Zero Carb= Fantastic Results but Questions Remain

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I read every single page for the last few days and I must say this thread is AWESOME! Thanks Sinister and other regular posters for providing us with SO much useful information.
I am interested in following this diet too. I have never really strictly dieted, I just always watched what I ate. I have been eating very high carb low fat foods for months if not years (whole grain, whole wheat, skim/nonfat milk etc), and have kind of avoided high fatty foods. I was about 200lbs 6 months ago but through not eating as much and vigorous exercise I am now at about 165-169lbs and have been for about 2 months, with a BF% of about 12%. I want to get down a bit more; get leaner. This diet seems to be working for many people so I am willing to try it.
Today I went nuts and bought a ton of meats and cheese at the grocery store, bacon, pork, cheddar, mozarella, beef, steak, etc. Made myself an omelet this afternoon and a hamburger with cheese (just a pattie) this evening. After both meals I felt this greasy, slippery feeling in the back of my throat, is this normal? Like I said earlier, I have never really eaten high fat no carb meals. I cooked both meals with olive oil. Also, my workout today (lifts and cardio after) was terrible, had stitches/side pain in the left part of my stomach, but fought through it and continued the cardio (was kind of HIIT).
I guess my question is if its normal to feel greasy, slippery with these kinds of meals?

Like Sinister said, there is an adaptation phase to this diet. I found that I ate a low carb diet for 2 weeks without putting any thought into calories. My goal was to get my body used to performing off of a low carb diet. Once my body adapted to this diet I began to monitor calories and the weight came off around 2lbs per week consistently.

That greasy feeling could possibly all be in your head as well. It's the first I have heard of it. Maybe you can increase your water consumption and see if that makes a difference.

How often do you guys go without weightloss? Is it usual to lose weight and then go a week or so with no weight loss?

I find that I have to weight myself once per week and ONLY once per week. I weight myself the morning of my carb load. The reason being is that after my carb load, I hold a bunch of water and its nothing for my weight to go up 5lbs and it takes a couple days to go down. However, usually by the next weigh in period I am down 2lbs from the previous weigh in.

When I hit a plateau where I wasn't losing any weight for a couple weeks I decided to take a week off this diet. I went back to eating like everyone else for a week (not low carb). 1 reason was because of a plateau and the other reason was that I went on vacation. It was easier for me to do this.

The following week I went back on low carb and my weight started dropping again. At the re-start of the low carb my weight was high because I was holding alot of water weight, but by week 2 I was at my lowest weight and back on track for 2lbs per week.

I like eating low carb and when I consume carbs I tend to get stomach cramps and the runs. I think I don't digest some carbs properly, but I also feel that my body responds better to a low carb diet if every once and a while I come off for a week and eat moderate carbs, moderate fat, and moderate protein.

Another very important factor in terms of me seeing results is CARDIO. If I don't do cardio I don't lose weight. If I do cardio, the weight drops off me easily. I am only doing 30 mins 3 times per week plus any BJJ classes I go to.
 
On the adaptation phase, I have a question for people.

I notice that the more I use a low-carb diet or some variation, the easier it is for me to get into and maintain ketosis. I find that when I make the switch it takes less than half the time it used to for me to be completely accustomed to the diet. (I still miss pasta, dammit) I do not know how long ago I first cut carbs, but it was, well, a long freakin' time.

This quickness of adaptation, true for everyone with experience or no? Just asking out of curiosity.
 
On the adaptation phase, I have a question for people.

I notice that the more I use a low-carb diet or some variation, the easier it is for me to get into and maintain ketosis. I find that when I make the switch it takes less than half the time it used to for me to be completely accustomed to the diet. (I still miss pasta, dammit) I do not know how long ago I first cut carbs, but it was, well, a long freakin' time.

This quickness of adaptation, true for everyone with experience or no? Just asking out of curiosity.

Yeah after spending some months in ketosis, and switching in and out a few times, your body becomes keto-adapted, meaning it's not so sluggish to mobilise the enzymes necessary for fat metabolism.

I've recently returned to CKD (not even for body recomp; it just generally makes me feel better and have better cardio) after 2 months off and I've experienced absolutely no symptoms of carb-flu.
 
Yeah after spending some months in ketosis, and switching in and out a few times, your body becomes keto-adapted, meaning it's not so sluggish to mobilise the enzymes necessary for fat metabolism.

I've recently returned to CKD (not even for body recomp; it just generally makes me feel better and have better cardio) after 2 months off and I've experienced absolutely no symptoms of carb-flu.

Only for some people, though. And while I getting better results cutting fat with some variation of keto, it freakin' kills my cardio. I need to carefully ration my carbohydrates to maintain any sort of aeorbic capacity.
 
So I started the diet today, headaches suck. Also, I cant seem to get satiated.. maybe I dont eat enough, not sure.
 
Only for some people, though. And while I getting better results cutting fat with some variation of keto, it freakin' kills my cardio. I need to carefully ration my carbohydrates to maintain any sort of aeorbic capacity.

The only thing I can attest to is what Sinister has brought up previously. If you're not careful when reintroducing carbs after a time of low carb/ketosis, you can get fat quick LOL :D

I probably didn't need as much carbs as I thought, even with adding cardio (done separately) to my weight sessions. What I found kind of helped, was a glass of milk between the cardio session and the weight session. I guess you just have to know how to do TKD properly and see what you can get away with.

I'm still trying to figure out that part.
 
A cheat day won't kill you, and shouldn't derail progress unless you binge.

Yeah, plateauing is always a normality in any system of weight loss.

You have the opposite effect of most "aspiring writers" meaning, too many words. You are simple, in simplistics sense of beauty (of writing, meaning, "see how long this sentence took me??")

I wanted to reiterate this. Binging can really, really hurt you (vs cheating), whereas, I ended up bleeding internally for 3 weeks after "binging" for a week.

And, you plateau, always :)
 
So I started the diet today, headaches suck. Also, I cant seem to get satiated.. maybe I dont eat enough, not sure.

Try out some low carb bread. There's a recipe in the low carb thread and there's another thread for flax seed bread right now. Those really help trick me into thinking I'm eating carbs (...which you are, but ground flax is 0 net carb because of the fiber content).

Other than that, you might try eating more cheese or fattier foods to fill you up. It doesn't give you the same sort of feeling as eating a lot of starchy food, but you also don't get the "carb coma" associated with eating those. Make sure you're staying hydrated, too. I have a hunch that the dehydrating effect of the diet might have something to do with the transition phase, but others might have more scientific reasoning behind it. Remember, electrolytes are your friend.

I have a question, though. If plateauing is a "normality" of this diet, as in any diet, what does that tell you about the method itself? Is a call for change in the diet needed? As in, calorie counting? Or does it tell you more about training? I realize that this is probably more of an individually based question, but sometimes I question whether or not I need to push myself harder with my cardio and weight training, or simply might need a break from the diet itself.
 
I found this an interesting read on tnation. There are some suggestions on busting a plateau, but the part that I really see in almost every dieting discussion is the psychological attachment people have to their diet plan. I see this a lot in almost every discussion on dieting.

T NATION | Samurai Tweaks to Eating Plans
 
Yes, calorie counting will inevitably become necessary once the honeymoon phase has passed. As we've seen in I think this and several other discussions, claiming low carb obviates the need for calorie control is a good way to ignite an angry pubmed-slinging flamewar.

As for help through the adaptation phase: +1 for flax bread, lots of cheeses, bacon, a bit of milk now and then, and sugar alcohols (I prefer xylitol) and decent diet sodas help tremendously with any sweet cravings.
 
You have the opposite effect of most "aspiring writers" meaning, too many words. You are simple, in simplistics sense of beauty (of writing, meaning, "see how long this sentence took me??")

I wanted to reiterate this. Binging can really, really hurt you (vs cheating), whereas, I ended up bleeding internally for 3 weeks after "binging" for a week.

And, you plateau, always :)

It's an art form I've been working on, I've been called long-winded in the past. Nowadays, unless I have more than one point to make, if I can't say it in 4 sentences I try not to say it.

I have a question, though. If plateauing is a "normality" of this diet, as in any diet, what does that tell you about the method itself? Is a call for change in the diet needed? As in, calorie counting? Or does it tell you more about training? I realize that this is probably more of an individually based question, but sometimes I question whether or not I need to push myself harder with my cardio and weight training, or simply might need a break from the diet itself.

IMO this is a bit of a trick question. Not that you're meaning it to be, just that there's more than one possible outcome. Experimentation in hibernating animals told us that it's pretty impossible to get them to not put on their winter weight. Even reducing food substance down to very little nutritional value, they would become hyper p h a gic (spacing due to Sherdog's word bans) and consume as long as they needed to in order to store their winter weight. Short of killing them, or risking death, there's very little that ceases this mechanism.

From there, we learn that bodies struggle to stay what is "normal" for them, given the environment, and accessibility to food. Could one train more to break a plateau? In theory, yes, because you'll burn more calories. But you also run the risk of increased inflammation, which increases cortisol response, which can effect insulin response. In other words, there's a limit, and people's will be different depending on their genetics. Could you eat less? Of course, but you run the risk of psychological instability, which can do as much damage as physiological instability. Could you sleep more and remedy both those issues? Absolutely, but who has time for that nowadays? Go to bed at 9pm and awaken at 7am consistently? Doubtful. Could supplementing help? Of course, but again you're going to run into issues such as receptor sensitivity. As an example, Clen. It had miraculous effects on adipose tissue metabolism because it's a beta-2 receptor agonist. But the funny thing about those tricky b-2 receptors is they're VERY sensitive. To the degree where if you hit them enough times, they'll burrow themselves into the tissue to avoid being hit. So the effects of Clen, while miraculous, were also very temporary.

So there's no blanket answer to this question. You have to just fiddle with every aspect of life to figure out where you're at your absolute best, the most consistently.
 
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IMO this is a bit of a trick question. Not that you're meaning it to be, just that there's more than one possible outcome. Experimentation in hibernating animals told us that it's pretty impossible to get them to not put on their winter weight. Even reducing food substance down to very little nutritional value, they would become hyper p h a gic (spacing due to Sherdog's word bans) and consume as long as they needed to in order to store their winter weight. Short of killing them, or risking death, there's very little that ceases this mechanism.

From there, we learn that bodies struggle to stay what is "normal" for them, given the environment, and accessibility to food. Could one train more to break a plateau? In theory, yes, because you'll burn more calories. But you also run the risk of increased inflammation, which increases cortisol response, which can effect insulin response. In other words, there's a limit, and people's will be different depending on their genetics. Could you eat less? Of course, but you run the risk of psychological instability, which can do as much damage as physiological instability. Could you sleep more and remedy both those issues? Absolutely, but who has time for that nowadays? Go to bed at 9pm and awaken at 7am consistently? Doubtful. Could supplementing help? Of course, but again you're going to run into issues such as receptor sensitivity. As an example, Clen. It had miraculous effects on adipose tissue metabolism because it's a beta-2 receptor agonist. But the funny thing about those tricky b-2 receptors is they're VERY sensitive. To the degree where if you hit them enough times, they'll burrow themselves into the tissue to avoid being hit. So the effects of Clen, while miraculous, were also very temporary.

So there's no blanket answer to this question. You have to just fiddle with every aspect of life to figure out where you're at your absolute best, the most consistently.

Why do I always ask the hard questions? :icon_conf

Thinking out loud here, but if I strike a chord with anyone, or you've got your own tips/tricks, I'm all ears: I think part of the problem is desire for instant gratification. I'm wondering if there are any supplements that might help along the way (slippery slope, I know, but I'm thinking more along the lines of green tea, or something of that nature). Or maybe just finding a new form of cardio that I don't find boring and enjoy the challenge of.
 
The good thing is, now you're thinking progressively.
 
Lets say I am counting calories/fat etc, how much of the oil/butter used when frying should I include?
 
Lets say I am counting calories/fat etc, how much of the oil/butter used when frying should I include?

When I am doing up some eggs in the frying pan I use 1 tbsp of Macadamia nut oil and 1 count the whole 1 tbsp. The same thing with butter

If you have a deep fryer or something like that ..... good question.
 
When looking at the carb count on products, does it matter if all carbs are sugars? I mean, obviously we want as little carbs as possible, but if there are a few grams of carbs per serving, does it matter if they are sugars or not? I made a protein shake after a workout today and felt kind of jittery afterwards, I realized I had 3g of carbs (3g sugar) in the scoop. I just started this diet two days ago so I am kind of new to everything...
Just bought coconut oil/flower so Im excited to try some recipes from the other thread.

edit: I also added 1 packet of splenda in the shake, thought it might be worth noticing
 
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