My intermittent fasting low carb journey

keto
(Doug) #343

Right on, Chuck. It does me good to read the forum, period. :slightly_smiling_face:

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #345

As long as you don’t overload your liver and start down the road to fatty liver disease.

(Chuck) #346

Then what do you do not eat at all? Well for me I eat the way that is working for me. Which by the way is me going back to the way I ate while growing up. I am old enough to have seen most of the population go from slim and fit to obese and with so many with type 2 diabetes and the rise of cancers that were unheard of. And it all started right after WW2 with the TV and commercials for all the cereals and who know what.
And by the way I am not paranoid like so many. I am 75 years old and have experienced so much that could have taken my life. I live now by my experiences and my gut feelings that have saved my life so many times. And I realize that when it is my time then I am ready with no regrets.

(Chuck) #347

Very true I do have common sense about what and how much I eat.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #348

“Real food” isn’t a guarantee that something is not harmful. Nuts can be a problem on a ketogenic diet, both because of their carb content and because they are often a trigger food for people. On a ketogenic diet they can easily become a primary source of too much carbohydrate. The absorption of fructose in whole fruits can be slowed to a rate safe for the liver if the fruit contains enough fibre, but their glucose content can still raise an insulin response, if total glucose consumption that day rises too high. And so forth.

If we want the benefits of nutritional ketosis—whether it be the beneficial epigenetic effects of the ketone bodies, gut healing, better fuel for the brain, heart, and other organs, the benefits of being able to metabolise fatty acids, or whatever—it is necessary to eat in a way that brings insulin down to the level where ketogenesis and fatty-acid metabolism become possible. It’s as simple as that.

Some people may be metabolically healthy enough that they can eat a larger quantity of carbohydrate than the rest of us and still be in ketosis, but for everyone, exceeding the insulin threshold, by exceeding our individual carbohydrate tolerance, means an end of ketosis and a return to glucose metabolism.

(Chuck) #350

Paul who is talking large amounts of any food whether it is carbs, protein or fat. I am talking common sense eating a close to a balanced diet. I am talking using common sense and also talking about listening to our bodies. If a person is eating what is right for their body they will not overeat, in fact they will only eat what is required to keep them healthy. I only rat within a 3 to 5 hour window of time each day. And I don’t eat the entire time, in fact I spend less than an hour eating totally each day. I eat to satisfy my body’s requirements. My diet is by my nature low carb and medium protein with fat being the higher percentage of my diet. Now I am not eating 20 carbs or less it is more like 50 to 75 carbs per day. But I don’t limit myself to a few types of carbs. I have a wide variety of foods to choose from. I don’t get bored and my body doesn’t get in a rut. I also do at least and hour walk at a good pace while I am fasting. Which means I am burning more fat off my body.
You take things to the extreme and you end up giving up. I am keeping things interesting and simple and listening to the needs of my body.

(Chuck) #351

I weigh what I weighed my 8 years of military service. I can wear my dress uniform. My doctor just emailed me that my latest lab results looked more like someone that is a 30 year old athlete. I am back to listening to what my body needs and requires. And I feel better and have more energy than I did at half my age.
You do what works for you and I am doing what works for me and hopefully down the line I can help let some one understand that one size doesn’t fit all.

(Chuck) #353

For all of you that question my method of getting to my destination I am eating low carb and intermittent fasting and I am seeing ketones in my testing everyday. No I don’t conform to keto diet, and I never really have. But I am happy to say my body doesn’t have to go so desperately that deep into no carbs to get to my healthy point. To this point I am pleasantly surprised seeing how many years I have been overweight or obese, well overweight by the stupid chart created by a bean counter. I still some fat to burn but at 18% body fat and being 75 years young I don’t have much extra. I am still 22 pounds overweight by that stupid chart. My waist is now an inch smaller than my inseams. So I must be doing something right!

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #354

The distinction between “low-carb” and “keto” is purely arbitrary. If your carb intake, whatever it is, is low enough to allow ketogenesis to occur (which it is, if you are losing fat), it is a keto diet.

#355

Yep. I can handle 5g apple any time. I better don’t eat half or something…
But zero still sounds better.

For some of us, sugar is sugar, it may be natural, it’s still unhealthy, hunger inducing and messing with our brain. For us who are like that, I mean, not everyone :slight_smile: Normal people merely should eat them in moderation as fructose from 3kg fruit can’t be good. And that amount is so easy to eat in a day… Yeah, my fruit eating habits changed quite drastically in the last decades :smiley: And I only did 3kg with watermelon anyway (3x1kg. I still can’t go below 1kg in one sitting unless it’s zero).
I LOVE my fruits and I can’t look at them like hard candies (well I hate hard candies…) BUT they have basically the same problematic substance in them.

Btw, I eat dried fruits (very, very rarely) and especially drink fruit juice (though I prefer eating it frozen). In moderation. Like, 1-2g sugar at a time on a normal, well-behaved day :slight_smile: It’s interesting that for some of us it’s about the sugar content, not the type of sugary item :slight_smile:

Main thing we try to find the right way for us :slight_smile: (Be it in ketosis or not. On on and off all the time that I do. I doubt I will stop but the pattern probably will change.)

(Chuck) #356

Yes depending on the person and the situation. I feel like I have finally found my grove, I can eat fresh fruits and not become someone that can’t stop eating. I am paying attention to trigger warnings in the food I eat. And as long I I stay away from items with wheat in it I am not seeing any triggers to continue to eat. There are certain foods that I can eat in very limited amounts such as white potatoes, rice, corn, and and fresh fruits. I am learning my limits and limitations. I am also learning how important intermittent fasting is to my lifestyle. I am learning I need that 19 hours of fasting most days of the week, and that I can cut it short for the occasional meal with my family and friends. So by stirring clear of my triggers, intermittent fasting, and staying within limits of certain carbs, I am finding balance and satisfaction in my life, I am burning fat for at least a certain amount of time most days, I am balancing my needs for fat, protein and carbs in my life.
There isn’t a single way of doing things, as so many want to believe. We humans or complicated and each of us have to find our own way.

(Chuck) #357

19 hour fast today, I spent the last 2 hours doing my walk on my training trail. I felt so good that I extended my walk today by an extra 2 miles giving me almost 20 hours of fasting. The first half a mile I felt a little sluggish but then all of a sudden I felt like the supercharger kicked in and the rest of the walk was effortless.

(Chuck) #358

I am settling in at 19 hours of fasting most days, and last night I feasted on my favorite meal, enchiladas, rice, refried beans, and a few tortilla chips with salsa. And the tortillas used for the enchiladas were flour. I was very nervous about how my stomach was going to handle the meal, but I haven’t felt better. I believe it is because I am very active and busy working on the yard, and walking the trails. My weight is down to 202 after a raise to 205 last week.

(Chuck) #359

21 hours of fasting and a 4 mile hike in the woods to help make my feast last night worth it. I feel great, and could have walked farther and could have fasted longer but scheduled obligations got in the way

(Chuck) #360

Today was a 21 hour fast while spending the morning working in the yard, storms are on the way so had to finish up some sprucing up of the yard. The last 6 days have all been days with at least 19 hours of fasting and most of my eating windows have been 4 hours or less. I have noticed an increase in energy, and what seems to be more slimming down of my body. My weight is fairly stable at between 201 and 204. I am inching down towards my goal of going below 200 pounds, but my weight isn’t as important as my body slimming down, and if I happen to gain some muscle that is even greater improvement than weight loss. I am quickly approaching size 34 jeans and my size medium shirts fit great. I am sticking with low carbs but with a much wider variety of carb items in my diet. It seems that the key for me is the intermittent fasting. I prevents me from having time to snack, giving my digestive system the needed nutrients while also having time to rest.

#361

Low carb can be a useful tool for intermittent fasting because it prevents insulin spikes which can make you hungry. So yes, when fasting you lose weight but when doing keto you are not hungry while doing so. Introducing a higher variety of food with potentially higher carbs can make fasting harder. Just as a thing to consider.

(Chuck) #362

I understand and I working from my 75 years of living. I know what my body needs as nutrition. My only problem has been highly refined and processed foods, real food isn’t necessarily a problem. I now understand that I can’t eat bread and other items, that have higher refined wheat, I also understand that I can’t eat cereals. And I understand I can’t eat fast food and drink soft drinks. But I am seeing weight loss and trimming down of my body with my low carbs and intermittent fasting.

(Chuck) #363

I managed to put on my goal jeans, the ones that I wore when I was at my best body size. They are just a little tighter than I feel comfortable with wearing. Maybe another couple of weeks the way things are going for me.

(Chuck) #364

I am still make great progress with my low carb lifestyle and have added 19 hours of intermittent fasting each day. I am down to just over 200 pounds, 200.9 to be accurate. I can now fit into my 34 jeans and my cowboy cut wrangler jeans. To answer a question the last time I was able to wear 34 jeans or the cowboy cut jeans I was weighing 188. Low carb and the fasting seems to be burning the fat off while my eating high quality protein along with my hiking and yard work, something I didn’t even feel like doing last year seems to be building some muscle mass.

(Chuck) #365

I am settling in nicely with the Fast5 intermittent fasting. My normal window for eating is from 1:00pm until 6:00pm, some days I don’t start eating until later and or stop eating early. When I check myself I am finding that I am naturally keeping within the low carb range with a higher percentage of fat calories than protein and carbs. Sometimes my carb and protein intake percentage wish is very close to the same but most most days I have higher amounts of protein than carbs. My weight is slowly decreasing by about 2 pounds a month. My measurements are still decreasing. I can now fasten my size 34 jeans but I am still not comfortable wearing them, maybe another couple of weeks. Am back on the trails when it isn’t raining, we are having one of the highest rainfalls for this year on record.