My Keto, low carb journey

keto
(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #122

Autocarrot strikes again, lol! The image of drinking a logger (presumably his blood?) will remain with me for a long time. :grin::grin:

(Robin) #123

So you have a thing for lumber jacks. Me too

(Chuck) #124

Well I look at the calories that all of the different charts, and calculators say I can eat and still lose weight, and I canā€™t even come close to eating that much on the low carb, keto lifestyle, and my weight loss is still extremely slow. I understand that at this time I am at the weight I was at in my twenties after boot camp, which was my military years. Like I said earlier the last time I was here trying to lose weight it took almost 3 months to lose below 208, but once below 208 I lost fairly quickly down to below 200. My doctors recommended I get down to 180 at least. While 170-175 sounds good to me, it has been been 40 years since I have been that low. Most of my family says I shouldnā€™t lose anymore but my belly and waist still says I have plenty to lose.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #125

You can show your family this picture of what a normal-weight guy looks like:

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After fifty years of governmental dietary guidelines, hardly anybody looks like this anymore.

(Chuck) #126

I did before I went into boot camp, but darn sure didnā€™t after boot camp.

(Chuck) #127

I actually donā€™t care what I weigh as long as I am healthy, and have the energy that I need as well as look reasonably good when I need to dress up. I live in a resort community that is mostly senior citizens and at 75 years old I sometimes feel like a teenager compared to so many I see here, that are still extremely active and look so much younger than their age. My real embarrassment is that I still have so much belly hangover.

(Chuck) #128

My weight still isnā€™t budging but I am noticing that my jeans are becoming looser around the waist. My problem continues to be with belly fat. My jeans are feeling comfortable and looser around the waist band but the rest of my jeans in the thighs, the rear is so baggy.
I have actually lowered my fat intake by 10% and increased protein by 10%. I am still staying with no more than 50 total carbs per day. I am holding on to approximately the same number of calories. I am breaking up my first meal of the day by rotating between eggs, bacon or sausage, with almond milk and whey protein. And my smoothies that I created to meet my protein, fat, and carb ratio that I am holding onto. I am considering it a win seeing I am seeing measurement improvement even though I am not seeing weight loss.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #129

That would suggest, then, that you are adding one type of weight (lean mass) while losing another type (fat mass). Since lean mass is denser than fat mass, this explains both the loosening of your clothing and the lack of change in your scale weight. Of course, added muscle eventually adds enough bulk to make clothes tight again, but denser bones grow heavier without expanding their dimensions.

#130

That is great! Unless one needs a lower weight to lower the burden on their joints or for a competition, what does it matter? :slight_smile:

What are your macros now? I donā€™t remember if you wrote about your earlier ones, sorry if you did.
I am always super interested about other peopleā€™s macros and experiences.
Do you have some natural ratio? (Itā€™s 65% fat for me and itā€™s a challenge to stray from it.)

(Chuck) #131

I am averaging 55 fat/35/ protein/ 10 carbs but that is no more than 50 carbs total. I am not pay much attention to calories at this time I am down to one tenth of a pound a week of weight loss. Personally I am not worried about the scales just my waist and belly. I can tell my doctor it is what it is. But my goal is much more about being off the prescribed medications and staying off of them. I have a firm belief that once this winter is over and I am back out daily on the trails that my weight will come down it always does.
And what the heck if my body is eating itā€™s own fat, and my weight is stable like I have been told then I am either replacing the fat with muscle or denser bones, either is a win at my age.

(Chuck) #132

I may have gotten past my plateau! After 3 weeks of not really losing weight, just bouncing around between 209 and 208 I have gone below 208 but just barely. Like I have said every tenth of a pound is a victory but an half pound is really great.
The biggest win isnā€™t the weight loss but the fact I am seeing real progress with my jeans. I can button my slim cowboy cut jeans but still donā€™t feel comfortable wearing them yet.

(Robin) #133

Yes! Pants donā€™t lie. Scales do! Good for you!

Note: May or may not be relevant to youā€¦
I rarely weigh, but when I did and I had been in a stall while eating strict keto or carni, I would check my calories. And sure enough, I needed to up my calories. Every single timeā€¦ the scales starting moving down again.

You probably already know that. But I have learned to occasionally check my calories now, as itā€™s easy to under-eat or forget to eat.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #134

This is the aspect of a ketogenic/carnivore diet that I find most fascinating.

I tried the ā€œeat less, move moreā€ weight loss method, and it drove me crazy. I donā€™t do well with hunger, and counting calories somehow activated a mental block for me. To be able to eat all I wanted (as opposed to stuffing my stomach, lol!) and not have to count calories felt like heaven, and losing all that weight with no effort felt like a dream.

(Chuck) #135

I still have trouble eating the number of calories I should eat. I went so long with what I believe now as severely under eating. As a side note I do enjoy and find that daily fasting on at least 16 hours does make me feel better. And I love the fact I no longer feel bloated or uncomfortable after eating.

#136

Meanwhile I keep eating way too muchā€¦ It seems even fat fast doesnā€™t work on me anymore. Okay, it wasnā€™t a fat fast day as I easily ate 1700 kcal at dinner (and only 86% fat because I run out of my fatty item I base my carni fat fast days on)ā€¦ I am not satiated but not hungry so I give it a chance that I can pull it off without another mealā€¦

But I do proper carnivore now and hopefully this hungry phase will end soon (today wasnā€™t high-cal but my normal days are). I donā€™t normally have it this bad near/on carnivore (not like I ever lost fat but letā€™s blame my off times, thatā€™s probably right), it is really a different world, nothing like my keto, either my old or newer one, non-animal net carbs are problematic.

And if I keep eating a lot, maybe I gain some muscles now, thatā€™s nice as well (and helps with fat-loss later). Of course, eventually I should lose fat to show off my little muscle gainā€¦

Letā€™s have a successful February, everyone! Whatever is our respective goals!

(Chuck) #137

I am lucky if I eat 1600 calories in a day. I just canā€™t stomach that amount of food.

(Chuck) #138

Yesterday I managed to eat my whole calorie budget and it left me feeling bloated. This morning I was up a pound over yesterday which is nothing new for my weight to fluctuate at least that much. This morning I feel good and definitely not feeling like I need to eat. Like always I will not eat until after 10am and not then if I donā€™t feel like I need to eat.

We all need to go to a quiet place, and listen to out bodies,. My body screamed out at me back this last August and it lead to me finding keto/low carb and start healing my body, mind and soul. That scream was my body telling me that modern medicine isnā€™t working and that I needed to go back to using what I eat as the medicine for my body, mind and soul. Doing so has given me peace of mind that I hadnā€™t had in years. Food as medicine was what our ancestors knew instinctively. When you eat the foods that your body needs to be healthy, your whole body, mindset and soul will be intact. What does that mean? It means that you make much better decisions, you move with the stability that you more than likely havenā€™t while eating the foods that poison your body with inflammation. As someone that rides a motorcycle I noticed it almost from the point that I switched my diet. I had a clarity of mind, a more natural rhythm with my motorcycle, it was like we were one working together and not two individuals trying to do two different things.
It sounds crazy to anyone that hasnā€™t experienced it but it true. I first noticed it when I was very young and my dad taught me to ride, his comment was you have to become one with your bike to ride safely.
Yes food is nutrition but it should be more. The medicine of our body, mind and soul.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #139

We have one scale in the house, on which my weight can vary 20-30 lbs. over successive weighings, one after the other. So I quickly learned not to take my weight too seriously.

My current scale gives a reading that is not only more accurate but more consistent when you step on it repeatedly, and even with that scale, I get weird fluctuations throughout the day. The last scale I used, my late fatherā€™s, consistently told me that I weighed 40 or 50 pounds less than my actual weight, but gave my fatherā€™s weight accurately. Go figure!

(Chuck) #140

I have a bathroom scale that seems to be accurate. I know that it tracks very closely to the scales of in the VA clinic I go to.

#141

My old mechanical scale (I bought it second hand 12 years ago, my first and probably last personal scale) varies only a bit and if I step on it a few times, it decides on something. I suspect it has a personality though as it tends to show 75g all the time if I step on it (if itā€™s before my first meal, I do get heavier after that), before and after getting off warm clothes alikeā€¦ But the clothes are still just 1kg at most, accurate enoughā€¦

But I only care about my pants nowadays. I still have a fitting one so easy to feel even tiny differences. My body doesnā€™t randomly retain more water so thatā€™s no problem.

Smart bodyā€¦ Mine didnā€™t do that. But maybe because I felt pretty healthy on high-carbā€¦? I always blamed that I never did low-carb so my body had no idea what that is like. After I showed it to my body, it smarted up and know it is very adamant about what it wants. With some indulgence, I need that.
Food as medicine, it makes perfect sense, food is what our body can use to do all the building, repair, energy makingā€¦ Bad food easily causes diseases and other problems. Sometimes I wonder why so many people doesnā€™t get that our diet is super important for our health.

I always felt pretty close to my lovely bike, Ciliegiaā€¦ Dropping carbs only changed me mentally regarding food itself (and only when I dropped it really low, at least the plant ones). Of course, itā€™s individual, we have different changes and need different strictness for them.