Started the Keto Diet

[CreditInspired]

The Beginning

On Friday, September 20, I had a complete physical--last one was like 3 years ago. Yep, shame on me. I'm smacking my hand. Now, I understand the term, know your numbers--all mines were off the chart. High blood pressure, prediabetic, and high chloresterol. On September 21, I started the Keto diet. I did ask my doc if it was okay. She said she personally disliked any lkind of diet that was restrictive but she felt it would be okay as long I monitored my HPB and sugar.

Exercise

I started walking briskly 30 minutes a day. I am now doing a 40-minute walk to work in the mornings and 30 minutes at lunch. On the weekends, I started at 30 minutes and last weekend I walked for 1 hour. This weekend I will up that to 1 hour, 15 minutes. Starting next week, I will walk for 45 minutes to work and still do 30 minutes for lunch because now a coworker wants to walk with me at lunch time.

Foods

So I started on the keto diet for beginners which I got online and have been following it to a tee. I am amazed and truly surprised how easy it was to cut out the carbs. I guess getting the health scare that I did had a lot to do with it. I'm enjoying eating salads everyday and creating new recipes. My favorite--making pizza crust from only cheese. It has not been hard at all eating correctly. However, since I am walking so much, I realize that eating no carbs and expending carbs are just no good. So, now I have 3/4 cup of strawberries and 1/3 cup of yogurt in the mornings. 

Weight Loss

Week 1 - lost 7 pounds

Week 2 - lost 1 pound

But the great thing, I am down from a size 14 to 12. I am really excited and looking forward to weighing myself tomorrow.

Health

I had to change HPB medicine because my blood pressure was dropping so quickly I was becoming lightheaded.

My sugar count is in the middle range--no more prediabetes. WooHoo. But I will still stick my finger everyday because I don't want that scare again.

I don't know about chloresterol (guessing it is lower too). My next blood test is not until December 21.

Overall

I really feel good. The best thing is that I'm sleeping better and have more energy. I use to be so exhausted when I got off from work. I will keep this thread updated with how I'm doing.

Are there any others on the Keto diet? Do you have a success story?

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

I don't do diets, too many restrictions. Last one I was on was Atkins back in 98. Meal prep worked out better for me when I started to outgrow my clothes. Weight loss was also faster. Maintaining portion size and having fillers like apples to snack on did the trick for me. Now that I'm 40, I'm planning to go back to meal prep because I don't know when my metabolism will decide to retire. Rather be proactive and just splurge every once in a while. I was actually planning to start on Sunday and am currently building shopping lists of possible meals.

[CreditInspired]

I did Atkins back in the 90s too and I swear Keto is the same exact diet. But of course they're not giving Atkins kudos for it.

At least you're getting on board in your 40s and being proactive about your health. I'm over 60 and this really was a wakeup call so I'm glad it wasn't a difficult transition, especially to cut out the sweets. I could eat a pint of icecream at one sitting.

My brother, who absolutely hates dieting, said he would try it for a week and now he's hook. He is already seeing how his polos don't hug his belly as much. He's losing weight at a slower pace than I but it's because he's way less active. 

So GL2U on starting your beginning to "eat right" this weekend.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

I'll be going out with a bang today. Texas Roadhouse. 😂🤣

[CreditInspired]

  

ENJOY

[Anonymous]

Interesting to me to stumble across this now. I had a physical two days ago (I’m 44, first one in several years. Bad Devil.). This is the chaos of my life (crazy work hours, decent amount of work stress, plus my wife has been sick for almost 9 years and even the Cleveland Clinic is coming up blank, so there’s that stress; she broke her leg badly in a fall in February and hasn’t been able to drive since so all the driving falls to me - her appts, everything with 3 active sports kids, shopping, etc). My sleep patterns suck and I eat when I have time. I average 5 hours a night.

That being said, all the physical checks came out great. From the CBC, I have slightly elevated liver enzyme activity and cholesterol is above the limit, although not too terribly, and since I don’t take Tylenol and probably have about 6 beers a year, the thought is the liver enzyme activity may be a byproduct of the diet factors.

Verdict was to alter diet to reduce cholesterol and shed about 15lbs, and retest in six months. All in all, I’m happy with that result. A friend does the keto diet and has steadily lost excess weight over the last eight months. She’s back to her clothing size from high school to be truthful. Her CBC has also been pristine since she started. Been talking about trying it out as it seems like the worst part is giving up my beloved bagels

I’m definitely interested in following this and reading up on it to see if it’s a good fit. I’ve never tried a regimen before so I’m still debating the meal planning vs keto, but I already don’t have spare time so the meal planning is likely not gonna fly. Love to see further input from you two and others regarding your choices and successes.

[CreditInspired]

Hi I’mTheDevil

You’re right, that is a lot of stress for one to bear and I can tell you that walking helps relieves stress. It gets the endorphins going. Doc told me to do 30 mins a minimum of 5 days a week.

And that’s good you only have to lose 15lbs. My goal is to lose 40. I really should lose 50 but I’ll stick with the 40 for now.

I forgot the doctor told me my liver enzyme was elevated too and she did say it was related to the high cholesterol.

Honestly, I only look for recipes because I want different things to eat. You can just cook regular stuff that is really no different from what your family would eat anyway. You don’t have to do anything special. Only you would stop eating foods with starch—breads, rice, pasta, potatoes, sugar, diary, and all sweets.

Prepare your foods as you normally do.
Make salads w/dressing (measure)
Eat veggies
Eat any kind of meat (limit processed)
Eat small amounts of raspberries/strawberries

A sample workday for me:
Breakfast: strawberries and yogurt
Lunch: Cobb salad
Dinner: hamburger w/lettuce, tomato, mushroom, mustard
Dessert: 1 square dark chocolate (80%+)

A sample weekend day:
Breakfast: Omelet with spinach, cheese, bacon bits & bacon or sausage
Lunch: tuna salad, chicken salad, or egg salad with avocado and tomato on side.
Dinner: flat iron steak with onions and green peppers, or grilled chicken with a salad, or broiled salmon and spinach, brocolli or asparagus.

So it doesnt really have to be anything fancy at all.

But if you want something different, just Google keto recipes.

GL2U

[CreditInspired]

Week 3 - 2.6 lbs Lost

Total weight lost:
10.8 lbs


I’m happy 😁

[Anonymous]

Awesome, that’s definitely doable (agin, mourning my bagels though lol). Thank you

@BES, I hope you got the 24oz cowboy cut steak!

[GApeachy]

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

 Last one I was on was Atkins back in 98.

That's the one I do.  My dr's encourage it now, used to freak everyone out back in the day. The proofs in the bloodwork though....I'm being told to get back on it again.

If I add fruits to my diet I end up hungry all the time again.  That's why I do Atkins, but I have no willpower.

Good Luck OP!  Also, congrats on dropping a size already, that's the best part!