Thanks - I haven’t done keto myself before but I’ve been no stranger to what it is for years. I am sorry if I seem scattered - just trying to summarize a 12 year journey in a short post 
here is the long version:
I went cold turkey off carbs first in 2006 because of asthma and the beginnings of rheumatoid arthritis at age 18. I wasn’t counting them at that time, but I went to a diet of mostly meat and fat, including lots of raw dairy. Carbs I did eat on occasion still, including from the dairy, some potatoes, occasional soaked/sprouted bread. (Diet changes courtesy of learning about Westin price /nourishing traditions). Sugar became completely taboo as it would cause flare ups in my symptoms. I was overweight but not terribly so & 20lbs melted off of me and stayed off for a few years, gaining the usual worried comments from friends of why did I lose so much/I seemed to thin now hah. Asthma went away, symptoms of arthritis disappeared. Healthiest I’d been in my life, which for me meant still getting a lot of colds and had horrible allergies. But considering where I came from I was happy.
Then slowly because of economics (and tastiness but mostly economics) breads and grains creeped in - making home made bread mostly to save money and to “fill in” as we could no longer afford the grass fed meat and fat centric diet. Stuck to mostly whole grains, and never at the volume I ate them as a teen (when I could eat a bowl of pasta AND a load of garlic bread in one sitting). Still lots of good fats.
I was eating little enough and was healthy enough I only gained maybe 10 pounds. In an effort to lose it again I decided to “cut carbs” I can’t remember for sure but I think I was shooting for 50g a day. I did lose the weight but my chronic issues with fatigue became worse. I read plenty about too low of carb causing energy issues so I added them back in - and promptly gained ten pounds. But I felt pretty good and was still content. Right after that in 2014? came a VERY hectic and stressful period of my life : working night shifts, doing hard manual labor, and working out regularly at the gym. The work I was doing provided food and I tried to avoid the junk and bring my own when I could but I was HUNGRY. And since of course you can’t out exercise diet, despite being the most active I’d been in my life, the pounds piled on. And I was exhausted. I spent the next year fighting horrible fatigue and going back to my healthy whole foods diet didn’t help. I was convinced low carb had killed my energy so I kept at trying to just eat lower carb but not as low. Which is a LOT less than a S.A.D. but was around the 100-150 range but I don’t think I actually counted. Slowly my innate “fear” of carbs reduced this to around 75 but I still didn’t lose weight.
A year later a lovely acupuncturist had me get thorough blood work. And I found a few things. My A1C was 5.2. but my fasting glucose was 105. And I tested positive for thyroid antibodies - aka Hashimotos. Thankfully my thyroid levels themselves were in pretty good shape, but I had all the symptoms of low thyroid.
I researched and immediately dropped gluten. My energy level improved and I managed to trim back a few pounds over the next couple years. But my energy still fluctuated and I still had high fasting glucose whether I ate 50 carbs or 100 in a day. I finally sucked it up and did an AIP (autoimmune protocol) version of whole 30 last summer, still faithfully trying to keep my carb intake to a minimum of 100g a day via eating allowed starchy sources such as sweet potatoes and cassava. And it worked. My energy improved drastically. I lost 7lbs in that first month. Then I continued almost as strictly AIP for a couple more months. and I did pretty well, lost a few more pounds. Only “cheated” the AIP a couple times eating nightshades or butter or cheese when not at home. Kept fighting to make sure I was eating “enough carbs”.
Despite going off of AIP for a few months, because of family health problems and moving to a new state, I managed to keep off most, tho not all, of what I had lost doing AIP. Still trying to eat “enough carbs”. My energy continued to fluctuate. And through all this time - my fasting glucose remained 100+. Occasionally if I ate sweets or a big carb meal, even higher. As high as 120 on a couple of occasions.
I knew I was having insulin/blood sugar issues, but if lower carb meant even lower energy what was I supposed to do? It made me want to cry.
Then I read Fung’s work about fasting. And then read more detail about keto. That it wasn’t just eating less carbs and more fat but it meant CHANGING my energy source. Maybe this could work? You can find plenty of doctors and other “experts” even some who have tried it, who say fasting and keto is not for someone with Hashimotos. Not for someone with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Women should be careful with it. Etc. Etc.
But I had to try it. What I was doing clearly wasn’t working anyways.
So here I am. Like I said I started doing 16 hour fasts first, did it a couple times. Got a cold and was NOT hungry and hardly ate for a couple days. But wasn’t keto yet. Then a few days later I decided should do keto as well. I am working on reducing protein intake (most I’ve had in a day since starting is 75g which I know is still high for a 5’4" woman, though I do have a lot of muscle for my size). I try to eat a lot of vegetables so with that not counting fiber I’ve eaten 15-25g of incidental carbs per day for the last week. Since day 3 of keto I’ve been reading positive for ketones on the ketostix so I know I am heading in the right direction. I would like to get a blood ketone meter as well as I continue but for now it’s not in the budget.
That’s the long story of me. I am sleeping better, I am waking up less groggy. So even tho I am still low energy bill would say so far it’s a success. Because of the newness and my volatility - I am considering trying to maybe incorporate some “fat fasts” instead of true fasts while my system continues to try and stabilize. Also because I don’t have that much weight to lose (maybe 20-30lbs) but am mostly in it for other health reasons.
Thanks to all who share their experiences! I am glad to have a forum like this for support.
