You might want to check out some of the success stories here. You will see and read alot of info there. Eating healthy fats are NOT harmful. I always encourage people to do some research on they’re own, i think it “stick’s” with you better than someone just telling you…LOL. Look through the thread called CONDITIONS KETO CAN HEAL OR CURE also. I am a “former” type 2 and i reversed type 2,high blood pressure and fatty liver in about 6 months following keto. No meds just nutrition.
New to keto, have a couple of questions, thanks!
SarahJustMe
(Sarah )
#5
For your body to function properly, it’s needs a fuel source, either carbohydrate or fat. If you don’t eat carbs, you need fat. Trying to eat lean foods will not help you with ketogenic eating. Using excess amounts of protein as a fuel source ( a la atkins) instead of fat has some negative health effects, and will stop some of the really good metabolic benefits that come from keto, and how the body burns fat. I agree that you need to make choices, for you, about what types of fat you prefer, but you need huge amounts of f at compared to what you’ve been used to, and what you might have previously believed was healthy. It’s a difficult mental shift. As you become more used to this way of eating, you tastes will actually change, and you’ll also get better at this, digestive wise. Eat smaller more frequent, low carb, moderate protein, high fat meals and snacks, and your body will adapt.
SarahJustMe
(Sarah )
#6
And one other comment: oatmeal. Won’t work. For keto to work you need to be exceedingly careful about carb intake. Yes there is some variation in what different people can tolerate, metabolically, but grain based foods will never be a mainstay in your diet. If your carb intake is too high, you won’t burn fat, you’ll just store it away. You may need to count carbs every day for awhile
Baytowvin
(TJ Borden)
#8
Scrap the “lean” meats. It’s politically correct for those that haven’t embraced fat as being good. Stick to natural fats, but the fattier the meat, the better. If it is a lean cut, add butter…it’s healthy AND delicious.
Don’t worry about 3 meals a day. Eat when you’re hungry, don’t when you’re not. If you’re only hungry for two meals, great. One meal, even better.
Keep digging through the forum, and check out the science area. Saturated fat DOES NOT cause heart disease. It’s what we were mean to eat, and the science backs it up. Even without digging into it, just think about the fact that we didn’t have the widespread health issues we currently face until AFTER fat was demonized and we embraced carbohydrates and sugar as a replacement.
It’s a mental hurdle, as it was for most of the people here, but keep researching for yourself, and ask anyone who tells you too much bacon is bad for you to “show you the science”… I bet they can’t.
TSH
(H)
#9
Thanks for the information. If I only do the two meals, what if that only gives me 800 or 900 calories for the day? What if I run the week like this. Is this ok? Tanks again!
Tim
Ro1851
(Rochelle Levinson)
#10
Yep I agree with you. My husband and I are following the plan. He’s a type2 diabetic. 4 years ago when he was diagnosed he almost went into a diabetic coma. His sugar was over 800. Since then he’s been injecting himself with 33 units of insulin. To date 3 1/2 months later and following the Keto plan he’s down to 8 units a day. His goal is to return all his lantud pens lol
And now he began losing weight. 
SarahJustMe
(Sarah )
#11
the core elements of keto will not change, but your eating patterns, the foods you like, your appetite, your goals… all those things will change over time, probably more than once, or twice. RIght now just focus on eating low carb, moderate protein, and as much fat as makes you feel full. You can always revisit in a few weeks. and a few months. But if you arent eating enough fat and start to get hungry and crave carbs… eat more fat. You are not going to over eat in the long run, and if things are not ideal for a few weeks, so be it. If you eat 1000 calories a day or 2000 calories a day does not matter right now. What does matter is that your body is getting the fuel it needs (and it will let you know if its not).
Nicola_Walters
(Nicola Walters)
#13
I’m just starting on the Keto diet and struggling to plan meals. I found this meal planner really helps, you’ll get recipes emailed to your inbox every week. http://goo.gl/yMzquj
Good luck with your Keto journey!
Brunneria
#15
Keto doesn’t have a specific calorie count attached to it. Some people eat less, some more. Depends on their weight, and where they want to go with their weight, also their appetite.
If you are worried that two meals totallying 8-900 calories won’t be enough, then increase the size of the meals. Don’t be restricted to ‘conventional’ portion sizes. Add mayo to your salads. Have cheese as dessert. Snack on nuts.
Whenever I have returned to keto after a break I find that the first few days are Hungry Days. so I forget all about portion size and just eat til I am satisfied, then forget about food until the next time I am hungry and repeat. Works like a charm.
MmmBacon
(Rob)
#16
I can’t answer your first question as my last blood test was pre-Keto in July 2017.
While Dr Bergs videos are an excellent source of information, I would suggest that as he has been eating ketogenically for a number of years, his food choices probably reflect something more of a maintenance style of eating. In contrast, anyone coming to Keto from eating a high carb diet will have different immediate objectives and should adjust food intake accordingly. Your first aim is to deplete your Glycogen stores in the liver and muscles and get yourself into Ketosis. To do this, you need to eat good fats, lots of good fats. The more fat you can get into your diet now, the quicker you will deplete your glycogen stores and get into Ketosis. Eggs, Butter, Bacon, fatty cuts of meat like ribs, chicken wings, legs & thighs and pork belly are all good staples. Adding fatty foods to your meals and cooking also helps to get your fat content up. Add a tablespoon of sour cream/cream cheese to your scrambled eggs, add a cheese topping to your veggies, dip your chicken pieces in mayo - it all adds up. Transition your cooking habits so that you no longer boil your vegetables, but sauté then in fat (butter, coconut oil, goose fat, bacon fat etc). Have a look at the
topic to get some ideas of what typical Keto meals look like. Re-educate yourself (the 2ketodudes podcast is great for that) about what is the conventional wisdom of nutrition and keep an open mind about keto food options. Once you’re through keto flu, then fat adapted you have more options to adjust your eating, or lack in the case of fasting, but by no means fasting is not essential to being successful in losing weight, it just speeds up the process.
As for question 3, don’t fear the fat. We’re all guilty of believing the dogma of low fat diets and that fat is bad for us. Do your own research, look for documentary evidence to the contrary, read books (“The Big Fat Surprise”, “The Real Meal Revolution” etc) which bust the myths about current health advice, watch documentaries such as “That Sugar Film” and “Fat Head”. They will help to make you more comfortable with what you’re doing (they may also make you mad as hell too).
Don’t forget to add salt on a regular basis. See…
and you’ll probably also want to supplement with Magnesium and Calcium. Keeping your electrolyte levels up is key to not feeling groggy.
Welcome to the forums and keep us up to date on your progress. 
TSH
(H)
#17
MMbacon,
thanks for the detailed response. I appreciate the feedback and your time! I have an idea of what I want to eat. Just seems like I would only get half the calories (900 or so). I guess I could double up on portions. If I cook with butter, for example, I assume I would add those calories with what’s cooked in it? I’m not use to eating so much bacon and so forth. So, yeah I do fear the fat. Thanks again!
TSH
(H)
#18
I’ve read that a lot of people just eat when hungry. I guess when their stomach starts growling. Just seems like it would be a lot less calories than I’m usually use to. There’s so much different information on the web. I hear that lack of food is horrible for the heart, but I wonder if these people just ignored their hunger feeling and simply didn;t eat. Would it be safe just to eat when my stomach told me to and not my head? Again, thanks for your time and feedback. i appreciate it.
MmmBacon
(Rob)
#19
When you’re starting off, try not to focus on calories or fasting, but more on getting your fat consumption up and your carbs down so that you can deplete your body of Glycogen. I’m normally around the 1400 calories per day mark now as a sedentary 40 something software developer who sits on his arse for over 10 hours a day and does very little exercise, but I know that’s what I need for my metabolic rate. I have had days when I’ve had 2,500+ calories, but as long as my macros are 70% fat, 25% protein and 5% carbs I find that it has little effect in the longer term. CICO is an outdated concept which I don’t subscribe to and I reference
as some background to that.
You should absolutely include your cooking fats in your macros, but again, focus more on getting the ratios right than how many calories you’re getting. MyFitnessPal is great for tracking macros (other apps are available).
As for being hungry, having been on Keto for 5 months, I am now fat adapted and I know that for me “hungry” doesn’t necessarily mean that I need to eat food. I’m fasting today, which I’m doing to accelerate the fat loss process, it’s 9am here and my stomach is growling after getting no food since 6pm last night. That’s typical for me at this stage of a fast. I’ll put some salt under my tongue and let it dissolve and within 30 minutes the growling will go away. I’ll keep doing that every time I get growling. If I get cold extremities, nausea or lethargy then I know I’m running low on energy and that I’m not liberating fat at a rate that my body is demanding for its current energy requirements. At that point I will break my fast with some tasty fatty food, or if I want to extend the fast a little more I’ll drink some bone broth or put some coconut oil in my coffee and that will provide enough energy to get me further without spiking my insulin.
You’re on the right track in listening to your body. I’m not a doctor, so can’t say whether lack of food is bad for the heart, though I would say that lack of available energy (be it Glucose or Ketones) is probably a state for more concern, but the body is very resilient to a lack of food and has a number of processes which are engaged to prevent more serious conditions arising. Think of how our ancestors would have eaten seasonally and had periods of feasting and commensurate periods of fasting.
It has been proven that seeing food or thinking about food triggers hunger in our bodies, so your brain can play tricks on you - a response to which food producers use to their gain and your detriment with their food advertising & marketing.
You’ll probably find that as you continue with the diet you’ll start to feel less hungry naturally anyway due to the satiating nature of fatty foods.
Keep learning, keep experimenting and most of all Keep Calm and Keto On!
Capnbob
(Rob)
#20
This is a brilliant experiment and post which puts a bit more rigor and bloodwork to the same kind of thing that Jason Wittrock did a few years later. The other n=1 that Sam Feltham did (LFHC processed and Whole-Food vegan), all nominally at the same over feeding calorie levels are equally enlightening and prove the hypothesis. The fact that he undid most of the damage that the HCLF diet did while eating keto at over 3000 calories in the same 21 days is very telling. Also, that the Vegan diet did almost as much damage (weight and lipids) calorie for calorie (it was at lower real calorie levels due to the high levels of fiber) is not surprising to me but would be to many.
Thank you for highlighting this… this is now my go to for proving that calories (usually) don’t matter, macros do… and even ‘healthy’ diets can actually be damaging.
