Nutritional Ketosis (LC/HF/MP) Challenge Anyone?

[Doggygirl]

Originally Posted by Zyllah

Hardly anything fit. I didn't try on everything but wow I think of the things I did try on only 2 dresses fit...a few shirts. I found this oddly depressing I like those clothes. Anyway I decided for a few items that I really love when I'm done losing I'm just going to have them altered. Still...I should have been ecstatic.

I am ecstatic for you!!

Doggygirl: I don't eat breakfast usually. Have you looked at bulletproof coffee? It keeps me going until 12:30 or so. My BG readings were what made me finally do something about the weight.

Today is the first day that I am truly not hungry for breakfast even though I have been up for nearly 3 hours. I just added some HWC to my coffee. Wow. I have seen mention of bulletproof coffee but have not seen how to make it. Would you mind sharing the ingredients / method? Thank God for these little inexpensive BG meters, eh? I am so very grateful to have the early warning info, and have a chance to work on this before it's really bad.

Kilogirl: Congrats! I like eating meat for two meals too since they feel more like real meals

I probably won't do this every day, but will probably do it if there is something "special" on the agenda for dinner with Mr. Doggy.

Speaking of....

MAN is it boring to try to cook meals for him (even the LC ones) when I won't be eating much or any of it! If I lived alone my grocery bill would be next to nothing and I could get a couple of extra part time jobs or new hobbies with the time I would be saving in the kitchen!

Originally Posted by mom2zeke

Lunch: 3 ounces of cream cheese, 1 fat bomb

My dinner was mostly cream cheese yesterday which seemed strange but WOW did that stuff hold me!!!

It's hard to believe in this day and age there would be so much confusion about thyroid treatment and so few doctors who really know what they're doing. Thank goodness for the internet!

AMEN to that! I too am on medication for hypothyroid (Naturethroid for me) and that would have NEVER been treated properly had I not learned about it here at LCF. You are right - finding the doctor is the hardest part.

It's clear that most people can't maintain a significant loss, and it would be great to be part of the solution to that problem.

Originally Posted by mom2zeke

Yesterday I stuck to my new plan and measured my ketones this morning: 2.0. So still firmly in ketosis with slightly higher protein and higher fat. Still slightly under my goal at 149.8. I expect to see some bouncing with TOM due early next week.

Good for you maintaining measured control of this transition to maintenance.

Originally Posted by paulabob

Still enjoying my maintenance calories. Picking up a new quart of cream today...that stuff goes fast on this diet! Other than that, my grocery costs are really down. Amazing how much less meat and cheese I'm eating.

That really is amazing isn't it? And now that my refrigerater isn't stuffed to the gills, I see how badly it needs a cleaning!!! (guess i should tackle that with the extra time I'm NOT cooking)

I had an awesome day yesterday and fasting ketones were 1.4 this morning. And fasting BG was 84!!! I posted about it in my journal so I think I'll just copy that post into this thread since its' mostly about NK.

DG

[Doggygirl]

I am really happy with how things went yesterday, and the results this morning. Although my weight stayed the same as yesterday, the BF% dropped on the Tanita which is always a good indicator that if I stay on track, a weight drop is pending too.

Weight 166.6
FBG 84 (haven't seen this number since I started testing!!!!! YAY!!!)
Ketones 1.4
Yesterdays food:
Fat 165g
Carb 24g (16 net)
Pro 77g
Cals 1854
K/R 2.15

K/R = Kegogenic ratio - downloaded the spreadsheet from the Diabetes forum NK thread.

My K/R fell short of 2.0 until Sunday - that was the first time I got it to 2.0. Then on Monday it was 1.9, then yesterday 2.1. Interesting that as my K/R has gone up my Ketones have also gone up. Maybe coincidence or maybe there is something to it. I will keep poking my numbers into that spreadsheet since it only takes a moment - why not.

The MOST amazing thing about yesterday. Well, 2 things actually.

1) I ate my dinner that was a little protein and a LOT of fat (Kristn - it was mostly cream cheese LOL!) about 5:30PM. Then I met a group at a restaurant (a very GOOD restaurant) for a business meeting at 7:15PM. We were there until 9:15PM. The other people all ate dinner. I was surrounded by entrees like steak and potatoes, nacho platters, etc. I ordered hot tea and DID NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT THE FOOD the whole time. I can't even tell you how long it's been since THAT happened. On the WW program, I would have been jonesing for food and most likely given in at the table and ordered something - or even MORE likely, stopped at the Jewel next door on the way home and bought some binge food. THAT WAS A MIRACLE!!!

2) My blood sugar readings are continuing to improve every day. I know my numbers were not "that bad" compared to full on diabetic (untreated) readings. However. When 83 is NORMAL for a BG level, and a NORMAL body will regulate BG very tight and close to that number, readings of 98, 106, and even 121 are just evidence that things are breaking down for me. I don't want to die like my Dad did if I can help it - what a slow torturous life that was for him. 84 fasting is amazing. And in such a short time! YAY!

I have a good food plan for today - if I follow it it will be:

F: 169
P: 67 (my min is 68 but I'm not going to worry over 1g)
C: 26 (17 net)
Cals: 1885

Today is my challenging day with afternoon and evening classes, and the need to take portable food and also face the junk food extravaganza that will be going on among my classmates on breaks. Last nights experience gives me hope that it will be a non-issue as they are eating chocolate covered prezels, twinkies, etc. I'm actually looking forward to seeing how it feels!

Wow. This is a novel. I'll stop now. Life is good.

DG

[paulabob]

Originally Posted by mom2zeke

I agree, I eat much less meat, although I was totally off of cheese before I started this. How much are you eating for maintenance? I'm afraid to go too high too fast. When I put my numbers in all of the calculators I come up with around 1900 calories for maintenance. I'm trying to work my way up and I'm at about 1600 now.

I've been maintaining at the 125-130 pound range for a year now (despite repeated attempts to lose further weight). I find my maintenance calories around 1700-1800 - if I continue to keep carbs low (and now I know, protein lowish as well).

Right now I'm still eating around 1600 too. I think my calories have been too low for awhile, but I figure it will adjust upwards soon. I'll just follow my appetite unless I start losing weight (hah!) in which case I would add more calories.

[paulabob]

Originally Posted by Doggygirl

I had an awesome day yesterday and fasting ketones were 1.4 this morning. And fasting BG was 84!!! I posted about it in my journal so I think I'll just copy that post into this thread since its' mostly about NK.

DG

Congrats on the great blood sugar improvement!

[mom2zeke]

Originally Posted by Doggygirl

I had an awesome day yesterday and fasting ketones were 1.4 this morning. And fasting BG was 84!!! I posted about it in my journal so I think I'll just copy that post into this thread since its' mostly about NK.

DG

Yeah! Great job on the BG and Ketones!

Thanks for posting your update here. I love reading about how you're doing.

[mom2zeke]

Originally Posted by paulabob

I've been maintaining at the 125-130 pound range for a year now (despite repeated attempts to lose further weight). I find my maintenance calories around 1700-1800 - if I continue to keep carbs low (and now I know, protein lowish as well).

Right now I'm still eating around 1600 too. I think my calories have been too low for awhile, but I figure it will adjust upwards soon. I'll just follow my appetite unless I start losing weight (hah!) in which case I would add more calories.

Thanks for the information. I know everyone is different, but if 1700 to 1800 is maintenance for you then 1900 seems fairly reasonable at my height/weight.

I am curious to see if I can maintain when I go higher, but I'm being patient for now. I will probably go up in fat at least one or two days over the holiday weekend.

[Doggygirl]

Hi everyone! Here is the update from yesterday:

I have a Tanita scale and the interesting thing is that while the BF% always reads artificially high in the AM when dehydrated, over time it does give an interesting indication fo what is happening with body fat. Based on the %'s it gives me since my re-start on 8/17, I have lost only 2.8 pounds total, but 4.7 pounds of fat. So there must be a lean gain in there to make up the difference. Of course the numbers fluctuate around daily, so I will be looking forward to having more data and starting to rely more on weekly averages than any daily numbers. I'm happy I have my inaccurate Tanita!

Also I'm going to start measuring on Sunday. I didn't take measurements on 8/17 but I took them not too long before that. So I do have some reasonable starting data.

Today:
Weight 166 (-.6)
Ketones 1.7
FBG 76 (meter made an unusual beep before giving me this reading so I'll be interested in seeing what the reading is tomorrow - this one might be a fluke)
Yesterdays food:
Cals 1594
Fat: 144g
Carb: 27g (17 net)
Pro: 50g
K/R 2.17

I'm concerned about my protein being at 50g when my minimum seems to be more like 68g. Also my carbs have crept up a little. I'm happy with the results I'm seeing but I'm going to try to get the carbs down a tad (hard) and the protein up a tad (not hard LOL). What threw me off yesterday was not being hungry for breakfast and then adjusting and just not adding back the protein from that. I'm sure as a once in awhile thing its no biggie.

Hunger: Yesterday was lower in cals (both pro and fat were lower, so K/R was about the same) and I felt like I was a little bit hungry (but not "emergency" hungry) last night. Things went fine at school - I was not jonesing about everyone else's junk food. I was hungry by the time the break rolled around between classes, but ate my high fat low carb/pro stuff and was happy! I volunteered to go first for a class presentation next week which left me feeling "why did I just do that???" stressed. I felt some urges to sooth that stress with food, but these urges were MANAGEABLE unlike the urges in the high carb days - the stress I was feeling last night would have sent me straight to Target on the way home for a bag of candy. I thought about a bed time snack when I got home, but I was able to say "no" to myself and just go to bed. I'm very happy about that.

I am so happy to see the ketones inching up day by day. If you recall, last Thursday I had a high carb day and I can see by the progression over the last week that knocking myself out of ketosis really does take time to recover from. That will surely make me think twice about my food choices!

It is SO MUCH easier for me to make the right food choices right now than it was when I was trying to eat low fat.

Have a good day everyone!

DG

[mom2zeke]

Originally Posted by Doggygirl

I have a Tanita scale and the interesting thing is that while the BF% always reads artificially high in the AM when dehydrated, over time it does give an interesting indication fo what is happening with body fat. Based on the %'s it gives me since my re-start on 8/17, I have lost only 2.8 pounds total, but 4.7 pounds of fat. So there must be a lean gain in there to make up the difference. Of course the numbers fluctuate around daily, so I will be looking forward to having more data and starting to rely more on weekly averages than any daily numbers. I'm happy I have my inaccurate Tanita!

My new Omron seems to jump around a bit too. I am now hoping that it's inaccurate as my BF% on several different sites per my measurements is 26%-27%. I'm itching to get the real measurement via dunk in a little more than a week.

Also I'm going to start measuring on Sunday. I didn't take measurements on 8/17 but I took them not too long before that. So I do have some reasonable starting data.

I wish I had done more of this. I have spotty data, but am starting today to be more consistent.

I'm concerned about my protein being at 50g when my minimum seems to be more like 68g. Also my carbs have crept up a little. I'm happy with the results I'm seeing but I'm going to try to get the carbs down a tad (hard) and the protein up a tad (not hard LOL). What threw me off yesterday was not being hungry for breakfast and then adjusting and just not adding back the protein from that. I'm sure as a once in awhile thing its no biggie.

Congrats on the loss! I agree that low protein once in a while isn't a big deal.

Hunger: Yesterday was lower in cals (both pro and fat were lower, so K/R was about the same) and I felt like I was a little bit hungry (but not "emergency" hungry) last night. Things went fine at school - I was not jonesing about everyone else's junk food. I was hungry by the time the break rolled around between classes, but ate my high fat low carb/pro stuff and was happy! I volunteered to go first for a class presentation next week which left me feeling "why did I just do that???" stressed. I felt some urges to sooth that stress with food, but these urges were MANAGEABLE unlike the urges in the high carb days - the stress I was feeling last night would have sent me straight to Target on the way home for a bag of candy. I thought about a bed time snack when I got home, but I was able to say "no" to myself and just go to bed. I'm very happy about that.

Yeah for making it through school and stress without overeating! I used to be a stress eater too, but over the years of LC it's just kind of faded away.

I am so happy to see the ketones inching up day by day. If you recall, last Thursday I had a high carb day and I can see by the progression over the last week that knocking myself out of ketosis really does take time to recover from. That will surely make me think twice about my food choices!

It is great to see that what you are doing is directly affecting your ketones. I know that this kind of feedback is really helpful for me!

[RebeccaLatham]

I have been working like crazy, so not a lot of time to post.

Yesterday, we ended up going out to lunch, and I ate more protein (in the form of an 8 oz. burger) than I am supposed to. Also, they had no vegetables, so I had a small cup of fruit (also a no-no). I did not weigh food, so I did not track yesterday. After that meal at 12:30, I did not get hungry, nor did I eat anything for the rest of the day, except for 1 Fat Bomb in the evening.

Just for the heck of it, I took my blood glucose before bed and it was 76.

This morning, my weight and inches are exactly the same as yesterday.

Today will be a low food kind of day, because I will be working most of the day. I'll take a Fat Bomb to work for break time, and eat dinner around 5 pm.

[mom2zeke]

Good morning everyone!

Yesterday my (maintenance) intake was:
Protein:78.2 (18%)
Carbs: 18.8 (4%)
Fat: 146.5 (78.2%)
Calories: 1686
This morning's ketones: 2.3

My protein intake was up yesterday and I think I'm going to try and keep it in the 70-80 gram range for now. Since my goal is to reduce my bf% (gain muscle, lose fat) I think I need to have a bit more protein (as long as I can stay in nutritional ketosis). So far it seems to be okay--but I'm going to test every morning to make sure!

Kettlebell class was last night and DH decided to sign up for the Body Fat dunk on 9/8. I was very surprised! The owner of the studio was at class last night and she was commenting on how fit we were both looking. I think it made him curious to see where he was at BF% wise.

On the way to class last night I was commenting to DH that I was feeling a bit unmotivated. Having reached my goal weight part of me feels like I would like a break from all of this. I am working on getting re-energized around my body composition goals and just keeping my weight stable!

How is everyone else doing??

[mom2zeke]

Originally Posted by RebeccaLatham

I have been working like crazy, so not a lot of time to post.

Thanks for checking in with your hectic schedule!

Yesterday, we ended up going out to lunch, and I ate more protein (in the form of an 8 oz. burger) than I am supposed to. Also, they had no vegetables, so I had a small cup of fruit (also a no-no). I did not weigh food, so I did not track yesterday. After that meal at 12:30, I did not get hungry, nor did I eat anything for the rest of the day, except for 1 Fat Bomb in the evening.

Just for the heck of it, I took my blood glucose before bed and it was 76.

This morning, my weight and inches are exactly the same as yesterday.

It's good to hear that one meal didn't seem to hurt your progress. I hate those situations, but it seems that you made the best of it!

Today will be a low food kind of day, because I will be working most of the day. I'll take a Fat Bomb to work for break time, and eat dinner around 5 pm.

Have a great day!!

[3Kids4me]

Hey all,

Whew. Life got really busy here. I made it through most of August pretty low carb, I ran out of keto-sticks for my monitor, but I think I was about 1.3 or so when I last checked. And that was after a vacation where I just did the best I could.

I'm up right now after a couple of stress eating days last week and earlier this week. We started up school (homeschooling 3, keeping 1 preschooler out of trouble) and I let the busyness get to me. I also started up with my personal trainer again and that ramped up hunger because I was undereating while being less active.

SO. I'm working on getting back into solid ketosis and plan to keep it there till Thanksgiving week, 12 weeks from today, at least. And hopefully beyond. I want to see my goal before the end of 2012, but that's going to take serious work on my part.

I have some friends doing Whole30/Paleo challenges right now, and I've done those in the past, but I'm really preferring focusing on ketosis right now and allowing that dairy in there. And occasional sweeteners. I'm still drinking a lot of diet soda...and conflicted about that. It doesn't seem to mess with my results, but it's also certainly not a something I'd consider healthy. Thoughts? Are there any stories out there of nutritional ketosis folks that are still drinking a couple cans a day of diet soda or using an artificial sweetener regularly?

Love seeing the success you all are having! I can't wait till my current water weight (from the carb up and from starting serious work outs again) is gone and I start seeing those numbers moving downward. Though the tape measure does continue to be kind, even when the scale is up from water.

I need to order more test strips. Man I wish those were cheaper.

[3Kids4me]

Kristn,

I'm so impressed with how long you maintained your weight loss. You completely shattered the odds out there about keeping weight off. Can I ask about your weight loss journey timeline? How long did it take you to get to the first weight where you considered maintaining? Did you eat consistently low carb to maintain? Where were your carbs and calories before you decided to try to drop to the next goal with this current challenge?

I love that you kept your weight off and are now breaking through that first goal to the dream goal!

[mom2zeke]

Originally Posted by 3Kids4me

Kristn,

I'm so impressed with how long you maintained your weight loss. You completely shattered the odds out there about keeping weight off. Can I ask about your weight loss journey timeline? How long did it take you to get to the first weight where you considered maintaining? Did you eat consistently low carb to maintain? Where were your carbs and calories before you decided to try to drop to the next goal with this current challenge?

I love that you kept your weight off and are now breaking through that first goal to the dream goal!

Thanks 3kids4me! I sometimes can't believe it myself.

I started at 257 in August 2001 and got to around 165 by the end of 2002. I think I maintained because I never thought about quitting LC--it just wasn't an option. I knew that even though I didn't hit my goal I was still so much better off and I needed to maintain LC to keep the weight off. There have been plenty of ups and downs, but I consider LC a way-of-life. I have occasionaly gone off-plan but I always pick it up with the next meal. And off-plan might be 2-3 times a year. I do always have one meal on my birthday that is whatever I want (almost always Chinese food, chocolate cake, and ice cream) in whatever quantity I want. When the meal is over I go back on plan with the next meal.

I have also tried different things over the years to try and get lower. The lowest I've managed is 162 (for my wedding in 2008). At that time I restricted so much and exercised excessively (to my detriment). It took a long time to recover from that. But most of the time I didn't count, weigh, or measure. I just avoided all sugar, grains, and starches and ate to satisfaction. Over the past few years I have also cut back on dairy, added coconut products, cut back on omega 6 oils, and worked on eating only 3 meals/day. I am obsessive about staying LC in all circumstances. Other than planned off-plan meals, I am very strict about what I will eat. But I couldn't say exactly what my carbs and calories were when I started this new plan. Recording at this level is very new to me. I did have an old ****** account from years ago and I think there were only a few entries that dated back to 2006.

I think it helps that I truly love LC food. I don't make many recipes--I just stick to the basics. When I was deciding to try this WOE I knew that whatever I did it would be for life. The question I asked myself was "would I rather eat steak and salad or chicken breast and rice cakes for the rest of my life?" Steak won.

I did post some of my more recent story here.

[svenskamae]

Originally Posted by 3Kids4me

And occasional sweeteners. I'm still drinking a lot of diet soda...and conflicted about that. It doesn't seem to mess with my results, but it's also certainly not a something I'd consider healthy. Thoughts? Are there any stories out there of nutritional ketosis folks that are still drinking a couple cans a day of diet soda or using an artificial sweetener regularly?

I've been reading "Food Rules," by Catherine Shanahan, MD, and she talks about how sweeteners--even artificial ones--can spur an insulin response from sensors in the digestive tract. My fasting blood sugar is staying over 100 even with eating lowcarb, and I'm having trouble losing weight (4 pounds down in 3 months), so I don't feel I can afford to use any kind of sweeteners (or even eat low-glycemic fruit). And I know that diet sodas make me hungrier, which is consistent with having an insulin response.

On the other hand, you don't seem to be having your results affected by drinking diet sodas, so your body seems to handle them differently from mine. If drinking diet sodas helps you a lot in staying on plan, then maybe it's worth it to keep drinking them, but it's probably better for your overall health to try to cut down on them. There's some evidence that consuming sodas--even diet ones--is associated with more serious and earlier onset of osteoporosis in women, and that's a long-term reason to try to cut back.

[mom2zeke]

I use artificial sweeteners without any noticeable effect. I try not to go overboard, and I don't usually drink soda, but I do use LC ketchup and BBQ sauce, Crystal Light, and now some liquid splenda in fat bombs. Besides the Crystal Light I usually just stick to splenda. And my very favorite flavor of Crystal Light, Sunrise Grapefruit, has been discontinued so when my supply is finished I might try to go back to water.

[3Kids4me]

Great story, thanks for sharing Kristn!

I started at 248 lbs in May of 2010 and have not been as focused on getting to my goal as you were. I lost 50 lbs in about 7 months, then fought to get the next 10 lbs off by July 2011. And I've yo-yo'd a bit since then. I'm starting to feel ready to hit it hard and get really serious about getting to my goal of 160 lbs. Which is about 35 lbs from where I am today.

I've done some Induction, some Protein Sparing, some Eat Clean, some Paleo...but I keep coming back to really loving Atkins and ketogenic eating. I also love running and weight training, but sometimes my goals for those have derailed my eating goals. Some of those communities are less encouraging of low carb eating and I tend to lose my confidence.

Enter Dr. Peter Attia and the Art and Science of Low Carb books, those are giving me confidence in this as a way of eating for the long haul. I've been re-reading Atkins (the most current version that Phinney and Volek helped with) and think I'm ready to go back to Induction levels again and hit this thing hard. Induction really should bring about Nutritional Ketosis if one keeps things simple--basic veggies, limited protein, lots of fats.

I think I probably do need to go completely without artificial sweeteners for awhile and see if those are messing with me more than I suspect. I have felt fine, but I also keep going back to sugar after awhile, so maybe it's a bigger problem than I realize. Thanks for your insights in this svenskamae. My blood glucose isn't affected, I've been in ketosis, I've lost weight, I can control cravings and hunger just fine...but there's still that bit of a question if *something* would be better without them. But, mentally, it's still sometimes that diet Coke that keeps me from all sorts of worse options. Maybe I'll try a Sweetener Free September and see what I think.

I'm keeping dairy for now, but only cheese, cream cheese and cream, and without sweeteners those last two aren't really very interesting to eat. Though cream cheese on salami is a lovely treat.

I'm just trying to get my focus so clear and my will so determined that once I decide I'm all in until goal, I really do make that happen. Getting going with my personal trainer again was one part of that equation. I'm one that loses inches much more rapidly with exercise than without, no matter what the scale says. And she pushes me to really hit those workouts hard.

Great help and advice here!

[3Kids4me]

Originally Posted by mom2zeke

I use artificial sweeteners without any noticeable effect. I try not to go overboard, and I don't usually drink soda, but I do use LC ketchup and BBQ sauce, Crystal Light, and now some liquid splenda in fat bombs. Besides the Crystal Light I usually just stick to splenda. And my very favorite flavor of Crystal Light, Sunrise Grapefruit, has been discontinued so when my supply is finished I might try to go back to water.

I drank tons of diet soda and Crystal Light while on vacation at my parents, and put Truvia in some cream cheese now and then with the rest of the family was having treats. And I lost just great that week... I've just spent enough time with the Paleo/Clean Eating crowds to worry some, even though I personally have never had noticeable side effects.

Do I choose optimal health or sanity? Cause after a day with my small people, sometimes a little soda or "cheesecake" is such a comfort.

Though maybe that's still a problem psychologically, to need a comforting food or drink when stressed or tired.

[mom2zeke]

Originally Posted by 3Kids4me

Do I choose optimal health or sanity? Cause after a day with my small people, sometimes a little soda or "cheesecake" is such a comfort.

Though maybe that's still a problem psychologically, to need a comforting food or drink when stressed or tired.

I make so many good choices that I accept the not-so-good ones as part of the package. We have been eating grass-fed beef since we started buying a steer 6 years ago, we have a CSA and buy organic produce, we buy our eggs from the ladies down the street.

You have to decide what makes sense for you. I don't think having a diet soda or some sweetened cream cheese is a crime if it helps you stay on the wagon and doesn't effect you otherwise.

But taking a break for a month to see if it makes a difference is probably a good idea if you have doubts. I've done it and for me I'd rather have the small amount of sweet flavor in my life.

[3Kids4me]

Originally Posted by mom2zeke

I make so many good choices that I accept the not-so-good ones as part of the package. We have been eating grass-fed beef since we started buying a steer 6 years ago, we have a CSA and buy organic produce, we buy our eggs from the ladies down the street.

You have to decide what makes sense for you. I don't think having a diet soda or some sweetened cream cheese is a crime if it helps you stay on the wagon and doesn't effect you otherwise.

But taking a break for a month to see if it makes a difference is probably a good idea if you have doubts. I've done it and for me I'd rather have the small amount of sweet flavor in my life.

We do grass-fed beef and pastured pork for the most part. Still getting there with eggs, I need a source. And for butter and cheese, I've switched over to KerryGold grass-fed. Yum!

I'll maybe go ahead and ditch the sweet for September and not beat myself up too much if I bring it back once the holiday foods and feasting starts up.

[Doggygirl]

Originally Posted by 3Kids4me

I'm up right now after a couple of stress eating days last week and earlier this week. We started up school (homeschooling 3, keeping 1 preschooler out of trouble)

You are a brave woman!!!

I have some friends doing Whole30/Paleo challenges right now, and I've done those in the past, but I'm really preferring focusing on ketosis right now and allowing that dairy in there. And occasional sweeteners. I'm still drinking a lot of diet soda...and conflicted about that. It doesn't seem to mess with my results, but it's also certainly not a something I'd consider healthy. Thoughts? Are there any stories out there of nutritional ketosis folks that are still drinking a couple cans a day of diet soda or using an artificial sweetener regularly?

I too have been distracted by other plans including Whole 30 (which I have been unable to do despite repeated tries). I too love my dairy and the occassional sweetener. I think that is a YMMV thing. I have gotten away from diet sodas by switching to sparkling water with just fruit flavor. (i.e. La Croix)

Though the tape measure does continue to be kind, even when the scale is up from water.

That is awesome!

Originally Posted by mom2zeke

Since my goal is to reduce my bf% (gain muscle, lose fat) I think I need to have a bit more protein (as long as I can stay in nutritional ketosis). So far it seems to be okay--but I'm going to test every morning to make sure!

I can't wait to hear about your dunk BF% experience! I bet your results will be awesome.

Having reached my goal weight part of me feels like I would like a break from all of this. I am working on getting re-energized around my body composition goals and just keeping my weight stable!

As one of the many who has been to goal a couple of times and then lost my focus - do whatever it takes to keep your on plan mojo alive!

Originally Posted by RebeccaLatham

I have been working like crazy, so not a lot of time to post.

Waving hello!

Just for the heck of it, I took my blood glucose before bed and it was 76.

I can't wait to get to that place!

Originally Posted by svenskamae

My fasting blood sugar is staying over 100 even with eating lowcarb, and I'm having trouble losing weight (4 pounds down in 3 months), so I don't feel I can afford to use any kind of sweeteners (or even eat low-glycemic fruit). And I know that diet sodas make me hungrier, which is consistent with having an insulin response.

Have you taken BG readings after diet sodas to see if that's the culprit? In my experimenting over the last few weeks, I am AMAZED by the impact of extra carbs and extra protein.

[/QUOTE]

Originally Posted by mom2zeke

I started at 257 in August 2001 and got to around 165 by the end of 2002. I think I maintained because I never thought about quitting LC--it just wasn't an option.

You are so smart that you just programmed yourself to think that way and never allow "maybe now I can eat XXXX" thinking draw you off the rails like I did. I love your story and could read it again and again. Congratulations for doing this RIGHT!

Originally Posted by 3Kids4me

I started at 248 lbs in May of 2010 and have not been as focused on getting to my goal as you were. I lost 50 lbs in about 7 months, then fought to get the next 10 lbs off by July 2011. And I've yo-yo'd a bit since then. I'm starting to feel ready to hit it hard and get really serious about getting to my goal of 160 lbs. Which is about 35 lbs from where I am today.

I've done some Induction, some Protein Sparing, some Eat Clean, some Paleo...but I keep coming back to really loving Atkins and ketogenic eating.

Me too!!

Originally Posted by mom2zeke

.... we buy our eggs from the ladies down the street.

I would KILL to have those ladies living down the street from me!!!!! We have been buying grass finished beef for several years now too. It's very different from commercial beef but we love our cow around here! The farmer e-mailed me about a month ago - the drought conditions have been really hard on the livestock. Grass finished calves stay with the mothers in the fields until they go to slaughter. That gets really hard on the mothers in drought conditions, so they are going to slaughter early. Of course that means lower hanging weights and less $$$ for the farmer. I hope this small farmer survives it.

Dove into the nuts yesterday. That is a habit I really have to focus on. Mindless eating has to go (regain focus on 3 meals a day and that's it). And I need to accept that for me, there is never a small portion of nuts. (or nut butters). One bite and I'm off to the races. I have to learn to live with DHs nuts in the pantry, and just not touch them.

So...that knocked me back in terms of fasting BG (111 - YIKES!) and also ketones. (.3) The good news about all this testing of BG and Ketones is that there is NO WAY I can kid myself. I am seeing the truth of what is going on every day. Especially with the BG issues, this is very sobering information.

I have a good plan for today entailing:

Cals 1649
Fat 144
Carb 17
Pro 66

That should be enough food but if I feel I need to add something, it will be an ounce or two of cream cheese, or another serving of EVCO bark.

Have a good day everyone!

DG

[mom2zeke]

Originally Posted by Doggygirl

I too have been distracted by other plans including Whole 30 (which I have been unable to do despite repeated tries). I too love my dairy and the occassional sweetener. I think that is a YMMV thing. I have gotten away from diet sodas by switching to sparkling water with just fruit flavor. (i.e. La Croix)

Paleo, Primal, Whole 30, Leptin Reset... Atkins is not at all popular with my group of friends. But I keep coming back to it because it works.

I can't wait to hear about your dunk BF% experience! I bet your results will be awesome.

I'll definitely keep everyone updated. Even if the results aren't what I'd like to see, I'd rather know the truth.

You are so smart that you just programmed yourself to think that way and never allow "maybe now I can eat XXXX" thinking draw you off the rails like I did. I love your story and could read it again and again. Congratulations for doing this RIGHT!

Thanks! I don't even know how I made the switch in my brain. I do know that making these types of pattern switches has actually gotten easier over time. Now when I decide to try something new it only takes a few days to get in the groove and make the change.

I would KILL to have those ladies living down the street from me!!!!! We have been buying grass finished beef for several years now too. It's very different from commercial beef but we love our cow around here! The farmer e-mailed me about a month ago - the drought conditions have been really hard on the livestock. Grass finished calves stay with the mothers in the fields until they go to slaughter. That gets really hard on the mothers in drought conditions, so they are going to slaughter early. Of course that means lower hanging weights and less $$$ for the farmer. I hope this small farmer survives it.

We were on the waiting list for years before we could buy our eggs from the ladies down the street. We live in the city, but the property that they live on is their family home and was a chicken farm since at least the 1930s. Now the sisters just sell eggs and they are grandfathered in so they can have more chickens than the city codes allow. I hope that your farmer is able to survive the drought! We have been lucky to have escaped harsh weather this summer here in the PNW.

Dove into the nuts yesterday. That is a habit I really have to focus on. Mindless eating has to go (regain focus on 3 meals a day and that's it). And I need to accept that for me, there is never a small portion of nuts. (or nut butters). One bite and I'm off to the races. I have to learn to live with DHs nuts in the pantry, and just not touch them.

I can't do nuts as a snack at all! Like you, I can't stop once I get started.

So...that knocked me back in terms of fasting BG (111 - YIKES!) and also ketones. (.3) The good news about all this testing of BG and Ketones is that there is NO WAY I can kid myself. I am seeing the truth of what is going on every day. Especially with the BG issues, this is very sobering information.

I have a good plan for today entailing:

Cals 1649
Fat 144
Carb 17
Pro 66

That should be enough food but if I feel I need to add something, it will be an ounce or two of cream cheese, or another serving of EVCO bark.

Don't you love the meter. It just tells the truth and then you can figure out what you need to do to eat better. It sounds like you have a great plan for today. I know you can do it!!

[mom2zeke]

Originally Posted by 3Kids4me

We do grass-fed beef and pastured pork for the most part. Still getting there with eggs, I need a source. And for butter and cheese, I've switched over to KerryGold grass-fed. Yum!

I'll maybe go ahead and ditch the sweet for September and not beat myself up too much if I bring it back once the holiday foods and feasting starts up.

I love KerryGold!!

Go ahead and give it a try. You can always change your mind if it's not working for you!

[mom2zeke]

Originally Posted by 3Kids4me

Whew. Life got really busy here. I made it through most of August pretty low carb, I ran out of keto-sticks for my monitor, but I think I was about 1.3 or so when I last checked. And that was after a vacation where I just did the best I could.

That's great that you were able to maintain NK during vacation! I'd say that the best you could was pretty darned good.

I'm up right now after a couple of stress eating days last week and earlier this week. We started up school (homeschooling 3, keeping 1 preschooler out of trouble) and I let the busyness get to me. I also started up with my personal trainer again and that ramped up hunger because I was undereating while being less active.

Stress is a tough one. Hopefully once you get into a routine with homeschooling and seeing your trainer while eating better things will calm down.

SO. I'm working on getting back into solid ketosis and plan to keep it there till Thanksgiving week, 12 weeks from today, at least. And hopefully beyond. I want to see my goal before the end of 2012, but that's going to take serious work on my part.

You can do it! We're all here to support each other and help make it through the rough patches.

I need to order more test strips. Man I wish those were cheaper.

I hope that once they become more mainstream the price will come down.

[mom2zeke]

Good Morning Everyone!
Yesterday my (maintenance) intake was:
Protein:76.5 (18%)
Carbs: 19.4 (4.6%)
Fat: 145.1 (78.5%)
Calories: 1703
This morning:
Weight: 149.6 (up .4)
Ketones: 2.4

So even with the increased protein I'm still firmly in ketosis. I think the combination of slightly increased protein with a lot more fat is helpful to this process. This puts me right around the lower range of the Phinney/Volek calculation. I went back and reread some parts of the book yesterday. I am trying to figure out how to use NK to build muscle. There really isn't a lot of information about that in the book. They are mostly dealing with endurance athletes, although there is the smallest chart in the protein section which has examples of protein requirements for power athletes vs endurance. The protein requirement for each is based on the same calculation, but the example weights of the power athletes are higher than the endurance athletes.

How is everyone else doing?? I am so looking forward to the long weekend! I'm crossing my fingers that my office closes early today. My walk to the bus takes me by all of the major retailers in the downtown core, so I may have time to stop by some of the Labor day sales.

[3Kids4me]

Originally Posted by mom2zeke

Good Morning Everyone!
Yesterday my (maintenance) intake was:
Protein:76.5 (18%)
Carbs: 19.4 (4.6%)
Fat: 145.1 (78.5%)
Calories: 1703
This morning:
Weight: 149.6 (up .4)
Ketones: 2.4

So even with the increased protein I'm still firmly in ketosis. I think the combination of slightly increased protein with a lot more fat is helpful to this process. This puts me right around the lower range of the Phinney/Volek calculation. I went back and reread some parts of the book yesterday. I am trying to figure out how to use NK to build muscle. There really isn't a lot of information about that in the book. They are mostly dealing with endurance athletes, although there is the smallest chart in the protein section which has examples of protein requirements for power athletes vs endurance. The protein requirement for each is based on the same calculation, but the example weights of the power athletes are higher than the endurance athletes.

How is everyone else doing?? I am so looking forward to the long weekend! I'm crossing my fingers that my office closes early today. My walk to the bus takes me by all of the major retailers in the downtown core, so I may have time to stop by some of the Labor day sales.

You may want to look into Jeff Volek's book the "TNT diet" if you want to see how he pairs weight training with low carb eating. Though I think it's more of a targeted ketogenic or cyclical ketogenic diet once you're not losing weight. I think he'd push a lot more protein for muscle building.

[mom2zeke]

Originally Posted by 3Kids4me

You may want to look into Jeff Volek's book the "TNT diet" if you want to see how he pairs weight training with low carb eating. Though I think it's more of a targeted ketogenic or cyclical ketogenic diet once you're not losing weight. I think he'd push a lot more protein for muscle building.

LOL, I may still have that book on my bookshelf. I haven't looked at it in years.

[3Kids4me]

Just had my coffee with coconut oil and my cup of broth with KerryGold butter. That's how I do the Bulletproof coffee idea, I don't want butter in my coffee, but I like it in my broth. And 1 TB of cream with the CO in the coffee. So I'm at 250 calories for the day, pretty much all fat.

I tracked my calories yesterday which was a big eating day. I think I need to scale back to smaller meals at lunch and dinner or just have one meal and basically fast lunch. I like my morning coffee with the CO and cream and that holds me till 2pm or so. But I also think sitting down with the family and eating a real dinner is important. Maybe just a small snack at 2pm would work. I'm trying to stay under 1500 calories right now, but I'm okay with a zig zag of 2000 on really hungry days after lifting and running or 1000 on less hungry days. And keeping carbs under 20 g. with Induction rules for cheese, cream, no nuts or nut butters for this month. I'll add them back in in September.

Planning to have a last diet soda today. Just a farewell to my friend.

September goals--going to push really hard and try and drop 15 lbs, I'm still holding about 5 lbs of water and I think I can drop 10 lbs of fat at my weight if I'm working out hard and keeping the carbs low. That would put me at 178 lbs and 70 lbs down from my starting weight. I have a 5k to run October 6th, so I want to be ready for that. And the big one is no artificial sweeteners for September. I'm trying to decide about my 85% Green and Black chocolate bar. 1 square a day mixed in with CO or Cream Cheese is 1.25 carbs, but it is sugar, even if just a tad. Thoughts? As long as I count it? Avoid all sweet or treat tastes for a true Induction month?

Ordered 10 more sticks! I can't use them quickly, maybe test twice a week?

[3Kids4me]

Originally Posted by mom2zeke

LOL, I may still have that book on my bookshelf. I haven't looked at it in years.

Funny! It is more traditional weight lifter diet advice. I suppose the question is does there have to be a bit of insulin to build muscle, along with a calorie surplus?

[mom2zeke]

Originally Posted by 3Kids4me

Funny! It is more traditional weight lifter diet advice. I suppose the question is does there have to be a bit of insulin to build muscle, along with a calorie surplus?

An interesting question! Now I can't wait to get home from work and look at that book.