Does the keto diet really work?

[BabyBearRus]

Hello everyone,

I need to lose 5 stone. Tried so many diets from Lighter Life to Weight Watchers. I lose a stone but then can't sustain the diet. I've been considering the keto diet. Any experience folks? Do you lose weight quickly? And any hints on best exercise regimes? Also, can you drink alcohol on this diet? I'm trying to cut down anyway, but would be nice to know I could have the occasional blowout. So low because of my weight. I'm nearly in tears writing this. Any advice greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hello BabyBearRus. I would recommend reading Why We Eat (Too much) by Dr Andrew Jenkinson and following his eating plan.

It's a really interesting and very well researched book and explains why you keep getting stuck and will help you lose weight.

My brother lost lots of weight on keto but hard to sustain long term cos can be restrictive so he put it back on. If you want to try then I recommend signing up to diet doctor newsletter they send you a two week meal plan, useful reading and tips, then you'll know whether it's it's you or not.

With all due respect OP you need to address your lifestyle over a quick fix. Any type of "diet" will always result in you putting the weight back on if you revert to previous ways. Fast 800 or some kind of intermittent fasting will give you some results quickly but you need to think about being in this for the long haul. Good luck!

I did keto. Now I low carb.

I initially did it as my sugar cravings were out of control. I lost 2.5 stone and now sit mid BMI.

It's like all diets though. If I went back to eating the way I used to the weight would go back on.
Thankfully though my tastebuds have completely changed. I don't crave sweet things like I used to.

Now I avoid obvious carbs like bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and no refined sugar. I honestly don't miss things one bit.
My diet is really healthy. I rarely eat things like bacon, sausages etc. I mainly eat veg, lean meat, fish, seeds, nuts etc.
I do bake occasionally and use a sugar replacement. I've never regained the weight and feel great.

I would agree with Diet Doctor. That was my starting point.
Yes the weight came off very quickly (for me) but there were small plateaus sometimes.
With regards to alcohol things like spirits (plain not flavoured) with slim line tonic are fine.
I used to really crave carbs to begin with so used to have a blow out day once a month. This was important for me to sustain the diet. Over time though the appeal became less. Now I only have sugar/white carbs if it's a celebration meal.

I do Keto. Have always lost a good couple of stone on it but then it gets difficult/boring about 6 months in so I just switch to low carb.
The best thing about Keto is you lose all cravings. Sugar is addictive and once you are off it, you don’t want it. Also, you shrink rapidly and can see results within a few weeks.

what sort of things do you have for lunch and breakfast if you low carb? Dinner i can get my head round quiet easily, but lunch always lets me down as its just so easy to have toast/a sandwich

Best exercise are weights. You need a PT to show you how to target the areas that will tone you best, and you will see results quickly.

Body Pump targets those areas too.

You will need to do it 2-3 times a week.

The keto diet works in theory, and by all means try it if you want, but you need to address your lifestyle and for this I would recommend looking at restricting the hours during which you eat.

I find that upping the amount of veg I eat by a lot, avoiding high-GI carbs (e.g. floury products, pasta, rice, sugary things), and eating some fat and protein with my veg has meant that my weight is stable and my eating less erratic.

You need to recognise what feeling properly hungry is. This is not the hungry you feel two or three hours after a meal, but the sort of hungry you feel after about 16 hours of not eating.

You probably have felt 'properly hungry' doing the Lighter Life. A relative did Lighter Life and put some of the weight back on. The key is to learn new habits.

FWIW, I rarely eat in the evenings, so no biscuits, crsps, pizza or ice cream in front of the telly, takeaways, meals out etc unless it's a rare treat.

It's simpler than keto, and therefore easier to sustain, but I lost three stone on BIWI's Low-Carb Bootcamp. You eat low carb but high fat - so you don't hungry, you still get to eat delicious food, and because fat is satiating, your portion sizes naturally decrease.

I started it in May 2019, and within 4 months I'd gone from 12st 10lbs to 9st 10lb, from a BMI of 27 to one of 21, and from a size 14-16 to 8-10. Even more amazingly I've kept it off, even during two lockdowns, I really enjoy my food and rarely feel deprived of anything.

@dreamingofsun

what sort of things do you have for lunch and breakfast if you low carb? Dinner i can get my head round quiet easily, but lunch always lets me down as its just so easy to have toast/a sandwich

Every weekday for breakfast I have full fat Greek yogurt with blueberries, a spoonful of low sugar granola, flaxseed and a tiny squeeze of honey to take away the sourness of the yogurt.

At the weekend I have a cooked breakfast/brunch on one day (I may have a piece of toast too - it's my DH that eats low carb, not me).

A good lunch is soup and oatcakes but it's very low calorie (unless you make your own and they contain cream, butter etc!), or veg and houmous.

My DH has salad every day for lunch, just bagged leaves with a load of salad veg/meat/cheese/seeds/coleslaw, whatever is in the fridge really.

@dreamingofsun

what sort of things do you have for lunch and breakfast if you low carb? Dinner i can get my head round quiet easily, but lunch always lets me down as its just so easy to have toast/a sandwich

I don't eat breakfast, just not hungry but for brunch I have things like / Greek yoghurt, berries with flakes almonds Home made sugar free granola and nut/coconut milk Pancakes and bacon Kippers Omelette Scrambled eggs with spinach

Lunch -
As above or salad with mackeral/chicken/prawns
Soup

thanks for low carb ideas. I'm going to try to get a bit more organised, especially as the things suggested actually sound quite nice and arent really that hard.....just a change of miindset

I agree that keto can help cut those cravings out. DH and I went through a rut in December when his job was gone for a second time due to another lockdown, and we found ourselves vegging out a lot on takeaways. Around March this year we gave keto a go him more than me, and it made a huge difference. I wasn't quite so strict on it since I'm still breastfeeding and also just didn't feel as awful inside as DH did, but he has now cut down a lot on his cravings and has also gone down to two meals a day with snacks here and there, like Greek yogurt with fruit, or roasted nuts etc.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I think I will give it a go xx

Keto works but so did everything else you tried. That's not the issue for you.

Keto is incredibly restrictive, one of the most restrictive diets. It is very hard to stick to.

Keto does work, but it's not really a sustainable way of eating, you really need to change your whole mindset, and switch to a lower (rather than no) carb lifestyle. Weight loss will come easily if you can keep your blood sugar stable. Good books to read are The Obesity Code, and Why We Eat (too much). If you take on board the advice in these two books it really will change your life. Good luck!

If sustaining your diet is the bit you struggle with, Keto will be hard for you. Keto is hard for people who don't generally struggle with that!

Low carb infinitely more accessible, sustainable, and practical. Have a look at Zoe Harcombe if you're interested in learning why and how it allows you to access your body fat for fuel.

www.youtube.com/results?search_query=zoe+harcombe

I've been doing a keto diet for 6 months and I honestly love it. I've lost 32lbs with no exercise and I don't find it restrictive at all. I started out a size 12/14 and am now an 8/10.

The hardest part was finding keto alternatives to replace foods that I would normally miss and binge on. The main ones being cakes and baked goods. Once you get the hang of eat Keto it just becomes normal.

I track all of my foods in an online tracker and really try to stick to my daily macros. This helps me stay on track. I eat lots of scrambled eggs, omelettes with cheese, mushrooms, spinach and ham. Chicken, steak, any kind of meat, salads with olive oil and a little bit of balsamic. Seafood, lots of leafy greens, green beans, broccoli, courgette, asparagus, Almond flour waffles with berries and whipped cream, nitrate free bacon, homemade almond flour blueberry muffins, lots of curries made fresh with coconut milk. Cheese of most kinds. All of my food is delicious and I never feel deprived at all! I used to have crazy carb cravings and after a week on keto I've not had one! I don't miss any of my old sugary carb heavy foods at all because I find eating high fat moderate protein much more satisfying on my belly and brain so don't crave anything after meals either.

Things I can no longer eat that people may struggle with are anything made with flour - so pasta (I have black bean pasta instead), bread (I never ate much bread anyway), cakes (I buy sugar free keto cake bars from Deliciously Guilt Free), anything with sugar (I use Erythritol which has no GI impact -!: is keto friendly), potatoes (I make celeriac chips), tortillas (I make almond flour tortillas), pizza (I buy a 39cal low carb pizza base online and make my own pizza once a week!), milk (I use full fat lactose free milk in my coffees, but keep it to under 100ml a day. I use almond milk for anything else).

Basically you need to really make an effort with this diet and I see it more as a way of life than a diet. It works because you are in Ketosis so you body burns fat rather than carbs. But if you cheat even once and have a regular slice of pizza or cake one night you'll kick yourself out of Ketosis and it will take you roughly a week to get back into it. So a weekly cheat meal is not going to work on this diet.

I made a significant investment in ingredients that would allow me to recreate anything I wanted to eat so that I'm not missing out on anything.

I researched Keto quite a lot before I started. I follow a lot of keto instagram accounts and get meal ideas, and product replacement ideas. It's a lovely community! I also watched a load of YouTube Videos from Dr Berg and Thomas DeLauer - both great guys very knowledgable in HEALTHY keto and also keto in women and post menopausal women and the benefits it has.

Also invest in a really good recipe book - this one is amazing and it got me through my first month of keto. I can’t recommend it enough! https://amzn.to/3xCxyst She’s also just released a second book that I’ve got and looks equally good. Just not had a chance to try it yet

I love Eric Berg - he is a genius.

Keto is the only thing that has worked for me long term. I have done the shake diets before but have struggled with not being able to eat and given up eventually.

I was on keto about 9 months and have recently switched to low carb. Lost 4st in first 6 months. Its slowed down a lot now but I won't stop as it's been a lifestyle change for me. I know if I go back to carbs I will gain it back. So I have upped my carbs but still stick to low carb.

The weight come off fast in first few weeks then it does slow down. Its past the 6 month mark when it slows right down. Yes you can drink alcohol, but I can slow down the losses. Prosecco is a good choice. Spirits are fine. Wine is about 4g carbs a glass.

When you do keto for a long time you learn a lot about carb alternatives and soon it becomes a part of life. There are good Facebook groups that are very supportive and have a lot of info. Also a lot of low carb groups too

Yes, it really does. There are choices to be made but it really really works

Sorry, forgot to say have been this way of eating for over 11 months now.

A good lunch is soup and oatcakes but it's very low calorie (unless you make your own and they contain cream, butter etc!), or veg and houmous

Oatcakes and Hummus are not even low carb let alone keto!

Hi OP, I lost 1.5 stone on it. You regain some water weight as soon as you stop. I'd def recommend not using a particular company like slim and save, exante, Cambridge etc as the pouches are foul and it's actually quite easy to cut carbs without them. The first week is the worst as you feel like you'll die from the hunger but you'll lose about a 1lb a day that first week. Sadly it doesn't last on that and a lot of that is water weight. You'll also find you'll have some weeks where you lose nothing anr want to just Chuck it in

And def don't drink alcohol on it- super dangerous!