Hi all!
I am an older lady who just kept gaining weight after menopause. Inching ever forward to a point where I just dont feel well. I think I am on the verge of diabetes perhaps, so this is why I decided I have to do something drastic. I have tried every diet under the sun and always lost weight for a while and then that old yoyo effect: gained it back and then some. I am actually allergic to diets today. But this is new. It doesn’t feel like a diet which has me doubting myself. I have now ordered something like 5 keto cookbooks and I am having a ball. I don’t want to be a slave to my scale, so I am kind of winging it without checking and I dont really care if I lose slowly or fast ( well fast would be nice) - I just want to move in the other direction and see my clothes getting more loose instead of tighter. I make veggie casseroles ( and I used to hate veggies because they were so bland and boring, but now I add butter or cheese!) and I use ingredients that I have never heard of before, like coconut flour. As I write this, I am sitting here sipping on an almond milk chocolate milkshake ( without cream and using sugerfree cocoa and a drop of vanilla extract- YUMMY). I go to the site online which calculates my food, and what I see each time by the end of the day, is that I have eaten 25 Carbs instead of 20. I would like to know how bad that is? And also a question about the keto flu. I dont even know if I am getting that. I feel the chills sometimes and have to pee a lot. Could this be the beginning of ketosis? Or am I kidding myself with 25 carbs instead of 20? I simply cannot believe that food can taste so good, that I can feel so full, and be losing weight at the same time. Strangely enough, I dont miss anything. I dont miss bread for breakfast ( love bacon and eggs) nor pasta or fries. And I actually do feel better than before when I had toast for breakfast. It feels like my body is sighing and saying to me “Finally! No more insulin in overdrive needed.” So I guess my question is: can I keep on with 25g carbs, or do I have to find a way to lower it more? It was a shock to learn that broccoli has carbs too!
Total beginner
I never even heard about the chills before, peeing a lot is normal in the beginning and keto flu is usually just neglecting electrolytes, don’t do that. I had no idea about them but I was lucky so I had never keto flu, it might happen too. But feeling bad and missing carbs is normal, just like not having any cravings right away is normal too, we are different and we even come from different diets…
25g net carbs may be fine and may be too much. It’s probably fine as it’s very close to 20g and that’s safe for most people but one can never know. I ate way more carbs and had no problem but some people have to go even way below 20g.
Why wouldn’t you feel better without toast? Many of us feel loads better without such carby stuff we don’t need. And it doesn’t matter you ate like that for decades, my body was quite happy when I cut out sugar and grains right away (and I didn’t miss them at all, at least in the first years). It seems our body tends to respond to a better diet well pretty soon. It isn’t always the case but it’s not unusual at all.
Broccoli is a vegetable, of course it has carbs (but relative with diabetes was surprised too). Eggs have carbs as well, not even a tiny amount 
Nuts are more or less carby too. Coconut flour and some dairy is quite carby. Carbs are nearly everywhere but 20g is still doable if you are determined (and not loving vegetables too much helps too, they kept me from going that low first, my fruits were fine but I didn’t eat vegetables in tiny amounts).
Good luck! It seems you have a smoother time than many 
Howdy Chantarella and welcome to the forum! I always recommend adding the 2KetoDudes podcast to your daily regimen. Start at the beginning. It sure has helped keep on my 5 month old Keto journey! Best of luck to you! 
Sounds like you’re doing just fine! Keep doing what you’re doing and tracking the carbs. If you don’t notice your clothes feeling looser then maybe work on getting carbs down to under 20g but really I wouldn’t worry about hitting 25g here and there.
Scroll to the bottom of this page and it’s there.
Good luck on your journey, it sounds like you are in the same place as I was 18 months ago. I never had keto flu, but then everyone used to tell me I was eating too much salt! Nice to be able to without feeling guilty. In fact I felt wonderful from the very start.
As you progress, you will probably find you eat less and your carbs naturally drop. 25g is fine, in fact it gives you a nice bit of wriggle room in case you stall a bit.
Thanks CrackerJax. i really do feel great. Right now I feel a bit chilly- and although I haven’t read about that anywhere, I assume that has to do with energy, or lack of, and my body changing to burning fats too. Can you tell me how much weight you lost in 18 months?
Ah- I just saw: 45 pounds. BRAVO!
I would venture to say, that has been the majority of us. When I started keto, I had lost pretty much all hope of anything working for me.
It sure doesn’t! My husband and I marvel at what we can eat - and still lose weight. Delicious food; we are never hungry.
I don’t weigh myself except when I go to the doctor’s. I can tell by my appearance and clothes how I am doing.
Keeping the carbs under 20/day is suggested, not required and not a fatal flaw. We all have to find what works for us and what we can stick with long term. For me, it isn’t difficult because I don’t really care for veggies and pretty much only eat meat/meat products, eggs, a little cheese, heavy cream, mayo, and only a little vegetables. Can you make these things your main sources of calories and eat less veggies and some of the other things that have carbs? If you have a general idea of what you are going to eat, it may be easier to cut out some of the carbs than you think.
Not everyone experiences keto flu - I didn’t. From what I understand, keto flu is the result of our bodies switching metabolically from burning carbs to burning fat. It is temporary (days/week).
I agree! Keto has been my miracle. I don’t experience cravings for things I used to eat. Yesterday, my inlaws and us got together for lunch at an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet. I used to love going there and would get several plates of food. I didn’t have anything except water and ate my OMAD later after we got home. Wasn’t tempted at all. I had a big sizzling pork steak with MCT oil and a little cole slaw. It was delicious!
Good luck to you - sounds like you are doing great! 
Thx for the information. One really has to consider that everyone reacts differently - so many variables in lifestyle and age too. But it is comforting to read what you wrote.
Good luck on your journey. It’s day 4 for me. I’m a 31 year old woman and have been overweight for two years and a bit. So looking forward to losing it. I too am not using a scale ( I obsess too much)
I personally do not count non-starchy veggies as a carb especially leafy greens, cruciferous or a fatty fruit like avocados (which has all the different types of fats you could ever need on keto). I leave them out of the counting process because I’m not trying to navigate the space shuttle, it will confuse me even more.
You increase protein intake beyond 4 ounces or so on a ketogenic diet and your ketones go down, you decrease the protein intake below 4 ounces and ketone readings goes up. (what I noticed using a blood meter and urine strips)
The type of carbs I worry about are refined and processed foods not Whole Foods and eat very little bread like thinly sliced bread did not effect the ketogenic diet for me either. You can actually eat any kind of bread (one slice) if your on a budget when doing keto because your primary source of nutrition is coming from protein and fat not refined carbohydrates (those who really don’t understand how the ketogenic diet works may not understand that) so it can be factored in even though it is a processed carb. Thinking you cannot eat bread on a ketogenic diet is a myth. Only caveat about bread is you don’t want to eat any bread for three days while initiating ketosis.
Even fruit is good after you been on the ketogenic diet after some time like cantaloupe, blue berries bananas just don’t go crazy with it. What can fit in the palm of your hand which is not very much.
About 0.5 per the normal eggs I use, 1 per 100g. It’s not bad at all if my day isn’t “full” with carbs from other things…