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".
Just for clarity: I don't think anyone was criticizing keto in there, more addressing just the vegetables specifically.
Truestory, I wasn't dissin keto at all. Glad it's working for you Brian.
I was just commenting about the reliance on vegetables in all diets I've ever seen. Didn't mean to sound like a whiner or anything either, though I seem to have come off that way. I just get frustrated because I feel like in order to live a long, healthy life, I have to give up things that I enjoy (I enjoy both cooking and eating food, but generally not vegetables, especially raw ones)... but at the same time, what's the point of living if you don't do the things you enjoy?
I also didn't mean to derail this thread, but it seems I did anyway.
Ardi, believe me. You and I have very similar outlook on life. I have the same exact philosophy.
The sad reality is, though, that I have had to give up a lot... but at this point I don't care. A switch flipped in my brain and I'm sick of being fat.
I'm sitting here right now, surrounded by people who are drinking beer I wish I could drink, eating cookies I wish I could eat, etc. We went out to dinner and I had to make a lot of sacrifices. It sucks, but it's just the way it is. I figure that when I reach my goals, I can reward myself.
I cannot believe my own iron will. I am surrounded by treats. There are bowls, BOWLS of candy here; caramel milky way, kit kat, twix, snickers. Jackie brought fresh-baked homemade cookies last night. Nicole made some kind of amazing apple bars, and I had to sit here and smell them baking. Meghan just brought a huge batch of caramel chocolate chip brownie insanity that is quite literally making my stomach grumble. I have had to watch everybody enjoy all these delicious treats.
Fitness is sacrifiice. Sometimes it's not going out with friends. Sometimes it's going to the gym instead of having fun. Sometimes it's boring food. Sometimes it's hunger. Sometimess it's injury. Sometimes it's fucking hard.
I wouldn't trade any of the progress I will ever make to undo any of those.
I'll just add a nugget from personal experience and a stupid error I made.
A couple years ago I got really serious about loosing weight, I had hit about 265, It was the heaviest I had ever been, and I looked and felt like complete shit. Seriously, walking a flight of stairs was becoming difficult and I'm in my mid 30's. I decided I was sacrificing my health, and my wife and kid kinda need me, so I decided to get serious.
By the way, I was not on keto, but upping my protein intake helped immensely. Now, what you will find as an obese man is the first X number of pounds are actually really willing to fall off you. Cut out sugar, don't overeat, stay hydrated, walk a little and for the first few weeks weight just falls off, it's almost as if your body just knows, it's fat store is too full.
You will get to a point where you will plateau and you will want to continue to loose weight. I remember chatting with Thrax a bit, really, the best option to to resistance train at that point, you are eating a ton of protein, convert it into muscle. Body making muscle, metabolic rate goes up to support it, your burning fat again and at least back to loosing about two pounds a week. I got down to 215, and one day I took my shirt off and actually had a Toby Maguire Spider Man moment (well, the chest, shoulders and arms at least). I had put on so much lean muscle in just two months, and my son would check in on my workouts and he would scold me that I did not bother with crunches and leg lifts. "Dad, your core is weaker than the rest of you now, you are gonna hurt your back". I despise core exercise, it's worse than doing laundry.
And..... I hurt my back despite my then semi sexy looking pectoral muscles. Dumb, trying to fix a sink this past Christmas, I have not seen the gym since, and got back up to about 245. I'm dieting now, I've lost a little, down to about 238, but I gotta tell ya, I've never really resolved my back issues despite trips to the doctor, trying to sleep on different mattresses, pillows, and I can't take anti inflammatorys because they tend to make me nearly bleed to death internally.
Trust me, working out, it is not far off on your journey, maybe as soon as the next month or so. Don't be a dummy like Cliff. Work your core too!
I'm down to 257. When I saw the "25..." on the scale this morning, I was delighted. 250s is not a number I've seen in a long time and didn't think I'd ever see again.
I tried a "carb load" yesterday... I had sushi (lot of white rice). This morning I checked, and I'm still in ketosis, so that's a win.
Awesome job!! I just started today, so I hope I can have the same success that you are experiencing... Lunches look to be the hardest for me. What do you usually do?
I snack often. Get a bag of Baby Bel mini cheese wheels. I eat 1-2 of those for a snack. Avoid beef jerky, as almost all commercial beef jerky is soaked in sugar.
I was meaning lunches during the week when I am not home to cook something up. I eat at school every day. Snacks are another thing that I'm curious about. I have some roasted peanuts and some cheese, but other than that I'm not too sure what would be good and what wouldn't. Almost everything has carbs in it. This is definitely going to be a major change to my diet.
I'd get rid of the peanuts. I don't really snack anymore to be honest.
You can pre-make a good snack: Ham (or other meat) rolled up with cream cheese, cut into pieces.
Watch the deli meats, though. Many of them are also coated/soaked in sugar. You almost have to go to a butcher and make your own (and slice it up for lunchmeat).
I was meaning lunches during the week when I am not home to cook something up. I eat at school every day. Snacks are another thing that I'm curious about. I have some roasted peanuts and some cheese, but other than that I'm not too sure what would be good and what wouldn't. Almost everything has carbs in it. This is definitely going to be a major change to my diet.
For lunch, use a large Rubbermaid dish and make a salad in the morning or the night before. Be sure to keep the dressing and any non-dry ingredients (like tomatoes) in separate containers, otherwise your salad will be pretty nasty by lunch time. Want extra protein? Add meat.
Be sure of just how much sugar is in that dressing. It can be really surprising, and it varies by brand.
Leftovers are also a great thing for lunch. Amanda and I usually make enough food for at least one lunch the next day. Saves a lot of time in the mornings.
For dressing, try getting the red wine vinegar that is infused with garlic and splashing in some olive oil with it. If you put a little splort of deli mustard in there and shake the crap out of it, the emulsifiers in the mustard should pull the dressing together into a vinaigrette.
Generally speaking, if it's in a bottle on the shelf and it's labeled "dressing" it's full of HFCS. Especially if it also says "low fat."
Don't neglect the fat. Salads are nice, but they're mostly carbs, and we're aiming for high FAT snacks.
Take a salad and add very high fat, low carb dressing. One of the best I've found so far is Marzetti's bleu cheese (Their "ultimate" bleu cheese is the highest fat). Definitely add meat or hard-boiled eggs. It's VERY important that you aim for the Keto macros in every meal: 65% fat, 30% protein, 5% carbs.
So after a week I've gone from 265 to 256. Nine pounds in a weeks seems like alot but I am pleased. I am definitely full after meals which hasn't been the case on past diets and things I've tried.
Thanks!! Suzy still thinks that it's unnatural and I cannot seem to convince her that there's nothing nutritionally wrong with this diet. She talked to her mom who is a nurse and I guess she said some bad things about it too, but I'm sticking with it.
Yeah you'll find a lot of resistance. We've been programmed for generations to believe that fat is bad and evil, despite lack of compelling medical evidence.
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AnnesTripped Up by Libidos and HubrisAlexandria, VAIcrontian
Yeah you'll find a lot of resistance. We've been programmed for generations to believe that fat is bad and evil, despite lack of compelling medical evidence.
The original food pyramid is the greatest troll ever purported upon the American people. The grain and corn lobbies deserve the biggest troll badge available.
keto + workout makes wax a sexy man. i did reward myself this weekend, i had 3/4 of a bun on a culver's triple bacon cheddar butterburger yesterday and one beer today. here is a little over four weeks progression:
edit: YOU CAN ALSO SEE I CLEANED UP MY APARTMENT A BIT HAR HAR HAR
First, keep up the great work Brian! Second, thank you for sharing your story and experience with this diet. I am seriously considering diving into this. I love salads and I think I could live to tolerate the fats. I want to do some more investigating first to see what is involved, so I will be checking out that subreddit. I will miss the beer and carbs (oh how I love donuts and muffins!). But like you said, I'm sure I could get to the point where I'm past it. Keep us posted and keep living like a boss!
Yep, it still gets hard once in a while, but I'm totally over the carb thing. I don't crave bread at all, although candy (particularly chocolate) still calls to me once in a while. I just power through the cravings and they go away.
There are all kinds of awesome salad possibilities with keto. I made collard greens and bacon last night that was incredibly good. You can put all kinds of meat and fat on greens. hard boiled eggs, steak strips, ranch or bleu cheese dressing (make sure there's no added sugar), etc. There are a lot of possibilities.
Comments
Just for clarity: I don't think anyone was criticizing keto in there, more addressing just the vegetables specifically.
I was just commenting about the reliance on vegetables in all diets I've ever seen. Didn't mean to sound like a whiner or anything either, though I seem to have come off that way. I just get frustrated because I feel like in order to live a long, healthy life, I have to give up things that I enjoy (I enjoy both cooking and eating food, but generally not vegetables, especially raw ones)... but at the same time, what's the point of living if you don't do the things you enjoy?
I also didn't mean to derail this thread, but it seems I did anyway.
I'm glad. I didn't want to go to the trouble of finding out where you live.
The sad reality is, though, that I have had to give up a lot... but at this point I don't care. A switch flipped in my brain and I'm sick of being fat.
I'm sitting here right now, surrounded by people who are drinking beer I wish I could drink, eating cookies I wish I could eat, etc. We went out to dinner and I had to make a lot of sacrifices. It sucks, but it's just the way it is. I figure that when I reach my goals, I can reward myself.
I have not broken, and I will not break.
Great job, Brian!
I wouldn't trade any of the progress I will ever make to undo any of those.
A couple years ago I got really serious about loosing weight, I had hit about 265, It was the heaviest I had ever been, and I looked and felt like complete shit. Seriously, walking a flight of stairs was becoming difficult and I'm in my mid 30's. I decided I was sacrificing my health, and my wife and kid kinda need me, so I decided to get serious.
By the way, I was not on keto, but upping my protein intake helped immensely. Now, what you will find as an obese man is the first X number of pounds are actually really willing to fall off you. Cut out sugar, don't overeat, stay hydrated, walk a little and for the first few weeks weight just falls off, it's almost as if your body just knows, it's fat store is too full.
You will get to a point where you will plateau and you will want to continue to loose weight. I remember chatting with Thrax a bit, really, the best option to to resistance train at that point, you are eating a ton of protein, convert it into muscle. Body making muscle, metabolic rate goes up to support it, your burning fat again and at least back to loosing about two pounds a week. I got down to 215, and one day I took my shirt off and actually had a Toby Maguire Spider Man moment (well, the chest, shoulders and arms at least). I had put on so much lean muscle in just two months, and my son would check in on my workouts and he would scold me that I did not bother with crunches and leg lifts. "Dad, your core is weaker than the rest of you now, you are gonna hurt your back". I despise core exercise, it's worse than doing laundry.
And..... I hurt my back despite my then semi sexy looking pectoral muscles. Dumb, trying to fix a sink this past Christmas, I have not seen the gym since, and got back up to about 245. I'm dieting now, I've lost a little, down to about 238, but I gotta tell ya, I've never really resolved my back issues despite trips to the doctor, trying to sleep on different mattresses, pillows, and I can't take anti inflammatorys because they tend to make me nearly bleed to death internally.
Trust me, working out, it is not far off on your journey, maybe as soon as the next month or so. Don't be a dummy like Cliff. Work your core too!
I tried a "carb load" yesterday... I had sushi (lot of white rice). This morning I checked, and I'm still in ketosis, so that's a win.
I snack often. Get a bag of Baby Bel mini cheese wheels. I eat 1-2 of those for a snack. Avoid beef jerky, as almost all commercial beef jerky is soaked in sugar.
You can pre-make a good snack: Ham (or other meat) rolled up with cream cheese, cut into pieces.
Watch the deli meats, though. Many of them are also coated/soaked in sugar. You almost have to go to a butcher and make your own (and slice it up for lunchmeat).
Be sure of just how much sugar is in that dressing. It can be really surprising, and it varies by brand.
Leftovers are also a great thing for lunch. Amanda and I usually make enough food for at least one lunch the next day. Saves a lot of time in the mornings.
For dressing, try getting the red wine vinegar that is infused with garlic and splashing in some olive oil with it. If you put a little splort of deli mustard in there and shake the crap out of it, the emulsifiers in the mustard should pull the dressing together into a vinaigrette.
Generally speaking, if it's in a bottle on the shelf and it's labeled "dressing" it's full of HFCS. Especially if it also says "low fat."
Take a salad and add very high fat, low carb dressing. One of the best I've found so far is Marzetti's bleu cheese (Their "ultimate" bleu cheese is the highest fat). Definitely add meat or hard-boiled eggs. It's VERY important that you aim for the Keto macros in every meal: 65% fat, 30% protein, 5% carbs.
Damn you, Ancel Keys!
edit: YOU CAN ALSO SEE I CLEANED UP MY APARTMENT A BIT HAR HAR HAR
Yep, it still gets hard once in a while, but I'm totally over the carb thing. I don't crave bread at all, although candy (particularly chocolate) still calls to me once in a while. I just power through the cravings and they go away.
There are all kinds of awesome salad possibilities with keto. I made collard greens and bacon last night that was incredibly good. You can put all kinds of meat and fat on greens. hard boiled eggs, steak strips, ranch or bleu cheese dressing (make sure there's no added sugar), etc. There are a lot of possibilities.
Good luck!
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/icrontic/6330172401/" title="Bacon and Collard Greens by Icrontic.com, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6223/6330172401_1a3cedcec8_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" alt="Bacon and Collard Greens"></a>