Trying

(Pat) #1

So, I’ve been on and off keto for a few years now. I can’t say never but I don’t each much processed food and I always check the label.
For the last 4 weeks I have trying to be keto I have:
Breakfast
2 fried/poached/scrambled eggs
4 strips streaky bacon

If I have poached eggs I have one piece of low carb bread (1.6 carbs) with butter no bacon
Sometimes I have a 3-4 egg omelette with cheese and tomato
Scrambled eggs 3-4 cooked in butter nothing else.

Lunch canned salmon on low carb bread with avocado, butter and mayonnaise or
Salad with corned beef or leftover meat and blue cheese or Camembert and avocado
Dinner is meat or fish and veggies or salad
Sometimes I do spicy chicken or chicken stir fry and cauliflower rice
Once a week we have roast and I have gravy.
I put olive oil on my salad
I cook in butter or lard sometimes oil
I don’t cut off the fat on meat and eat the skin on chicken
Now comes the alcohol - I have cut down from 6/7 standard drinks to 2 standard drinks.
30-40 grams walnuts
Does anyone think I am eating too much?
Not enough?
Too much fat or not enough?
I have probably lost about 1 kg since starting around about the middle of Feb
What does anyone think?

#2

Great start. It’s important to eat well with highly nutritious whole foods that benefit ketogenesis. As you feel better and your internal gut bacteria adjust with some sugar loving ones dying out over a few weeks, then you can let go of some of the current non-negotiables.

That’s a great effort with the alcohol consumption reduction. Keep going.

#3

If you’re not losing at the speed you’ve set out to, maybe. Many people do, fat adds up very quickly. We’re keto because of the lack of carbs, not because of the fat. If you’re throwing fat into things just for the sake of doing so, that could be your problem.

Track your intake with something like MacroFactor that will figure out your metabolic rate and you’ll have your answer, doing it blind doesn’t give you any data. Only losing about 1kg since a little over a month ago may be the speed your going for, but seems a little slow, especially at first. Most have a big weight drop from glycogen and subcutaneous water dropping at first. That not happening is slightly weird. But again, impossible to tell. You could be eating 3000+ a day without trying which is a lot more than most would ever get away with.

If that’s 2 drinks a day, ya, that could be a problem, also depends on what they are, possibly by a lot.

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #4

When starting you can underestimate how much fat you need (I did) Remember Keto means your a fat burner, you need it! It also keeps you feeling full.

Personally, I found it very hard to eat too much. I could stuff myself with 3 big meals and I’d still lose weight. Too little food means you store fat (starvation made)

I love nuts but had to cut them out. Too easy to over carb. Most nuts are pretty toxic too.
And the alcohol has obvious problems too. Booze was my hobby for years but I give into stuff.
No good comes from drink … you just think it’s good.
But your doing great things. I’ve learnt to enjoy the simple life. It’s not boring feeling healthy :slight_smile:

(KM) #5

If you’re trying to do a ketogenic diet but enhancing it with things that have some carbs, it’s about the quantity. The only way you will really know if you are in ketosis is if you check your blood level. Urine sticks are quick, cheap and painless. They’re not particularly accurate for some people, but they’re an easy start. As @lfod14 said, it’s about cutting carbs, not adding fat.

(Pat) #6

It’s 2 standard drinks a day, I use a proper measure. I thought I was doing pretty well cutting it down from minimum 7 to minimum 2. Anyway, I have added up the calories and it’s about 2500 which I think is way too much. So I have to cut down on the fat as I consume very little carbs.

(Pat) #7

Yeah, I think the nuts have to go, there’s not many carbs in 40g of walnuts, but there are a lot of calories.

(Pat) #8

hmmm… that’s the thing it seems I am eating too much fat.

(Cathy) #9

Is it possible the low carb bread is a problem? I find that the commercially made one that I use tends to make me bump up a lb. or so. It comes right off but I suspect it is bumping me out of keto. Not a biggie since I am not really in weight loss mode but if I were, I would be cutting all commercially made breads from my woe.

Some low carb items are best left for after weight loss in my opinion.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #10

Alcohol has its own issues, but it depends on what you are drinking. Hard liquor has less carbohydrate than wine, and beer might as well be “liquid bread,” as someone has described it. Be aware, however, that people often find that they get hit harder by less alcohol on keto, so you won’t need much to enjoy yourself. And the drink often makes non-keto choices seem more attractive than they really are.

As for the rest of your diet, it sounds good. The calorie calculation is different on keto. It is carb calories that cause us to put on fat, because of the insulin response to the glucose they contain. With insulin no longer interfering with our hunger hormones, we can trust our appetite as a guide to how much to eat. I started keto eating a large quantity of food, but about two and a half weeks into this way of eating, I suddenly stopped wanting nearly as much food and could go for quite long periods between meals.

The key is to let your body decide. Put it on short rations and it thinks there’s a famine going on, so it will conserve all the resources it can. Conversely, many forum members have found that their fat loss didn’t really start until they began eating more, not less. Avoiding sugar, starches, and grains is much more important than avoiding calories.

#11

Your food looks good. As you didn’t even tell us how much you eat and I can’t have any idea how much you need, I can’t tell if it’s too much or too little or just right :slight_smile: Ideally, you just get satiated and it’s the right amount.

IDK how much 2 standard drinks are but sounds a lot to me. But I drink ridiculously tiny amounts, very rarely :smiley: I can’t tell it’s too much for you, obviously. And if it’s as little as you can manage, great job anyway (just some reduction is good job but if you do whatever you can, that’s great job in my books! :D).

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #12

There’s no ‘carbs to fat’ ratio. Many of us eat zero carbs and very fatty food. Now if you ate a very high carb standard US diet (and we don’t) then you shouldn’t have high fat …

#13

Sorry, but I have no idea what a “Standard drink” is. Beer? Wine? Shot of Jack? Vodka? Those are all VERY different from each other as far as how your body treats it and how long it sets you back.

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #14

Great remark Ifod … I heard somebody saying only yesterday, while your trying to process alcohol your getting no nutrients.

(Pat) #15

A standard drink in Australia is any alcoholic beverage that contains 10 grams of pure alcohol. This amount is the same regardless of the type of alcohol or the size of the container.

(Pat) #16

The bread is supposed to be 3.1 carbs for 2 slices @ 199 calories. The carbs are calculated as net in Australia.

(Pat) #17

I believe my diet to be very low carb. I don’t have the bread every day only sometimes. Extra fat equals about 3 or 4 tablespoons of butter 1 tablespoon of cream in my coffee which I don’t have every day and I only have one cup in one day. I don’t cut the fat off meat and bacon and I have about 40 grams of walnuts. I do eat cheese but no more than 30 grams on a meal.
Anyway I’m going to go away and rethink my diet. I’ll get back to you all in a few weeks.

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #18

Please … because we’re rooting for you. :grin: Don’t stop your research, there’s so mush misinfo about nutrition … but after a while you get to know which sources to trust and which not to trust.