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Keto diet
Answered 3 years ago
Has anyone been on a keto diet? What do you do ? Does it work?
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3 years ago
I tried the keto diet early last year. It is basically when you replace carbs with protein and fat. So instead of eggs on toast for breakfast, you just have eggs. Maybe add some spinach, but no toast at all. No sugar either, and you have to go without milk (fair warning black coffee is VERY different to regular milky coffee).
There is a right way and a wrong way to go keto. And I started out the wrong way.
I ended up doing "dirty keto" which is where carbs are replaced with meat. This is fine if you're already a heavy meat eater and do intend to add more greens to your diet fairly soon after adding all that meat. But for me, it was a bad idea (I ended up very sick from almost tripling my protein overnight and pooped everywhere - whilst also having difficulty sleeping and breathing).
Once I got my shit in order though, a typical days menu looked like: 2 scrambled eggs + spinach for breakfast, with a black tea; a bbq'd steak with spinach, lettuce and avocado for lunch, with a sugar free sports drink; a big dinner of chicken and green bean stew with cauliflower and any other google approved veg thrown in; and loads of water throughout the day.
It was a very effective way to lose weight because it's a very strict diet. Your carb intake needs to be as close to 0 as possible. Which puts you in ketosis (where your body burns fat as fuel instead of storing it and burning sugars and carbs). But it's difficult to maintain unless you're really dedicated and do your research beforehand. I ended up finishing my keto diet about 8 weeks in (I was experiencing the "keto flu" right at the big COVID outbreak here and didn't want to potentially confuse the two). I'd managed to lose around 7 kgs by then and slowly started to incorporate carbs and sugar back to my life. Unfortunately, it meant that I have since gained back those 7kgs plus more. I've gained in total, about 13 kilos since I came off keto.
I've just started back on a mix of keto and paleo, it's much easier to maintain
There is a right way and a wrong way to go keto. And I started out the wrong way.
I ended up doing "dirty keto" which is where carbs are replaced with meat. This is fine if you're already a heavy meat eater and do intend to add more greens to your diet fairly soon after adding all that meat. But for me, it was a bad idea (I ended up very sick from almost tripling my protein overnight and pooped everywhere - whilst also having difficulty sleeping and breathing).
Once I got my shit in order though, a typical days menu looked like: 2 scrambled eggs + spinach for breakfast, with a black tea; a bbq'd steak with spinach, lettuce and avocado for lunch, with a sugar free sports drink; a big dinner of chicken and green bean stew with cauliflower and any other google approved veg thrown in; and loads of water throughout the day.
It was a very effective way to lose weight because it's a very strict diet. Your carb intake needs to be as close to 0 as possible. Which puts you in ketosis (where your body burns fat as fuel instead of storing it and burning sugars and carbs). But it's difficult to maintain unless you're really dedicated and do your research beforehand. I ended up finishing my keto diet about 8 weeks in (I was experiencing the "keto flu" right at the big COVID outbreak here and didn't want to potentially confuse the two). I'd managed to lose around 7 kgs by then and slowly started to incorporate carbs and sugar back to my life. Unfortunately, it meant that I have since gained back those 7kgs plus more. I've gained in total, about 13 kilos since I came off keto.
I've just started back on a mix of keto and paleo, it's much easier to maintain
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REPLY
3 years ago
- but slower in the weightloss aspect.
If you decide to start keto, I urge you to really research recipes and pre-cook some meals to freeze and have on hand. It makes it much easier to deal with the mental fog you'll experience in the first few weeks. And buy breath mints or chewing gum. No one warned me how awful your breath smells when you're in ketosis. It was a shock.
And consider the type of diet you're most comfortable with when making your meals. For example, I am now focusing on adding more green leafys to my diet to replace the carbs, since adding so much extra protein so quickly made me so ill. It's going well. Lots of kale and lettuce and cabbage. I haven't had the same shock to the system like before. Just something to think about. And don't be intimidated by those keto Facebook groups. Theres a lot of stuff there about macros and things. If in doubt, go to google. Don't rush in trying to track macronutrients in the initial weeks. You can always ease into that.
If you decide to start keto, I urge you to really research recipes and pre-cook some meals to freeze and have on hand. It makes it much easier to deal with the mental fog you'll experience in the first few weeks. And buy breath mints or chewing gum. No one warned me how awful your breath smells when you're in ketosis. It was a shock.
And consider the type of diet you're most comfortable with when making your meals. For example, I am now focusing on adding more green leafys to my diet to replace the carbs, since adding so much extra protein so quickly made me so ill. It's going well. Lots of kale and lettuce and cabbage. I haven't had the same shock to the system like before. Just something to think about. And don't be intimidated by those keto Facebook groups. Theres a lot of stuff there about macros and things. If in doubt, go to google. Don't rush in trying to track macronutrients in the initial weeks. You can always ease into that.