SuperNewbie from SE Michigan

(Fiddlestix H. McWhiskers) #1

Hello all. I’m almost 52 years old, 5’10", 190 lbs., from Southeast Michigan and I’ve just started Keto for the first time about 3 of 4 days ago. I’m pretty much just eating tilapia fillets (foil packets in the toaster oven), canned sardines, sauerkraut, steamed broccoli & cauliflower, mini sweet peppers, Philadelphia cream cheese, Kerrygold butter, strawberries and, uh… yeah, dat’s about it. Oh, and lotsa water.

I really don’t have much of an idea about what the heck I’m doing yet, but it’s interesting so far; at least it’s helping to keep my mind off of other changes. I just quit smoking cigarettes on 4/12 (1 pack every 2 days) and also quit Mountain Dew (between four and six 16 oz bottles a day) on 4/14.

I don’t have much experience with discussion forums, so please forgive me if I’m not doing this correctly or if I’m giving too much information. Thank you for allowing me to join your forum.

(KM) #2

Hey, welcome!

You’ve got a lot going at once, that’s for sure. The biggest things with starting keto are to limit carbs, which you are clearly doing, make sure to get enough salt, and don’t starve yourself - there are loads of foods that are primarily protein and/or fat. Eat “to satiety”.

There are great resources here for support, recipes, science and general encouragement. Welcome, and good luck!

What’s the H stand for? :smirk:

(Fiddlestix H. McWhiskers) #3

Thanks for the encouragement, Kib.

It stands for “Harry,” of course.

#4

It’s very difficult to give too much information. Information is helpful. Most newbies I saw gave way too little information in the beginning. it’s their prerogative, of course but if they ask for advice, people had to ask a bunch of things to have any idea what to say, otherwise it’s just general stuff.

Welcome! Your food items look okay to me if you are fine with them :slight_smile: Fish doesn’t satiate everyone well but if it does the trick for you, good :slight_smile:

Quitting cigs is great (it’s way greater never to start though), I am cheering for everyone who makes that decision!

(Fiddlestix H. McWhiskers) #5

I think I’m discovering that to be true. I think I just might pick up some ground beef tonight :thinking:
(By the way, “Shinita” is one of the coolest sounding names I’ve seen in a long time!)

#6

Awww thank you :slight_smile:

Beef works for most, apparently. To me, any red meat does the trick but ruminants seem to be more effective than pork. Chicken isn’t substantial enough, I know that.

(Barbara M) #7

Welcome to the best forum! As you check the chats and topics, make sure you look under ‘Resources’ for the 2 keto dudes podcasts.

They are jam packed with information and really explain what keto is all about, with music humor and fun conversation.

One day at a time and I hope you find new recipes and chats to help with your journey. This forum info is vast!

(Richard M) #8

Welcome. Start slow. Like someone said “a lot of information out there”. But great information on here. It can be overwhelming reading, watching and talking about this Way Of Eating. K.I.S.S. Get a foundation that you can fall back on. Whether it be food, exercise or drink. No sin to eat the same food for many meals in a row. Get all temptation out of the house. Hungry pains don’t mean you are going to starve to death. Take salt and they will go away. Pre-make food ahead of time, when you have a good understanding of KETO. A lot on YouTube.

(Bob M) #9

That’s impressive.

For the diet, keep carbs low, and eat whatever you can right now. There’s no need to go more complex than that.

At some point, you may have to increase your salt intake. But that can also wait for a bit.

(Fiddlestix H. McWhiskers) #10

Boy, you ain’t kiddin, brother. I been YouTubein’ by brains out, but I’m gettin’ there. I’m used to siftin’ through sludge to find pearls. :wink:

(Fiddlestix H. McWhiskers) #11

Yikes! I hope not. I put a decent amount of salt and pepper on almost everything I eat. :astonished:

(Fiddlestix H. McWhiskers) #12

I ain’t got a lot of support from da people around me. Fer instance, I told my buddy Larry dat I was on a keto diet and he asked, “What’s a keto diet?” So I said, “It’s kinda like a carnivore diet… sorta.” And he said, “Oh! Ya mean like wit clowns and elephants and midgets and stuff like dat?” And I said, “No, no, no… carniVORE diet, Larry… carniVORE.”

(Alec) #13

Eat salt to taste. That’s all you need to do. Just be aware you may want more salt, and that’s just fine.

Fillets, good, but as you noted above, you may want to add some other meat. Beef and lamb are ideal. Make the meat as fatty as possible. Eat as much as you like.
Sardines, good. Eat as much as you like.
Sauerkraut, carbs: keep quantity low
Broccoli & cauli, carbs: keep quantity low
Mini sweet peppers, careful, these are pretty high in carbs, I would not eat these
Cream cheese, ok, just monitor how you feel after you eat this… some people can’t handle dairy
Butter, excellent keto food, eat as much as you like
Strawberries, carbs, careful with quantities… keep these really low (max 3 or 4 a day?)

The main principle here is you want to keep your total carb intake to less than 20g per day. Don’t limit fat, eat plenty of meat, fish and eggs.

(Fiddlestix H. McWhiskers) #14

Yeah, I think I might just try going zero carb; I still fall into my old thinking about those things.
Thanks for taking the time to give me some pointers.

(Alec) #15

I have done a significant time (more than 18 months) on both classic keto and zero carb/carnivore. In my experience I have found carnivore significantly easier to maintain. For me, carnivore is easier to do because there is no measuring. I have one rule: I just don’t eat plants. That’s it. Really simple.

And it works. I have resolved multiple health issues and dropped 80lbs by eating carnivore. And I never go hungry. And carni food is just delicious!

(Alec) #16

I don’t want to confuse you further, but I think Dr Ken Berry is an excellent source of information on keto and carnivore. He has an excellent YouTube channel and posts new videos regularly. I highly recommend that you watch him.

(Fiddlestix H. McWhiskers) #17

I’ve watched a little bit of his stuff, but there’s something about him that rubs me the wrong way… I can’t put my finger on it. I started out watching a bunch of Dr. Eric Berg’s stuff, but have moved on to Dr. Eric Westman’s stuff.

(Alec) #18

Avoid Berg, not good info. Dr Westman is good, but I find him a little dry. You could also try Prof Bart Kay, but he is a very acquired taste 🫣

(Fiddlestix H. McWhiskers) #19

Oh, I ran across him already and I just want to slap him in the face with a wet, dead fish.

#20

It was easier to me because keto may allow anything but yeah, that’s the problem, the plant carbs mess with me in a way animal sugars never do! It’s amazing how much a difference a bunch of carby plant matter can make in satiation and desires for some of us.

I often eat over 20g carbs on carnivore too but that’s fine for me. Why are plant and animal sugars are so different I have no idea but they are.

I needed my carbier vegetarian keto on/off years to be able to try carnivore though. And my low-carb years for keto. Not everyone can just jump into their final form (or do it quicker than I did, like in a few years instead of 10)… And our body tends to change with time as well.

That makes it way easier for sure! I may get tempted to eat other things but I never have problem with the taste of carni food (there are zillion options, we can change what works for us, even on a budget)… And if I go off, I stay a hedonist so the vast majority of my food is still carnivore. That works the best, be it joy, convenience or nutrition, after all… What ELSE could I eat in big enough amounts, seriously? :smiley: Especially protein (and I only need to eat protein sources and pretty much avoid the rest), I only can choose animal protein or gluten, the other plant sources are horribly carby (or a bit carby and too fatty)… And the latter is inferior for reasons (still can be useful sometimes for some of us).

:smiley: Not really though many do keto close to carnivore so it easily may be true for your version. Carnivore is WAY more restrictive regarding food items. Keto allows everything (that we could justify and have in the right amounts. I can’t do it with a very few items), I loved that, it made it way easier than paleo (only tried that for a month but happened to stay close for a while on low-carb). But some of us should evolve further. And I personally go on and off as I can’t do it any other way. I just don’t want to add plants without reason. People use so much carbs when it does nothing good to the dish… Maybe for them but probably no, it’s just habit, old recipes… After many years on low-carb, I made pretty good very low-carb recipes that carbs would just ruin but it’s true my tastes aren’t exactly the same anymore.