I think Queevox said that he believed it has to do with how long the weight has been on. So, if you were at a certain weight for a long time it may take longer to push through that point.

My sister is doing Atkins-style diet (pretty much Keto) and also taking a prescription weight-loss drug. It's been working well for her and her husband.

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Made Chicken Carbonara last night. Really delicious. Topped it with a sprinkle of parm cheese, served it over shredded zucchini / squash. Very tasty and filling with that creamy bacony goodness.

For those who are interested, basically just cooked up some bacon, added chopped chicken breast, cooked the chicken in the bacon grease. Added sliced portabellas. Dumped in some low-carb alfredo sauce (I think 8g of carbs in the whole jar). Added a bit of heavy cream. Plenty of fat.

I pretty much stopped losing the last week or two. I initially lost about 17, and then it just kinda stopped. I will admit I wasn't really restricting calories. I usually land around 2000 but was more concerned with hitting the macros. Even though the weight loss stopped, my face did get a wee bit thinner, and my belt a tad looser fitting. 

Oh well.  Whatever happens, I know I'm better off than when I was eating chips, pasta, ice cream, etc. 

Trident, 5, Orbitz. They all use sugar alcohols, which are fine in the quantities they contain.

I found when my drinking cut back I dipped less. YMMV.

My gf uses sugar free hot cocoa mix and a caffeine pills when she doesn't want morning coffee

I saw yesterday Trader Joe's now has an ultra filtered coconut oil for zero taste.

Yeah, it seems like the body is freaking out a bit and holding on to everything that it can hoping for the intake of excessive calories.  When that doesn't happen it finally gives up protecting that layer and then starts protecting the next layer.  But what is doing that helps it hold on when I have a string of calorie deficit days?

One thing that I can say now is that I get cold.  I'm still fat so it isn't that I've lost it all.  It used to be at night I would burn up even with a fan on me.  The house is the same temp and even without a fan I feel cold.  This is a really good thing but again I'm not sure what is physically going on that causes it.

That would be the plateau that I was talking about.  At some point your weight loss and resting metabolism will balance out again.  Continue the diet and you will still burn fat but at a slower rate.  Reduce the calorie intake a bit or add exercise and you will get through it faster.  Expect it to last one to two weeks.  A friend of mine went from 330 down to 230 over the course of a year and hit a plateau like that about every 20 pounds.  

The Tropical Traditions Gold is amazing. I buy it buy the gallon.

Had a shitty week last week and dropped out of Keto.  Back on the horse now.

I started Jan 2nd, with one 'cheat' day (Potatoes and soda bread with dinner on Burns Night). Lost 20 lbs so far. Stalled for the last week then lost 4 lbs over the last two days. Ketone strips reading 6.0-8.0, plenty of water and ate some salty grilled burger patties the other night.

I got some at Sam's club that doesn't taste like a darn thing. It was about 10 bucks for a jar about the size of a medium coffee can. 

I got sick of the low-calorie foods I've been eating for the past several months (lost around 50 lbs, purely from counting calories and exercise), so I'm giving keto another shot to mix my meals up. I did it back in college back when a lot of the broscience about it was all the rage, just prior to IF becoming the new hotness. It seems all the hipsters have driven up the price of coconut oil since I last bought it

Kinda fun. I'm on day 4 consuming around 1800 kcal, <20g carbs, 120-ish grams of fat, balance of protein. I missed real butter . Seems to remember I had more issues with lethargy and carb cravings last time I tried it. Smooth sailing except for the stomach issues.

As for many of you discussing stalls and plateaus, up your water intake and keep with it. While the reasons behind it aren't entirely understood, many of the more credible theories point to water retention masking the weight you are losing. Lyle has an article on this http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html/

AS for metabolic slowdown/thermogenic adaptaion/starvation mode, its more or less a myth. Yes there is some adaptation, but it takes a very long time and very low caloric intake for it to occur (and never is energy balance overcome by it).

The "set point'" theory has extremely weak science behind it. I dont buy it.

I have a very good water intake; always have. I think I'm just eating too much. 

Me too. Solid 5 weeks and one Mexican dinner last saturday and some pizza the next day and I was out.  

I got pissed about the weight not dropping and decided to reload my carbs. ??

My water intake is about as much as I can handle.  I was just thinking high fat doesn't work for me.  I feel a little bloated after eating and I am not eating a lot so it must be the fat. I didn't experience this when I was doing Paleo which is more protein centric.  The bloating goes away in a couple of hours but about when it does it is time to eat again.

I thought bloating was generally a result of carbs?

Well I can guarantee I am at 20g or less a day. That's the thing, different bodies may react differently.  I don't know what it is but I can eat something with 0 carbs but high fat and feel bloated. Perhaps the bloat is just feeling full and I am not used to feeling full. On Paleo I never really felt full. Satisfied yes,  but not full like when you overeat on carbs.

Could someone  give me the names of some good books explaining the Keto Diet.Maybe some good  books that explain the principles,etc. and some cookbooks.Thanks

A good book to start with is Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes.  Taubes  He has some good video lectures on his site as well.

Eat Bacon, Don't Jog.

Simple, but good explanation of carbs and insulin response.

You'll move up from there.

I've never felt bloated on fat and protein. Didn't think that was possible. Carbs sure, and I'd have about 3,000 cf of gas per day, and tired a good portion of the time. Now I have near endless energy and actually have to leave some of my meals sometimes because I'm full. It's great. 

Love fried chicken thighs.

I think if I just get back to my meal plan, then I'll be good in a week.  I think my weigh-in on Friday wont show any progress.  I now know what I need to do in the future.  Not eat shitty.

3wks in down 15lb. wifey went to the mall and brought me home basically a cadbury egg type thing, and made me a 20oz berry smoothie for valentines. figured it'd be OK after a workout.
After eating I had a sharp pain in my liver, I could literally feel the switching gears, pee'd on a keto strip this morning, nothing, what a shame it doesn't take much to get out of keto.

pissing ketones as of 10 min. ago though

I had a terrible sore throat and cough, three doses of cough syrup later the keto strip was registering nothing.  I was confused at first because I had stuck to the diet.  Then I remember how much sugar plus the alcohol that is in cough syrup.  That set me back a few days.

I know I've said I could never do keto long term, but damn if I couldn't eat this for supper every night:



veggies roasted in bacon fat, flank steak, and an avocado with salt&pepper.

sometimes the body is just happy to chill where it is.  Lots of people try to break them various ways,  but I keep following the basics and the loss starts back.

post induction stall syndrome.

Welp, went from 18X to 167.7 in a month and a half. So I'm at my goal. That was fast.  Now I need new pants (all my weight was in my waist).

My wife's down 12+ too.

If you like Buffalo Wild Wings you can DIY, toss wings in salt and baking soda, leave in fridge exposed to air to dry. The skin will deep fry crisp and crunchy.

What spices are you adding? That sounds good.

Anyone using ketone blood meter?  I got mine yesterday and reading was 3.3.

Researching this it looks like .5-3.0 is good, I may not be eating enough.  What say the team?

After a couple weeks of hovering around 243, this morning I broke the 240 barrier and weighed in at 239.  Been years since I've been at this level!

I tracked everything for about a week, then gave up because it was tedious.  If I had to guess I'm probably going a little heavy on protein as far as macros are concerned, but as long as I'm losing weight I don't think I care too much.

That'll do it. lol. How many calories are you eating?

For me around 1gal per day is perfect. Try tracking your water intake if you havent.. I used to think I drank a ton of water but I was surprised when it was only around 1-2 quarts on average when I started keeping track. I use a fee app on my phone every time I fill up my nalgene jug at work.



I'm not a fan of Taubes.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/the-ketogenic-diet

Right about 2,000. The last two days I stopped at about 1250. I lost 3 lbs. Gonna try that for a bit. 

As for water, I drink straight from a 3L bottle. I go through 2 a day. 

Anything over 1.0 is nutritional ketosis.  Don't worry about being higher.  I hang out around 5.6 to 7.2, have been for six months.  No biggie.  Danger occurs when you are diabetic AND have consistently high blood sugar.  High ketones alone is not the problem.

Came across this article the other day, found it interesting.


This Is What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

This summer, my wife and I hiked the Colorado Trail, a 486-mile, high-altitude trek from Denver to Durango. While it’s a challenging hike (only about 150 people complete the trail each year), the Colorado Trail Foundation says many hikers finish in four to six weeks.

The hike ended up taking us 29 days, though two of those were zeros, as they’re called—rest days spent resupplying in town. That’s an average of 18 miles a day for the 27 days we hiked. Short days tended to be around 15 miles, which took us eight to ten hours, but we sometimes hiked as many as 25 miles in a day.

I was curious to know what hiking every day for a month would do to my body. Before we headed to Colorado, I weighed myself at home, monitored my pulse for several weeks with a Polar watch, had my doctor run blood tests, and completed a metabolic efficiency test at Real Rehab, in Seattle, to see how my body was utilizing fat and carbohydrates for fuel during exercise. When I got home from the hike, I ran the tests again. The differences in the results were pretty striking.

snip....

The body has two main energy sources: carbohydrates and fat. At low exercise intensities—like walking or jogging—the body is mostly fueled by fat. As intensity increases, the body begins using a greater proportion of carbohydrates. A typical person has about 2,500 calories of carbohydrates stored in their liver and muscle cells However, that same person—even if they are elite-athlete skinny—has 50,000 fat calories available. That’s a lot of potential energy waiting to be tapped.

For years, we’ve been told that carbs are the key to performance. That’s changed in recent years, as researchers have observed that, through diet and training, an athlete can burn fat at higher intensities than previously believed. The question I had before my thru-hike was this: Would walking all day, every day, for a month improve my metabolic efficiency when I run at a high intensity? In other words, could I become a better athlete by simply walking?

Before the trip, I was burning 66 percent fat and 34 percent carbs during low-intensity exercise or any activity during which I had a heart rate of 112 bpm. At a slow long-run pace, with a heart rate of 145 bpm, I was burning 52 percent fat and 48 percent carbohydrates. My crossover point—the heart rate at which I was burning carbs and fat equally—was 153 bpm, or a moderate-to-slow running pace.

After the trip, I was, as my test administrator at Real Rehab in Seattle put it, “a fat-burning machine.” At 110 bpm, I was burning 91 percent fat and 9 percent carbohydrates. At 145 bpm, I was burning 70 percent fat and 30 percent carbohydrates. My crossover point had moved to 168 bpm, which I reached at a fairly fast running pace. And even at my maximum heart rate (184 bpm), I was still getting a quarter of my energy from fat.  

Outside Online

Was this guy Keto before?

I am the only guy who can go on a week long backpacking trip and gain 5 pounds, eating gorp and freeze dried food.

Keto has me down about 15 lb since I started

I don't think ever. A1c 5.9 before and 5.6 after!

Starting weight:  206.8
Week 1:  200.8 (6 pounds from previous week, 6 pounds total)
Week 2:  198.2 (2.6 pounds from previous week, 8.6 pounds total)

Sounds like a typical good downward curve.

Are you testing blood or urine?  Have you felt the mental clarity and energy?  Forgotten to eat a meal?

It's been about 2.5 years since my first transition into ketosis; I don't recall when on the path I felt the turbocharger.  My weight started a bit lower than yours, 204 or so; my first weeks were like yours.  I hit 179 in about 5 months, my goal.

45 days in. Down 20 lbs. as of today.

Starting weight: 236.4
Today: 216.4

Averaging a consistent 9.8 lb. loss per 30-day window. Doing a 24-hour IF nearly every weekday. Never hungry. Sometimes I overeat, not because I'm hungry but because food tastes good (couldn't stop eating the homemade wings on Saturday).

One thing that's been apparent is that there is no short-term nexus between calorie intake/deficit timing and when the losses occur. Sometimes I'll go up after eating seemingly next to nothing; other times I'll suddenly drop 3 lbs after a weekend of enjoying lots of food. Sometimes it's the opposite.

Oh, well. As long as the downward trend continues, I'm happy.

I made this meatloaf last night:
http://www.food.com/recipe/lauries-low-carb-meatloaf-69708
Huge hit with the family, my 2 and 5 YO boys ate a ton of it. Served it with cauliflower rice sautéed in butter.

Some changes I made-
I doubled the recipe and used 2 lbs grass fed 80% lean beef, and 1 lb of 73% lean ground pork
I cut back slightly on the parmesean cheese
Increased the egg by 50% (3 eggs for 3lbs of meat)
Added 1 TBSP mustard and 1 TBSP worchestershire sauce
I just used (1) whole onion, chopped finely

I baked for about an hour, topping with sugar-free ketchup with 10 minutes to go. It was incredibly moist and didn't crumble that much.

How much protein should I take in to build muscle? I've seen estimates as high as 1g/pound of bodyweight, but also read that any more than .75g/pound of bodyweight is wasted. I'm 195 atm.

Holy crap that's a lot of protein!

I know! I did a calculator on bodybuilding.com and it told me I should take in like 215g per day! That can't be right, I thought, so here I am, at the source of all knowledge

I went  to the grocery store today and they were baking chocolate chip cookies. I was physically drooling.

I had to get out of there as soon as I could. It was like psychological warfare.


In any case, I'm off an inch in my wasteline

Their calculations are in no way considering metabolic ketosis. Their muscle sparing and anabolic goals are based on an entirely different metabolic landscape. As inapplicable as if you had exogenous testosterone supplementation.