Amazing how that perspective changes!
I need to pick up some ketostix so I can make sure I'm in ketosis. Sometimes I feel I cheat a bit too much. Have a few too many fresh blackberries with breakfast, or too many times I take one bite of something, or I think oh shit, did I eat too many Almonds?
This is where MFP comes into play where if you track everything, you do alright. I get so lazy about it though, and after using it for years, I know what a Carb is and Carb isn't, and I'm not sure how I would log a lick of McDonalds icecream that my son had, or 3 blackberries, or a handful of blueberries.
I'm fluctuating a couple pounds right now between 323-325. Started this at 335, so basically lost my water weight, and now just hanging out. Same as exercise, where everyone tells you they have so much energy, I don't feel I really have all that much energy at all. Good sign that I'm not in ketosis, and my body is starving for energy due to low carbs. Just my luck, I'll be that dude that is super sensitive to carbs. Who knows. Time to do more logging on MFP and ketostix to get a better idea of what's going on with my body.
Ketostix are somewhat useless but they are good really just to make sure you're entering ketosis or still in it (if fairly recently went into it). However, you should feel it. Your body creates 3 types of "keto" things. Only one (acetone) can be detected in urine which is what the stix use. However, i believe this decreases over time and eventually you dont create acetone anymore but instead create the other two so the stix at that point are misleading.
I have not exercised much at all, because I just get whipped. I have walked my street a bit, but it's a weird feeling. I feel like I can move mountains, I have more energy than I ever thought possible before. But the moment I start really using it (brisk walk, or even walking a flight or two of stairs) I feel about ~5-10 seconds of fatigue. Once I stop I'm fine. I can continue, until the next fatigue hit. It's strange.
Just get through that keto-flu stage. You can do it. I swear, once you're over it, it is smooth sailing. It's just your brain begging you for carbs.
The keto flu: symptoms and relief - Low carb food list
edit: also my diet is extremely strict. Other than eating about 5 carbs worth of ranch dressing on a salad at a time I had absolutely no choice, I have followed the diet 100% perfectly. This includes not eating a single lick of ice cream or a single shread of fruit.
A few other tips to sedate my cravings and other tips:
1. Subway is your friend for dinner. You can get anything without bread, and they make it into a salad. Try to avoid the fatty meats (eg: Salami/Pepperoni but you can occasionally without fear and without that being a cheat). You can stockpile the spinach, brocolli, olives, mushrooms, and such though careful on tomatoes (I wouldn't recommend more than 2-3 slices of tomatos). I get double meat and have them put it on the side. I get no dressing (Sadly, even their spicy mustard has carbs surprisingly). However, I LOVE spicy mustard, so I get Grey Poupon instead,
which has zero carbs. Take the meat and smother it with grey poupon, and then put a shitload of veggies in it and wrap it up like a burrito. It's tiny, yes. But you can make about 15-20 of those if you do it right and it's more than filling and quite delicious.
2. No soda of any kind, including diet. Almost all sodas contain phosphoric acid, which is really strong and can build up on your fat making them slightly more difficult to break up into energy resulting in not as much efficiency in what gets broken down. While you can get away with diet sodas, this might make you feel less than optimal. Read #3 if this makes you sad.
3. In lieu of soda, GET CRYSTAL LIGHT. That stuff has saved me, seriously. It contains very little calories (5), and no carbs, and obv no phosphoric acid. It is a solid and complete replacement for regular water, if you wish. Make sure though the label says 0 carbs and not <1 carbs. Otherwise, you will drink a few carbs worth. Need caffiene? They make crystal light with caffiene added as well. Do you want a soda? Put it in a bottle of Pellegrino or some other quality sparkling water. Want cream soda? Buy some sugar free vanilla syrup,
this is what I getand use it in it. You can also use it for coffee and it too has zero calories, and zero carbs.
4.
Walden Farms productsare amazing,
for what they are. They have a HUGE selection of things too. Sadly, many of them are disgusting, especially the peanut butter and mayo, but some of them are not too awful and almost all their stuff is ZERO fat, ZERO carbs, and ZERO calories.
I use their ranch dressing, and find it definitely edible though it does taste a little strong of vinegar, but you have to keep this in context: It's 0.. everything.. for RANCH DRESSING. I've been told the thousand island is the best, but I hate that dressing in general so I don't get it. The trick is to find the products you like, and then.. fucking pour it on. The downside is it's expensive as FUCK ($8 for a small bottle on amazon) but some wal-marts and krogers seem to carry it at a reasonable price.
5. Keep a realistic vision: Much of the population eats horrible shit and we want to eat things because they are GOOD TASTING. We have molded our food appetites for things that taste good. This is fine, but it is not a realistic thing for a long-term solution. You can still eat good tasting food
once you lose all your weight, but you should incorporate good things in it. eg: A quiche in the morning made with (mostly) egg whites, cheese, bacon... and spinach, crumbled brocolli, and mushrooms. Generally, things not good for you will be delicious, and things good for you won't be delicious. Therefore, it's hard, but try to be creative. Order a cookbook for very low carb recipes or get creative. For example, if you hate spinach, boil some any way, and then use a ninja to blend your morning protein shake and put the spinach in it. Mix it up, and you won't even taste or see the spinach.
6. Avoid fruits. They are full of sugar. They are good for you, but you shouldn't eat them until you've obtained your weight goal. Avoid corn. Corn is also good, but not while losing weight. Wait until you can manage it. Avoid cheese and other dairy (other than a little
milkfor coffee "creamer" if you need). This stings for me, but cheese while low/zero carb is much higher in fat. If you get an amazing urge for cheese and just MUST cheat, go for it, but don't gorge and try to limit yourself to sedate the craving.
7. Don't weigh yourself daily if you feel like you will lose confidence in the diet. Otherwise, go for it.
8. I have a protein shake for breakfast, a small lunch, usually a chicken soup made with a thick broth (no flour, though!) and chicken pieces and I pour it over a bed of veggies. For dinner, I get raw protein, like a lean steak over veggies, or cauliflour rice, etc. 2-3 hours before bed, a small snack (like a atkins bar). That's ALL. Don't eat more if you can help it. You should be no more than 1,400 calories MAX for the day.
9. If you are like me and CRAVE sushi, you need to make your own in a very creative way, but it is sadly also very difficult. Use cauliflower rice. It's not really rice, it's just raw cauliflower grated into little pieces like rice. If you manage to keep it stuck together, great! Be aware that seaweed contains some carbs, but it's so neglible I think you'll be fine. I believe one "roll" contains 2 carbs at the max. Wasabi and soy sause is fine, but don't overkill on the wasabi.
10. You need supplements. A keto diet is going to deprive your body of things like biotin, Vitamin C, potassium, and such you get from fruits and other foods you will no longer be eating. My doctor said to take a double-dose, but YMMV.
11. Need sugar? Use stevia, but make sure you get it without erythritol. Not all stevia is equal! That adds some carbs, very few, and they are sugar alcohols... but really, its unnecessary. Get something like sweetleaf stevia from amazon.
12. If it's zero carb, zero fat, and zero (or just a couple) calories per serving, feel free to gorge as long as there isnt a hidden danger (like 600mg sodium).
