How long does it take to become fat-adapted and can I eat some >50g/d foods occassionaly after 2 weeks?

newbies
(Stanislav Jirák) #1

I think the title says everything :slight_smile: I’ve been <20g for around 2 weeks now and want to enjoy something slightly higher in carbs like raspberry or blueberries in a yogurt, cashew nuts, etc. from time to time. I also wonder, if I eat something high i carb just before my fitness… I’d like to include doing HIIT, so what about say 1 pizza once per week? Or it is too soon, yet?

(Carpe salata!) #2

Ketogenic diet is about staying in ketosis as much of the time as possible. To do that, <20 carbs works best.

Do you think you’re in ketosis? You could try the carb excursions and see how you react. Generally people find they function fine with the <20 carbs in the long term.

(John) #3

You will want to wait until you’re fat adapted. I have higher meals on occasion and it is rarely worth it, pizza makes me feel bad now and the only part I like is the toppings. If you have the willpower to just have a little of something carby you can do it, but a lot of people don’t so be careful when you start testing.
Wanting the sweet things you list is a sign of your sugar addiction, mine was bad, once you cut it out for a while you don’t really care for them as much, having them can keep you addicted. It’s healthier to only have 2 cigarettes a week than a pack, but those 2 are only for continuing an addiction not because you need them.

(Todd Allen) #4

I started out counting carbs but have switched instead to monitoring blood glucose and ketones (rarely by blood, mostly by breath) and other things of interest to me to guide my dietary choices. I’ve found I can eat way more than 20 g carbs under some circumstances and stay in desirable ranges for ketones and blood sugar.

I went low carb and then keto for health reasons, 16 months ago I had all 5 biomarkers for metabolic syndrome plus high AST/ALT (indicator of fatty liver) and borderline T2DM blood sugar. And I have a genetic neuro-muscular wasting disease which contributes to developing metabolic syndrome and progresses faster with it. I expect many if not most people are capable of reaching a state of greater carb tolerance than myself.

Yesterday I had a bowl of miso soup with a couple sheets of seaweed, a cucumber, a few cherry tomatoes and a couple stalks of celery, everything heavily salted. I mostly ate carbs, perhaps 30 g, and yet I was at 6 mmol/L ketones and blood sugar was 65 mg/dl yesterday. I can consume 100 g of carbs daily and still be at or above 0.5 ketones and at or below 100 blood sugar. So long as I’m only getting incidental protein and exercising vigorously. When I eat my normal range of protein, 50-75 g, my tolerance for carbs drops a lot. And if I’m not exercising it plummets.

The nature of the carbs matters. The carbs in vegetables don’t impact me as much as those in nuts and fruit. Carbs in beverages and those from refined starches and sugars as found in processed foods or pizza crust are the worst.

Anyway, what you can eat depends on many factors. Tracking results can let you stray from standard guidelines while keeping on target for your goals.

#5

It probably depends on exactly where you are with your insulin sensitivity status. You could probably occasionally have a yogurt with berries and still be ok, especially if you compensated the rest of the day. If you want pizza, try the fat head pizza recipe.

The problem with cheating is that it can take a full week of effort to recover from cheating, and that can be discouraging, especially when you’ve just started.

(Championsidewinder) #6

I don’t believe I will ever become fat adapted, 9 weeks and still not fat adapted, I am starting to think fat adaptation is a myth

(Helen) #7

I am so pleased to see this. I started the diet 7 weeks ago with my husband…I will say I did it more for health reasons, balancing hormones, ridding inflammation, energy and it has exceeded my expectation. However, I wanted to lose 6kg Im around 70kg and 5 foot 7 my husband started losing weight immediately I lost water weight then nothing!!! This last sunday I suddenly felt different, yes slimmer slightly but can it really take 7 weeks before anything happens? Is it different in women than men do you know?

#8

Did you ever get fat adapted? I’ve been waiting for 4 weeks now and I’m going onto my 5th week and worried. What was your experience?

#9

Hi did you ever get fat adapted and if so, how long did it take?

(Scott) #10

Granted I am aiming for <50g daily but it took me about three months to get fat adapted. This is based on my energy levels during my runs. At three months I was no longer sluggish and my legs stopped feeling heavy. I was losing weight constantly during that time however when I hit that adaption mark I also stalled but thats okay I feel good anyway. Playing around with my fat intake levels to see what it does with my weight. I was eating a very fatty breakfast and reduced to a moderately fat breakfast.