Ketogenic Diet - Advice from an Irish perspective needed

BigJoeWavin

Today marks the first day of what I hope is a successful weight loss journey following a ketogenic diet and I've noticed there isn't a lot of discussion on this forum about it, so thought I'd start this to gain/provide an Irish perspective from others, as I progress through. The Reddit sub is grand but it's very US orientated when it comes to recipes or shopping etc.

For the first few weeks my diet will consist of 75% healthy fats, 20% protein and 5% carbohydrates from a total of 1800 calories per day. Once I feel I've become fat adapted (body begins efficiently using fat for primary fuel), I'll reduce the amount of dietary fat and up my protein to be the bulk of my calorie intake. The hope is that, once fat adapted, my body will turn to my fat stores more efficiently, especially during periods of natural fasting and fasted exercise.

I hope to post regularly here to share my progress and to gain insight from others who may also be following the diet. I weighed in at 263 pounds this morning and my first main goal is to get into the hundred pound zone, so 64 pounds to lose until then and a long way off but I'll have many small achievements on the way to there, I hope.

I'm a 29 year old, 6ft male and have done a small bit of research on this diet before jumping in. I'll be supplementing electrolytes to make up for salts flushed during water retention loss and hope to get the rest of my nutrients from green veg and good meat.

I'd be grateful for the insight of others who have or are currently eating keto. Any products that have been lifesavers for you or any advice at all would be great.

SortingYouOut

First two weeks I found were the hardest, electrolytes are a must. You can buy bone broth from a few different Irish companies online but they are quite expensive so if you can make a chicken bone broth yourself it is great for the first while to get you through the transition but I'm still supplementing electrolytes 2 months in.

I'd stay clear from any of the keto breads or keto treats... Just my opinion but they tend to bring back a want for the real thing but that could just be me.

Best of luck. As I said first two weeks are a slodge but it gets so much easier then. Really night and day.

GooglePlus

Nearly two months in myself. Would definitely echo what the other poster has said, it gets much easier after the first few weeks. Think it's just a shock to the system at first but if you feel a keto flu coming on just keep on top of your sodium, potassium and magnesium. Leafy greens as you say and don't be afraid to use a bit more salt on your foods because you'll lose a lot in the first few weeks.

I bought ketostix to check make sure I wasn't falling out of ketosis but they're not completely necessary, just handy for reassurance.

I'm nearly two stone down in two months. Honestly feels like a new lease of life with the mental focus and energy. Hope it all works out well for you.

ReturnOfThe

I only just started myself two weeks ago. Starting weight was 89.1kg. First week down to 85.5 and second week down to 83.7. Surprised at the levels of weight loss but expect that to taper off. I am using myfitnesspal which I find invaluable. I am also doing 75/20/5 at 1800 calories per day. Am fitting a light walk (3k) each day with that.
I don't buy the "eat as much as you want except carbs" and think its essential to track calories (600 cals each meal). I would like to get down to 75-78 and then after that I will probably look at reintroducing more carbs but I'll see how I feel.

Breakfast: 3-4 streaky rasher/ 2-3 eggs +15g butter
Lunch : Choice of protein (Pork Belly/Chicken Thighs/Fatty Lamb/Duck) + blitzed cauli with red pepper (100g) fried on pan with 20-30 ml of olive oil
Dinner : Another protein along with whatever else I can add to stay within calorie deficit
Snacks : 30g Almonds or Pecans

Am considering reducing the streaky rashers due to amount of sodium but other than that all going well. Feel great, sleeping great. Oh yeah and have also ordered one of those keto mojo things to measure ketones maybe once a week. Do a weekly weigh in on a Friday and plan to measure the ketones at same time.

chrisire

Started Keto 7 weeks ago,finding it very easy.down 19 kilos,halfway towards where i want to be,also for the first time in about 10 years i'm sleeping brilliantly every night.
Can't see myself ever going back to to carbs.

Beechwoodspark

Tried doing a full on keto diet 2 years ago

Breakfast-bacon/sausage/Turkey, eggs (fried or scrambled) poached is even better if you have the time

Lunch - usually either chicken or fish and plenty greens. Seasoning (pepper and salt, dried herbs and chili flakes all that good stuff ) is your friend

Hot sauces too if that’s your thang...

Dinner -protein -usually either beef (various cuts or burgers) or chicken/pork/lamb and even venison at times.

Accompanied with green salads

Snacks-various nuts (cashew,peanuts,pistachio) and beef jerky.

I completely cut potatoes rice pasta and noodles and bread out of the diet and cut down on sweet cake and choc as much as I could

Someone said to me to cut out beer and switch to liqueurs but I didn’t.

Drank approx 8 cans a week (literally over 7 days) don’t think it affected the diet.

Beer was my ONLY “indulgence” on this diet.

I kept it up for a few weeks but found it hard to maintain
Experienced ravenous hunger be times.

And noticed I was becoming irritable and morose and no motivation.

Also had lots of stomach issues such as heart burn and yes constipation too.

My wife also noticed the change in me and after a heart to heart I just stopped doing it as I was depressed to be quite honest

ReturnOfThe

So another 2kg down this week which is great. Plus took delivery of my keto monitor today and did the test earlier just before my evening meal and my score was 1.3 mmol which is only moderate ketosis but I'm ok with that and don't mind sitting between 1 and 2 although I'm a little surprised it wasn't higher as I am keeping carbs below 20g. Although looking back at my macros for previous week it is more like 70/25/5 rather than intended 75/20/5 so maybe the extra protein is working against the ketosis but not going to worry about it as the weight loss is steady and consistent

BabysCoffee

ReturnOfThe wrote: »

So another 2kg down this week which is great. Plus took delivery of my keto monitor today and did the test earlier just before my evening meal and my score was 1.3 mmol which is only moderate ketosis but I'm ok with that and don't mind sitting between 1 and 2 although I'm a little surprised it wasn't higher as I am keeping carbs below 20g. Although looking back at my macros for previous week it is more like 70/25/5 rather than intended 75/20/5 so maybe the extra protein is working against the ketosis but not going to worry about it as the weight loss is steady and consistent

What keto monitor did you buy? I'm interested in getting one

ReturnOfThe

BabysCoffee wrote: »

What keto monitor did you buy? I'm interested in getting one

Yep I got one called the Keto Mojo. not cheap..50 euro and took about 2 weeks to arrive. Happy enough with it.

https://shop.eu.keto-mojo.com/collections/shop-all-mmol/products/gki-bluetooth-glucose-ketone-meter-basic-starter-kit-mmol

BabysCoffee

ReturnOfThe wrote: »

Yep I got one called the Keto Mojo. not cheap..50 euro and took about 2 weeks to arrive. Happy enough with it.

https://shop.eu.keto-mojo.com/collections/shop-all-mmol/products/gki-bluetooth-glucose-ketone-meter-basic-starter-kit-mmol

Cool - I had actually seen a review of it before https://youtu.be/Jxi4sTcdYSQ

LeakyLime

Thanks for the interesting thread.



Just started researching Keto in the last fortnight. I'm starting with a liberal Keto diet, if even, and will progress from there.



I track my macros on Samsung Health and there's been a big swing from 60% carbs per day to 60% fats per day. But I'm still about 20% carbs.



Obviously, I won't be reaching ketosis with this diet but I lost 3 pounds this week without trying very hard.



I'm cutting out all sweets (thankfully I don't have a sweet tooth), bread, rice, pasta, and higher carbs fruit and veg like banana, grapes and sweet potato.



Will have regular potato once a week and also chickpeas/kidney beans once a week too.



Giving up all beer too, but I love wine so that's no problem.



Hopefully will raise the fat % over the next few weeks. But don't want to cut out too much fruit and veg.

The Cool

Long term ketoer here. Came for the weight loss, stayed for the hormonal benefits - periods, skin, etc. It's also been a big lifestyle change for me as well having historically been totally addicted to sugar. I've got a healthy way of eating now that suits me well and has taught me the difference between hunger and cravings.

A typical day for me is:
Breakfast - Big coffee with a dash of double cream
Lunch - some kind of meat and veg, all summer it's generally some variation of a chicken salad.
(Weekends I'll do a brunch instead, of bacon and eggs)
Afternoon snack - coffee, either some berries, bit of greek yogurt, maybe some nuts; cheese; or right now I'm loving a bit of dark choc dipped into peanut butter!
Dinner - again meat and veg. Bunless cheeseburger with salad, bolognese in a bowl topped with cheese, salmon and cauliflower cheese, steak and broccoli, chicken wings, off the top of my head.

I like that I am satiated with it and just naturally I'm doing intermittent fasting, because I have dinner around 8 or 9 and I'm not hungry til lunch time the next day. It allows me to totally forget about food, which is great since I was always such a nibbler. Calorie counting, tracking etc of other diets never suited me because it always meant thinking about my food too much and feeling miserable.

I honestly don't miss the bread, potatoes etc at all. I do miss the sweet stuff, but I've seen the pattern of how it affects me, so it's grand. I find I might crave a piece of cake or a donut but then it's never actually as good as I thought it would be! My taste has totally changed, e.g. a lot of sweets, milk chocolate etc are too sweet for me now, after always having had a massive sweet tooth.

Main advice for the newbies -
- yes you can have spirits and a bit of wine but go easy, you digest them VERY differently when you don't have a belly full of carbs. Plus, there's no more breakfast rolls for the hangover. Be aware now that we're getting into the season for sitting in the garden drinking all evening, your limits are a LOT lower, try to drink plenty of water alongside your alcohol.
- Keto has become more mainstream in the last 5 years since I started which means a lot more keto convenience foods on the market. Protein bars and the likes of snacks with lots of sugar alcohols and ingredients that list loads of chemicals. These are not your friend. Doing keto well, should mean primarily whole foods: unprocessed meat, veggies, and then your fats for satiety. The best thing about keto, and what makes it a diet you can trust is that unlike Slimming World etc, nobody is capitalising from you eating keto. But that's what these new gimmicky foods are trying to do. Avoid.#
- Don't worry too much about calories starting out, let yourself get used to the lack of carbs first and then look at what you're eating. Chances are you don't need to be eating 3 slices of bacon and 3 eggs for breakfast every day and then lunch and dinner too, but obviously if you're at the start and fighting the munchies, bacon is better than a bag of crisps.
- Also, don't worry too much at the start but after a while, if you can, phase out the artificial sweeteners, especially if you are female, they will slow you down.

Hope that helps, I've loads of recipes or meal ideas I can share if anyones interested.

markmoto

BigJoeWavin wrote: »

Today marks the first day of what I hope is a successful weight loss journey following a ketogenic diet and I've noticed there isn't a lot of discussion on this forum about it, so thought I'd start this to gain/provide an Irish perspective from others, as I progress through. The Reddit sub is grand but it's very US orientated when it comes to recipes or shopping etc.

For the first few weeks my diet will consist of 75% healthy fats, 20% protein and 5% carbohydrates from a total of 1800 calories per day. Once I feel I've become fat adapted (body begins efficiently using fat for primary fuel), I'll reduce the amount of dietary fat and up my protein to be the bulk of my calorie intake. The hope is that, once fat adapted, my body will turn to my fat stores more efficiently, especially during periods of natural fasting and fasted exercise.

I hope to post regularly here to share my progress and to gain insight from others who may also be following the diet. I weighed in at 263 pounds this morning and my first main goal is to get into the hundred pound zone, so 64 pounds to lose until then and a long way off but I'll have many small achievements on the way to there, I hope.

I'm a 29 year old, 6ft male and have done a small bit of research on this diet before jumping in. I'll be supplementing electrolytes to make up for salts flushed during water retention loss and hope to get the rest of my nutrients from green veg and good meat.

I'd be grateful for the insight of others who have or are currently eating keto. Any products that have been lifesavers for you or any advice at all would be great.

If you would have sugar craving try lemon tea or water.
Cut lemon on half and squeeze one part into cup of tea/water.

Qgirl

The Cool wrote: »

Long term ketoer here. Came for the weight loss, stayed for the hormonal benefits - periods, skin, etc. It's also been a big lifestyle change for me as well having historically been totally addicted to sugar. I've got a healthy way of eating now that suits me well and has taught me the difference between hunger and cravings.

A typical day for me is:
Breakfast - Big coffee with a dash of double cream
Lunch - some kind of meat and veg, all summer it's generally some variation of a chicken salad.
(Weekends I'll do a brunch instead, of bacon and eggs)
Afternoon snack - coffee, either some berries, bit of greek yogurt, maybe some nuts; cheese; or right now I'm loving a bit of dark choc dipped into peanut butter!
Dinner - again meat and veg. Bunless cheeseburger with salad, bolognese in a bowl topped with cheese, salmon and cauliflower cheese, steak and broccoli, chicken wings, off the top of my head.

I like that I am satiated with it and just naturally I'm doing intermittent fasting, because I have dinner around 8 or 9 and I'm not hungry til lunch time the next day. It allows me to totally forget about food, which is great since I was always such a nibbler. Calorie counting, tracking etc of other diets never suited me because it always meant thinking about my food too much and feeling miserable.

I honestly don't miss the bread, potatoes etc at all. I do miss the sweet stuff, but I've seen the pattern of how it affects me, so it's grand. I find I might crave a piece of cake or a donut but then it's never actually as good as I thought it would be! My taste has totally changed, e.g. a lot of sweets, milk chocolate etc are too sweet for me now, after always having had a massive sweet tooth.

Main advice for the newbies -
- yes you can have spirits and a bit of wine but go easy, you digest them VERY differently when you don't have a belly full of carbs. Plus, there's no more breakfast rolls for the hangover. Be aware now that we're getting into the season for sitting in the garden drinking all evening, your limits are a LOT lower, try to drink plenty of water alongside your alcohol.
- Keto has become more mainstream in the last 5 years since I started which means a lot more keto convenience foods on the market. Protein bars and the likes of snacks with lots of sugar alcohols and ingredients that list loads of chemicals. These are not your friend. Doing keto well, should mean primarily whole foods: unprocessed meat, veggies, and then your fats for satiety. The best thing about keto, and what makes it a diet you can trust is that unlike Slimming World etc, nobody is capitalising from you eating keto. But that's what these new gimmicky foods are trying to do. Avoid.#
- Don't worry too much about calories starting out, let yourself get used to the lack of carbs first and then look at what you're eating. Chances are you don't need to be eating 3 slices of bacon and 3 eggs for breakfast every day and then lunch and dinner too, but obviously if you're at the start and fighting the munchies, bacon is better than a bag of crisps.
- Also, don't worry too much at the start but after a while, if you can, phase out the artificial sweeteners, especially if you are female, they will slow you down.

Hope that helps, I've loads of recipes or meal ideas I can share if anyones interested.

Sounds good except alcohol, running on ketones makes your more addictive to alcohol.

ReturnOfThe

I thought I might just throw up some of my own stats here as I have been following the keto diet since the beginning of May and have been tracking my weight and energy expenditure every day (religiously ) since then on MFP along with a weekly measurement of ketones (each Fri evening just before my last meal)

46M 178cm
Date|Wt Kg|Mus Mas Kg|BF %|Pounds Lost|Ketones mmol|Glucose mmol|Avg Daily Cals
01/05/2021|89.1|61.5|28||||
07/05/2021|85.5|60.2|25.7|7.9|||2062
14/05/2021|83.7|59.7|24.7|4|||2054
21/05/2021|81.8|58.5|24.2|4.2|1.3|4.5|1802
28/05/2021|80.7|58.2|23.6|2.4|1.5|4.6|1768
04/06/2021|79.9|58|23.2|1.8|1.8|4.4|1826
11/06/2021|79.1|57.7|22.7|1.8|0.9|4.9|1797
18/06/2021|78.6|57.5|22.5|1.1|2.3|4.6|1759


Weight loss the first week was quite dramatic and so was most likely primarily water. It seems to have tapered off in the last 2 weeks but I am happy enough with that. I am looking to get to 75kg so I don't mind losing only a pound a week from here on in.
I have also incorporated IF the last 2 weeks by skipping brekkie and taking on the brekkie ingredients (bacon eggs) with my lunch and dinner instead.

I do believe in Keto as a credible tool for weight loss due to the results I am seeing. I don't exercise apart from a short 20 minute walk in the evenings. If I start to plateau I might start increasing the length of that walk or replace it with a 5k jog. All the foods I am eating are just meat and vegetables. The only dairy I am using is butter and eggs. Minimal cheese and no mayo. No processed anything.

Some of the good side effects I am noticing are

- My acid reflux which has had me coughing and hacking for the last year after every meal just disappeared after the first week. Had to be related to the switch and nothing else.
- It has took about 8 weeks but the cravings for chips/crisps/pizza/bread/ice cream seem to have disappeared which can only be a good thing as I could never seem to moderate this stuff before.

One big advantage I do have is that I don't drink alcohol. I think if I did then it would be next to impossible to follow the keto diet like I have.

So that's it, just my two cents as I have experienced it so far. Again, not for everyone but I do believe it will suit some people.

Guru Maith Agut

Good idea OP. Stuff can get hard to find in the other thread on ketogenic diets.

My story..

I wasn't particularly overweight (but my mirror said differently lol), but I was a really bad snacker in the evening times. I would on average consume at least one full bar of chocolate, usually 2 if I'm honest with myself. I could then also have 2/3 biscuits (chocolate coated of course..) and/or a half a box of cake like buns, with my tea with 1 sugar. How I wasn't diabetic with the sugar consumption I will never know. Without doubt the evenings were my killer for bad eating habits. And generally that would all be within 1 hour of having a large dinner. Protein, spuds and veg. Many times baked beans. Always with loads of butter on the spuds. Fast food not so much but usually once a week.

So at getting to my heaviest weight ever (14st 6.8lbs), as I stared down at the scales I told myself it was time for change. And I wanted a lifestyle change, not just a "diet". I went online and searched diets/lifestyle changes and came across the words keto diet many times. From there I did a lot of watching YouTube vids from different people, both dieters, medical doctors and holistic doctors. A lot of the science behind what they were stating and what and how I felt mentally and physically matched. So I just though, hey, I'll give it a shot. What have I got to lose?!

Now luckily for me AND a possible/probable reason I wasn't 20+ stone (given my evening eating habits), I generally always skipped breakfast throughout my life since the age of 20 ish. I'm 54 now. My usual daily routine would be to get up and skip breakfast totally, and a good 75/80% of the time would also skip lunch too if I was busy at work etc. So reading on about keto and "intermittent fasting", more and more this eating habit change seemed like it was made for me. I'm NOT sports orientated, rarely exercised and that included hardly ever walking. So I was as good as sedentary at the point of trying this new keto experience out..

And so I began. Now I will admit, I DO NOT track my fats and protein. The only carbs I ate to begin with were leafy greens (salad greens like lettuce, chard etc). I concentrated on the sugar removal totally! Thankfully I have very good willpower (I know some don't and that's obviously harder) and am able to drop chocolate overnight to reach a goal that I set myself. I had done this before on a previous "healthy eating" spree, so I knew I could do that again.

My goal was to follow the intermittent fasting routine as closely as possible, alongside the keto dietary rules. I knew pretty much that the results would be immediate as it is commonly demonstrated, but that you are ONLY losing water from the body for the first two weeks (*in the majority of cases). So my first day I woke (8am) and only drank water until it was dinner time (6:30pm). I then had a Caesar salad, consisting of leafy greens as mentioned above, chicken breast (1) with the skin on, 6 streaky rashers grilled and sliced thinly, a few cherry tomatoes, lots of parmesan cheese and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil as the dressing. I felt full afterwards and being the first day got my regular craving for chocolate a couple hours later, which I resisted. I went to bed at 10:30pm.

The next day I awoke and felt okay. I wasn't hungry as per usual and went about my daily grind skipping breakfast and lunch but by dinner time (6pm) I was ravenous! So that was an intermittent fast of 23hrs. Achievable given my general daily routine as I've said..

That evening I had lamb leg with veg (broccoli & cauliflower) and a homemade cheese sauce over the greens. I mopped it!! I even had a good amount of the crispy juicy fat off the lamb. It was friggin' delish lol I had a little craving again for something sweet a couple hours after dinner but again resisted and had a little water regularly to keep the stomach feeling full. Went to bed at 11pm and repeated the fasting time to 24hrs to the next evening meal the following day. This I repeated for 7 days concurrently and the scales told me it was working. In the first week I lost 8lbs in mass (water retention mass). My mood was improved. My brain fog was lifting. I felt lighter on my feet and I even wanted to go out and walk, which was a very strange feeling! 🤣

I continued my diet for 14 days and had lost 11lbs in total. My old clothes started to fit again and my general mood was incomparable to my past feelings. I did switch fasting schedules a few times and had some breakfasts, consisting of fried eggs (3-4) and grilled bacon (normal or streaky). All made no increase on the scales EVER.

Then I had a holiday booked. What would I do I asked myself... Try and be good, or break a little back to old habits..

Well I chose the latter, for a couple of reasons. If I reverted back a little to my old ways, how would I then feel? How quickly would I put on weight (i.e. retain water)? Also, would it be good to trick the body and reboost/reinvigorate my future weight loss goals? My weight before hols was 13st 8lbs

So I did just that. I ate fairly conservatively. I didn't cram in a lot of sweets but out of the 14 days I had a 2 tub scoop of gelato/ice cream on 6 of those days. I ate the odd dessert. I drank a fair amount of alcohol, wine every day as good as and some spirits with full fat coke on 6 of the 14 days. NO beer! I was walking a lot more. It was warm and I perspired regularly. I drank a fair bit of water and I ate 2 meals daily, a breakfast and then dinner in the evening time a couple hours before bed. I had no use of a scales whilst away so I was checking the mirror daily 😂😂

I knew I had put some weight on when I was heading home. I was guessing maybe 4lbs over the 14 days... When I got home I got straight on the scales. WTF?!!!! I was 14st 1lb 😲

I couldn't believe it! Had I really added nearly half a stone in 2 weeks, eating conservatively?! The next day I weighed again in the morning and the scales read 13st 13.8lbs. So I guess that wasn't far off my initial guess as to what I had put on.

I got right back on the wagon and after 4 days I was back down to 13st 6.6lbs eating the same way as I had before going away. I am now at my lowest weight in over 4yrs. 13st 4.8lbs

I feel great. I am sleeping a little poorly, but this can be an early side effect of the keto diet, but should pass. I have far more vigour and now want to be more active and out and about. I can honestly say that this diet IS for me. I don't see it as a diet any more. It is now a "lifestyle change" and I intend to continue it going forward.

If anybody wants to ask me any questions (publicly or privately) then fire away. I'd be happy to share my experiences. Thanks for reading 😊

One footnote though...

Keep your sodium/electrolytes up! I drink water on long fasts now with salt added. NOT table salt though. It must be a good organic salt like Himalayan pink salt or sea salt. You would be amazed at how easily a glass of water with a little salt can take away a craving for food if you are fasting.

SortingYouOut

Jumping in here as have started back on Keto this week after a horrific year of weigh gain that has brought me up to 283 pounds, just over 20 stone! Not happy with myself but motivated now and the first week is going well.

I'm keeping the calories for the first week or two relatively high but still below maintainence and the fats high to satiate during the transition. I find the first two weeks the toughest, so the plan is to drop down to 1800 kcals per day on week 3. I've done this before and notice that once I become fat adapted after the first month or so, the hunger completely goes and I can fast no problem (great health benefits to fasting, so looking forward to that).

I'll post my progress here for my own record and it's nice that there's others here to discuss with.

Week 1 - October 4th 2021 - 283lbs/20.2 stone - No ketone monitor, only urine sticks to check that they're at least there to some degree.

SortingYouOut

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117457508#Comment_117457508

How are you going lately and how are you finding the Keto Mojo? Looking at it there and I could see myself buying it over the next few weeks.

ReturnOfThe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117989298#Comment_117989298

Well I'm glad you asked...and sorry for the late reply but I've almost abandoned boards at this stage since the redesign but anyhoo...

stick on the kettle...I have an update... and it's going to be controversial on a keto thread.

So the weight loss progressed at a steady pace, ketones retreated to a steady 1.3 each week when I measured them and by the end of August, I had actually passed my goal weight and hit 69 Kg so approx 20kg (3 stone) in 4 months. So that's the good news. Note that I was doing keto but in combination with CICO. Make of that what you will.

So quick background first before I unveil the twist in the tale which some of you may have already guessed by now.

I am 47M, and have been on statins for the last 20 years. My Dad died of massive heart attack at age 51 after which I got my cholesterol tested and it was 8.1 and so I was advised to go on statins immediately even though I was a heavy drinker and smoker at the time and probably should have had a belt at dietary changes first but doc said I most likely inherited familial hypercholesterolemia and so dietary change would have minimal impact. So scroll forward 20 years and my cholesterol score has veered from 3.5 to maybe 5 at its highest (get it done usually every 6 months) and this was always the way even through my "paleo" phase , my "atkins" phase etc you get the picture. So when I got my cholesterol checked at the beginning of September, I got a call from the doctor..

"Why did you stop taking the statins"

"I didn't, I still take them every night"

"Ok so, how in God's name have you got a total cholesterol score of 11.2 and LDL of 8.4 ?"

"Ah...I think I know why it has shot up. I may be eating too much saturated fat"

So that was basically the day I stopped doing Keto, almost 6 weeks ago now.

So back to eating porridge, brown bread , brown rice, whole wheat this and that. Loads of fibre and root vegetables, no more eggs /butter /red meat/ cheese until I see at least a move downwards towards 5 again. I have stuck with the CICO and basically replaced the fat with carbs and guess what, no weight piled back on, am still at 69kg and am maintaining that at 1600 kcals a day.

Not sure what the moral here is and am resistant to telling anyone what they should or should not try but in defense of keto, I think it's a great short term tool to get rid of weight quickly and also train your taste off high sugar treats but only if your genetics don't already pre-dispose your body to producing larger than normal amounts of cholesterol on a "normal" diet with "normal" levels of saturated fat.

Oh yes and if anyone is looking for keto mojo kit with 2 months supply of keto and glucose strips and needles, please pm me for a very reasonable price !

c.p.w.g.w

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007132#Comment_118007132

Have you looked into a full lipid profile test...

There are 2 types of LDL particles, One of which are the issue, the other not so much...

ReturnOfThe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007160#Comment_118007160

Yes I do remember some debate around the "very large" ldl and not so large but in fairness I did have an emergency meeting with my cardiologist shortly after the result and he did not say anything about a full lipid profile test or vldl particles so it would be a "nice to know" in that regard but I would not accept it as an explanation or reason unless the cardiologist supported that viewpoint also.

SortingYouOut

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007998#Comment_118007998

Thanks for the update.

I have read plenty of accounts similar to yours and their doctor advised to return to the low-fat diet. Your HDL ratio is 1.75 to 1, which is excellent. Many in the field say that the ratio of HDL to overall cholesterol is a better marker for health than LDL alone. I know that when you lose weight rapidly, LDL naturally jumps up anyway but it should be light/fluffly LDL, which passes through the arteries. It's the heavier dense LDL that causes the problems but fasted bloods won't show any difference, which is where the lipid profile comes in.

I don't blame you though, it's a scary thing to see and naturally, you're going to take your doctor and a cardiologists opinion over the internet, but worth following the evidence for future. There's nothing stopping you from going into ketosis with a low-fat diet and using your bodies stores in the future, it doesn't have to be a 75% calories intake from fats if it's for weight loss.

Glad you got the weight down anyway and hope the bloods come down for you soon.

SortingYouOut

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117989272#Comment_117989272

Week 1 - October 4th 2021 - 283lbs/20.2 stone - No ketone monitor, only urine sticks to check that they're at least there to some degree.

Weel 2 - October 12th 2021 - 279Ibs/19.12 stone - Decided to get a Keto Mojo, which is on it's way from the EU site. Tracking number has it stuck in Amsterdam the last few days, but looking to test when it arrives. Urine sticks showing moderate when rested and strong ketone levels after a brief bout of exercise.

markmoto

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007998#Comment_118007998

Usually you have to ask to include VLDL in lipid profile, too often lab results comes without if not specifically mentioned.

ReturnOfThe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007132#Comment_118007132

So as an update for anyone interested. I got my cholesterol results back today and they are good which is a relief.

4.1 Tot Chol, 1.6 LDL and 2.1 HDL so a seismic reduction from beginning of September (TC 11) and reinforces my opinion that keto is not really a long term option for anyone who suffers from familial hypercholesterolemia like me.

So my nutritional approach now is CICO underpinned by wholegrain/nonprocessed/low(dairy|fat|redmeat)...not for everyone I know !

Anyway after all that, I would still champion keto for anyone with a few stone or more to lose and who have an unhealthy relationship with refined sugar and know that you can still transition successfully back to a "healthier" variant of your old diet when you hit your goal weight.

Cill94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118155782#Comment_118155782

Glad to hear you've shifted to something safer for your health situation. There's a lot of irresponsible advice being dished out these days about cholesterol being a non-issue.

wildrover444

Hi . Been on keto last 5 or 6 weeks . Lost about 8 pounds . Started at 13 stone and wanted to get down to 12 before Xmas. I have kept my carbs down to 20 to 30 grams a day . With the occasional Coors light or a glass of wine. Haven't been out in the last month or so for a night out. Meeting up with a friend Saturday night and I know plenty of pints will be drank. Been putting it off for a while to stay on keto. Does anyone know how the body reacts to alot of carbs after been restricting carbs for so Long. Should I gradually have some more carbs before I got to pub that day to get the body ready or does it matter. Any advice would be appreciated

c.p.w.g.w

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118189077#Comment_118189077

I get very drunk, very fast...what i did last week at a stag, was come off keto for the day, had nice feed of spuds and meat in the middle of the drinks...wasn't too bad for a finish, but still in bed for 10 pm(but started at 2pm) and was a bit rough the following day

PS been Keto 14-16 months

wildrover444

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118189238#Comment_118189238

Thanks for the advice .

Mad_maxx

Hi

could someone please provide a link to a reputable website which offers the Keto plan ?

I believe some are near impossible to cancel a subscription with once you sign up ?

my plan is to loose 10 KG by March so Im not looking for a twelve month plan

Thanks folks

neris

Theres some good videos on Youtube about what to eat and what not to eat on keto and if you follow the advice you should be able to figure out the foods to eat and not eat on keto and make your own plan.