No benefits to Keto except weight loss?

#1

Hi all.

After a friend has been on Keto for over a year and has been selling me it’s endless benefits, the wife and I decided to give it a go.

I’m very fortunate in that I lose weight fairly easily, I’m always disciplined on a diet and never cheat so the fact I’ve lost 10lbs since I began approx 4 weeks ago hasn’t been a huge shock (I’m now 170lbs at 5ft 9). My main reason for doing Keto was for the general well being benefits, none of which I’ve felt yet. I’m still sluggish, still tired and still struggle for energy even though I always get my 7 to 8hrs sleep.

My struggle has been actually getting into Ketosis. It takes me a week at least to get off the 1st shade of pink and I’m forever being kicked out of Ketosis. I keep my net carbs below 20g so cannot understand why I cant get fully into Ketosis. My wife in comparison is alway dark purple and we’re on more or less the same diet.

As I’m not hungry I tend to just have a coffee 1st thing for breakfast (With MCT) and then at lunch either cheese omelette or bacon, sausage and egg. For evening meal I tend to go for chicken, steak or fish with plenty lettuce and tomatoes. For fats I eat plenty of cheese or cold meats and for the sweet fix I have sugar free Jelly/Jello topped with whipped heavy/double cream.

I use Stevia sweetener and other than a little semi-skimmed milk in my coffee I’m struggling to pin point what’s holding my Ketosis back? I’m ready to throw the towel in if I’m honest, I can lose the weight with a low calorie diet anyway, it was the other benefits of Keto I was hoping for.

Anyone got any ideas?

#2

Probably just telling you something you already know, but the reason you’re not reaping any health benefits besides weight loss yet is that you’re not in ketosis for a long period of time and more importantly you’re not fat adapted.

From reading what you eat, it might be the tomatoes (depending how you define ‘plenty of’), it might be the sausages (if they use cereals etc in the meat mix) or you could be getting insulin spikes from the stevia or the sweetener used in the jelly.

Another thing to try is maybe start tracking total carbs instead of net and see if that makes a difference.

And finally, are you drinking plenty of water and keeping up your salt intake, magnesium etc? That might be contributing to the fatigue.

(Hyperbole- best thing in the universe!) #3

Another thing to consider, in addition to @ChrisW’s fine suggestions, is that a month isn’t very long. Some people just take longer and it takes patience.

I don’t get the “clarity” a lot of people talk about… but I just vacationed with a group of carb eating friends, and, sheesh! they nap a lot. So I just wandered about the city by myself during nap time and they were all jealous I got to do so much more on our short trip.

Keto may not be for everyone, but my suggestion is to give it more time before you decide.

(Diane) #4

Try using heavy cream instead of semi-skimmed milk in your coffee.

Watch the carbs in your sausages, bacon and cheeses, some have more than others.

Are you getting plenty of healthy fats? When you start, your body takes time to get used to burning fat effectively for fuel and it can affect your energy levels. You need to make sure you are getting enough fat in your diet until your body gets better at burning it for fuel. Butter, coconut & MCT oils are good sources of fat that your body can turn into ketones more easily.

Use low carb veggies as “fat delivery” systems. Maybe add butter and creamy dressings. Possibly try using more cucumbers, mushrooms, zucchini, olives, boiled eggs & avocados and use fewer tomatoes in your salads.

Just a couple of thoughts. Good luck! Please let us know how you’re doing!

#5

What they said. 4 weeks really isn’t very long for your body to adapt, and change how it works.

KCKO.

(Karen) #6

All of the above, and of course you know the problems with reduced calorie diets. You could also shift to zero carbohydrates for now and just eat fatty meats. Trt it for a week. The color on the keto sticks just indicates the ketones you are spilling.

#7

Another possibility to consider. If you generally felt like crap before going keto you’d probably notice some major improvements pretty quickly but if you already felt pretty good then things won’t be quite so dramatic. Could still kick up a gear or two once you fully fat adapt.

(Diana ) #8

It took me about 3 months on Keto to get the increased energy and other non-scale improvements. Don’t give up.