Weight Loss Thread
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alavaz
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Eat some nuts. Great/tasty source of fats. Also stick with it. I went from 200 down to 151 @ 5'11 and working out now to put on muscle. My blood pressure greatly improved as well , clocked in at like 109/71 this morning where it used to be in like the high 130's(if not 140's)/something range. People keep asking me when I'm going to stop and I look at them like they're crazy. Not going back to being an overweight , low energy shitbag again. That said really need to put on some muscle as people are likening me to a holocaust victim. Sad part is i'm about the size now @ 43 as I was when I started working here @ ~29.Checking in here so that, if nothing else, I can look back with shame if I don't follow through.
I'm 49, 5'8", and last month at my doctor visit I weighed the most I ever have, roughly 200 lbs. My cholesterol and A1c have been a matter of concern for the last few years now, and it was always easier to just take the pills (metformin, lipitor) and pretend that I'd eat better. Except I never did. My downfalls are many, but between being addicted to fast food and being a ridiculously lazy and shitty cook (sometimes my dinner is literally just Top Ramen, or mac & cheese), I haven't improved anything, and have even worsened a few. Oh, and I'm single, in case you were wondering how I get away with a Top Ramen dinner. Most chicks I've dated frown upon that.
So I started the keto diet on Monday. This first week was just to feel it out and see what kind of things worked for me and what didn't. I haven't specifically counted portions or calories, but next week I will start. I'm a big fan of eggs, meat, and cheese, so those are going to be my staples, along with veggies of course. I actually really love broccoli and green beans. I don't get up in the morning until I absolutely have to, so my prep is all done the night before. But one thing I've found that is a real godsend is a microwave omelet cooker. It works fucking great, and I just load up a container with the fixings and 2 eggs the night before, and then nuke it for a few minutes at work. Not quite as good as a Denny's omelet, but it works, and it gets me away from the hard-boiled egg boredom that inevitably kicks in every time I try to bring food. Oh, and of course lots of bacon.
One thing I've already discovered after only 4.5 days, even without counting calories precisely, is that I'm not getting enough fat vs. protein. Practically everything I eat has near equivalent fat and protein grams. Except for drowning my veggies in butter, I'm just not getting enough fat vs. protein to eventually enter ketosis, I assume anyway. I'll know better next week when I keep track. But from eye-balling it, I'm not close. Part of my problem is that I hate mayo, sour cream, and avocados...all the things people would add to food to up their fat content. I wish I could just make myself like avocados, because that would virtually solve my problem by itself, but I am having a hard time. I'm trying though.
Point being, any suggestions on other things that might help get the fat up? Outside of drinking coconut oil or butter straight. That sounds like a recipe for explosive diarrhea to me.
Anyway, like I said, this is mainly just a post to remind me that I need to stay on this shit and not let it slide like every other "cut back" time I've tried. I've never specifically done a diet before, and I have always been of the opinion that any diet that makes you cut out anything completely is dumb, but I clearly don't possess the willpower to just sorta diet. And, most importantly, keto will supposedly help my impending diabetes more than any other diet will, and I'm really getting concerned about that. My grandfather died of it back in the 70s, before people really knew how to deal with it, and my dad developed it (Type II of course) maybe 15 years ago. So, the tracks are running straight off a cliff if I don't do something to change my behavior. I don't intend to be on keto the rest of my life, but hopefully this will allow me to drop weight and remedy my issues, and teach me some better eating habits that will carry over into a more normal lifestyle in a year or two.
I don't know that I have specific goals besides cratering my A1c and cholesterol numbers, but anything below 160 lbs. would thrill me. I was the same height when I graduated high school, and I was about 140 lbs. of pretty decent muscle. I took second place in my weight class for the school power lifting event, including deadlifting 350 lbs. I used to squat 275 or so max, and leg press I could do massive weights for my size. The football players used to joke that I should be pressing volkswagens. Never was overpowering upper-body-wise, but I think I got close to 200 on bench. Not positive, but that's why I lost the power lifting competition, the guy that beat me did a lot less on deadlift, but crushed me on bench and military I think it was. Whatever the other lift was, it wasn't legs. Anyway, point being, I am in absolutely shitty shape now and don't expect to get anywhere near that physique or weight, but I know it is at least possible from a theoretical standpoint. My shoulders kill me now, my knees ache and pop, etc. Hopefully losing some weight will ease some of that and allow me to get back to doing things I used to love, like squats. I fucking loved squats, and it makes me sad to think about it. I still have "The Squat" poem printed out from when it was first published in Muscle & Fitness, except it's in a drawer now
Kind of rambled like I tend to do, but thanks for listening. I've read the last several years of posts in this thread and got a lot of great info, so thanks to everyone that has contributed over the years. Hopefully I stick with it and can report back periodically with some successes. And if anyone has a magical way to eat more fat without it being avocados, sour cream, etc. let me know!
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Khane
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It is far, far less likely that is what is preventing ketosis than eating too many carbs. Like... really unlikely.
alavaz
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Well the point is to not overeat protein on top of keeping a very strict amount of carbs.
Khane is right in that not consuming carbs is what leads to ketosis. Consuming fat has nothing to do with it, fat just doesn't have a metabolic pathway to glucose like protein does. Hence why you want moderate protein and low to no carbs.
So you don't really need to "add" fat, you just need to reduce protein by eating fattier meat (ground beef, chicken thighs).
Khane is right in that not consuming carbs is what leads to ketosis. Consuming fat has nothing to do with it, fat just doesn't have a metabolic pathway to glucose like protein does. Hence why you want moderate protein and low to no carbs.
So you don't really need to "add" fat, you just need to reduce protein by eating fattier meat (ground beef, chicken thighs).
Void
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Let's be clear, I'm positive I haven't been doing this long enough to even approach ketosis, I'm just worried about the future.
I'm not sure I'm explaining myself properly. Even ground beef, bacon, cheese, etc. all come close to a 1:1 fat to protein ratio when eaten in variety throughout the day. Not the 8:5'ish ratio MFP tells me I need to consume. I haven't really encountered any meat or cheese that has vastly more fat than it has protein, and even if I did, I don't want to just eat that forever to hit my macros. Even fucking pork rinds have more protein grams than fat! That's my dilemma. I can reduce my protein all I want, but that just means I'm reducing my fat too. Unless I eat pure fat items like butter. Or avocados and sour cream, which I dislike immensely.
Does that make sense?
I'm not sure I'm explaining myself properly. Even ground beef, bacon, cheese, etc. all come close to a 1:1 fat to protein ratio when eaten in variety throughout the day. Not the 8:5'ish ratio MFP tells me I need to consume. I haven't really encountered any meat or cheese that has vastly more fat than it has protein, and even if I did, I don't want to just eat that forever to hit my macros. Even fucking pork rinds have more protein grams than fat! That's my dilemma. I can reduce my protein all I want, but that just means I'm reducing my fat too. Unless I eat pure fat items like butter. Or avocados and sour cream, which I dislike immensely.
Does that make sense?
alavaz
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So the point I was making is that fat amount is irrelevant. That ratio is kind of bullshit and is just there to let you know if something is mostly fat - which in keto counts as nothing basically. You do not want to overeat protein if your goal is to get into and stay in ketosis. Just add it up, they say like what, %35 of your calories should be protein? Assuming you eat 2k calories a day, you'll be fine as long as you don't go over like 165g. A pound of 80/20 ground beef should have like 75g of protein for reference. It's real lean meat that will shoot you too high.
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Void
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Ah ok. So what you are saying is that fat is virtually irrelevant, since I've got a shitton of it already placed throughout my body just waiting to be burned for energy, and as long as I keep my protein and carb numbers below the targets, that's all that matters?
That would be a lot easier for me to manage if that's the case. I can easily keep below those numbers (well, not easily, because pasta and bread are awesome), as long as I'm not trying to also hit a target fat number.
What this means, however, is that I'll be eating below my target calories per day, right? Which isn't necessarily bad, but I don't want to be too low like I've read a bunch of people over the years here doing.
Ossoi
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Checking in here so that, if nothing else, I can look back with shame if I don't follow through.
I'm 49, 5'8", and last month at my doctor visit I weighed the most I ever have, roughly 200 lbs. My cholesterol and A1c have been a matter of concern for the last few years now, and it was always easier to just take the pills (metformin, lipitor) and pretend that I'd eat better. Except I never did. My downfalls are many, but between being addicted to fast food and being a ridiculously lazy and shitty cook (sometimes my dinner is literally just Top Ramen, or mac & cheese), I haven't improved anything, and have even worsened a few. Oh, and I'm single, in case you were wondering how I get away with a Top Ramen dinner. Most chicks I've dated frown upon that.
So I started the keto diet on Monday. This first week was just to feel it out and see what kind of things worked for me and what didn't. I haven't specifically counted portions or calories, but next week I will start. I'm a big fan of eggs, meat, and cheese, so those are going to be my staples, along with veggies of course. I actually really love broccoli and green beans. I don't get up in the morning until I absolutely have to, so my prep is all done the night before. But one thing I've found that is a real godsend is a microwave omelet cooker. It works fucking great, and I just load up a container with the fixings and 2 eggs the night before, and then nuke it for a few minutes at work. Not quite as good as a Denny's omelet, but it works, and it gets me away from the hard-boiled egg boredom that inevitably kicks in every time I try to bring food. Oh, and of course lots of bacon.
One thing I've already discovered after only 4.5 days, even without counting calories precisely, is that I'm not getting enough fat vs. protein. Practically everything I eat has near equivalent fat and protein grams. Except for drowning my veggies in butter, I'm just not getting enough fat vs. protein to eventually enter ketosis, I assume anyway. I'll know better next week when I keep track. But from eye-balling it, I'm not close. Part of my problem is that I hate mayo, sour cream, and avocados...all the things people would add to food to up their fat content. I wish I could just make myself like avocados, because that would virtually solve my problem by itself, but I am having a hard time. I'm trying though.
Point being, any suggestions on other things that might help get the fat up? Outside of drinking coconut oil or butter straight. That sounds like a recipe for explosive diarrhea to me.
Anyway, like I said, this is mainly just a post to remind me that I need to stay on this shit and not let it slide like every other "cut back" time I've tried. I've never specifically done a diet before, and I have always been of the opinion that any diet that makes you cut out anything completely is dumb, but I clearly don't possess the willpower to just sorta diet. And, most importantly, keto will supposedly help my impending diabetes more than any other diet will, and I'm really getting concerned about that. My grandfather died of it back in the 70s, before people really knew how to deal with it, and my dad developed it (Type II of course) maybe 15 years ago. So, the tracks are running straight off a cliff if I don't do something to change my behavior. I don't intend to be on keto the rest of my life, but hopefully this will allow me to drop weight and remedy my issues, and teach me some better eating habits that will carry over into a more normal lifestyle in a year or two.
I don't know that I have specific goals besides cratering my A1c and cholesterol numbers, but anything below 160 lbs. would thrill me. I was the same height when I graduated high school, and I was about 140 lbs. of pretty decent muscle. I took second place in my weight class for the school power lifting event, including deadlifting 350 lbs. I used to squat 275 or so max, and leg press I could do massive weights for my size. The football players used to joke that I should be pressing volkswagens. Never was overpowering upper-body-wise, but I think I got close to 200 on bench. Not positive, but that's why I lost the power lifting competition, the guy that beat me did a lot less on deadlift, but crushed me on bench and military I think it was. Whatever the other lift was, it wasn't legs. Anyway, point being, I am in absolutely shitty shape now and don't expect to get anywhere near that physique or weight, but I know it is at least possible from a theoretical standpoint. My shoulders kill me now, my knees ache and pop, etc. Hopefully losing some weight will ease some of that and allow me to get back to doing things I used to love, like squats. I fucking loved squats, and it makes me sad to think about it. I still have "The Squat" poem printed out from when it was first published in Muscle & Fitness, except it's in a drawer now
Kind of rambled like I tend to do, but thanks for listening. I've read the last several years of posts in this thread and got a lot of great info, so thanks to everyone that has contributed over the years. Hopefully I stick with it and can report back periodically with some successes. And if anyone has a magical way to eat more fat without it being avocados, sour cream, etc. let me know!
If you want to do keto or low carb then do it. Fretting about being in actual ketosis is unnecessary.
Protein doesn't magically become chocolate cake if you eat too much.
Being in ketosis isn't necessary to lose weight
LiquidDeath
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I've gotten into some shit with Ossoi in this thread, so take this seriously when I say that he is 100% correct here. You are overthinking it. Just stop eating carbs and eat bacon, steak, ribs, and pulled pork. Do you like Ranch? Make low carb ranch at home or buy some at the store. Throw a piece of cheese on everything too, just make sure it is real cheese with no carbs. The only way a diet works is if you can stick to it and the reason keto/low-carb works so well is that it is full of foods that fill you up.
Also, I might be wrong, but it looks like you are looking at fat vs protein in terms of weight i.e. grams of fat vs grams of protein? If so, you're doing it wrong. You should be looking at them as % of calories in fat vs % of calories in protein. Fat is much more calorie dense than protein, so it should be filling you up.
Khane
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Void
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Well, I'm using MyFitnessPal like everyone does, and I put in the percentages of each macro I want, and it spits out grams that will equal out to the target calories I gave it. That's where the 8/5 ratio comes from. It wants me to do approximately 160 grams of fat and 100 grams of protein, 8 to 5. If I remember correctly, that's like 25% protein and 70% fat calories. That's giving almost double the "weight" to a gram of protein vs. a gram of fat. So no, I don't believe I'm doing it wrong, but I could be mistaken.
My point is, if I nail my carb and protein numbers, the rest of my caloric intake HAS to be fat. There's no other place it can come from. So either I find fat to fill the rest, or I eat at even more of a caloric deficit than I already planned when I input the numbers in the first place.
I do agree that perhaps I'm overanalyzing this, and I freely admit that I've only internet warrior'd this so far, but you see where I'm coming from, right? I can only get calories from 3 places, and if I hit 2 of them without going over...there's only one other place left to get it from, fat.
Ossoi
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Yes, but usually the fat protein ratio comes up when people stupidly want to bulk (add muscle) on ketosis - when you have to eat 3000-4000 calories a day and have to stay under 40g carbs, 150-160g protein then the only way to get enough calories is from fat, and as you pointed out you can't keep eating fat with protein based foods, hence the literal retardation of people saying "drink oil"
Are you exercising at all or just dieting?
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LiquidDeath
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Okay, that makes more sense. Thanks for clarifying.
I understand your struggle with the macros, but all I can say is that if you drop the carbs and just try to eat as much fat as possible then you will lose weight. You don't have to be in ketosis to do it.
Do you drink coffee or tea? If so, MCT oil is a great way to add fat to your diet a few times a day with no issue. I use this stuff:
Oh, and about getting into ketosis if that is what you are aiming for, regardless of how much you weigh your body can only store about 3 days worth of carbs. They are used incredibly fast by your body. So if you cut carbs completely you will burn all of your stores in a few days. If you still can't get into ketosis than something else is keeping you out and you have to experiment with it.
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A5150Ylee
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Check the carbs on those whey shakes. They are high in protein, but not necessarily low in carbs. The cheap shakes, and especially the sweet flavored ones can pack a ton of carbs in them to make them taste better.
When I did it, I just tried to go no carb, all protein, and ignore the fats. I didn't worry about fat intake since I already had about 40 pounds of fat reserves in my body to burn (which was the whole point of doing the diet). By trying for "no carb", you will find that you still get about 20-30 grams per day cause that shit is everywhere.
It took me between 2 to 3 days to hit a positive on a ketone pee strip. If I slipped up or decided to have a cheat day, I would generally be back in ketosis by the end of the following day. Mild aerobic exercise (or even just walking a lot) will help burn through the glycogen reserves and get you in ketosis faster.
I wouldn't worry too much about introducing fats to your diet. Again, if you are over weight, THAT is the fat you want converted to ketones. Fats become more important once you are lean and need to maintain body weight.
When I did it, I just tried to go no carb, all protein, and ignore the fats. I didn't worry about fat intake since I already had about 40 pounds of fat reserves in my body to burn (which was the whole point of doing the diet). By trying for "no carb", you will find that you still get about 20-30 grams per day cause that shit is everywhere.
It took me between 2 to 3 days to hit a positive on a ketone pee strip. If I slipped up or decided to have a cheat day, I would generally be back in ketosis by the end of the following day. Mild aerobic exercise (or even just walking a lot) will help burn through the glycogen reserves and get you in ketosis faster.
I wouldn't worry too much about introducing fats to your diet. Again, if you are over weight, THAT is the fat you want converted to ketones. Fats become more important once you are lean and need to maintain body weight.
Void
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Thanks for all the replies and comments. I'll try to address a few and then I have a couple other questions.
I'm not exercising yet. If I do it will be nothing more than walking up and down the block during lunch, so either 1 or 2 miles. I am trying to just do one thing at a time right now, but eventually exercise will work its way in. Hopefully.
I don't drink coffee. I wish I did so I could put stuff like that MCT oil in it, but I just don't like coffee at all. And I've seen all the talk about taking spoonfuls of MCT or coconut oil to get needed fat, but that's where I said it sounds like diarrhea-city to me. I could be wrong, but still doesn't sound appealing. Not to mention, it can't be all that "filling" to eat a spoonful of oil.
Here's a good example of my dilemma though. Here is today's menu so far according to MFP. I made the ground beef last week before I had my scale so I just had to eyeball that, and I didn't bother including all the bell peppers and green onions I mixed into it, nor do I really bother with all the romaine that I eat because lettuce, but in the future I'll even have all that stuff dialed in.
For dinner I'll have a full helping of veggies and something else, but you can see that already I'm low on protein and still have a ton of fats left. That's not a very appetizing dinner. From the comments, it seems like maybe I'll just "oh well" that and go over on protein, but I thought too much protein prevented ketosis? Or am I wrong about that? And to be clear, I didn't buy any strips or anything so I won't ever officially know if I am or not, but I was hoping that at least on paper I would have a good feeling about it. Also, no real "keto flu" symptoms either, so I don't know if I'm just not in it, or I'm lucky and had mild symptoms. I'm guessing I'm not in it.
One question/comment I have though. That tortilla I have listed there looks like it ruins my whole carb consumption for the day. Now, I know that with veggies they say to take the number of carbs and subtract the amount of dietary fiber. But does that work with all foods? Because here is the package for those tortillas.
It even does the math for you to show you that there are only 6g of net carbs. But is this legit how you can do it? Or is this just marketing to make someone like me think it is perfectly fine for a keto/low carb diet? Because I'll tell you right now, aside from a *very* minor blandness, they are almost as tasty as a regular tortilla. If they are fine for keto, they taste a thousand times better than those low carb ones mentioned earlier in this thread (I think they are literally called LaTortilla or something close). I haven't been able to find them in anything but soft taco size, but they do make other sizes. And look at the fucking dietary fiber! 2 of those and you're set for the day. I already shit massive logs, this is gonna be even better!
So someone tell me if those are legit fine to eat, or I'm just being bamboozled. And thanks for the replies and putting up with yet another newbie keto dieter; I'm sure it gets old after awhile. I'll try not to be annoying in the future.
I'm not exercising yet. If I do it will be nothing more than walking up and down the block during lunch, so either 1 or 2 miles. I am trying to just do one thing at a time right now, but eventually exercise will work its way in. Hopefully.
I don't drink coffee. I wish I did so I could put stuff like that MCT oil in it, but I just don't like coffee at all. And I've seen all the talk about taking spoonfuls of MCT or coconut oil to get needed fat, but that's where I said it sounds like diarrhea-city to me. I could be wrong, but still doesn't sound appealing. Not to mention, it can't be all that "filling" to eat a spoonful of oil.
Here's a good example of my dilemma though. Here is today's menu so far according to MFP. I made the ground beef last week before I had my scale so I just had to eyeball that, and I didn't bother including all the bell peppers and green onions I mixed into it, nor do I really bother with all the romaine that I eat because lettuce, but in the future I'll even have all that stuff dialed in.
For dinner I'll have a full helping of veggies and something else, but you can see that already I'm low on protein and still have a ton of fats left. That's not a very appetizing dinner. From the comments, it seems like maybe I'll just "oh well" that and go over on protein, but I thought too much protein prevented ketosis? Or am I wrong about that? And to be clear, I didn't buy any strips or anything so I won't ever officially know if I am or not, but I was hoping that at least on paper I would have a good feeling about it. Also, no real "keto flu" symptoms either, so I don't know if I'm just not in it, or I'm lucky and had mild symptoms. I'm guessing I'm not in it.
One question/comment I have though. That tortilla I have listed there looks like it ruins my whole carb consumption for the day. Now, I know that with veggies they say to take the number of carbs and subtract the amount of dietary fiber. But does that work with all foods? Because here is the package for those tortillas.
It even does the math for you to show you that there are only 6g of net carbs. But is this legit how you can do it? Or is this just marketing to make someone like me think it is perfectly fine for a keto/low carb diet? Because I'll tell you right now, aside from a *very* minor blandness, they are almost as tasty as a regular tortilla. If they are fine for keto, they taste a thousand times better than those low carb ones mentioned earlier in this thread (I think they are literally called LaTortilla or something close). I haven't been able to find them in anything but soft taco size, but they do make other sizes. And look at the fucking dietary fiber! 2 of those and you're set for the day. I already shit massive logs, this is gonna be even better!
So someone tell me if those are legit fine to eat, or I'm just being bamboozled. And thanks for the replies and putting up with yet another newbie keto dieter; I'm sure it gets old after awhile. I'll try not to be annoying in the future.
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Khane
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The bell peppers, lettuce, etc... all the stuff you aren't counting because you think it's just veggies so why bother? All those things are carbs. It's all carbs that you aren't counting. You're probably eating 40-60 more grams of carbs than you think you are which is going to prevent you from going into ketosis.
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Void
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Gotcha. I'm going to be keeping better track of all that stuff now that I have a scale, but I'll do even better. You still get to subtract the fiber out of them though, correct? So the broccoli I love doesn't end up being too many carbs at least. The other stuff, maybe so, I haven't looked at every one yet, but I will now.
I still need to know if the tortillas work that way, because if not they are practically knocking me out of it all by themselves.
I still need to know if the tortillas work that way, because if not they are practically knocking me out of it all by themselves.