I have tried ketogenic diet before but never stuck with it long enough to see results this time is different. Please tell me what you think of this as a starting strategy. For reference I’m 53 year old menopausal female 198 lb with a lean body mass of 115 pounds. I have steadily been gaining weight for the past 9 years. Prior to that I was extremely thin. I have had every blood test blood work can panel under the sun I am vitamin D deficient and have some Hashi Moto’s antibodies. I take no meds. I have a ton of stress that I do try to mitigate and my sleep is Sometimes good sometimes not. I am aware of Jason Fung’s stance on fasting and also on keeping protein to a point where it doesn’t set off mtor all the time. Here’s my thought my I have a low basal metabolic rate Hoveround 1200 calories my daily activity would put me another 300. I’m shooting for a calorie deficit of 500 a day so my calorie intake would be a thousand a day. All my carbs come from green vegetables broccoli cauliflower brussels sprouts kale lettuce. And a few from nuts and avocado. I try to get my fat from Whole Foods not oil. Also from eggs. My idea is this have an eating window from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. fast 20 hours a day. Lots of water. I don’t drink caffeine. Diet would consist of two eggs 5 oz of scallops lots of green vegetables with homemade salad dressings that consist of walnuts avocado spices or herbs. And that’s it we’re looking at about 25 grams of fiber about 28 grams of net carbs about 75 grams of protein and 72 grams of fat. What do you guys think what would you change. I have been doing a keto diet for a week I’ve seen maybe a pound or 2 lb of gain actually I gained bear in mind I do not hold water like most people do thanks I hope you guys can help (Richard especially you)
Starting Point Strategy
You need to not cut calories when doing keto- you need to eat plenty of fat, & just worry about keeping the carbs under 20g. If you have a calorie deficit you’ll just keep messing your metabolism up more, rather than re-adjusting it which keto does. Plus when you’re starting it’s best not to fast, just give your body a chance to adjust to fat burning first, it’s suggested that you don’t fast until you’re fat adapted, which can take 6-8 weeks. There’s lots of advice in the podcasts & on the forum about starting out, explaining it much better than I can:
@J_A-MJay AM says:
We have a few sayings here, “keep calm, keto on” and “trust the process.” Keto isn’t a quick weight loss diet. It’s a health gaining way of eating with fat loss as a side effect.
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.
The basic “rules” I go by and many others can agree with especially for beginners are:
*20g net carbs max (you might tolerate more but, starting out, 20g net carbs or less will get you into ketosis.)
*Moderate protein (1g-1.5g per kg of lean bodyweight is a good goal based on the 2 Dudes recommendations.)
*Fat to satiety (add fat to every meal and, if you are hungry, eat more fat. Don’t be afraid of fat. It is energy.)
*Do not restrict calories
*Do not exercise excessively
*Drink plenty of water
*Get plenty of sodium and other electrolytes
How am I supposed to lose body fat if I am eating all of my necessary fat through diet? That makes no sense to me? Stephen Phinney
give the example of a person who’s daily caloric needs are 2800 calories. 1400 of those are going to come from stored body fat. Of the remaining 1400 he eats 5% carb 20 % protein and 75% f.at… that makes sense to me. If my energy needs are 1500 it doesn’t make sense for me to eat food totaling 1500 it makes sense to me to eat food totaling a thousand and let the other 500 come from my body fat no
The theory is that you listen to your body. If you eat fat to satiety, you be listening to a signal which is often masked by the presence of insulin. As you become fat adapted, you will become satiated with less food as your body is using your fat stores.
The risk of calorie restriction beyond your own satiety signals is that you will reduce your BMR as your body decides to restrict low priority processes. It can take 6-8 weeks to become fat adapted, so in that time you won’t be able to efficiently use your fat stores, if you are restricting calories at the same time then you will find yourself hungry and with an ever decreasing metabolic rate.
That also brings me to the main problem with trying to count calories in the first place. You have no way to know what your caloric needs are, and your output is actually affected by the amount of input. This is where the CICO argument struggles because, unlike thermodynamics, your body not really a closed system and you have a variables feedback loop.
The principle you refer to in the post above is right in basic terms, but you have to let it happen by listening to your hunger signals rather than by forcing the issue, otherwise your body will fight back!
There are people who don’t have hunger signals, but most people find that once they have been on keto for a short while, those signals start to be heard again.
Thank you for the advice. I know that it’s extremely confusing for new keto people to know how much to eat. I have also heard that carbs are a limit protein is a goal and fat is a lever. I will make sure I actually looked my carbs or below 20 today the 28th was total fiber or total carbs but 15 . I feel my protein was good I’m not trying to build muscle only maintain what I have and I actually given my high lean body mass could stand to lose some muscle I suspect it takes less muscle to haul around less body fat so I expect to lose a couple pounds of muscle and other body tissues not necessarily only muscle but I could lose some cartilage and some other things connective tissue that needed to be there to support my body weight. I’m okay losing that. My goal is to try to up my ampk so that I can build more mitochondria and make the mitochondria I do have more efficient. I will eat fat to society to test to satiety it’s hard to know as a almost vegan vegetarian non-dairy eater what to eat and a non Oil Eater because it’s hard to eat fat without carbs or protein but I think macadamias they’re not my favorite nut but they may do the trick. Just one more question so far I feel really good I have no I have no keto flu but I use a ton of salt if I don’t I have extremely low blood pressure so I have to eat a lot of salt to keep my blood volume up I have had no keto flu I don’t have extraordinary energy but I am also not tired I don’t have a headache nothing of the sort How will I know when I’m fat adapted
Sounds like you’re doing well with not getting keto flu. An article which might be helpful about being fat adapted is this one:
You’re on the right track with the fats having avocado & nuts, nut butters are good too. Not sure what else you can eat if you’re not eating oils & dairy.
Just a note that if you have hashimoto’s antibodies that could very easily be the reason for your weight gain and your struggle to lose. I have hashimoto’s, and I take medication. If you haven’t run a full thyroid panel including RT3 I would start there and treat your thyroid before expecting weight loss.
Despite knowing this I cannot find doctors who will treat me. They all want to watch watch watch my weight balloon. If I also I just retired out of the military and will not have health care coverage for 6 years. I really want to try to do this on my own. I am hoping fabulous nutrition can reverse my Hashimoto’s. There are some antibodies it’s not full-blown