[Swan]

(03-04-2018 06:39 PM)Sidney Crosby Wrote:  

I've been on the Keto diet for a week now, first few days absolutely suck but I've done it before.

Swan what do you try and limit your protein to? Most resources I've read say that too much protein can kick you out of ketosis so I've stopped drinking protein shakes because I get quite a bit of protein from, meat, cheese,eggs and nuts.

I believe you're right, too much protein can knock you out of ketosis. I don't count macros at this point, although perhaps I should. I kind of go by feel and I have some test strips to test for ketosis. I shoot for about 70% of calories from fat and feel like I can tell when I haven't eaten enough because I get hungry faster.

I still drink protein shakes, but I add chia seeds and MCT oil to up the fat content. That's my breakfast, most days. I'll maybe add a couple slices of bacon or a keto biscuit and I'm good to go.

[Hell_Is_Like_Newark]

I have been pretty consistent on keto the past year and a half. I went over my limit here and there (limit: 35 net grams of carbs), mostly when eating out, which isn't that often. I would get knocked out of ketosis for a day at most. When I say 'over', I mean maybe hitting 120 net grams at most.

Yesterday though, I downed three cupcakes at an Easter party. Holy crap! I felt like Hell afterwards. It's amazing when your body doesn't run on glucose for very long, you really don't tolerate sugary foods well.

[Sidney Crosby]

I broke my keto diet for an Easter feast, it is hard to eat a lot of you are on a keto diet, loading up on carbs makes you full so fast. I also broke it the following day, I'm curious as to how long it takes to kick back in.

[Hell_Is_Like_Newark]

(04-04-2018 01:57 AM)Sidney Crosby Wrote:  

I broke my keto diet for an Easter feast, it is hard to eat a lot of you are on a keto diet, loading up on carbs makes you full so fast. I also broke it the following day, I'm curious as to how long it takes to kick back in.

I found that if you have been on keto for a long time, you can get back into it without much of an issue.

If I do a heavy round of cardio and / or restrict calorie intake for a day i get back into ketosis in less than 48 hours. I did the latter (with an infant, 6+ hours of sleep is a distant memory.. I stopped working out).

I spent Monday pissing what seemed like every hour (glycogen being purged from my liver). This morning my piss reeked of acetone, which means I am back in ketosis.

[AmericanPharoah]

How do you guys hit your target in macros? I find myself barely hungry enough to eat 1200 calories a day. Ill have a cup of coffee, lettuce wrap burger, a few scrambed eggs, maybe some low carb tortilla tacos in a day of eating. I feel good but sometimes I wonder if i should be eating more. I just get full so quick/just not hungry.

[mikado]

After cutting carbs at night, I dropped 5% bf after 1 month, going down to 21%.

Now I have adopted the keto diet (altough with work i can only fast for roughly 15h, instead of 16h), looks like I am gaining definition. More defined chest, and looser pants. Years and years of Ramadan (plus being very uptight about food for 17+ years) have made me being able to withstand long periods of not eating, and I have never been much a breakfast person.

Next step is to go even further the keto, and use the Ramadan month in May to only eat once a day, and fast for roughly 19h. I think the 13% BF can be reached, if I keep lifting (not too many reps though). Wish me good luck.

[Pancho]

I'm going to start this. Starting tomorrow I'm going to cut down on all carbs.

[GyopoPlayboy]

great thread, i'll just chime in with my own results. been on keto about 6 months, not sure the exact timeframe. results are pretty much in line with most of you guys here.

my observations:

+great for cutting and maintaining
+relatively easy diet to follow
+lots of healthy brain fats
+great for skin
+destroys sugar cravings

-not optimal for bulking or lifting heavy
-keto adaptation period sucks balls
-bad breath
-micronutrient imbalance/deficiencies (though this can be corrected)
-eating bad/processed foods even once after keto adapation wreaks havoc on your system

overall conclusion: it works, but at the end of the day, the best diet is the one you can actually stick to. weight loss and gain is just about calories in vs out so keto ain't some miracle pill, just another means to an end. i'm currently bulking and carbing up for it (responsibly). when cutting tho, i'll cut out the carbs and switch back to keto, supplement with BCAAs to help maintain lean muscle mass, and just make sure I'm getting in enough protein but not so much to have it become glucogenic.

although it DID have the benefit of introducing me to bone broth soup, magnesium supplementation, and bulletproof coffee. also came across this dude on Instagram who goes by Darth Luigi. Sent him a few messages before, the guy knows his shit. He's been on keto for over a decade, safe to say he's fully adapted, and he uses the term ketogains to stress the fact that you can still make gains on keto. I just personally enjoy my carbs.

[Sidney Crosby]

I had a rash a few week ago that I thought was due to an infection of some sort, yesterday it came back and I thought it was due to a potential allergy to almond butter as it turns out I think it both rashes were caused by "Keto rash", I think I am going off the diet now. I was planning to stay on it to for another couple weeks but I will end it now but continue to eat healthy with a moderate amount of carbs.

I"m not ruling this diet out again in the future because it works great but for now I'm done.

Here is more info
https://www.perfectketo.com/keto-rash/#4

[I DIDN'T KILL MY WIFE]

I think that from the science, idea and execution, keto is cool idea (as it's basically a more restricted If It Fits Your Macros approach). But it also seems that keto might work a bit differently for some people, on a chemical level. Seems I was one of those.

Keto started out great: quickly reduced carbs and knew how to count them, so lost a lot of water. Kept drinking salts to prevent the dehydration and eletrolysis loss. Had actually high energy, ate tasty food, no hunger. But then at some early point I had a state of EXTREME alertness, like alert to the point of being uncomfortable. My sleep became not as deep, I would go from sleeping to wide awake in seconds. And I started getting huge, dark eye rings that didn't go away no matter how much I slept. Now I'm not started to a certain amount of rings under my eyes, but this was scaring even me and just didn't look healthy, so I quit keto.

Read up a bit on what was happening and maybe it was adrenal fatigue. Could be anecdotal evidence, but it would explain keto and some of the symptoms I had (extreme alertness like a fight-or-flight response). Not dumping on keto here, just saying stay safe bruhs

[S3K2]

I've done cyclical keto diet years ago. Cyclical is diffrent from a targeted keot diet due to eating all your carbs one day a week. So keep protein the same all week, on your carb up day, eat just 10% fats and rest in carbs. So my macro numbers looked something like 50% pro/ 10% fats/ 40% carbs. On no carb days it was always 50/50. Though I don't recommend this diet to advanced lifters/dieter, just starting out it works wonders.

Insulin sensitivity is more important than forcing your liver to make ketones for energy (ketosis).

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[Truth Tiger]

For S3K2 and others who have gotten and stayed lean and cut, I'm seeking additional advice. I'm currently pursuing fat-loss and regeneration via 16/8 to 18/6 IF. I've switched from a paleo breakfast to morning keto coffee which is working for me. I've already lost a decent amount of visible body fat (so my belly isn't extending when I stand up straight and view my side profile) and want to continue fat loss to move into better-defined abdominals as well as a leaner face (some fat or sag under my chin).

I'm 5'10", early 40s, now 189 lb (lost ~11 lb since start of the year). I can pinch about an inch and a half of love handles. I have more of a mesomorph frame, muscular upper body and legs previously from moderate weights and now largely exercise via rock climbing (sustained longer climbs) and bouldering (strength/burst). I don't train my chest or legs right now separate from climbing (which I know aren't giving a full range) but I usually down-climb bouldering routes to work my arms/shoulders/back in extension. My goal is to get an lean and cut as possible without man-made steroids and get down to the range of body fat where 20-somethings are opening me. I'm not sure when or where I may plateau with fat loss, but my sense is I could lose another couple pounds doing what I'm doing.

I'm open to your ideas. S3K2 in particular, thanks for your contributions. I intend to use your pre-workout drink, stay ware of insulin sensitivity as you've pointed out, and also be mindful of carbs before bed to help deepen my sleep. I'm happy to do blood work and post results as it's been a couple years and I'm definitely due.

[birthday cat]

Truth Tiger - all this varies from person to person so it's difficult to say. The one thing I don't see in your post is high intensity exercise like squats or sprints. Those might help. For me, I've dealt with weight issues in the past but now it seems that all those issues were due to my lack of knowledge or execution. I stay lean and cut with keto, intermittent fasting 15/9, and 3 relatively long workouts per week with heavy compound lifts.

Everyone - I recommend Dr. Eric Berg's videos on youtube for keto and intermittent fasting. He doesn't have the most dynamic personality but I really liked his videos because they are concise and quickly get to the point. Here are a few examples.
Key Foods on a Ketogenic Diet
Keto and Intermittent Fasting for Beginners and...Procrastinators
Keto and Intermittent Fasting: the Big Overview for Beginners

Does anyone have any secret foods or recipes for getting extra calories? I think I know all the high calorie foods but let me know if I'm missing something. I'm eating a lot of eggs, meats, cheese, nuts, avocados, and even drinking olive oil.

[Werekoala]

My current experience. I had gone on a reduced carb diet around March, lost about 12 pounds and then got stuck for the last two months at the same weight. I sucked it up and went no-carb 8 days ago to try to break the slump and I've lost 4.5 pounds since then.

Works for me.

[Truth Tiger]

(08-08-2018 11:10 AM)birthday cat Wrote:  

Truth Tiger - all this varies from person to person so it's difficult to say. The one thing I don't see in your post is high intensity exercise like squats or sprints. Those might help. For me, I've dealt with weight issues in the past but now it seems that all those issues were due to my lack of knowledge or execution. I stay lean and cut with keto, intermittent fasting 15/9, and 3 relatively long workouts per week with heavy compound lifts.

Everyone - I recommend Dr. Eric Berg's videos on youtube for keto and intermittent fasting. He doesn't have the most dynamic personality but I really liked his videos because they are concise and quickly get to the point. Here are a few examples.
Key Foods on a Ketogenic Diet
Keto and Intermittent Fasting for Beginners and...Procrastinators
Keto and Intermittent Fasting: the Big Overview for Beginners

Does anyone have any secret foods or recipes for getting extra calories? I think I know all the high calorie foods but let me know if I'm missing something. I'm eating a lot of eggs, meats, cheese, nuts, avocados, and even drinking olive oil.

Thanks for your reply and PM, birthday cat. You're correct, I'm not doing heavy weights or springs right now but your suggestion makes sense. By compound lifts, could you describe what your workouts look like?

A focus on IF and keto diet has definitely made a huge impact on my ability to get leaner than I've been and stay there. To get more cut, the heavy weights make sense.

Seconded on Dr. Berg, he's on the ball and doesn't beat around the bush. I also like Thomas DeLauer. In this video, TD mentions macadamia nuts as being a great energy / fat source and one he keeps with him along with coconut oil packets.

I start my day with a keto coffee, modified slightly from his recipe (I use monk fruit along with stevia, plus a teaspoon of raw maca powder and a few drops of almond extract). Keeps me going til at least 2-4p before I start to feel hungry. Sometimes I do have 3 soft-boiled eggs with ghee to get some protein and additional fat around midday.

and Dr. Berg has suggestions on reducing / optimizing the fat content (potentially with heavy cream or coconut cream/milk instead of ghee):

Quote:

Based on 1 tbsp:

Coconut Oil
Calories: 120
Fat: 14g

Coconut Milk/Cream
Calories: 28
Fat: 3g

Heavy Cream:
Calories: 60
Fat: 6g

Ghee:
Calories: 135
Fat: 15g

I would tend to not use too much olive oil unless you're keeping it refrigerated to ensure it's not oxidizing. I prefer the saturated oils otherwise. Also, Atlantic (non-Fukushima dosed) salmon (smoked, as sushi, or poaches / baked / etc) is part of my diet.

[Sidney Crosby]

I think I entered heavy ketosis yesterday and then about around dinner time I noticed I had a few red marks on my lower back. Keto rash is starting for me again, I had the same situation last time after a few weeks of ketosis except this time I know what it is.

I ate about 25 grams worth of net carbs last night because from what I read you can try upping your carbs to get rid of it while still trying to stay in ketosis. It could be that I should be eating more carbs because of the intense workouts I'm doing and aim for light ketosis or it could be that this diet will not work for me due to "ketone sensitivity"

No other diet I've ever tried has come close to being as effective as this but I'm not going to potential suffer though weeks of this painful rash again, if my slight increase in carbs doesn't help I will have to end it like last time.

My goal was to cut around 12lbs more, so I don't need to lose a crazy amount but if I am able to stick on the diet I should be able to do that in 4-5 weeks.

[travelplayer3]

Keto is workable if you perfectly optimize your intake of MCT, Brain Octane, Macademia, and HUGE amounts of clean fats to get some level of energy. These are pricey and not easy to find while traveling.

All the benefits come from staying low-inflammation 'sorta fasted' during the day. But ultimately you're starving your body and it's never recovering and totally sub-optimal for ANY athletic activity.

Much smarter to go directly to the source: eat one 'keto' meal and only consume your carbs after working out each day. Or eat only the one big meal after lifting as your only meal for the day.

If you feel your blood sugar spike: slow down your eating, work out harder next time, etc. Also workable are things like ACV, Cayenne, that improve glucose control. (Avoid sugars obviously. And if you eat rice best to do it with cooled rice that releases glucose way more slowly.)

With these hacks you can pile in 40-50% of caloric intake as carbs that go right to your muscles and liver only. And be zero-inflammation all day. And be getting all or MORE than the benefits of ketosis by getting the benefits of 20hr fasted - 4hr eating intermittent fasting.

tldr: 'keto' diets are a bad way of accessing the benefits of intermittent fasting

[Sidney Crosby]

One of the biggest benefits at least for me is how strict you have to keep the diet, you can't be like "oh I will only have a small piece of cake" or "only a couple of beers"

I've read mixed opinions on post workout carbs while on the diet, some people write that if you are doing intense exercise and have a small amount of post workout carbs (like say a banana) that they get "sucked up" and don't really count towards your daily total and some people say it's fake news.

[DaveR]

(08-31-2018 09:57 AM)Sidney Crosby Wrote:  

One of the biggest benefits at least for me is how strict you have to keep the diet, you can't be like "oh I will only have a small piece of cake" or "only a couple of beers"

Another way to do that would be to set yourself a carbohydrate density limit, for example: not greater than 10% carbohydrate by weight. I find it difficult to maintain weight on Keto (i.e. my weight drops too low), so a low-carb rather than no-carb diet works better for me. If I limit the carbohydrate density of the foods I eat, I don't have to worry too much about calorie counting.

The following guides can be used to quickly determine what to eat/not eat: https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/visual-guides

So if you set a limit of 10%, you'll be eliminating grains, starchy vegetables and high-sugar fruits, which basically removes all of the gluten and highly glycaemic foods from a diet.

Your limit can also be refined for each meal. For example, at breakfast 5%, but 10% for your after-workout meal when you're in need of energy (if not, your metabolism will go searching for minerals).

I find working with these limits allows me to eat a much more varied diet while still maintaining many of the benefits of Keto.

[-NA-]

Lost 80 lbs on keto, from 230 to 150. Keto helped me not be hungry throughout the day, but was compounded by one meal a day.
Honestly if you want to lose weight, try one meal a day + keto.
I also felt more full on 1000 calories of red meat than 2000 calories of carbs, so there's that.

tl;dr fantastic for fatties, no comment otherwise.

[Hell_Is_Like_Newark]

So Saturday I took the family out to eat. The menu didn't allow me to eat keto. So I said, "the hell with it" and just ordered a bunch of stuff off the menu. I found one day every month or so doesn't hurt me.

This time it did. Got my first migraine since getting fat adapted (over 2 years ago). Thankfully it was a mild one. It was triggered about two hours after dinner.

Pre Keto, I would get a dozen or so a year.

[eck]

I´ve started the keto diet yesterday, I'll keep it like that for 3 months or so.

My data:

height: 5' 6'' (1.67 m)
weight: 65 kg
body fat: 25%

Objective: body fat 8-10% , so more or less I want to lose 7 kilograms. Meanwhile I'll hit the gym 3 days per week, and my macros will be like 70% fat 30% proteins, more or less (1700 kcal total).

[Labienus]

1700 calories is not a lot. I'd not cut carbs completely if I were you but down to 10%, and eat around 2000 calories daily. If you don't intake enough calories, it will be hard to gain/maintain muscle mass. Try to do 30 minutes of moderate intensity cardio daily and High Intensity Interval training cardio every 2 days. Combined with resistance training, you will shed fat easily.

I'd combine it with intermittent fasting for optimal results.

[ladderff]

I've only skimmed the thread, I just want to comment on the assertion that keto will not support "heavy lifting" or "high activity levels." My own experience is when in strict low-carb mode I have sometimes felt like I lacked the energy to lift heavy or sustain performance in an endurance sport like soccer or hockey; however, the actual numbers from my workouts show that this feeling was merely subjective. I was/am still making progress with my lifts and my benchmark WODs (yeah, CrossFit. Hype aside, I judge the methods a comprehensive success). Before you write off keto for this reason: trust the numbers, not your feels!

[Jones]

This diet saved my life. I suffer from Crohn’s Disease - or should I say I suffered from Crohn’s Disease.

Throwing up any and all food. Even water, if not drank slowly, would come right back up.

I lost a lot weight, but was also weak as hell.

It didn’t help that my diet was shit - multiple bowls of cereal a day, microwave TV dinners, and constipating food full of fibre.

I was loaded up on sugars and carbs.

So I did what most people would do in my situation: I went to a doctor, got diagnosed, and given some pills.

A few steroids for the short term, and 3 pills a day for the long term - for life.

I was cured, or, at least put into remission.

But flare ups would still happen if I ate or drank the wrong food.

Either the disease was going to kill me or the pills would kill me, but slower.

I needed a better solution than 3 pills a day for the rest of my life.

3 pills a day is how I lived for 5 years - loaded up on carbs (bread, oats) and veggies.

Then after years, the better solution came along - I owe my current state of peak health, the best I’ve felt in years, to my diet.

Sure there were the headaches, the lack of energy, the agitation - all your body telling your mind "FEED ME CARBS YOU FUCK"

But the pain was worth the gain - on this diet, I eat however much meat and dairy I need, stomach problems free.

Butter, raw steak, fish, cheese, chicken, eggs, bacon, ham, I eat it all. If it’s meat, I eat.

Typical breakfast is 4 or 5 eggs and sometimes bacon. I try to eat a big raw steak every day for the second meal.

Note : I don't do strict "keto" - nuts are hard to digest, avocado tastes like shit, and vegetables sit in your stomach for hours

(I also avoid sources of fibre because of the damage it does to your intestines)

*Secret tip to get some more fat/calories : throw butter in your tea - people really can't get their heads around that one