I have weighed more than once during this week of Keto because the good news keeps me going. The worst that has happened is “no change” and I am OK with that when it does happen.
I started on Tuesday, December 26 (a Full Moon), which was 8 days ago and here are the results:
That is 5.6 pounds lost, 1.4% body fat lost, and a 1.0 drop in my BMI. My muscle mass is up 1.4 lbs. As you might guess, I am very satisfied with these results, but I also am under no illusion of anything. I have been here before. I have seen better results than this, recently even. I will feel excited when I get below 253 and then again when I get below 250. Those will both be significant mile markers for me. With any luck, both of those can happen in the next week or so.
My pee strips are showing a trace of ketones, which is encouraging. I still have weeks to go before I am “fat adapted.” For those who do not know, as a rule, Americans are “glucose adapted,” meaning that our bodies are trained from the time we stop having human breastmilk to use glucose/sugar for energy. We get it from actual sugar, plus the naturally occurring sugars in fruits and other foods. We also get glucose from starchy foods where the high starch value converts almost immediately to sugar in the body (potatoes, pastas, bread, all grains, carrots, etc).
When we eat food with a high sugar or starch content, our glucose levels spike and we get an energy rush (Helloooooo Red Bull). A maple glazed donut can bring me back from the dead in nothing flat. Unfortunately, it converts easily to fat and the energy rush we get out of it results in an energy crash within a couple of hours, then we are hungry and tired again, so we eat more starches and sugars to replenish the rush.
Our bodies also store glycogen (glucose/sugar) to give us residual energy to keep moving and will draw from that anytime we need a boost beyond the super rush of foods or drinks with a high concentration of sugar/starches.
With keto, you pull your intake of carbohydrates (the measurement of sugar and starches in the diet) to less than 20 grams per day. For most people, 20 grams covers incidental carbohydrates we pick up in healthy foods. If I eat a cup of green beans, it only had 30 calories (yay), but has 6 grams of carbohydrates. Green beans. You can see that it is almost 1/3 of my daily allowance and a cup of green beans is less than I would usually eat in a meal. Green beans are one of the few vegetables that I really enjoy, so I eat them quite a bit. A half cup of green peas has 10 grams of carbs. Carbs are everywhere and hard to avoid.
By eliminating the overwhelming number of carbohydrates we consume, a major change happens in how we process the food we eat. The average American eats approximately 250 grams of carbohydrates a day and that is with the USDA recommended diet.
The USDA food pyramid that we were taught for decades wants us to consume carbohydrates up to 11 times a day and then fruit 2-4 times a day on top of that. The history of the food pyramid is fascinating and many consider it to be the primary cause of the obesity epidemic in America, coupled with the “low-fat” myths and recommendations pushed by the USDA. Researchers have known for many years that this is an unhealthy way to eat and there are many reasons why we do not have an updated meal plan. (For more on this, reference the documentaries I posted HERE.)
I mentioned Michelle Obama’s “My Plate” campaign in an earlier post and that is better, but still not great since over half of the plate is still very high in carbohydrates.
Researchers also propose that the food pyramid is responsible for the upsurge in Type 2 Diabetes which has skyrocketed in the past few decades as our bodies try to adapt to this huge intake of sugar and starch.
Keto flips the pyramid with a foundation of healthy fats, protein, and non-starchy fiber. By limiting carbohydrates to less than 20 grams per day, the glycogen stores get depleted within 2-3 days and the body has no sugar to burn for energy. When this happens, our marvelous body systems begin to burn what for fuel? Fat… the fat that we eat and the fat stored on our bodies.
Ketones are a by-product of this conversion of burning fat instead of sugar and they are released in the urine and exhaled through the breath. “Ketosis” is a different process than ketoacidosis, which is dangerous. Ketosis happens during the first stages of the conversion. We also have a few days of lower energy as our bodies figure out what they are doing during the conversion and adapt to the new process.
Over time, our bodies reach the point that the physical preference is to burn fat instead of sugar and when that happens, will aggressively look for fat to burn rather than glucose. When we reach this stage, usually in 2-3 months of consistent ketogenic eating, we are said to be “fat adapted” rather than “glucose adapted.” Once that occurs, we have completely lost the energy fluctuations that come with glucose energy. We no longer have the intense energy spikes and drops and instead, have a more consistent level of energy, especially if we have a good supply of fat to use up available in the body. We sleep better. Our insulin levels regulate because it no longer spikes and tanks and spikes and tanks. We have better mental acuity without the brain fog that comes from eating lots of wheat and sugar products.
The biggest challenge is that it is hard. Throughout our lives, we become physically, socially, and culturally addicted to grains and sugars. How do we even eat a hamburger without fries and a bun? What kind of diet has no pastas or potatoes? What treats are there for the soul without occasional cakes, cookies, candies, or pastries? What is breakfast without a biscuit or toast or an English muffin, not to mention hash browns or country potatoes? Pizza with tomato sauce full of sugar and a crust that is basically bread?
Once you get past the uninformed hysterics who insist that Keto is harmful because we need carbohydrates (science has proven that we don’t), the biggest criticism is that it is not sustainable. Why? Because it is hard.
Eric is already grumbling a bit about the lack of pasta and potatoes, which were a big part of our eating before Keto. He is supportive and understanding, but yes, it is a huge change. Going out to eat, our previous #1 entertainment as a couple, is now a pain in the ass. Bread basket? No, it has to go on his side or be off the table completely. No desserts. Sides are difficult to find.
Here is the side menu for Denny’s: https://www.dennys.com/menu/sides I use Denny’s not because it is my favorite, but because it is a family restaurant that is pretty much all over the US.
From that menu, the only sides that will not take out several days of my carbohydrate allowance with just one serving is the sausage, the bacon, the ham, and the salad (provided I remove the croutons). When the waiter asked, “What two sides would you like with your entree?” exactly none of those are available. You cannot order breakfast sides with a non-breakfast entree without paying extras. You cannot order a side salad in most Denny’s without an upcharge.
“Is the chicken breaded?” “Are there noodles or corn or carrots in the soup?” “What vegetables are in the steamed vegetables?”
When you first begin a Keto diet, you edge slowly into ketosis and then the ketosis is quite fragile. If you eat 30 grams of carbs in a day when your body is used to less than 20, suddenly you are knocked out of ketosis and have to start over again, building your way back up to it. If you cave in and eat a cookie, bam! Ketosis is gone and you are at square one because for your body, burning glucose instead of fat is still the rule and this “ketosis” thing is just the new exception to the rule.
Once you are fat adapted, it flips so that you can occasionally have half of a burger bun with your burger or toast with your breakfast and not disrupt the fat burning process because now you have trained your body to see the glucose as the exception rather than the rule. The fat-burning process is less fragile and can handle an occasional disruption.
At a week into the process, I lost the initial weight most people lose on Keto, which is a good bit of water weight since the fiber of grains absorbs and holds water quite well. Imagine the difference in pouring a cup of water over a green pepper versus over a biscuit. Flour and water make paste for a reason. That gets stuck in your bowels and once you remove the grains from your eating, your body can safely release more water.
For my Meniere’s, I take a diuretic every day, so I do not have as much body water as most people. After the initial “whoosh” as it is called, the weight comes off more slowly until you are fat adapted. That’s why I said before that I am under no illusions. If the next week is as successful as this week, I will be thrilled, but I do not have that expectation.
I spent a year turning over every stone and investigating every option that might make this process easier. During that time, I had some weight loss, but nothing noteworthy in the past several months. This led me to the old conclusion that there are ways I can make this easier, but I can’t make it easy. If it is going to be hard, I have to decide that I am not going to bother or I have to dig in and do the hard part.
For now, I’m choosing the second option. I am committed to doing this until June 21 and then evaluating how well it is working for me and at that time, decide what comes next.
The biggest concern is the depression that has taken over previously when I have tried Keto. Yesterday, I had some of that, but I seem to have shaken it off today. This is an addiction cutlivated in me since birth, so I can’t expect it to let go of me without a fight.
As of today, 8 days in, I am still fighting the good fight. I have been compliant every day and kept carbs around 20 grams and calories under 1200.
This is some great information. Thank You for that and Thank You for sharing this journey with us. I look forward to your posts.
Debbie