Lost and Confused

#55

@KetoCancerMom
Sorry your recipe got lost in the melee…It sounds easy enough. .Can I bake that in the oven too? Most recipes include cream and that has so many carbs…

(Karen Leigh) #56

You sound overwhelmed and it’s easy to get that way with all the information about keto out there. Keto isn’t rocket science, in fact it’s probably one of the easiest ways of eating to get healthy that I can think of. Anyone can do it if they want to.

So here goes, easy peasy to get this going.

Go online and find several easy keto approved meals. Casseroles are great…you always have leftovers. Print out your recipes and put them in a notebook for handy reference.

Make out your grocery list with the ingredients needed for your new recipes.

Get rid of all the non-keto foods. Throw them away, donate them, just get them out of the house. It isn’t being wasteful to get rid of them. It’s saving your health. Besides, they take up valuable space for the good stuff!

When you fix a new keto meal, decide whether that recipe is a keeper or not. In the meantime, keep browsing for new recipes. Keep the ingredient list simple. You’ll be surprised at what you can do with the basics and then add seasonings and spices.

Don’t worry about the scales…good things happen deep inside the body before it becomes visible on the outside.

Use healthy fats when preparing your meals, especially if frying. Use olive oil, coconut oil, butter, real lard (not hydrogenated).

Once you get the glucose out of your body, your focus will improve. It’s like your brain has 20/20 thinking! Totally amazing! Your energy level will go through the roof, your appetite will diminish and you will have to remind yourself to eat.

Since you are diabetic, be careful with your medications. You will most likely have to gradually lower the doses as your blood glucose levels decrease. This is where a keto friendly nutritionist would be helpful.

You can count macros if you want, (I didn’t and lost 30 pounds effortlessly) but the main thing is to read labels. Check for the carb and sugar content. Work at keeping your daily carbs at 20 or below. If you aim for zero carbs, you’ll easily keep below 20.

I won’t add anymore as the idea is to keep this simple. Once you get going you’ll be able to fine tune your own personal keto way of eating to fit you. Good luck! Don’t give up…YOU CAN DO THIS!

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #57

Yes, but a ¼ cup of cream doesn’t have very many carbs. I don’t know about oven coming. I just do stove top.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #58

According to the USDA Nutrient Database

Cream, fluid, heavy whipping

contains 2.92 total grams of carbs per 100 grams. In my estimation that’s a fairly small carb tax for something as good and nutritious as whipping cream.

(Meagan Zepeda) #59

I used to be like that. I have a lot on my plate. I stopped making it about how many carbs and focused on where the real nutrition was. I’m now Carnivore for a year and a half. I only eat red meat, some eggs, butter, some bacon and ONLY animal products. I’ve continued to lose weight. I eat once or twice daily and I’m doing far better. Cut out ALL carbs and stick with the meat. After a week you’ll wonder why it took so long to start

(Kirk Wolak) #60

IMO,
That confusion feeling is your brain FIGHTING your decision. It’s like that “Stressed” feeling that shows up and encourages me to be a little more lenient on myself (of course, allowing me to cheat a little).

My experience is simply this (and from watching others):

  1. We are ADDICTED to foods (Especially Sweet Tastes)
  2. We have Trigger Foods that we will eat until the bag is gone (Think Nuts)
  3. There is NOTHING worse that FIGHTING your own feelings of Deprivation!

This diet, in it’s easiest form is NOT Confusing!
TRYING TO FIND WHAT YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH… THAT’S CONFUSING!
(Honestly, because it varies. What you can do for ONE day is not what you can do EVERY day).

Make your life easier:
A) Define the basics of the diet. Since you have played around the edges, GET STRICT. And I mean REALLY Strict:

  • Total Carbs Not net carbs
  • No Snacking
  • No Eating outside of your meal times!
  • No Sweeteners
  • Give up Dairy for 1 week, if it makes a huge difference, you, like many, don’t tolerate it well!
  • Measure your MORNING Blood Glucose/Ketones DAILY when you wake up
  • Only Natural/Whole Foods (Meat and Vegetables). Do NOT remove fiber in your carb count!

that will get you back on track. Whenever you get CONFUSED. COMMIT to doing that for 7-10 days.

B) Read my post on the Levers of weight loss/stalls. The Levers of Power (What to Measure, What to Control) to avoid stalling/stalls

C) You have done the first step of taking SOME Responsibility. Go the next step. You KNOW what to do. Follow the basic list. Eat until full. Do NOT eat non-foods or “Keto treats/snacks”.

I will end with a parable about 2 people. Husband and Wife. Husband has lost 70+ lbs is back to his High School weight. He does OMAD and mostly Carnivore (80% he does have cauliflower mash with cheese, and dairy, and a BPC from time to time). His wife, she is “confused” about the diet after over a year, and having lost a lot of weight. She slowly started adding splenda to her coffee, and making Keto Lemon Bars (They are AMAZING, BTW). He tries the bars, and realized he could eat all of them, and having 2 of them makes him wake up hungry, and screws up his morning glucose/ketones. He made the decision to ONLY have these things on Holidays! WOW!

She refuses to measure her Morning Numbers any more, and is slowly regaining her weight. The diet is becoming MORE confusing with every decision she makes.

Is she a bad person? NO! She is cheating her way to failure, though. But she feels she gave up so much to get here, that she DESERVES to be able to ENJOY these things. And that’s the problem. She is eating to ENJOY, and not to nourish. She is triggering Dopamine. And every time she does, she needs a BIGGER hit the next time.

I AM GUILTY of this. Most of us are. This is our beast! Fast Forward, her husband gained 3 pounds recently, and his morning numbers have SLOWLY started to SUCK (Glucose higher, ketones lower). He then admits. Well, I started putting 1/4 pack of splenda in my BPC… It tastes so good that way. Then I noticed I am up to 1 pack. And as I increased it, my stall turned into weight gain. ALSO, I notice that having the BPC like this OPENS my eating window from OMAD to a 4hr eating window.

Thank goodness he was tracking. He pieced together his daily notes and realized what the pattern was. THIS is why I recommend testing, recording and a food log (an honest one). Don’t share it. Just for you.

IF you are serious (and honestly, I believe 80% of the people are NOT, they want the easy weight loss, and not the nourishment side, they don’t have money for meters, but do have it for Keto Candy Bars)… Then please read the above post. Start testing, and simply recording. Pay attention to how you feel in the morning.

My best friend is doing this now. He said “Wow, when I wake up STARVING, I quickly think about what I did last night, and EITHER I ate something I should not have, or I ate late watching a movie with my wife!” (Tracking Helps. Not being hungry all the time REALLY helps).

If you need any help after reading the articles. Just ask.

Good Luck!

(Bob M) #61

This is one reason I gave up eating nuts. The other is that most of them are insanely high in PUFAs.

#63

Dopamine and endorphins.

(Keto Koala 🐨) #64

I’m new as well and I’m confused by net carbs too. I suck at maths so it’s hard for me. Good luck. I’m learning slowly too.

(Keto Koala 🐨) #65

I do that as well. I’m pretty boring. I have a coffee with heavy cream for breakfast, 4 eggs and some brie cheese for lunch and for dinner I have meat (usually mince" fried in coconut oil or butter with a bit of lettuce and some cheese and sour cream on top. Fancy recipes confuse the he’ll out of me. Plus it’s a terrible heatwave right now in Australia (the worst in history) so I don’t want to be slaving over a stove in this heat.

#66

wow I understand the heat…not as bad as you got it I am sure.
I am in the Southeast and when it gets hot, no oven at all definitely LOL
We grill meat outside. I love the grill taste anyway or I fry up on the stovetop fast. I hate using the oven even in winter. I like food done fast, eat, and over. Waiting on some whole chicken to cook for 2 hrs drives me crazy HA

(Keto Koala 🐨) #67

Hahaha, same here. I hate spending hours preparing food. My meal is cooked in 5 minutes.

#68

Do yourself a big favor now from the start and just count total carbs :slight_smile:

net carbs is when you take out fiber, or fake sweeteners, so you can then ‘net down’ the carb count on that food you are eating.

it isn’t a good way to roll FROM MY personal opinion on that.
You can never go wrong just counting total carbs!

but some companies like Atkins and more started net carbing so people could ‘eat more carbs’ and say the fiber doesn’t count, the fake sweetener doesn’t count etc…it improves their plan eating kinda on that plan. just how I see it.

not a fan of net carbs…total carbs is the real truth of it all for me but everyone will pick how they want to do carbs…net them or total them. You kinda pick a way to roll and go for it.

(Keto Koala 🐨) #69

[quote=“Fangs, post:68, topic:96482, full:true”]

Do yourself a big favor now from the start and just count total carbs :slight_smile:

Cool, will do :blush:

#70

you just made your life a little easier :slight_smile: if you roll like me that is always a good thing HAHA Cool

(Keto Koala 🐨) #71

:sunglasses::sunglasses::sunglasses:

(Patricia) #72

Hey, Mardew, welcome to the club! I am about to turn 68 and have been doing keto for 3 1/2 years now. Although I have had quite a bit of success, I have been stalled for at least a year. I need to lose another 20-30 pounds, not to get to my early twenties weight, but to get to a reasonable weight for an old gal. I have lost 55 pounds and now have problems with sagging skin which I don’t think I can address until I lose more weight. Oh well, better to lose the weight than to keep it on. I have a family history of type 2 diabetes and may have been diabetic myself when I was eating lots of carbs. Since losing the weight, I have been able to discontinue my hypertension medication. Yay!

Lately, though, I have been struggling. I have gained back a couple of pounds and am having cravings. I find it difficult to go hard core as so many here are managing to do. Also, I hate to cook, but that’s another story. For that matter, I’m not too keen on exercise, either. :smile: However, having said that, I will not give up on keto, because it is the only diet I have managed to stick with, and I have tried all of them. I lost a lot of weight on a low-cal, low-fat diet once, but it almost made me go crazy. I was depressed and started saying things impulsively, which didn’t go over well with my family. I also went to bed every single night with my stomach growling. Needless to say, I didn’t stick with it and regained all the weight. I had also become anemic.

Many people here say they can eat whenever they are hungry, but I suspect that is not true for everyone, and I think I will have to count calories as well as carbs. Being an older woman and having messed up my body so many years with dieting, I don’t think it is possible for me to lose weight eating when I am hungry. I will just have to put up with some hunger if I want to continue losing.

My husband is a type 2 diabetic, and he eats whatever he wants and doesn’t move much. His doctor keeps having to add medicines to his regimen, but it won’t work in the long run. I can’t convince him to change, so I know there is trouble in the future. The medications for type 2 lower blood sugar, but they do not stop the underlying damage taking place in the body. They treat the symptoms, not the disease.
They also give people a false sense of security, because they feel better so they continue to eat what they want, etc. If I have to give up food I love, to avoid the ravages of diabetes, I am more than willing to do that.

Anyway, that’s my story. We are all different here but working towards the same goal of being healthy. Glad you joined us.

(Marianne) #73

Great tips.

Yes, yes, yes and yes!

(Richard Hanson) #74

Hi Meagan,

My dog eats like that.

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E3691F4D-7DA9-4213-898C-816C5F3136B3.jpeg3024×4032 1.4 MB

Wuotan also gets bones, excreting organs and about 3 to 5% vegetable matter.

Just meat alone is not sufficient nutrition even for a dog. Animal products, to a great extent yes, but not just meat.

Keto for Life,
Richard

(Deborah) #75

Hi Mardew and Welcome aboard.

Just a little into on arthritis. They are finding out if you skip the nightshades the pain goes away. Try this for a month and see if it works for you. If did for me. :grinning: