That likely is the cause, thanks!

Fur, I have a lot of thoughts and a little bit of science behind this. I'll try and collect my thoughts and respond tonight.

What I am trying to do optimally is to fast 15 or more hours between meals. I do think however that most folks need to work up to this and I did and still do eat something sooner if I feel like I need to eat,whatever those symptoms are,you know your body better than anyone else. As long as I feel great,and I'm not hungry or weak in any way,including lightheaded,I may extend that fast. I do however want to eat really good health building foods when I do eat again.

I did that yesterday. I did extreme amounts of cardio all during the day and drank about 12 bottles of water plus my coffee all day. My supper was around 9 PM. I've not ate yet today,and I am not the least bit hungry or weak.

If however I had got out of bead hungry or got hungry at any time I would eat something. If I wanted a real fat burning day and I was on the go that day, my meal of necessity,because I needed to eat when I thought I wasn't going to,might be a pound of cooked turkey breast from whatever grocery store I was close to.

RH have you ever tested your blood or urine to see if you’ve been in ketosis? I’ve tried eating really clean, only eating lean meats, good carbs, fresh vegetables with some fruit and I lose weight but lose it very slowly. As in 2-3 pounds per month. I know that’s the recommended rate of weight loss but you lost it much faster than that. Weight is falling off me doing this Keto thing. I feel very good now that I’ve beeb on it a week and I didn’t have that bad feeling after eating this morning. Yesterday I did eat a decent sized portion of raw cabbage and an still at the same level on bloodwork that I was prior to that. I decided after about 2 days on this diet that I’m not going to eat large quantities of bad fat just to get the fat. I’m trying to eat lots of plant fats too

Fur,I have not ever tested any of that. I've lost fairly close to 10 lbs a month. Some have been harder than others. I've adjusted lots of things but mostly to help how I feel rather than what my test showed. For example,I can actually tell the energy I get the next day from eating lots of spinach. I can tell how much better my digestion goes when I am eating some Greek yogurt. I've had lots of trial and error,I'm sure but my main goal is to listen to my body,and really listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit,which I like to call,The Voice of Truth,and do what I know is right,if I look at it in the light of truth. For example,I know a meal of a Snickers Bar,Cheetos,and Mountain Dew,isn't good for me at all,and if I want to live and feel good,I have to do better than that.

I honestly do think it's just that simple.We know what is good food and what is junk with the rare exception. We know when we over eat and when we need more exercise. We just didn't listen for so long,and got so bad that we are having to go a little more radical,but we still don't want to go too radical and get unhealthy.

I think the body runs on carbs,fats,and proteins. I think the fuel is the most efficient burning in that order. If we want to burn our fat,we have to make the best source of that fat to be us. That doesn't mean that we won't burn fat if we eat fat,but we need to eat less of it than we need to burn. I also think that ratio is constantly changing as your body changes.

I've lost about 115 lbs now,and still dropping. I'm dropping faster,and getting leaner and more fit all around. I sprinted yesterday for the first time in about 20 years and I was light enough and strong enough to flex my legs enough to keep the strain off my knees,even though they are immensely better. Point being,I eat different now but I am different now. I guess I'm saying to listen to your body and listen to God and be willing to change something if it isn't working.

I feel like I just cheated but I don’t think I really did.
Chili dog with no bun.

Fur, check your pm’s when you get a chance.

It's OK AC. It's a lot better than one with a bun and side order of fries and a milk shake. Isn't that the all American meal? I've had it a few times in different variations myself. I use to love those fried onion rings with a Sonic foot long chili dog and chocolate shake.

Nothing tastes as good as I feel now though.

Place I got the dawg said they get a lot of people through watching carbs.
They will do you a cheeseburger wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun. Maybe next week..,,

I just read a little of this thread. I'll offer some of my experience. I'm sure y'all have probably discussed some or all of what I'm about to type...

About 10yrs ago I lost 50lbs and got down to 190 by going to a weight loss Dr that had me eating low carb and drinking some meal replacement shakes. No exercise. Looking back, it was similar to low carb and intermenten fasting. I gained it all back, and then some.

Fast forward 10years and I'm doing it on my own this time, but with lifting included. I do not weigh, I just pay attention to my clothes. I cannot tell you how much weight I've lost or what my current weight is. I Had a colleague ask me today if I had lost 40lbs. I am close to getting on to the clothes I was wearing when I last weighed 190.

Here's what I'll tell ya from my experience this time...

#1 keto isn't just low carb, it's high fat, medium protein, and almost no carbs
#2 calories matter, it's not an ayce diet as long as you stay under a certain amount of carbs
#3 you will eventually need to cut back on the fat and let your body burn the fat you have stored for years.

#3 has been a game changer for me. I believe that my body became fat adapted and was only burning what fat I was taking in, not what I was carrying. Lower fat also means lower calories. About a month ago I started cutting back on fat and I've moved 3 belt notches since then.

All that said, this is what is working for me and doesn't mean it'll work for you. We're all individuals with individual needs

Good luck, stay strong and don't cheat.

I hope my experience can help someone

Thanks for all the replies. I’m very motivated and feel great. I just got home from fishing (2nd day in a row to get in this late) and I am watching some TV. A month ago before I started trying to eat right at all there is no way I could have worked all day, fished all evening and had the energy to do anything but crawl in bed. Something “clicked” with my body yesterday after posting about not feeling good after eating and I’ve felt great since. I know it sounds simple to most of you folks but being in the downward spiral of feeling bad and eating bad just compounds on itself. You get to a point where you’re miserable both in the way you feel and the way you think. I haven’t felt this good, mentally or physically since I can remember. I have a VERY addictive personality. I have been addicted to food all my life. Now I’m gonna try to swap one addiction to another. Being healthy. I haven’t skipped a meal in decades and I haven’t eaten supper in the past 3-4 days. I know that’s small stuff but it’s been a big deal for my confidence. Now I know I can do this.

RH your story has been great motivation to me.

I’m going to keep posting on this thread all year. If I stop posting that means I’ve quit. I want somebody to come whip the piss out of me.

Thanks buddy. The main goal is to feel better so you can live better. I don't know how much farther you have to go to be completely fit weight wise,but when you get to the point that you can exercise more and more,it will really kick in how good you feel.

I still have some bad days,but my bad days are about as good as my good days use to be and my good days are much better than any I've had in 20 years. I had some sciatica pain today. Probably from doing too many Dragonfly sit ups yesterday,on my weight bench. I was on the elliptical a long time too at it's highest setting and I sprinted up hill about 100 yards twice. That's besides the 35 lb dumbells I use to weight train. I basically rested today from exercise but worked on my back and got it feeling better doing some stretching.

I want you to keep us updated in this thread or another. I'm about to start one and show ya'll a picture or two. You see,I'm real small now probably, compared to most men my height and age. I'm now 51 years old and 6'2 215 lbs and wear a 32/32 Jeans and Large shirt. I actually see myself as still fat,and I do have a little roll on my gut that I want to work on but mostly I want to get healthy.

Anyway,I guess because I still see myself as a little fat and because I haven't really looked at a lot of before pictures of myself, I about broke down today when I tried on a pair of last years hunting pants. Only deer season before last these pants were getting too tight on me. They were tight enough that I couldn't wear long insulated underwear under them any more. I put them on today and it finally hit me how big I had been.I'll post ya'll a picture hopefully soon,but I actually put both my legs in one leg of those pants and pulled them up to my waist with both my feet sticking out the bottom. Both of my legs together now were about the size of what I had been before.

So I started the low carb thing April 1st, not sure how much I’ve lost but my scrub tops are not tight anymore so I’m happy with that. Slow day today in the clinic and I’m jonesing for twizzlers and a MTN Dew. So I cheated, got weak and went to gas station next door and bought them. Ate 2 twizzlers and just didn’t taste good, couple drinks of MTN Dew and same thing, tasted bad, too sweet I guess. So poured out the Dew and gave twizzlers away. Guess that will solve my future cravings.

Get you a few of those Adkins candy bars to help wean you off sugar. I used them last year during the holidays. The kids were scarfing down all kinds of candy and goodies and I would have cheated without them. One thing though you need to know,if you eat more than 3 at once you get at least 10 times that amount back out. Too many will tear you up and you really do need to drink a couple bottles of water with just one.

This is an adaptation thing, mostly. Your body is now is trying to figure out to use a different energy source. You are probably not ideally keto adjusted yet.The immediate glucose surge on eating is now absent, a previous hormonal event that cause a huge spike in blood glucose, insulin and other hormonal peptides. You've stripped that away. Your cells will have to adapt to getting used to no immediate rise in available glucose and to use either glycogen stores or ketones.

Some people never notice it, some it makes physically ill. Sounds like you are working through it. Raising your ketones above 1.5 mmol/L will help advance that too, at least in theory.

Sounds like you are on the right track.

Meant to mention, another common thing on keto/low carb is muscle cramps. Some think its low magnesium, some think its low dairy (Calcium)? I don't think anyone really knows. Multivitamins, huge oral magnesium supplements (magnesium isn't absorbed well) and maybe some electrolyte drinks might help. Some say tea helps them through it.

I told you guys I would keep this thread updated, so that if I fell off the wagon, somebody could come slap me. This was posted in the food forum regarding Keto meal ideas, so I thought I'd C&P it over here. I honestly can't begin to imagine how good I'll feel in a few more months. I added the bold font to BGD's quote.



You and me BOTH! I'm 47 years old and I honest to goodness don't remember ever feeling this good. I'm serious, I don't know if I've felt this good since I was a teenager. Every day this week I've either worked from 7am til dark or worked from 7 am til 4:30 then fished til well after dark. I was at the shop til mid morning today, then hauled chicken litter and spread it til after dark, just came in and took a shower and I'm still ready to go. A month ago I would have already been in bed watching TV and would have been dog tired since mid day. I would have been hurting in half my joints, I wouldn't have had any energy at all. I haven't felt good in so long I didn't think I'd ever feel good again.

I lost 13 pounds in my first 12 days eating this way. I bought a blood tester to check ketone levels and my "fasting" blood sugar as of this morning was 80. At my last doctors appointment it was 120 and I was labelled "pre-diabetic." My blood sugar level is now not going over 100 AFTER eating. The day I got the tester, which was about a week ago, my pre meal blood sugar level was running in the upper 90's. That's after a month of typical healthy eating. Low fat meats, lots of vegetables, fruit, healthy carbs, etc... My ketone blood level Monday was 2.3, that's up from 1.3 early last week. Weird thing is, I haven't lost a pound this week. But here's the kicker, I don't care. I'd keep eating this way if I never lose another pound just because of the way I feel.

I rarely get hungry and I'm only eating 2 meals a day. Right now I'm eating 2 boiled eggs for breakfast, and then lunch. I eat nothing after around 1-2 pm. I think intermittent fasting is helping me as much or more than the keto diet itself.

I am not doing any particular named plan but no breakfast for me, eat lunch most days some days I eat dinner some days I dont. Have cut bread out completely. Today mowing the grass my Jean's literally fell off my waist. I had to go get a belt when 3 weeks ago I had to breath in to button my jeans

Fur,did you cut out bread and sugar completely? In my research I found lots of people reporting feeling better like you but mostly from being rid of certain food allergies. A lot of them were either caused by bread or sugar.