No weight loss. Does this just not work for some people?

(Alec) #41

Yes, absolutely. Find and eat some electrolytes. Salt would do.

(Hyperbole- best thing in the universe!) #42

Leg cramps are a symptom of magnesium deficiency, but sodium salt is a master electrolyte. Meaning that even though magnesium is the problem, sufficient salt can help your body balance the other electrolytes. So upping your salt intake could help. If it doesn’t, you might try a magnesiun citrate supplement.

(Alec) #43

This might be why you got dizzy on Atkins. I would recommend eating LOTS of salt. When you say low, how low is low? Mine has been as low as 90/55, although it’s now higher as I have a good salt regime.

(traci simpson) #44

You’ll see. Give it more time, read the posts here, listen to Dr Berry, go to dietdoctor.com.

(hottie turned hag) #45

Many great posts above so I can only add my hearty agreement to @Luckymisslucy’s so true statement. You must try different methods until you hit on what works for you. The only universal keto truth seems to be keep carbs way low, protein moderate and fat higher. All the rest shall vary -widely- from me to you to the next Tom, Dick, Harry or Jane.

FWIW my way is: eat once/24h, lots o’ meat, NO SNACKS! (they cause cravings in my case). I’ve had awesome success. Had much cheese and veg too until past few weeks then dropped them to break a stall (am close to goal weight, started in Aug 2017.)

Random cutes for encouragement! :koala: :bird: :snail:

(Karen) #46

Good NSVs. It is slooooower for women. You might try reducing your eating window.
Try counting total not net carbs
Fast
Movement to get glucose out of muscles
Stay the course
KCKO

(Scott) #47

@Hypatia Don’t stress over having to change to many thing at once. I would increase fat a bit and stop snacking now but if you like you can keep eating breakfast for awhile (I still eat a big one). Skipping meals occasionally or eliminating them altogether is so much easier after fat adoption happens. Even then when adapted changes will still be happening for months as all of this filters down to the cellular level.

#48

Magnesium and potassium can be just as important as salt. I found upping my salt didn’t help at all, but made things worse. Returning to my “normal” for salt, but upping magnesium and potassium was a game-changer though.

Also, Atkins is keto. Keto is just a recently adopted nickname for a very low carb diet, just like Atkins, Protein Power, Banting, and similar eating plans that have been around for decades.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #49

I’m with Zuleika on this one, but someone is bound to comment that “keto” means under 20 g/day, “low-carb, high-fat” under 100 g/day or some such and not the same thing at all. In my book the actual limit is unimportant, what makes an LCHF diet ketogenic is eating a small enough amount of carbohydrate to get into ketosis, whether your personal limit is 150, 100, 75, 50, 20, 10, or no g/day.

By the way, for anyone new to this way of eating, try to adhere to our recommended limit of 20 g/day, because you are practically guaranteed to get into ketosis at that level. Once you have reached the state of fat-adaptation, you can consider whether you want to experiment with a bit more carbohydrate, to see if you can still remain in ketosis. Many people find they no longer crave carbohydrate at that point.

#50

I lump magnesium and potassium together as “electrolytes”. Big fan of magnesium supplements and I use no-salt a lot which is pure potassium.

(Marianne) #51

What is it that lite salt satisfies - pot. or mag.?

#53

Yes! I was trying to agree with you on that point. Apologies if it seemed otherwise.

(Hyperbole- best thing in the universe!) #54

Lite salt has potassium. Be careful not to get too much.

(Marianne) #55

Thank you; where do you get the mag.?

(Hyperbole- best thing in the universe!) #56

Depends where you live… I can’t find magnesium supplements easily here so my friend got me some on her last trip to the States. I just ran out, so now I’m going to have to depend on spinach. But in western countries, most health food stores or drug stores should have magnesium citrate.

(hottie turned hag) #57

So this! Individual variability is such a major factor.
Starting with <20g/day as is standard one may then experiment round to see what their actual threshold is. Using my own case as example, my carb intake was far higher at the start, I had to reduce it to almost nothing as I got very close to goal weight.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #58

Agree with a couple of previous posters that exact ‘trigger point’ at which consumed carbs will stop ketosis is an invididual thing based on a number of physiological markers: overall body size, weight, lean mass, fat mass, fitness, etc. However, unless a person is either extremely small or extremely large/muscular:

  1. sub-20 grams per day: everyone who is not extremely small is in ketosis
  2. plus-50 grams per day: everyone who is not extremely large is NOT in ketosis

Realistically speaking the glucose/insulin trigger point for 99.9% of everyone is somewhere between 20 and 50 grams of carbs per day. You can determine your specific trigger point by trial and error using a blood glucose monitor if you’re willing to donate the blood. If you not willing and don’t have a medical condition that requires you to know it - stay sub-20 grams of carbs per day. IMHO of course.

#59

It tends to be under 50 for weight loss for most people, but plenty of people have been successful on Zone-style diets, too, which is typically 100-150g of carbs. The actual point for generating ketones is pretty much any point when you’re not eating enough carbs to meet daily glucose minimums. Dr. Michael Eades has said:

If you keep the carbs low enough so that the liver still has to make some sugar, then you will be in fat-burning mode while maintaining your muscle mass, the best of all worlds. How low is low enough? Well, when the ketosis process is humming along nicely and the brain and other tissues have converted to ketones for fuel, the requirement for glucose drops to about 120-130 gm per day. If you keep your carbs below that at, say, 60 grams per day, you’re liver will have to produce at least 60-70 grams of glucose to make up the deficit, so you will generate ketones that entire time.

He’s referring to fat-adapted people here, I think (“when the ketosis process is humming along nicely”); it sounds like if someone is not at that point the glucose requirement is even higher. But this all ties into the logic behind Atkins and Eades’ recommendations in their very low carb/keto plans that you can raise carb intake somewhat after a few weeks of extremely low levels and still continue to lose weight. Dr. Eades doesn’t make any reference to people needing to be extremely large to generate ketones at 60g/day. I would imagine that size makes some difference, because smaller people simply need less fuel. However, most of the glucose we make is for our brains and I don’t think our brain-size or power varies significantly with the size of the human.

Quote is from the last paragraph of this blog post:
https://proteinpower.com/drmike/2007/05/22/metabolism-and-ketosis/

(Emily) #60

I think tracking macros is important in the beginning; do it for a couple of weeks until you get used to values. I thought I could just use common sense but then found out through tracking that I was really not accurate in my appraisals of how many carbs I was taking in. I also can easily go over my fats if I’m not careful (I presume all those people having a ton of butter + MCT in their coffee or slathering butter everywhere are doing IF or OMAD). I also tended to be innaccurate in my protein assumptions. So - tracking marcos can help, and might point out a few areas where you’re overdoing it or not getting enough.

I also use macro tracking for advance planning. Let’s say I know I’m going to a barbecue where I will probably have 2 glasses of wine and a big steak - I enter these things in advance, and that way I know to cool it on the other meals that day.

Carb Counter and Fitness Pal are good trackers, even in the free version.

The snacking thing was a suprise to me too, as so many sites offer ideas for healthy snacks (a couple of walnuts, celery sticks with nut butter, etc.). The key to keeping insulin down is eliminating the grazing and snacking (sorry)!

(Jamie) #61

I use carbmanager on Android. It lets me input everything and shows where my macros are at. As long as I hit sub 20 carb, and keep each protein serving between 100-125g I can just pour on fats depending on hunger. It also remembers your last input, so once you calculate each serving size you can easily input it with speed. And copy between meals if needed. Their catalogue is extensive, or you can input your own micro based on your produce.

I found it easiest to print a list of the carb foods I’ll eat, the serving measurement with carb both pre and net. Then out with the weight and do the dillogence. After a few meals it becomes easy to eyeball.

Dietdoctor and marksdailyapple are great keto resources. Tom Bilyeu also has a ton of podcasts with doctors etc on health theory at YouTube. Shawn Stevenson. Dr. Rhonda Patrick. The list goes on and on.

Best of luck!