Anyone here done a keto diet?

[Rick Lee]

I'm just now reading about this and am thinking it could be doable for me. I work from home, so I do have time to plan my meals when I'm not on business travel, which is usually less than a week per month. Looks like it definitely works if you stick with it. So I'm curious is 1) it really cramps your lifestyle and 2) if it's unhealthy. Anyone?

[Heel n Toe]

Rick, your question reminded me of the low or no-carb diet my first wife and I tried back a long time ago (80's, I think). I don't know if we were doing it wrong or what, but after a week or so, we began to lose our train of thought right in the middle of a sentence. It was very disconcerting. Plus, we began crave carbs so much, it was commonly difficult to sleep.

But then I searched "keto diet" and got this: Ketogenic diet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about a dietary medical therapy. For information on ketogenic low-carbohydrate diets as a lifestyle choice or for weight loss, see Low-carbohydrate diet.
A test strip is compared with a colour chart that indicates the degree of ketonuria.
Testing for ketone bodies in urine

The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, adequate-protein, low-carbohydrate diet that in medicine is used primarily to treat difficult-to-control (refractory) epilepsy in children.

So is your reason for doing it for weight loss or to control epileptic seizures? Wait... you're not a child. At any rate, I would think if it's to control seizures, if you are under a doctor's care and supervision, it wouldn't be anything like my experience.

[RANDY P]

Body produces Acetone in that state. Don't blow yourself up- some think it's the cause of spontaneous human combustion.

rjp

[McLovin]

I did it, almost 10 years ago.

I lost 45 lbs in less than 4 months. (220 to 175).

IMO, there's no question that it works, for a variety of reasons.

But one of the biggest reasons is that protein really makes you feel full all the time. And carbs tend to make you feel hungry. With low carb and in ketosis, I never felt hungry at all.

Also, it's hard to eat a ton of calories if you're eating only protein. It's the easy and empty calories of carbs/sugar that make it easy to eat 1500 calories at a time.

It was a really weird experience in that it happened so fast, that it was almost like I woke up one morning and the weight was gone.

I've stayed on low carbs for the past 10 years. The weight hasn't really come back, I'm around 5-8 lbs more than I was at my absolute low of 10 years ago. But I was competing in highly competitive sports back then, training like crazy, etc., so that low really wasn't realistic. I'm just about right at 180.

I also had blood tests done during that time, and there were no issues at all. I had a full panel blood test 3 weeks ago and my levels are perfect in every category.

Finally, I was in my mid/late 30s when I lost the weight. I'm now 10 years down the road. I've tried it again, to lose 5 lbs, and for whatever reason, it isn't working! At least not like it did before. I don't know if it's because I'm older. It may be because I'm not doing it as strictly. The thing is, if you get into ketosis, you can blow it in 10 seconds by eating carbs. Then you have to start over. It's the sustained period of being in ketosis that makes it work.

[Rick Lee]

I thought there was a cheat day or at least cheat meal allowed once a week on this diet. McLovin, where can I find the diet you did?

[kinein]

I am currently doin a diet plan called 1st personal diet, its based off your blood work. After taking a complete metabolic panel (cmp) they give you a tailored food plan. 1st personal diet gives you a list of foods you can eat. Certain fruits, veggies, fresh hebs, seasonings that do not contain starches and meats.

Your food is weighed out, for example 140 grams of steak, with 110 grams of veggies
You are allowed 3 fruit allowances per day and certain crackers(for your daily carbs), because some crackers are made with corn syrup. Minimum 64oz of water daily. You can have unflavored teas and black coffee with sweetner. 32oz of diet coke, diet pepsi, sprite zero, fanta orange zero, coke zero and pepsi zero. Which i wasnt a.big soda drinker.
I find the sodas do help with the craving for sweets.

I started at 370 feb 11th
i am now 325.
Goal weight is 225 which the program set for me.

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I thought there was a cheat day or at least cheat meal allowed once a week on this diet. McLovin, where can I find the diet you did?

Just get the most recent version of Atkins' book.

During weight loss during the ketosis phase, there is for sure no "cheat day." That would set you back 2-3 days. It takes your body 2-3 days of no carbs to get into ketosis. Once you blow that by eating carbs, it'll take another 2-3 days to get back.

You don't really need a book for this, though. Just don't eat ANY carbs for 30 days.

The reason most people fail is because they think they are eating no carbs, but really they are. If you go above 25-30 carbs in a day, you'll knock yourself out of ketosis and have to start over.

When I did it, I was hard core. I only ate chicken, meat, fish, eggs. Those all have zero carbs. I drank nothing but water. No diet sodas, no coffee, nothing.

Also, I didn't do the "net carbs" thing, where you deduct fiber carbs, etc. I only ate things that had NO carbs, period.

The upside is you don't ever need to go hungry. You should try to watch yourself, but if it has ZERO carbs, you can pretty much eat as much as you want.

[Embraer]

i did it a year ago. weighed 260lbs and had BP of 140/100. Now weigh 158lbs with BP of 110/74. Over 100 lbs shed.

I was in a ketogenic state for about 4 months. never felt hungry. Now I am vegan and work out everyday. The ketosis was a great impetus.

[Rick Lee]

I guess I need to first edcuate myself on what all, besides the obvious white stuff, contains carbs. I can handle black coffee instead of adding a little half and half. But I would be worried about cutting all fiber, as the doc has said I need more. And I like to have green veggies every night. I'd worry about too many eggs. I have maybe 2-3 a week now and use egg beaters if making an omelette. Sure would miss some of those meals I like to make for Mrs. Lee and myself. Like many Chinese women, she eats rabbit food most of the time, but does indulge a lot too and is thin and petite. How can I do that?

[McLovin]

Basically, you have to approach it the other way:

Assume EVERYTHING has carbs until you can PROVE from a reliable source that it doesn't. I had a little paperback book that had the carb contents of just about every food imaginable in it. That was the bible. If I could not point to it in the book, and it showed ZERO carbs, I didn't eat it, period.

In some ways, it becomes very easy, because what you can eat is pretty limited. The other thing is once you are in ketosis, it's an "all or nothing" thing - you know if you eat a bunch of carbs you're going to ruin many days worth of work. So you have a lot of incentive to keep the streak going.

I was pretty good with no fiber, oddly, but you can take fiber supplements like psylium husk (I think Metamucil?) in water.

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Like many Chinese women, she eats rabbit food most of the time, but does indulge a lot too and is thin and petite. How can I do that?

Some of it is genetics, but my guess is if you accurately added up all the calories she ate in a week, you'd see that it is low number. One that would not support weight gain.

My wife is the same way. She *thinks* she eats a lot, but - over the long haul - really doesn't.

[ZLP]

Rick, please watch some of Durianrider's videos on the Atkins and Paleo diets:

Low carb ketogenic diets review. Are they good for weight loss & fitness? - YouTube

[Rick Lee]

I think that video is a little extreme. Having run seven marathons, I know what hitting the wall feels like. But since my last marathon many years ago, I can't recall a situation where I could not replenish whatever I needed within just about minutes of feeling I needed it. When running a marathon, you can't just take a break and down a bowl of pasta. The very rare occasions where I knew something was wrong and needed to be corrected fast, it was no problem to walk to the fridge for a bottle of Gatorade or pull over at a gas station or grocery store. I do exercise a lot, but my weight proves I take in a net gain of calories over what my exericse burns.

[McLovin]

LOL, sorry, but that video is nonsense.

I was in ketosis for MONTHS. None of that happened, not even close.

He's not talking from any experience, like most people on the Internets.

(Not only was I in ketosis, but I was training really hard the whole time. No, not marathons, but lots of weights and lots of fairly sustained cardio)

Is ketosis good for "fitness?" Well, I'm not sure what that means. It didn't effect my energy levels in any way that I could tell, but if your primary goal is to win a marathon, then yeah, being in ketosis probably isn't the way to go.

Is it good for weight loss? Absolutely.

It's not intended to be a permanent thing. It is only for periods when you are trying to lose weight.

[spuggy]

Read Atkin's book. I first tried Atkins in 2001, bunch of weight that just didn't want to respond to anything else just vanished. Not overnight. But steady and continuous. Stayed in ketosis for nearly a year and kept up the maintenance diet for 5 years or more. Going out to lunch knocked me off the wagon...

McLovin and others are telling it like it is. I actually found my mental energy increased dramatically - and after I lost some weight, I actually wanted to work out, which I certainly wasn't doing before.