Keto eating

olb81

This keto diet makes a lot of sense the more I read, just wondered if anyone does it here?
It must be so hard to stay under 50g of carbs per day? 

Penguin_

A girl in work lost a lot of weight on it, however as soon as she upped her carb intake she did put some back on.

FlorayG

It's not hard once you get into the habit. The hard part is the withdrawal which can take a week - after that you don't crave carbs. I live low carb but now and then go keto if I find myself eating too many carbs - they do creep in!
It's a lifestyle not a diet though - if you stop and start eating mass carbs again all the weight goes back on. Plus, it doesn't suit everyone, you need to try it and see but give it a month before you say 'it's not for me'

DullGreyGuy

olb81 said:

This keto diet makes a lot of sense the more I read, just wondered if anyone does it here?
It must be so hard to stay under 50g of carbs per day? 

Depends on who you are, what your eating habits are and what foods you like. 

You ultimately have to get good at reading food labels, not eating out and being very restrictive on what you eat. My uncle loved it but my aunt cooks all his meals for him and he's happy eating bowls of chicken breasts, bacon etc all day long. He stuck with it a long time and his main cheat was beer but lost a good amount of weight from it. 

Wife has tried similar many times and it works for the short while but you need to be much better at having stuff prepared for munching on (esp as she doesnt like "cold food"), we eat out a lot which simply doesnt work and she always misses the textures so can only sustain it for a few months

As an example, 2 Richmond Sausages contain 13g of carbs whereas 2 Tesco Finest contain 3.7g so you are always having to check and can't just assume "sausages" are going to be fine because "they're meat". Plenty of things have flour and other agents added either to bulk, thicken or change texture. 

Like any extreme diet there are risks and like vegans one of the notable ones are nutrition definciany because you have such a restricted diet, as well as liver and kidney issues, esp if you have underlying problems in that area anyway. However it does work for weight loss, though the exact vector for this is slightly debatable. After the first few days of stuffing yourself with crackling and other things you would normally eat in moderation but it does get dull very quickly and if you look at it from a purely calorie perspective your consumption typically isnt as high as many would assume when you've cut out bread and spuds etc. 

Mark_d

I do it and have been doing it for about a year now.

For lunch I generally have salad - lettuce, cucumber, tomato/pepper, cheddar and cooked meat/tuna.  Plus mayonnaise.
As a snack I have Pepperami...though I rarely snack.

In the evening it's meat or salmon fillet with brussel sprouts/broccoli/cauliflower/cabbage. Sometimes a mushroom omlette.

Dessert is almost always berries and cream.

Bacon & eggs for breakfast is ok but I'd do that maybe once a week.

I don't have a sweet tooth so I'm not missing not having products with sugar.   It was slightly strange getting used to spaghetti bolognaise without the spaghetti, or cheese & biscuits without the biscuits but it's actually not too bad.

When going out there's no beer for me.  It's wine or G&T (diet tonic).  A kebab is just meat and salad.  Nando's is great, as is Toby Carvery.  Breakfasts out generally aren't a problem as the only thing to be avoided is the toast.

On holiday it's usual cruises for me.  As soon as I board the Azamara cruise ship I try to arrange a chat with the head chef.  I order my meals a day in advance so that they're cooked in olive oil to minimise carbs.  It works really well.

All in all the only think I really miss is beer!

DullGreyGuy

Mark_d said:

 A kebab is just meat and salad

Depends on what type of kebab you are talking about; if it's doner then it's not just meat and like sausages the carb content can vary significantly by brand. This 30kg elephant leg has 11g of carb per serving for example

Mark_d

DullGreyGuy said:

Mark_d said:

 A kebab is just meat and salad

Depends on what type of kebab you are talking about; if it's doner then it's not just meat and like sausages the carb content can vary significantly by brand. This 30kg elephant leg has 11g of carb per serving for example

You are correct.  But I'm not sure how much this really matters if you only eat the doner meat once every few months.
The less processed the food, the better it is for you.

WickedLady4

I follow a low carb diet but not keto. I lost about 18lbs over 6 months prior to DD's wedding 3 yrs ago and a stone of that has stayed off. 
I'm at the top end of my acceptable BMI so am giving it another go as from this week and will try to lose about another 10lbs. Breakfasts are fine - usually greek yoghourt and berries with a little h/m granola and dinners are usually ok - yesterday we had lamb with mushrooms, sugar snaps and roasted peppers but lunches can be hard if I'm not at home. 

I check carb values in a general way and find this works best for me.

DullGreyGuy

Mark_d said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Mark_d said:

 A kebab is just meat and salad

Depends on what type of kebab you are talking about; if it's doner then it's not just meat and like sausages the carb content can vary significantly by brand. This 30kg elephant leg has 11g of carb per serving for example

You are correct.  But I'm not sure how much this really matters if you only eat the doner meat once every few months.
The less processed the food, the better it is for you.

I think its just a good example of why you need to do your checks, a friend was basically living on sausages thinking they had this keto thing sorted until it was pointed out that there was over 66g of carbs per day in the sausages and thats before you add the fruit etc they were eating. 

There are lots of examples of products being adulterated or not what you think they are that catches people out. Sainsbury's dry roasted peanuts are 19g per 100 compared to 5g for KP salted peanuts, unless you look you may not know they are covered in rice flour and maltodextrin

FlorayG

The easiest way to go keto is not to eat any processed foods of any kind - that means nothing 'made by humans' including sausages and flavoured peanuts. That way, you don't have to read labels. I rarely read labels now because my diet consists of mostly meat and vegetables - which is actually considered by many to be the 'normal' diet for an omnivore human
NO way is it boring - there are hundreds of vegetables and types and cuts of meat and ways to cook them

shykins

i have been lowcarbing for over 20 yrs, started when the Atkins phase first hit and lost 8 stone.   i have pretty much maintained that loss with some fluctuations due to the odd cruise lol

as with any diet if you go back to eating your "normal food" you will regain.    after all your normal food is what made you gain weight in the first place!

as floray says there are LOADS of veg and salads and lots of creative ways to eat them.    Lasagna?  butternut squash or mushrooms instead of pasta layers,   courgette strips instead of spaghetti,   crustless quiche.  i could go on lol  .   I find eating out pretty easy too, carvery just avoid the potatoes ,  most places offer salads now just dont have the bread,  even at an indian i will have tandoori chicken and salad.    

i do find having things in the fridge ready to snack on is really helpful especially at the beginning and yes it does take a week or so for your body to adjust but stick with it and it then becomes easy

hope that helps