Newbie! trying not to tie myself in knots about getting keto perfect

(Ivy) #1

**edit: Im sorry about all the thnder, but I was anxiety-driven by the idea of not being able to have more protein than fat, which is what I leaned towards for many years and also induction made me crazy!

age: 32 , sex: Female, and height 5’6, starting weight 134, goal weight less, and reasons for wanting to eat keto: lose fat, health overall, maintain muscle/gain down the road
On Day 11 at 130 lbs for awhile now
NOt sure actually as I tried to start on 9/9 but dunno if I messed up early on,
and today being 9/22
Was doing as many weight lifting days as I could before starting keto and actually lowering carbs too

Yesterday I went over on carbs in the form of light cream+MCT oil in a bowl as gelato and Im almost positive the days total was under 100g carbs, but again not sure. I eat all grass fed organic Had a few cups of it, not sure exact how many [not organic, but not sure if it matters if its a trigger food—I tested clear for cheeses/whey protein powder with bacon awhile ago so it might not be so alarmingly sensitive]. t was only sweetened with monkfruit, but there is alot of carbs and sugar in light cream if within the amounts of 1 or more cups. Anyway, Being on Day 11 of keto for the first time, I have been since wondering if it took me off track to start at day 1 again. * I am very active, and work an active job as a maintenance person 4 days a week, and this accident came after a heavy weight lifting workout at the gym, though kindof pathetic because of keto taking a toll—and lift weight at my job, and started lifting weights a little in the past week
I took apple cider vinegar water afterwards, did some very heavy weight lifting, got ketones up, and ate a meal a few hours later albeit the next day that was within my macros. And got good ketone / blood sugar levels. * also have completed recently around 3 days of A.m. cardio 30-60 minutes and about 1-2 evening sessions as well
The cream has alot of sugar in it when consumed in these high quantities, and though some of it might have been milk, Im not sure. I did have flaxmeal in it + MCT oil and ample fats.
The next meal inclided lots of steak, mct oil and coffee.
Am I right back where I left off? Again this was only a few hours or at least not more than 6 hours or 7 not sure, I was kinda mad about it.

The ACV kinda shot my ketones up to 8 very shortly, then 0 – why is that?

I have read 4-5 posts that claim that one cheat meal–which is what this was, at least in the sense that it was only the dessert portion of my meal–does not ruin the path and the path is still on the day you left off, maybe minus 1-2 days. I have really done under 20 the rest of the time, save a few days, so maybe Im on day 8 or 9, but just want to know:
MY QUESTIONS ARE TOWARDS GETTING TO FAT ADAPTATION

  1. -what day am I on? I definitely do not restrict calories/ignore the satiety requirement or physical activity requirement. Im supposed to work out during adaptation, right?

  2. Finally, does doing aerobic % weight lifting during the adaptation phase work nicely? Or do I have to pick? Weight training would complement my job nicely, yet I read jogging gets the phase done quicker. Any advice? I have fasted once for 36+ hrs so far but read that I shouldnt do that again. I started with alot of OMAD but now Im 16:8. Im never going over on carbs again! Whats the best way going forward?

  3. Any tools you use to keep track/cook and what are the healthiest or most alkaline ways to cook my food?

  4. I work my shifts 2-8 and have in the past week opted for eating at 12:30 and before 8:30. Does this work best, or how should I eat–and perhaps even just as important–schedule my workouts?

  5. I am aware black coffee is best to sip thru the day, right? WHY IS THAT? WHY BLACK COFFEE?

  6. Is it really best to have a variety of meats in adaptation phase? how many different meats per week? Can I really NOT do carnivore diet before fat adapting?

EDIT to make this a happy post:

Im almost 2 weeks in and putting recipes together only started today.
Had always been having things plain!!!
I hardly have room for things in my kitchen and expressing myself in the kitchen only started about 3 months ago, which started my RECOVERY, from toxic people and things [carbs included] and my fridge is in a separate room from the kitchen, making keto hard.

I woke up with options that widened from my usual plain food groups smacked together:

  1. tamales in the freezer, accompanying colby jack in the fridge
  2. fathead pizza ready-to-cook --Tried it, but without the suggested toppings, so just cream cheese/butter and half a drop of sundried tomato paste, so Ill try again
  3. bacon sauce - topped - leeks --Tried before today, but doesnt count as its only 1 recipe!
  4. chocolate avocado mousse --Tried it, but Ive had it before, but so refreshing
  5. baby kale with blue cheese dressing —sooo good
  6. Chuck roast with 1 carb steak sauce, black garlic, shiitake mshm powder, duck fat --great!
  7. Flaxmeal in melted coconut oil and goat cheese, with stevia --great
  8. BPC with extra cream, little stevia, cold this time – great

When starting out I had lots of steak and butter. Black coffee and fried egg with spinach+butter. And kinda topped it off with a flaxmeal coconut oil stevia bowl which I probably shouldnt have, but needed to up the calories so at least I was paying attention. Pretty much every day. Which is great!
----plus a tsp peanut butter and celery twice a week, frying eggs in different fats, flax oil over spinach salad, coconut flour biscuits that were 1" cubes cause I didnt want to affect my blood sugar cause I didnt know anything yet, and blue cheese dressing over chuck roast–which I made with spices, not sure if it makes a difference as Ive never had it before–THAT was a strong taste but not the best–too strong. Mostly during the first week and a half I ate those raw spinach salads very fast.

I hope to try alot more recipes. Hope others might share this as a goal as a newbie
I kindof fit snacks into my meals. Is that bad?

(Allie) #2

Why are you tying yourself in knots and stressing yourself out so much? Relax, tomorrow is a new day, start it afresh and carry on.

Different things work for different people. The best thing you can do is focus on making yourself feel as good as you can and getting as healthy as possible, the rest will follow.

#3

You probably don’t need to stay below 20g carbs to stay in ketosis, you are active, that helps and 20g is just a safe number for almost everyone. I never even went below 30g net (and probably twice as much total) until fat adaptation and I wasn’t active - but of course, we can’t count on it, it’s individual.

I’ve read many times that getting out of ketosis does slows your progress but just a little, it’s not starting from the beginning.

I wouldn’t worry especially not because of some cream though you are right, it’s carby. You learned it and you will be careful in the future. You can 't change the past but even if you got out of ketosis for some hours, it’s not a big deal. Worrying is surely worse than that.

(Laurie) #4

What’s done is done; just start over.

I do understand about cream though. I don’t drink it by the cupful, but I have it in coffee and other hot drinks – maybe a quarter cup of heavy cream in each beverage. So I can easily drink 2 cups of cream in a day. For me, this is something I need to work hard at controlling, e.g., buying it just once a month. I should probably eliminate it. I have similar problems with yogurt.

Good luck figuring it out!

(Ivy) #5

Why do some point to one meal not gonna matter?

(Ivy) #6

Day 1 do you mean? Why do some posts revere one meal doesnt matter?

(Ivy) #7

So what day am I on?

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #8

At day eleven on a ketogenic diet, you are barely into the process of fat adaptation, so you have hardly injured your progress, only delayed it, if at all.

Not only that, but, as already mentioned, the 20 g limit we suggest is simply a level that gets practically everyone into ketosis. Quite a few people can eat more carbohydrate than that, and still get into ketosis, and it’s ketosis that is the goal, not a set carb limit. That said, however, “carb creep” is a real phenomenon, so it does pay to keep an eye on just how much one is eating.

There are strategies one can adopt, as well. For example, heavy cream has almost no sugar in it, so if you keep that in the house in place of light cream, half-and-half, or milk, then you won’t have to worry so much if you indulge. I keep pork rinds around, to keep me from snacking on my favourite carb-laden treats. And so forth.

The real point of a ketogenic diet is not so much the ketones themselves (though they are beneficial), but the fact that your insulin level has dropped to the point where ketosis is even possible. High blood sugar and the resulting high insulin response both cause damage to the body over the long term, which is why cutting the carbs is so beneficial. The body can survive a certain amount of extra carbohydrate without suffering too badly, but it’s not something to which we want to subject ourselves repeatedly over time.

So just keep calm, and keto on! You’ll be fine.

(Ivy) #9

Forgot to mention the light cream did have MCT oil in it .
So, what day are you suggesting I’m on now?

(Allie) #10

No one can answer that, everyone’s progress is different., there’s no set course to follow.

Seriously, the best thing you can do for yourself is relax and get back on track. Stressing yourself out the way you are is going to do more harm than the cream you had.

(Ivy) #11

shortstuff, PaulL, Shinita, islandlight

do you have answers for any of my others-- questions

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #12

You are on whatever day it is since you decided to embark on a ketogenic diet, so don’t stress over it.

We enter ketosis as soon as our blood sugar drops low enough to stimulate glucagon secretion and lower insulin secretion. Glucagon and insulin are hormones secreted by the pancreas to help regulate our nutrition. Glucagon stimulates the production of ketones, insulin inhibits it. Insulin also has the job of driving excess blood sugar out of the blood stream, where it causes damage, and into muscle cells to be metabolised and into fat cells to be stored as fat. Excess insulin in the blood stream also causes damage, and this is a concern because, if we continue to inflict a high-glucose (i.e., high-carb) diet on ourselves, we become insulin-resistant over time, so our insulin level needs to keep rising higher and higher in order to keep having the same effect.

So the solution is to cut our carb intake to the minimum, so as to minimise both blood sugar and blood insulin. This allows our excess fat store to leave our adipose tissue to be used for fuel, allows the body to repair the damage caused by high blood sugar and insulin, and allows the liver to start producing ketones to fuel the organs that can make use of them. Ketones are partially-metabolised fatty acids, much as charcoal is partially-burnt wood.

Our muscles actually prefer fatty acids over ketones and glucose, but there is a period of adaptation, during which the mechanisms for burning fatty acids are being healed and reactivated and the muscles are limping along on ketones in place of glucose. It usually takes six to eight weeks in most people. When the adaptation is complete, the muscles are running completely on fatty acids (and a very small amount of glucose) and people at that point generally feel quite energetic. At this point, you’ve got a while to go before you reach full fat-adaptation, so just give yourself time, and stay as low-carb as you can.

(Ivy) #13

Do you mean I am starting today? I am always deciding to start a keto diet

(Laurie) #14

Sorry if my response was not informative. What I meant was: Don’t try to analyze it too much, just keto on, and be more careful with cream in future.

I don’t think in terms of what day I’m on (or what day you’re on), so I can’t answer that question. I’ll have another look at your other questions and maybe answer them.

(Ivy) #15

So Im on day 1?

(Jane) #16

See my answers to your questions above. And WELCOME to the forum!

(Polly) #17

Hello Ivy. Welcome to this forum. . . . and Breathe.

Keto is a metabolism normalising diet with a side effect of also normalising weight.

Relax and enjoy it and avoid getting too hung up on numbers and macros and days since you started.

(Ivy) #18

Sorry I meant does black coffee boost ketones and why

(Jane) #19

Never heard of that and I highly doubt it.

ETA: please don’t start chasing ketones - they vary greatly throughout the day and more is not better.

(Polly) #20

plus one for what @Janie said.