New Diet. Who dis? Day 4 and loving it

(Brandie) #1

I am 4 days into this new adventure and so far… LOVING IT. I’m totally in the honeymoon phase.

I wasn’t expecting the water WHOOSH that I’ve had, because even before starting, my carb intake was never over around 90g a day. But whoa… as of today I’m 8 pounds down! Score!!

I’m not yet experiencing the dreaded Keto Flu… feeling good and no complaints so far. Loving being able to snack on cheese or macadamias if I’m hungry!!

I do have one question though… I need help on getting my protein down a little and my fat up. Right now, I’m sitting at about 26 grams under on the fat, but about 1 gram over on the protein. So my protein is about where it needs to be, but I’ve got to figure out how to add a bit more fat without adding protein or carbs. I cook with liberal amounts of butter. I’m a big carnivore… so I’m finding myself having to be a little careful about the meat due to the protein.

Suggestions? :slight_smile:

#2

Have you tried bulletproof coffee? I had to up my fat and lower my protein as well, so I now have two of these a day. I mix my coffee with 1 tbsp. MCT oil, 1 tbsp. heavy whipping cream, and 1 tbsp. butter. I also like to fry up avocado slices in butter or bacon fat. Both are good ways to get your fats up without adding protein. Oh, and I also sometimes add heavy whipping cream to a Zevia soda - it tastes like a float!

Are you being careful about your electrolytes? Keto flu may set in if you aren’t watching your salt, magnesium, and protein intake, especially if you are losing a lot of water - it is likely flushing out all your electrolytes.

Remember when figuring out your macros, you have protein as a goal, but fat isn’t a true goal. You can add fat as needed for satiety, but there isn’t really a fat number you have to hit, as long as you are getting more fat than protein. However, I found that upping my calories while keeping my protein towards the low end of my macro range helped break a stall, and the only way to get those calories was with fat!

If you need any more information as a newbie, please feel free to download this free e-book, Crack the Keto Code, which I helped work on. It has all the information you will need regarding electrolytes, macros, which foods to eat and which to avoid, a sample meal plan, recipes, etc.

Good luck!

(Brandie) #3

I don’t drink coffee at all-- can’t stand the stuff. Avocados are the same. I’ve never liked them, which I know is one drawback since they are a go-to food for a lot of folks. Beverage wise, I just drink water and the occasional broth or tea with stevia.

As of my tracker for yesterday… I’m getting about 1 more gram of fat per day than protein, so I know the ratio is a smidge too close.

I started taking supplements about 2 weeks before starting the diet in the hopes that I could maybe avoid keto flu-- since I have a pretty active job in a warehouse and really can’t afford to be “down for the count”. I’m thinking that is what is helping me since I don’t feel rough at all… that, plus I have never been shy with the salt. I have a bleeding disorder, so high blood pressure has never been an issue, so I’ve never had to watch my salt.

(jketoscribe) #4

There are two schools of thought on fat. One is, eat fat to satiety. So if you are not hungry and you are losing well, no need to increase fat. The other school of thought is eat fat to burn fat, so more fat is better. If you are doing well without more fat, then no need to push it. But if you think it would help, you have to be creative.

You can easily add fat to your tea or broth. Wisk some butter into your broth–it’s delicious. Try coconut oil in your tea–blend it or use a frother so you don’t have to drink an oil slick. (There is refined coconut oil that has no smell or taste if you dislike coconut). Consider having your tea with a bit of cream or coconut milk. Have some olives or a square of cheese as a condiment with your meal. Be generous adding butter or olive oil to your veggies. Choose a fattier cut of meat, or munch on a few pork rinds. Use pork rinds for breading for meat or veggies. When there’s a will, there’s a way.

(Brandie) #5

Mmmmm pork rinds. I had forgotten about those!!

I’ll have to try the coconut oil in my tea. I love the flavor of coconut itself… but I’ve never put oil in my tea.

#6

FWIW, the pork rinds in my cupboard have more grams of protein than fat, so I’m not sure those will assist you on your ratios.

If you add oil to tea or coffee, it’s a bazillion times better if you blend it with a blender or a stick blender. Just adding it and stirring it is BLEH.

(Brandie) #7

Coconut milk would blend better with about the same effect, yes?

#8

Dunno. Never opened a can of coconut milk for this purpose, but it’d certainly be less oily than coconut oil. Worth a shot I suppose…

(Brandie) #9

Couple more questions… mostly along the lines of “side effects”

  1. I’m normally a very cold person. Like, I can wear long sleeves in 80 degree weather and be comfy. For the past two days, I am constantly ROASTING… like, I want to just lay around in front of the fan hot.

  2. Heartburn. I’ve never really had issues with this before… but I have had raging heartburn the past couple days as well.

Are these normal? Should they stabilize? Anything I can do, particularly for the heartburn?

(Khara) #10

@blwoods77 Congrats!

Being hot - yes, this is normal for me. I assume, don’t know for sure, that it’s my body adjusting to my new way of eating.

With the heartburn I have to wonder if it’s a new thing in your diet that you didn’t eat prior to Keto? Maybe play around a few days by eliminating new Keto foods one at a time and seeing if the heartburn lessens with any particular one.

And, this may be controversial or unpopular but with regards to hitting the high fat macro… I recently saw a post elsewhere that says “If your body is already HF (high fat), then all you really need is the LC (low carb)”. This might over simplify Keto a bit but it helps me to keep in mind that right now anyway, it’s ok for my fat intake to not quite hit up at the high end since I’m pulling fat from my body. Once I get lean, and I have family at this point, I’ll definitely need to get my fat up to the high levels. When I remember this, it does seem to boil back down to the satiety. I’m currently satiated at slightly lower fat levels whereas my lean Keto family members require extra fat bombs daily to be satiated.

(Brandie) #11

Nothing new in the diet that I didn’t consume before— more fats of course, but nothing new. I’ve cut out a ton of things, but everything that I’ve been eating has been things I’ve eaten for years, just without the extra pasta, potatoes, and snacking on sugary snacks and drinking soda. Here’s a sample of my typical daily intake right now:

Breakfast–
2 egg whites cooked in butter (I hate the yolk)
1 cubed steak cooked in butter
1 cuppa tea (now adding the coconut milk)

Lunch–
2 cups of spinach
1 serving of grilled chicken
Cheddar cheese
High fat low carb dressing

Dinner–
Modified Stroganoff (Ground Beef, Sour Cream, Cream Cheese, Salt)
Zucchini in butter

Snacks-- either a couple of freshly cut cubes of cheddar (I don’t ever buy prepackaged due to the extras they add to keep it from sticking) Or macadamia nuts (single serving-- I don’t overdo them)

I will sometimes have a 2nd cup of tea later in the evenings, depending on how I feel after work (sometimes I just fall straight into bed-- 10 hours in a warehouse)

(Carpe salata!) #12

Dip celery sticks into mayo. You can even make your own mayo how you like it :slight_smile:

(Khara) #13

Hmm. Maybe just the increase in fat is causing some heartburn for your body. Hope to hear it subsides.

(Melissa) #14

I don’t drink coffee either and love tea. I add coconut oil to my tea or MCT oil. I sometimes like diet iced tea and I add MCT oil to that.

(Brandie) #15

I added some coconut milk to my Oolong tonight and it…was… fabulous!!

(Khara) #16

I have been in and out of LC or Keto for 2 years now and still have not really used coconut milk. What type are you using? Boxed or canned? Any favorites? I’ve heard the canned type has meat (coconut) in it and you like use the juice or the meat differently. (?)

(Brandie) #17

I’m using canned, but there isn’t any meat in it as far as I can tell.

(Anderson Herzogenrath Da Costa) #18

Did you restrict calories before keto?
When you restrict calories for a long time your body adjusts to the calorie budget and one of the first things the body does is to “lower the heat” to save energy.
Now that you’re giving your body more energy it’s turning the heat on again.

(Brandie) #19

No. I’ve literally been cold my entire life. Even in childhood when I could eat my parents out of house and home. I’m more calorie restricted on Keto than I was off… because I’ve cut out my 5-6 sodas per day and 1-2 candy bars a day habit. I’m probably averaging 600 or so fewer calories a day, but actually feeling more full now.

(Brandie) #20

Ok… the one drawback to the always roasting.

Last night was my first shift back at work after starting the diet. Had great energy-- but I was also so hot that I was afraid I was going to fall out. I work 10 hour shifts in a warehouse… and some spots aren’t as well cooled as others. I’m going to have to hope this slows down a little as I adjust!!