Stages of Keto diet?

(Sarah) #1

Hey everyone,

I’ve heard vague things about the keto diet having “stages,” but can’t find any real info on it. Something about decreasing your fat intake at a certain point…?

I’ve been on this for about 6 weeks… I’m 52, 160 pounds, and 5’5". My initial reasons were not weight loss, really, but more about avoiding early onset dementia (like my mom), and lessening internal inflammation due to psoriasis.

However :slight_smile: after abstaining from carbs and sugar all this time, I am getting a bit irritable that I’ve not lost at least 5 pounds by now… Tips, anyone? I only have 10-15 pounds to lose… Am I still eating too much fat? I do the bullet coffee and have fat bombs most days…

The encouraging thing is that my life long acne cleared up 3-4 days in… Just amazing, and this tells me that the internal inflammation is greatly decreasing… My A1C has deceased as well.

(Ashley) #2

Not surprised, if you only have 10 or 15 to lose your going to lose it slowly. The big numbers you see are people like me who are quite overweight. Even then they stall like I have. Been the same weight for weeks and weeks. Your body will drop the weight off at its own pace.

(LeeAnn Brooks) #3
  1. there is a school of thought that once you become fat adapted you should lower your fat intake so that your body is using up its fat stores vs dietary fat. But it’s not universally accepted among ketoneans. Many say fasting is a better route.
    And either way it’s not likely at 5 weeks that you are fully fat adapted yet. The symptoms you are experiencing could be part of your adaptation process. Typically it takes 6-8 weeks, though some can get there sooner.
  2. take measurements and don’t rely on the scale for evidence of progress. I’m fitting into clothes I couldn’t wear weighing less on a low fat diet. Body recompositioning can take place on. Keto even without weight lifting, though moderate exercise is good for you.
  3. the closer you are to your ideal weight, the slower it comes off.
  4. women lose weight slower than men. But re body recomp better.

Give it a few more weeks. I bet the negative symtoms you are experiencing will start to go away and you will experience even more benefits once you’re fully fat adapted.

#4

Avocado stage.

Bacon stage.

Butter stage.

Tighten in a belt notch stage.

Improved mental and physical health stage.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #5

:rofl:

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #6

Check out my thread here - How do you 'feel' fat adapted?

Jay posted a great explanation ;

There are two phases to ketosis and a ketogenic lifestyle.

Nutritional ketosis is phase one. Your body begins to produce and uptake some ketones while dumping the rest. It will still search for glucose to use as fuel. In this phase it’s not an efficient process. It has to work actively to get rid of stored glycogen, clean up excess blood sugar, and turn on the ability to use ketones.

Fat adaptation is phase two. Your body is efficiently producing ketones from intake and stored body fat and is also using them efficiently for energy. It takes around 6-8 weeks of strict keto to achieve for many but not all. For some it takes longer and rarely it happens sooner (mostly in people coming from low carb high fat to keto or who have little metabolism derangement. It’s rare.)

(Bunny) #7

…and don’t forget the Bullet Proof Coffee Stage

(Katie) #8

Just a little encouragement for you. I was about at 6 to 8 weeks before I started losing weight. And it is going slow. BUT it is steady. So don’t worry it will come when your body is ready. Just think about the other health benefits while you wait. :muscle: stay strong and keto on sister.

(Sarah) #9

Thank you, LeeAnne. That’s helpful. However, I’m still confused as to what to do when fully in ketosis concerning how much fat to eat. Does it stay the same, 70%, or do you take this down some, as to allow your body to begin using your own fat more for it’s fuel?

Also, I’ve been at 1.5 on my blood ketone meter for weeks… Do I need to be deeper than that? How do you even tell when you’re fully adapted? Thank you!

(Sarah) #10

Thanks, Katie…

(Chris W) #11

There is being keto adapted, which you are at now, and fat adapted which should come a long in a little while that is around the 8 week mark for many people.
i would actually say there is about 5 stages to the diet,
#1 you have decided to go keto
#2 you have stop eating carbs and are now in the initial phase were you are not ingesting carbs, burning off your glycogen stores, and dropping insulin levels, starting ketosis.(about 2-5 days)
#3 keto adapting were you liver is making enough ketones to run everything and has surplus (about 2 weeks) and you have decided to finally research the diet you started a couple weeks ago. That was my case.
#4 fat adaption were most of your cells are now taking in fat directly in instead of your liver processing it, and your ketones probably will drop some.(about 8 weeks)
#5 giving back

Your dietary fat can be moved around as you need to, ideally until you are fat adapted you should eat at or near your maintain esp if you are not doing this for weight loss. This is not a hard fast rule, just something I recommend. People can and do fast out of the gate, but I think that is a type of misery and stress that is not needed except in a few cases. In general outside of fasting if you cut your calories via fat deficit you will slow your metabolism down, and hold onto body fat and start to feel like crap after a while.

The slim’er you become on this WOE the slower the fat loss is, you started off fairly small and don’t have a lot to loose so you will see smaller loss at first if at all. If you are sedentary you will not see much movement either. Your body once you are ketogenic is using its stored fat, the dietary fat in many cases is supplemental, even at maintain many people loose weight if they have enough fat stores. As your body fat decreases you should increase your intake of fat, as well as if you become more active you should also increase your intake of fat.
There is no need to be at any particular level of ketones, just having them is good. The more the better, but there is not defined way to make them higher your body will make them and use them as needed.

(Anjum) #12

Thank you Chris for a comprehensive and easy to understand explanation. It’s made everything much more clear for me.

#13

That is a very important point, your body is going to do what it needs to do. So if your body needs carb or protein it will consume energy and produce that which it needs. As time moves forward your body will heal itself by shedding off toxins that it does not need to carry.

You are on an adventure towards changing the fuel your body is accustom to consuming, give it time and you’ll start to feel the difference.

  • I ask myself what would my early ancestors be eating right now? meat and fat, nuts and greens.

  • when in doubt, drop down the protein and consume more fat.

  • just get out and walk.

(Maryann ) #14

May I ask you why you think it took you so long to start losing weight? I did this woe about 5 years ago and once I got into ketosis I started dropping weight quickly. But I didn’t understand the diet and I lost a lot of necessary minerals and vitamins, and I got very, very ill. I developed horrible, debilitating psoriasis from it, and got very, very anemic. It has taken me these 5 years and I’m still not recovered from all that. But I learned a lot and have stated the diet again. This time focusing on electrolytes and other supplements along with being in ketosis. But this time around I’m not losing any weight at all. It has been about 3 weeks and no weight change at all. Not even the few lbs people typically lose from water. I’m trying to figure out if my body just needs to heal from all that other stuff first. I’m trying to hang in there but I haven’t seen any real improvement in any realm. Thanks.

#15

You left out I’m going through a stage

(Doug) #16

Late in the game: exit, stage left.