Keto-ERA |OT| You can have breakfast anytime

[Exellus]

I'm making this thread because there wasn't one here yet. So I figured I'll try. Purpose of this thread is support/advice/experience sharing for those on a ketogenic diet.

WHAT IS KETO?

The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, adequate-protein, low-carbohydrate diet:

• High Fat: Because you are going to limit carbohydrate intake, you need to get your energy from somewhere. And in this diet, you get energy from fat. Now, Understand that you can still gain weight on a ketogenic diet if you eat more than you need. You should not eat "unlimited" fat, because if you are overweight, you already have the "high fat" in your body. One common misconception is that you need to eat lots of fat to enter ketosis. This is an oversimplification and not really true.
• Adequate Protein: Protein is THE MOST important macronutrient in your body. It is not only to build muscles. All the cells in your body are made up of protein: muscles, bones, organs, even hormones. Protein degrades daily, so you need an adequate amount to repair and build, plus even a little extra if you want to build muscle. Protein intake is mostly lean mass and context dependant, so remember that while 90g may be adequate for someone with a little lean mass, it may be a bit low for someone who has more muscle or is taller.
• Low Carb: Because you enter and maintain a ketogenic state when you stop ingesting carbohydrates. If you eat past a certain amount of carbs, your body switches to burning carbohydrates instead of fats.

A solid FAQ can be found here:

FAQ

Excerpt:

What is the premise of a low carb, keto diet?
Low-carb diets are essentially programs that lower carbohydrate intake below 100 grams; strict ketogenic diets are a subset of low carb diets that typically allow < 20g of carbohydrates per day. The general recommendation of /r/keto is to start with 5% of your daily caloric intake of net-carbs per day (generally 20g or less). This limit does a good job of eliminating junk foods, refined carbohydrates and any other "fattening" foods.

The full premise of a keto diet is far more than just minimizing carbs, it is a lifestyle about overall health. The diet promotes long, intense bouts of energy, an increase in healthy, delicious food and an overall better outlook on your life. It is easily sustainable with a plethora of options and often is an answer to improving health that many people struggle to comprehend at first. A Ketogenic diet is not easy and will test your willpower but transforms the way you think and understand about yourself, food, and health in general.

How do I start and what can I eat?
Start by:

• getting your daily NET carbs down to 5% of your daily caloric intake, preferably less than 20g. Remember, fiber does not count toward your daily carbohydrate intake, so if something you eat has 10g carbs but 8g fiber, then it has 2g NET carbs. Use green, fibrous vegetables as your main source of carbs. If you are in a country outside of the Unites States (such as Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom), your labels may already show net carbs.
• keeping protein intake moderate, 0.7g to 1.2g per pound lean body mass. (1.5g to 2.6g per kg lean body mass.) - Note that going over 0.9g is only suggested for people doing heavy lifting and endurance training.
• increasing the proportion of your diet that comes from fat
• increasing the amount of water you drink

Keto Friendly Foods (off the top of my head)

- Bacon
- Eggs
- Avocados
- Low carb vegetables
- Nuts
- Olive Oil
- Seafood
- Milk, Cheese, Yogurt (low carb)

+ lots of others.

Just look at the nutrition info, and keep the carb count DOWN. Net carbs are Total Carbs minus Fiber. Fiber is ok. Sugars are not!

Things to AVOID

- Bread
- Pasta
- Sugars
- Candy
- Potato Chips
- Ketchup (has sugar in it)
- Most noodles
- Rice
- Potatoes
- Tortillas
- Biscuits
- Sugary drinks

 

[Exellus]

If anyone has more to add feel free.

 

[Exellus]

Things I've eaten recently:

- Bacon
- Scrambled Eggs
- Tuna Salad (I make this myself and it is excellent)
- Sausage Gravy (you can by this canned and it zests stuff up)
- Mustard (just as a condiment on whatever)
- Salted Peanuts
- Salmon
- Romaine Lettuce (I use them as wraps for various thinks)
- Beef Franks (bunless)
- Lay's Smooth Ranch Dip
- Five Guy's Bacon Cheeseburger (bunless)


I plan to try:

- Blaze Pizza's Keto Crust pizzas

I am 5'5", 33 year old male. Started at 165 lbs.

Currently at the 1 week mark. Currently at 161 lbs. Goal weight is 135 lbs.

Tonight I plan on having more Bacon and some Tuna Salad, also going to go for early bedtime.

 

[Mobius and Pet Octopus]

(video at bottom of the post is great video guide on keto)

Nice thread to have around. I've been doing keto for several months now. I started at 212lbs and down to around 173lbs. I also do intermittent fasting.

I recently read an article that the US DOD is considering implementing ketogenic diet incentives (since mandatory seems implausible) to the military.

I think there could be a How Keto Works section, because I think it kind of explains why a high fat, moderate protein, low carb diet works. Should also have a section on the potential downsides, perhaps keto flu as it's called. Need explanation about electrolytes and micronutrient needs since they are absolutely important.

Normally your body must burn through all it's glycogen stores in the liver before the liver decides to make ketones. Ketones are basically fuel made from fat and are a marker that you are in ketosis (can get ketones without ketogenic diet as well, particularly through fasting and exercise). Once you're in ketosis for a day or two, your body will have excess ketones because your body is not adept at utilizing fats for fuel. But since fat will be your highest intake (at least double in terms of calories over protein), your body will actually get used to running on fat for fuel. This is called fat adaptation and can take at least a month or longer, and the benefits are long term and don't end when you leave ketosis (there is a method of keto called keto cycling, kind of on again and off again keto). One of the primary benefits of the ketogenic diet is to teach your body to use fat for fuel efficiently, so you basically become good at using two energy sources (glycogen + fat) even at the same time (maybe not literally the same second, not sure if the science here is clear).

As for electrolytes, people can vary but typically you need sodium, magnesium, and potassium and especially early on. With fat loss, and keto, it's important to control your insulin levels. Carbs cause the biggest insulin response. Fat does second and protein does the least, typically speaking. With less carbs you'll have lower insulin, which causes your body to expel water. So you lose these minerals pretty quickly. The best sources of sodium are meats with sodium in them, or real and unrefined salt (redmond real salt or pink himalayan salt). Don't use table salt if you can help it. The unrefined salts come with extra minerals that are helpful (and no artificial additives). Don't be afraid of salt. You can add a little salt to everything + including your water.

Some people suggest to count fiber as half a gram of carbs. Additionally, your carb limit is not 20g, that is just what is suggested to guarantee you're in ketosis. Everyone is different and heavier people can get away with up to 50g. The most accurate, or really only afaik, is a blood test. I typically stay below 20g and don't count the half gram of carbs from fiber. I also don't worry about blood testing since being well below 20g most days is enough to convince me (plus my results).

There are also some sugar alcohols or sweeteners that aren't absorbed by the body and don't count towards the carb limit. That doesn't mean you should go crazy with them, they could slow fat loss or disrupt digestion. I only eat keto treats like that once-ish a week.

Lastly, if you ever do decide to have a cheat day consider 2 things. You can have a cheat day that breaks carbs and one that doesn't. I go for the cheat day that doesn't and I do this once and sometimes twice a week. I eat roughly 30% more calories on those days and even treat myself to a keto cookie or protein bar. Now if you do decide to break your ketosis, just do it in a careful and planned way. The number one rule, and honestly should be the rule regardless of keto, is to not combine fats with carbs if you decide to go off keto for a bit. Carbs spike your insulin and fats will store quickly when you have high insulin.

This turned out to be pretty long of a post.

You can probably skip all this and just watch this video (my boy thomas delaur is my go to YT for fasting, intermittent fasting, and keto as well as some exercise and general diet advice)

 

[Deleted member 10629]

My stomach has been acting weird lately. Some days I just pass watery stool. Supposedly it is because I have an inflammed intestine but I don't know for certain (havent gone to a doctor). But I surely have been eating like shit lately, buying food from the food courts for the last two months and what not. Should I fix this before attempting keto or will keto help with the inflammation? My stomach rarely hurts, (just last night but that's because I'm a dumbass and over ate).

 

[Zedark]

With fat loss, and keto, it's important to control your insulin levels. Carbs cause the biggest insulin response. Fat does second and protein does the least, typically speaking.

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Thanks, very informative write-up, matches up with what I've found from many other sources as well! I was wondering about the quoted part: doesn't fat have the least insulin response, rather than protein?

 

[Mobius and Pet Octopus]

Thanks, very informative write-up, matches up with what I've found from many other sources as well! I was wondering about the quoted part: doesn't fat have the least insulin response, rather than protein?

Click to shrink...

My info is based on youtuber thomas delaur (nutritionist/bodybuilder). That said, I think it depends on exactly what you eat. Whey protein apparently has a high insulin response. I think it's because it absorbs super fast. I think what I said is generally true, I haven't heard to the contrary til now though and am not that knowledgeable in this area. I think the important thing here is to really just take time between meals and not snack, which gives your body time to both digest and drop in insulin levels. I try to wait at least 6 hours between main meals, although I usually break my fast with 2 small meals within an hour or two of each other I do wait usually 6+ hours before eating dinner.

 

[Zedark]

My info is based on youtuber thomas delaur (nutritionist/bodybuilder). That said, I think it depends on exactly what you eat. Whey protein apparently has a high insulin response. I think it's because it absorbs super fast. I think what I said is generally true, I haven't heard to the contrary til now though and am not that knowledgeable in this area. I think the important thing here is to really just take time between meals and not snack, which gives your body time to both digest and drop in insulin levels. I try to wait at least 6 hours between main meals, although I usually break my fast with 2 small meals within an hour or two of each other I do wait usually 6+ hours before eating dinner.

Click to shrink...

I see, I got my info from Jason Fung, a Nephrologist who has a large medical practice where he treats many people suffering from severe metabolic diseases with keto and intermittent fasting (link to article).

But yeah, in the end the conclusion is that carbs are the worst offenders in terms of insulin spiking, and combining low carb and moderate protein with IF seems like a very healthy rating habit.

I like to do an 17/18-7/6 IF pattern and only eat two meals and no snack in between. Helped me lose some weight (8 kg so far, 4 months in) but mostly it's helped me feel better (mentally sharper, fewer stomach aches, more upbeat, stuff like that).

 

[water_wendi]

So bone broth has become a staple of my diet now. By far the best instruction ive found on making it at home has been this video:


The organic tri pack from Costco she mentions is sold as low as $1.99/lb. At $3/lb thats $18 for 6lbs of organic chicken which will yield 128 ounces (1 gallon) of high quality bone broth (+chicken). The only retail bone broth ive seen thats worthwhile is the Bonafide brand which is regularly sold at $9 for 24oz (38 cents/oz). For the sake of easy math i am going to double the cost of the chicken to account for veggies/spices which would give a high estimate $36 for 128oz that is still a massive savings at 28 cents/oz. My regular price for that much broth would be closer to $20 for 128oz which is a super affordable 16 cents/oz. Also keep in mind that you get the chicken when you make the broth yourself as well.

In the broth video she mentions using Better than Bouillon to really pep up the taste of the second batch. Personally i dont think its necessary as it still tastes great but if you want a really strong broth without combining both batches using bouillon is a good tip. However while Better Than Bouillon tastes fine it does have maltodextrin (causes insulin to spike) and cane sugar (carbs) for ingredients so a better alternative (and cheaper) would be this minus carrot:

 

[Deleted member 18944]

Damn, is this OT dead?

 

[Dimajjio]

I only just found it this thread. I think I've been doing quite well so far - 2 months in and down about 22 lbs. But I'm teetering on the edge of the wagon, about to fall off, so to speak. I really don't like the idea of shovelling so much fat inside me and wondering whether I'm just swapping potential diabetes for atherosclerosis.

I've been using Chronometer and trying to do low carb (averaging about 30g net), moderate protein (about 100g) and moderate fat (about 100g instead of 190-odd) but I don't seem to have found the right balance as I still feel ravenous at times. I try to sit out the hunger because I want my body to use the fat it's got rather than giving it even more. Why can't it just use what's there without causing stomach rumbles! So calorie intake is roughly 1800 per day.

Diet is not particularly great though - I'll eat Greek yoghurt with avocado and loads of nuts/seeds about 11am, then about 5pm meat and two veg and that's it. Plus I do exercise for 30 mins every morning. Maybe I should take the advice in the OP and eat more veg in the morning meal (somehow??)

 

[SvennusDemonicus]

I want to do keto but a lot of recipes have avocado in it and I hate avocado.

 

[show me your skeleton]

hello all
sorry for the bump but was thinking this is the most 'official' keto thread.
looking to start, alongside intermittent fasting, and was thinking i'll eat a lot of scrambled eggs because of how easy they are etc.
milk seems to be okay to use? i put in a bit with my eggs when blasting them in the microwave as it's super easy to do and makes them really fluffy.
what about diet soda? i'll look to wean myself off of them but as i'll be missing sweet things mostly, i'm thinking some sugar free soda (pepsi max) should be okay right?

 

[Dimajjio]

I use butter with my scrambled eggs. Never made it with milk so I don't know what the difference in taste/texture is.

As for the diet soda, how about trying to go cold turkey from the start? Those artificial sweeteners don't do you much good. You can do it if you put your mind to it. I had to stop eating chocolate and ice cream but I managed it for the three months I did keto.

 

[Valcrist]

Edit: Nevermind

 

[Valcrist]

I feel like good snacks don't exist with keto. It's just all stuff that tastes awful. So I drown myself in meat and cry.

I miss bad food. I'm surviving rn, but I still miss bad food.

 

[immy]

Started this diet 2 weeks ago. Started at 237 pounds, now I am 229. These beginner gains are insane!