I'm trying the LCHF (Keto) diet

stickyfiddle

We've been low carb and low-booze for the month so far.

I'm celiac, so have to be gluten free which rules out a lot of crap automatically, but I'm making sure I have at least one no-carb meal a day and sensible portion sizes and I feel much better already - I've lost 5 pounds in a fortnight, and MrsF has lost more, which is a rate we'll be well happy with.

I'm not so worried about going full-keto as finding a manageable long term balance. Honestly I like chocolate too much, and work travel means I have to eat what I can get sometimes, so keto is unlikely to be maintainable for me anyway.

RaymondLin

Fuengi said:

poopot said:

As a diabetic ketosis can be a pathway to ketoacidosis... very bad!!!! It can do that if you don’t have diabetes as well...

you want to lose weight it’s simple...

get off your arse, do some exercise and burn more calories than you take in!!!

That's actually not it at all. You can't exercise your way out of a bad diet, and the calories in / calories out thing has long been put to bed as incorrect. 

I think the difficulty in dietary advice is that it is not a one size fits all. Some people thrive on a particular diet, others don't, you need to find what works for you and listen to your body. It's a cliche but it's true. 

How can you change physics?

Physics dictates energy cannot be created or destroyed, it is a law.  If you eat zero calories for a month, you can only get if from your fat reserve, when that runs out, you die......

If that law is false then none of us need to eat surely.

Yes i understand that proper eating habit, time of day and what you eat affects the metabolism but the point remains that if you are in an energy deficit, you lose weight.  Otherwise you are breaking a fundamental law of physics that you would be creating energy out of your ass, literally.

I did the whole calorie count thing for 6 months a few years back, lost 4 stone sitting on my ass not doing any exercise. It worked for me!  Granted step 1 in calorie count also means no junk food but that is a given, any adult should know that though. I mean it is in the name.  Junk.

Jalapeno

It isn't a 1:1 ratio of food vs exercise - the body uses calories in digesting inputs and maintaining itself. Exercise replaces fat with muscle so weight loss isn't as automatic as expected. However in pure calorific terms you are correct.

Dopesick

I've been on keto* for a few weeks (after a very heavy Christmas period) and it's been fantastic.

*Well, I say 'I've been on keto'...after a little while you realise that you're not following a strict regime after all, but you're actually eating better foods, cutting out the sugar, pasta, rice, pastries, crisps etc, and you are actually enjoying it. Now I wouldn't even say I'm on keto as I still have the odd portion of chips here and there and I have a sandwich everyday with low carb brown bread. However I'm now addicted to asparagus (seriously, where the fuck has this been all my life) and I have zero cravings for chocolate bars, crisps or sausage rolls.

Last night I made a bangin' cauliflower macaroni cheese from scratch and dare I say I preferred it better to the usual pasta macaroni cheese I'd normally have.

RaymondLin

Dopesick said:

I've been on keto* for a few weeks (after a very heavy Christmas period) and it's been fantastic.

*Well, I say 'I've been on keto'...after a little while you realise that you're not following a strict regime after all, but you're actually eating better foods, cutting out the sugar, pasta, rice, pastries, crisps etc, and you are actually enjoying it. Now I wouldn't even say I'm on keto as I still have the odd portion of chips here and there and I have a sandwich everyday with low carb brown bread. However I'm now addicted to asparagus (seriously, where the fuck has this been all my life) and I have zero cravings for chocolate bars, crisps or sausage rolls.

Last night I made a bangin' cauliflower macaroni cheese from scratch and dare I say I preferred it better to the usual pasta macaroni cheese I'd normally have.

I think the key to all of these diets are that they do 1 thing in common.

They make you watch what you eat.  Before you are just shoving any crap into your mouth but being on a "diet", you are watching yourself.

If people do that normally, then it is a massive step forward into a better diet.

Plus, everything in moderation, you can still have sugar, still have chocolate.  Just don't eat it every day.  It is a treat, as it is meant to be, not a meal replacement.

Dopesick

RaymondLin said:

Dopesick said:

I've been on keto* for a few weeks (after a very heavy Christmas period) and it's been fantastic.

*Well, I say 'I've been on keto'...after a little while you realise that you're not following a strict regime after all, but you're actually eating better foods, cutting out the sugar, pasta, rice, pastries, crisps etc, and you are actually enjoying it. Now I wouldn't even say I'm on keto as I still have the odd portion of chips here and there and I have a sandwich everyday with low carb brown bread. However I'm now addicted to asparagus (seriously, where the fuck has this been all my life) and I have zero cravings for chocolate bars, crisps or sausage rolls.

Last night I made a bangin' cauliflower macaroni cheese from scratch and dare I say I preferred it better to the usual pasta macaroni cheese I'd normally have.

I think the key to all of these diets are that they do 1 thing in common.

They make you watch what you eat.  Before you are just shoving any crap into your mouth but being on a "diet", you are watching yourself.

If people do that normally, then it is a massive step forward into a better diet.

Plus, everything in moderation, you can still have sugar, still have chocolate.  Just don't eat it every day.  It is a treat, as it is meant to be, not a meal replacement.

Exactly! Moderation is definitely the magic word.

Jalapeno

Dopesick said:

Last night I made a bangin' cauliflower macaroni cheese from scratch and dare I say I preferred it better to the usual pasta macaroni cheese I'd normally have.

Is this Cauliflower cheese, or something different ?

Dopesick

Jalapeno said:

Dopesick said:

Last night I made a bangin' cauliflower macaroni cheese from scratch and dare I say I preferred it better to the usual pasta macaroni cheese I'd normally have.

Is this Cauliflower cheese, or something different ?

Not far off I guess, but you're just replacing the macaroni with broken up cauliflower. I added other ingredients such as mushrooms and ham, the cheese sauce was full of herbs/spices to give it that Italian zing, and sprinkled some crushed pork rinds and basil on top.

EricTheWeary

RaymondLin said:

Dopesick said:

I've been on keto* for a few weeks (after a very heavy Christmas period) and it's been fantastic.

*Well, I say 'I've been on keto'...after a little while you realise that you're not following a strict regime after all, but you're actually eating better foods, cutting out the sugar, pasta, rice, pastries, crisps etc, and you are actually enjoying it. Now I wouldn't even say I'm on keto as I still have the odd portion of chips here and there and I have a sandwich everyday with low carb brown bread. However I'm now addicted to asparagus (seriously, where the fuck has this been all my life) and I have zero cravings for chocolate bars, crisps or sausage rolls.

Last night I made a bangin' cauliflower macaroni cheese from scratch and dare I say I preferred it better to the usual pasta macaroni cheese I'd normally have.

I think the key to all of these diets are that they do 1 thing in common.

They make you watch what you eat.  Before you are just shoving any crap into your mouth but being on a "diet", you are watching yourself.

If people do that normally, then it is a massive step forward into a better diet.

Plus, everything in moderation, you can still have sugar, still have chocolate.  Just don't eat it every day.  It is a treat, as it is meant to be, not a meal replacement.

I'm about as fat as I've ever been but having lost weight in the past I think the watching what you eat bit is as important as anything. When I did weight watchers the most useful thing in many ways was keeping a detailed food diary so I knew if I'd eaten 5 biscuits that day rather than the 1 I'd imagined I'd eaten.
I remember someone who decided to photograph everything they ate and as an unintended consequence lost weight. 

Of course the other important bit is getting into healthy habits so that you don't put it all back on again and I've never cracked that...  

Snap

mate, all these "diets" are a load of rubbish. Just eat well, and eat proper amounts, and move some more. It's pretty simple without having to resort to a fad diet.

Cut down your daily food intake by 1/3 to 1/2 and don't booze will shift wait in next to no time.

Blaendulais

Fad diets are shite.  Get the self discipline to eat less and exercise more.  Its easy...if you can be bothered to do it.  If you cant thats the way it is.  

Fuengi

Blaendulais said:

Fad diets are shite.  Get the self discipline to eat less and exercise more.  Its easy...if you can be bothered to do it.  If you cant thats the way it is.  

I sort of agree with this. It just so happens that a lot of the Ketogenic diet follows the best nutritional food groups. Personally, I have a food chart in the kitchen which lists all the most efficient foods for each of the essential vitamins and minerals and rice, pasta and bread ain't on there! I follow that rahter than a specific Keto diet.

SNAKEBITE

Fuengi said:

That's actually not it at all. You can't exercise your way out of a bad diet, and the calories in / calories out thing has long been put to bed as incorrect. 

I think the difficulty in dietary advice is that it is not a one size fits all. Some people thrive on a particular diet, others don't, you need to find what works for you and listen to your body. It's a cliche but it's true. 

How can that be?

I mean looking at the concentration camp photos I'd tend to disagree.

Simple physics means that if you expend more energy than you supply you will be in a calorie deficit and therefore when the glycogen in the blood is gone you use fat to supply energy and therefore lose weight.

Curious as to how this works.

RaymondLin

I am no doctor but I suspect instances where this occurring are for when the calorie difference are in a small margin, say for average human make adult 2500 cal a day, and if you eat 2500 cal vs someone who also eat 2500 cal.  Except one person is stuffing their face just before bed with KFC and one spreads it out evenly, eating items such as whole grain, veg, non-processed food.  The junk food one will put one weight whereas the healthy eating one will maintain the weight.

But if the junk food guy drops to 1200 calories a day.  I would be shocked if he doesn't lose weight.  The metabolism difference cannot be enough to make up the sheer calorie deficit. 

Fuengi

SNAKEBITE said:

Fuengi said:

That's actually not it at all. You can't exercise your way out of a bad diet, and the calories in / calories out thing has long been put to bed as incorrect. 

I think the difficulty in dietary advice is that it is not a one size fits all. Some people thrive on a particular diet, others don't, you need to find what works for you and listen to your body. It's a cliche but it's true. 

How can that be?

I mean looking at the concentration camp photos I'd tend to disagree.

Simple physics means that if you expend more energy than you supply you will be in a calorie deficit and therefore when the glycogen in the blood is gone you use fat to supply energy and therefore lose weight.

Curious as to how this works.

Generally speaking - It does work, in the short term. However, studies show that low calorie diets result in longer term weight gain, so it is not an optimal way to go about reducing weight. It's a great way to run a business as WW have shown because you are guaranteed return customers! There are exceptions as we have already seen.

It's more important to work out what to eat, than how much to eat. Well chosen food will give the body the nutrition it needs and stop it from craving food. Not all calories are alike.

JohnnyPlectrum

RaymondLin said:

I am no doctor but I suspect instances where this occurring are for when the calorie difference are in a small margin, say for average human make adult 2500 cal a day, and if you eat 2500 cal vs someone who also eat 2500 cal...

What's rather interesting imo is that 2500 cal a day is an awful over-estimate.
My basal level is 1734 cal a day. (75kg) If I cycle to work (10 miles each way) or go for a 10k run in the evening I then qualify for the 2500 calories.
Working in an office and driving to work meant that I barely ate to maintain weight.

Also, regarding rapid weight loss on keto, don't forget that a gram of water is retained with each gram of carbs.
Going low carb always  gives that initial weight loss.

RaymondLin

JohnnyPlectrum said:

RaymondLin said:

I am no doctor but I suspect instances where this occurring are for when the calorie difference are in a small margin, say for average human make adult 2500 cal a day, and if you eat 2500 cal vs someone who also eat 2500 cal...

What's rather interesting imo is that 2500 cal a day is an awful over-estimate.
My basal level is 1734 cal a day. (75kg) If I cycle to work (10 miles each way) or go for a 10k run in the evening I then qualify for the 2500 calories.
Working in an office and driving to work meant that I barely ate to maintain weight.

Also, regarding rapid weight loss on keto, don't forget that a gram of water is retained with each gram of carbs.
Going low carb always  gives that initial weight loss.

adjust my 2500 cal to 1500 and lower the 1200 to 600, the point i was making still stands.

King85

Keto is definitely not a fad diet its a change in the way you eat and personally it works. I did it for 5 weeks, dropped the stone I wanted whilst not having to stuff salads in my face and be hungry constantly. I also still had beers on the weekend.

I used the reddit meal plan on the r/keto site and it worked a treat.

Danny1969

RaymondLin said:

I am no doctor but I suspect instances where this occurring are for when the calorie difference are in a small margin, say for average human make adult 2500 cal a day, and if you eat 2500 cal vs someone who also eat 2500 cal.  Except one person is stuffing their face just before bed with KFC and one spreads it out evenly, eating items such as whole grain, veg, non-processed food.  The junk food one will put one weight whereas the healthy eating one will maintain the weight.

But if the junk food guy drops to 1200 calories a day.  I would be shocked if he doesn't lose weight.  The metabolism difference cannot be enough to make up the sheer calorie deficit. 

For me it seems to be entirely based on when I eat, not what I eat. If I want to lose weight I know I can stuff myself silly up to 2pm and then as long as I stop eating then I will lose weight. If I go on a virtual fat free diet of mainly chicken and veg with salads and other good stuff spread over 3 meals a day I don't lose weight. It's odd and also fascinating because beer is supposed to be full of calories and make people put on weight but I drink well over 30 pints a week and it doesn't seem to add any weight at all ..... as in If I cut out the beer I don't lose weight, it doesn't seem to stick on me

tony99

30 pints a week ??!!???