Point being: It's freaking delicious. The only carbs in that meal are dietary fiber anyway (not metabolized). That's pretty much a perfect Keto meal right there.
One of the downsides of the Reddit community is that they post a bunch of pictures of extremely greasy, fat dripping meat and cheese and egg concoctions. People get sidelined into thinking the Keto diet is the Bacon and Cheese diet, which is not the case.
An important factor is getting enough fiber and water. I've been eating a ton of spring greens, spinach, and kale with added fat (olive oil usually).
The other thing I wanted to say is that for the past several years, I've slowly watched many of my friends get fit while I gained weight. I'm so proud of all of you Icrontians who have gotten in shape. Thrax, Conrad, Jackie, Steven, Fatcat, Amanda, Meghann. You guys are all trimmer and in better shape than you were when I met you, and it's inspiring.
It's been hard to feel like I was going in the opposite direction. I felt like I was the one who couldn't do it.
I guess what I'm trying to say is: I feel like if I can do it, ANYBODY can do it. I've always had zero success with weight loss; I have only ever gotten fatter from the time I was 18 years old. My entire adult life has been a slow weight gain. It's really hard to think of that as a possible parabola. When the pattern has always been "Every year I get bigger", it's an extreme psychological roadblock.
I think I've finally broken the pattern, and I've done it before it's too late. This road has just begun.
The other thing I wanted to say is that for the past several years, I've slowly watched many of my friends get fit while I gained weight. I'm so proud of all of you Icrontians who have gotten in shape. Thrax, Conrad, Jackie, Steven, Fatcat, Amanda, Meghann. You guys are all trimmer and in better shape than you were when I met you, and it's inspiring.
It's been hard to feel like I was going in the opposite direction. I felt like I was the one who couldn't do it....
I've always had zero success with weight loss; I have only ever gotten fatter from the time I was 18 years old. My entire adult life has been a slow weight gain. It's really hard to think of that as a possible parabola. When the pattern has always been "Every year I get bigger", it's an extreme psychological roadblock.
BINGO... next up for me, trying something and sticking with it. But I am so happy to see that you are doing so well.
Prime, I am much the same as you in the way that I've tried exercising and diets to lose weight but I can't seem to stick with it for more than a month or so (even that with minimal success.) I am looking into this after reading about your success. Where would you suggest as a starting point in reading about the plan, what you can and cannot each and such?
If you go to the Keto subreddit and look to the right at all the links, I gave most of those a cursory glance to get an idea of where to start.
There's really not a whole lot of complexity though—that's the nice thing about Keto. It's just: don't eat carbs. At all.
After you've been doing it for a week or so you're going to want to get some Ketosis testing strips to make sure you're actually in Ketosis. If you eat under 20g of carbs a day, you'll be in Ketosis in a few days. You may experience some minor side effects at first; some describe a "keto flu" as your liver sheds all its stored glucose. That didn't happen to me. What DID happen to me was carb withdrawals. Seriously, we're addicted to them. The first two weeks were tough (Willpower-wise), but I guess I rolled a 20 on my will check, because I did not break. After two weeks, I stopped craving the carbs (although I still occasionally get cravings, but I just Like A Boss through them).
It's very, very important to start being aware of everything you eat; check the labels on everything. If it's packaged, there's a VERY good chance you can't eat it. SO many packaged foods have added sugar or starch or gluten. If a package says >2g carbs, I put it back and never touch it again.
Get your 20g of carbs from fresh leafy greens. Buy bags of spinach, kale, and other greens. Eat broccoli. If it's green and grows above the ground, it's probably alright.
The biggest mistake I think most people make on Keto is not eating enough greens. Seriously, I can't stress that enough. You'll see loads of BACON CHEESE OMG LOL I LOVE BACON but that's not the right path.
Is there a set period of time that is recommended for this. Such as do the keto diet for up to 3 months, but then you have to get off it. Obviously as you said it's not something you do forever, just didn't know what your goal is or what is recommended.
Cabbage is the same way for me as leafy greens... as are pretty much any raw vegetable. I don't know what it is or where it comes from, but I have what I can only describe as a severe psychosomatic response to leafy greens & raw vegetables wherein it feels like my throat swells closed when I bite into them and I can only swallow them if I really force myself to. Oh, and I've been tested for food allergies, I have none. It's strange and frustrating and makes me feel like I'll never have a chance at being healthy.
Most cooked veggies are fine (and I do eat them as much as possible). The leafy ones still weird me out though (including cabbage). Spinach I can handle in some forms, such as cooked and mixed into mashed potatoes. Fuck, typing this out makes me sound like even more of a weirdo than I already knew I was.
I think that's one point where I think I lucked out. I love a lot of leafy greens, particularly raw spinach. I also love broccoli (raw, steamed, fried in butter, dipped in cheese*, etc).
The Dole Spring Mix box is heaven in a plastic container for me. Spinach, arugula, and 100 other things that look like they might have come out of my back yard.
Hrmm... I've always read that once you cook vegetables you lose a lot of the valuable nutrition. Not that you shouldn't eat cooked veggies, but that raw would always be much better for you.
You definitely lose some, but it's not as though you'd be better off eating a stick than cooked broccoli.
Over-cooking (which is what happens most of the time) is what destroys the nutrients. A light blanching or steaming for most veggies is perfectly fine.
Hrmm... I've always read that once you cook vegetables you lose a lot of the valuable nutrition. Not that you shouldn't eat cooked veggies, but that raw would always be much better for you.
There's kind of a point of diminishing returns, however, because some vegetables have so much strength to their cell walls that some of their nutritional value can't be digetsted out if you consume it raw. Cooking weakens the cell walls, letting that nutrition out. It's a delicate balance to figure out exactly how cooked it can be to get the most out of it, but either way, cooking does not invalidate the benefit of the diet overall.
Think of it this way: it would be sheer folly to let this one detail of your distaste for a certain type of food stop you from being healthy for the rest of your life.
Think of it this way: it would be sheer folly to let this one detail of your distaste for a certain type of food stop you from being healthy for the rest of your life.
This precisely. It's better to eat cooked veggies than no veggies.
Right, I never said it wasn't. I guess I was just under the impression that you lost more nutritional value in cooking than you actually did. Also, so many diets (that I've looked at) make a big deal about eating salad specifically more often. That's a large part of what always discourages me since the only "salad" I like is fruit salad. While fruit salad is undoubtedly good for you, I don't really think you can make a meal out it on a regular basis.
Right, I never said it wasn't. I guess I was just under the impression that you lost more nutritional value in cooking than you actually did. Also, so many diets (that I've looked at) make a big deal about eating salad specifically more often. That's a large part of what always discourages me since the only "salad" I like is fruit salad. While fruit salad is undoubtedly good for you, I don't really think you can make a meal out it on a regular basis.
Salad greens are good because they have a high bulk:calorie ratio; in other words, you can eat a lot of lettuce and not consume many calories.
In fact, some of the items people like in their salads are actually hypocaloric, in that they cost more calories to digest than are actually contained in the food (celery, in particular).
... I guess I was just under the impression that you lost more nutritional value in cooking than you actually did. Also, so many diets (that I've looked at) make a big deal about eating salad specifically more often. That's a large part of what always discourages me...
Look, I'm not trying to sound like a jerk, but it sounds like you're the only thing that's stopping you from trying to become healthier. Many people put up mental barriers against doing something that they should do. In fact, saying "I should..." is pretty much a sign that you're going to find some way to not do something. It's a matter of throwing up mental barriers as an excuse for why you are not taking action, and barriers are your enemy.
I'm going to call myself out on the above. I'm a hypocrite - I haven't worked out since 2009. I should (hint #1 why I'm failing) but I don't. I put up barriers such as, "I don't like the gym nearby because the free weights are always busy" or "I only like to work out with a partner, and all my friends live far way" but in reality those barriers are just a moving the goalposts type of logical fallacy. Turns out I'm just lazy and not motivated enough to get past it and get back to working out.
I don't have an excuse. Shocking revelation: nobody really has an excuse to not be healthier. Go cook some veggies and try the diet.
Here's the part you're all missing: On keto, you're not going to be nutritionally deficient. You will get all of the nutrition you need from animal fats and protein. The veg is for fiber and bulk. It doesn't matter if you "cook all the nutrition away".
The point I'm trying to make is that regardless of whether you are or are not nutritionally deficient, it's still better than not doing anything for your health at all!
Comments
One of the downsides of the Reddit community is that they post a bunch of pictures of extremely greasy, fat dripping meat and cheese and egg concoctions. People get sidelined into thinking the Keto diet is the Bacon and Cheese diet, which is not the case.
An important factor is getting enough fiber and water. I've been eating a ton of spring greens, spinach, and kale with added fat (olive oil usually).
It's been hard to feel like I was going in the opposite direction. I felt like I was the one who couldn't do it.
I guess what I'm trying to say is: I feel like if I can do it, ANYBODY can do it. I've always had zero success with weight loss; I have only ever gotten fatter from the time I was 18 years old. My entire adult life has been a slow weight gain. It's really hard to think of that as a possible parabola. When the pattern has always been "Every year I get bigger", it's an extreme psychological roadblock.
I think I've finally broken the pattern, and I've done it before it's too late. This road has just begun.
There's really not a whole lot of complexity though—that's the nice thing about Keto. It's just: don't eat carbs. At all.
After you've been doing it for a week or so you're going to want to get some Ketosis testing strips to make sure you're actually in Ketosis. If you eat under 20g of carbs a day, you'll be in Ketosis in a few days. You may experience some minor side effects at first; some describe a "keto flu" as your liver sheds all its stored glucose. That didn't happen to me. What DID happen to me was carb withdrawals. Seriously, we're addicted to them. The first two weeks were tough (Willpower-wise), but I guess I rolled a 20 on my will check, because I did not break. After two weeks, I stopped craving the carbs (although I still occasionally get cravings, but I just Like A Boss through them).
Get your 20g of carbs from fresh leafy greens. Buy bags of spinach, kale, and other greens. Eat broccoli. If it's green and grows above the ground, it's probably alright.
The biggest mistake I think most people make on Keto is not eating enough greens. Seriously, I can't stress that enough. You'll see loads of BACON CHEESE OMG LOL I LOVE BACON but that's not the right path.
For the long term, I'll probably switch to something like the Paleo diet.
I still have quite a bit of research to do, but the plan currently sits at January to March, and then evaluating from there.
If I could get down to 240, I'd be beside myself happy (not to mention 50lb lighter).
FML, I'm going to be fat until I die of a heart attack at 45.
My girlfriend introduced me to baby bok choi, fried in butter. Amazing. Do weird shit: Fry broccoli in butter, fry spinach in bacon fat.
There are all kinds of ways to eat leafy greens that don't involve eating like a rabbit.
The Dole Spring Mix box is heaven in a plastic container for me. Spinach, arugula, and 100 other things that look like they might have come out of my back yard.
* This includes cheese, and "cheese".
Over-cooking (which is what happens most of the time) is what destroys the nutrients. A light blanching or steaming for most veggies is perfectly fine.
There's kind of a point of diminishing returns, however, because some vegetables have so much strength to their cell walls that some of their nutritional value can't be digetsted out if you consume it raw. Cooking weakens the cell walls, letting that nutrition out. It's a delicate balance to figure out exactly how cooked it can be to get the most out of it, but either way, cooking does not invalidate the benefit of the diet overall.
Think of it this way: it would be sheer folly to let this one detail of your distaste for a certain type of food stop you from being healthy for the rest of your life.
This precisely. It's better to eat cooked veggies than no veggies.
Salad greens are good because they have a high bulk:calorie ratio; in other words, you can eat a lot of lettuce and not consume many calories.
In fact, some of the items people like in their salads are actually hypocaloric, in that they cost more calories to digest than are actually contained in the food (celery, in particular).
Look, I'm not trying to sound like a jerk, but it sounds like you're the only thing that's stopping you from trying to become healthier. Many people put up mental barriers against doing something that they should do. In fact, saying "I should..." is pretty much a sign that you're going to find some way to not do something. It's a matter of throwing up mental barriers as an excuse for why you are not taking action, and barriers are your enemy.
I'm going to call myself out on the above. I'm a hypocrite - I haven't worked out since 2009. I should (hint #1 why I'm failing) but I don't. I put up barriers such as, "I don't like the gym nearby because the free weights are always busy" or "I only like to work out with a partner, and all my friends live far way" but in reality those barriers are just a moving the goalposts type of logical fallacy. Turns out I'm just lazy and not motivated enough to get past it and get back to working out.
I don't have an excuse. Shocking revelation: nobody really has an excuse to not be healthier. Go cook some veggies and try the diet.