Holy COW (literally :)

#1

Hi. I’m new to Keto for the second time and I am amazed at how much better it’s going this time than last. I do not need to lose a lot of weight, but carbs and I don’t mesh well. Since starting about 2 weeks (2 weeks!) ago, I have visibly younger-looking skin, thicker hair, far diminished bloat, loss in body fat, and more energy/less hunger.
I did experience a slight keto flu but I just stayed calm like it says on here, and went forward. I ate too much protein sometimes, I ate too many calories sometimes, I went over 20 g of carbs lots of times, but with all keto foods. I feel AMAZING and I’m just now feeling adapted. I had a good workout this a.m and I just got a meter yesterday that read .7, so game on!

Last time I went keto (about 6 yrs ago), it was a whole different story getting adapted. Once I was adapted, I experienced all these positives but at the time I was working with a “coach” who would literally freak out (or it seemed to me on email) when I ate too much protein, or too many carbs, or slipped up. I was tracking everything and felt like I just could not get this thing right. I was miserable.

The difference is just that I came here (thank you all!) and kept reading KCCO and I kept hearing that in my head. I learned that it doesn’t MATTER every little bite of this or that, if it’s keto food. And not to diet at the start, just eat fat and protein when you’re hungry. And if it hurts to work out, don’t, or lighten it up. And just go easy and try your best and I haven’t had one slip because I’m not tied to any macro software like I was before, and I’m just eating real, whole meats from a pasture farm down the street (I’m so lucky) and slathering everything with butter. It’s really that simple. I’m so glad I found this place!!! LOVE the podcasts, too

(Tubeman) #2

keep up the good work!!

(Jeanne Wagner) #3

That’s awesome, glad it’s going well with you this 2nd time! I’ve hit this weird stage (not sure what else to call it) where I eat what feel is good macros and I get hungry way too soon again, like I had genuine carbs in there…and I’m sticking hard to that 20 g threshhold…and trying to stay under. Recently I’ve discovered that strictly eggs and bacon (lots of bacon) keeps me really satisfied. If I have too much protein I can get hungry pretty quickly again, or it just doesn’t satisfy at all. I’m looking for that full feeling, but sometimes now I have to look for that stomach stretched to far feeling. Might have to have a lot of bacon. That wouldn’t hurt my feelings…

#4

I have found that too much protein (without enough fat, so not bacon :wink:) leaves me hungry, too. I’m better off adding carbs in there in the form of veggies to keep full, even rather than more fat. I sometimes go over the 20 with veggies and don’t worry about that. It’s freaking CABBAGE after all haha.

I also experience hunger differently on keto - it’s more a buzz or pressure in my throat than the stomach thing. It’s far easier to put off or ignore so I’m assuming that for me it’s the “less hunger” that comes with ketosis, but I haven’t really, truly experienced the reduced hunger even tnough I have ketones and am feeling like I’m adapting now. Anyway, this is all paying attention to our bodies (aka EyesWideOpen - love it!) and like I said in my original post, its just so different this time and I’m approaching it so calmly. Not experiencing blunted hunger yet? Then don’t fast. Need more food? Eat some fat with protein? Don’t like eggs? Skip em. No worries. I’m looking long term rather than this day or this hour, which helps!

Today is my first venture to a restaurant fully keto. I’m ordering eggs benedict with cream cheese, bacon, and hollandaise (no bread, obv). It sounds DELICIOUS and I can’t wait!

(Jeanne Wagner) #5

Awesome, sounds delicious. I had a lot of eggs and bacon this morning again and feel very satisfied. Not to the point of almost nauseousness, but very satisfied. 4 eggs (scrambled) and 6 thick slices of bacon with what I think was a nice bit of fat. I don’t like crispy bacon, so I cook it adequately but no crisp. Yum. And yeah cabbage, love the stuff. Thanks for the reply, I enjoy the conversation when people engage. :grin:

#6

I totally agree with you on the carbs from non-starchy veggies thing. I’m not going to worry about eating a spinach and red cabbage salad with fatty dressing!

#7

The tasty breakfast place with the super keto eggs benedict wasn’t open! So bummed. But I got a cheddar omelette and added bacon and avocado. It hit the spot and I left he potatoes. They looked dry and gross, anyway. So it all worked out.
For dinner tonight I had a pork roast from a farm down the road. I get my meat from a pastured organic farm literally 20 minutes from my house. Delivered. it was SO good. I have to kind of watch my protein intake as it gets high fast, way more so than carbs. But this was fatty and delicious and I did manage to stop before eating the whole thing. Ha

#8

Totally feeling you on the protein adding up fast. I stopped eating meat for breakfast after the first week, stuck with 2eggs and half an avocado cooked in bacon grease.

Very quickly went from having a cheese and meat lunch with spinach salad and several snacks every day to no longer needing to pack a lunch, just the second half of the avocado, 2oz of hard cheese and maybe some pickles and olives which lately haven’t been getting eaten.

Then I stopped feeling the need for breakfast.

Still figuring out how I want to move forward looks like in heading towards IF and likely going to be interested in EF. This 48 hour fast has been so enjoyable I could definitely see myself doing this again easily

#9

Lindsay how long have you been keto? I am still quite hungry but only 3 weeks in. I have been moving towards ketosis slowly for the last about 2 months but I don’t really figure that into my keto because I haven’t been under 20 carbs that whole time.
I know this process takes time. I also work out and I think (?) I read somewhere that that makes adaptation even trickier

#10

I’m on day 34. I would definitely keep eating until true satiation. As @carl said, to the point just before overeating nausea. It’s SO hard to wrap your mind around!! We’ve all been through the gamut of diets which are all about limiting ourselves because we couldn’t trust our bodies to tell us what we need and when we were done. This way of eating is so different we have to trust our bodies. There were several days actually around week 3 for me, just before I really stopped needing to eat breakfast, where I would eat what had been a normal meal and clean up and just kind of realize… Hey I think I could eat more… And the rational part of my brain was like… Girl you just had your breakfast you can’t eat more! But I did, I ate some more until I was actually full. And it felt SO good and also so bad haha. The mental issues surrounding filling our bellies with good food are so strong.

Once I allowed myself to not hold back, to trust my body, I think it broke through to the fat adaptation because the next week I no longer woke up hungry and this week I’m fasting (Hour 60 going strong!)

I think it definitely has something to do with your body being afraid of using your fat stores because it’s still not sure that there will be enough food in the future. When you eat to true satiation enough days in a row I think your body relaxes it’s hold on your body fat. That’s my hypothesis.

The scale is troublesome for me, it had been doing this 2 steps down 1 step up thing. I finally broke through 180 and the next day I was up 5lbs, a week later I broke through again and the next day same thing! It’s enough to drive you crazy. Any other diet and I would have quit, but I really believe in this WOE after listening to the podcast and understanding too that the NSVs are really the more important thing. Also I am down 3" around my waist which is much more what I’m really going for here let’s be honest over weight itself

#11

Yes, I’ve been eating to satiation because I’ve spent too many years hungry all the time on other diets. That’s what I’m trying to get away from!
The issue is when I’ve had all my carbs and protein for the day and I’m still hungry. I don’t track, but I know when that is, basically. What I do is just find something low carb and put fat all over it. I’m not going to eat fat off a spoon (yet haha) so I have to put it on something and that’s what I do. If it’s a fatty piece of meat, that works and if it’s broccoli that works, too. Trying not to overthink it.

I’m DEFINITELY leaner but my scale doesn’t really agree with that statement lol. But I am most certainly leaner I can feel it when I put my hands on my hips or catch a glimpse in the gym mirror. I don’t have a lot of weight to lose so I’m not worried about it but the scale can derail you faster than ANYTHING else. How often are you paying hommage to the damned thing :):grin: ? And can you cut that down? I know you’ll see results on there but you don’t need the torment of the daily swings, that’s for sure. Thoughts?

#13

Yeah I’m still a little too obsessed with it, daily measures after I pee when I wake up lol. Such a hypocrite because I’m advising people to not obsess about the scale left and right. But really, I am happy with my success, overall, I think party of it is I don’t have a huge amount to lose so I’m going to be a slow loser. I’m at my lowest weight since I can really remember so every pound is a victory. I feel great and I really don’t stress about anything