What am I doing wrong :( Newbie needing help

keto
newbies
fasting
(Rachel) #1

Hey all,

I would really love some help, suggestions & opinions. I started Keto 10 days ago.

I played with a number of calculators to work out my macros, I ended up plugging into MFP the average of a few. This is it:
1600 Calories per day
129g Fat
90g Protein
20g carbs (sometimes I go slightly over but by the time I deduct fibre I’m always below 20g)

I am 156cm short, 52 kg, 21% body fat, 32 year old female

I started off doing a couple of silly things, I had a low carb bar a day for the first 3-4 days as a treat which had a lot of rubbish ingredients and think the ‘true’ carb limit was a lot higher than what I was scanning into MFP
I got rid of those, I also played with some baking and sweeteners and think this effected things too. I pretty much wrote this week off as a learning curb.

Since then I started a plan to fast to try and get into ketosis without delay (I’m now on day 4 of really committing). I am doing daily fasting (16/8) I have been religious with sticking to my macros within the 8 hour eating period (well sticking to under 20 net carbs and the fat/protein ratio right, 2 of the days though (yes 2/4 I have purposely had 200 cal less in a hopes to boost things)
I don’t eat past 8pm and don’t eat again until midday the next day. From what I’ve read I thought this was a great plan, but over the past 4 days I have been testing using the pee strips and quite often get negative or traces only, I think once I’ve had moderate :frowning:

What am I doing wrong? why am I not getting into moderate ketosis and staying there, why am I dont feeling this amazing burst of energy I’m reading about.

So my goal is to lose a little bit of body fat, from 21% to 17% would be nice, originally I thought 15%
I also obviously want to feel all the health benefits that come with keto. And consistent energy levels, reduce sugar cravings and stop thinking about eating every 2-3 hours.

Help,
Rach

(Ron) #2

Rach,
Welcome! There are a lot of great people here that will help all they can. There is all the information here as well and would be a great pace to research about Keto. Here is a good place to start and when you have more questions, ask away!:slightly_smiling_face:
http://pwop.com/download/TheKetogenicDietInANutshell.pdf

(Kirk Wolak) #3

Okay, I am replying as someone who was more Atkins, but now more KETO, I am relatively new to KETO.

But, I tried Fasting and watched Dr. Jason Fung videos. He blew my mind. BECAUSE we have been lied to.

So, first I tested the affects of Splenda and Diet Soda, etc. My STAPLES… And THEY were causing my lack of ketosis. I bought a KETO-MOJO (Combo Glucose/Ketone meter)… A BP cuff… And TESTED things, because these are things I will do FOR LIFE…

Also, CREAM and EGGS bother me. I know because my BP goes up after having them.

If you are eating ANYTHING you MIGHT be allergic to, DONT. For me it was peanut butter. Again, I found it drove my BP higher.

Also, from the FASTING Side. Only eat meals, not snacks. For ME, every time I would have a snack, my body will respond with Insulin, drive my glucose lower, and STOP fat burning for 2hrs - 4hrs…

What helped me, and it was easy was ONE Meal a day, once I was in light ketosis. AND THEN Monitoring my numbers throughout the day (why I put Coconut Oil in my coffee as opposed to heavy cream).

BE PATIENT. Remove ANYTHING you did not make yourself for a few days.
EAT ONE MEAL a day, if you can (then you get only ONE Insulin hit), and ENJOY that meal.
Give it a few days. By day 3 for me, I was skipping the one meal, because I was not hungry… LOL
[Again, that’s more about Fasting, than KETO]

But it worked. I Fasted from Friday Night, 7pm until Tuesday morning. My BP dropped too much so I did eat a small breakfast (no pun intended) of sausage. Then met a friend for lunch, and had a decent lunch WITH veggies… And a few extra carbs… And for the FIRST TIME in my life, I was still in Ketosis!!! Normally I have a 5g limit on carbs in a DAY. And that was to stay PINK.

I went from 4.9 (Getting into the darker purple) down to 2.8 after lunch, and then 3.0 at 2.5hrs after lunch!
I went straight back to my fast cycle for a full day…

THE FAKE FOODS screw with you. MSG will screw with me… I don’t need to cheat if I do it with fasting, because on my meal days, I can be more flexible. On my fasting there is ZERO flexing. I am either eating or not eating.

(Ron) #4

If you are new to a low carb diet fasting until you become fat adapted is not really recommended. In most people (not all) fasting before being fat adapted is not a good idea as it makes the processes that the body has to go through much more difficult. The body need as much fuel as possible to help in hormonal changes, metabolic changes, digestive tract changes, eliminating old gut biome and building a new biome with different bacteria strains that will handle fat digestion instead of sugars, reducing inflammation, healing damages from years of sugar consumption, etc etc. It (the body) also isn’t used to burning fat for fuel and will fight it in the beginning so you want to feed it lots of fat to teach it that is all it is going to get so it needs to learn how to use it.

(Rachel) #5

Thanks so much for your comments and advice, its really appreciated. And so happy that you are in a good place and have such a good routine/plan worked out :slight_smile: trial and error and I’ll get there :slight_smile: Thank you

(Rachel) #6

Ok good advice, this fasting thing is hard work haha, would love to know your opinion on my macros? do you think stopping the fasting but sticking to my 1600 (less than 20 net carbs) will eventually work?

(TT) #7

Hey Rach,

You and I have roughly similar stats, and I also started keto not too long ago.

I also did a fast in the beginning in order to kick myself into ketosis asap. However, I did a fat fast. Within three days, my blood ketone level jumped (actually freaked me out if you saw my previous post).

First off, pee strips are not accurate, it only reflect the amount of wasted ketones from your body. Secondly, this is a process that takes time. You’ve only been keto for 10 days, this isn’t very long. Everybody is different, my body for one is very resistant to changes. Give it more time!

Try bulletproof coffee, make sure you are eating the right kind of fat. (Initially I did restrict my protein intake as well.

Your body needs to learn a new mechanism, do it in steps and do it slow. Ketone level will come.

(Kirk Wolak) #8

Rachel,
I would NOT LOWER Calories. Calories in signal a HIGHER Metabolism.
It’s the hormones (INSULIN) you want to regulate.

Fasting is an exception, because if you do not eat, it triggers different things in your body that actually MAINTAIN your metabolism. Because you will need energy to find food. Think about it. If after 3 days of no food, cavemen were lethargic and brain dead… They would die in that cave!

The FAT fasting thing B mentioned, is interesting. You just have to be careful it’s not FAT+something that triggers insulin. (Fat by itself doesnt. But even a STEAK will trigger an insulin response (Dr. Fung)).

==
BTW, Fasting is easier than dieting. I have ZERO food decisions. “Can I eat this? NOPE”.
When I was Low Carb (Atkins) I would have an Atkins bar, or some other low carb, and self-sabotage. Then later I realized I made a series of bad decisions…

Also, you FAST Every night when you go to bed. When you wake up are you STARVING?

HTH

Kirk Out!

(Ron) #9

Your macro’s are pretty good. I punched your stats into the calculator I use and this is what I got, so they are pretty close. I would try to be closer to my protein number if you can.
Based on your inputs, we suggest you eat: 1468 calories. From those, 122g fats, 20g net carbs, and 72g protein.
Your on the right track so just be patient and feel free to ask anytime you have a question.:wink:

(Dione) #10

Hello
I am also quite new - 1,5 months but still not fat adapted. First I had magnesium dediciency- which made me and muscles awful. The I figured that I have many food intolerances… diary, nuts-peanut , eggs - some vegies but I am not so sure yet…
How do you check your intolerances? Is it simply the BP check?
I need help because although I keep my macros well, I can not be fat adapted :frowning:

(Kirk Wolak) #11

DIone,
The simplest thing to do was to go all out carnivore, but the protein is too high unless you are willing to find ways to consume pure fat. I AM…

I was good with Coconut oil, and I would drink a few tablespoons to make sure my fat content was high enough, despite eating only meat. (So, technically I was NOT carnivore at that point).

I did IgE with a doctor, and she recommended IgG… I should get the test results before next Thursday.
The lab got my samples on Thursday. It is all online. This link gives you a discount.

Next I followed Dr. Gundry, and removed ANYTHING on his NO List (Peanuts, Cashews, Legumes, etc. etc.)
They are high in Lectin.

But it is frustrating not to know. So, I recommend you get BORING and eat the meat/fats you love. Bacon and Avocado are my two biggies for right now. In fact, I eat tomorrow. I made some hard boiled eggs, HOPING to try them. But I will be making Bacon. (And because I did a hard workout today, I am HUNGRY! Many it might have been a mistake to work out so hard)…

One key thing. Use as FEW carbs as you can. I keep mine below 5g/day because that was my old threshold. I was SHOCKED on Saturday when I did a 75g Glucose (GTT) Challenge. And I STAYED IN KETOSIS the entire time (2.2 was my lowest, back to 4.0 at about 4hrs)!!! But I knew I was fully adapted
based on working out. (now I am not an athlete with ketones, just my normal stuff is covered, now I will produce deficits, like I did today)

(Dione) #12

Hi Kirk,

Thank you for your detailed answer… that was very helpful…I have done my IgG and IgE tests… good luck with them. :slight_smile: It was so sad for me to find out that I have intolerance to Eggs, diary :frowning:

Also some foods does not show any IgG negative response like peanut for me but I feel bad when I consume them. That’s why I wanted to check how do you check your intolerances.

You can not fully rely on these tests unfortunately… We have to find a way to test ourselves.

I see you took the safe approach by simply increasing fat and eat meat. I can not eat meat.

My carbs are around 20-25 grams/day. Fat : 120-150, Protein : 40 gr (fish)

Deniz.

(Kirk Wolak) #13

Dione,
Wow, can’t eat meat is tough. And 25g of carbs/day is the upper limit. But my approach would be to find the most palatable oils you can, and learn to LATHER your food in them.

I make a warm spinach salad:

  • Large Pan, lots of coconut oil in the bottom (1/4 inch or more).
  • Heat, drop in Thin Sliced Garlic Cloves
  • Drop in 1/2 THINLY sliced onion (when the garlic starts to turn brown) the onions will slow the cooking down
  • Saute these.
  • Add oil if there is ANY bottom showing! (Bring to temp)
  • Remove from heat, and add spinach. Using residual heat, quickly coat the spinach in the hot oil. It will warm the spinach up and wilt it. (I eat 2.5 CUPS of spinach (1/2 bag) before cooking)
  • Salt and Pepper (It absorbs a LOT of salt) to taste
  • Zest Lemon (Optional)
  • Top with Walnuts and Goat Cheese if you can tolerate (I usually stick to walnuts and BACON)

Now, that dish right there is just ONE idea of how to LOAD fat into your diet. I eat this 2 times a week. And I only eat MWF (3 times a week). So I eat this often. I have not found ANYTHING that absorbs as much oil as this process. Green Carbs can be counted as only NET (remove fiber). Onions count full carbs. And the Onions are optional. I make it without if I don’t have any. I make it without the garlic sometimes too (I don’t like the minced Garlic I always have on hand. the CHIPS are so much nicer).

The Rule #1 from Gundry. What you REMOVE from you diet is FAR more important that what you Add!

And yes, we have to do our own Elimination Diets. That’s fine. I just wanted to avoid learning the hard way with 96 foods. It would take me 96 weeks, and if I am bad with many of them, it gets depressing. AVOID Depression at all costs! (Passing my GTT blood test this weekend has given me a HUGE boost!)

Okay, this is the Dr. Gundry NO List. I avoid EVERYTHING on this list.

The No List
Refined Starchy Foods
• Pasta
• Rice
• Potatoes
• Potatoes chips
• Milk
• Bread
• Tortillas
• Pastry
• Flours made from grains and pseudo
• Cookies
• Crackers
• Cereal
• Sugar
• Agave
• Splenda
• SweetOne or sunett NutraSweet
• Sweet n Low
• Diet drinks
• Maltodextrin
Vegetables
• Tomatoes (unless peeled, deseeded)
• Cucumbers (unless peeled, deseeded)
• Peas
• Sugar snap peas
• Legumes
• Green beans
• Chickpeas
• Soy
• Tofu
• Edamame
• Soy protein
• Textured vegetable
• All beans including sprouts
• All lentils
Nuts and Seeds
• Pumpkin
• Sunflower
• Chia
• Peanuts
• Cashews
Fruits/Veggies
• All fruits (except in season fruit)
• Ripe Bananas
• Zucchini
• Pumpkins
• Squashes
• Melons
• Eggplants
• Tomatoes (unless peeled, deseeded)
• Bell peppers (unless peeled, deseeded)
• Chili peppers (unless peeled, deseeded)
• Goji berries
Non-Southern European Cow’s Milk Products
• Contain casein a-1 Yogurt
• Greek yogurt
• Frozen yogurts
• American Cheese
• Ricotta
• Cottage cheese
• Kefir
• Casein protein powders
Sprouted Grains, Pseudo-Grains and Grasses
• Whole grains
• Wheat Einkorn
• Wheat Kamut
• Oats
• Quinoa
• Rye
• Bulgur
• Brown rice
• White rice
• Barley
• Buckwheat
• Kashi
• Spelt
• Corn
• Corn products
• Cornstarch
• Corn syrup
• Popcorn
• Wheatgrass
• Barley grass
Oils
• Soy
• Grapeseed
• Corn
• Peanut
• Cottonseed
• Safflower
• Sunflower
• Partially hydrogenated vegetable or canola