This.
It takes up to 16 weeks to achieve what people would call a “body transformation”.
You need to give keto a shot for at least a few months before you either abandon or not. I’ve found that the Tim Ferris “slow carb” diet seems to be a happy middle ground for me. Keto works great, but isn’t realistic for most people living in the normal world. I had a few really good stints when I was younger, without a family or job.
Robert, do push on! As usual, everything Sarah shared is spot on. Definitely hydrate. I would even suggest you do what feels like ‘over’-hydrating. And agree on lots of salt. I didn’t add alcohol in for 4 weeks. Don’t make a call till you’ve been in ketosis for 10+ days. FWIW, most folks agree that you’re not stalled out if you have 1-2 pounds per week of weight loss. And a lot of the early weight can just be water. Hang in there!
Keto tip? Just don’t stay on it longterm. Can be a great for someone needing a push/ change.
Thanks, Jason. Sounds like you have had some great success on keto yourself. Sorry I didn’t respond up-thread, but I would be happy to chat sometime about shifting into maintenance phase. Moving back and forth between keto and low-carb is a great and sustainable life style. Metabolic flexibility is very good for your system, and allows for easy transitions into and out of ketosis.
Yes, cut out the alcohol. Your body won’t burn fat while it’s working on alcohol of any kind, carbs or no carbs. You can add it back in after you are fat adapted, but it’s best to start without it.
Sadly, this. As noted, your body tackles the alcohol in your system first. I’ve been been somewhere between keto and Atkins, as I am having a rough time with 70% good fat. Combination of no booze, diet and walking/Peloton has me down 12 pounds in 9 days. Am going to do two weeks and then bring bourbon back; I miss my Weller nightcaps!
Although not keto, I just cut out starchy carbs from diet like a lot of sugar, breads, pasta all that.
So an example, I was logging my carb intake ar 300-350 grams per day
I cut it out to about 76-100 grams a day
My carbs came from lentils/beans/veggies
Siggi’s whole milk yogurt
I upped my vegetables. A lot of veggies.
Not too much meat. Just decent amount. And I upped good fats like organic kerrygold butter, EVOO, eggs, walnuts and almonds. etc
Dropped 20 lbs in 2 months.
Also, 5 outta 7 days I do IF. 16/8 protocol
I did drink on weekends. A lot of wine
I could/should have lost more if I reduced the alcohol.
That’s the next step. Reduce alcohol consumption.
When I do drink more, I get so bloated for a week.
So I just gotta be careful.
Robert, what’s your goal with keto?
For anyone looking to lose weight, I would suggest the following: No alcohol and only water for drinking, no gluten, lots of exercise, only small doses of healthy snacks during the day as necessary, and dinner before 8PM.
I was booze free and gluten free 2 years ago and lost 20 pounds in a month. Recently, I have eliminated gluten and enjoyed only a mixture of grapes/strawberries and pecans at lunch. After the first week, I lost 5 pounds. I haven’t checked in a week and a half because I’m still enjoying a nightly Hazy IPA and wine on the weekend. I doubt that there’s been much progress due to the alcohol intake.
Good luck.
I’d like to lose 25lbs maybe 35 if I don’t stall. So far I’m at 7 lbs in 9 days now so that seems pretty acceptable considering I’m still having some gin every other day. I’ve really minimized the carbs to 10-15 per day and I honestly haven’t found it that hard to this point. We aren’t going out anymore so now is the perfect time to give it a go. I certainly understand the no alcohol theory, but as long as I’m moving in the right direction I feel it’s worth the trade off to keep me focused.
Forget the percentages, they do not matter. You don’t have to hit any particular fat amount at all. Hard numbers for carbs and protein, then as much fat as you want to keep from being hungry. Ignore percentages completely! And read thr second link i posted above if you haven’t already. Such a great explanation of why macros are meaningless.
Thought I’d chime in and see how some of the others who were doing Keto-like diets are doing.
I’m down 43 lbs (8 over original goal) in a little over 3 months. I have Considered throwing in the towel, but it has worked so well that it’s actually mentally hard for me to stop. That’s Really weird to me as I always thought I’d celebrate that day. There are few things I’d really like to return to my diet (potato, milk and some beer) but I think it can wait a bit as I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt me to lose 10 more and my wife has started doing so well that I’m going to support her continued efforts.
I haven’t Always been the best patient (alcohol and keto bread) but I can’t argue with the results.
I appreciated everyone’s initial tips!
Great job Robert!
Congratulations, Robert. That’s great. I hope you are feeling great as well.
Thanks Chris and Sarah! I feel much better, especially on hike with our dog. I will say I don’t look better as I haven’t broken down and bought new pants that actually fit yet, just a new belt to hold the olds ones up ![[rofl.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/a/a7452fcd8e675af869f8da01174474a545b03944.gif "rofl"){kind=small}
maybe I should dip into the Athleisure market for the first time.
It’s terrific to hear you are also feeling good. I spend most of the year following a low carb approach and only go keto for a few months in the winter. Metabolic flexibility is a very good thing, so when you reach your goal and are ready for maintenance, the fact that you are “into” it now should help at that time, too.
Surprised avocados haven’t been mentioned. I eat about 1 per day but sort of live in Avocadoville (Ventura / Santa Barbara County)
I started my yearly keto diet on January 2, so thought I’d bump this thread up in case anyone else is in the same boat.
It was interesting to me that I had to fuss with my numbers this year to get solidly into ketosis. I’ve always used the same carb limit and protein goal in the past, but it seems that increased stress and a different workout routine (no gym, so just doing resistance band work, no heavy weights) have altered my metabolism more than I thought. As I’ve said, there’s a bit of art to figuring these things out.
I do a very clean version of keto, consisting of fish, poultry/eggs and meat, along with a variety of non-starchy vegetables. I eat a little cheese, some nuts, and have a treat of bacon once a week. I cook with all sorts of fats, focusing on those that have a good balance of Omega 3 to 6, and avoiding industrialized seed oils. I don’t eat any mass produced keto products or make keto versions of desserts or baked goods. I use a ketone blood meter to test my levels once or twice a day, and test my glucose levels as well since part of the goal is to get blood sugar and insulin into a very stable state.
So far I mostly feel great, with tons of energy and good focus. I did get a couple of headaches when my ketone level moved up to 1.7-1.9, but a nice big pinch of salt plus some extra magnesium did the trick to get my electrolytes back in balance. Dropped a bunch of water in the first week along with probably a pound of fat. I don’t need to lose any weight, really, I just like to get nice and lean from time to time.
There are many different ways of eating and many diets on which humans can thrive and lose weight. I find keto to be an excellent reset if you do it right, and an easy shift from my usual carb-conscious lifestyle.
I let everything get out of control in 2020. I’ve done keto in the past generally with decent results. The only reason the results aren’t better is that I figure how to justify a glass of wine with dinner, then 2…etc. Over the last year potatoes, bread, carbs have slowly increased every week. Working from home has resulted in breakfast every day which didn’t used to be the norm.
Anyway-
We’ve started Dryaury this year and it’s going pretty well. Skipping breakfast again. Keeping the carbs low, but not being crazy about it-lots of chicken, pork, seafood, green veggies, salads. Cheese, salami for snacks.
Going to try to stay on this until 1/29-have a cheat weekend, add wine back in, and have a keto/moderate wine/alcohol in February.
Need to lose about 30 pounds-20 would be a great start in Jan/Feb.
We’re going to be moving in March it appears, that will get messy I’m sure 
.
I did intermittent eating or fasting depending on what you’d like to call it all of last year. I lost some weight, 14 lbs from an already lean body, but the biggest difference was in my annual blood numbers. Many improved.
My weight has now plateaued and I skip a couple days a week just based on convenience for my wife. Being retired now we are together more and it’s sometimes hard to not eat when she wants to cook.
Easiest piece of advice is just avoid white foods: bread, crackers, potatoes, bananas, pasta…
Curious Sarah about having bacon once a week as a treat. I thought fatty meats like bacon were ideal for keto but only going by what I have read. Don’t actively do Keto but enjoy a low carb diet most of the time.
Thanks for reviving the thread, learn a lot from your posts.
Tom
Hi Tom - I’m glad you enjoy the posts! I find this stuff fascinating.
You’re right that just from a fat content perspective, bacon is a good keto food. Even the sodium is fine, because your body expels sodium at a much higher level when you are in ketosis.
But bacon and other processed meats are problematic for other health reasons. You might remember a few years ago when a report by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) declared that there was a definite link between processed meats, including bacon, and bowel cancer? Of course, the press took hold of this and created all sorts of splashy sensational headlines saying things like “Bacon Just as Bad as Smoking!” This is preposterous, obviously, and not at all what the report actually said. The news also misrepresented the degree of risk found, presenting the relative risk numbers without any context or explanation, so it sounded much worse than it is. There is a small increase in individual risk of getting bowel cancer if you eat processed meat. The relative risk that got quoted all over was based on eating a small amount every day. Eating it less frequently equals less additional risk.
I take the trouble to understand what the numbers and the research means, so I’m not terrified of bacon, and I think it can still be a part of healthy diet, keto or otherwise. That said, I don’t think it’s a totally “clean” food, and there is some downside associated with eating it, so I choose to make it an occasional treat on my keto diet.