AggieGunslinger said:

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Two things have gotten me through spending 22 24 hours every other week in airports and on the road. 1st everybody sells Wings these days even the damn convenience stores, they may suck but they're Keto. Lastly i view travel days as good days to fast. When I travel I typically have very little option of what I eat a few nights a week due to work dinners, so I travel day is a good day to reset after being a little higher carbs than I wanted to a few times during the week.

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You have to be careful with wings... even the ones that don't "appear" to be breaded are often tossed with some cornstarch... at least up here in yankeeland.

irish pete ag06 said:

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Lt. Joe Bookman said:

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irish pete ag06 said:

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Oh also, I went to costco.com to buy some more of their Kirkland bars 2 days ago and they were on sale. A box of 20 for $13.99. That's an incredible value compared to Quest bars. I would be bringing a dozen of them with me on a road trip of that magnitude.

I bought 5 boxes yesterday.

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As a quest bar fanatic (seriously, we have it on subcription at Amazon, 4 boxes a month), I've got to try those. That would save a fortune.

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Dude. They are the best. I think Quest bars may taste a tad better, but it isn't by much. The first batch I bought of Kirkland was really hard, but they've softened up the recipe and it's much better. I've tried the brownie, choc chip cookie dough, and cinnamon roll. I'd rank them:

1. Choc Chip Cookie Dough
2. Cinnamon Roll


Last. Brownie

I'm saying that and I haven't tried the Cookies and Cream or Choc Peanut Butter yet. I don't even like Brownie Quest bars though. Just not good.

Also, some folks have claimed that these spiked glucose because of a different type of starch than Quest, but I tested my own blood sugar using my wife's meter and it didn't raise it one point.

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Nice, all we eat is the Choc Chip Cookie Dough and Cookies and Cream Quest bars, so that's good to hear that the cookie dough costco bars are close.
Agreed on the brownie quest bars... just terrible. Tastes like plastic.

Just checking the numbers... we pay $20.40/box of 12 Quest bars. 4 boxes is $82/month.
Costco bars would be $14/box of 20, so need 2.5 boxes a month... $35/month.
Nearly $50/month in savings!

Lt. Joe Bookman said:

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irish pete ag06 said:

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Lt. Joe Bookman said:

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irish pete ag06 said:

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Oh also, I went to costco.com to buy some more of their Kirkland bars 2 days ago and they were on sale. A box of 20 for $13.99. That's an incredible value compared to Quest bars. I would be bringing a dozen of them with me on a road trip of that magnitude.

I bought 5 boxes yesterday.

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As a quest bar fanatic (seriously, we have it on subcription at Amazon, 4 boxes a month), I've got to try those. That would save a fortune.

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Dude. They are the best. I think Quest bars may taste a tad better, but it isn't by much. The first batch I bought of Kirkland was really hard, but they've softened up the recipe and it's much better. I've tried the brownie, choc chip cookie dough, and cinnamon roll. I'd rank them:

1. Choc Chip Cookie Dough
2. Cinnamon Roll


Last. Brownie

I'm saying that and I haven't tried the Cookies and Cream or Choc Peanut Butter yet. I don't even like Brownie Quest bars though. Just not good.

Also, some folks have claimed that these spiked glucose because of a different type of starch than Quest, but I tested my own blood sugar using my wife's meter and it didn't raise it one point.

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Nice, all we eat is the Choc Chip Cookie Dough and Cookies and Cream Quest bars, so that's good to hear that the cookie dough costco bars are close.
Agreed on the brownie quest bars... just terrible. Tastes like plastic.

Just checking the numbers... we pay $20.40/box of 12 Quest bars. 4 boxes is $82/month.
Costco bars would be $14/box of 20, so need 2.5 boxes a month... $35/month.
Nearly $50/month in savings!

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Yes. They are usually 19.99 per box, but Costco will waive the delivery fee if you order $75 worth. I don't live anywhere near a costco, so I wait and buy a bunch at one time.

Even at 19.99 per box it still blows Quest out of the water in terms of price.

What are yalls goals for total & net carbs /day

I shoot to stay under 25 net carbs. I don't worry about Total Carbs at all. Just net carbs.

irish pete ag06 said:

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I shoot to stay under 25 net carbs. I don't worry about Total Carbs at all. Just net carbs.

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Same

Ya similar

https://www.wholesomeyum.com/low-carb-keto-protein-cookie-dough-bites-recipe/

I made these the other day,
Tasty

irish pete ag06 said:

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Lt. Joe Bookman said:

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irish pete ag06 said:

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Lt. Joe Bookman said:

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irish pete ag06 said:

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Oh also, I went to costco.com to buy some more of their Kirkland bars 2 days ago and they were on sale. A box of 20 for $13.99. That's an incredible value compared to Quest bars. I would be bringing a dozen of them with me on a road trip of that magnitude.

I bought 5 boxes yesterday.

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As a quest bar fanatic (seriously, we have it on subcription at Amazon, 4 boxes a month), I've got to try those. That would save a fortune.

---

Dude. They are the best. I think Quest bars may taste a tad better, but it isn't by much. The first batch I bought of Kirkland was really hard, but they've softened up the recipe and it's much better. I've tried the brownie, choc chip cookie dough, and cinnamon roll. I'd rank them:

1. Choc Chip Cookie Dough
2. Cinnamon Roll


Last. Brownie

I'm saying that and I haven't tried the Cookies and Cream or Choc Peanut Butter yet. I don't even like Brownie Quest bars though. Just not good.

Also, some folks have claimed that these spiked glucose because of a different type of starch than Quest, but I tested my own blood sugar using my wife's meter and it didn't raise it one point.

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Nice, all we eat is the Choc Chip Cookie Dough and Cookies and Cream Quest bars, so that's good to hear that the cookie dough costco bars are close.
Agreed on the brownie quest bars... just terrible. Tastes like plastic.

Just checking the numbers... we pay $20.40/box of 12 Quest bars. 4 boxes is $82/month.
Costco bars would be $14/box of 20, so need 2.5 boxes a month... $35/month.
Nearly $50/month in savings!

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Yes. They are usually 19.99 per box, but Costco will waive the delivery fee if you order $75 worth. I don't live anywhere near a costco, so I wait and buy a bunch at one time.

Even at 19.99 per box it still blows Quest out of the water in terms of price.

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The Costco bars are easily my favorite protein bars. They've sold the chocolate chip cookie dough and chocolate brownie for a while, but they just started selling a new box with cinnamon roll and chocolate peanut butter.

My ranking is:
1 - Cookie Dough
2 - Brownie
3 - Cinnamon Roll
4 - Chocolate peanut butter

Stick with the cookie dough/brownie box. Cinnamon roll is decent but the chocolate peanut butter isn't good, doesn't taste right.

Have you tried cookies n cream?

Are these Kirkland bars Keto friendly. What are the net carbs?

H-town ag said:

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Are these Kirkland bars Keto friendly. What are the net carbs?

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Net carbs are around 4.

They don't sell cookies and cream at my Costco, if they did I would certainly give them a shot.

Oh wow. Last time I bought those costco protein bars they only had the brownie and cookie dough, and they were $22/box. Are they $14 a box in store, or is that an online only price? Don't have a membership, so it's either bug my friend to take me next time he goes or order online and pay the non-member and shipping fee.

Probably gonna try the cookies and cream this time.

OasisMan said:

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https://www.halotop.com/where-to-buy/

A lot of varieties
Usually 5-8 net carbs

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Kroger has an in house brand that's cheaper and still pretty good. Also Breyer's recently came out with their own version and has been running sales on it as well.

I tried ProYo ice cream. Didn't taste good.

I bought the costco ones today and they were $11.99 per box. Only had the cookie dough and brownie. I was excited to try some new flavors because these two get old after a while. We were eating these daily up until about a year ago. The cookie dough are pretty good and the brownie is just ok. Better than most but not as good as many of the Quest bars. Worth the price for sure vs Quest, though.

If you like Quest you gotta try the mint chocolate chunk and the s'mores (sounds gross but they're great).

Next topic what is the best tasting dark chocolate. I've tried a few different ~70% and all are pretty good with Lindt being the best. The 85% I've tried is okay but only had one brand so far.

If you've got an Aldi near you, try their Moser Roth dark chocolate. 70% is good, 85% takes a little getting used to.

The "Sams" brand at Walmart is my favorite. I eat 90%. It has the best macros of any I've had.

I like Lilly's which are sweetened with stevia. I also really liked the ChocZero - Milk Chocolate Hazelnut. They are 3 net carbs per ounce and don't have any artificial sweeteners or sugar alcohols. They have several other flavors of bark plus chocolate squares and syrups but I haven't tried anything else yet. I ordered from Amazon, I don't see the Hazelnut on their website right now.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XKWR97N/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

So tried a half bar in Cookies & Cream and Chocolate Peanut Butter.

Cookies and cream is pretty dang good. I wish it had the huge chunks like Quest, but there are some chunks in there.

Chocolate Peanut Butter was surprisingly really good. So far, the only one I haven't thought I would buy again is brownie. I can see myself buying every other flavor to keep it mixed up...

Although I just bought 5 more boxes and had nearly a box left... so I'm at around 110 or more bars in my house. Won't need any for a while.

90% cacao sounds a little rough

tv1113 said:

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Next topic what is the best tasting dark chocolate. I've tried a few different ~70% and all are pretty good with Lindt being the best. The 85% I've tried is okay but only had one brand so far.

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Seriously - I have yet to find one I like. And they tend to be $$$.

I'm not the type who just melts over chocolate, so I just do without.

I don't know why, but I love it.

Sometimes when I'm being really naughty I scoop Skippy All Natural Peanut Butter with the 90% Cacao Square.

Basically, a Keto Peanut Butter Cup.

wbt5845 said:

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tv1113 said:

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Next topic what is the best tasting dark chocolate. I've tried a few different ~70% and all are pretty good with Lindt being the best. The 85% I've tried is okay but only had one brand so far.

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Seriously - I have yet to find one I like. And they tend to be $$$.

I'm not the type who just melts over chocolate, so I just do without.

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I find it useful for weaning off, but like you it's not so good that I have to keep eating t.

So I wanted to post my pre- and post- keto lab results:

I am 38 and have always been pretty fit and conscious of my diet. For at least the last 5 years or so I have eaten a pretty low carb, high protein diet. I went full keto, though, in August of '17. Due to a fairly extreme family history or heart disease and high cholesterol (in spite of exercise and generally a good diet) I am under the care of a cardiologist and annually get advanced lipid bloodwork done.

I had labs done in June of last year and again in March of this year. I was feeling really guilty about the amount of fat I was eating in light of my cholesterol and family history so I planned to back of the keto and just do more low carb/South Beach/Mediterranean diet.

Anyway, I'm sticking with keto! My cardiologist is still apprehensive but he said himself he was shocked at some of my lipid results.

Here are my numbers immediately before and then during keto:

Pre-Keto/Keto
Total Chol 157/203
LDL 78/74
HDL 70/115
Trigs 46/56
Non-HDL 87/88
LDL Number 882/999
Lp(a) 177/148

The LDL particle number is the only one that went the wrong way. It is something for me to keep an eye on because it is a very important parameter, but is still in the optimal range. The Lp(a) is the scare one for me because it is so high, but I've been on a statin and high-dose Niaspan for at least 7 years and it had dropped about as far as those meds can drop it, so I was ecstatic to see it come down more through diet.

I know its anecdotal, but hopefully this is useful information to anyone who is considering keto and curious about the effect of lipids.

I've been lurking and just started keto a week ago. I'm 5'11", 238 and want to lose 40 pounds. The week has gone pretty much as I expected (2-3 days keto flu symptoms, thirsty all the time so drinking water and propel constantly, but finally feel satiated all day with no hunger between meals - something that I mever felt when I was eating crap all the time).

I'm definitely in ketosis - nasty breath, pee is different, keto sticks showing moderate-to-large ketones every time. The only thing bothering me - not one pound down.

I haven't done any workouts this week because I was in a fog and had a loss of energy as I've adjusted. I walked a couple miles a day but that's it. Plan to add my cardio back in this week. Lifecycle for 45 min, 4-5 days a week.

Is it normal to have no weight loss the first week? I really assumed I'd at least lose water weight. In the past when I've started a new diet plan and stuck to it, the first week or two were easy 5-8 pound weight loss. Now, at 48 years old, it seems it takes an act of congress to get the weight loss going.

OldAg92 said:

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I've been lurking and just started keto a week ago. I'm 5'11", 238 and want to lose 40 pounds. The week has gone pretty much as I expected (2-3 days keto flu symptoms, thirsty all the time so drinking water and propel constantly, but finally feel satiated all day with no hunger between meals - something that I mever felt when I was eating crap all the time).

I'm definitely in ketosis - nasty breath, pee is different, keto sticks showing moderate-to-large ketones every time. The only thing bothering me - not one pound down.

I haven't done any workouts this week because I was in a fog and had a loss of energy as I've adjusted. I walked a couple miles a day but that's it. Plan to add my cardio back in this week. Lifecycle for 45 min, 4-5 days a week.

Is it normal to have no weight loss the first week? I really assumed I'd at least lose water weight. In the past when I've started a new diet plan and stuck to it, the first week or two were easy 5-8 pound weight loss. Now, at 48 years old, it seems it takes an act of congress to get the weight loss going.

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Are you tracking macros and total calories? If not, then get a food scale and start doing that as scientifically as possible.

You may try incorporating a 16/8 intermittent fast along with the Keto diet. Just skip breakfast and eat everything within an 8 hour window.

Also, you can really reduce Keto flu by making sure you get tons of electrolytes (insert idiiocracy joke here). Keto makes your body use twice or more the daily electrolytes of a non-keto person. Salt, No-Salt (potassium), and a small amount of magnesium will help a lot. When I had a bout with a bad keto flu headache after drinking one night I chugged a gram of salt and a gram of no-salt and it subsided fairly quickly.

I'd also highly recommend some form of resistance or weight training also so that your body has a reason to hold onto it's lean body mass.

What resources do y'all use for the keto diet? I'm looking to get started on it, but with all of the information out there, i'm not sure what to trust.

txagfisher said:

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What resources do y'all use for the keto diet? I'm looking to get started on it, but with all of the information out there, i'm not sure what to trust.

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r/keto is the best resource out there.

txagfisher said:

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What resources do y'all use for the keto diet? I'm looking to get started on it, but with all of the information out there, i'm not sure what to trust.

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If your goal is strictly weight loss. Just keep carbs under 25, drink plenty of water, and get electrolytes. But yes, ketogains is great

A friendly word to the wise on cheating while on this diet. I've found that I can have an occasional cheat meal with no real negative consequence, but not a cheat day. A couple weeks ago I decided since it was Easter I would indulge (damn you Reece's peanut butter eggs), just didn't feel right for days after. I never have a problem jumping back into eating correctly but an entire day off does not work for me.

I can be in a room with pretty much any form of candy and hold strong, but Reece's are my weakness. I never smoked but I can only imagine the addiction to nicotine is somewhere on the level I have for sugary peanut butter and chocolate.

i was getting terrible leg cramps at night. Like wake up wanting to scream cramps. I started eating a couple of pickles before bed, and the cramps stopped. The jar says that 1 pickle is 40% of the daily sodium, so I'm consuming 80% right before bed.

I also use Nu-salt (potassium), but i've been using that for years.

TexasAggie_02 said:

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i was getting terrible leg cramps at night. Like wake up wanting to scream cramps. I started eating a couple of pickles before bed, and the cramps stopped. The jar says that 1 pickle is 40% of the daily sodium, so I'm consuming 80% right before bed.

I also use Nu-salt (potassium), but i've been using that for years.

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Yes. Stuff I've read suggests that since we keto'ers hold less water weight we need twice the daily consumption of sodium and potassium.

Nearly anytime I get cramps I supplement more of that stuff and they go away.



I use that as a guideline and just listen to my body. I don't supplement magnesium very often.

Chicken Broth is a good one to supplement electrolytes with as well.
I used to bring that on dove hunting trips where I knew I would be sweating a lot.