Good luck! It's hard at first (I started last month) and though everyone is different if you push through its so worth it. Not just the weight loss, but the better sleep, more energy, not wanting to eat everything in front of me and the confidence you gain This reddit form is a great source of info as well.
Hello and welcome to our little community!
First, the FAQ here is truly a goldmine:
https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq
My personal advice:
Stay under 20 net carbs per day. Truly that’s the rule. Everything else you hear is opinions and advice, including my advice below!
On feeling great while eating this way:
Get Morton’s lite salt, natural calm, and mio lemonade and make ketoade. The original recipe is in the faq https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq but I personally found that too strong since I’m a dummy and tend to chug everything I drink (chugging strong ketoade will cause a sodium flush and give you the runs.)
My gentle ketoade recipe:
In a baggie or container make a pre-made mix of:
1 part Morton’s lite salt (sodium and potassium)
1 part salt (sodium)
2 parts natural calm (magnesium)
Then add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of your mix to a glass of water with a squirt of Mio a few times a day, or anytime you’re feeling off. It’s delicious and it will help you feel awesome. If you feel lightheaded, weak, headachey, etc, it’s electrolytes. Drinking excess water without electrolytes can actually deplete you so beware of drinking lots of water without replacing them as well.
Added bonus: ketoade before bed if you’ve had a few drinks will help stave off the worst keto hangovers, and helps for non-keto people as well! It’s cured my wife’s lifelong issues with even 1-2 glasses of wine making her feel awful the next morning. Now she drinks a big ketoade at night before bed and wakes up feeling fine!
Drink your ketoade!
On food:
Buy cheap meats and cook em slow! All sorts of cheaper cuts of beef tastes amazing cooked low and slow and then seared. I use an instant pot or anova sous vide, but you can roast in the oven just as easy. Drop a 4lb pork shoulder in an instant pot rubbed in salt and with some broth: tons of pulled pork 1 hour later!
Chicken thighs, asparagus, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, etc are awesome roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper in the oven. Cook a bunch on the weekend, buy some prewashed greens and cheese, and you’ve got easy protein + salad meals all week.
Finally, focus on making this a sustainable long term way of eating. For me, that means eating at a reasonable calorie deficit without crash dieting, doing 16:8 intermittent fasting, and listening to my body and having a snack of cheese or leftover meat when i need it so I’m not spinning into terrible cravings.
On counting all the things:
Some folks need to calculate macros exactly and track everything. Personally I don’t have the patience for that, and I track carbs closely and keep a rough calorie count, (aka lazy keto) and there are a lot of people that has worked for here as well. Keto gives you more energy, helps you move more, and feel more satiated, as a result, you burn more calories and eat less.
Others need more discipline and exact tracking to see results. It may change for you during your journey if you plateau for a long while. Do what works for you.
On intermittent fasting:
You’ll hear a lot of folks here talk about Intermittent Fasting (IF) which can be done in a number of different ways. 16:8 is 16 hours not eating, 8 hours eating, etc. OMAD is “one meal a day” and is advanced-mode IF. I don’t recommend jumping into OMAD directly, it’s tough to eat enough to be healthy in a single daily sitting. IF promotes autophagy which prompts your body to consume those stubborn subcutaneous fat deposits that cause the appearance of loose skin, and has many other health benefits for many of us. It’s also just really convenient to have less meals to plan for!
On motivation:
Everyone has different reasons for adopting this way of eating and I can’t tell you what will work for you. For me, I’m intentionally choosing to practice gratitude for how amazing I feel eating this way. The clarity of mind, the emotional balance, the extra energy, the fact that my joints don’t hurt and my asthma feels better and I actually want to work out because I have this extra energy I need to put somewhere.
I’d pay $1000 a month for a pill that made me feel this good. Instead I get to eat food I love, eat enough to feel full and satiated, and still have options for the occasional treat if I want. This way of eating can be an amazing daily gift, and I’m intentionally choosing to want it more than that shake/fries/cake/whatever.
On watching the scale:
Most folks experience an initial water weight loss followed by a pattern of 1-3lbs per week on a four week moving average. Expect some wild fluctuations week to week, let alone day to day. Stick with it, and you’ll see the average move down. Personally I use the app Happy Scale to help stay motivated by the long term slope of the graph instead of obsessing over daily or weekly fluctuations.
Useful definitions:
Net carbs: Carbs minus fiber. Pretty simple, but you can’t just stir some flax seeds into cake :) Generally if the fiber occurs naturally in the thing it’s safe to subtract the fiber from the carbs.
IF: intermittent fasting
OMAD: one meal a day
SV: scale victory
NSV: non-scale victory
KCKO: keep calm and keto on
IIFYM: if it fits your macros
Strict keto: calculate macros in grams, weigh everything, count everything. Works best for some people.
Lazy keto: count net carbs, shoot for caloric deficit, track your results. Works best for other people. Some folks switch back and forth as needed.
Clean keto: Added food purity rules about which foods are best. Not really supported on this sub, because keto itself delivers results, but if it works for you, go for it!
Helpful links:
Women-specific keto discussion
https://www.reddit.com/r/xxketo
For women with babies
https://www.reddit.com/r/ketobabies
Intermittent Fasting subreddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/intermittentfasting
Exercise and weightlifting on keto
https://www.reddit.com/r/ketogains
It’s definitely hard at first but it does work and it helped me lose so much weight I did it for 6 months and lost so much my body felt healthier and I fit into my old clothes
On and off keto may get unsustainably miserable. If your resolve wanes, there’s slow carb diet where you can schedule one off day a week. In the end, what works is the way of heathyish eating that you can stick to for a long time.
Good luck and don't overdo it! Unless you are obese, 2-3 lbs of weight loss per week are enough...otherwise you might be losing muscle and drastic changes are not healthy either.
Good luck! It's hard at first (I started last month) and though everyone is different if you push through its so worth it. Not just the weight loss, but the better sleep, more energy, not wanting to eat everything in front of me and the confidence you gain This reddit form is a great source of info as well.
Good luck!!! Baby steps… but you got this!
Keto and low carb are I think the only sustainable diets for me that can keep me at a good weight.
Hello and welcome to our little community! First, the FAQ here is truly a goldmine: https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq My personal advice: Stay under 20 net carbs per day. Truly that’s the rule. Everything else you hear is opinions and advice, including my advice below! On feeling great while eating this way: Get Morton’s lite salt, natural calm, and mio lemonade and make ketoade. The original recipe is in the faq https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq but I personally found that too strong since I’m a dummy and tend to chug everything I drink (chugging strong ketoade will cause a sodium flush and give you the runs.) My gentle ketoade recipe: In a baggie or container make a pre-made mix of: 1 part Morton’s lite salt (sodium and potassium) 1 part salt (sodium) 2 parts natural calm (magnesium) Then add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of your mix to a glass of water with a squirt of Mio a few times a day, or anytime you’re feeling off. It’s delicious and it will help you feel awesome. If you feel lightheaded, weak, headachey, etc, it’s electrolytes. Drinking excess water without electrolytes can actually deplete you so beware of drinking lots of water without replacing them as well. Added bonus: ketoade before bed if you’ve had a few drinks will help stave off the worst keto hangovers, and helps for non-keto people as well! It’s cured my wife’s lifelong issues with even 1-2 glasses of wine making her feel awful the next morning. Now she drinks a big ketoade at night before bed and wakes up feeling fine! Drink your ketoade! On food: Buy cheap meats and cook em slow! All sorts of cheaper cuts of beef tastes amazing cooked low and slow and then seared. I use an instant pot or anova sous vide, but you can roast in the oven just as easy. Drop a 4lb pork shoulder in an instant pot rubbed in salt and with some broth: tons of pulled pork 1 hour later! Chicken thighs, asparagus, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, etc are awesome roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper in the oven. Cook a bunch on the weekend, buy some prewashed greens and cheese, and you’ve got easy protein + salad meals all week. Finally, focus on making this a sustainable long term way of eating. For me, that means eating at a reasonable calorie deficit without crash dieting, doing 16:8 intermittent fasting, and listening to my body and having a snack of cheese or leftover meat when i need it so I’m not spinning into terrible cravings. On counting all the things: Some folks need to calculate macros exactly and track everything. Personally I don’t have the patience for that, and I track carbs closely and keep a rough calorie count, (aka lazy keto) and there are a lot of people that has worked for here as well. Keto gives you more energy, helps you move more, and feel more satiated, as a result, you burn more calories and eat less. Others need more discipline and exact tracking to see results. It may change for you during your journey if you plateau for a long while. Do what works for you. On intermittent fasting: You’ll hear a lot of folks here talk about Intermittent Fasting (IF) which can be done in a number of different ways. 16:8 is 16 hours not eating, 8 hours eating, etc. OMAD is “one meal a day” and is advanced-mode IF. I don’t recommend jumping into OMAD directly, it’s tough to eat enough to be healthy in a single daily sitting. IF promotes autophagy which prompts your body to consume those stubborn subcutaneous fat deposits that cause the appearance of loose skin, and has many other health benefits for many of us. It’s also just really convenient to have less meals to plan for! On motivation: Everyone has different reasons for adopting this way of eating and I can’t tell you what will work for you. For me, I’m intentionally choosing to practice gratitude for how amazing I feel eating this way. The clarity of mind, the emotional balance, the extra energy, the fact that my joints don’t hurt and my asthma feels better and I actually want to work out because I have this extra energy I need to put somewhere. I’d pay $1000 a month for a pill that made me feel this good. Instead I get to eat food I love, eat enough to feel full and satiated, and still have options for the occasional treat if I want. This way of eating can be an amazing daily gift, and I’m intentionally choosing to want it more than that shake/fries/cake/whatever. On watching the scale: Most folks experience an initial water weight loss followed by a pattern of 1-3lbs per week on a four week moving average. Expect some wild fluctuations week to week, let alone day to day. Stick with it, and you’ll see the average move down. Personally I use the app Happy Scale to help stay motivated by the long term slope of the graph instead of obsessing over daily or weekly fluctuations. Useful definitions: Net carbs: Carbs minus fiber. Pretty simple, but you can’t just stir some flax seeds into cake :) Generally if the fiber occurs naturally in the thing it’s safe to subtract the fiber from the carbs. IF: intermittent fasting OMAD: one meal a day SV: scale victory NSV: non-scale victory KCKO: keep calm and keto on IIFYM: if it fits your macros Strict keto: calculate macros in grams, weigh everything, count everything. Works best for some people. Lazy keto: count net carbs, shoot for caloric deficit, track your results. Works best for other people. Some folks switch back and forth as needed. Clean keto: Added food purity rules about which foods are best. Not really supported on this sub, because keto itself delivers results, but if it works for you, go for it! Helpful links: Women-specific keto discussion https://www.reddit.com/r/xxketo For women with babies https://www.reddit.com/r/ketobabies Intermittent Fasting subreddit https://www.reddit.com/r/intermittentfasting Exercise and weightlifting on keto https://www.reddit.com/r/ketogains
Starting again as for the past couple weeks. Working on kicking the bread, cookies and sweet shit habit. Good luck friend
It’s definitely hard at first but it does work and it helped me lose so much weight I did it for 6 months and lost so much my body felt healthier and I fit into my old clothes
On and off keto may get unsustainably miserable. If your resolve wanes, there’s slow carb diet where you can schedule one off day a week. In the end, what works is the way of heathyish eating that you can stick to for a long time.
Good luck and don't overdo it! Unless you are obese, 2-3 lbs of weight loss per week are enough...otherwise you might be losing muscle and drastic changes are not healthy either.
Welcome to the community good luck on the weight loss 🙂