaten ā€œx y zā€ plenty of times before, I know now many carbs are in it, and thereā€™s no need to spend so much time tracking every little morsel I eat UNLESS itā€™s at a restaurant and Iā€™m not exactly sure of the nutritional info.

(57 yo female started keto Jul '19) #16

Probably I need to do that also one day.

Currently I am still learning how to keep the carbs below 20g. I do not know how to learn that without counting. Maybe I can stop counting the oils and butter, so I do not see the total calories. Then I can only look at carbs and protein and salt.

(Marianne) #17

That was me, too. For me, it was very freeing when this became a way of eating instead of a ā€œdietā€ where I was tracking and fixating on food/weight/following the ā€œplan.ā€ I donā€™t weigh myself, either (scale is horrible). I am satisfied to wait until I go to the doctorā€™s and they take a weight.

(57 yo female started keto Jul '19) #18

I made a lot of progress: I installed a freezer after making space for it. Also I ordered a sous vide circulator. It arrived yesterday and I cooked an egg and lamb for 4 days.

I am learning a lot about cooking at my old age ā€¦

I manage to stay below 20g carbs every day. I am still learning to have more water and electrolytes. Often my mouth is dry in the night and I also get cramps in my calves.

Weight training now seems to be most easy if I do it before breakfast.

(Consensus is Politics) #19

At first, I found it somewhat difficult to figure out what I could and couldnā€™t eat. I was constantly tallying up carbs in whatever foods. I was trying to go zero carb, or as close to it as possible.

After a few weeks I finally got the hang of it. I just quit counting everything. I just paid attention to how much fat I was getting. Shunned the carbs, grabbed the fats, the protein always seemed to work itself out.

And I completely ignored the calories. I have on occasion looked up how many calories I might get in a day. Most days as high as 3,000 some days around 2,000. Then there are the days I just dont eat anything. Those are pretty easily done, being a Ketonian (or Ketosapien) makes fasting as easy as anything else. There have been times where I just didnt think about eating for three days, and suddenly realize this, and be in total awe that I wasnt hungry.

Its a wonderful thing when hormones get balanced. Especially the pesky appetite hormones. :cowboy_hat_face:

Keto Vitae!