New to Keto - Aims and Early Approach

(Nick Brewer) #1

Hi all, I’m nearing the completion of my second week of my first Keto experience. I have heard and seen the benefits from family and friends and have decided to give it a go, as I have peaked at my heaviest weight of just touching 17st (28, male, lightly active) and and I’m starting to feel uncomfortable around my waistline… there’s only so many belt holes you can drop.

I’m hoping to gain advice from this learned community, as I am generally on the road 4 days of the week - my meals and evening meals are normally shop-bought for lunch and restaurant in the evenings.
The evening meals I feel I am doing alright with, fatty meat, swapping the chips for veggies… although I think I struggle with the level of fat intake.

At the minute I am living off a stack of pepperami, cheese-strings and now billtong (this was previously jerky until I realised the sugar content).

Weekend meals and breakfast are normally a combination of omelettes, homemade burgers (without the cob/bun), avocados, spinach, nuts

That’s about it! Will update as and when :+1:t2:

(Rebecca 🌸 Frankenfluffy) #2

Sounds good, Nick! A month ago, on the morning he started keto, my husband was pushing 15 stone - he has now lost over 20lb!

I haven’t got weight to lose but I am finding this WOE invaluable for my type 1 diabetes. I’ve been keto for a couple of years now and am delighted that Mr S has joined the party - we both really enjoy what we eat - and like you, Mr S loves a Peperami.

If you’re looking for inspiration on what to cook and eat then spend some time scrolling this incredible thread - you’ll never look back!

Also, Chaffles make EXCELLENT sandwiches - pure, bewitching alchemy right here.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #3

Sounds as though you are doing well. You might browse a bit on this site for menu suggestions and easy recipes. Most restaurants have a varied enough menu that you can generally order meat and veg or salad, McDonald’s is an inexpensive alternative, and they are always willing to provide bunless burgers, and so forth.

The main problem with eating other people’s food is not knowing what cooking oil they use. When I do eat out, I refuse to worry about it, but I do care about what I eat on a regular basis. Polyunsaturated fatty acids make up a high percentage of the commercial oils on the market. The problem is that in such quantity they cause systemic inflammation. Not only that, but the weird by-products they form when subjected to cooking temperatures get into our cell walls, with occasional serious consequences. When you cook for yourself, stick to butter/ghee, tallow, lard, and bacon grease—all the things they tell us not to use. Avocado, coconut, and olive oil are fine, but best not cooked with. (If you have a stick blender, making your own tasty mayonnaise out of them is dead easy.)

If you pre-cook a batch of bacon, you can take some with you to work as a snack. Some people find prepping ahead of time on the weekends to be tedious and difficult, whereas others get into an enjoyable rhythm. I suppose it helps if one has the ability to enjoy the same food several times during the week.

Good luck, and do let us know how you get on.

(Nick Brewer) #4

Thanks for the heads up. Not sure if this is generally US based forum but I’m from the UK. Either way, Chaffles look like something that are right up my street!

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #5

We have members from all over the world, but mainly from Australia and North America. Our British contingent is quite active, and I’m sure you’ll find them. If you look in the Community forum, you’ll find a U.K. sub-forum.

(Nick Brewer) #6

Good call a I will be browsing these pages over the coming weeks.

My current intent is to go Keto (or low carb and as Keto as possible) for 4 weeks with increased exercise - and then weigh myself. I think if I weigh weekly I will lose motivation potentially.

Will keep updates coming :+1:t2:

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #7

The key lies in eating in such a way as to keep insulin as low as possible for as much of the day as possible. This is the reason for the carbohydrate restriction, since the glucose in the carbohydrate has a profound effect on insulin secretion. The effect of protein on insulin is much less pronounced, and it depends on how much carbohydrate there is in the diet—protein has much less effect on a low-carb diet than on a high-carb one. Fat is the recommended source for filling in calories, because it has so low an effect on insulin as to be negligible. Remember that, while we need some insulin in order to stay alive, too much insulin is a Bad Thing (it also inhibits fat loss).

Exercise should be light, during the period when your muscles are switching from burning glucose to burning fatty acids. Don’t overstress yourself. Most of your weight loss will occur simply from cutting the carbohydrate. Exercise promotes metabolic health, but has very little value in terms of losing fat.

Lastly, since a ketogenic diet is a way of eating that works with your body’s hormonal mechanisms, instead of against them, you can forget about calorie counting. As your insulin level drops, your appetite once again becomes a reliable guide to how much to eat. If you eat to satisfy your hunger, you will be surprised how much your appetite drops. On the other hand, trying to skimp on calories triggers a famine response that makes it much harder to lose fat.

(Nick Brewer) #8

Useful stuff. I found yesterday I only ate one meal and wasn’t hungry - so hopefully this is starting to work…
Grazing on pecan nuts and sunflower seeds and I have doubled my water intake to roughly 3L if not more… this seems to surprise my hunger also.
I’m hoping for a 0.5st loss after a month but I won’t be disappointed so long as I can visually see results…

My precious diet consisted of Bread and beer most days so hopefully these things being cut out alone should go a fair way to shedding some weight/fat.

This is my mindset anyway…

(Steaks b4 cakes! 🥩🥂) #9

Welcome aboard Nick, you’ll find a few Brits here nowadays - we can point you in the direction of some good keto products but everyone here has some invaluable advice to offer. We’re a fun bunch.
As @KetoSnaps said, the ‘What Did You Keto Today’ thread has excellent inspiration. We’re all here to help each other. Good Iuck!

(Not a cow) #10

I"m just reading a book on every other day eating by Krista Varady, ( the book isn’t LC or Keto, but I am ) and it cites the following “Daily weighing is valuable to individuals trying to lose weight or prevent weight gain,” from a research study recorded in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine".

I agree, like you, about being accountable to the scale !

By the way, this book is more of a diet book, but I’m trying to get some ideas/tips from it on Alternate Day Fasting, which I have found very difficult so far, but some people are having great success using it. It would work great for someone on the road 4 days of the week, but that’s for later down the road once you are fat adapted.

Good luck.

(Susan) #11

Welcome to the forum, Nick. You seem to be doing well so far, and all the advice above is excellent.

Best wishes for your Keto journey.

(Rebecca 🌸 Frankenfluffy) #12

Me too! It’s how I understood your reference to stones! :rofl::rofl::rofl:

(Nick Brewer) #13

Saturday night consisted mainly of gin and slimline tonic, I managed to resist the beers and ciders. The gin seemed to be the closest thing I could have a few drinks on that wasn’t neat!
Does anyone have any ideas on alcoholic keto-friendly options from their experience / or ideas they have come up with?

(Rebecca 🌸 Frankenfluffy) #14

If you’re after spirits, Speyside single malt (I love Balvenie, but Dalwhinnie or Macallan also float my boat) with ice and/or water. Chin chin!

(I prefer Speyside malts to Islay ones - I don’t like the peaty ones because I swear they all taste of TCP!)

I drastically reduced my Nutrasweet consumption a couple of years ago because it was making me poorly. So I don’t drink diet drinks any more. Careful with Fevertree slimline tonic - there IS sugar in it. Schweppes slimline doesn’t have any carbs at all.

Mostly I drink dry white wine drowned in soda. Just the one!

(Nick Brewer) #15

Ah bad times - I think it was fever tree I was on - that’s frustrating. Damage limitation I suppose. Better that than 8 pints…

(Rebecca 🌸 Frankenfluffy) #16

The carb count of the full sugar one is 7.1g per 100ml, and the ‘light’ one is 3.8g. Unexpected!

Wondered why my blood sugar spiked (I’m type 1 diabetic) after having what I thought was the low-carb option and assuming it was zero carb like its Schweppes equivalent! Mind you it wasn’t as bad as the several occasions where I’d not checked the Schweppes ‘slimline’ bottle to check it was slimline and it then wasn’t!

I don’t drink tonic these days but happily gin is fairly palatable served with soda water instead.