That's good to know. I'm only 5 weeks in, so I haven't made it to that point.

I've been using a CareTouch to blood monitor both ketone and gluclose levels for a while to figure out how my body responds to stuff... I don't see it a long term use, but it has been helpful.

irish pete ag06 said:

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Average Joe said:

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I disagree somewhat. They have been helpful in figuring out how my body responds to different levels of carbs. It's$8 for 150 strips. That will get me through the first 3-5 months of testing my body's carb threshold. Seems like money well spent. However, I doubt I buy more.

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They eventually don't work that well because your body will adjust you don't overproduce ketones by much even when you are in ketosis.

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How's the bulk going?

Lt. Joe Bookman said:

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irish pete ag06 said:

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Average Joe said:

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I disagree somewhat. They have been helpful in figuring out how my body responds to different levels of carbs. It's$8 for 150 strips. That will get me through the first 3-5 months of testing my body's carb threshold. Seems like money well spent. However, I doubt I buy more.

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They eventually don't work that well because your body will adjust you don't overproduce ketones by much even when you are in ketosis.

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How's the bulk going?

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Really well actually. I've been really really loose on my macros. After 7 straight months of tracking I've been not tracking for about 4 or 5 weeks now. I just makes sure I eats lots of protein but I've splurged on some sweet stuff and beer also.

The waist line has grown, there's no denying that. Probably about 2 inches total with about a half inch of that coming nearly instantly with the water weight gain, but nowhere near as big as it was pre-keto. I'm also adding inches in good spots also (probably some water involved there also). My lifts have seen some big increases as well. My n=1 experiment is that carbs are better for gaining strength and size. I plan to continue to eat carbs until probably around January or February then begin Keto again to cut the fat back down. I'm still tracking using the navy body fat calculator and I estimate I've added around 8 pounds of lean mass dating back to early December. Roughly a pound of lean per month. I'm up to 174 after getting down to 166 or so keto.

I do miss the keto mind clarity though. I do feel like I could focus better when keto.

AGGODDESS said:

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I've been using a CareTouch to blood monitor both ketone and gluclose levels for a while to figure out how my body responds to stuff... I don't see it a long term use, but it has been helpful.

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As a non-diabetic, how much does your blood sugar change? As a t1 diabetic myself, I've always been curious about that for non-diabetics.

When I'm eating keto my glucose levels range from 68-80 depending on when I test as it relates to when I ate last, etc. I use it to determine the GKI to help me adjust accordingly... goal being the GKI between 3-6 (unless you're using the sate of ketosis for therapeutic purposes (seizures, cancer, etc.). The calculation helps me not get so fixated on either result but the combination. It also is very effective in figuring out the effectiveness of fasting.

https://healthisahabit.live/2017/06/11/ketosis-level-index/

http://www.dranthonygustin.com/my-four-day-fasting-results/

https://alivebynature.com/glucose-ketone-index-gki-what-ratio-do-i-need-for-nutritional-ketosis-benefits/

Anyone tried giving your kids a Keto diet? Perhaps for behavioral issues or ASD?

Recently watched The Magic Pill documentary on Netflix which is about Keto and eating clean. While it had some eye-roll moments for me, I did find some of the stories with the autistic kids intriguing. My 7yo son is on the spectrum and pretty sure I am going to try it out. The good thing is he loves pretty much all meats/cheeses/eggs and doesn't have a sweet tooth...so I don't think it would freak him out. Packing a school lunch sounds like a challenge. I imagine I'll need to introduce some sort of multivitamin.

I've done keto successfully myself for weight-loss in the past. I don't really need to do it for that now (maintaining ideal weight thanks to a lot of exercise) but I'll probably start back up if I have to cook special for him anyway.

Anyway, just curious if anyone has done this (or just does it as a family and not for any particular reason) and if they noticed anything on how it affected your children....positive or negative. Thanks

So weight has been falling off pretty fast due to lots of exercise, daily 18 hour IF, and keto. Energy is good, not hungry. Kind of worried what will happen...does your body plateau at an optimized weight?

Do I need to up my calories to not look like a stick figure?

Whitetail said:

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So weight has been falling off pretty fast due to lots of exercise, daily 18 hour IF, and keto. Energy is good, not hungry. Kind of worried what will happen...does your body plateau at an optimized weight?

Do I need to up my calories to not look like a stick figure?

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How fast are you losing? More than 2 lbs a week is generally too much if you don't want to lose too much muscle, but if you have a BF% of more than 25%-ish, that may not be a problem.

And no, your body wont plateau at an optimized weight. It's entirely up to the amount of calories you are consuming. Once you are getting close to your goal weight, start upping your calories 100-200 cal/day per week until you start maintaining.

irish pete ag06 said:

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Lt. Joe Bookman said:

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irish pete ag06 said:

---

Average Joe said:

---

I disagree somewhat. They have been helpful in figuring out how my body responds to different levels of carbs. It's$8 for 150 strips. That will get me through the first 3-5 months of testing my body's carb threshold. Seems like money well spent. However, I doubt I buy more.

---

They eventually don't work that well because your body will adjust you don't overproduce ketones by much even when you are in ketosis.

---

How's the bulk going?

---

Really well actually. I've been really really loose on my macros. After 7 straight months of tracking I've been not tracking for about 4 or 5 weeks now. I just makes sure I eats lots of protein but I've splurged on some sweet stuff and beer also.

The waist line has grown, there's no denying that. Probably about 2 inches total with about a half inch of that coming nearly instantly with the water weight gain, but nowhere near as big as it was pre-keto. I'm also adding inches in good spots also (probably some water involved there also). My lifts have seen some big increases as well. My n=1 experiment is that carbs are better for gaining strength and size. I plan to continue to eat carbs until probably around January or February then begin Keto again to cut the fat back down. I'm still tracking using the navy body fat calculator and I estimate I've added around 8 pounds of lean mass dating back to early December. Roughly a pound of lean per month. I'm up to 174 after getting down to 166 or so keto.

I do miss the keto mind clarity though. I do feel like I could focus better when keto.

---

Very nice.
I'm in a somewhat similar boat. Got down to 145, but have been "lean bulking" for the past 12 weeks and am up to 156. According to hydrotesting... only gained 0.3% BF in that time (14.8% to 15.1%).
It's a weird mind set to switch from eating very little and seeing the scale go down to eating a ton and seeing the scale go back up. But it's fun to see weight gain and strength gains, while the waist stays the same size.

Been doing it for a month, lost 15-20 lbs. Now right at a BMI of 25, although BMI numbers are skewed high because of my height.

That's tremendous to maintain that body fat level while growing. I'm considering eating at maintenance keto again for a few weeks to put a stop gap on the expanding waistline.

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/7/24/17606958/meat-cheese-surplus-visualized



We need to step up our game.

I think I am going to start tracking again, but I don't think I'm ready to go keto again. What kind of macros have you been using? I may use similar.

irish pete ag06 said:

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I think I am going to start tracking again, but I don't think I'm ready to go keto again. What kind of macros have you been using? I may use similar.

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2400 calories
240 g carbs
180 g protein
80 g fat

Mainly I try to hit my protein goal and my calories goal, and move the carbs and fat around depending on how I'm feeling.

Would you please share your easy sugar-free cheescake recipe with us?

I made these cookies today

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup coconut oil
3/4 cup brown sugar or coconut sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups blanched almond flour
1 1/4 chocolate chips of choice
2/3 cup toasted walnuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, coconut oil, and brown sugar. Add the vanilla and eggs, mixing until incorporated.
Mix in the baking soda and salt. Add the almond flour, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts with a wooden spoon.
Form the dough into tablespoon rounds and place on the lined baking sheet about 3 inches apart. Bake for 11-13 minutes, or until golden brown around edges. Cool and enjoy! These cookies are best enjoyed the day they are baked.


Adjustments: I used half a cup of stevia and a quarter cup of brown sugar, and 2 cups of almond flour with 1 cup of coconut flour.

This is how they turned out...



I'm assuming it was the Stevia? They taste great, they just are crumbly balls, not cookies.

Has anyone ever read this sub-reddit? Hilarious.

Keto Circle Jerk

Thanks. That's really funny

Lost two pounds over vacation in Angelfire, NM. 12 weeks in and 29.8 down. Hoping I hit the dirty thirty tomorrow. And yes, it was a little hard to resist the fry bread and sopapillas ha!

Seems like a lot of sugar for a keto recipe, they have brown sugar substitutes on amazon to try. Texture wise it's probably using a cup of coconut flour vs a cup of almond flour. Coconut flour is way more absorbing than almond flour, you can't swap them at 1:1 ratio. I think I read that coconut flour is 3X more absorbing than almond flour so it you drop the recipe by one C almond flour use 1/3 C coconut flour.

As someone that does some keto baking every month I recommend getting some psyllium husk powder. It mimics the gluten found in regular flour, add some of that to any keto baked goods and it should improve the texture.

May or may not be helpful to some...

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/17/health/low-carb-high-carbohydrate-diet-risk-of-death-intl/index.html

agz win said:

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May or may not be helpful to some...

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/17/health/low-carb-high-carbohydrate-diet-risk-of-death-intl/index.html

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The first half of that article reads as though this is a great scientific study. The second half shows that the article should never have been written to begin with.

agz win said:

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May or may not be helpful to some...

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/17/health/low-carb-high-carbohydrate-diet-risk-of-death-intl/index.html

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It's a correlational study that relied on self reporting and a couple surveys over many years.

I can see many reasons they find the results they did.

Perhaps the people on low carb diets were already in a high risk category (obesity, diabetic), so they adopted a low carb diet to get out of the risk category.

In that case death and low carb would be a spurious relationship.

Or maybe it's that Asians eat more carbs and happen to live longer.

Call me when there's an experimental study.

Guitarsoup said:

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I'll bet you obesity is a lot more dangerous than not eating potatoes, pasta, and sugar

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If I remember correctly the two factors that are the most accurate at determining life is body fat and muscle mass. For some reason not being obese and staying active seem to help people live longer. Plus there are ties to physical and mental health.

Not mentioned in the article was watching A&M football games, we all know those take a few years off of your life.

My cholesterol numbers have actually improved on this diet. If you're sensible about food choices, it can be very healthy.

Agreed... GKI is best measurement to consider.

Quote:

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I have been on the Ketogenic diet for 8 wks now; my wife for 20 wks. We both have significant amounts of weight...and I am T2 Diabetic.

I've watched my Blood Sugar fall from an average of 120 -135 (over the past 13 yrs) to 85-110, depending on my activity level. Total weight loss for me is 22 lbs to date.

...

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Update to this 6/26 post...

16 weeks in. I was at -27 (151) 2 weeks ago, I went up to 0.9 gm / kg for protein (was at Mercola's 0.8 gm / kg), 30 gm Carb (started @20gm ). Still in ketosis.

Blood sugar continued to fall, averaged around 85 to 105. Not to draw a false correlation but, in the last two weeks, my blood sugar has stabilized to a smaller range of 80-95, and I have lost another 3 lbs (148). Of even greater significance, i have also dropped from 1,500 mg to 1,000 mg of Metformin, with no adverse change in blood sugar.

I have a physical / diabetes check next week, so it will be interesting to see results. For the past 12 yrs, I maintained an A1C of less than 7.0 (considered good sugar control), so if readings are accurate, I may not have reversed it (yet), but certainly fell into the normal range. From what I have been reading, some MD's will allow one to cease taking Metformin with 3 consecutive A1C readings of < 5.5. So, something to look forward to...

Here's to all our continued success.

My wife and I are looking into starting a keto diet, my mind can't really wrap around how you lose weight eating a ton of fat.

Sounds like I could eat bacon and eggs or steak for every meal, which sounds like heaven. Although no beer will be an issue.

Cstrickland05 said:

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Sounds like I could eat bacon and eggs or steak for every meal, which sounds like heaven.

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It's pretty great for a while, but you have to vary the meals or you'll get real tired of the same thing every day (yes, even bacon and eggs and steak...eventually...if that's all you eat).

Cstrickland05 said:

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My wife and I are looking into starting a keto diet, my mind can't really wrap around how you lose weight eating a ton of fat.

Sounds like I could eat bacon and eggs or steak for every meal, which sounds like heaven. Although no beer will be an issue.

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Insulin response is how you gain fat. Fat induces the lowest insulin response with carbs inducing the highest. Keep insulin low, fat burns. Keep insulin high, fat stores.

That's seriously the hardest part. I'm down 17lbs since July 18th and i'm not *starving* all day. I feel better all the way around.