Ketogenic Diet

[pbibby]

Thoughts? Experiences? Cautions?

I'm a young guy, but my metabolism is starting to slow down. My family has a history of heart issues and I can borderline on mild hypertension (no meds though). Basically I know the science is changing and that salt is no longer the most evil thing. Couple that with needing to shed a few pounds and it led me to this. Also, I have a HORRIBLE sweet tooth and am a carb freak. This would serve to try to conquer all of that.

Anyways like I said. Thoughts? Experiences? Cautions?

Thanks guys.


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[Rod707]

Thoughts? Experiences? Cautions?

I'm a young guy, but my metabolism is starting to slow down. My family has a history of heart issues and I can borderline on mild hypertension (no meds though). Basically I know the science is changing and that salt is no longer the most evil thing. Couple that with needing to shed a few pounds and it led me to this. Also, I have a HORRIBLE sweet tooth and am a carb freak. This would serve to try to conquer all of that.

Anyways like I said. Thoughts? Experiences? Cautions?

Thanks guys.


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If you haven't done so already, check out the BOTL weight loss thread. I hope you'll find some helpful information there brother.
http://www.botl.org/threads/botl-weight-loss-thread.86549/

 

[IronW]

Ketogenic diets work great, especially if someone is really overweight as the hormonal response is ideal to combat many issues that make it difficult for them to burn the fat. That being said they work well for those that just want to lose a few pounds too. I wouldn't recommend doing it for a prolonged time though as that can lead to other problems. Given your hypertension issues, you might consider having blood work done before you start and after a couple weeks to make sure you're not causing any other issues.

 

[HIM*]

You may shed some water weight and slim up a bit but to lose body fat you need to be in a caloric deficit. I prefer to eat a moderately low amount of carbs but its really whatever works for you. Whether thats the keto or caveman diet, ultimately its about eating less calories than your body needs and consistency.

 

[pbibby]

I'm just trying to gather information. Not sure I'll go all out on keto, but definitely going to start watching carbs/ higher and better fats


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[IronW]

You may shed some water weight and slim up a bit but to lose body fat you need to be in a caloric deficit. I prefer to eat a moderately low amount of carbs but its really whatever works for you. Whether thats the keto or caveman diet, ultimately its about eating less calories than your body needs and consistency.

This is largely true, and some diets are more effective than others, however there's more to losing fat (not just weight) than calories in / calories out.

 

[pbibby]

Ultimately as well it's sugar that is probably worse for you than anything else. Between its inflammatory properties and everything else, it's worth cutting carbs just for that. And carbs are one of my weaknesses


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[IronW]

Ketogenic dieting causes a hormonal response, particularly insulin and glucagon (pretty sure glucagon is the big one besides insulin). Carbs raise blood sugar which causes insulin production. Insulin causes your body to go into storage mode shuttling nutrients into cells, both fat and muscles. Eating fats, with little to no carbs, causes your body to produce glucagon, which will mobilize stored fats to burn for energy.

That's the ketogenic diet in a nutshell

 

[nc_6789]

I wanted to try keto a while back, but before that I decided to try something called the "Anabolic Diet" which is basically a scaled down version of keto and I didn't last more than 3 weeks lol I need my carbs

 

[HIM*]

This is largely true, and some diets are more effective than others, however there's more to losing fat (not just weight) than calories in / calories out.

Agreed. My point is you can't just make macronutrient adjustments and expect good results. You can eat 0 carbs every day and still gain weight if your taking in more calories than your body uses up. Reminds me of a buddy of mine that tried Atkins and thought he could eat buffalo wings almost daily. Not understanding he was still eating like 2 days worth of calories by having those wings. But he was staying under his carb limit!!!...smh lol

 

[sofc]

Agreed. My point is you can't just make macronutrient adjustments and expect good results. You can eat 0 carbs every day and still gain weight if your taking in more calories than your body uses up. Reminds me of a buddy of mine that tried Atkins and thought he could eat buffalo wings almost daily. Not understanding he was still eating like 2 days worth of calories by having those wings. But he was staying under his carb limit!!!...smh lol

Don't mean to disagree with you as I think you're right on a majority basis but I know people who eat much much more than that and still lose weight even if they don't exercise. For some, the no carb thing works in the short term anyway.

 

[HIM*]

Don't mean to disagree with you as I think you're right on a majority basis but I know people who eat much much more than that and still lose weight even if they don't exercise. For some, the no carb thing works in the short term anyway.

You make a good point as it mostly boils down to your metabolism. Ectomorphs aka hard gainers have really fast metabolisms and need more calories to maintain or gain weight. Like 3k-4K daily compared to the ~2k that works for most people. They're lucky in that they can also lose weight on a higher daily calorie intake. Granted overweight ectos aren't easy to find, usually they're really skinny.

 

[pbibby]

Hahaha oh for sure. What I have noticed too is I reach a calorie limit naturally. I can't over eat too much so that's good. And I don't generally pig out normally anyways.


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[IronW]

There are many other factors you can take into consideration. I've used two ways of going about figuring how many kcal you should consume in a day.

First is the common way, where you figure out your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) which is how many calories you burn doing nothing just to sustain yourself. Take that and factor in your activity level and you figure out how many kcal you actually burn throughout the day. From there you would either eat that amount in the appropriate amount of macronutrients in order to stay the same weight but get in shape, subtract 300 to 500 to lose weight, or add 300 to 500 to gain weight (muscle mass ideally)

The second way is a little less common but I think works better, it's the baseline approach. First you would track how many calories you eat every day, find the average if you go up and down day to day and then try to stay at the average every day. This amount of calories is the baseline amount. After you've tracked that and gotten your caloric intake to be very close to the same everyday, you apply the same principle as the first approach, subtracting 300 to 500 or adding 300 to 500 from your baseline number. I like this approach better because it's tailored to the individual and what their body is use to, which generally will cause their body to react to the deficit or excess calories.

If someone is eating 4k calories daily then they cut it to the "recommended" 1500 calories or so, often they will not lose the fat like you would think because this huge deficit from what their body is use to causes the body to go into starvation mode where it tries to hang onto stored fats to burn for energy over the long term.

 

[HIM*]

^ Spot on. I sort of recommend a mix of the 2. Get an idea of where you should be then eat at maintenance for a couple weeks. Helps get you used to tracking things and dials in what your actual baseline is before trying to cut calories.

 

[MGillespie]

Have the proper diet mainly include the fresh and green vegetables in it.

 

[csk415]

Friend of mine just got done with doing keto. Did it for about 2-3 months. It worked for him. I tried it but it was just to hard to eliminate carbs completely from my diet. If your a carb junky, keto might not be so easy. A few years ago I did the Body for Life workout/nutrition. For me it was a simple way to get healthy and eat healthy. I thought the nutrition fit a normal day to day life style and was super easy to follow. No matter where I was at I could apply the idea behind it and eat healthier. I started to do the BFL nutrition idea back in April. I also do some cardio during the week and have dropped about 15lbs. Probably didn't help you out any but good luck if you try keto.

 

[MGillespie]

Ketogenic diet do work great to reduce body fat in large extent.

 

[navyvet]

keto is good my only cautions is make sure you are drinking plenty of water. if you have any bathroom changes don't ignore them. I always tell people if they want to lose weight diet is not the way to fast results but a combination of being more active and diet. if you want quick results increase activity and reduce intake increase amount of times you eat reduce amount you eat. so you have several small meals a day. and cardio cardio cardio. i have noticed with keto diets i do tend to get grumpy i have heard alot of people having good luck with hcg diets but now the fda has stepped in to reduce the amount of hormones in the supplements. hormones an't nothing to mess with. change habits take the stairs if the store is only a little ways away take a bike or walk. I saw a guy that weight was close to 400 lbs and he could eat as many times a day as he wanted but he had to walk to get the food he lost tons of weight. if everytime you eat you had to work out for 30min before you eat you wouldn't imagine the weight you would loose. and juicing detoxes work good too for starting a diet. in all honesty there is a million ways to loose weight no one way will work for everyone. i do know that you need to make a plan and stick to it long term a month min stay off the scales only weight yourself on the first of every month. at some point you will reach time periods of platue don't get discouraged lean unprocessed meats, find foods low on the glycemic scale simple carbs don't count. if you are really going gung ho with this it is best to keep your dr. in the loop. walking 3 miles a day only takes and hour only takes 18 min if you jog

 

[nc_6789]

Any updates on what you did @pbibby