LCHF or Ketogenic Diet

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Thank you for the inspiration to go back into the healthy eating plan!
I hosted Thanksgiving, and had a blast, but I like a lighter diet for more energy most of the year.
 
Folks - thought i'd share some updates. Last Jan 2018 i came across this thread and read about the Ketogenic diet for the first time. Was at my all time heavy (230 lbs) and was having no luck losing weight. Food has always been a weakness of mine and even when i was eating relatively healthy (low fat) it was always a struggle to keep consistent with slip ups causing me to get derailed often. Desserts are my krytponite ! I also did Cardio based workouts ( Orange theory fitness) for a few months and while i saw good cardio vascular and endurance results the scale did not budge much.
So after reading about the ketogenic diet i thought i'd give it a try. The first 2-3 weeks were hard giving up carbs.. with the keto flu and all :) .. but i realized that i never felt hungry anymore :) those late afternoon sugar cravings and late night muchie cravings .... gone !! A month after i began i had to travel internationally for work for a month and i thought that would likely be the end of my diet.. but to my surprise it was fairly easy to stick to it even when eating all meals in a hotel buffet for the most part. So from Jan thru June ended up going from 230 to 206 lbs with just the diet and no exercising. Strangely enough it didnt even feel like i was dieting. Never felt hungry!! In july went for a vacation for 2 weeks and decided to eat normally carbs and all. Once i came back i was surprised how easy it was to get back on the diet and within a week i was back at my pre-vacation weight. In Sept i came across Ketogains.com and their facebook group. Figured it was time to start excercising and tracking my macros. Ketogains bootcamps provided guidance around macros and workout plans. So from Sept thru Dec, i started actively working out and continued with Keto but with macro target tracking. The weight loss slowed down but also started gaining some muscle. Did a Dexa body composition scan in Nov and was happy to see that between Jan 2018 to Nov 2018 i lost 30.4lbs and gained 4.1lb lean muscle (the latter was in 2 months of working out Sept thru Nov). At end of Nov 2018 i was at 195.4lb
Went on another vacation for 3 weeks and decided to eat lavishly :) .. came back and was back on the diet without any trouble.. and was back at my pre-vacation weight within a week.
Since jan changed my focus on gaining strength and muscle so increased my caloric intake (protein and Fat) while staying on the keto diet .. lost only 1.5lbs since then but see a lot of body recomposition changes.. look much leaner with fat loss and gaining more muscle.

Anyways.. sorry for the long post but felt that it was time to share my experience and hopefully this helps someone who may be on the fence.

Happy to answer any questions as well.
 
Is anyone following a Low Carb High Fat or Ketogenic diet?

I adopted the ketogenic regime back at the beginning of June (2018). I feel great, have lost about 52 pounds, and can wear clothes that have not fit in quite a while. I just went to the doc to have blood work done to see if I am killing myself or not. Overall, other than the fact that my food choices are limited, as I do not eat a lot of the dairy that most on the diet eat to get fat calories, I think it is going quite well.

-Z
 
...Figured it was time to start excercising and tracking my macros. Ketogains bootcamps provided guidance around macros...

Great write up and awesome job! I've been on/off keto style diets for years and as everyone is aware, the older you get the harder it gets. Going into the Winter and up until a week ago, I was stagnant on my weight. You mentioned tracking your macros and such. A very good friend of mine put me on to "My Fitness Pal". It's a simple little phone app many of you may have heard of. You don't have to get the paid version, just download the free one. It's awesome! It tracks all your macros, etc. as you day goes on. If you're eating a food, you can simply scan a barcode and the nutritional information will pop it. You can do searches for the foods as well in order to log them. You can create your own custom entry for a food as well.

Basically it's a fancy log that records all that you eat. You put in your goals (ratios, percentages, for carbs/protein/fat) and your weight loss goals and it will give you target numbers for everything. A good keto approach is 5% Carbs-75% Fat-20% Protein. Which 75% fat is really hard to hit it seems... I'm usually down in the 60's. Anyway, I'm just past week one and already lost 3-5 lbs.

The reason it works is - it holds you not only accountable for everything you eat, but shows you in your face what the nutritional values are. What I can tell you is that those years of on/off again for me on the keto diet... I was probably not on a keto diet. I didn't track things close enough and now that I'm getting older - I definitely need to track things (better). "My Fitness Pal" does all that for you and BAM I'm on the right track again.
 
I did look at the Ketogains calculator and it is pretty good for setting up your initial goals. Couple that with the My Fitness Pal and it's a great [mobile] combination to track everything. I am eating slightly less calories than the Ketogains suggested and the percentages I listed above are slightly different. I'm probably closer (ratio-wise) on protein/fat/carbs to the Ketogains suggestions. My goals are fairly small... just wanting to loose 10-15lbs from where I was a week ago. But that last little bit has been the hardest. This little App put me right on track with immediate results already!
 
I lost 20lbs by reducing carbs, using elliptical, and hand weights in front of tv, but “plateaued” as my body adjusts to new regime. It is not only fat cells that have to adjust but all the other organs, (without getting into gnarly-bio details).

Lately if i eat any sugar i feel wiped out tired right after, which is a good reason to give up the sweets. This links explains why sudden exhaustion right after a carb load is a warning of impending Diabetic Doom.
Symptoms of Insulin Resistance: Tired After Lunch?
 
Yes .. i used to use My Fitness Pal.. i now switched to Cronometer since it automatically calculates the net carbs (total carbs - fiber) for you.i strongly suggest looking at the ketogains protocol on determining your macros.. rather than using %s they encourage calculating your macro targets based your body weight/fat % etc. They have a handy calculator on their website that you can check out. The net carbs stay fixed to 25g/day.


Great write up and awesome job! I've been on/off keto style diets for years and as everyone is aware, the older you get the harder it gets. Going into the Winter and up until a week ago, I was stagnant on my weight. You mentioned tracking your macros and such. A very good friend of mine put me on to "My Fitness Pal". It's a simple little phone app many of you may have heard of. You don't have to get the paid version, just download the free one. It's awesome! It tracks all your macros, etc. as you day goes on. If you're eating a food, you can simply scan a barcode and the nutritional information will pop it. You can do searches for the foods as well in order to log them. You can create your own custom entry for a food as well.

Basically it's a fancy log that records all that you eat. You put in your goals (ratios, percentages, for carbs/protein/fat) and your weight loss goals and it will give you target numbers for everything. A good keto approach is 5% Carbs-75% Fat-20% Protein. Which 75% fat is really hard to hit it seems... I'm usually down in the 60's. Anyway, I'm just past week one and already lost 3-5 lbs.

The reason it works is - it holds you not only accountable for everything you eat, but shows you in your face what the nutritional values are. What I can tell you is that those years of on/off again for me on the keto diet... I was probably not on a keto diet. I didn't track things close enough and now that I'm getting older - I definitely need to track things (better). "My Fitness Pal" does all that for you and BAM I'm on the right track again.
 
Try switching to a resistance/strength training program such as 5x5 and focus on compound lifts. The growth in lean mucle mass will help kickstart further weight loss after a while. And you will be happy with the body recomposition results in the mirror :)

I lost 20lbs by reducing carbs, using elliptical, and hand weights in front of tv, but “plateaued” as my body adjusts to new regime. It is not only fat cells that have to adjust but all the other organs, (without getting into gnarly-bio details).

Lately if i eat any sugar i feel wiped out tired right after, which is a good reason to give up the sweets. This links explains why sudden exhaustion right after a carb load is a warning of impending Diabetic Doom.
Symptoms of Insulin Resistance: Tired After Lunch?
 
I started a "keto" diet at the beginning of the year and by the end of the first month, I'd lost right at 23 lbs. And by doing nothing but changing the way I eat and drinking lots of water (although only about half of what I should). I'm at the end of my second month and have my monthly doctor visit this afternoon and I can say honestly I haven't done all that great this month. I've lost maybe 2 lbs, if even that. But I haven't gained, either. The main problem....not eating at home. For a while I was doing great and was making healthy choices, even when I did go to a restaurant. And I even typically took one day (Saturdays) to splurge a little and be "bad" so I didn't get burnt out too quickly. But for some reason this month I just haven't done all that great. Eating out more, not making the best choices when I do, and not choosing healthy snacks in the evenings when I get cravings. I'm also taking an appetite suppressant but sometimes it seems like maybe it's just not working. I'll talk to my dr. about that today. But my next step is to start getting active again and get into an exercise regimen. The obstacle there is time management. My wife leaves at about 4:00-4:30 am every day to go to the gym and then to work from there. I wake up and get dressed then get my kids (9 and 4) ready. Then I get off work earlier so I pick them up in the evenings. So trying to find time to fit in good exercise has proven to be somewhat difficult. But I think over the last day or so I may have figured out a solution. Start working out at night after my kids go to bed. Then I'm not losing any time with them and mom is home to take care of them. So that's the latest plan. Get back in shape and get active. Maybe then I can finish this damn 400m swim!
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

Back
Top Bottom