How Did You Initiate Ketosis: Survey 🔎


(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #1

Another informal survey: how did you initiate ketosis when you began your current keto dietary regimen? In other words, what exactly you did to get into keto, about how long the transition took and whether or not you used any tests to confirm your status, such as urine test strips, ketone blood tests, etc. This survey is open to one and all to share their experience. The objective is to determine how many different methods people use to get into keto, and approximate proportions of those using each method. I’ll use myself to illustrate.

The first week of January, 2017, I had some blood tests scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday that both required preparatory fasting. I started fasting on Monday in preparation for the Tuesday test and afterwards just continued the fast in prep for Wednesday. After the Wednesday test, I decided just to continue fasting for a couple more days to get into ketosis. I had been keto for a couple years several years previously, so I had a general idea what it’s all about.

My primary intention was to start eating a more healthy way to maintain my general health for whatever years I have left. I was 71 at the time and I am now 74. My secondary intention was to lose about 15-20 pounds to get my weight back to 160 where I feel good. From previous fasts I knew that the second day would be the most uncomfortable, but that beginning the morning of day three it would get way better. That’s exactly how it went.

I did not use any test methods to determine exactly when I was in ketosis. I simply used my hunger. On day two I experienced what I refer to as ‘carb hunger’, which is like that flesh eating plant in the movie Little Shop of Horrors demanding to be fed constantly. By the morning of day three, the carb hunger gave way to what I refer to as ‘keto hunger’, which is like the company accountant reporting at the monthly board meeting that outgo exceeded income and the company had to dip into the strategic cash reserve to make up the difference. No screaming, wailing and moaning like the day before.:relieved:

I should also mention that I did not experience any carb withdrawal symptoms (aka keto flu). I also stopped eating - cold turkey - all the carb-rich foods I had been eating bigly previously. These included: ice cream and frozen yogurt, bread, pasta of all sorts, potatoes, rice, pastries and other stuff I don’t remember any more. Never missed any of it.

So, what’s your story? Please share it.


(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #2

I started with Atkins induction (I had the book on a shelf) on a Saturday. I felt fine until Monday and had “keto flu” for about two days. I had ketones on a urine test strip the day the symptoms started (about 48 hours in) and they’ve been showing ever since (10 months).


#3

Started with fasting.
Came to keto later.
Think when I started eating keto in earnest it took me four days initially to get into ketosis.
Lost my memory for a few days early on…it was like there was nothing there for 2 days…forgot names etc. Then it was fine…just kept on.
I used ketostix and blood testing.


(Carol) #4

I jumped into keto as a way to rid the inflammation in my foot after breaking some bones. I was really just looking for a healthy woe to accomplish this. The first week I experienced a couple light-headed moments and was tired for about 3 days. I have never had pee strips or a monitor and have no idea when I entered ketosis or what my levels are. As I researched, the consensus was if carbs are 20 or less, you will be in ketosis. I just trusted the process. I’ve lost the weight and rid myself of the inflammation.


(Susan) #5

I just looked up effective diets on google, found Keto amongst them, googled for people that had lost over 100 pounds (and Keto kept coming up). I then binge watched lots of people that had lost over 100 pounds doing Keto, and really paid attention, and tried it myself, to do the things they said they did, copied foods they were eating, and I have never bought the strips or the monitor, I don’t have a smart watch or a Fitbit or a Cell phone, so I just copied them, and felt sick for a few days (Keto Flu) then started feeling better. I relied on youtube videos from February until early June, when I found this forum, which I love, and has been so helpful to me in my Keto journey =).


#6

I began with keto on the 5th of May 2018 after unsuccessfully trying to lose extra pounds that decided to rest on my body after I quit smoking. I kept feeling worse and worse (I’m histamine intolerant), the weight loss wasn’t going anywhere, I kept trying to out-exercise a bad diet, always ending up hungry in a bag of chips…we all know the rollercoaster. :wink:

I jumped in cold-turkey and the first few months were rough!! I had no idea about keto flu, I felt horrible and my body needed longer to stabize after years of punishment. Once I began googling and found 2KD, I learned how to supplement electrolytes and make the diet my own - things improved very quickly after that. I never tested ketones, so I had no idea what the values were. I did notice a very significant lack of strength after about three weeks, as I could barely walk up the stairs, but I KCKO and at the end of the second month, it seemed like overnight, my strength came back and I knew I was there :slight_smile: Can’t say it was all smooth sailing from there, since my auto-immune issues and inflammation needed more time to correct.


(Bunny) #7

Induction method: Bacon and eggs with avocado once or twice a day depending on how hungry I was and sip on some water with tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and a fresh lemon; in ketosis within 3 days.

Then add freshly baked bread (toast) to that after three days.

After doing that for a long time, I began to realize I could just eat when I was hungry (no scheduled eating) and it would vary from two days to hours, I would pay very close attention to my hunger signaling and the weight came flying off really fast, especially with weight lifting and exercise! Never had any problems burning real body fat. I went from 256 (yeah I was super fat) to 140 within 7 months or so.

What was so strange is how long I could go without truly feeling hungry at all, like scary long, I would not really call it fasting (denying yourself food when you are really hungry); it is more like my own personalized (natural) biorhythm? Fung talks about this ghrelin signaling thing passing, but I never experienced it (not eating when you are hungry) like that!

A lot of trial and tribulation went into it, what I’m describing above is the short version…lol

Fasting implies being instructed to do so, not so from my own experience!


(Karen) #8

3 days of cream cheese. One block per day.


(Brian) #9

I just quit eating carbs. Well, I cut them down to like 20g a day. Ketosis took care of itself. Used the little pee strips in the beginning just to verify what I already knew.

It really never changed. I’ve had a few meals that I’m sure bumped me out of ketosis over the past couple of years. But honestly, I never really worried about “getting (back) into ketosis”. I just cut the carbs and let it happen.


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #10

Dr. Lustig’s lecture on fructose, “Sugar: The Bitter Truth” got me to confront my sugar addiction. I first cut out all sweets from my diet, explicitly deciding not to worry about grains and starches.

Then two things happened: I found it hard to find decent “low-carb” bread, and I was feeling really good without sugar. By that point, I had been watching Dr. Phinney’s videoed lectures on a well-formulated low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet, so I decided to go full-bore keto. The improvement in how I felt was remarkable.

Because of Dr. Phinney’s advice to keep my salt intake up, I never experienced the keto “flu.”


(Bob M) #11

I went on Atkins (at least 6+ years ago) multiple times, but each time I thought I “needed” carbs for exercise. At the time, I was cycling 60+ miles, up to 140+ miles per week during the summer. I thought I need carbs for this. So, I did some low carb, interspersed with higher carb.

In July, 6 years ago, I found out I had developed idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. On January 1, 2014, I decided to try low carb/Atkins for good. I did experiment with Paleo and many, many other things (resistant starch, probiotics, Dr. Davis’s l-reuteri yogurt, higher fat, higher protein, high iodine intake, liver protocol, just to name a few). I have been keto for a while now, though lately I’ve been letting my carbs get a tiny bit higher sometimes to see what effect this has on my thyroid. I keep getting cold during fasting, and I’m trying to determine why.

Even after all this time, I can still get leg cramps – sometimes. I’m not sure whether this is salt and/or magnesium or something else. I am on beta blockers, which are a diuretic, so I’m sure those don’t help.

I don’t remember what I did when I first started, it was too long ago. I know that I ate many more fake foods (eg, Atkins bars, other fake bars, etc.) back then. Now, I eat as cleanly as I can, with few to no fake foods. This includes no fat bombs except for maybe at a special event. If I want chocolate, I get the 85-90% stuff.

I have never counted any macro (except when testing whether high protein intake affected my blood sugar), and never even heard the term “macro” until I found this website.


(Empress of the Unexpected) #12

Pre keto I obviously was not measuring, but looking back I realizeI was frequently in ketosis if I skipped a meal or went a couple of days eating meat only. Keto breath, the way my skin smelled, etc.


(Wendy) #13

Great article! Thank you!!!


(carol mclintock) #14

I began with my ‘gateway’ film, The Magic Pill, which I just happened to catch on Netflix (I really like Pete Evans on My Kitchen Rules) and that same week I found I had to be treated for skin cancer.

I just went cold turkey and went full on meat and veg and fat and think I was in Ketosis within a week. I used urine strips for a while and had a week of ‘flu’ while I got my electrolytes balance. Never really bothered with any other sorts of testing.

Had a bad eating week recently, followed by blood tests which frightened me as the results showed that I had gone back up to pre diabetic levels after a lax week. Have since bought a monitor and have reduced numbers back down and also my ketones are now at the highest levels I have seen yet.
Overall I have lost just a smidge over 3 stone, and after a long, long stall, have started losing again. Body shape changing though and I have lost a dress size i the last 2 weeks since tightening things up.


(Mark Rhodes) #15

My wife tried 2x unsuccessfully to do keto. She wanted to accomplish two things, reduce her suicidal depression and lose 100 pounds or so. In December of 2016 she asked for my help stating " I have never known you to fail if you choose to do something" Talk about no pressure.

We started keto but used her understanding. She told us what we could eat. None of this made sense, I a mechanical engineer and masters of library and information studies but I also had taken enough undergrad credits in the 90s to have graduated in fitness and health. I was confused by “fat makes you thin”. I was more confused by all the success I was seeing around me and not being able to taste it. So I took over… saw that we had maltodextrin, and other hidden factors…strict keto diet ensued.

That was March 2017. I read Keto Clarity. To soft. Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living and then performance by Phinney and Volek…ahh that’s more like it. I also found Ketogenic Athlete . I kept reading the books, everything I could get my hands on. We suffered a very bad keto flu because I had no understanding of electrolytes in regards to keto.

About this time I was introduced to these two blokes, Carl and Richard. Show me the Science was their mantra and it has been mine. Things continued to improve, I kept learning and the more I learned the more I became frustrated and angry at how we ALL had been duped. That’s when I read Taubes and Teicholz.

We have never looked back. At 55 years I gained weight. Over 30 pounds in lean tissue losing about 30 pounds fat. My osteoporosis T score went from T-2.6 to T1.6. My herniated disks got repaired themselves as imaged by MRI. Even my eyesight improved by two points. My wife lost 70, stalled. We are addressing this. But she is no longer suicidal. That is a miracle I thank the universe for everyday!!

I currently fast 5-10 days about 5-6 weeks apart. I am pretty strict keto but I no have a greater allowance for carbohydrates. My insulin at 72 hours fasted was 1.6 uIU/mL on my last fast.

And then the friends I have met in this WOE (like @PaulL @Rajsethand so many others) and my ability to carry our message of hope has made my life very much worth living.

So to answer your question: 3 1/2 months…but once we did it right, couple days…fat adapted by seeing how BHB and BRace were made and used? I say we were fat adapted within 6 weeks. Our first 48 hour fast was July 2017, the first 5 day fast August 2017.