Ilana's beef binge buster thread

(Diana) #262

Check in of the day. weight the same, that’s okay as I did work out last night. I do have a question for you, I’ve noticed recently that I’m more and more cold during my fast window. From what I’ve read this is normal. The recent change I’ve noticed the last few days is I’m going to pee a lot more frequently. I am also drinking more water, but this is intentional to stay hydrated as I work out better when I’m hydrated. But the urination has increased. Am I perhaps consuming too much protein and putting strain on my kidneys? Sorry if I sound crazy…just want to make sure I’m not doing any harm in the process here.

(Diana) #263

Also, I know you’re helping me with the ketone/glucose numbers and at one point you noted that it seems I’m eating enough for my body. How is this clear from the glucose/ketone numbers. I know that the ideal situation is for glucose to be low and ketones to be around 1.5 (for fat burning). But from the numbers how can I derive if I’m eating enough or too much.

#264

It’s different but reminds me of my SO’s problem with fat. Fat without carbs tricks him so he overeat without noticing - and then he feels crappy. It’s the main reason he doesn’t even attempt really low-carb. He isn’t too attached to his usual carbs, he just sees no other way to get satiated without problems.
Maybe the type of fat makes a difference… He surely has this problem with added fat and his few low-carb meals (no problem at all) have little of it…
Once you wrote about rendered vs not rendered fat in the PKD topic and I focus on my fatty experiments since… And it seems you are right even in my case, the type of fat matters. If I eat lots of not rendered fat with my meat, I can go lower with my protein without hunger, it seems. Only my smoked pork is fatty enough to do this now and the fat parts are effective in small amounts and I learned to love them. Theoretically I could do very crazy fat:protein ratios, I love eating pork with 90% fat if it’s not rendered fat but I would feel odd if I did that all the time I’m sure (fortunately I don’t need to do that). But some months ago I couldn’t go over 65% fat (not like I wanted), I am often at 74-75% now so I probably can change more. I surely could do 80% any day but my typical food is way less fatty than that.

I have problems with tracking, by the way, meat is like that, at least the one without labels. Pork skin with some fat tissue. Meat and some kind of chewy tissue right around the ribs (beef), I don’t even now what that tissue is and it was the majority of my beef today. It’s easy to get very wrong numbers if I eat them in significant amounts. But I am unsure about my pork too. It doesn’t matter very much but I like to know my numbers vaguely.

(Diana) #265

Check in. Glucose 60 and ketones 3.3

Just breaking my fast now. Eating the rest of the short ribs (I would say it’s about 14 oz) and 1 level cup of cauli rice (poured some of the fat juice from spare ribs).

(Ellenor Bjornsdottir) #266

ketosis is decided by whether there are ketone acids in the blood stream

not by whether you’ve blown out the glycogen.

it’s possible to be close to maximally fat burning and not register jack crap on blood bhb.

which is not ketosis, but is (usually) a low insulin state.

(mole person) #267

It doesn’t sound crazy, but no. As others here well know I fall on the side that believes protein should be moderate for several reasons. But the amount you are eating is moderate. And even much higher protein would not affect your kidney function. It’s the last thing to worry about with respect to protein unless you are having several lbs of meat a day.

As far as being cold you shouldn’t be. Perhaps try eating a bit more at your meal?

I think what I said was that your numbers indicated that you weren’t eating too much for your body.

I don’t know who says 1.5 is ideal or why. I try to keep to the PKD values of ketones as close to 3 as possible (and no lower than 2) and glucose well below 80 (and preferably nearer to 70 or lower).

In general the low glucose tells you that you aren’t eating too much and your protein isn’t too high and high ketones tell you that you are getting much of your energy from fat burning.

(Diana) #268

You always give me such good reassurance! Thank you. I understand now what you were saying regarding the ketones/glucose. I’m doing well according to the benchmarks.

(mole person) #269

@Finishingtouches. Yes, you’re numbers are super good. :partying_face:

(Diana) #270

I’m down .2! I even worked out last night!

I hope I’m making you proud! I try and be strict as I know you’ve invested so much time and knowledge that I just want to do well and make you proud! It’s quite funny how accountability works. I’m not even this accountable to myself…

Also funny story, so last night I was bored. I had put the ribs in the fridge thinking I’d start them this morning before work. Well last night I was bored, and so I was like let me season them. They were still partially frozen so I had to do a water bath to thaw them (cold water). What I didn’t realize is that once you thaw in water, you need to cook the meat immediately. So…then out went my normal recipe which cooks in oven and would have been ideal as it would have captured the fat inside, instead I had to whip out the slow cooker at 10 pm and put them in there to cook at low for 8 hours. They came out perfect, but I could definitely tell that some of the fat has melted out. Plan is to use some of that fat and sautee either my spinach or cauli rice in it (that I’ll have alongside the ribs).

(mole person) #271

Haha… I’m way proud. I wish I was half as good as you. I bought some peanut butter as a “just in case” food for a possible coronavirus quarantine and I haven’t been able to control myself and stay away from it. I’ve been filling my belly with beloved PB for three nights running and my weight is way up… lol.

I was thinking about the fact that you said that you were cold. Is it an everyday thing? And also, are you finding yourself hungrier during the day before you break fast?

(Diana) #272

Omg me too! Well my husband was the one that bought the peanut butter and I’m not tempted as it’s not a good quality PB (it has sugar and palm oil which I explained to him why it’s bad…but I digress), I on the other hand bought the Nuttzo ‘keto’ butter which I love as my just in case. But I have not touched it! It is there for just in case and for one day when I’m in maintenance and make my keto mug cake (mmmm soo good).

As for the feeling cold, I do feel colder during the fasting window. Just slightly…it’s not like a night and day difference but I can tell I’m colder during the fasting window. My mom pointed this out as I used to be so hot natured, and this past weekend when I was at their house, I was literally sitting in my coat and she was like you may want to get that checked out…I did do a quick search and it said it may be common during fasting, but it could also be a sign of thyroid issues…As for hunger, I’m not overly hungry. Like right now I’m fine but I did have coffee which always suppresses my appetite, but as it gets closer to noon my hunger will increase. I also tend to wolf down my food (like within 10 minutes I will have eaten everything), so perhaps I’m hungrier than I think…

(mole person) #273

You don’t want to be stressing your body too much with caloric restriction and I’m a bit worried that the feeling cold indicates that. You don’t have that much fat left to lose. Maybe on days when you are feeling hungry or cold have a second meal. I found as I approached very close to my maintenance weight I began to need this more and more. Personally I usually have one meal of very fatty, beefy soup in the morning and a main meal around 4-5 pm. The morning soup isn’t huge but really makes a big difference to how I feel all day.

(Diana) #274

Taking your advice, breaking fast earlier today (didn’t check blood levels). Having bone broth and I added about 2 teaspoons of the fat that was left from the ribs. Will then move onto my tasty ribs.

(mole person) #275

Sounds good, and don’t be afraid to add a bit of meat to your broth when you have it. My morning soup is actually a decent meal that satisfies me. It’s not huge, as my hunger isn’t huge in the morning, but it’s enough that I don’t even think about food again until dinner time.

(Diana) #276

Not sure what kind of sorcery happened yesterday, but I ate twice (pork ribs). During my second meal I even had my cheat of handful of pork rinds and half a jerky stick as I was just looking for something to break down that fat. Well I woke up and I’m a half pound down!!! HALF POUND. I did drink one bottle less of water than I normally do (I was not at home so wasn’t hydrating as much) so some of that I’m sure is related to that. I get it, and don’t want to get my hopes up…but…I’m still excited nonetheless.

The issue now is tomorrow, I need to meet up some friends and they have selected an Italian restaurant. So it’s going to be tricky. I’ve looked at the menu, my best options are either sausage and broccoli (without any pasta), the Bolognese sauce (again without pasta, but I’m not sure how much tomato they add etc and it all adds up), or a salad and add chicken or salmon) and then douse it with olive oil…I don’t want to ruin all my progress. Saturday night I am going out as well but it’s a steakhouse and I’ve already identified the ribeye, so that’s easy. Thoughts? I know you said if unsure eat before hand, but since we are going out I need to participate and eat something…

(Edith) #277

Maybe have your protein before you go and then a salad drenched in oil while you are there?

(Diana) #278

Good idea, thoughts on the sausage option?

(Edith) #279

I would imagine Italian sausage would be okay. It’s pretty fatty and only about one gram of carbs per serving (in general).

(Diana) #280

That’s what I was thinking. They do have a salmon…but I’m not sure how frequently that’s eaten since it’s an Italian restaurant. So I’d rather eat something that is fresher…

(mole person) #281

That sauce is almost certainly loaded with sugar so I’d avoid it. Personally, I’d go with the salad + chicken or salmon.

On the subject of water, you only need to drink when thirsty. The closer I am are to zero carb the less added hydration I seem to need and this is a much noted fact among zero carbers. I used to drink 4-5 big glasses a day plus tons of coffee. Now it’s maybe 2.

I’m done with my peanut butter blitz. After four nights of pleasure it caught up to me and my stomach was hurting all night and is still terrible. This seems to be the way it is with every plant food I try. A few days where all seems fine and then boom, a hardcore return of agony.