I lost 50lbs in less than a year on Keto - AMA!

[AnOldieButAGoodie]

I often see posts on the 'popular / active' feed about weight loss, low carb, keto, etc. I lost 50lbs following a keto diet, so if anyone has any questions about Keto and weight loss feel free to ask away...

Did you do any intermittent fasting? And did you count calories, do clean or lazy keto ? Thanks

What would a typical days meals be? What do you snack on? I'm awful for snacking in the evenings.

Oh and well done. That's an amazing achievement!

At first I ate 3 meals a day, but I was finding it a lot of food. I would have my breakfast about 11am. I've never really been much of a breakfast eater, so after a few weeks and more research on intermittent fasting I decided to drop meal 1 / breakfast and eat my calories & macros in 2 meals instead.

I would have my first meal about 1pm and then my second meal about 6pm. Sometimes I would also have dessert, but I always tried to make sure I was done eating by 8pm which resulted in a 16:8 eating window. So yes, I did intermittent fasting and it was really quite easy for me since I never really ate breakfast anyway. Plus its combined with overnight while you're sleeping so it seemed a no brainer to just keep the fast going a bit longer.

I always started my morning with coffee and a bit of milk though, so not a true true fast I guess, but no actual food until the afternoon.

As for counting calories, yes I tracked them in My Fitness Pal religiously. The main thing to keep track of is your carbs - I stuck to the rule of no more than 20 net carbs per day, and then worked out my protein and fat macros. I also made sure to adjust all of my macros for every 5lbs I lost, because I was weighing less and would therefore need to consume less in order to be in a calorie deficit.

I mainly did clean Keto. For at least the first 6 months.

Did you find it difficult and if so did it get easier or harder as time went on? Is 50lbs all you needed/wanted to lose?

So glad this popped up, congratulations btw!

What are your top keto meals??

I really love cooking, and I believe that to succeed at Keto long term you need to enjoy cooking your own food and put the effort into finding good tasty Keto alternatives for your favourite foods.

A typical day when I first started out would be:

Breakfast: Vanilla Chia seed pudding with whipped double cream and some nuts / berries. Sometimes I added in a scoop of protein powder. Or sausages and keto pancakes with sugar free syrup or berries and whipped cream.

Lunch: 2 egg Omelette with ham, mushrooms, cheese, spinach and some veg on the side. Or something like a chicken salad topped with bacon.

Dinner: My favourite meal of the day! There's so many options. Sausage and cauliflower mash, Chinese spice duck breast, steak with a mushroom cream sauce, courgettie with chicken and pesto sauce.

I found the food so satisfying and filling that I really didn't feel the need for any snacks after dinner was done. Carbs are what trigger hunger cravings because your body burns them. So once they're used up you get hungry again, whereas when your body is on Ketosis you train it to burn your own fat storage. So you really rarely get very hungry the same way you would when you eat carbs.

Amazing weight loss, well done on achieving that. You mention desserts, what would your go to easy pudding be?

Breakfast sounds delicious

I found the first 4 days the worst. Your body goes through carb and sugar withdrawals and you end up with something called the Keto flu. You just need to power through it and know it won't last long. For most people that is the breaking point because you really can feel horrible. But I did a lot of research and was prepared for it. I drank electrolyte supplements which helped a lot. I really only felt like death on day 3. Then after that it was really very easy to stick to - for me at least.

I lost 7.3lbs in the first week (mainly water weight, but still...!) and that was a lot of motivation for me to keep going. When I wanted to lose 35lbs, but I kept going until my body settled where it is naturally which was 50lbs. I'm now 8.2st so I really don't have much left that I can lose.

I've maintained the full 50lb loss for a year and no longer track my macros or anything anymore because I just know what I can and can't eat. It's just my normal way of life now.

Not the OP obviously but this is a good question. I lost a lot of weight on it but by the end after a year of being slimmer than I've ever been, I was nearly DREAMING of cake. I decided to have cake occasionally and not be keto anymore but still try not to eat to much. So that didn't work! I ended up putting on about 28lbs in my post keto kick back. Now I'm trying again but it's a more middle path this time. Calorie counting and making low ish carb choices, ie, all veg fine, no bread or pasta or rice.

Thank you!

I'd say my favourite meals were things like steak, celeriac chips and cheesy garlic stuffed mushrooms, or sausage and mash which was a nice comfort food. I also really love the Chinese spiced duck.

After a few months I started Keto baking and incorporated a little something sweet at the end of my meals a few times a week. Things like keto brownies, muffins / cupcakes, etc. I would also buy Keto brownies and cakes from a postal order keto bakery.

It was! I forgot about my favourite breakfast which is made up of eggs, cream cheese and some melted butter. You blend it all up and bake it in a dish and then slice it and when it's pan fried in a bit of butter and drizzled with sugar free syrup it tastes exactly like sweet eggy bread / French toast. It sounds really strange, but I swear it's amazing! It's a keto cult favourite I came across early on.

Well done, Iv lost 87 pounds this last year - not keto

Have you stopped drinking alcohol now and are you still eating keto/in a state of ketosis?

I really want to try this but I'm worried about my cholesterol. Have you had yours checked/monitored?

Don't you ever just fancy a roast potato or a slice of pizza or spaghetti carbonara?

I'm totally prepared to understand that people lose huge amounts of weight on keto.

But the problem is sticking with it for life.

If you like high fat foods - then great. Some people just don't and some people like me, with no gall bladder could ever do it.

Thank you. I do love cooking so that helps. I think I snack out of habit!

I ordered some keto cakes & brownies from an online bakery (Deliciously Guilt Free). I would keep them in the freezer and take one out an hour or so before I knew I wanted to eat it. They're really nice.

Other easy favourites would be whipped double cream with a bit of sweetener and some fresh berries, or sugar free jelly with sweetened whipped double cream.

Things that take a bit more effort but are delicious are cheesecakes with almond flour crumb bases.

It's all very indulgent, but because they are so indulgent and satisfying you really don't want a 2nd or 3rd slice!

What sort of age bracket are you ?
Did this sort of diet about 20 years ago and found it a really easy quick way to lose weight.
Tried again last year , at 58 and it was horrendous, gave me massive gall bladder type pain for days .
Am thinking how I'm older my digestion just can't cope with the fat levels sadly

87lbs is amazing! Congratulations!

I was never a big drinker, so the lack of alcohol in my life didn't effect me so much. I do have a drink occasionally but try and stick to 1-2 glasses of wine when I go out. But the next day I make sure to get right back on track.

As for now I can't say for certain if I'm in an exact state of Ketosis but I've maintained the loss and not put on any weight in over a year. I've just kept eating the way I have been, ensuring I stay away from sugar and carbs.

Thanks for sharing! Tell me - how does booze factor into this? Is wine a total no-no? (asking for a knackered friend…)

what do you do around your period with cravings 😳 that’s when I can’t

No I haven't. I can only go by how I feel on Keto which is honestly 100 times better than I felt when I ate loads of carbs and sugar. I used to need a nap every afternoon, but now I very rarely feel like I need a nap. I have a blood pressure monitor and it is always very low.

So is keto just very low carb then?

Honestly no not really. I've made sure to find / create keto alternatives to everything so I don't miss the 'old things' I used to eat.

Roast potatoes = roast air fried celeriac

Pizza = pizza on a keto pizza base I order or sometimes buy from Holland and Barrett

Carbonara is all about the sauce and that's pretty much keto anyway, so I'd just substitute courgettie or high protein black bean spaghetti (from Aldi or Holland and Barrett) instead of the regular pasta.