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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   2499 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for September 27, 2023

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I'm about 5 weeks into my keto diet and I am loving it. In the past, maintaining a diet was extremely difficult and I was hungry all the time.

Not so this time. I'm down about 10 pounds despite making zero effort to count or restrict my calories. The weight comes off like magic. What's more I love the food, and I'm always full.

I should gone low carb a long time ago, and I don't know why I never did until now. This is no brainer stuff. Everyone I've talked to who has done keto has gotten amazing results. It has a strong scientific basis as well. The people who are most critical seem to have some sort of ideological objection.

Sometimes it really is that easy. There's no need to complicated programs, apps, or calorie counting. Just cut out pretty much all carbs and the weight comes off.

It has a strong scientific basis as well. The people who are most critical seem to have some sort of ideological objection.

Congrats on the progress. But AFIK it doesn't . the data shows no diet works particularly well . it may have worked well for you, but this does not not means it can be generalized as if it's a scientific truth/fact. Even if Keto is more effective for weight loss, the issue is also adherence. Someone can create a diet called the 'pond sludge diet' ..it's very effective for weight loss. just eat pond sludge, but the problem is no one can stick to that kind of diet. That is the problem with diet industry...humans are so unique individually that it's hard to create something which works for many people reliably. This is why GLP-1 drugs are such major a revolution in that they seem to work well on the general population. If overfeeding on keto leads to weight gain is debated still.

This is why GLP-1 drugs are such major a revolution in that they seem to work well on the general population.

There are reports that that can't reduce your hunger all the way down. People lose about 15% of their body weight and reach a new equilibrium, which is fine if you were 90kg, but if you were 130kg and got to 110kg with no real muscle gain to speak of, you're probably still obese.

hmmm i think there is a range. some lose a higher %, others less. Elon Musk notably took Wegovy, but a year later he still looks somewhat heavy...maybe he went off it or only only lost a little weight.

Care to share some of the foods you're eating? A sample day's worth of meals? Obviously you can find keto recipes all over the internet, but I'm curious what worked for you, what you enjoyed, and what you were able to buy and prepare for yourself.

I'd love to. I have a lot of salads and meat obviously, but I am also enjoying Mission Zero burritos and Keto bread.

Typical day:

Breakfast: Eggs and Bacon

Lunch: Hamburger with keto bun and mashed avocados

Dinner: Shrimp tacos with mission zero burritos

Dessert: Yogurt with whipped cream and keto-friendly chocolate chips

Glad you found something that works for you. Do you think it's something that you would stick with long term, or perhaps cycle on and off of? My, not very researched, impression was that the main criticisms low carb is that people tend to rebound. I will say this is true of basically all diets, so is not particularly convincing to me.

I do think there are plenty of, at least decent quality, studies showing carbohydrates are necessary for peak athletic performance. This seems to be backed up by what high level competitors actually do. Though I would imagine if you were in a situation where it mattered you would be tracking macros anyway, so the convenience of keto would be less of a factor.

The data is mixed. An n=1 overfeeding study showed Keto as the clear winner

another overfeeding study showed high carbs as the winner. what to make of this, who knows.

Do you think it's something that you would stick with long term, or perhaps cycle on and off of?

I plan on cycling off. But it's nice to have this in my tool kit. Previous dieting was effective but felt like torture. I'll probably do keto from time to time to keep my weight and BF% below a target level.

One point I'll make is that "yo-yo dieting" is bad when people use high-carb, low-protein diets. These diets cause large decreases in muscle mass. This puts the dieter in a bad metabolic state when they stop dieting. Having less muscle mass, they burn fewer calories, and are likely to return to a higher weight than before.

Dieting with adequate protein, and with resistance training, will help me lose weight with a minimum of muscle loss.

I do think there are plenty of, at least decent quality, studies showing carbohydrates are necessary for peak athletic performance.

As a weekend warrior type sportsball athlete, this is something I've noticed. While people can do endurance activities in a state of ketosis, explosive movements tend to suffer. Adequate electrolytes help, and I've also started supplementing with creatine which promises benefits as well. Some suggest consuming a small amount of carbs (5-15 grams) before activities that require explosive movements such as sprinting.

I heard keto can screw up your kidneys or have other side effects. You ever heard of that?

Funny enough, the first time I heard that claim was today, when I was listening to Stem Talk podcast episode #157. The interviewer said that's been largely debunked and that people who consume higher carb content are actually more likely to have screwed up kidneys.

I think it's possible there may be some negatives to the diet, but almost anything is better than the SAD (standard american diet). 10% of the American population is diabetic and about 1/3rd of adults are prediabetic. It's hard to imagine a world in which going from SAD to low carb is going to be bad for your kidneys.

Concerns about cholesterol are also largely overblown. People with "high" total cholesterol at age 65 are more likely to live to 100. LDL/HDL ratio and triglycerides are more important. That said, I do have very high cholesterol already so this is something I will be monitoring.

I plan to take a blood test soon.

If you stay in ketosis too long, probably. It's hard to actually hit ketosis though.

Yeah, "keto" can easily be "low carb" in actuality, especially if you're not tracking. When I wasn't I was probably just doing low-carb - especially if you consider that a lot of keto diets call for a lot more fat than protein and I always found it harder to hit the targets for the former compared to the latter.

But I think even low carb will work for a lot of people simply by forcing you to cut out a lot of bad shit you might otherwise unthinkingly consume.

I think this is sort of part of what I was trying to ask OP about. It seems to me, most people use the term keto somewhat informally. I can't find the source, but somehow I had the impression that being in ketosis for very long periods (like a year) could affect mood and cognitive function. In practice though, it doesn't seem like a lot of people actually maintain ketosis year round. I could definitely see how if you went full ketosis for 12ish week weight loss periods, ate at maintenance relatively low carb, and optionally cycled up to higher carbs when fueling high training loads, that could work very well for people. OP are you testing with keytone strips? And if yes, what's your plan for after you finish your initial weight loss?

OP are you testing with keytone strips?

I have tried peeing on some ketone strips but they didn't work or my ketones are too low. Probably the former former since the strips are very old and I've been limiting my carbs pretty strictly.

Depending on who is counting a "keto" diet calls for < 20 or < 50 carbs per day. I am almost certainly in the 20-50 range. I am strict with absolutely no bread or fruit. But there are carbs in everything - even yogurt.

I guess I don't care if I'm in "ketosis" or not. As long as the weight comes off easily. Like I said, I'm not hungry, and I'm not making any effort to restrict calories.

what's your plan for after you finish your initial weight loss?

I plan to go back to normal eating erring on the side of low carb. Once I hit my goal, I'll allow myself to get slightly fatter and then use keto as a maintenance diet perhaps 1 of every 6 months.

I think it is impressive to hit ketosis for like a week straight. The amount of carbs in a single slice of bread is enough to take you out of it for a week, even if that was literally the only carbs you had. If you have a personal chef or make all of your meals from scratch its probably a little easier. But almost anything pre-made has too many carbs. Meat with bread crumbs on it is stupidly common. Any pre-prepped meals always have most of their calories coming from a carb item like pasta. Even if you only eat things that are "keto-friendly" you can still have too many carbs for ketosis, because those things can still have a serving or two of carbs.

This is probably coming off as a rant directed at you. Its not. I've been doing low-carb for about two years now. I called it Keto originally, but I don't think I've ever hit Keto, so I stopped using that label. I love the diet and what its done for me, but damn is it frustrating sometimes. So many sugar traps everywhere.

I didn't get too much of a rant impression.

I have tracked macros when serious about training, so I know at least some of the pain that surrounds common prepared foods. I've always kept at least some carbs around workouts though, but was curious about potentially using Keto if I ever do a hard fat loss phase again.

The only person I have know personally that has for sure done Keto proper, with ketone strips and all, staid on for about 3 months. They seemed to get good results, but I don't think they thought it was sustainable to stay in ketosis for a longer period.

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