Just getting started on the trail to better health

skyking

Lifer
Nov 21, 2001
21,959
4,683
146
I just got started on a doctor supervised diet and I'm in ketosis. I'm in about 2 weeks now, using the program food exclusively. They have me on about 1200 calories. I walk or treadmill every day so far for exercise, and need to get some small weights to get started there.
I used to bicycle so my goal is to get on the bike later this spring.
My wife and I are dieting together and for now the house is contraband-free :D
 

skyking

Lifer
Nov 21, 2001
21,959
4,683
146
It is a doctor supervised program with products from Robard. It costs some money for sure. The doc is making serious money on us, but they do bill insurance for exams and tests.
http://www.robard.com/programs/for-medical-providers/

I am doing it because my wife's co worker had success, and my wife wanted to go check it out. It was her idea and I was really wanting to get going on weight loss. It is damn near impossible to diet with only two in the house and only one dieting.
 

skyking

Lifer
Nov 21, 2001
21,959
4,683
146
I'm 56 tomorrow, and have been damn lucky with my health. I have been on BP meds since earlier this year, after ignoring my moderate to high BP for years. I will be off that later this spring.
So far I am losing weight rapidly, but that phase will come to an end and I will settle in to the grind of losing 2~3 pounds a week.
 

Raincity

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2000
4,477
12
81
How much weight are you trying to loose ? I have been looking into Keto but I am not sure if its safe for me being type 2 diabetic on metformin. I carried a large umbilical hernia the size of a cantaloupe for eight years because no surgeon dared to repair it. In that eight years I gained 105 pounds carrying around 305 pounds. Finally with a new surgical mesh introduced last year. I was able to get the hernia repaired this summer. Now working hard to loose the pounds and down to 270, another 90 to go.. Doing 10K steps a day and trying to keep under 2K in calories and consume very low carbs.
 
  • Like
Reactions: skyking

mike8675309

Senior member
Jul 17, 2013
507
116
116
Everyone hopefully is aware that limiting to 1200cals in a diet needs to be overviewed by doctors when doing that. It is hard to get enough nutrition with that few calories of food without careful planning.

Anecdotally Robard Corporation may have positive long term results with his Very Low Calorie Diet but I am unaware of any study showing long term positive health results from that particular dietary program. Even the sections on his website classified as "case studies" are simply basic FAQ type answers with no real data behind them.
 

skyking

Lifer
Nov 21, 2001
21,959
4,683
146
How much weight are you trying to loose ? I have been looking into Keto but I am not sure if its safe for me being type 2 diabetic on metformin. I carried a large umbilical hernia the size of a cantaloupe for eight years because no surgeon dared to repair it. In that eight years I gained 105 pounds carrying around 305 pounds. Finally with a new surgical mesh introduced last year. I was able to get the hernia repaired this summer. Now working hard to loose the pounds and down to 270, another 90 to go.. Doing 10K steps a day and trying to keep under 2K in calories and consume very low carbs.
I had 83 pounds to lose when I started out.
You need to do whatever your doctor says is right. I believe you can do a keto diet but I suspect that you'd be having a whole lot of labwork regularly to do it.
 

skyking

Lifer
Nov 21, 2001
21,959
4,683
146
Everyone hopefully is aware that limiting to 1200cals in a diet needs to be overviewed by doctors when doing that. It is hard to get enough nutrition with that few calories of food without careful planning.

Anecdotally Robard Corporation may have positive long term results with his Very Low Calorie Diet but I am unaware of any study showing long term positive health results from that particular dietary program. Even the sections on his website classified as "case studies" are simply basic FAQ type answers with no real data behind them.
I know. I started this with less information and I got myself informed.
The crux of any diet is what happens as you taper off and go to regular food, and I plan on excelling at that.
I have reached a place similar to when I quit drinking 26 years ago. I am so done with mindless eating.
Being a geek at heart and spending a lot of time at the keyboard, believe me when I tell you that regular food as I knew it is a thing of my past.
I am already researching things that I can make and like to eat that are good for us. I do like to cook so I consider this "challenge accepted" .
I ate fast foods @~1000 calories a meal, sometimes more than once a day, and had a dinner on top of that on many days. I could down half a pizza, once again mindlessly.
This part is not going to be easy by any means, as food addiction is far stronger than alcohol or any other dependency/behavior aberration.
 

Raincity

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2000
4,477
12
81
How many pounds a week do you expect to loose on Keto. I average two pounds a week right now.
 

skyking

Lifer
Nov 21, 2001
21,959
4,683
146
I will likely get down to 2~3 pounds a week in the end. Right now it is a whole lot more.
If you have a steady 2 pounds a week going and are not starving and feel good, I would leave that be. I call that success.
 

Raincity

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2000
4,477
12
81
Its working for me but I want get back on track fast. I feel that I lost my entire 40's and lived in a dark hole of misery and depression until the surgery last summer. Now I eager to get fit physically and mentally and find female companionship that I lacked for the last eight years.
 

mike8675309

Senior member
Jul 17, 2013
507
116
116
This part is not going to be easy by any means, as food addiction is far stronger than alcohol or any other dependency/behavior aberration.

Please just keep in mind that "restricting calories" is not a long term way to keep the weight off. It works fast with doctors watching your nutrition and your life, but on your own it just isn't the win.

The win comes from changing what you eat to be foods that satisfy your hunger but are not full of junk calories. Whole plant foods, particularly starches like potatoes and rice turned into your main part of your meals with dairy, eggs, and meat being just a very small part of each meal and exercise will give you the long term weight control with good health.
 

moonbogg

Lifer
Jan 8, 2011
10,635
3,095
136
1200 calories is crazy. I think I eat about 3000 a day. I'd be so hungry with 1200, but the doc knows best. Good work.
 

skyking

Lifer
Nov 21, 2001
21,959
4,683
146
That's just it, when you are in ketosis you lose the physical hunger sensations. I could eat a slice of pizza but I'm not feeling hungry or anything. It is weird.
 
  • Like
Reactions: djryanash

Pantlegz

Diamond Member
Jun 6, 2007
4,631
4
81
I guess I don't understand using ketosis along with a super calorie restricted diet. The idea, as I understand it, behind operating in ketosis is that it forces your body to use it's own fat as fuel because it's the most readily available source of energy. Meaning you can take in more calories (from fat) and you keep you insulin low as to not signal the body to store fat even if you're eating excess calories. But if it works and you're no feeling starved and you have a doctor monitoring everything by all means...
 

skyking

Lifer
Nov 21, 2001
21,959
4,683
146
being in ketosis does not mean lose weight. If you eat enough fat and protein you won't lose any.
 

mike8675309

Senior member
Jul 17, 2013
507
116
116
I guess I don't understand using ketosis along with a super calorie restricted diet. The idea, as I understand it, behind operating in ketosis is that it forces your body to use it's own fat as fuel because it's the most readily available source of energy. Meaning you can take in more calories (from fat) and you keep you insulin low as to not signal the body to store fat even if you're eating excess calories. But if it works and you're no feeling starved and you have a doctor monitoring everything by all means...

Excess dietary intake of macros will end up being stored as fat regardless of if your body is in ketosis or not in ketosis. Excess meaning more macros than your body needs to maintain itself.
The main difference with being in Ketosis is that the macro balance you need to eat changes to stay in ketosis. But to get your body to use stored fat during ketosis or not ketosis, you still need to take in less dietary calories than your body needs.
 

Pantlegz

Diamond Member
Jun 6, 2007
4,631
4
81
Excess dietary intake of macros will end up being stored as fat regardless of if your body is in ketosis or not in ketosis. Excess meaning more macros than your body needs to maintain itself.
The main difference with being in Ketosis is that the macro balance you need to eat changes to stay in ketosis. But to get your body to use stored fat during ketosis or not ketosis, you still need to take in less dietary calories than your body needs.

Understood. I was under the impression that 1) body fat was preferable to dietary fat as it was more readily available 2) you could continue to lose weight with less of a deficit due to lower/no insulin spikes which means the body isn't getting the signals to store as much fat. 3) overall caloric intake is still important just doesn't have as much impact on weight loss/gains. Seeing the OP is down ~1lb a day over a month the massive deficit makes more sense and I assume there is a decent amount of weight to be lost.

This is also coming from a non-ketogenic athlete who cuts weight on 3,000+ calories a day so maybe 1,600 isn't as low for the OP as it would be for me. I'd kill the person that attempted to restrict me to 1,600 calories a day even if it was 90%+ fat.
 

skyking

Lifer
Nov 21, 2001
21,959
4,683
146
Not an athlete, so it is truly a poor comparison. I am getting started but I do 1/10th the burn of a younger more fit person, I doubt I will get to 1/3rd of what someone who used the term athlete honestly will burn.
My likely target will be around 2400 calories, but that remains to be seen.