Sustainable?

(Nicole) #1

Started Keto almost 3 weeks ago. Along the process I have been reading tons of online back and forth about the diet to try to optimize my efforts. Here’s where I’ve gotten confused, and why I cannot fathom how anyone is able to make this a lifestyle vs. a temporary diet:

  1. I read some people are counting total carbs vs. net carbs, there’s a big difference and I just want to know what I should really be counting.
  2. So you’re telling me that aside from a few berries a day, I’m not allowed to feed myself wholesome, natural, delicious fruit ever again, lest I want it to eat up 1/4 or more of my daily carb allotment?
  3. What if by the third week, I’m already nauseated at the thought of eating another egg for breakfast?
  4. If my body should only take in around 1500 calories per day to lose weight, how in the heck am I going to eat 75% of my food just in fat? Forget bulletproof coffee!
  5. I generally love salad, but if I have to eat another salad…
  6. How do you organize your entire life around food prep? I don’t have time to cut so much, cook so much, etc.
  7. I drink a homemade electrolyte drink every day and still have low grade calf cramps and can barely do anything physical at the gym. How am I supposed to push myself into ketosis when I can barely push myself up a flight of stairs (and I was a regular at the gym before this)?
  8. So you should have veggies with your protein for the fiber, but watch out for not eating too many or you’ll go over your carbs, and don’t eat too much protein or it will turn into glucose, but eat enough protein to stay satisfied and make sure you eat stuff with 75% fat except be careful that you don’t go over your calories…ugh.

Am I the only newbie on here who was originally like “Yay bacon! I love avocado!” and is now like “WTF?”

#2

Welcome!

I was in the same mode of “oh crap, what have I gotten myself into”… I even went to the extent of of figuring out a super shake that gave me all my nutrients and calories in one meal. That exercise provided me with a good baseline for foods that I eat, the results of Keto give me all the benefits and reasons for making decisions to continue.

My life is greatly improved through Keto, both physically and mentally.

Deep breath, simplify, keep moving forward.

(Renee Slaughter) #3

Hi Nicole and welcome. I will address your #1 issue. Net carbs vs total carbs is induvidual depending on your metabolism. Some if us here can do 20-25 net and still maintain ketosis. Others of us can only do 20 total like Keto Christina on YouTube. Still others do less or zero carb like Amber O’Hearn. I started with the 20 carb net and it works for me. So start with 20 total or 20 net it’s a choice. What are your goals? Weight loss or metabolic issues. Believe me once you get the hang of it keto is totally flexible.

(Sarah ) #4

heres my attempt. ive been keto for 6 months, and its been easy for me, but I realize that whatever is happening, its not just an attitude. I think different peoples bodies are different…

1- i count net carbs, almost everyone counts net carbs. as far as ketosis goes, its the stuff you digest that matters.
2- you can eat whatever you want, but if your carb count is too high, you wont stay in ketosis, and lots of majik will go away. there is no “kinda”. there are other healthy diets out there, they just work differently. it possible to eat a close to zero carb diet if you dont eat veggies (not my recommendation) and you could eat fruit for all your carbs. or find a middle ground. just remember little buts of carbs show up all over the place, in flavoring for meat or salad dressings, etc… and they all add up
3- i can eat eggs all day. sorry. other people may have good ideas here.
4- youd be surprised. keto takes a while to adapt to. just try your best, youre not going to die of malnutrition if you dont get everything right at first.
5- i like salad too. batting 1000 here
6- i dont do much food prep, i didnt before and i dont now. i eat lots of stir fry, stews cooked in the crock pot, meat and veggies like a pork chop and green beans with butter, and also eggs with meat and veggies.
7- its normal to be wiped out at the gym for a few weeks. your body hasnt built up all the machinery it needs to be alomost exclusively fat burning. Its still very inefficient and you feel it. Most poeple report a real uptick around 4 weeks, and feel like they keep improving for at least a couple more months. studies of athletes who are keto, they are still seeing improvements and changes at a year, but the changes are much more subtle. keep drinking the drink, and do lots of stretching and deep breathing, and let your body adapt. Also some people swear by pickle juiceand or sauerkraut and or kim chee for leg cramps.
8- dont worry about protein, unless your metabolism is really deranged, like years and years of serious diabetic complications. fatty meats are a great way to get your fat and your protein.

A couple of websites I like a ruledme.com dietdoctor.com and ketodietapp.com they all have meal plans and menus, I think you will be surprised. good luck, give yourself a few more weeks.

(Adam Kirby) #5

This is an opinion that seems obvious to most people, but I am going to push back on it. Most of the fruit we eat today was cultivated a couple hundred years ago, and the huge level of sugar in it was never present in fruit our ancestors ate. Most modern fruit is a genetically-altered sugar bomb.

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #6
  1. To help yourself get into ketosis, net is better. But many are very successful in the long run on totals up to 50g.
  2. No one has ever said give up fruit for ever. But it might just come out to 1/4th of your carbs for the day. What is wrong with that?
  3. If you are not getting enough variety, try using one of the dozens of free meal plans available online. Atkins has a good induction 2 week plan, just skip their shake and the bars, Atkins20 Foodie plan is what I used but the Atkins40 works for many.
  4. Keto isn’t about calorie restrictions. Get that out of your head if you are seriously considering doing this. Keto cuts your cravings/hunger signals. Listen to those signals.
  5. If you don’t want salad, then cook some veggies, add lots of butter and salt and enjoy.
  6. It takes me less time to prep my meals than when I was baking my own breads, cooking up pasta, or boiling up rice. A food processor makes short work of cutting up veggies. You can cook once, eat twice by making larger batches of your foods.
  7. You probably aren’t getting enough salt. You are also probably not fat adapted yet,it can take a while.
  8. Keto is not for everyone, some do well on just a lower carb diet, especially if it doesn’t go beyond 150 gram of carbs. If this is your attitude, you might want to start with higher carb and gradually bring it down to nearer, 50, then if you are liking your results, go down further. Only you can decide at what level your body works best at, so experiment with carb levels til you find a good one. I came to keto/LCHF from a 40c/30f/30p diet, I had yoyoed on it for years. My body needed less carbs, I am maintaining a 51 lb weight loss and eating @50 carbs per day now. I also do intermediate fasting and some extended fasts when I want to do them. YMMV.

All the best in sorting yourself out.

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #7

I dunno that I can answer all that.

You can test out additional fruit to see how you do with it. Little at a time, weather eye on scale, ketosticks, whatever markers you’re using. I can maintain ketosis at 40g/day and north. Not everyone can.

On eggs: there are a million different preps that keep them interesting soufflé eggs, poached, purgatory, egg Bites, and more. But once you open eyes to the idea that our notions of breakfast food are needlessly limited to this subset of things, you can have whatever you like for breakfast. Steak. Hot wings. Whatever. RTD protein shakes (my go to M-F… read the label, Worldwide Nutrition Pure Protein is my jam).

I can’t help with salad boredom, but someone probably has tips.

I don’t live around meal prep. I do most of my cooking for the week on Sunday. Big stew or roast or something. That’s lunches for the week. Prep some stuff Sous Vide and that’s dinner for the week. I eat more interesting on the weekends, and I have some options near work for lunch, but making it as easy as loading up a deli container is a good thing as it minimizes compliance stress.

Sauce. Sauces are the solutions for your dietary fat need. Compound butters, hollandaise, blue cheese, more. Lots of way to add fats without BPC and without gnawing on a stick of butter.

You don’t need fiber. That’s a vampire health myth that needs to die via a colon blow of massive proportions. If you have issues moving things out, magnesium malatate or citrate. Smooths it all out.

Yeah Bacon to WTF sums my first go on Atkins. I’m smarter now.

#8

I focus on total carbs.

Pretty much, a big aspect of this diet is cutting sugar and most fruits are loaded with sugar. You can call them wholesome and natural, but sugar is sugar and that’s what you’re eating.

After a while you’ll probably be skipping breakfast. You don’t get hungry as much once you’re fat adapted. Also you can eat anything for breakfast, not just bacon and eggs.

I eat way more than 1500 calories a day (most days) and I’ve lost 70 pounds in 4 months. This diet isn’t about restricting calories.

Mix up the toppings and the types of veggies you add. Make it more of a variety, different salads for different days.

My entire life doesn’t revolve around food prep. I spend as much time cooking meals as I used to. I would recommend getting more Tupperware though, I use a lot more now.

Maybe you have the keto flu? It’ll pass and you’ll notice that way more energy than you used to have.

You’re overthinking. Just eat a sensible meal and stop worrying about the numbers. Also don’t worry so much about the calorie count of anything.

(Sarah ) #9

its actually a fructose bomb, which is worse, but thats a complete tangent. If we’re talking 10 g of carbs, it really doesnt matter. But yes, the false equivalency of “sweet = good” is VERY hard to get over at first. It really changes though, your brain will reprogram itself.

(Nicole) #10

Ok, I like net better anyway. Maybe I’m just not patient enough to figure out where my “ideal” net carb count should be so I’m taking it out on the diet :joy:

(Adam Kirby) #11

Yeah you’re correct, and I slightly altered my statement because the same thought occurred to me.

(Adam Kirby) #12

My general thoughts…

  • If you’re having cramps you need more salt and electrolytes.
  • Gym performance may in fact suffer for up to a few months, if you have never run on mostly fat before.
  • Don’t worry about 75% fat ratio or any particular ratios at all, the best way to do low carb is really the old-school Atkins approach… just eat meat, eggs, nuts, full-fat dairy, non-starchy vegetables, and low sugar fruit to satiety and don’t worry about over-analysis.

I like this article for keeping it simple: http://www.tuitnutrition.com/2017/12/start-with-atkins.html

(Sarah ) #13

the only way youll figure out where your ideals are, is over time. there are tons of online calculators that can help (or confuse the hell out of you) make good guesses as to your basic needs, but youll be the one to figure out the actual things you need, and when and how thats all going to happen.

(Nicole) #14

:thinking: interesting…

(Nicole) #15

I never really considered this…

(Sarah ) #16

the visual guides on dietdoctor.com are really handy for this. (eating simple, dont count or tally up anything in ultra particular)

(Nicole) #17

Thanks for talking me off the ledge, guys. Great suggestions, websites and food for thought! :relaxed:

I started the Keto diet to break my addiction to sugar, get rid of my mid-day carb slumps and blood sugar crashes and if I lose the unwanted fat on my body I won’t complain! I guess I was getting so bogged down in numbers and ratios and such that I stopped listening to what my body wants/needs.

(Stephanie Sablich) #18

Hang in there :slight_smile: I promise promise promise it gets better. But a BIG thing around here is the “N = 1” concept. You’ve got to experiment with your body and see what works for you. Bodies are weird, and you’re literally trying to combat YEARS of the psychological eating/nutrition norms we’ve all been taught.

Why are you doing keto? What are your goals?

(Nicole) #19

Sorry, I was amending my comment when you commented :slight_smile:

I will say, I don’t crave sugar crap like I used to and haven’t had a blood sugar crash yet!

#20

In a couple months you won’t give ANY of this a second thought. You won’t see this as a “diet” any more. You’ll think about food totally different, you won’t focus on what you “can’t” eat, but focus on all the awesome stuff that you CAN, this becomes a VERY sustainable easy to follow WOE, just gotta adjust.