Getting started with Keto

Keep an eye on cholesterol levels and make sure you are consuming enough greens, fiber and potassium, Try to get lots of healthy fats and avoid long chain saturated fats. The carbs you are allowed to consume need to be spent on healthy foods.
Do that and you avoid most of the health risk of keto.
Finally being in ketosis allows for a very easy transition into fasting which I highly think is work doing for a few(3-5) days.

Also my advice on transition into a fast applies to ketosis(lots of low level exercise during the first few days to burn up glycogen).

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Wife says her keto is going great so far. Down on weight and measurements. She picked up some ketone strips, but she is having a heck of a time figuring out what a good number is to hit? She says she’s been around 3 and 8 mmol/L according to the strips. That sound about right? Not finding much useful references on the interwebs…

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MCU8NJ6/

Yep

It doesn’t really matter, levels are going to vary, as long as you are in ketosis you’re fine.
Very bottom does have a chart if you really want an answer.
Optimal Ketone Levels For A Ketogenic Diet

Long story short she is doing well and could likely even fit in more carbs if she wanted.

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Hijacking the thread a bit: has the decreased protein intake messed with anyone’s strength/muscle building process?

I’d be going from ~180g/day to ~100g/day, which is at the low end of the recommended amount for athletes at my bodyweight (that’s right at 1g/kg for me)

Totally cool :smile: . My wife wants me to try keto with her this summer, which would involve much lower protein intake for myself.

Welp, wifey talked me into trying out keto. Looks like June 29 will be when I start. I’m going to order some of the Vaxxen Labs Keto-1 (non-caffeinated) to help get me going. I’m getting the decaf version because I’ll keep my caffeine intake in my coffee :laughing:.
https://blog.priceplow.com/keto-supplements/vaxxen-labs-keto-1

Also going to keep lifting, of course. But to start I’m going to stick with SKD to start, then try CKD if that isn’t working for me.

Stay tuned!

So where’s your wife at with things?

Some points:

  • The “Keto Diet” is a bit different for everyone, because we all have slightly different carb sensitivities. Mine’s pretty high unfortunately, so I can’t carb well.

  • It’s nearly impossible for me to keto without being very strict on MyFitnessPal.

  • Get ready to eat more fats than you’d think is normal. Coconut oil and MCT help a ton. Avocados, macadamia nuts, and Brazil nuts are staples for me. Sardines beat tuna for me (unless you wanna add a TON of mayo / oil).

  • You seem to know your electrolytes. Monitor carefully. If your magnesium and fiber are off, good luck poopin. If your potassium is too low (very easy to do on keto) your performance will suffer immensely and you may cramp. I eat Lo Salt a lot.

  • For me, doing a 16/8 fast is also the best way to get deeper in. But you gotta EAT during that 8 hours. Every 2 hours helps.

  • Too much protein will knock you out, too little will shrink you. I find that my window is VERY tight for that unfortunately (hence needing MyFitnessPal).

  • Weigh yourself every morning. Once in ketosis, the standard idea of “calories” starts to fall apart. I need more “calories” in keto than I do in gluco. I can lose 10lbs in a week if I don’t pay attention and that’s not a good thing

  • Be prepared for some sluggish workouts for a bit. You’ll adapt. Just maintain.

  • Overall, I kinda hate the diet/foods themselves, but I love love love being in ketosis between 1.5-2.5mmol. The pros of mental clarity and no blood sugar rollercoaster far outweigh the cons of the annoying dietary restrictions.

My 2 cents

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Thanks for the pointers!

She fell off the keto wagon when I went on my obligatory “eat all the things” binge after my bodybuilding competition. With all the restaurants and junk food I had planned, it would have been very awkward for her to stay on it, haha. So we are going to start together on the 29th (day after a huge dinner party).

Yeah, it will be interesting to see where my sensitivities fall.

Oh yeah…already do this. I had months of practice, haha!

I picked up some bulksupplements potassium citrate after a cramping issue mid last year. My wife started taking it, and it helped several of her problems attributed to low K. I have 3 folks who sit near me at work on keto; I told them about taking potassium, and every one of them told me they had huge improvements. I like to put 3 grams of that stuff into 2 liters of water; the taste really doesn’t bother me.

I also picked up some bulksupplements magnesium glycinate and capped it, yielding 113 mg elemental magnesium per cap. I’ll probably space taking that throughout the day instead of just at bed time.

Haha yeah, might look into this eventually. Baby steps :laughing: !

I’m going to try out 1.2 - 1.3 g protein per lb of lean body mass to keep bulking. We’ll see if that will let me stay in ketosis.

LOL, definitely going to keep tracking weight!

Yeah, definitely my biggest concern when starting out, but I’m going to stick with SKD to start.

Yeah, I hear it’s a great feeling. Looking forward to it!

Using the ruled.me keto calculator, this is looking like what I’ll be starting with. My trainer is also going to be adjusting my numbers next week, and I’ll adjust the keto macros to align with with those.
image

Awesome!!

You’re training hard so hopefully that works. 179g protein wouldn’t work for me. I cap out at 150, maybe 155g :frowning:

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I’m jealous. College student finances are keeping me on the “as cheap as possible” diet.

I respond very well to high fat diets (I feel much better, more sated, and I like what it does to my hormone levels) but I don’t think I’ve ever been in true ketosis.

You are much further along than I was when I was in college, lol! I never thought about macros and diet when in school. I didn’t start working out until a year after my undergrad…and didn’t start tracking macros/calories until June of last year (17 years after college), lol.

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Are you on dorm food or gotta do your own?

Keto can be done on a budget, but nothing is as cheap as them subsidized carbs in this country of course.

A trip to Walmart and you can get what I’d call “low quality keto” with a bunch of cheap eggs, sausage, bacon, sardines, cheese, ground beef, butter, cream, and if any sales on coconut oil.

Some decent YouTube videos of people doing their shopping

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Oh it’s definitely DOABLE, the trick is making the cheap sources into things that aren’t just variations of omelets. Enjoying what I’m eating is a must for me, and I can get by on eggs and fatty meat and cheese for a few weeks, but if it’s gonna be sustainable, I’m gonna have to be able to have some variety.

Yep, this is where the nuts come in – but all the high-fat nuts, such as macadamia, Brazil nuts, and even pecans are quite pricey. Same goes for coconut based products like coconut milk (great for desserts) and coconut oil (a keto must)

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Macadamia nuts are like $3/oz here, it’s insane :sob:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00348F33O

That’s the best I found recently. Not salted, not even close to Muana Loa quality… but like $0.82/oz

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Try Trader Joe’s. I want to say a pound or 12oz is maybe $8 but don’t quote me. I haven’t been there in a while.

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Just following along with this thread for when I inevitably do keto again. I did it a while back with good results but it wasn’t sustainable for me, long-term, and I didn’t feel different/better enough on it that it was worth the hassle. That said, every single person I know who’s shredded, without exception, says they did it with 16/8 IF + keto, so…

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Psh, 16/8, like little baby. 21/3 is where it’s at.

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