Starting Keto Newbies

[lukiebebe]

Hey!

Starting Keto from tomorrow. Wedding is in 7 months! I lost a bit of weight before Xmas, but in these last two weeks it's piled back on quite drastically :/ saw a photo of myself today and I looked like a balloon!

My cousin started keto in May 2023 and has lost over 2 stone. From 11st 4 to 9st! This gave me the kick up the butt to do this. I'm not only doing this for my wedding, as I genuinely want to feel slimmer but it'll be a bonus if I can lose a stone or 2 to fit nicely into my wedding dress. Currently - 12st 13lb (might as well call it 13st) mummy of two boys (3 and 2) so tough to lose baby weight!

I'm so new to it though and trying to educate myself on what I must do. I'm trying not to put too much pressure on myself though or fixate on numbers because that tends to freak me out and I give up.

Would love to meet anyone else on here who is thinking to do the same this year.

Speak soon.

You can technically have a diet fizzy drink, but a lot of the sweeteners ‘confuse’ your body and a lot of people find they don’t lose as fast.

A vodka with tonic or gin and tonic is a good option. A bit boring but they do the job.

It’s worth noting that too much alcohol is a bad idea. Your body will burn the alcohol first, and the calories can add up quickly.

@PossumintheHouse thanks I'll do that then thanks.

Thankfully I'm a social drink and never drink at home. I don't have any other social dates booked for a long while so tonight's drinks will be all.

You guys are definitely selling this cottage cheese to me lol! Home bargains this weekend then haha.

Omg I can't believe how filling these meals are it's great!

Fasted again this morning and opened fast for lunch at 12. Had tin of tube, two boiled eggs, some green olives and then a side of cubed cheddar. Put on MFP and all came within my macros and I have around 800 cals left for dinner later. I got so full on the tuna that I can't finish the cheddar! I'm usually wolfing food down but I'm so full! I never leave food lol

Tin of tuna * that was meant to say!

I went from an 18 to a 10 with keto and have kept most of it off.
I found the Keto boards on Reddit quite good for planning new food, although some of it was quite American.
Re: alcohol, dry Prosecco and wine is also reasonably ok. Off the top of my head, Pinot Noir was fine (in moderation) in regard to red wine. I can’t remember what white wine is dry off the top of my head; Pinot Grigio maybe? But yeah, dry Prosecco has very few carbs. (Yay!)

@swimmingdory I roll Longley cottage cheese on top of ham and make rolls with it - delicious and filling!

@HaitchOar hiya thanks for sharing your keto success. That's sounds a dream! Also the fact you have maintained it is reassuring! are you still religiously doing keto or have you eaten carbs during maintenance?

I'm currently in 16 and would love to be a 10! I was a 12 before children.

How long did it take you ?

Getting married July 25th so desperately want my dress to look extra nice!

Thanks for the alcohol info too.

The bulk of the weight came off very quickly, but I did 18:6 IF for a fair while too. (It was during the pandemic so it was a bit easier working from home with no social life haha!) I was very very strict; I was even careful with stuff like onions and what I put in my coffee.

Now I do low carb with a big keto influence; I have stuff like pizza and bread on holiday, at Christmas or as an occasional treat. Carbs make me super hungry again though, so my day to day is still low carb.

Alas there have been too many treats recently, so I’m on the edge between a 10 and a 12, so back to proper tracking keto for a while for me. (I sold all my bigger clothes so it’s mostly for financial reasons; I want all my size 10 clothes to fit properly!)
I actually recommend selling or donating any clothes that are too big as you go along; it means you can’t slowly start to wear them again, haha! It also means you have more money for lovely new clothes!

Also, I recommend prioritising fat and macros over calories when you are starting. It’s more important to stay under 20g of carbs and whatever the ratio of protein is (can’t remember off the top of my head), than staying under a certain amount of calories, until you are in the swing of things. I also using most of the 20g of carbs for veg such as broccoli and sprouts.

Following for ideas!!

I’ve just signed up for Monday 8th January intake for fast 800 online 12 weeks to give me structure etc. the plan they have put me on is fast 800 keto so I’ve been reading all about keto in general to get me in the zone.

officially start on Monday but I’ve given some of the meals a go this week and already lost 3 pounds which seems crazy. I’ve got about 3 stone to lose so hoping keto helps me shift most of it.

The main thing I’m majorly missing at moment is my take away lattes, I’ve switched to americano and was trying to figure out if I could try almond or coconut milk but I believe the ones costa etc use are all too sugary :/ any advice!?

good luck everyone

Meal ideas.

Salmon baked in garlic, lemon juice garlic pepper and butter sauce. Just plonk the ingredients in a measuring jug and warm slowly in the microwave until the butter melts. Pour over the raw salmon and bake for 30-40 minutes.
Serve with stir fried green veg.

creamy baked chicken.
Put chicken in a baking tray and cover with bacon. Roast for 30mins or so until bacon is browning.

Make a cream mushroom sauce, fry mushrooms with lots of garlic then add plenty of cream. Pour over chicken and allow to cook down for another 30-40minutes. Add cheese for last 10minutes.

@MooQuackNeigh hiya thanks for these. Spookily I just noticed we had a double cream in the fridge that goes of on the 9th and was wondering what to do with it I'll deffo do the creamy chicken with mushroom!!

@Marshmallow87 Get a little bit of cream in your coffee instead. Sometimes it’s called pouring cream in cafes for some reason. You wouldn’t want it as a latte for obvious reasons, but it is nice and v keto. Also fills you up a little bit.

Food wise, I really like “Big Mac salad”. It’s beef mince, onions etc, with salad, lots of grated cheese, mayo, yellow mustard (Frenches is keto), the no added sugar Heinz ketchup and lots of gherkins. Mmmmm

Yey to seeing the lbs go down. Nothing as motivating for me! Food sounds lovely and I'm having the same tonight.

Try gin and slim tonics (not slim fever tree). I seemed to still lose while having the odd one of those of a weekend.

Anyone else feeling less bloated?? This is one of my fave things about keto as I tend to hold weight around the middle. Minus the bloating, it just feels much better!

For those missing lattes. When I keto'd before I had unsweetened almond milk in my tea/coffee as had no carbs but missed the lattes as it was like water so wouldn't foam. The barista versions had oil so they would emulsify which I found rank.

I found Linda McCartney barista almond milk in Aldi the other day, no oil and hardly any carbs and it frothed up great! Almond milk isn't exactly my fav but I'm going to stick with this to save on the carbs.

A very occasional coconut milk coffee is OK also. If you’re talking once a week or so.

I’ve started to remember all the keto tricks I used to use when I’ve done it before that make it easier so thought I’d share:

-konjac noodles/rice/pasta 1g carb per serving and works well as a spaghetti replacement in spag Bol or rice replacement in a curry, you can get them online or in home bargains for £1 - I could never get away with califlour rice and it’s pretty carby
-carb free pizza breads - you can buy these online and were about 2g carbs per base, make amazing garlic bread
-cauliflower mash is good for making cottage pies or sausage and mash etc
-keto bread, burger buns and wraps, great when you feel ready to fall of the wagon

• takeaway treats - chicken kebab with garlic sauce and salad, chicken tikka saag at the Indians and caprese salad followed by steak and salad at the Italians
• - snacks - pistachio nuts, Brazil nuts, cheese strings, babybels, Greek yoghurts, sea salt nut bars Aldi used to do a fab one under 5g carbs but they seem to have been discontinued however kind have a similar one for 7g
• - home baking I used to make these lovely coconut macaroons and chocolate brownie bites that were both under 1g carb each
• - alcohol - I could manage a few Proseccos or dry white wines and still stay in ketosis

good luck 🍀

I ended up taking the tuna and tzatziki again to work for lunch. Was simple to prep and really is tasty so didn't mind that. Dinner I did a homemade butter chicken which was lovely.

Am missing sweet snacks at the moment. Though I know that's a temporary thing. I still need to work on the protein to fat thing. I like the higher protein lower fat meat typically (prefer chicken breast rather than thigh and don't like pork belly) but I'm looking at otherways to address that without worrying too much at the moment.

I was good yesterday though as spent a few hours in the kitchen with the youngest making soup, cakes and cookies and didn't eat any!

Today's plan is chicken fajitas in lettuce wraps for lunch. Not sure on tea yet, maybe salmon or bolognese? A quiet weekend hopefully.

I need to add exercise back in but trying not to overload too much pressure. I'm headachey with the diet change and don't want to knock myself about too much. Main focus atm is to sort the carbs to deal with the hunger.

@swimmingdory are you taking any electrolights in your water? These really help with the keto flu as they contain sodium,potassium, chloride, magnesium and vitamin d. I find it really helps me not feel crappy in the day xx

@swimmingdory also fine if you are preferring chicken etc and salmon is very good. Try to add the fat with cheese and butter! Im having steaks for dinner tonight with cauliflower mash and green beans, but will also add a cheesy sauce to go with x

Get through the first 2 weeks and you'll feel so much better, 10 days is about when the sugar cravings and hunger pangs go first me.

This will make you laugh. Just looked at my Spotify style “Tesco Unwrapped” for 2023. Tell me you do Keto without telling me you do Keto! 😂

@HaitchOar love it 😂 are the sausage patties nice? Xx

@MorningWalk yes I'm taking electrolytes though the flu has definitely caught me today. Feeling crappy. I've been much snacky and am over carbs but relatively ok

Had some Greek yoghurt and berries for breakfast with a few nuts. Beef stirfry with garlic mayo for lunch and stole 4 of the kids chicken nuggets. Tracked it all though and am up to 28g carbs at the moment which isn't great but hey it was better than munching on crisps and chocolate.

OH doesn't want chicken tonight lol so we'll make a up bolognaise and try it with some courgetti fried in butter. Plenty mozzerella on top. He's def noticing he's not as hungry and isn't full of flu. Bloody men they always get it easier 😂

Have had a proper lazy day it's been so nice and so needed.

Men do tend to lose weight faster, so mentally prepare yourself for that. Their bodies are designed to carry less fat and they have more lean muscle which causes the body to burn fat faster. Apparently it evens out in the long term but short to mid term make sure you aren't comparing your loss to his because it's an uneven playing field.

www.webmd.com/diet/features/do-men-lose-weight-faster-than-women

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6282840/