Tell me, once more it isn't about calories

(Keto in Katy) #21

If you look at the growing evidence and personal stories in support of Keto / LCHF then I think the idea of a fad should disappear very quickly. It really is transforming many lives and we have a pretty good understanding of why it works.

(Meeping up the Science!) #22

Rhiannon, I think many people ā€œnerd outā€ over keto if you will and trick it out, so to speak, doing many variations. It can get very stressful, but the basics are essential and do not change despite supplements, BPC, fasting, and all that crap. It comes down to maintaining low carbs to guarantee being in nutritional ketosis, period.

I think your concerns are genuine, too, as they should be before contemplating any habit change, especially since you same fairly insightful and thoughtful.

Food is hard to navigate with any atypical choices, because we have saturated our culture with it. Food is politics and religion in a consumable package. In my case, social situations were hard for a while, however now they are liberating, because I no longer design and plan my entire day around food.

(Karen Parrott) #23

I had 40 years of yo-yo dieting from age 6-46.
Iā€™ve had 5+ years of weight maintenance from age 46-almost 51, LCHF & Keto

I also have the genetics for obesity, so my intake in calories does matter.

Good news is that Keto gives me the most accurate hormone signals.

The bad news is that I still donā€™t get the right hormonal signals ( extra ghrelin hunger hormone gene that over expresses )

So monitoring intake to not go over to regain the weight is a good tool for me. It may not be for you.

Customized tools and a good CBT therapist really helped me deal. Onward with only what you need. It takes time to figure it out.

I can easily be right into food addiction, even today, even eating Keto, if I donā€™t monitor my intake and steer clear of my binge triggers.

(Michelle) #24

Welcome!! Glad you found your way here. I was a HUGE skeptic in believing in Keto and a big believer in CICO when I first started Keto (Jan 2 of this year). I just couldnā€™t imagine that you can eat fat to satiety and still lose weight. So, I messed up my first week and didnā€™t trust the process. I was cold and hungry all the time since I was staying calorie restricted. I let go of CICO very quickly and for the first time ever in my life, my hormones are signaling properly - hunger, satiety, etc. My LoseIt App told me at this rate, I would reach my goal weight on January 18, 2021. However, my weight keeps going down!! Iā€™m over my ā€œcalorie deficitā€ on the app just about every day - over by like 400 calories - but my weight is steadily decreasing.

It truly is about the hormones. Not sure if you listen to KetoTalk (with DocNally and Jimmy Moore) but they have a great episode about CICO and that keto is really about regulating your hormones, and then your body knows what to do.

Iā€™m glad you came on this forum. This has been invaluable for me while I am living this lifestyle. So much knowledge and support here.

Best to you and donā€™t be afraid to ask more questions and share what you want.

#25

Lots of useful stuff said already and I donā€™t have much to add. I really get behind what @Donna says about not making things unnecessarily complicated.

I do think though that you would enjoy That Sugar Film if you havenā€™t already seen it. It is a very good illustration of how what your food contains is what has the impact not the calories. It is an entertaining watch too. I really recommend it.

http://thatsugarfilm.com

All you can do is give keto a good shot and see how it works for you. Get through the first month or two and get fat adapted and then you can look to tweaking things if you need to. That may even mean upping your level of carbs to head more into paleo territory, who knows? It is important to give ketosis a really good go first though because that is where the real magic happens. God luck. x

(Arlene) #26

I understand the binge mentality, so if fasting on bulletproof coffee in the morning scares you, Donā€™t Do it! This wonderful way of eating heals our minds and our bodies, because as our cravings disappear, day after day and week after week; all the while filling ourselves with healthy protein, fat, and green vegetables, eventually our minds catch up and we start to think differently about food. Food becomes a vehicle for nutrition, and we start to eat as our bodies dictate. Inform yourself as to what it means to eat this way, then do it and eat when youā€™re hungry, stop when youā€™re full. I wish you complete healing on your road to excellent health.

(I want abs... olutely all the bacon) #27

I understand! I keep waiting for the satiety signal, but Iā€™ve rarely experienced it in my 7 months keto. I also rarely feel hungry either. I try water and salt when I think Iā€™m hungry and the feeling subsides, and Iā€™ve never ended a fast because of hunger, always for the desire to eat something specific, for the taste. I do best on a limited eating window too. I can either not eat and Iā€™m okay, good, greatā€¦ or I can eat, eat, eat until my tummy is full. Luv the tool of a limited eating window.

(Kathy L) #28

Most of civilization is not living this way!!! -& that makes things hard to some extent also. I bring keto food with me to holidays/ birthday gatherings etc. Iā€™m wishing someone would open a chain of LC restaurants ( or at least LC friendly) maybe something named Keto Kitchen ( a play on a local restaurant named Country Kitchen) wouldnā€™t that be fun?? This WOE has lowered my BP, A1C & cholesterol. Iā€™ve dropped 40 lbs-and now am stalled half way to my goal. Im currently waiting for hormone test results to see if we can break the stall -but I see how this WOE has made my blood work ā€œnormalā€ -thatā€™s what keeps me motivated.

(A ham loving ham! - VA6KD) #29

A 6ft 225lb body builder with next to no body fat is still classed as obese on the BMI scale. Itā€™s pretty wrong.

(James storie) #30

I agree on the restaurant idea, Iā€™d love to do that! Wouldnā€™t it be great to go and eat and not feel like everyone is watching you!

(Sara S) #31

This is so incredibly exactly the same feelings I have, too!! Thank you so much for sharing your deep emotions @mrsmccalmont ! I went or maybe am still going through the same story like you with eating disorders, so when I found this thread and read your story, it immediately gave me comfort cause at least now, finally, when Iā€™m alone with the same thoughts, I know Iā€™m not getting mad but am rather just a normal person with doubts and concerns trying to find my way. Knowing there is someone else out there with the same ideas in minds really helps a lot, so thank you!!

(8 year Ketogenic Veteran) #32

Iā€™m with @richard. I refuse to even look at the BMI scale. It will never fit me. Iā€™m a 5ā€™7" female who lifts heavy weights, and have been told by more than one physician that I carry much more muscle than most women. Can you imagine what the BMI would look like on me? FUCK That.
The BMI chart is garbage and I cringe when it is mentioned. It doesnā€™t take into account our lean mass (muscle/bone) which varies greatly on each of us!

As far as CICO goes, I tend to tell people Iā€™m not a CICOpath. I strictly follow my carbohydrate macro and never overdo, but only loosely follow my estimated protein and fat macros. I am all for the ketogenic diet to regulate my hormones (insulin included) and plan to live ketogenic for life. I have already reversed a bad case of T2DM, and as a bonus- eliminated depression and lost a significant amount of bodyfat.
I can tell you living this way comfortably and sustainably for 3 years now, that this is no fad for me. It has become my incredibly healthy life though
I hope you find the comfort and joy and health that I experienceā€¦

(Rhiannon ) #33

Thank you for saying that. Glad I shared.

(Kathy L) #34

LOL!! Love it!!

(Larry Lustig) #35

Calorie counting is not the focal point of keto. Iā€™ve lost 50 pounds and restored my health and never counted calories a single day. Even now, I canā€™t even guess how many calories I eat on an average day. Itā€™s just totally irrelevant to me.

However.

I am aware that I eat much less food than I did when my addiction to carbohydrates was uncontrolled. I eat less often (not more than two meals a day) and less volume at each meal than I did before. And, every month or two I try to fast for three days.

How much less food? I neither know nor care.

I believe that this experience (eating less on keto) is fairly universal. Also, many people (myself included) discover a desire to exercise more after weā€™ve become fat adapted ā€“ probably because our bodies are no longer primed to store excess energy as fat and so we need to burn it off.

I think @richard put it best on a recent podcast ā€“ Eat Less / Exercise More is real, but it is the result of improved health (through diet) and not the cause.

(A ham loving ham! - VA6KD) #36

Iā€™m finding its the little things like parking at the far end of a lot, taking the stairs instead of the lift, just moving around more, not delaying or begrudging chores, walking to the convenience store, etc. All of these things are not even a second thought anymore.

(Keto in Katy) #37

Nailed it. :+1:

(Adam Kirby) #38

Iā€™ve basically stopped caring about calories after reading the LCHF experiments people have conducted where they eat absurd amounts of calories daily and lose fat (while putting on lean mass). Some days I probably eat ā€œunder maintenanceā€. Other days I go crazy and ā€œovereatā€. Problem is, weā€™ve all had the CICO mindset beaten into us, so what I think happens is when people stall for a long time the overeating fear creeps back in. Some people on keto insist they have to eat at X calorie deficit or they stall. Maybe. Or maybe they are also naturally restricting additional carbs as well, and that makes the difference.

(Keto in Katy) #39

I sometimes like to think of it this way: we are just animals in the natural world. What do animals in the wild do? They eat the foods that are right for them, when they are hungry. They move (ā€œexerciseā€) in ways that are natural to them. They donā€™t think about calories or portions or meal times.

Once we discover which foods work best for us and make us feel good, we should eat those, just enough to satisfy. Move often, calm the mind, be at peace, sleep well, be grateful, avoid the unnecessary noise of the world where we can.

This reminds me of Walt Whitmanā€™s poem Leaves of Grass. I love this bit:

I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-containā€™d;
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition;
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins;
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God;
Not one is dissatisfiedā€”not one is demented with the mania of owning things;
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago;
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.

(Todd Allen) #40

With care you can eat all of those things, more varieties of fruits, vegetables and legumes and stay keto. The key is portion control and rate of consumption.

For example, when I was a carb junky orange juice was probably my greatest sin. Iā€™ve completely given up orange juice, it has so much easily absorbable sugar that a single tablespoon would likely spike my blood glucose. But I will still sometimes have a small mandarin orange. Itā€™s a very anti-ketogenic food, ~40 calories and 8 grams of sugar.

So I donā€™t just gulp it down. Iā€™ll separate all the sections and eat them slowly one every few minutes with a very low carb food such as brie cheese. This has a minimal impact on my blood glucose, especially if eaten after a hard workout.

Iā€™ve found I can reliably eat 10 g of carbs of ā€œbadā€ foods like this a day and have no trouble staying in ketosis. Everyone is different and ideally you should do blood testing for glucose and ketones if you want to know what is ok for yourself. And if you eat protein to excess it will impact your tolerance for carbs and limit your options.