I really could use some help before I give up on Keto

('Jackie P') #21

In the beginning I satisfied that late night hunger with this - my hot chocolate recipe:
50 - 75mls double cream
150mls unsweetened almond milk
4 squares of 100% chocolate - Montezuma is best
Erythitol to taste
Heat in a saucepan until melted, thick and fabulous.
Take to bed with a good book and enjoy!
Sleep like a baby😌

#22

I’m on it! Boy am I glad I walked into this place. Google searches always funneled me into ads and schemes. And nutritionists always tell you to reduce calories and exercise. I’m just trying to lose weight and because I personally know low carb works, that’s what I want to do. Thanks for the reply, I will go directly to Dr. Ken tonight!

I am one of those folks that if I like something, I can eat it everyday and be regimented about it. My biggest problem (sorry for the broken record) is those crazy sweet tooths and cravings late at night, with a pantry full of naughty foods that my wife eats. An Atkins bar satisfied the sweet tooth. Maybe I should keep super dark chocolate on hand for emergencies instead of the Atkins bars.

I think the trick like many have suggested is to cook a ton of food once or twice a week and nibble on leftovers as needed.

You guys are great.

#23

Too much dairy, eh. Ok but I need to replace that cheese with something I can stand to eat regularly. Boiled eggs only get you so far. I’ve tried every keto food I can think of and dipped them in egg salad, homemade pimento cheese, tuna salad, etc. and after once or twice I’m sick of it. I’ve got olives and dill pickles in the fridge but they are neither filling nor something I can eat day in and day out. Anyway I’ve got lots of ideas already and things to experiment with.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #24

I don’t crave sweets so much at night but it took about 5 months to get here. I keep bars of Bakers Chocolate (100 % chocolate) in the cabinet and dip it into a Splenda/salt/cinnamon mix to handle the bitterness. Also, plain pork rinds with cinnamon and a Splenda packet (toss in a gallon zip lock bag) makes a decent snack. I did Atkins in my 20’s and fat melted away. This time at 43 is much slower but I feel so much better so I’m patient. I also used to eat sweet n low back then and now use Splenda. Some folks can’t lose on artificial sweeteners, I am fortunate that they’re not a hindrance for me. Best wishes.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #25

Me too, and I don’t love to cook. I’ve been making an egg bake in a big glass dish (eggs, sauteed green peppers/onions/spinach, browned brats sliced, browned sausage). It takes about 1.5 hours total prep and bake but after it cools I cut it into squares, stick each square into a zip lock bag and eat them cold (they hold up) for breakfast and lunch. I’m saving money this way too. And they’re filling.

(Lisa) #26

This is great advice! I was stalled for a bit, but my weight is now moving in the right direction after I cut down on protein and increased fats. I agree that the frozen Atkins meals are fine. The Atkins bars sometimes have questionable sweeteners, specifically maltitol, which I’ve found spikes my blood sugar and knocks me out of ketosis. Unlike some others, I don’t avoid all sweeteners, however. Based on my own testing, I’m fine with Swerve and liquid Splenda (no added sugar). We’re all different; I think it’s important to do our own testing and figure out what works on an individual basis.

(Jennibc) #27

Soybean oil is likely obesogenic so whether one is concerned about the systemic inflammation caused by seed oils or not, if one wants to lose weight and maintain the loss, it’s a good idea to ditch it. I WAS ‘just fat’ – no obesity risk factors, yet. However, I did find that once I went keto I slept better, my focus was better, my moods were better, and I had better energy throughout the day. Those are the ‘full benefits’ - I don’t think that the other poster was assuming that everyone has diabetes or some other obesity related disease.

#28

I get very frustrated when we give answers to newbies that mix up a lot of other very well meaning health advice with keto advice. It’s over-whelming and they don’t need to do all of these things to do keto right. “Dirty keto” is a thing and people are very successful with it. Also, if someone’s goal is to lose weight and that’s what they ask about, let’s try to answer that question rather than tell them their goal is wrong.

Over time, I really do hope people will learn about other benefits and improve their overall diet, but it won’t happen if they aren’t successful enough with their primary goal to stick around for a while.

Did you get those benefits from going keto OR from cutting soybean oil? It may be a good idea to ditch soybean oil, but doing so isn’t a criteria for a ketogenic diet.

What I was responding to were the statements that the “keto diet can’t really work based on lots of cheese and pork rinds, in other words pre packaged foods. Atkins foods are junk foods” and “keto should be based on real single ingredient foods.” This was saying that frozen meals like Atkins meals can’t be part of a keto diet and that cheese and pork rinds aren’t keto. This is incorrect.

Also, the statement that “Keto should be based on real single ingredient foods in my opinion to get the full benefits” suggested that he won’t get the full benefits and heal his ‘deranged metabolism’ unless he eats certain foods in a certain way. Since the OP is interested in weight loss, this implies that he won’t get the full benefit of weight loss unless he does these things. Or implies that he should want or need other health benefits like healing diabetes, thyroid conditions, etc. That statement also conflated the benefits one gets from eating keto with the other benefits that one gets from eating a whole foods diet that eliminates prepared, packaged or processed foods including seed oils, pork rinds, cheese, and frozen dinners. I’m not denying that a whole foods diet has benefits, but you don’t have to eat that way to eat keto.

(Jennibc) #29

When I cut soybean and other seed oils three years ago, I dropped 35 pounds in six or seven months without changing anything else other than upping my fat. In fact, the fibromyalgia I suffered from for 17 years, supposedly something that is incurable, disappeared. I was already grain free. But I still was eating fruit and consumed sugar. Not a lot, but I still had sugar on a regular basis. I went keto a little over a year ago by ditching sugar and severely curtailing my fruit intake and that’s when my sleep, moods, energy and focus got better – it was ditching the sugar. In fact, I didn’t set out to do ‘keto’ Over the years I’d just started taking things out of my diet. Last summer I was telling a friend what I’d done and he responded, “Sounds like you are doing keto.” So I googled it and sure enough I was! Got myself some test strips and I was in ketosis!

#30

I’ve been doing keto for about 2 months and one of the things that I’ve found helpful was to find a dish or two that I like (read “bacon and eggs”) and eat the same dang thing all the time. That way I knew exactly what the carbs and protein were. The I gradually added something new here and there after figuring out that the new item would keep my carbs/protein where they needed to be.

P.S. Very dark chocolate…a beautiful thing

#31

I feel you on the sweet tooth. It may be a good idea for you to make your own sweets. Making fat bombs is pretty easy. You can find tons of recipes and some are very simple. Like the first one I ever tried was cream cheese, peanutbutter, coconut oil and stevia, mixed together, rolled into 100 calorie sized balls and frozen. Keep them in the fridge or the freezer. Lily’s chocolate chips also make a nice little sweet snack and a great addition to easily add to fat bombs. If you want to avoid dairy, cacao butter is a really great thing for making fat bombs and can be easily purchased on amazon. That’s what I did.

I had been getting the Atkins sweets and found I had an issue with them knocking me out of ketosis. Not to mention the crazy food cravings they caused. Maybe the sucralose is the problem. I’ve heard stevia, monkfruit and Erythritol are best for staying in ketosis.

I know it’s not always easy to make your own stuff. I enjoy being able to purchase ready to go foods as well. One of the easiest things I’ve made is this recipe-

https://www.copymethat.com/r/5xQFjSV/low-carb-keto-dessert-bark/

It’s too good not to share. All you need is a microwave, freezer, and parchment or wax paper

Best of luck to you!

#32

Oh yea! And I know this isn’t the cheapest line of products, but man are they worth the splurge to my husband and I. A healthier sweet treat than atkins and more filling I think. The nut butters are to die for. They sell them in convenient little squeeze packs or tubs.

(Wendy) #33

“Boiled eggs only get you so far.”
You can always scramble an egg or two pretty quickly with a good amount of butter. Sometimes that is just plain more appealing. (At least for me.) I also like to have some cooked bacon in the fridge to grab when I’m hungry. I’m able to eat cheese without any issues either. YMMV.

(Khara) #34

True. Boiled eggs can sound very boring sometimes. Usually that’s an indication that I’m actually not hungry and just looking to eat out of habit. The point is to learn what real hunger is and is not.

As far as the OP wanting simply to lose weight and not needing or wanting to hear about any other healing, we have absolutely zero control over whether or not and what needs to be healed. Insulin resistance exists in us for years before it is ever even on the radar of being diagnosed. So, unfortunately, even if all we want is to lose weight, our body may actually need to heal first, before it will allow any weight loss. We don’t get to decide.

(Cynthia Anderson) #35

Don’t give up. I didn’t lose weight for a long time. Then I lost a few pounds and stopped losing weight.

I weighed myself yesterday and I weigh 155. It took 8 months.

I’ve also dropped from a size 16 to a size 9.

Dark chocolate is great for a sweet tooth. Though I must admit I can only do 60 percent.

I don’t chew it. I let it melt in my mouth. I also occasionally eat Russel Stover sugar free candy.

(Cynthia Anderson) #36

I also eat a lot of lazy bacon. (Microwaved lol).

(JustGettingStarted) #37

It is extremely difficult to unroot an idea/craving after it takes hold- I used to be a middle of my sleep time snacker. I don’t think I’ve ever admitted this to anyone, you were so honest, so here goes… I used to crave this little chocolate cake from Aldi in the middle of the night (1-2am) -this alone might be sorta normal- but then I would alternate bites of the cake with doritos; on some nights I’d drink a soda with this snack. I was living in the future… by telling myself I’d do some form of exercise the next day to “wear it off”.

All we have is the present moment and the choices we make in this moment. I think you had the best idea of all the ideas posted which is to move your eating times back. I hope this helps you avoid those cravings!

I am trying to get to the 16:8 IF (Intermittent Fasting) WOE (Way Of Eating) but I’m not there yet. I did push my meal times to between 10 hours of the day whereas I used to eat from a half hour after I woke up to a half hour before bed (8:16). AND considering I’ve cut out the little chocolate heaven cake from Aldi, eating any form of fast food, soda and a million other carbs I’ll be happy that I am doing something rather than nothing and call myself a work in progress.

Please update us either way- I’m hoping the best for you.

(JustGettingStarted) #38

I do the same thing- let it melt in my mouth most often after a dip in the natural peanut butter jar :wink:. It really helps AND I’ve recently made myself some cream cheese-peanut butter Fat Bombs. I didn’t have any Lily’s chocolate chips (super expensive) to add so I broke up my 90% chocolate bar and added a little of that but most of the Bombs are just the PB and CC- but they really help get you through those cravings. I try to eat it right after dinner so I don’t spike my Insulin another time during the day.

(*Tame Those Ghrelin Gremlins) #39

“Reduce calories and exercise to lose weight” is as bad as saying “the Earth is flat” it simply isn’t true. Obesity is a hormone unbalance. Eating less and working out isn’t going to fix that. Your body has a weight thermostat. Bad eating habits and sugar/ highly refined carbs all throw your body set weight out of wack.

Limiting calories and exercise will only make the problem worse as your body fights you to keep the extra fat. The only way to lower your bodies set weight is to reduce your insulin and fix insulin resistance.

How to do that? No snacking and eating bigger more satisfing meals and go as long as you can between meals. This lowers insulin. Key also is not to starve yourself you should not focus on counting calories.

How you do that (what you eat) is up to you but for weight loss this is what you need to do. Also avoid over exercising. I say real foods because they are healthy and you know exactly what’s in them.

(traci simpson) #40

Unfortunately, I think you will need to cook. Pre made meals aren’t the best usually and pork rinds and cheese is not a meal. Maybe eliminate the late night snacks and the sugar free stuff. Are you drinking water at all?