The Ketogenic Get Healthy Thread

[Haggises]

Oh and Day 7 - Lost 6 pounds.

Still need to eat more and figure out fat bombs. Mild nausea for a lot of this week means I can't even stomach the idea of bulletproof coffee or other such devices.

 

[martym]

Here is my typical breakfast. I cook up 2 strips of bacon, then when they are about half done, I add the avocado to the fat to fry them up. After I remove them, I fry up 2 eggs in the remaining fat, and top with cheese and hot sauce.

Hard to believe I'm losing weight eating like this....
View attachment 868018

That is a fine start to your day!!

 

[martym]

Spam and eggs after an hour walk

 

[Chango]

Spam and eggs after an hour walk

View attachment 868203

Spam!! My favorite guilty pleasure! Perfect for keto? Protein, fat, and sodium! That makes me hungry now.

 

[martym]

Exactly!
And perfect for diabetics too!
Very low carb.
High fat!
And oh so very tasty!

 

[dangerousdon]

In addition to being a tasty snack, I crush them and use them as an alternative to bread crumbs in meatloaf and hamburgers. Bonus: a big 18oz barrel is only $7.99 from Amazon.

That's a good deal! I know where I will be getting my pork rinds from.

Another delicious item I discovered is Avocado fries. I was making hamburgers and fries for the kids, so I sliced up some avocados and fried them in bacon fat until golden. They are amazing. Crispy on the outside and sof tin the middle just like a good fry should be.

So now you have me curious. It looks like I will be trying fried avocados soon.

Just bought some Grandpa John's pork cracklin dippers.
Half a 3 Oz pack later...dang they're good.

Cracklin's are thread in the Louisiana culture here...you can't stop at a store or a gas station without seeing a favorite small business brand of cracklin's!

Here is my typical breakfast. I cook up 2 strips of bacon, then when they are about half done, I add the avocado to the fat to fry them up. After I remove them, I fry up 2 eggs in the remaining fat, and top with cheese and hot sauce.

Hard to believe I'm losing weight eating like this....
View attachment 868018

I have several meals through the week that look like this... I love me some eggs and bacon for just about any time.

Is now a good time to ask for hot sauce recommendations?

I know it's not the hottest...but I am honestly just a fan of good old Louisiana Hot Sauce. Has a real nice flavor to me.

Oh and Day 7 - Lost 6 pounds.

Still need to eat more and figure out fat bombs. Mild nausea for a lot of this week means I can't even stomach the idea of bulletproof coffee or other such devices.

Congratulations! You seem to be on the right path! When you are first starting out...the nausea thing does kind of suck. Nit sure your eating schedule...but you might be eating too often and with the high fat content it definitely can upset your stomach. Just a thought.

Spam and eggs after an hour walk

View attachment 868203

Oh man! Spam! I never thought of that!

Spam!! My favorite guilty pleasure! Perfect for keto? Protein, fat, and sodium! That makes me hungry now.

Indeed, it seems to have all the proportions. It does seem that there is a little potato starch in Spam, but it doesn't look like much. About 1 gram per 2 oz serving. Here is the nutritional info from the Spam website:

 

[Haggises]

7 lbs down.
Friday was the first day I exceeded my 1800 calorie intake. Helped having 5 guys bacon cheeseburger for lunch, and Iron Hill Bacon cheeseburger for dinner. Still managed to stay about 25g carbs for the day.
Yesterday had a busy day, managed only 1100 calories yet felt full.
I think my carb hangover is finally receding and I don't feel quite so stupid or mildly nauseated all the time.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[dangerousdon]

7 lbs down.
Friday was the first day I exceeded my 1800 calorie intake. Helped having 5 guys bacon cheeseburger for lunch, and Iron Hill Bacon cheeseburger for dinner. Still managed to stay about 25g carbs for the day.
Yesterday had a busy day, managed only 1100 calories yet felt full.
I think my carb hangover is finally receding and I don't feel quite so stupid or mildly nauseated all the time.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Sounds like great work to me! Keep it up. Glad you are feeling better!

 

[BigSpivito]

Is now a good time to ask for hot sauce recommendations?

I must admit that the hot sauce addition has been what gets me through all the eggs I have to eat.

My recommendation is just finding your favorite and go for it (in moderation). I am a huge Sriracha fan, and it has less than 1g of carbs per tablespoon. If you are vigilant through the day, that 1 carb won’t don any harm. That is just my $.02


Happy Shaving
-Chris
US Army Veteran, Foxhole Shavers Club Member

 

[BigSpivito]

One thing that needs to be stressed over and over... make sure to drink water on a keto diet a ton and all through the day. I thought I drank a good amount of water before the diet, but have dropped ~20 lbs and can tell when I don’t drink enough water, even for a day.

I had not seen this thread before, so I wanted to share my experience where I can.


Happy Shaving
-Chris
US Army Veteran, Foxhole Shavers Club Member

 

[dangerousdon]

Okay guys...moment of truth time! I haven't reported much in the last couple of weeks and I apologize. Just really busy with work and with home.

To be honest...I haven't really lost any weight or if I have it's very negligible. My last weigh in reported to you guys was on March 4th at my eight week mark and I had lost exactly 40 pounds. Since then I have been down as much as four fewer pounds, or up as much as two more pounds. This morning I weighed in a little over 287. So the weight is just staying there. I would like to say that it is a stall...but to be honest...I think I just need to reevaluate my macros and get back on a solid plan. Looks like I will need to keep record of all my foods again for a couple of weeks. But I expected that I had to do this anyway. This is a good time to adjust anyway...because I suspect I am eating too much protein. But all in all things are great...look at this way...I haven't gained anything back!

I do have a lot to report though! First thing first. I have been getting comments from work about my pants and shirts looking too big. These were well intention-ed comments...but I guess I had waited long enough. If I had a job that I could come in wearing what I wanted, I probably wouldn't have worried too much. But I am routinely meeting with people that I am required to either wear a suite or a sport coat. My current sport coat is fitting better. I don't expect my shoulders to change shape much, but things are looser in the midsection. Anyway...I needed more dress slacks. So I hit up a Belks close to my house and the had a killer deal where you buy two pairs of slacks and get three pair free. Just what I was looking for since I am not willing to go but a ton of close just yet as I plan on losing more weight. So I picked up three slacks of one size and two more of a size just below those.

Previously to this diet...I had been wearing a waist size in my slacks and khakis of about 46 (one pair was even a 48 ). Yesterday the slacks I bought were 42s and 40s! Also...a big boost to my ego was that I didn't get them in the Big and Tall section. Seriously...REGULAR PEOPLE CLOTHES! I know it's small...but you don't know how good this made me feel. My selection of clothing has just increased and become more economical. I know I have a long way to go, but this is a huge step for me!

I'm not done there...I have more to report. I go back to the Doctor on April 6th to discuss blood work that I will do in the next couple of weeks. I honestly can't remember if I have ever been this excited to see the doctor. Anyway, My work participates in annual health assessments for employees and if you do one you get a marginal discount on your health insurance premiums. So I thought this would be a great report card moment to kind of see where things are. I want to caveat that I do not know how accurate these measurements are. Instead of a blood draw like my normal medical visits are...they did a finger ***** like you would when monitoring your blood glucose. But from it they give you a reading on your glucose, cholesterol, and liver enzymes. They also do your blood pressure, abdominal circumference, and BMI. The BMI I don't care too much about...and I have been doing my own abdominal measurements...so these where not that big of a deal. But I can report to you all some pretty good results.

Blood Pleasure - Looks like I need a little more work in this department...but I am happy to report that it was a solid 120/82. I think this might even be a little lower as I had walked a couple of blocks to get to my health assessment. I have given up on my home BP measurements as I was having a difficult time getting consistent readings. But still...120/82 is much better than what I used to have.

Glucose - My glucose was at 99...but I know this can fluctuate a lot. This test was done on about a 15 hour fast...so the values should be accurate. Back in January with my regular doctor visit my glucose was at 93 so I don't think the slight change means that much.

Cholesterol -

• Total Cholesterol - March: 183; Jan: 198
• HDL Cholesterol - March: 43; Jan: 31
• LDL Cholesterol - March: 112; Jan: 132
• Triglycerides - March: 144; Jan: 189

As you can see...My values see to be going in the right direction. In fact...In January, my HDL values were too low and my Triglycerides were too high. In January my Total Cholesterol/HDL ratio was 6.4. Definitely in the above average risk for heart disease department. This past weeks numbers indicate a much better scenario as my ratio was 4.3, below the dreaded ratio of 5 that I believe you want to avoid. I still want to get that ratio as close to one as possible...but this is a great start!

Liver Enzymes - So I have made a point of stating that a big part of why I am doing what I am doing is because of my Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. I am trying to reverse it. I do want to report that I only notice a slight "discomfort" every now and then...where as before it was always present. That being said, from what I have read...the actual liver enzymes present in blood can take quite some time to get back to normal levels. I really don't have any idea if these numbers are truly getting better or not. They seem to be trending in the right direction...but they are still high, and the reduction is actually small.

• AST - March: 50; Jan: 52
• ALT - March: 91; Jan: 111

Again...I think they are going in the right direction...but again...I don't know how quick or slow this process takes.

Well I have stammered on enough. I just want to say that I a incredibly pleased with the participation and all the great people in this thread! Seriously...kudos to all of you with the tremendous progress you all have made. And thank you for all the encouragement that you all are giving me and providing others! I know I have said it before...but I will say it again...I couldn't have come as far as I have without you guys! Have a wonderful Sunday!

 

[dangerousdon]

One thing that needs to be stressed over and over... make sure to drink water on a keto diet a ton and all through the day. I thought I drank a good amount of water before the diet, but have dropped ~20 lbs and can tell when I don’t drink enough water, even for a day.

I had not seen this thread before, so I wanted to share my experience where I can.


Happy Shaving
-Chris
US Army Veteran, Foxhole Shavers Club Member

This is a great point. I know when I began keto almost three months ago, I was drinking more than a gallon of water a day. I have backed off a little...but I still drink close to a gallon of water a day.

Welcome aboard Chris! Please feel free to post thoughts and updates here as much as you want!

 

[Doc4]

To be honest...I haven't really lost any weight or if I have it's very negligible. ... I would like to say that it is a stall...but to be honest...I think I just need to reevaluate my macros and get back on a solid plan.

Yeah, on the keto diet we tend to eat mostly fatty, high-energy-per-ounce foods, and it can be easy to overeat on the calorie count just by absentmindedly munching a second and third handful of macadamia nuts or a third and fourth slice of cheese just because ... dang, that cheese tastes good!!

I had an "upward bump" a while ago when I got a bunch of meat sticks and was ... um ... "taste testing" them at work to see which ones I liked best. Oops.

I do have a lot to report though! First thing first. I have been getting comments from work about my pants and shirts looking too big.

good sign!

My current sport coat is fitting better. I don't expect my shoulders to change shape much, but things are looser in the midsection.

It's not as thick as the one around your stomach, but there is a layer of fat everywhere, and losing weight will get rid of that layer, or at least shrink it dramatically. You may go down a shoulder size on your suit (or not ... depends.)

But yeah, mostly it's around the middle where the change takes place.

Anyway...I needed more dress slacks.

Suggestion ... don't invest too much on this until you have been on this journey a while longer and you can safely say that your weight/size has stopped changing. Getting the waist on your existing trousers tailored can be a good stop-gap. A couple pair of decent dress slacks or casual trousers from Costco can do a lot for you too, as you continue to fluctuate downward over the next year or so.

Seriously...REGULAR PEOPLE CLOTHES!

 

[deoxy4]

dangerousdon, Good progress! Your Triglyceride:HDL ratio is much improved

 

[martym]

Atta boy cowboy!!
Keep it up

 

[Mick]

I've about had it with straight protein.

Off shopping for some Shirataki rice and noodles.

Shirataki noodles - Wikipedia

I gotta get back into some assemelance of real food.

I think this morning's breakfast drove me over the edge. Beat a slice of pork tenderloin violently then seared it.... I started to enjoy pounding it so I think it is time for a change.

I am at 171 lbs and do not want or need to drop more weight. I am jonsing for Thai red curry to the point of dreaming about it at night.

 

[paintflinger]

Just have the curry then. Just don't eat 2000 calories worth of it.

 

[Mick]

Going to make it with bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, and zucchini. Carrots and onion will be in the portion SWMBO gets.

Carbs (divided in half between 2 people)

Bamboo shoots 8g per cup

Water chestnuts 15g per 1/2 cup

zucchini 3.5g per cup.

Coconut milk 13g per cup.

I don't think 20-25g of carbs twice a week will kill me.

 

[dangerousdon]

So I finally got to the gym yesterday. I started out with some weights and was just trying to get myself familiarized with them. Did a few and decided to do some cardio. I normally jump on the elliptical cycle, but I said "what the heck" and opted for the treadmill. Really started off with a fast walking pace and was only doing about 20 minutes. Five minutes in I decided to see what running feels like since I haven't done any in quite some time. So I ran for 10 minutes straight before I slowed down to a fast walk again for another five minutes. This may not seem like a big deal to you...but seriously...I ran for ten minutes straight! And I don't think it was that hard really. I might do that for the rest of the week and then mayby up the run to 15 minutes sandwiched between five minutes of walking next week.

The other day I grilled up some chicken thighs. My wife is considering doing keto, but until that day, she likes for me to take the skin off of her chicken. I really did not want to waste that scrumptious chicken cracklin...so I put salt, pepper, and Hungarian paprika on the underside of the skin and threw them on the grill as well. Pulled them off around the 10 minute mark and man those things were nice and crispy and so good!

I hope you guys have a great day today!

 

[TheVez2]

Those chicken skins look delicious!

So here's my Tuesday update. I am still slowly, but steadily, losing weight. Every single day, I see a drop on the scale. Not a full pound a day, but still a drop. A couple of days it went up, just a bit, but the next day it came off and then more, so it's pretty much a steady decline. Today: 201.6 lbs. Started at 215. Not as fast as I expected, but I'll take it. I'm really enjoying this eating plan, and soon will be adding a workout regularly into my schedule. I just wanted to focus on the diet first and get used to that before changing another thing. I'm guessing things will start happening faster one I start working out. And I also know that once I start putting on muscle, my weight could stay the same or go up, even while losing fat. I never did any body measurements, but I think I will before I start the workout, so I can see changes, even if the scale doesn't show it.