(My other thread is getting lost so maybe this is a better place to post about keto questions)
Whew, ok, I just finished reading all 130 pages of the thread, not at once, and it has been a great source of information thanks to Sinister and several others with a lot of good advice, this thing could be converted into a book. Why was it locked, other than having 12,000 posts in it, lol. I think it should be stickied also.
I never realized there could be such a problem consuming carbs, it makes a lot of sense to me after reading up on it and considering the carb commas and the fact I have been watching calories pretty good the last year but not drop in weight, but I ate a lot of carbs, 90% clean.
My first impressions. I started the keto diet about 14 days ago today, last Monday I did a carb up for a 24 hr period, I don't think I really needed to it was more mental and due to schedule. So far I have lost about 11 pounds, I know a good portion of that is water, I would imagine water retention has been depleted so I am going to keep a close eye on my weight and see how it goes. I didn't have too many problems at the start, mild headaches, some fatigue and really weird soreness in my muscles while weight lifting the first week, weird taste in mouth, I've been sick the last week so haven't worked out much. I am amazed at how this reduces your appetite, if I'm not careful I have a hard time eating enough calories. I miss things like bread but all in all I think this is a good diet because I can still eat a lot of foods I really like. At first I didn't think I could do this long term like for years but as I go longer I think it will be easier. At this point I will probably do this diet for a good while and then maybe change to moderate carbs for a little bit and see how it goes and then go back, even just to break up the routine if needed.
Some tips from my little experience doing this diet but others might find useful: Roasted Pumkin seeds are great and very low net carb, Spanish peanuts with skin are great and lower net carb than most other nuts I looked at, sunflower seeds are good low carb.
If you have a glucose monitor look on Ebay or Amazon and you can find the strips a lot cheaper, just watch the expiration date.
If you have a smart phone a App like "Tap n Track" will be indispensable along with book marking nutrition sites for places you like to eat so you can make sure you are eating low carb. You can also add common foods you eat at home so all you have to do is tap Beef Brisket and you can enter the ounces and your done.
Sam's has smoked Beef Brisket in their meat section and all you have to do is put in a pan, add a little water and bake for x amount of time. It is really good and a nice quick meat you can prepare if you don't have a lot of time. Once you bake you can also nuke it. The whole thing is pretty big so I divide it into serving size portions, wrap in saran wrap, wrap that in foil and put in the freezer.
Buffalo Wild Wings doesn't bread their wings and some of the sauces have very little carbs per serving so that may be a good eating out option if you want something easy.
Lite dressing sucks big time, loaded with carbs compared to regular like Ranch for example. Still have to watch it but a table spoon here and there won't add a lot of carbs and will add some variety to what you eat.
I still have a few questions, they may be in the thread somewhere but if it was I missed it. I took a lot of notes too and need to continue looking over them as time goes on.
My Goals: Mainly is to lose body fat, about 25% right now according to the Omron tester. I don't want to lose lean mass but at this point gaining more lean mass is not top priority, lowering BF% is top priority. Current weight is 263
Some questions I still have:
Protein- 1 gram per lbs of LBM for me is about 195 - 200 grams, over the past two weeks I have been getting about 100 - 150 grams a day. My rations are about 60% fat, 35% pro, 5% carb (20-30 carbs). and I am eating around 1800 - 2300 calories, 2300 when I work out. Am I hurting myself eating under 200 grams of protein or will I just not gain more mass? I don't mind not gaining for the time being but I don't want to lose.
Glucose monitor - From the other thread to get a base line you should test in the morning and on the second drop if I remember Sinisters recommendation correctly. To calculate the margin of error could I use a Keto Stix and if I show I am pissing ketones and my blood test shows 70 is it safe to figure there is a margin of about 20 points? In other words if you show positive on the keto stick is that an indication that your blood sugar is 50 or below? Should I go to the doctors office to get a professional job done and simultaneously test with the home device to see the variance?
I'm still a little fuzzy on how to use the glucose monitor to determine how you handle certain foods. If my normal level is 50, and I drink a cup of milk, when do I want to test and what is a acceptable level increase and what is a red alert increase? And does it make any differences as far as doing a keto diet and how many carbs you can eat or is this more for general life changes that you need to make with what you eat.
Plateau - I have experienced this before after losing 40 lbs and really got frustrated, when this happens again after being on this diet for a while how long should I mix things up before going back to the normal keto diet?
What are some good ways to break a plateau. Change what you eat, change how much you eat (do you go up or down). Could I just do a general diet, moderate carbs and watch the calories and then go back? Should I eat right at maintenance level for a few weeks and then cut back? Will going from my old normal calorie, high carb diet to a keto diet be enough to break a plateau?
Thanks for any advice you guys can give and sorry if this was answered in the other thread I tried to absorb as much of it as I could but that is a lot of stuff to take in and will probably revisit it a few more times later on.
