Started keto diet yesterday - anyone done it?

[Kaido]

I dunno I don't feel I've been eating foods that aren't good for me the past 3 days.

Chicken Salad
Pork Chops
Broccoli
Cheese
Almonds
Almond Milk
Whey Protein.
Little bit of butter

That is pretty much all I've taken in the past 3 days. Nothing on there that I would say is bad for me, and nothing that has a lot of bad fats in it. The chicken salad is 4lbs of chicken breasts slow cooked in salsa for 5 hours, then I shred it and mix it with about 2-3 spoonfuls of mayo.

I actually have felt fine too and haven't felt tired or lethargic like I have before when doing a low carb diet. My workouts have been really good. Now granted, it's only my 3rd day lol and I did kind of load up on carbs on Sunday.

You mentioned this in the OP, as your goal:

With a trip coming up to Aruba and just feeling a bit fatter than I'm used to, I figure now is a good time to try and lean up a little bit. So yesterday I've decided to start a keto diet for like 5-6 weeks.

Are you open to dietary ideas other than keto? If so, I would recommend checking out IIFYM. Start with the calculator here:

https://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

In a nutshell:

1. You will lose weight if you eat less calories than you use every day. Period. It doesn't get any more complex than that. The calculator will tell you what that number is.
2. Strictly speaking in terms of results, it does not matter what you eat, as long as you are eating fewer calories than you burn on a daily basis. For example. Also, look at people who are anorexic...it's not about the type of food or quality of food, it's about the fuel (calorie) quantity.
3. To get even better results, you need to tie in the three big macros (protein, fat, and carbs). If you're cutting, you may need to eat 2,000 calories a day, 150 grams of protein a day, 100 grams of carbs a day, and 100 grams of fat a day. Again, sources don't really matter. If you're happy drinking protein shakes all day, then have at it. If you prefer steak, fine.
4. It pretty much just boils down to tracking the numbers every day. If you hit your macros for the day but are still under your allotted calories, the remaining amount is free game, so you can fill it up however you want (ice cream & donuts ftw).

That's just my 2 cents, having tried a variety of dietary eating methodologies. It's really easy to do. The calculator tells you what numbers to hit. You get to eat whatever you want, as long as you fit your macros & calories into your personal numbers, Tetris-style. I go to Burger King & bake cookies all the time and still get good results because I track my macros. For the foreseeable future, at least for as long as I am interested in tracking my food intake, I don't see myself getting off IIFYM. Counting is a pain at first, but you get used to it.

 

[crashtech]

Even though we hold that we are all created equal, all physiologies and therefore metabolisms aren't created equal. I assume this is not a controversial idea, yet we all still tend to promote the regimen that works for us as if it is a revealed truth for all, which it is not. It's our own truth, and perhaps truth for certain others who happen to share our body type. If fitting it to your macros tends to work for you, great! I bet it will work for tons of other people, too. Not everyone, though. The one size fits all diet is a fiction. LCHF works for people who tend toward metabolic syndrome and diabetes. For these people, excessive carbs are damn near a toxin. Carbs can't fit into their macros without eventual consequences.

 

[Kaido]

Even though we hold that we are all created equal, all physiologies and therefore metabolisms aren't created equal. I assume this is not a controversial idea, yet we all still tend to promote the regimen that works for us as if it is a revealed truth for all, which it is not. It's our own truth, and perhaps truth for certain others who happen to share our body type. If fitting it to your macros tends to work for you, great! I bet it will work for tons of other people, too. Not everyone, though. The one size fits all diet is a fiction. LCHF works for people who tend toward metabolic syndrome and diabetes. For these people, excessive carbs are near a toxin. Carbs can't fit into their macros without eventual consequences.

I don't disagree. And not only that, but people each & thrive on such a variety of diets that there's still no clear agreement in the scientific community about what truly makes a healthy diet (ex. the Inuit diet). In addition, lifestyle factors can play a role in how your body responds over time, especially things like smoking for a long time & then stopping smoking & adopting a new style of eating, as well as health conditions like diabetes, as you mentioned. Lots of dietary options out there to explore!

 

[Kaido]

Then the 2 wraps I'm making, which have 5 net carbs each to 10 total.

If this fits your numbers, check out the homemade taco shell made from cheese:

http://www.homemadeinterest.com/low-carb-taco/

Here's a good recipe for homemade chorizo as well:

http://honestcooking.com/authentic-homemade-mexican-chorizo/

Alternatively you can use other meats, such as lean ground turkey:

http://www.feastingathome.com/easy-turkey-chorizo/

Chorizo is the key ingredient (instead of sausage) for breakfast burritos. Or crispy cheese breakfast tacos, if you need something lower-carb than a flour or corn tortilla. Then you can get into the crazy stuff like DIY flaxseed & psyllium husk shells. Contrary to what you may read about keto diets, you can actually making some pretty bangin' food on it, especially if you're a meat guy & like savory dishes.

 

[purbeast0]

@Kaido thanks for that taco recipe. Instead of the normal taco bell I would get on the weekends I will try those cheese shell tacos! Those look really easy to make too lol.

I don't plan on trying anything different diet wise until I see how this goes for a little bit. I eat WAY more than 2k calories. As I said I'm around 210-213 pounds and I have a pretty fast metabolism. Like I eat a lot of "bad" food as it is when it comes to the weekends. During the week on my schedule I am typically pretty good, but I would go out to eat 1 or 2 times a week which wouldn't be as good as eating the food I bring (chicken salad sandwich). But I also swing by 7-11 or quick places like that and grab snacks, which I've since cut out.

I'm not calorie counting right now at all, just carb counting. I don't feel like I'm just stuffing my face with food though and feel I'm probably eating around the same amount as I was before. I will see though after like a week or two what my weight is at and adjust accordingly.

 

[Kaido]

@Kaido thanks for that taco recipe. Instead of the normal taco bell I would get on the weekends I will try those cheese shell tacos! Those look really easy to make too lol.

I don't plan on trying anything different diet wise until I see how this goes for a little bit. I eat WAY more than 2k calories. As I said I'm around 210-213 pounds and I have a pretty fast metabolism. Like I eat a lot of "bad" food as it is when it comes to the weekends. During the week on my schedule I am typically pretty good, but I would go out to eat 1 or 2 times a week which wouldn't be as good as eating the food I bring (chicken salad sandwich). But I also swing by 7-11 or quick places like that and grab snacks, which I've since cut out.

I'm not calorie counting right now at all, just carb counting. I don't feel like I'm just stuffing my face with food though and feel I'm probably eating around the same amount as I was before. I will see though after like a week or two what my weight is at and adjust accordingly.

Keto does work great for results, and if you're a meat & cheese guy, lots of awesome recipes are readily-available.

As far as the cheese-shell taco goes (eat your heart out, Taco Bell), I actually use knockoff Silpats. If you're not familiar with those, they are basically silicone-wrapped fiberglass sheets that are like reusable parchment/wax paper. Basically a washable non-stick surface for baking. One Silpat is $20, which is a worthwhile investment because you don't have to keep buying Pam spray or parchment paper, however, Amazon has a pair of knockoff Silpats for $14:

https://www.amazon.com/Artisan-Silicone-Baking-Half-Size-Cookie/dp/B00629K4YK/

I've had mine for years & they work great!

 

[msi1337]

I am not going to lie, that taco shell made out of cheese looks incredible!

Best of luck on the keto front! I know many people who have had success with it. I don't know that I could sustain it for long periods of time, but I am more into a combination of clean eating and IIFYM

 

[Kaido]

I am not going to lie, that taco shell made out of cheese looks incredible!

Best of luck on the keto front! I know many people who have had success with it. I don't know that I could sustain it for long periods of time, but I am more into a combination of clean eating and IIFYM

The oven trick is nice too, I used to fry them up in coconut oil. I actually got the idea from the Fathead documentary Nom nom nom!

I like clean eating (majority, at least) + IIFYM. My current line of thinking is that the best way to go is IIFYM, whole foods, mostly plants but not excluding meats, and low FODMAPs. Subject to change, of course Like I said in an earlier post, #1 I've tried a variety of diets with good results, and #2, people can live on crazy diet variations, from whale blubber to Indian vegetarian/vegan diets. Personally, the best energy I have ever felt is the fruitarian diet, where you don't count calories at all - felt awesome 24/7, although it's a pretty expensive diet to follow & obviously socially-limiting. But food is an interesting beast! Fun to try different things out for sure

 

[tnt118]

So in the 1.5 years you've done this, you have been in keto the whole time? I don't plan on doing this permanently. I'm going to try and keep it up until I go to Aruba in early March, unless I get below 200lbs then I'm going to stop as that will mean I'm losing a lot of my size probably too.

As long as you've been doing it you don't have any cheat days? Do you have any cheat meals at least? I haven't had any cravings yet in 3 days lol, but the weekend when my schedule isn't quite as structured I'm sure I will get some. Plus we eat out a lot on the weekends so I am not sure how that's going to play out yet as I'll have to prepare more food in house.

I plan on weighing myself weekly to see the progress so I'll know if I have to lower carb intake or not. When I did a low carb diet before I was only doing it M-F then whatever I wanted on the weekends, and typically by Wednesday, I could "feel" the diet working. Just like my core felt tighter overall, it's hard to explain. It could be because my skin was getting slightly tighter though, and I did lose a good amount of fat when I did it before.

With a couple of exceptions, yeah I've been in ketosis the whole time. Twice I've been out intentionally, once unintentionally. I do that on very rare occasion (~ every 6 months or so) to adjust leptin levels. I don't think a lot of people do that, but I (seem to) have some strange insulin reactions that are not 100% consistent with what most people experience. As a sidenote I do gain significant weight (both in water and fat) during that time.

Honestly I really don't do cheat days or meals. One thing is that my appetite is WAY down while doing keto and my cravings for carbs are almost non-existent. Then when I push a little too far with carbs my appetite goes up and I overeat. I think for me I have "worse" reactions to that kind of thing compared to average.

I know exactly what you mean by "slightly tighter skin" and I'd guess that's your body holding onto less water.

I'm not sure how you can say it sounds nothing like keto. It IS keto based on the research I've done. I can get what you are saying about cheating though since that can take your body out of ketosis. But other than that, what I'm doing is exactly what I've read keto is, which is just keeping your net carbs below a certain threshold, which can vary from 20-50 grams of carbs depending on the person.

Just don't forget that strict keto is also about not having too much protein while having a bulk of calories from fat. That's different from say, the Atkins diet and others, which are also low carb. /r/ketogains is a group that focuses maintaining or building muscle while in keto which isn't something that as many people do.

Out of curiosity, why not just make it zero carbs? Or as close to zero as possible?

I have read (but am not an expert) that there is a very base number of carbs that are required for brain function. It's not recommended to be fully zero carb but to maintain a low minimum.

This is probably not relevant to your thread, but there is some emerging thought about carbs not being okay in moderation for type 2 diabetics, or even pre-diabetics.

Dr. Jason Fung's intensivedietarymanagement.com is an interesting resource, even if you are not obese or diabetic. Some of the things being discovered about the way insulin and related hormones work in the body is pretty fascinating, and some of it runs counter to "conventional wisdom."

It took me a long, long time to accept that it really does boil down to calories in, calories out. I was very against the idea that our bodies were simply machines that processed fuel like anything else. Sugar was bad, clean eating was the way to go, yada yada yada. All BS. The results don't lie. Throw in macro tracking & now you can actually get fit (visibly) even easier. I just tell people to do a google image search for "iifym before after". Results speak for themselves!

Yes, but don't discount things like metabolic derangement as well. The body is not a perfect system and doesn't function 100% exactly the same for everyone.

If this fits your numbers, check out the homemade taco shell made from cheese:

Pan-fried cheese is AMAZING. Also there's a recipe floating around for a cheese/cream cheese/chicken "base" that can be put under the broiler and crisps up to an (allegedly) "perfect" pizza crust.

 

[Kaido]

Yes, but don't discount things metabolic derangement as well. The body is not a perfect system and doesn't function 100% exactly the same for everyone.

Pan-fried cheese is AMAZING. Also there's a recipe floating around for a cheese/cream cheese/chicken "base" that can be put under the broiler and crisps up to an (allegedly) "perfect" pizza crust.

Yeah, I mentioned smoking specifically because there was a lady on the IIFYM group who was struggling with getting results after stopping smoking for a number of years. A couple people chimed in with some medical experience...apparently smoking fakes out your digestive system in some pretty interesting ways & fools your body, which can come back to haunt you once you quit smoking & start eating more normally.

Ooh, cream cheese! I use Fritzo's chicken-crust pizza recipe from time to time, massive protein hit:

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/any-pizza-lovers-out-there.2426611/page-2#post-37295909

Have you tried crack chicken yet? That is goooooood stuff! Basically chicken, cream cheese, and bacon, with Ranch dressing powder:

http://cookiesandcups.com/slow-cooker-crack-chicken/

I actually do it in my Instant Pot & add some cornstarch per this recipe to thicken up the sauce:

http://www.adventuresofanurse.com/2016/10/04/instant-pot-crack-chicken/

I usually do it on a hamburger bun, kaiser roll, or soft dinner roll, but it'd work great in a greenstyle wrap (like a lettuce or chard leaf) & would probably be bangin' (if not overpowering) in a cheese-crust taco shell!

 

[SlitheryDee]

Even though we hold that we are all created equal, all physiologies and therefore metabolisms aren't created equal. I assume this is not a controversial idea, yet we all still tend to promote the regimen that works for us as if it is a revealed truth for all, which it is not. It's our own truth, and perhaps truth for certain others who happen to share our body type. If fitting it to your macros tends to work for you, great! I bet it will work for tons of other people, too. Not everyone, though. The one size fits all diet is a fiction. LCHF works for people who tend toward metabolic syndrome and diabetes. For these people, excessive carbs are damn near a toxin. Carbs can't fit into their macros without eventual consequences.

I honestly believe that IIFYM should technically work for everyone, diabetic and metabolic syndrome people included. It isn't really a one size fits all diet in the way that you mean. It's more of a diet that can be whatever size it needs to be to fit anyone it needs to fit. If you're diabetic, then IIFYM would mean you eat fewer calories than you burn while avoiding things that affect your disease (which you should be doing anyway IIFYM or not BTW). If you have metabolic syndrome, losing weight is going to be one of the key necessities for managing it (possibly along with medication for cholesterol and blood pressure), and that can only be done with a caloric deficit.

I've taken to reading an interesting blog lately that addresses a lot of the thought process I detect in your post. Whether or not this really applies to you, it's interesting reading. He specifically has a lot to say about why other diets besides IIFYM aren't really all that different from IIFYM in the end. See this excerpt:

But Then How Do Other Fat Loss Diets Work?
This is the point when various stubborn, misinformed or just annoyingly stupid people like to mention that other diets cause people to lose fat all the time, and those diets have nothing to do with creating a caloric deficit.

I mean, people lose fat on low carb diets, low fat diets, paleo diets, vegan diets, raw food diets, diets that involve eating “clean” instead of “dirty” or not eating after a certain time at night, and countless other types of diets that involve every gimmick, fad and method you can think of except the specific task of creating a caloric deficit. But yet, they have all caused people to successfully lose fat.

What the hell? How can that be? If the only requirement for fat loss is a caloric deficit, and all of these diets have nothing to do with a caloric deficit, then how do they work? Obviously I must be wrong about all this calorie stuff, right?

Wrong.

You see, all of these diets and methods just indirectly cause you to create that caloric deficit.

What I mean is, any diet that actually causes you to lose fat did so because it caused you to create a caloric deficit. That’s a fact. There is literally NOTHING else that could possibly make it happen. This is the most basic proven science of the human body. Calories in vs calories out (aka the law of thermodynamics) is ALWAYS the basis for fat loss (or gain).

These diets and methods might never come right out and admit that or say you just need to eat less calories (partly because it doesn’t fit with their gimmick, partly because people don’t want to hear that they have to [GASP!] count calories or [GASP!] eat less of them, and partly because it’s hard to make money off of something that is simple, obvious and free.)

BUT every successful fat loss diet makes you do it anyway. How? By getting you to do things that just so happen to restrict or reduce your calorie intake. For example…

• Eating less carbs means you’re eating less calories.
• Eating less fat means you’re eating less calories.
• Eating less “dirty” junk food means you’re eating less calories.
• Eating less processed foods means you’re eating less calories.
• Eating less grains means you’re eating less calories.
• Not eating after 7pm causes you to eat less calories.
• A raw food diet, vegan diet, paleo diet or any remotely similar diet eliminates many of the foods you were regularly eating, which means you’re now eating less calories.

Noticing a trend? In every single case, less calories end up being eaten. And like magic, it causes you to lose fat. But what some people incorrectly think is that it was the reduction in carbs, or fat, or grains, or sugar, or junk food, or processed food, or not eating after 7pm or whatever else that made it happen.

It wasn’t.

It was the reduction in calories that indirectly came as a result of all of these other things. Sure, these “things” are what caused the deficit to be created, but the deficit itself is what actually caused you to lose fat.

And that’s how various fat loss diets/methods work despite not directly making you eat less calories. They just get you to do things that make you eat less calories anyway.

The full article:

http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/how-to-lose-fat/

 

[tnt118]

Some very good discussion here and I think you are both right in a way.

Keto specifically works for many people because it 1) keeps them satiated when nothing else does and 2) naturally avoids a thing that is (as was well described earlier as) a toxin to them. Point 1 balances the calories in/calories out issue. Point 2 acknowledges that in some cases the body doesn't react exactly the same for all people in all situations. I don't think anyone is arguing you can eat unlimited food; the argument is that for many even eating the "correct" amount of certain items doesn't always work "like it should".

My personal situation was that in 12-odd years in attempting to control my weight, no combination of traditionally good diets and exercise was ever sustainable. I could lose about 15 pounds but would stall (while still eating below what I should). Then I'd have to restrict some more. That cycle would happen a couple of times. Eventually I'd head into starvation mode territory. Eventually my body would (inexplicably to me) start burning muscle for fuel instead of fat despite plenty of availability. (This was often under the supervision of a personal trainer I should add). So I'd be weaker and less able to exercise. But I'd need to do more exercise to compensate. The whole thing would fall apart spectacularly.

I've gotten into some long and heated arguments -- something I'd really rather not do here -- that "that can't happen". I understand what is supposed to happen. I understand was DOES happen. And I can reconcile the two. Under those conditions, keto certainly functioned like a miracle.

The OP's approach to what keto accomplishes for them is naturally going to be different from those of us who have needed to make it a lifestyle -- and that's probably the bulk of the dissonance that shows itself in these posts.

 

[crashtech]

@SlitheryDee The calorie in / calorie out model IS the accepted thinking, that much is true. It's also true that those who follow the traditional advice of creating a long term calorie deficit fail in almost every case. Treating the body as a static system that responds mechanically to a simplified set of inputs is a drastically oversimplified paradigm that completely ignores the complex interplay of hormones in our bodies.

EDIT: Risking thread hijack/derailing, I'd add that most people that embrace the calorie in/calorie out paradigm do so because of a belief that science has the answers. I am one of the people that believes that science has the answers, but also that science evolves over time, and the explanations for things don't often get simpler. Our scientific understanding of the interplay of hormones in the body is evolving, and the science is moving far more quickly that the official dietary advice dispensed by the medical community. In fact, there is some evidence that the reason a new paradigm is not being more quickly developed and accepted is that there are many interests that profit from the status quo, and are actively working to preserve it.

 

[purbeast0]

Just updated OP with some pictures I snapped tonight. I'll probably take pics every week or two just to see if I can visibly see the progress.

http://imgur.com/wX3mrS9
http://imgur.com/XalLdLP

 

[Kaido]

It's also true that those who follow the traditional advice of creating a long term calorie deficit fail in almost every case.

Just on that note, at least as far as IIFYM goes, long-term deficits aren't encouraged. Once you've reached your weightloss goal, you go into maintenance mode to keep what you have (or increase your intake if your goal is to grow muscle). I also like that IIFYM isn't so much about restricting as it is calculated nutritional intake; I know a few people who came from restrictive eating backgrounds & found it difficult to eat as much as they needed on IIFYM at the beginning.

 

[Kaido]

I've gotten into some long and heated arguments -- something I'd really rather not do here -- that "that can't happen". I understand what is supposed to happen. I understand was DOES happen. And I can reconcile the two. Under those conditions, keto certainly functioned like a miracle.

That's really the bottom line...it all boils to (1) what works for you, and (2) what you can, in reality, adopt on a long-term basis as a lifestyle. I have plenty of friends who yo-yo diet, which to me is nuts given all of the great information we have about how to get results & stay healthy & in-shape, but it all depends on what you're willing to do, and also what you find works for you. I'd say the majority of people I know IRL who have gotten results & stuck with it have actually done paleo. It's pretty easy to follow, lots of great food out there (the Well Fed cookbooks are among my personal favorites), and doesn't require as much time, money, or perceived restriction as other diets like Whole30, vegan, etc.

 

[Kaido]

OP, do you like sweets at all? And can you handle Stevia? Chocolate-coated coconut bars are pretty good:

http://thenourishedcaveman.com/coconut-chcocolate-bars-low-carb-snacks/

The only really weird ingredient is coconut cream, you'll probably need to hit a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's to find that one (or else Amazon) as it's different from coconut milk (although if you chill a can of full-fat coconut milk, you can scoop the cream off the top when you open it). Or if you are doing any dairy, just use heavy cream instead. And although I haven't tried it with stevia (not a fan myself), I make an awesome chocolate jello pudding using avocados:

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/vitamix-vs-blendtec-for-smoothies.2381842/page-3#post-36496855

The chocolate & sugar mask the avocado flavor really well, and once it's fully blended & chilled, it tastes awesome. I've brought it into work before & had people try it and they had no idea it was healthy! (ish)

 

[SlitheryDee]

Some very good discussion here and I think you are both right in a way.

Keto specifically works for many people because it 1) keeps them satiated when nothing else does and 2) naturally avoids a thing that is (as was well described earlier as) a toxin to them. Point 1 balances the calories in/calories out issue. Point 2 acknowledges that in some cases the body doesn't react exactly the same for all people in all situations. I don't think anyone is arguing you can eat unlimited food; the argument is that for many even eating the "correct" amount of certain items doesn't always work "like it should".

My personal situation was that in 12-odd years in attempting to control my weight, no combination of traditionally good diets and exercise was ever sustainable. I could lose about 15 pounds but would stall (while still eating below what I should). Then I'd have to restrict some more. That cycle would happen a couple of times. Eventually I'd head into starvation mode territory. Eventually my body would (inexplicably to me) start burning muscle for fuel instead of fat despite plenty of availability. (This was often under the supervision of a personal trainer I should add). So I'd be weaker and less able to exercise. But I'd need to do more exercise to compensate. The whole thing would fall apart spectacularly.

I've gotten into some long and heated arguments -- something I'd really rather not do here -- that "that can't happen". I understand what is supposed to happen. I understand was DOES happen. And I can reconcile the two. Under those conditions, keto certainly functioned like a miracle.

The OP's approach to what keto accomplishes for them is naturally going to be different from those of us who have needed to make it a lifestyle -- and that's probably the bulk of the dissonance that shows itself in these posts.

Oh I have nothing against a ketogenic diet at all. It seems like a great diet for someone who is focused on building muscle because of how much protein it would almost certainly include, and eliminating the vast majority of fast digesting "empty" calories that people are exposed to has to have a positive effect.

I do think that the right right diet for anyone is the one they personally find that they can stick with. IIFYM is good for me because of how infinitely flexible it feels. I feel like I can eat whatever I want at just about any time and never really be off my diet because my diet bends rather than breaking. Hope is never lost, and no binge is too big to overcome. Diet stringency isn't the secret. Diet adherence is, and IIFYM is easy to adhere to because it has so few hard and fast rules.

 

[purbeast0]

So my goal right now isn't to build muscle at all, it's to simply lose some weight and make as much of it fat as possible. When I've done traditional diets where I basically keep eating my normal stuff but cut out all the junk food and sweets and what not, I always tend to lose a decent amount of muscle. So this time I'm going for a somewhat different approach.

@Kaido i have a big time sweet tooth. I luckily haven't really had any cravings yet and my wife even hosted a baby shower last Sunday and brought home all of this chocolate, donuts, marshmallows, and other cookies, and they are sitting on my counter and I just haven't had a big urge to eat them. I will check out some of those other options you posted though.

 

[purbeast0]

So far this weekend I've done good. I haven't cheated at all. Yesterday I made those cheese taco shells to make tacos out of. They were good but I felt kinda crappy after I ate them. I don't know if I'll do it again. I just made some buffalo wings with Franks and some butter, and them shits were good! I have had some alcohol this weekend but it's been some Jack with Coke Zero, so 0 carbs. Only had a couple in the evenings.

I did kind of get a sweet tooth last night and when at the store I was looking for ANY kind of cookie or snack bar I could eat. All I saw were the Atkins snack bars that had like 2 net carbs, but they had like 15g of carbs, then like 3 fiber, than 9 of sugar alcohol or some shit like that. I dunno that seemed a bit sketch to me and I hadn't heard about that before so I passed on them. When I got home the sweet tooth was gone after having a chocolate protein shake.

I'm about to go to a birthday party so I may cheat a little bit depending on the food. My mother in law makes some good taquitos so I may have to have a few.

I don't typically eat butter in general or this much cheese. I went through a stick of butter last week. Typically I just use olive oil for stuff when cooking in the pan but some stuff I did requires butter. I've also been making brocolli and cheese and the cheese sauces has butter. I think this week I'm going to just eat brocolli without cheese.

Is eating all of this cheese and butter bad though in the grand scheme of things? As I mentioned I definitely don't plan to make this permanent, this is just temp to see if I can lean up a bit then I plan to go back to eating "normal" again and maintain. I definitely notice a difference already. My skin around my belly feels "tighter" than it did before. Like when I would wiggle my abs I could feel a little jiggle of the layer of fat I have there. Now it's completely not jiggling. I also notice on my sides and lower back when I put lotion on that it's not as jiggle and flabby, and this is just after a week. I realize it's probably losing some water weight too though, and that won't continue. I fluctuated between 206 and 208 this weekend when weighing myself this weekend so I've lost weight.

 

[skyking]

I am on a doctor supervised ketogenic diet since December 5. As crashtech has posted, my energy levels are great. I am tested weekly for ketones, and one week out of the last 9 I did not throw any in the urine. I don't remember what I did to get there but falling out of real ketosis is quite easy, and sometimes when you are in ketosis you will get false results from the urine test.
I am on 1200 calories a day, more or less. Some days I add calories with full fat dressing and raw vegetables.
I take a fistful of supplements morning and night.
All my food is powdered or a bar. I went over the labels just now and counted up roughly 60 grams of carbs.
In 61 days I have lost 40 pounds.

 

[purbeast0]

I weighed myself this morning and was at 206.8. I took some more pics yesterday and I couldn't really notice much of a visible difference as far as cuts go around my core, but I did lose 2lbs or so since I last weighed myself so it's working. I also "feel" tighter all around. This weekend is going to be tough with a birthday party tomorrow and the Super Bowl on Sunday, but I'm going to try and stick it out. I'm also going to eat lunch today at Pei Wei but I already ate one of my usual chicken salad wraps and plan on getting lettuce wraps to eat there and not a full fledge meal. Those have like 20g of net carbs so I think today I can still keep it under 50 pretty easily.

 

[skyking]

I pack a bag of celery, brocolli, cauliflower with me and a couple of servings of full fat dressing. They can have all the cake they want, I will be right over here with my veg and dressings
I managed to lose 4 pounds a week through the holidays. My family fills a 16' long counter with pure contraband, candy, pies, cake, chex mix, you name it. This is on top of the meal stuff. I ate only roast beef from the deli plate and my veg.
3 ounces of either celery or cauliflower has 2 grams of carbs.

 

[purbeast0]

That is what I'm thinking they will have is platters and that type of finger food where I can just grab meat and cheeses. Then for drinks i can just have some vodka and diet soda. The party is at 4pm and it's a mixture of kids and adults, but since we'll be there with our toddler we won't be there too long. And it's not the temptation I'm worried about at all, it's just being hungry with nothing to eat. I'll just eat something before though too.

I'm already over my cravings which is good. We have some cookies and sweets in the house for my son and I'm fine with not eating them. Last weekend was probably the first weekend in literally 2 decades that I did not eat out once. I didn't get a snack at 7-11, no fast food, or no other meals out. Everything was at home. My wife and I eat out all the time so this was new to use.

 

[crashtech]

For me, regular intake of refined carbs is what causes cravings; it's a vicious circle or positive feedback loop that can be difficult to escape, and easy to fall back into.