Newbie Update

(Richard M) #1

I have been on Keto for 20 days. I have been on this forum for 16 consecutive days. I am getting a lot of very good information from here. Thanks

When I started, January 3, 2021, I weighed 282(it was probably more but I settled on this #). Today, January 23, 2021 and I weigh 259.4. I have done two 48+ hour fast and felt great. Very happy with the weight loss.

Most days I am eating OMAD. I am watching and reading information from variety of different people and sites. The supplement i take is Magnesium and D3. Nutrition wise, I feel no different than when I started. I probably will be taking others when I’m into Keto longer when I get more information.

It did take me awhile to figure out what to add to food, like butter, Avocado and A LOT of variety of cheeses to increase the fat content. Not to mention the 1000’s for recipes for a Keto diet that are out there and the many, many spices. So I am in the process of getting my GOTO foods. That will make it easier to prepare meals.

Is there a place on here that discusses people’s GOTO meals, that are easy to cook and doesn’t require a lot of ingredients and spices and time?

So to sum it up I am glad I started KETO. I feel I am in control of eating instead of the food controlling me. I do realize that this forum has been going since 2017 or earlier, so I’m a little to the party. But on the positive side I get a lot information to read that has already been published. So it is hard to ask anything new because it has already been discussed. HAHA!

So, if you want to add any information that I am overlooking feel free to reply and let me know.

(Robin) #2

Richard, you are rocking keto! Good for you. I have no advice except to be careful with weighing yourself frequently. The scales are fickle and don’t report things like inches lost, redistribution of body mass, loose clothing, and an overall feeling of well-being… run into a snag, the answers are here. You got this!

(Karen) #3

Welcome and well done on the intial weoght loss. Fab numbers and long may they continue for you. Keto is certainly working for you.

(Susan) #4

Welcome to the forum, Richard. Congratulations on your Keto journey thus far. You are doing great! I wish you continued success.

(Laurie) #5

Great progress, Richard! I’m glad it’s working for you and that you’re feeling good.

As far as go-to meals … It depends on your own preferences and lifestyle I think. You might start with just thinking simple. Steak, pork chops, burgers, bacon and eggs, maybe roast beef or chicken. A salad or some cooked broccoli. You don’t need a recipe for these.

Sooner or later a keto recipe will catch your eye, and you’ll try it and like it, and it will become a go-to meal for you. And so on.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #6

I’m sure you’ll be able to find something in our Food forum. There is a Recipes sub-forum with lots of useful dishes, from the simple to the elaborate. There is also the “Boring Keto” sub-forum with easy meals in it. Lastly, do a forum search on “What did you keto today?” which is a thread that should also give you plenty of ideas.

When I cook, it’s generally a roast, a vegetable, and a salad. There will be gravy for the roast, butter or perhaps cheese sauce for the vegetable, and a high-fat dressing for the salad. The only spices I generally use are salt and pepper. It’s dead easy.

I do like to get fancy on occasion, however, which is when I pull out all the spices from the cupboard and go to town.

(Susan) #7

I made these for lunch, they were awesome =).

I really love making cut up peppers, with cream cheese inside, and I wrap them in Ham (lots of people use bacon instead) then put it in the oven (on a cookie sheet) until the meat is as crispy as you want it. This is really delicious.

Just making protean of your choice, then cooking some low carb vegetables with it makes a terrific meal as well =).

#8

I remember some threads about go to foods but I am with the others: just make some simple, proper food. Meat, eggs… My roasts are super easy, I put a slab of meat into the oven, put some salt on it, perfect. It’s the same with liver unless I want it quicker in the pan. The meat has plenty of fat and flavor, I don’t need anything else but of course, many people use marinades and sauces and even side dishes (well me too, my usual side dish is chicken or boiled eggs but eating a tiny amount of raw vegetables isn’t beyond me either :)).
There are plenty of easy egg dishes. I really like my egg sandwiches: boiled egg halves with mustard, cheese and some tasty meat (dry sausage, fried liver, smoked chuck…) on it. It may be even fine for a small meal, it’s only one course for me but my multiple courses take little time and effort unless I want to complicate things (I like variety and cooking/baking so I have slightly more difficult dishes too. but it’s good to know I can grab something any time if a little extra is needed. but if I am prepared and keep some roast in the fridge, I can have complete meals).

Of course, there are zillion other options if we add plants but for many of us, animal stuff is more substantial and satiating and less carby. But it’s very individual. Before I added meat to my keto (it took years), I used lots of oily seeds but usually together with eggs to make them more satiating (and anyway, how could I eat a handful of poppy seeds, one of my favs, all alone?).

There are easy vegetable dishes too. Nowadays I just grab a few slices of radish, cucumber or something like this (not needed but nice) and I always did that but I ate vegetables anyway. I liked them fried. Especially fried cauliflower (the riced one, size is very important, I always hated cauli mush)… Only cauliflower, fat and salt was totally needed but lots of spices suit it I imagine, I preferred black pepper back then, maybe soy sauce, never tried it with chili but it must be good… I had to ban it as it was irresistible and way too carby for me but other people seemingly able to eat it in moderation without feeling miserable afterwards. Cauli rice is very popular on keto so you probably heard about it already… If I still wanted it, I would make a small amount and put eggs, meat and/or sour cream into it… But it’s probably a nice side dish for many people.

#9

There is no need/reason to force meals to be fattier than they would normally be, you’re in ketosis because of a lack of carbs, not from high fat. Don’t shy away from fat, but don’t look for excuses to stick it everywhere either.

Basically EVERYBODY is low on those, so you’re never going to go wrong with them.

I was always a fan of finding recipes on youtube, that way I get to see them and there’s a million of them.

#10

That is an amazing start! Well done.
I use Pinterest for all my recipes. It is very easy to use but be careful to check carb counts. Everyone’s version of keto is a little different. Good luck!

And my go to easy meal is a salad with avocado, olives, cheese, salami and an egg.

(Richard M) #12

Great Point. That never dawned on me to do that. I was so worried about fat that I was also adding carbs. I just did that last night. Majority of my meals I stay around 25g carbs. But last night i was so worried about fat, which I got to 204g, i had 43g carbs. Not happy with myself but I learned.

Thanks for all the replys. They really help.

(Jane) #13

Yeah, fat is not a minimum - only protein so you don’t lose lean mass. Fat is to replace the energy you were getting from carbs so eat enough to not be hungry or fatigued… and to make your keto food delicious!

You are off to a great start.

(Richard M) #14

Again, great point by Janie. Makes a lot of sense and another ‘simple plan of attack.’
I was thinking of entering the food, that I am about to eat, into the “MyFitnessPal” to see how much “stuff” I am going to eat. Is that a good idea?
I am starting to get a feel, for some foods, for amount of grams they have. But I want to be sure. That is why I want to use MyFitnessPal. What would you suggest?

Thanks

(Jane) #15

Tracking is a great tool. I would recommend the one you like the interface on the best and will most likely use.

Personally, I like Chronometer. I paid for it while losing (mainly to support them) but the free version is fine and what I use now on maintenance from time-to-time.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #16

I have seen complaints on these forums to the effect that food contents on MyFitnessPal are not always accurate, and that Cronometer tends to be a bit better. I don’t use such an app, so I can’t speak from personal experience.

(Richard M) #17

So I need to focus on the carb intake and not so much the fat and protein intake. The fat and protein will take care of themselves. Yes or no? Also, I don’t need to go to the max on fat and protein intake. Just watch the carbs. As long as I stay under and I’ll be fine. Just don’t go over the carbs.

Does that pretty much sums it up?

#18

I’ve used both free and paid versions of Cronometer, MyFitnessPal, CarbManager and MyMacros+, I also re-subscribe from time to time to verify I’m always on the best one. Best one is Cronometer without question. It’s the fastest to enter food into, the least amount of on screen bloat and minimal screen touches on the app to get stuff in there. The customization and charting ability on Cronometer can’t be touched by the others, comes in awesome if you want to randomly graph your calorie intake vs your weight, or your carb intake vs your ketone levels, protein vs your blood sugar etc… You get the point. You can create custom graphs using any metric it can measure, plus it give the best micronutirent breakdowns of all of them and makes it easy to see where you’re getting it all from.

MFP has a couple more integrations with Fitness tracking apps, but nothing that matters for me, it’s all more geared towards athletes and the stuff they do.

MFP and Carb Manager both have options for Macro scheduling, which I wish cronometer had, as my intake changes depending on the day but not a deal breaker for me.

Only other thing MFP and CM have that crono doesn’t is the ability to paste in the URL of a website with a recipe on it and it’ll extract it, that’s awesome!

All that said, (opinion) Cronometer is the best in pretty much all categories. I feel safe saying the free version of crononmeter gives you more than the paid versions of the other two.

#19

You need to have enough protein too and overeating and undereating is still bad.
Protein is a goal but many of us hardly can eat a wrong amount of it so we don’t worry about that.
But many of us is able or tend to overeat fat.
Some people starve on keto and they feel no hunger or other problems.

But ideally, you do it right, good timing, good food choices and it automatically works. But many of us need fine tuning or even some big changes later as their first approach is lacking.

(Richard M) #20

I just installed chronometer. I entered 2 fried eggs cooked in butter. I put that information into MFP, chronometer and the website eatthismuch.com
MFP
Fat -14g
Protein -12
Carb -0

Chronometer
Fat -15.9
Protein -12.6
Carb -1.1

Eatthismuch
Fat -22
Protein -12
Carb -0

They are all pretty close. There are other variables that come into play. With the chronometer you can put in the exact grams you want not percentage like in MFP. I like that option. I will use both for a week and decide.