Disclaimer. This is a long one. Wednesday I start Week 10 of Keto. I have lost 12 pounds so far. I feel great, but then again I felt great before Keto. My only medical issues are high triglycerides and a belly (probably related). You know that photo on the forum with the lady who lost one pound but completely transformed her body? That might be me. I say that because I am 5’4", and now weigh 120 pounds, so this might be my maintenance weight. IDK, if keto will further whittle my belly or if exercise is now the key. Or another five pounds. So here’s the deal - I am already getting compliments, 12 pounds lost for me is very noticeable. Also, and please don’t even tell @Shortstuff that I am bemoaning this:rofl:, but during the past nine weeks I have only registered pink on the urine strips seven times. (I test the same time each day.) So part of me wonders if I am even in Ketosis. I have gotten a bit complacent - yes I know 4% cottage cheese is not the way to go. I am shocked there is no such thing as full fat. Other facts - I am scared to death of MCT oil, as I am still having some problems digesting fats. I am up to training my body to have an eating window, however. So, while people around me are noticing, I have set myself a three-month goal. My best friend is going out of state for three months. I want to totally transform my body in those three months (and hopefully lower my trigs as well). I am back up to 10,000 steps a day, and my husband bought me a weight machine (I love weights). It seems like I have everything in place to do this. I cannot afford a ketone blood monitor at this time. I would like to hear the following from everyone. Should I do 10,000 steps every day, or take a day off? How many days a week for weights/body weight resistance? (I have been active my whole life.) And most importantly, can everyone give me their personal top 10, or top 5 idiot-proof keto foods? I hear a lot of people on the forum saying knock off the HWC and just eat real food instead. Can’t find the thread again, but the epilepsy protocol is heavily weighted towards HWC. In other words, after 10 weeks, I want the Keto for Dummies version! Thanks so much. When this whole challenge starts next week you can find me in the Accountability section. I love having a goal. And this forum rocks! Last edit: I was thin my whole life, until menopause at 53. I started menopause at 111, but then went up to 145, and down to 132. so this is the first time in my life my weight has fluctuated, and I don’t want to see 132 or 145 again. I have a small frame, and at 145 my face was starting to become unrecognizable.
Taking it up a notch - and need everyone's help!
Bacon
Eggs
Butter
Salmon
Ribeye
Those would be my no-fail foods.
I’m needing to kick it up, or down as the case may be, a notch right now too. I’m almost to the 120s and that’s usually my stall point. Keto for Dummies, I wonder if they’ve got it under consideration yet. Maybe I’ll ask Monday. I’ve written quite a few Dummies series books, around 10, and edited another 10 or so. Could be interesting!
Lifting weights is a great idea, lucky you to have weights at home! I have access to my mom teeny tiny gym in her community center and I’m going to start using it regularly. I don’t find 10,000 steps too challenging, if you’re at all active you’ll easily make that goal.
It really is harder the closer you get to maintenance, in many ways. Easier to just say, oh the heck with it. Doesn’t sound like you’re going to do that and I’m not either. Looking forward to your accountability thread!
Only problem I’m not an egg or salmon person. But quite happy with ribeye. I’m 60 and am shocked by seeing other 60 year olds who can barely get around. I still feel like I’m 18 (except for the reading glasses thing) , and want to stay that way. Forty felt great, fifty felt great, but 60? I don’t know what the future will hold, though everyone in my family makes it to the 90’s. But yeah, I’m totally active. I love your posts and am looking forward to your comments on my Big Reveal! Thanks so much for responding.
I have tried and no longer use MCT oil. I put coconut oil in my coffee on the weekends and get the same benefit. But, yes, we’re all different, metabolically.
Could you expand on “problems digesting fats?” Most importantly, are you talking animal fats, and not vegetable or seed-extract fats? For example, I now eat the high-fat (27%) ground beef. It’s more inexpensive, too. My tummy has never been happier, same for my tongue.
So far, as I’ve only been doing this for two weeks,
Home made mayonnaise
Cos lettuce
Chicory
Home made rillettes.
JBacon
Eggs
Butter
HWC (in my coffee)
Salads (dressing made with MCT oil)
Homemade mayo
Hamburger/Roast/Steak
Those are my standbys.
Have you tried fasting for autophagy for the belly?
10 weeks you should be fat-adapted.
Looking forward to your accountability thread!
Yes, I have absolutely no excuse. I manage a five acre mobile home park so just in the course of my duties I get a lot of steps in. Could walk three hours a day if I were so inclined. But, we live in funky fontana, so it is already getting hotter than hell. I need to get up earlier. Only got around 8,000 in today. next week, we are looking at 100 degrees!!! My app also informs me the air quality is really bad today. You should experience the air quality in my house. I was boiling sugar water for my hummingbirds, and my husband asked me to help shovel rocks (now that’s a workout) and…fast forward to - my house smells like a cotton candy factory. Senior moment! And birds won’t get fed until tomorrow.
Look to the time restricted eating schedule of 16/8 or one that works for your lifestyle. Are you using sweeteners, bad oils, ie canola or vegetable, and not over doing it on carbs. If you are buckling down then it might be total carbs and a diet more akin to what Dr Westman shows in his lectures.
Thanks for your reply! I am actually giving up dairy (with the exception of butter) for at least a month. I was overdoing dairy, the carbs snuck up, and my tummy was not happy. No sweeteners of any kind. I have settled into a routine of fatty meats, leafy and above-ground vegetables, and walnuts one day and a few berries the next. My husband has cooked a few meals for me in cold pressed safflower oil. I will probably cut that out. More walking and weights. That was very helpful. Thanks.
Not quite there with 16:8. At this point, I don’t want to push it, so I am starting from a natural 14:10.
Isn’t it cute how she thought that was a long post. I’m guessing she hasn’t seen many of mine 
You go girl!
Keto Vitae!
My can’t go wrong keto foods…
Bacon
Pork rinds (check ingredients for hidden sugars)
Olives
Bacon
73% (77?) hamburger for meat loaf using chia seeds
Bacon
Bacon
Ribeye steak
Chicken thighs (recently discovered how flipping easy they are to debone and save a few bucks
Bacon wrapped chicken thighs
Bacon wrapped meatloaf
Bacon wrapped ribeye
Bacon wrapped bacon
Bacon man lives in a bacon house
(Indeed, I go the extra mile. It’s always worth it if I get at least one person to smile 
)
Today’s going to be an everything smothered in homemade guac day.
I’ve read where the powdered MCT oil is much easier to digest and helps some people with those associated issues.
I was overdoing the fats the first few weeks and experiencing diarrhea. No seed oils, just animal fats now, avocados, olives, walnuts, etc. Have cut out dairy so we will see if that helps.
Regina –
Regarding weights and training, the real benefit comes not from the exercise itself, but from the rest and recovery days.
Whatever exercise you do, you’re tearing down muscle. It’s in the rest and recovery period that builds muscle back a bit bigger and stronger. If you don’t rest it, it can’t grow because you’re constantly tearing it down and fatiguing it.
Now, you can lift weights everyday if you really enjoy it. However, I would work a specific muscle group only 1x to 2x per week, with a day or two, or even more, of rest in between. When I was really into weight training, I had six different routines of roughly four different weight lifting exercises that focused on one, or an adjacent muscle group. That way if I lifted 4x to 5x a week, that particular muscle group got an entire weeks rest before the next session. Plus the way I did things, it made me focus on training my entire body.
And if you like weights, check out kettlebells. You might get addicted to them. It’s another way to incorporate weight training in your fitness program.
Good luck.
Thanks so much. I am planning on three days a week at this point. Considering the kettleballs!