From the beginning my story is probably like so many,i ate pasta,3-4 times a week,it was our main staple food,a whole box of the blue box stuff was nothing for a mid day snack,i ate cakes everyday,breakfast of candy bars and soda pop,oreos,chocolate chips,marshmallow cookies,there was no limit,eating out at least twice a week and who counts how many double cheeseburgers and fries at the drive thru!we could go through a bag of flour and 3 lbs of sugar a week…2 cases of soda a week? Yep! I was tipping the scales at 300lbs,being only 5’10" and closing in on being 60 years old and boy was my body talking to me!
Then i started keto about 8 months ago,i was really strict the first 4 months and lost about 40 lbs.Then i laxed off for about a month,then sorta kinda got back into it after that.For the last month or so,i have been really strict on not eating any,sugars,flours,pastas or starchy foods and i thought i was doing fine,i wasn’t losing weight like i wanted but i figured it would pass and i would slowly start to lose a little here and there.
I read a lot about keto and all the numbers that are thrown around and sometimes it just boggles my mind and i see or interpret a lot of contradictions,eat all you want,don’t count calories,exercise not required…so long as carbs are super low,no sugar,starches yada yada.
Then i see,find your total caloric needs based on lean body weight,then eat x carbs,x proteins,x fat for a total caloric intake,make sure there is a deficit in calories so you can lose weight of blah blah blah.Eat all the meat you want,wait,to much protein is bad,nah it’s ok so long as you eat more fat than protein.
Then all the numbers.I no a lot of people say to k.i.s.s. but i really want to understand all that is going on,calorie deficit has always been taught as the way to lose weight,eat less exercise more.My Dr told me exercise is useless in trying to lose weight and i see his point as he explained it to me,exercise for cardio,not weight loss.
Here is where i am,i have pretty much not lost anything in the last couple of months.My carbs are like 30 or less a day,sometimes less,i avoid flour,rice,potatoes,sugar,pastas,breads or any of the bad stuff,zero…We follow a lot of keto recipes like fat head pizza,sometimes use that dough for buns,rare but sometimes.I eat probably 3-4 dozen eggs a week,2 or 3lbs of bacon,strip steak at least twice a week,we go through about 3 lbs of hamburger a week,we eat skin on fried chicken,tacos with cheese shells,you get the idea,we eat a LOT of meat.I rarely snack,if we do it’s another keto recipe like a chocolate mug cake with almond powder and swerve.
The point of my rambling here is that i started looking at my numbers to figure out why i stopped losing any weight and i got some surprising info.I have been checking my glucose levels lately and they aren’t horrible but not that great,i average around 100-105 after waking up,i keep pretty steady throughout the day,for eating minimal carbs and zero sugar,that doesn’t sound right.I checked for the dawn effect and that was ok,I got some keto strips and took my glucose level,which was 105, then i checked keto level on the meter and it registered a .2,that gives me a GKI of 29! a .2 and 29 was a slap in the face for the sacrifices i have been making.
Should i just go back to the basics and start counting calories and macros and weighing everything? Should i cut back on meat? I usually use MCT oil in the morning with coffee and we go through a lot of cheese and butter everyweek.
At my weight of 250 lbs,i have 35% body fat,keto buddy and keto calculator are pretty close,saying my caloric intake should be around 2155 and doing a 26% deficit would mean i need to do 1720 cal a day,yielding a small weight loss every month.There is my conundrum…now my keto eat all you want sans the bad stuff just turned into a real life,count your calories D I E T,those four ugly letters.
I have read a lot about fasting,is this just to get into ketosis or is it something that needs to be done on a regular basis? I love to eat and going without food for a day or 2 just scares me.
I am not gaining weight,which is a good thing but i would like to lose at least another 40lbs,any thoughts?
Lost in Keto
Do you listen to 2 keto dudes podcast? Carl had one on fasting, his experience and calorie intake. Up the fat calories before fasting and that kick starts your metabolism. Also look for hidden sugar/ starches in foods.
I don’t fast except overnight (intermittent). I keep my eating to between 10 and 6, and eat 3 meals. You’re not required to fast to be successful with Keto, although fasting has its own benefits worth exploring.
If you want to track your food intake you can. Focusing on your daily macronutrients could give you insight as well as keep you focused.
It sounds like you’ve done well and eat good foods.And you still have weight to lose so there’s nothing wrong with examining what you’re doing in order to get those ponds melting off…
Good luck!
Maybe it’s a good idea to track your actual intake for a week: carbs, fat, proteing and calories. At the very least you will have a baseline for what you have going in.
To track or not to track is a personal preference. Some people love the data, or feel like it keeps them accountable. Others eat what they know works.
I am not advocating either, but I think you would benefit from a week of really knowing what you are taking in.
All of the conflicting information you stated above is right. Eat to satiety, but don’t eat too much. Eat more meat, but be careful because too much protein will cause glucose/insulin spikes.
Information that appears conflicting really isn’t. It represents the fact that some tactics work in some people, and not others. There are many paths to the same destination.
You have an good tool (ketone meter) and you’re monitoring a causative variable (GKI). All that’s missing is a vehicle. It could be extended fasting, time restricted eating, macro and/or calorie counting, exercising… Pick something you like and start tracking. Make tweaks based on the variable you’re monitoring and keep going.
My path: I monitor my BG and BK and try to keep my GKI < 3 most days. My vehicle of choice is extended fasting. Except for the occasional experiment, I don’t count calories, track macros or weigh food. Many of my meals aren’t even LC. Weight loss was 70 lbs in 6 months, achieving normal BMI.
i appreciate the comments and have been taking a hard look at where i am and what i’ve accomplished so far.I am questioning if i have ever really been in ketosis.Maybe the weight i have lost has just been from cutting out all of that bad stuff,believe there,there was a lot of bad stuff!
i’ve read a lot of informative posts here and i still try to learn all i can.I am going to take the advice here and start off trying to find out more info about the food i eat and how i can work it into my way of eating.
Going to start today with some time restricted eating,i like the sound of that.I know the last time i ate dinner was at 6pm last night,then i had a sugar free jello cup with a tablespoon of cool whip at 9pm,so this morning,i am skipping breakfast,thinking this will increase my fast time by doing time restriction eating.i will see how i feel at noon.I’ll try this for a week then compare numbers and go from there.I am just not a very well disciplined person and the keto way seemed like an easy way to eat and not worry to much about how much i ate so long as i was eating good fat.I couldn’t hardly believe when i first started keto,how the cravings for sweets went away,i always felt full and just no real desire to snack on that garbage,it was almost to easy.lol
good day,thanks again for the tips!
The first thing that I noticed was the volume of food you are eating at your weight and BF, I started my journey at 250 and 33% same height age 44. I was going through about 1 and 1/2 pounds of bacon at the onset. Once I keto adapted I was down to about a pound a week in bacon or the like. I averaged 2 eggs a day most days, and roughly 1/4 pound of a meat(80/20, salmon patty etc) You are taking in a lot of protein from what I see, maybe you are kicking it over to glucose and as you say are keeping yourself out. As you loose weight you have to adjust your macros down, I had a hard time with this after I lost weight.
KISS worked for me, I made a small spread sheet of the protein, fat and carb content of the normal items I would eat at very easy portions sizes. For the first few weeks I did the math, based on my first two meals of the day when I was still eating 3 times a day to make the last meal at work(2nd shift). AFter a while the portions became second nature and I could judge pretty well what I was eating for the macros.
Fasting started to happen on its own, I would go into my routine daily and not eat breakfast, after a while it became normal. Now I rarely eat more than twice a day, and lately only once quite a lot.
Extended fasting although not needed has brought me through a personal goal, and has lessened my hunger even more. But I fat adapted and I was taking advantage of the beer I drank a few years ago.
You can do this, you have the start you just need some tweaking.