New and confused

#1

Hello everyone

I’ve been reading on this platform for a while, but I decided to sign up and ask for advice because guess what, I’m overwhelmed already. I’ll try to keep it short, but please bear with me. I’ll give some background first just to explain why I’m trying keto.

So my weight has been up and down all my life; I’m 31. Two years ago, I went on a calorie deficit to lose weight and it worked fine. However, shortly after, I started dealing with professional and personal struggles which made me stress eat. I gained all the weight back and more. What’s worse, my health in general started going down hill. No energy, depression, brain fog, skin problems, hair loss to name a few. I tried to go back to calorie counting but I just couldn’t; I was hungry all the time. A couple of months ago, I went vegan. It helped a little, but later things got even worse. So I thought maybe my body is telling me something. I came across keto by accident and it just felt right.

My problem is, I’m too desperate to wait untill I learn everything. So, I decided to start by cutting carbs and sugar and increase fat a little then pick up things as I go. But the more I read, the more I worry that this is too sloppy and will make me feel horrible soon and discourage me.

It’s my second week. I’ve been having bulletproof coffee for breakfast, then one big meal at night ex: 250 g minced meat cooked in butter with mozzarella cheese wrapped in lettuce and a side of green veggies. I started IF right away just because I didn’t really feel hungry and thought why not speed up the process. But I read some posts saying it’s not a good idea. Also, I’m not counting macros, just trying to keep my calories from the coffee and one meal within 1500 limit. Is that too low? Am I eating too much protein and not enough fat? Will this sloppiness make keto flu worse for me when it hits? And should I start supplementing right away? Is it dangerous to focus on cutting carbs and not worry about protein/fat ratio?

I’m really sorry for this long novel; I’m just too drained and the energy and clarity of thinking I felt the first day made me wanna rush into keto and now I feel anxious.

Really appreciate any advice. Thanks

(Amy Ramadan) #2

My asvice, for what it’s worth is to keep it d mole at first. Keep your net carbs at or below 20 grams per day. That is the most important thing, starting out. Try not to stress so much, one thing at a time!! You got this!! Good luck

(Bunny) #3

Counting macros is a short-term solution to a long-term issues of maintaining an ideal healthy weight!

The Ketogenic Diet: Calorie Confusions & Details When Doing Keto and Intermittent Fasting: Dr. Berg talks about the confusions and complexities of figuring out your macros on a keto and intermittent fasting program.
Most ketogenic plans is based on one meal a day, which is easy to understand, but when you add intermittent fasting, another variable. Because when you go from 3 meals a day to 1 meal a day you will reduce your calories. And we also wanted to include veggies to this pie chart, because is another factor that most people neglect. As you consume your carbs, you can keep in your 20-30 grams for each meal. Then you have protein, which you want to keep the 20% of total calories, but because you are reducing the frequency of eating, you will lessen the gram amount, (or the ounces). Then you add the Fat Variable. In the beginning you need more fat, then as you adapt, you’ll need less. However, most protein already comes with fat and the best way to deal with fat is to GO BY HUNGER NOT ALWAYS BY RULE. If you are hungry, add more fat, if you are full, add less. Just don’t let yourself get bloated.

Related:

  1. 4 Reasons Macro Counting Isn’t Helping You Lose Weight: “…If you are considering IIFYM for weight loss, keep in mind that counting anything – calories or macros – is not effective for long-term results. Not convinced? Consider this: If you were to underestimate your carbohydrate intake by just 5 grams per day (that’s the difference between a small and medium-sized banana), you would gain approximately 20 pounds over 10 years. It’s virtually impossible to evaluate food intake that closely – especially over a lifetime. …”
  1. A new Micronutrient Calculator website indicating the nutritional status of the US population
  1. ”…The secret to long-term weight loss is to maintain your basal metabolism. What doesn’t put you into starvation mode? Actual starvation! Or at least the controlled version, intermittent fasting. …” “…Fasting triggers numerous hormonal adaptations that do NOT happen with simple caloric reduction. Insulin drops precipitously, helping prevent insulin resistance. Noradrenalin rises, keeping metabolism high. Growth hormone rises, maintaining lean mass. …” - Dr. Jason Fung
  1. basal metabolism: “… The minimum amount of energy required to maintain vital functions in an organism at complete rest, measured by the basal metabolic rate in a fasting individual. …” …More
#4

I am relatively new myself (about 4 weeks in). My advice is to not fast at this point. It is just one more thing that can derail you from the diet. You do not need to eat large meals but you should eat. I choose to keep it simple and stay below 20g of carbs. That’s it. I do not track my fat and protein or calories. I cut the carbs and worry about nothing else. I have lost 10 lbs so far so it seems to be working. Good luck.

(Carl Keller) #5

Hello and welcome. :slight_smile:

Plenty of people do this. It’s called lazy keto and it’s very successful for many. Keeping it simple at first means sustainability is a lot easier and unless you have some pre-existing health problems coming into keto, this shouldn’t make you feel horrible. Just remember some very simple things:

Stay under 20 net carbs.
Eat fat to satiety.
Get plenty of salt and water daily, to avoid the keto flu (carb withdrawal).

This should help with the brain fog, among other things. MCT oil and coconut oil can supercharge the brain and it’s even shown to help with things like dementia and alzheimers. If I need to cook with an oil, I usually pick coconut oil.

It’s only a bad idea if it slows your metabolism. The body might think you are starving and start shorting energy to things it feels are the least important. It will likely take months before you become fat adapted. At which time your body can use fat stores to supplement any caloric deficit and your metabolism doesn’t suffer. In many cases it will actually speed up since it’s a natural process/reaction for the body to say “hey, here’s some more energy and motivation. Now go catch us something to eat!”. I only started fasting (18hours or longer) after I was experiencing all day energy and it’s done well for me.

Refer back to my comment about lazy keto. Lazy keto should get you rolling and later, if your weight loss stalls, you can worry about tweaking those other things. As for supplements, I prefer to get what my body needs through what I eat. The market for supplements is overwhelming and full of products that are not efficient and very expensive so I won’t play that roulette. Maybe others will disagree and can offer you some supplements that do actually work well.

Good luck with your journey.

(John) #6

Keto flu is usually in the first week. If you are in week 2, you are past that. You seem to be overthinking this.

Eat three normal sized meals.
Try to minimize snacking.
Eat some meat/fish/poultry/eggs at each meal.
Eat some low-carb veggies / salads at each meal (or at least 2 meals).
Use healthy fats in cooking and as sauces.
You can eat nuts and dairy but try not to overeat these.

Example:
Breakfast - 2 eggs and 2-3 strips of bacon. 2 oz of raspberries.

Lunch - Baked chicken thigh, with a salad containing mixed greens (lettuces, spinach, etc), some cherry tomatoes, grated parmesan cheese, normal amount (1-2 Tbsp) of a full fat dressing like bleu cheese.

Dinner - Normal sized portion of steak or salmon, steamed broccoli with melted butter, another salad or perhaps some mushrooms sauteed in butter.

Drink only water, black coffee, unsweetened teas, sparkling water (regular or flavored), almond milk, coconut milk. Diet soft drinks if you must have them, but I prefer to avoid artificial sweeteners.

Other options for foods are things like tuna salad made from tuna, hard boiled egg, finely diced celery or green pepper, full-fat mayo. Or omelets made with a little heavy whipping cream, spinach, mushrooms, and swiss cheese. Deli-sliced meats with real cheese.

Lots of choices really. Just eat normal amounts of food, and shift the source of calories from mainly carbs to mainly fats while keeping protein at a reasonable level.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #7

This is an excellent resource.

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #8

I don’t generally respond to threads like yours but I feel like I could totally relate to you, and where you are with your starting point.

First of all, don’t blame yourself for this, it’s not your fault you gained the weight back with stress, it was bound to come back, because CICO doesn’t work in the end, you will ALWAYS put that weight back on, might not be within a month but slowly that weight will increase over time and you will be back to your starting point.

Honestly, too bloody bad, if you want results and you want to change your lifestyle, you are going to need to put the hard work in, just like the rest of us have, we will always be here to answer your questions but this is your journey, whilst we can lead you to water, we cannot make you drink.

You need to start tracking your macros if you want to get serious. That’s a good dinner. Find a good app like cronometer (https://cronometer.com/)

Can you answer some following questions for us so we can help you start?

What is your current weight and height?
What are your macros looking like? fat protein carbs?
Do you know if you have existing metabolic damage?