I’d say the vast majority of us are here because we have/had a metabolic condition.
A whole load of us have come to keto to put T2 diabetes into remission. This was why Carl and Richard started up the whole thing. It is that which drives us so that is the number 1 … the weight loss that comes along with keto is number 2.
Everyone here is concerned with getting and staying healthy but telling people who are morbidly obese (as I used to be) to “exercise” is completely pointless as most will fail. Many simply can’t without risking damaging themselves.
Well there you go, with a few exceptions, many seem to be approaching Keto in the same way as they used to demand a magic pill to get thin. I would say that exercise IS and should be a part of life for anyone trying to get or stay healthy, and that even obese persons can do some form of cardio.
It isn’t a matter of doing marathons, you can do cardio sitting down.
Some answers are in the style “if you don’t like this forum you can go elsewhere” and others have and never will do exercise, an excuse is always to be found.
I went Keto when my doctor prescribed me statins (never touched them). Keto worked! After a month or two I was also doing intermittent fasting, 18 /6. I tried running as advised by our Keto specialists. Oh boy, puff, wheeze, clutch at heart after 250 metres, 5 minutes rest and then stagger back. To get to where I am today, running 6 K regularly and doing 10 K races, I have strengthened my heart and lungs, my legs and apparently have a reduced risk of mortality of 26%. 20 minutes a day would be enough. Doing cardio gives arise to many questions, it isn’t boring at all, which is why I initially posed the question as to why so few people use the sub-forum exercise.
For me, I get a perfect insight into my state of health when I go run, 5 times a week, I worked out that taking four beers the night before wasn’t a good idea, or that I need to take extra salt if I am running a 10 K…
As for the ideas that exercise makes you hungry thus making Keto difficult, that is ridiculous. A 10 K run = about 900 calories, so what? I eat the same every day whether I’m running or not, weight varies minimally.
I never see new, interesting posts in Exercise so I almost never go there (here). I come here to talk about food. It doesn’t mean I don’t find exercise vital or that I never do any. I am not the first one who write this here. There are people who do their exercise and talk about their new or not as old woe here. I walk and cycle but it’s not interesting, why would I talk about that so much? Even if I grab my weights again, I just do my thing and can’t even brag because I am still a beginner but my weights always will be small anyway. What is to talk about? But my diet and opinion of diets, that’s something else so I talk about that. And snow, it’s always exciting here as it’s rare but I just mentioned it in a carnivore topic because my snow is nothing to some other’s plenty of snow in the north It doesn’t mean I don’t love walking in the snow (not now as it’s too wet).
So not seeing people talking about exercise doesn’t mean so much.
Seeing people talking about too much exercise is a bit different but few people do that. I would be elated running marathons. That’s modest. I know about some Hungarian ultramarathonists, one runs a marathon before she gives breakfast to her kids, about 340 days per year? The other is more extreme, once he run maybe 330 km in the Himalayas (he couldn’t eat so consumed 2000 kcal for 12000 kcal daily energy need, he said. that’s how one loses fat and muscle very, very quickly. and several footnails too). I totally admire these people but feel no desire to be like them. Some marathon will be nice, a marathon is actually a short distance if I walk, it should be easy if I learn how to run, being quick isn’t my goal. I am a land mammal, running for a few hours should be very natural, a healthy body handles it.
But no one tell people to run marathons because it’s the minimal or even ideal amount of exercise. I always see ridiculous amounts, like 20 minutes of walk 3 times a week. How on earth can people avoid doing that if they are mobile? That’s barely anything at all, my body would complain and my energy level would become even lower (actually, it’s the case now as the weather and wet snow isn’t inviting and I don’t even do power walking in my room. I am good at harm myself like this in my darkest times).
But maybe I will search for some nice topic in Exercise. I want to learn running, I tried in the last 2 years, well, I can run for 2 minutes, I learned to breath better, I don’t even actually hate it anymore but that’s all. I know everyone but me can learn to run 5 km in one months, there are plans for that. It doesn’t mean it’s realistic for me in a few years. It’s just theoretically possible. I love walking. And don’t like running at all and I can’t imagine not stopping soon if I do. So I walk with a little running now and then. I don’t give up on my future marathons, fortunately I don’t need to be young for that, I have time.
Cycling is easier but long distances hurt my shoulders (and I need to stop very often anyway). I do something wrong but as long as I actually do it, it’s better than not doing it.
It’s nearly everything I can write about exercise. Sadly, I am WAY more focused on food and spend more time and effort on it. But I always will spend more time with food except on my most active days when I have light exercise for 4-10 hours. 4 hours on food isn’t abnormal but 10, that’s a bad day, sadly I have those too especially since I’ve found this forum, I need a life. Food time may take away exercise time, that’s tragic. But it’s not a psychiatric session or self-flaggelation topic so I stop now.
In all fairness, it’s way more complex than even I said:
I’ve seen multiple studies like this, where essentially the body resists increased amounts of exercise by burning about the same amount of calories. In other words, if you go run 6 miles, your body will shut down at other times so that you don’t go over a certain set limit of calories.
This is why you think you can exercise and it doesn’t increase calorie intake.
Furthermore the type of exercise is important. Lifting causes me to be hungrier than does aerobics.
Anyway, I’m out of this conversation. If you think you can exercise and experience no hunger, so be it. The evidence is against this (lumberjacks eat more than office workers), but you think whatever you want to think.
I guess my question is what are you calling exercise? Do you think everyone “should” be doing aerobic, cardio workouts weekly outside of an already active lifestyle? And then we should also be discussing it more regularly on the Exercise sub forum?
I am on my feet all day in a very physical job. For 8 hours a day I don’t stop moving (except for the 10 minutes I eat lunch and when I get to sit on a toilet for a couple of seconds). Nobody knows how active I am because my level of activity isn’t considered exercise, just a normal day, so it doesn’t make sense for someone like me to go talk about it in the exercise section. When I get home I lift hand weights, practice some yoga or get on the balance ball because that’s all I have left in me.
I have asthma, bone pain and chemo induced neuropathy in my feet. I won’t be taking up running anytime soon.
I’m ‘all or nothing’ when it comes to exercise. Caught the running bug a couple of years ago when I finally felt in the position of not being in danger when exercising (long story) and that led to my joining the local running club, plus some obsessive gymming and swimming too. It was fabulous!
I was (and am!) thin, but I then became scarily muscular and seemed to be eating all of the time… oh, and then I got very fed up of the injuries I seemed to be picking up, so I stopped.
I didn’t miss it. At least I didn’t think I did. But I’ve fairly recently started walking as my only form of exercise, and I am relishing it. Just local paths, 20 minutes here, 45 minutes there. When I have the time.
It’s actually making a huge difference to my life. And I don’t mean physically.
The biggest benefit to me of walking? Walking makes things less important.
‘Things’ are things like my work, my relationship, my diabetes, my complicated family commitments, my responsibilities, the fact that I’m SO hard on myself ALL the time about everything, and take absolutely everything in the world so incredibly seriously.
Don’t get me wrong - the things ARE important - they’re very important. But oh boy, going for a walk absolutely puts them - the things - in perspective.
Which one matters “more”? Depends on your challenges and your goals.
Is anybody saying “don’t exercise”? Hardly. The absence of messages in the Exercise forum points to the fact that the main focus here is on keto way of eating. Doesn’t mean we don’t do exercise or don’t care about it…
I probably post about this too much, but in case you haven’t read this here before, exercise is definitely a case where the typical belief that “if some is good, more must be better” is NOT true. A better saying to live by is the first law of toxicology: the dose makes the poison.
Yes, cardio can kill you. Too much is associated with heart arrhythmia, especially AFIB but also others. This is well known and under study by a lot of researchers. I know for sure I’ve posted this before, but here’s a repeat:
Now couple that idea with what Body by Science says about there being no such thing as cardio, just as there’s no such thing as “toning and firming”, and you see the quandary. The takeaway that I got from Haywire Heart is that the problem is in our heads and what causes the damage is pushing when your body is screaming at you to stop. If you’re a competitive athlete, you have to do that. Most of us will never be at that level.
I’ve read that the effects of exercise are the classic bathtub or U shaped curve. It’s complicated. Too little is bad, too much is bad. For example, men who exercised over 5 hours per week at age 30 and quit exercising later in life or dropped that to under 1 hour per week, the atrial fibrillation risk increased. Leisurely walking or cycling did not increase risk, even if it was over 60 minutes a day.
It doesn’t take much to get to the low risk part of that U shaped curve. Society is a little crazy about exercise, telling people with heavy, active jobs they need to work out after they get home. If you make your living in construction or a very active job, like @PetaMarie says, that’s very likely all you need. The exercise we need is an easy walk for half hour a day. Like walking your dog a few times (everyone says you don’t have to do all of your walking continuously).
Personally, I enjoy cycling and ride a few times a week for an hour each ride. That gets me six days a week of half hour walks, the way I count it. I have to remind myself to do some resistance training because I just don’t like lifting weights. I know that’s not where most people are.
I’ll take the bait. Please don’t ridicule my next anecdote too much @cooked David.
I started keto in the summer of 2014. This topic brings back memories. I was still a psycho (CICO) thinker. I had a sedentary computer punching job. The first thing I noticed was the mental clarity (after a terrible few days of keto adaptation). The second was my breathing felt like I could breathe, the air going in felt cool, like drinking a cool glass of water on a hot day, but every breath. I guess you could say I was literally inspired. The third was the revelation of not feeling hungry.
Being CICO and dubious about the calories attending the high fat intake, I started walking. My appetite had turned to devouring Jimmy Moore’s Living La Vida Low Carb podcast and Cholesterol Clarity audiobook. I found I had to walk. I couldn’t stay still when released from the computer.
That went well. So I reignited my interest in swimming and started daily swimming of 1 to 3km as the local suburban pool was on my walk circuit. When I started swimming the hunger returned. I was ravenous after each session and carb creep occurred and the keto honeymoon was over.
The walking was not an appetite stimulus of concern. But the swimming definitely was.
These days, years later, I go surfing for hours at a time in some of the most challenging surf conditions available. I do so fasted. And I feast afterward. Exercise definitely increases hunger in my case. I eat that response with ketogenic low carb foods. Hunger control was an important achievement I didn’t want to lose. Activity made keto difficult. I learned there was more to adapting to nutritional ketosis than just the physiological adaptation.
Walking clears my mind. I love listening to podcasts while walking or sometimes early morning I just listen to nature and it quiets my mind which is a huge benefit.
I feel its important to maintain strength as one gets older. You have to put forth some effort. I see people half my age using their hands to get up from a chair. And some of these people do cardio! Nope. I’m 61 and do not want to need one of those automatic lift chairs in ten years. Even people in wheelchairs can do a bit of strength training. For me staying active and walking alot, combined with resistance/weights, is something I want to continue for as long as I am able. But hey, just try getting out of a chair without (out of sheer habit).using your hands for a week. You will be surprised.
I agree with you Regina. I want to be in good health until I expire. Not only to live to the fullest but to never be a burden to my kids. I makes me sad to see so many people that require the electric shopping carts to make it around the store. I many cases they have sore worn out joints caused by years of be overweight and inflammation. I have no doubt that this way of eating is having a positive effect on my weight and overall health. Adding exercise can only enhance this…but only if I get out and do it.
Did you not read what i typed? Most people here are more motivated to fix their health thru healthy eating than with just exercise, otherwise they would not likely even be here, they would have registered to another site based on other motivations that possibly results in fixing the same problem. Everybody knows exercising to some degree is healthy and improves a lot of things, like Baker says one of the major markers for longevity is ur exercise capacity.
You should be more open-minded about others and let them have it their way, if people dont want to exercise and just want to heal themselfes with food whats the big issue? I dont believe you feel that inconvenienced by the lack of material the forum isnt based on to start a thread like this so i guess i fell for the empty clickbait.
Diet, exercise and quality sleep! Anyway, I have a neighbor who I am judging to be morbidly obese. I might be wrong. He literally went from his couch to his car. He lives the equivalent of four doors down and had to drive to me to pay the rent. He couldn’t get up four steps so I had to go down to meet him. Just getting out of the car he was sweating and gasping for breath.
He was so sick he had to quit his job and go on disability. As a result, he lost his car. Can anyone guess where this story is headed.
I started seeing him outside watering. With a smile on his face. Last month he walked to my house to pay the rent and made it up the steps. No more frowns. He even walks around the park a few times a day. He says he can’t wait until he can throw away the cane.
He did lose 30 pounds. I have no idea what he eats but just gentle walking short distances made all the difference in this man’s breathing and, of equal importance, his attitude.
Diet alone may have had the same effect. But I believe we were meant to move, and the difference in just the few months my neighbor has been “moving” is remarkable.
I agree - I have exercised regularly since I was 15 years old and I STILL managed to gain 120 pounds from 1995 through 2001…which I then carried around for well over decade…all while still exercised just about every day.
If I could think of two muscles in the human body it would be the glutes that would be the most important muscle to put resistance against, the more resistance you place against the glutes the bigger your arms (biceps) will get. A lot people believe if they are weight lifting with the arms that there arms will get bigger (biceps), nope does not work like that. That alone blows my mind! You exercise the glutes and the more muscle volume you build in the biceps, nothing happens when done in reverse?
If you want to burn body fat go after the glutes that’s how you burn fat, ketogenic diet or not.
I think, I can safely say it will work on anyone, if your lazy that’s another story?
By simply going after the glutes changes (re-shapes the epigenome[2] and significantly changes DNA methylation[1]) the entire physiology of your body for the better! The guy you always see doing squats in the gym with weights is going to have the bigger arms and chest muscle if your that observant?
Not cardio!
If you pinch your own butt and thighs and they look and feel like jello that’s because it is (re-esterification of fatty acids) …lol
The only time your putting resistance against your glutes is to stand up (milliseconds?) and that’s about it?
[1] “…DNA methylation is a mechanism that regulates whether genes are “on” or “off,” and is influenced by hereditary and environmental factors, as well as lifestyle and nutritional habits. This research demonstrates that methylation levels in the gene involved in lipid metabolism -Lipoprotein lipase (LPL)- are higher in obese people with a metabolic disease than in healthy people. “Since this gene is essential to decide whether the fat ingested is stored or consumed by the tissues, a dysfunction of this gene would cause high levels of triglycerides in blood,” explains the main author, Daniel Castellano.
In this regard, experts say that dysfunctional lipid metabolism in obesity is associated with a higher systemic inflammation, diabetes, cardiovascular disease or even cancer.
Likewise, this study also describes a lower DNA methylation in a gene related to inflammatory processes, such as the tumor necrosis factor (TNF), which may cause a higher functioning of this gene, which, in turn, may affect the pro-inflammatory condition observed in obese people with a metabolic disease.
Consequently, the main researchers of the study, Fernando Cardona and María Isabel Queipo, both members of Group A02 of the Biomedical Research Institute of Malaga (IBIMA), coordinated by Francisco José Tinahones, conclude that the methylation levels of genes related to lipid metabolism and inflammation are altered in obese patients with a metabolic disease, which partially explains the development of this disease.
The importance of epigenetic regulation
Thus, they point out the importance of epigenetic regulation in the origin of metabolic diseases and affirm that the study of epigenetic mechanisms is essential for developing new therapeutic strategies to face these pathologies, as well as for determining lifestyle habits that may prevent these alterations in DNA methylation. …” …More
[2] “…Current research data suggest epigenetic modifications (DNA methylation and histone acetylation) and microRNAs (miRNAs) are responsive to acute aerobic and resistance exercise in brain, blood, skeletal and cardiac muscle, adipose tissue and even buccal cells. Six months of aerobic exercise alters whole-genome DNA methylation in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue and directly influences lipogenesis. Some miRNAs are related to maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) and VO2max trainability, and are differentially expressed amongst individuals with high and low VO2max. Remarkably, miRNA expression profiles discriminate between low and high responders to resistance exercise (miR-378, -26a, -29a and -451) and correlate to gains in lean body mass (miR-378). The emerging field of exercise epigenomics is expected to prosper and additional studies may elucidate the clinical relevance of miRNAs and epigenetic modifications, and delineate mechanisms by which exercise confers a healthier phenotype and improves performance. …” …More
It doesn’t mean I don’t love walking in the snow (not now as it’s too wet).
