Keto?

[leonid]

So from what I hear you basically eat lots of fat, lots of water, good amount of protein and salt

I wanted to lose body fat so I've been trying to follow this for a couple weeks now. Not taking too much fat but I'm avoiding any carb except fibers.. I take lots of protein and I do work out every day.

Should I be worried about peeing stones, having too much cholesterol in my blood stream, etc etc, or is it just as good as they claim it is and I should keep it going?

[Reincarnate]

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and don't claim to really know what I'm talking about. If anyone reading this sees that I've said something that's false or misleading, please correct me.

Make sure you're getting enough fat (IIRC, .4-.5 g per lb bodyweight or something like that).

Unless you're genetically predisposed, I wouldn't worry about stones too much, especially if you're drinking plenty of water and eating lots of veggies.

If you do have a family history of kidney stones (like me, unfortunately), consider limiting your oxalate intake (e.g. eat kale instead of spinach).

But really, getting enough water will suffice and cover most cases. I try to aim for a minimum of 5 bathroom trips per day.

Your cholesterol levels may increase temporarily as you lose weight. Once you stabilize, get some bloodwork done and see where things are.

From what I can tell, cholesterol is one of those things that seems to depend a lot of genetics, so you just have to get tested and see what you may need to adjust from there if your body happens to respond to certain things in your diet in certain ways.

Personally, for cholesterol/heart health, I just try to do the following:

1. Eat plenty of sushi and fish in general / supplement fish oil, for the Omega 3 content
2. Avoid trans fats, limit Omega 6's, and limit processed food intake
3. Incorporate things like olive oil and avocado into your diet for better HDL levels. Alcohol in moderation helps, too. Exercise -- which leads me to point 4 below.
4. Do some regular cardio.

My bloodwork showed significant improvement in trigs/LDL/HDL/etc when I did all this.

[Reach]

First of all it is best to understand that there is nothing special fat loss wise about the Keto diet. This diet will not cause more fat loss than any other properly executed diet, and there are no unique mechanisms of action behind the fat loss with this diet that are significant compared to any other diet. Fat loss still comes as a consequence of caloric deficit, like with any other diet.

As such the primary benefits of keto are that you can consume large amounts of protein and fat while maintaining deficit. The advantage to doing this is primarily satiety. It is possible to feel fuller on a ketogenic diet properly executed than a regular diet.


My only recommendation would be that you should NOT eat a low fat ketogenic diet. Absolutely not. Your fat intake, rather, should be quite high.

Eating more fats within your caloric allowance will not harm fat loss in any way. However, maintaining a high fat intake will allow you to maintain a normal hormonal profile during the fat loss process. Low fat diets are about the worst diet you can possibly do, as over the long term they can crash your testosterone and screw up your hormonal balance.

High fat intake should also not negatively affect your cholesterol unless you have an underlying condition that predisposes you to high cholesterol. Simply make sure you minimize or completely abstain from trans fat intake.

[leonid]

Thanks for the advices, both of you.
How high is quite high? Should I be taking more fat than protein calorie wise? I've been taking like 0:6:4 C:P:F maybe.

[Reach]

Dunno, depends entirely on how many carbs you're eating since you're eating fibre.

If you're getting 200ish grams of protein you can make pretty much all of the rest fat.

I never use macro ratios anyway, I prefer to go by grams.

Anything under 30-40 grams is just retarded. That's definitely low fat territory and depression and hormonal crash will creep in insidiously over the months if you were to keep eating that way.

You might as well use Keto to your advantage and eat as much of it as you possibly can. 80+ grams. Basically the more fat you eat the better you will feel while on a diet generally speaking.

[leonid]

So today I tried my best to shove in all the fat and protein available to me and had 127g fat and 156g protein total. (1143cal fat, 624cal protein)
Numbers are mostly from nutrition fact labels and googling so probably far from accurate but gives me general estimate

There gotta be some stray carbs here and there from veggies and seasonings but I assume they are quite little.

I'm gonna try to hit 2000cal total next time

[leonid]

So it turns out I need sodium. I'll be having some pho served with no noodles (and extra meat) tomorrow for those broths

I signed up for this xray total inbody scan thingy coming 11th and maybe a blood test sometime in the future

PS lost another 3 lbs since making this thread

[leonid]

I loves me some bacon, and cheese
Also now I no longer need caffeine to stay awake. (~1mo in of low carb, then ~1wk in of keto)

[Reincarnate]

I tried keto a long time ago and couldn't stick to it. I love carbs too much.

[leonid]

I used to be a huge noodle lover, but really it took only a few weeks of low carb to completely get rid of carb craving.

[Reach]

I don't like Keto either, I get really grumpy on low carb diets but alas that is the beauty of dieting; there are so many different ones and they can all work, so stick with whatever is working for you.

Sounds like you're getting a lot of mileage out of keto so stick with it.

As for Caffeine, yeah, I don't drink it ever. I find if you eat properly and exercise that staying alert and focused isn't really a problem unless you have some underlying condition or are already addicted to caffeine XD

[rayword45]

Convenient that this thread is started right when I start.

Tips for someone who doesn't know how to cook/is dirt-poor? I've basically been eating avocados, celery, eggs, and whatever meat is around. Also wtf am I supposed to eat butter with besides eggs?

[massflavour]

Originally Posted by rayword45

Convenient that this thread is started right when I start.

Tips for someone who doesn't know how to cook/is dirt-poor? I've basically been eating avocados, celery, eggs, and whatever meat is around. Also wtf am I supposed to eat butter with besides eggs?

make stirfry w/ butter. also i bet tofu would make a great keto food

i however find the keto thing to be kinda pointless but w/e works for u

[leonid]

Progress report
I'm down 30 lbs since October and lost 10% bf (26%->16%)
My belly starts to show vertical lines but not quite... One day

[Arch0wl]

just jumped in to add emphasis to what Reach said.

caloric deficit is the only necessary requirement for weight loss.

protein intake and whether you lift weights will determine the ratio of muscle to fat lost. this is why keto works -- it inadvertently causes people to get enough protein to make these ratios more favorable.

the most effective weight loss regimen is flat out amphetamines. this is why hospitals prescribe methamphetamine for "exogenous obesity." I am not joking.

[Reincarnate]

leonid: How much of a calorie deficit are you on?

[leonid]

I'm not sure. Stopped counting really, other than I make sure to eat around 140g of protein (I weigh 137lbs). Then I eat fat until I'm full

[Ohaider]

from the friends and family that i have that have used high fat/protein and low carb diets (30g-50g a day), a lot of the testimonies i get are that the second they stopped the keto diet they were very susceptible to gaining a lot of weight/fat back, so unless you're wanting to make the keto diet your lifestyle long-term i'd just create a caloric deficit and stick to it while making sure you get your macros, seems a lot less of a hassle imo

[ELRayford]

Keto works. I lost about 50 lbs over 6 months with no extra exercise. Check out https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/ This was a huge resource for me. Tons of recipes and helpful folks over there.

[leonid]

I'm sticking to this diet forever unless my blood test I'm gonna do next week turns out bad