Who's been successful with keto?
Older male here that needs to lose about 70 pounds and considering keto. I travel quite a bit so eat out often and figure keto would be better since it's easier to avoid the bad foods (carbs/sugars) vs counting points or tracking portion size. Did weight watchers some years ago and lost 30 pounds in 10 weeks but that's when I wasn't traveling and they didn't push pre-packaged meals (the start of that diet was very low no carb also for the first few weeks). I also just started working out and/or walking a few times a week. Thoughts?
Count calories.there is no substitute. Every meme diet "works" because its harder for people to eat as much as they did before following arbitrary rules
While true, putting your body into a constant state of ketosis can burn fat faster.
I’ve been on Keto for nearly 2 years but made the switch as a lifestyle choice and not a weight loss plan. I never managed to lose weight on it but see how one could if you chose to watch the volume of food intake. In my experience, you’ll become a lover of salads, meats, and cheeses. And prepare to add olive oil to everything. You’ll develop a sense fairly early on about what does and doesn’t have carbs and make your food selections accordingly. I’ve struggled to find non-Keto friendly options on several occasions, forcing you to break the diet. When this happens, I allow 24 hours to pass and then do cardio to burn the carbs off. I can then check (if I’m so inclined) my ketones level with a meter. Usually, this places me back in the 0.5+ ketone mmol level (anything above 0.5 indicates a state of ketosis). Prepare yourself to feel lethargic and mildly unwell the first few weeks to a month. As your body reduces the carb intake and the use of it as a fuel source, your body will release a lot of water and electrolytes. You’ll likely feel lightheaded. There are remedies you can find online to counteract the effect. There are also foods and drinks you can consume to offset the problems. Otherwise, I’ve enjoyed the effects of the diet. I don’t experience bloating, lethargy related to food, or have skin breakouts. Instead, I have consistent energy, I don’t feel sleepy at any point during the day (looking at you, afternoon sleepiness), and my food tends to be more natural since processed foods typically contain carbs. Best of luck with your diet. You’ll manage to lose a considerable amount of weight if you track your carb and calorie intake.
Keto or not, as long as you burn more calories per day than you take in, you will lose weight. You can eat whatever you want, lol. You will be hungry though. Just stick it out. Also workout everyday to burn those calories.
Curious: wouldn’t you be worried about your (bad) cholesterol levels going up if you do high fat diet? Dairy has hella bad cholesterol. I am more into paleo but I limit my meat intake. I believe everything in moderation is good but I am no doctor and everyone’s body is different so whatever works for you.
Dietary cholesterol != blood cholesterol
My blood cholesterol went up a few years back when I was eating all kinds food and couldn’t workout due to injuries. My doctor recommended I eat food with less to no cholesterol, and I was able to reverse my numbers. I almost went vegan. It was part of an experiment to see if it would work and for me, it did.
All that matters is calories in calories out. If you need an app to track it use myfitnesspal. Honestly what works for me is exercise and not overeating. Stop eating when you aren’t hungry any more. Avoid bread most of the time. Don’t snack past dinner. Weight will come off.
I did lose weight on keto. Did it twice, both 2 months at a time. It was interesting but don't think it's a long term solution. At a point in time, I was eating sticks of butter as primary food. Vegetables were basically used to dip butter. That and a ton of sesame seeds coconut butter. I think short term, it was okay, long term, I don't think it's great for your body.
It’ll probably work. But several things to keep in mind. Take blood tests. A significant minority percentage of people actually don’t respond to the high fat (10% or so is what doctors who have keto patients find) and will see skyrocketing triglycerides. When people tell you eating high fat and high cholesterol is ok, the truth is more like “maybe”. You probably won’t be in real keto, but may see weight loss just from the low carb. Real keto means you are seeing elevated ketone bodies in your blood and you need to prick you finger to actually know this. A lot of people think they’re doing keto but they’re not. You can kick yourself out of keto with a straight chicken breast if it’s not mixed with fiber and fats because your body can derive glucose from proteins (gluconeogenesis). It usually takes people about 3 days to actually get into a ketogenic state. This shit is complicated and it’s best to think about eating a good diet and intense exercise lifestyle first because the sledge hammer techniques can easily mess you up.
Fact. Track your blood test results. I’ve done regular tests every 6-12 months and have seen marked improvement in all scores EXCEPT my overall cholesterol score. Both my HDL and LDL increased (albeit from a low base). I started the diet around 145 and it’s gone to 161 over almost 2 years. Not dangerous by any means, but if the trend continues next testing cycle (2-year mark), I’m planning to switch to carnivore. For reference, my triglyceride count improved by 10-15% on the diet. However, I don’t indulge in saturated fats (i.e., making butter a meal) regularly on the diet and prefer foods primarily rich in monounsaturated fat (e.g., olive oil, avocados, etc.).
Pee strips work decently well. I don't like to prick my fingers cause that hurts
I’ve done it and lost about 50 lbs between that and other things. Honestly I’m more interested in keto for how it makes my brain function than the weight loss. That being said it’s near impossible to stay on keto when traveling. 20 net carbs is a really low amount so you really need to be cooking for yourself to maintain it. Otherwise you’re really going to starve your body of some essential nutrients and be hungry all day. While overall the diets had a lot to do with the weight that was lost, most important was the workout. Find a daily workout you can do at home / hotel and stick to it. Not only does that increase the calories your body needs that day, it increases your BMR because those muscles you build require more calories daily. Personally I just modified some HIIT workouts so that they didn’t require any equipment and I could do them in my bedroom. 10 - 15 minutes a day and burning over 150 calories a day while building muscle is the best weight loss plan you can do.
Change to vegan diet n thank me later...no exercise no other change in lifestyle n you will still lose weight...that will be slow n steady...you will not gain it back...
There always has to be one vegan.
Try it n then comment...you don't know what you are missing on...