Ilana's beef binge buster thread

(Full Metal KETO AF) #81

On the testing, yes I have thought about changing my strong opinion that testing on a keto diet is not necessary. I have always just relaxed and trusted the process which is working apparently. The fact that I haven’t dropped dead during the last year and I am functioning as a fat burner and lost 25% of my body mass has been enough for me to confirm that things are working just fine. I do have a curiosity though that makes me wonder how high my ketone levels actually are considering my BG levels and apparently still fairly insulin resistant status.

On the weight loss it hasn’t been huge, I am really close to the end on fat loss, last <10 lbs for sure (I hope!). But it’s hard to estimate body fat % without a DEXA scan which I would really like to have. I have lost about 3 lbs the last month. I was stalled at 162 for two months and broke it with a four day fat only fast of about 800-1000 kcal of fat per day. I ate solid pork fat trimmed from slab bacon lightly fried, BPEspresso, butter, And MCT oil. I lost ten pounds in 4 days. I regained 80% of that during the next week with normal eating and thought the experiment was a failure. Then I proceeded to drop it all again over the next month and now am below the weight I had dropped to during the Fat Fast. I am at 151 this morning. I don’t know if it directly ties with the reduced vegetables for sure but I will take the loss! I have gone down about 2 lbs in the last week or so. Eating about 1800 kcals, 4-7 eggs a day, a few ounces of cheese, and about 12-14 ounces of meat, and 100 grams of tomatoes from my garden. The tomatoes will stop soon because the damn gophers ate the while root system of my bush the other night and the stalk is about 3" above the ground where they couldn’t reach any higher. The plant is dead and all the tomatoes are ripening, gotta harvest all of them this morning. :confused:

Compulsive eating hasn’t ever been an issue with keto foods, I always followed the recommended limitations on nuts, berries and cheese like most recommend, 1-2 ounces for cheese or nuts. I never ate much in the way of nuts and when they ran out a couple of months ago I decided I wasn’t buying more because of the anti nutrients mostly. I quit buying HWC about that time as well. Knocked about 300 kcal off my daily intake doing that but eventually upped other fats a bit. The elimination of cream was part of the stall breaker I think, at the very least it was about $25 a month off my food bill! I did it also to help keep my IF window clean until breakfast, which I eat 3-4 hours after I wake at 6am every day. That might be where the actual improvement happened, having a clean IF schedule of 19/5 most days. Good for you giving it up. I missed it a bit but I don’t have the stomach issues coffee used to give me I found, a 4oz batch of black espresso is my norm now. I have in the last couple of months gone back to twice daily on the coffee, otherwise I get really sleepy around 5-6pm and my eyes start watering really bad. Drinking another coffee a couple hours after my final meal for the day (2pm) seems to balance it out and I don’t get that sleepy fatigue in the ear!y evening. Maybe it’s temporary I hope, tied to a medical reason for my fatigue. Hyperparathyroidism? I hope to get this sorted soon, seeing my nephrologist Friday.

On the plant anti nutrients I watched all the recent Carnivory Con 2019 videos on YouTube in the last couple of months, some of them several times. The George Diggs video and Georgia Ede presentations were of major interest to me and the curiosity was influenced by trying to sort out my autistic son’s issues and how the anti nutrients in plants could be making his results less as autism is an auto immune influenced condition at the very least in my opinion. I realized that I might just be having responses to them as well. So I started cutting the plants back. No More regular consumption of seeds, nuts, spinach, chard to start. I have really cut out collards and kale the last 6 weeks too because I can’t chew them. I have lots planted and ended up giving a bunch to other people since I can’t eat them recently. So I feel like I have been evolving towards a carnivore based diet lately because of circumstances mostly and so not a huge step further to go all the way (what will I do with the 2 gallons of so of homemade sauerkraut in my fridge?) :confused:

Today is my one year anniversary for quitting pain medication after a 23 year addiction! :grinning: :sunglasses: Feeling good about myself this morning.

(mole person) #82

A longer response will be forthcoming when I have a bit more time but for now I had to say:

:clap::clap::clap::clap::balloon::balloon::balloon::balloon::dart::dart::dart::dart::two_hearts::two_hearts::two_hearts::two_hearts:

Congratulations! I know how hard that is. I still have my moments of struggle after two years.

(Susan) #83

Congratulations David, this is awesome! You should be very proud of yourself, that is quite an accomplishment.

(Susan) #84

Congratulations to you as well Ilana_Rose!

I am proud of you both!

(mole person) #85

Me too. I also want to test properly some things that I believe affect my state of ketogenesis. I’ve formed some opinions and yet lack complete certainly.

What’s stopping you? I want one too but have to wait until the next time I’m in a big city that has one.

You’re lucky. It was never a problem for me until keto actually. I think this is because I’ve never actually been on a diet before and when food is unrestricted I don’t have the issue. It’s just something that I have to get a handle on.

Save it for now. You may find it’s fine if you reintroduce it later. Sauerkraut is something I might eventually experiment with myself.

With respect to your blood glucose, what are your recent HbA1c’s like?

(mole person) #86

I haven’t done an update in a few days because my weight wasn’t moving very much. I wasn’t discouraged however as I felt slimmer each day in spite of the scale not budging. A little more hip bone and a flatter tummy day by day kept me sanguine. I had been doing a bit of extra exercise after my own ‘sarcopenia’ post spurred me on and new exercise always inflames me a bit.

So I dropped another .2 lbs three days ago and then held steady for two more days but today it all showed up finally.

Weight this morning was 104.8 lbs. -6.4 lbs in 12 days.

I’m now well within my goal weight range which is 104-106 lbs. I was hoping to continue this until I reached the low I started at before the cheat week but I’m going on an extended backcountry canoe camping trip in two days and so Wednesday will end my ability to track, and thus the experiment. However, I’ll continue until then and see how it gets on.

I’m very satisfied with the result already though. In the past this sort of weight gain has take a full month to undo. I’ve found a non calorie restricting protocol that halves that time easily. It also destroys post cheat cravings much more effectively than returning to a more varied ketogenic diet ever did.

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(Khara) #87

Enjoy your trip! Sounds nice.:canoe::camping: I’ve enjoyed your posts and especially your interesting meat prep info!:cut_of_meat::meat_on_bone:

(Susan) #88

Congrats on getting back to your Mainentance weight. Have a really great holiday.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #89

My HbA1c was 6.7 one year ago and last month it was 5.5 and the trend is always going downward every three months. So there’s that! But that 5.5 number (>5.6 is the begining of pre diabetes by accepted lab ranges) has my average BG at 112. That’s a little disappointing to me considering all the IF and carb restriction I have been doing the last three months my score from three months ago was A1c 5.6 with average BG of 114. That’s why I wonder if I do in fact ever drop much below that 112 number because my average BG from the A1c is 112, and at the same time when another panel was drawn it showed my BG at the same number after 14 hours of fasting, 112. I find that result very odd that the average over time is exactly the same number I’m in when I Fast for 14 hours. :cowboy_hat_face:

(mole person) #90

Ok. First of all this is a fantastic result. As long as your HbA1c continues to decline I think you should count it as a pure blood glucose win.

I know a year seems a long time but I can tell you, from my own experience on keto, that the healing continues long past that. I’m 2.5 years in now and it’s only in the last few months that my blood pressure is starting to really normalize and that I’ve been able to drop my last two medications that I take for neurological pain (pain that was so bad that I was suicidal until a neurologist diagnosed my condition and prescibed the appropriate drugs). I’m also still seeing improvements in my abdominal pain condition.

It’s an oft repeated saying around here that it took a bunch of time to make us as sick as we are and so we shouldn’t be impatient about the reversal of these illnesses on keto. This is true. Keep an eye on the progress bar, if it’s moving then you are still updating you system.

With regards to your fasting blood glucose, although I’m sure it’s still not optimal you have to keep in mind that some of it will be a result of a year of fat adaptation itself. Remember, “physiological insulin resistance” or “glucose sparing” are real things in a fat adapted person. This means that your muscles are rejecting glucose to save it for the tissues that need it more. As a result our fasting glucose goes up because our body still produces the morning surge of glucose from gluconeogenesis but it’s not being gobbled up by every cell in the body anymore.

I’m sure you have no interest in doing this experiment, but apparently you can see the reversal of glucose sparing within about a week of returning to a higher carbohydrate diet.

So this is a reason to watch you glucose progress from your HbA1c and only relative changes to your fasting glucose. You should see it go down over time but, as long as you are strictly ketogenic, it will continue to be higher than someone of similar health who is not ketogenic.

I hope this eases you concerns.

(Edith) #92

I find that my morning glucose is higher and my ketones are lower when I’ve overdone the protein the previous day. Now, I’m only 5’3” so for me if I have more than 60-70 grams of protein my morning blood sugar will be 100 mg/dL or higher. Maybe check your protein intake?

(mole person) #93

You are very welcome. I’m very happy that you’ve found my proccess and thoughts interesting :slightly_smiling_face:.

This has always been my passion. I used to spend all of my time either thinking about my trips, pouring over maps, preparing my foods for both extended periods without refrigeration and to be as light and low volume as possible, or on the trips themselves.

About ten years ago my problems started. It began with a surgery for a massive pedunculated fibroid (this is a type of fibroid that grows outside the uterus). It was the size of an orange and was causing enormous abdominal and back pain. By the time it was finally correctly diagnosed (they treated for ulcers for months) I could neither eat nor walk without excruciating pain. I finally had it removed along with my uterus but the surgery was very invasive, there were some minor complications and recovery took a full year. After this surgery my gut issues began but didn’t become terrible immediately.

I managed to go on one short trip before the next issue sprung up. Suddenly, I had a non resolving migraine. It went on without ceasing for an entire year. Within months I was taking daily opioids for pain control. Eventually there was a slow reduction in frequency but I still spent most of my time with migraine pain.

Then I developed trigeminal neuralgia. That was an even worse pain (and strangely opioids have no effect on it). Luckily after a few months it was diagnosed correctly and the medication for it was very effective for me.

And finally about 4 years ago I developed a terrible pain in my abdomen but this time there was no diagnosis. I still don’t know what it is. But my guess is that it’s neurological too. This could only be treated by more opioids.

All of this left me in constant pain, and always thinking only about my next painkiller and the good feelings that would come with it.

I did no trips for all of that time. I thought the greatest pleasure of my life was behind me, that I was too old and too broken to continue.

Last year, with the opioids and much of the pain behind me as a result of a year on keto, I did a couple of two day trips.

This year I’ve done a 7 day trip and it was absolutely glorious. I feel young again and full of joy. Fifty-two is just my age. I’m way fitter now than anytime in the last decade. I’m hoping, that although I lost 10 years of canoe tripping, that keto/carnivore will give it all back to me on the other side. I have faith that this is a real possibility.

(Susan) #94

This is amazing =). Have a great trip =).

(mole person) #95

Interesting @VirginiaEdie. I don’t measure glucose yet but I’ve noted the ketone effect repeatedly. What’s you fasting glucose when your protein is more moderate?

(Bob M) #96

But there’s no evidence for people on a keto diet that higher blood sugar in the morning is bad. In fact, maybe it’s good? Maybe it means you’ve been starving your body of the blood glucose it needs and when you eat protein, your body is finally able to get what it wants? Gluconeogenesis is primarily demand-driven, and therefore your body WANTS more glucose, but you are starving it of the protein it needs.

Ever thought of that?

(mole person) #97

Day 13:

I’m down another .4 pounds to 104.4 lbs. -6.8 lbs and only .4 away from where it began. If I hit it tomorrow I’ll celebrate with some eggs!

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(Susan) #98

Awesome! Way to go.

(mole person) #99

Thanks Susan!

(Full Metal KETO AF) #100

Eggs are okay…They aren’t the same as honey and IceCream! :joy::joy::grin::cowboy_hat_face:

(mole person) #101

@David_Stilley Evil, evil, evil!!!