Keto dieting for weight loss- Anyone else?

I'm not an expert.

This diet seems to be popular with diabetics and those seeking lots of weight loss. I have heard it being used for those with epilepsy with good results.

Staying on this diet can be done permanently. Like Dan57 said, it's about calorie intake and calories burned. My base daily calorie intake to maintain my current size is 2444. I'm trying to stay around 1600-1700 with a ratio of my calories coming from 70% fat, 25% protein and 5% carbs. I never realized how few carbs that really is.
 
Carbs are from veggies. No starch, sugar or fruits.
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The brain runs on blood sugar from carbohydrates. Converting FAT and protein into blood sugar is a slow and in efficient process at best. You are, to use a phrase from long distance athletes, BONKING.

Fruit is one of the very last things you want to remove from your diet. Eat some carbs and your brain will come back on.

butter, coconut oil, heavy cream, bacon, sausage, cheese,
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I would eat that very sparingly. The bacon, sausage, cheese, not even every week. Skip a week then have a little.
God if I ate that every day I would feel like garbage.

Most "diets" are nonsense.
Eat what you like but less of it and get regular exercise that YOU ENJOY.

The VERY BEST "DIET" THAT I WAS EVER ON WAS THE PRITICAN PROMISE diet. It is for heart patience and for extreme athletes like runners and cyclists.
IT
TOTALLY
WORKS ! ! !
I could run up steep mountain trails above 8,000 feet and feel ABSOLUTELY no lactic acid. I was breathing like a freight train and would just hit my limit to move my body.
It was fantastic
But as with most diets it was impossible to stay on for a life time. Way too low fat. I could not eat in restaurants because everything was too laced with fats.

I will repeat my self:
Most "diets" are nonsense.
Eat what you like but less of it and get regular exercise that YOU ENJOY.

I have made a life long study of this stuff since I was twelve or even earlier, I was riding 100 mile bicycle rides in a day by then and so I tested it all on the highways of Colorado and running mountain trails.

You want your brain to work ? ? ? ? Eat some carbs
You want to feel like a dead stump ? ? ? Eat lots of heavy cream, bacon, sausage, cheese, and no carbs.

PS: I traced any cramping that I used to have to bottled mineral water. If I stay way from that and only have carbonated water I am fine. Most supplements are bunk as well I spent most of my life using various vitamin supplement regimes. I was better off without it. D3 has helped my pardoner but she works in an office all day and can't tolerate much sun.

PPS: Cramping and mineral / electrolyte supplements.
I grew up in the high plains desert. It was 105° F nearly every day in the summer that I was out on the highway on my bike. I didn't need mineral / electrolyte supplements even then. Just good lean food.
 
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jorismo said:
Do you guys use this diet just for weight loss or for any other reasons as well? I only know it since I am epileptic and this is being used as a treatment for epilepsy. (also considering trying it out)
Don't think I would lose much weight, just managed to get from just over 200 lbs to just under at 6' 4" or 5" (I'm used to metric) Living in the Netherlands we are also more used to less sugar and smaller meals, I usually gain weight when I'm stateside. ;)
How long do people here usually do this diet for?
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It helps with certain forms of cancer also. Cancer feeds on sugar 15 times more than normal cells so removing sugar is a good idea.
 
As BFS said:
This diet seems to be popular with diabetics*

But he's wrong. For diabetics, ketosis means get to your doctor fast. You are poisoning yourself.



As Wowbagger said:
Most "diets" are nonsense.
Eat what you like but less of it and get regular exercise that YOU ENJOY.
 
I'm a type 2 diabetic and I've been on the keto diet for six weeks now. I've lost around 4-5 pounds, but more importantly, my blood sugar readings have lowered to around an average of 143 for a 30 day average. and a 118 average for the last 7 days. That gives me some very low A1C readings. My experience with this diet is radically different than what Wowbagger describes. I have noticed a large increase in energy and mental alertness, possibly due to the improved blood sugar levels.
 
I try keto on and off, my regular eating habits were very similar to keto before I knew what keto was. I went strict keto and I did feel good until my head went to shit and a guy at work actually had to drive me home. I have never gone home sick before and I have been working full time for over 30 years so yah keto can take its toll. I also find it hard to purchase any keto friendly snack foods so you need a lot more planning and discipline.

Monitor your fibre intake with keto, I supplemented with Metamucil...... keeps me regular. Sorry had to do it but it's true.

If you are ever looking for diet advice the best source I find is extreme/hardcore steroid user sites for bodybuilders and pro athletes.

It is knowledge that is in front of medical research because the extreme experiments those folks do to their own bodies would never be allowed legally in academia. The results, both good and disastrous are meticulously documented and analysed for all to see.

End of the day if you just want to maintain health a basic common sense whole foods diet, regular exercise, good sleep habits, clean air and water low stress lifestyle, everything in moderation and most diseases, mental problems, joint problems etc would simply vanish from the earth.

Eating should also be a fun, shared activity not a science experiment.
 
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Necrothread!

I know people hate to hear this but weight loss/management really isn't rocket science. Consume less calories than you use. Create a calorie deficit.

Putting butter, oil, and cream in your 12 oz cup of coffee seems like a horrible way to start the daily task of trying to create a calorie deficit but maybe that is just me...

Ten years ago I lost 40 lbs and have kept it off. In the last 3 months I have gotten even more serious about diet and exercise, losing an additional 10. Its all about counting calories, common sense, and discipline. No magic diet needed.
 
I'm Type 2 diabetic and I went keto for a 15 pound weight loss. I switched to low carb after and have kept 50 pounds off 230 to 180s for almost 2 years now. Any of these diets work well and are good to get to a weight target bit you have to turn reduce your calorie intake and go back to a more normal diet in order to maintain a healthy weight. Sometimes I'll eat a plate of asparagus or strong beans for dinner for example just to cut some calories for the day. But I'll have a milk shake or a burger or a slice of pizza that day.
 
I’m no diet expert by any means, but I can tell you this: most people I know who are on a “diet”, or are “dieting”, tend to just fluctuate up and down with their weight, and never really make any positive, long term gain. There is no quick fix. You gotta change your habits and lifestyle.

Keto, Atkins, whatever, they can be great if you use them as tools to help you learn how to eat healthier in general, but when I hear that someone is eating 3 bacon cheeseburgers a day, just without the buns, or putting butter and oils in their coffee, or whatever, I’m never surprised when they feel like crap for the first 3 weeks on their ‘diet’ even though they are losing weight. Like they say, shit in - shit out. These diets were never meant for you to eat like that, but marketing them as such, makes them really popular to the masses.

There’s no real secret to losing weight through diet. Just eat better and eat less. Eliminate all the junk out of your daily diet and make smarter choices. More fresh fruits and vegetables, leaner meats, and whole grains. Fewer processed, pre packaged foods, greasy fried foods, and fatty meats. You can still have a burger, fries, and shake on a Friday night, or the occasional donut with your morning coffee, as long as those aren’t your daily staples.

The other side of the equation? Move. Period. Burn more calories then you take in. Bike, jog, run, walk, swim, lift, whatever, just get your heart rate up and be active. Your body is a machine, and it can’t burn the fuel you’re putting in it if you’re not working it.


It really is just that simple. Remember as a kid when your mother, health teacher, or doctor told you to eat a healthy snack, and go outside and play in the fresh air? Guess what... they were right. Unless you have specific health issues that require specific dietary needs, all you need to do is eat better, eat less, and exercise - and stick to it. It’s gotta be a lifestyle change, and for most people, THAT is the biggest challenge.
 
jaseman said:
I’m no diet expert by any means, but I can tell you this: most people I know who are on a “diet”, or are “dieting”, tend to just fluctuate up and down with their weight, and never really make any positive, long term gain. There is no quick fix. You gotta change your habits and lifestyle.

Keto, Atkins, whatever, they can be great if you use them as tools to help you learn how to eat healthier in general, but when I hear that someone is eating 3 bacon cheeseburgers a day, just without the buns, or putting butter and oils in their coffee, or whatever, I’m never surprised when they feel like crap for the first 3 weeks on their ‘diet’ even though they are losing weight. Like they say, shit in - shit out. These diets were never meant for you to eat like that, but marketing them as such, makes them really popular to the masses.

There’s no real secret to losing weight through diet. Just eat better and eat less. Eliminate all the junk out of your daily diet and make smarter choices. More fresh fruits and vegetables, leaner meats, and whole grains. Fewer processed, pre packaged foods, greasy fried foods, and fatty meats. You can still have a burger, fries, and shake on a Friday night, or the occasional donut with your morning coffee, as long as those aren’t your daily staples.

The other side of the equation? Move. Period. Burn more calories then you take in. Bike, jog, run, walk, swim, lift, whatever, just get your heart rate up and be active. Your body is a machine, and it can’t burn the fuel you’re putting in it if you’re not working it.


It really is just that simple. Remember as a kid when your mother, health teacher, or doctor told you to eat a healthy snack, and go outside and play in the fresh air? Guess what... they were right. Unless you have specific health issues that require specific dietary needs, all you need to do is eat better, eat less, and exercise - and stick to it. It’s gotta be a lifestyle change, and for most people, THAT is the biggest challenge.
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100% correct.
 
craytab said:
100% correct.
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On my 6 week ending today. Lost 31 pounds and am fortunate to have avoided any I'll effects.
My Doctor of 35 years has been trying to get me to go on The Diet of Hope (local MD devised the plan here in Tucson) and says he knows hundreds of people on it and everyone loses weight.
Turns out it's easy for me. They give you a weekly meal plan with lots of lettuce, cucumber, celery, onions and jicama. 7 to 9 ounces of meat or fish twice a day. I drink tap water, sparkling water and two or 3 cans of diet soda a week. Only got hungry once. I just drank water. Hope to get off all my diabetic meds eventually. Next week I do office visits once to twice a month which is lots better than weekly copays. Good luck guys.
 
severtecher said:
On my 6 week ending today. Lost 31 pounds and am fortunate to have avoided any I'll effects.
My Doctor of 35 years has been trying to get me to go on The Diet of Hope (local MD devised the plan here in Tucson) and says he knows hundreds of people on it and everyone loses weight.
Turns out it's easy for me. They give you a weekly meal plan with lots of lettuce, cucumber, celery, onions and jicama. 7 to 9 ounces of meat or fish twice a day. I drink tap water, sparkling water and two or 3 cans of diet soda a week. Only got hungry once. I just drank water. Hope to get off all my diabetic meds eventually. Next week I do office visits once to twice a month which is lots better than weekly copays. Good luck guys.
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Congrats, though I'm not exactly sure what you did. 31 lbs is no joke. Mix in an exercise routine with light cardio and some dumbell work and you can take those results even further!
 
severtecher said:
On my 6 week ending today. Lost 31 pounds and am fortunate to have avoided any I'll effects.
My Doctor of 35 years has been trying to get me to go on The Diet of Hope (local MD devised the plan here in Tucson) and says he knows hundreds of people on it and everyone loses weight.
Turns out it's easy for me. They give you a weekly meal plan with lots of lettuce, cucumber, celery, onions and jicama. 7 to 9 ounces of meat or fish twice a day. I drink tap water, sparkling water and two or 3 cans of diet soda a week. Only got hungry once. I just drank water. Hope to get off all my diabetic meds eventually. Next week I do office visits once to twice a month which is lots better than weekly copays. Good luck guys.
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That’s about 5 lbs a week... pretty impressive by anyone’s standards. Especially since it not just one week.

Seems to me that you’re eating a lot of foods that are high in water content (cucumber) and burn more calories to digest than they provide (lettuce, celery, etc.). Top that off with a lot of water, and you’re constantly flushing your system out.

I’m curious, does the diet have any fruits or colorful vegetables in it? Honey? I know you’re on diabetic meds, but I don’t see anything in there giving you any natural sugars... maybe the onion? Also don’t see much in the way of natural carbs... maybe the jimaca? What about any other nutrients/antioxidants/vitamins/etc... are they accounted for, or are you taking supplements?

This seems very similar to the old “cabbage soup” diet. Lots of rufage, a little protein, and lots of water. But there’s also some vegetable stock, salts, and some other stuff in there that help provide the extra missing nutrients. I’m sure this “Hope” diet has some other things in it though.

I'm not a doc, or a nutritionist, but I would say ditch the couple of diet soda’s. They may not have the sugars, but they are loaded with all other sorts of nasty things. Maybe switch to some of the flavored waters, teas, or other less offensive drinks. And hopefully you’ve also got an exorcise regiment in there of some sort. Even if it’s just walking a half mile a day around the neighborhood. No matter how good you eat, the body still needs to move and work.

Good luck, and good job!
 
In January of 2016, I had to go to the doctor because my legs were all nasty - split open- oozing fluids.
She told me she was sending me to the wound center to see if they could do anything.
I didn't like that idea & said so.
She gave me my other two options. #1 - go directly to the hospital and have my legs removed before gangrene set in. #2 - do nothing and die by my birthday in Feb.
Needless to say, I went to the wound center ;).
At the time - I weighed a staggering 330 pounds. I was on oxygen 24x7 - due to COPD and pressure on my abdomen not allowing my diaphragm to do its job.
My waist was an enormous 58 plus inches.

After the ordeal of having my legs wrapped for two weeks - and the humiliation of having to have my wife wipe my ass & clean me off - I vowed to do something about it.
I got a membership to the local Natatorium - got my big fat ass out of bed and got in the water every morning at 5:30 am and "swam" (actually - for the first year it was pretty much treading water in a direction).
I also went on a strict 1800 calories a day diet. No sugar - if I could heal it - no soft drinks - only water & fruit juices.
I searched the internet for all sorts of substitutes to save calories. Things like habanero peppers instead of oranges. Did you know one habanero has more vitamin C than 4 medium oranges? For only 30 calories?
Dill pickles make a great low-calorie snack.
100% natural unfiltered apple cider vinegar - with "the mother" - can cleanse a ton of toxins out of your system. I drink a swig of it every other morning.
I bought a bicycle a year ago this past August & rode it between 7 and 29 miles - nearly every day the weather held. This year, since March, has been difficult to ride.
My pool sessions finally paid off & I got to the point I could actually swim on my back - real swimming - not treading water.

A year ago at this time, my weight was down to 217 pounds - a total loss of 113 pounds. Sadly, the Covid crap hit & my weight edged up again to its present 252 pounds.
Did I mention I worked my way off the oxygen? Yeah - my breathing returned to near normal levels.

I had done it - done the improbable - gone from the deathbed to actually consider running an Iron Man Triathalon.
I managed to do 2.4 miles in the pool when my weight was at it's lowest.

Those saying there's no such thing as a "magic diet" are dead on. The simple truth is - you just have to take in less calories than you burn every day to lose weight.
Portion control - eliminate sugar as much as possible - exercise. Find something you like to do and do it. I always liked riding a bike and being in the water so that's an easy no brainer for me.
Good luck - find the foods you like that are good for you - take a multivitamin & find something physical you enjoy.
 
Hal said:
In January of 2016, I had to go to the doctor because my legs were all nasty - split open- oozing fluids.
She told me she was sending me to the wound center to see if they could do anything.
I didn't like that idea & said so.
She gave me my other two options. #1 - go directly to the hospital and have my legs removed before gangrene set in. #2 - do nothing and die by my birthday in Feb.
Needless to say, I went to the wound center ;).
At the time - I weighed a staggering 330 pounds. I was on oxygen 24x7 - due to COPD and pressure on my abdomen not allowing my diaphragm to do its job.
My waist was an enormous 58 plus inches.

After the ordeal of having my legs wrapped for two weeks - and the humiliation of having to have my wife wipe my ass & clean me off - I vowed to do something about it.
I got a membership to the local Natatorium - got my big fat ass out of bed and got in the water every morning at 5:30 am and "swam" (actually - for the first year it was pretty much treading water in a direction).
I also went on a strict 1800 calories a day diet. No sugar - if I could heal it - no soft drinks - only water & fruit juices.
I searched the internet for all sorts of substitutes to save calories. Things like habanero peppers instead of oranges. Did you know one habanero has more vitamin C than 4 medium oranges? For only 30 calories?
Dill pickles make a great low-calorie snack.
100% natural unfiltered apple cider vinegar - with "the mother" - can cleanse a ton of toxins out of your system. I drink a swig of it every other morning.
I bought a bicycle a year ago this past August & rode it between 7 and 29 miles - nearly every day the weather held. This year, since March, has been difficult to ride.
My pool sessions finally paid off & I got to the point I could actually swim on my back - real swimming - not treading water.

A year ago at this time, my weight was down to 217 pounds - a total loss of 113 pounds. Sadly, the Covid crap hit & my weight edged up again to its present 252 pounds.
Did I mention I worked my way off the oxygen? Yeah - my breathing returned to near normal levels.

I had done it - done the improbable - gone from the deathbed to actually consider running an Iron Man Triathalon.
I managed to do 2.4 miles in the pool when my weight was at it's lowest.

Those saying there's no such thing as a "magic diet" are dead on. The simple truth is - you just have to take in less calories than you burn every day to lose weight.
Portion control - eliminate sugar as much as possible - exercise. Find something you like to do and do it. I always liked riding a bike and being in the water so that's an easy no brainer for me.
Good luck - find the foods you like that are good for you - take a multivitamin & find something physical you enjoy.
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Thanks for sharing and good work!

Finding some sort of exercise you enjoy is a great point. I couldn't stand doing the normal cardio type machines. Made be absolutely dread going to the gym. So I stopped doing the standard BS everyone else was doing and developed my own routine that incorporated several types of basketball "games" I played as a kid. That, along with various other activities (like pickleball, interval training, outdoor activities) combined with a medium level weight lifting routine got me into what I considered acceptable physical condition. Well, all that went out the window when covid hit and I couldn't go to the gym. I sulked and was lazy for a while but again, got over myself, sucked it up, and developed a new routine with another old friend from my childhood: the bicycle. I ride most every morning before dawn to avoid cars. Lift a medium amount of weights right after. Watch what I eat of course. I'm now in "better" shape than when I was going to an actual gym!

My points of this latest speech/story are these, one broad and one specific:

1. Like you said, for exercise find something you like to do and do it consistently. Make sure it is elevating your heart rate for the appropriate amount of time to be counted as exercise. I got an inexpensive fit bit type device that tracks all that stuff and it has helped me understand better what is and isn't exercise and for how long I should be doing these activities.

2. Excuses and gimmick diets go hand in hand, drop both of them. There will always be challenges to doing the right things for your health, the first of which is understanding what doing the right things are. There is no free lunch. To be healthy, you will need to eat mostly healthily and you will need to get some sort of exercise on a regular basis. Avoiding these facts with gimmick diets and excuses of why you can't exercise mean that you will fail before you start.
 
Any diet with a name is just a half-assed stand in for simply having a balanced diet and eating clean and responsibly.
 
Jaseman,
I am drinking sparkling water and tea also.
No fruits the first 6 weeks but I understand they add some later.
I don't take any supplements but am noticing no adverse effects in 6 weeks.
I know the soda is bad news but that's a historical "monkey " on my back.
I am doing more walking since losing weight. I had a motorcycle wreck about 10 years ago and broke my ankle in many pieces as well as a tib/fib fracture. This has been making a walk over a half mile difficult. It's getting easier.
The best thing about the diet is portion control. My wife and I are both retired and watch a lot of tv,sometimes late at night. Snacking has been a problem but I don't do that any more and hopefully it will stay that way. So far so good as they say.
 
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