Heather's keto experiment journal

This is my second day following a keto diet. I ate way to much on day one because it was hard to gauge when I was ‘full’ without carbs to glue everything together. I intended on more mindful portioning today but didn’t really need to be mindful - I felt full very quickly and felt very little hunger when it was time to eat again. My energy is a bit lower at the start of my shift, but doesn’t drop off towards the end of my shift like it did before.
I might be experiencing a little carb-withdrawal headache, but I’ve also just worked 8 days in a row. I have tomorrow off, so I’ll be doing a bit more prep for the rest of the week. I plan to make a big batch of marinated veggies - basically a sugar free Greek salad that I can use to quickly plate some veggies. I also plan to make more sauceless chili to use as a salad topping or for lettuce tacos.
My BMI is 29.7 going into this. Three years ago my BMI was 43.

3 Likes

Congratulations on your journey! Rest well tomorrow and if I can provide you with a little advice, add electrolytes to your daily consumption, especially when you start switching to keto. So some Himalayan salt in your water and magnesium and potassium supplements. Maybe you already know this information. I remember when I started keto 2 years ago I almost ended in an ambulance because I wasn’t taking electrolytes. All the best to you!

2 Likes

Do you know if there is a good “multi-electrolyte” supplement? I should be getting plenty of potassium from all the spinach, magnesium from the avocados and nuts, calcium from unsweetened soy and the little milk I take in - plus cheese. I’m not doing an eggs and bacon keto plan - I’m including a lot of veggies, olive oil, and stuff like that.

I wish there was a multi electrolyte pill that we could use! I previously searched for it and found nothing. But I did find a salt high in potassium called nu salt and got it on Amazon. I think your plan looks good for getting your electrolytes via the foods you’re going to eat. :+1:

1 Like

I searched long and hard for a multi-vitamin that didn’t have any sugar. I didn’t find it online, I just found it in the generic section of my local pharmacy. I do want a good electrolyte blend for fasting, though. Maybe we should invent it for water-fasters. My fasts are short, at the moment, just 36 hours, when I can do them, but still, a good, non-sweetened, simple electrolyte blend would be great. Also, I use metamucil, to get fibre from time to time, but I would like a sugar free version. On that note, I wish there was a commercial mayo that was sugar free. I can make sugar-free mayo easy enough, but not as easy as just buying commercial mayo.

2 Likes

Hi Heather!
Have you looked for mineral drops? I was able to find a bottle by Holistic that contained 61 minerals and nothing else! It’s posted in the forum under supplements I believe! I’m not sure if they ship to all countries, but there might be other brands that sell a similar products!
Hope you’ll find something! :pray:

3 Likes

https://www.waterfastingforum.com/t/electrolytes-supplements-water-fasting/60/11

Here’s the link!

2 Likes

Thank you. I will keep this link, in case I encounter any problems. My current multi-vitamin has a few electrolytes, and I’m eating a lot of veggies (so much that my carbs are at 15% rather than 10%), so I’m hoping to source most of my micro-nutrients from whole foods, rather than supplements. If I find myself feeling ‘off’, I’ll definitely look into an electrolyte supplement.

1 Like

Third day keto and I still don’t have the ‘keto flu’. I hope it doesn’t happen tomorrow because I only have this day off. I’m not losing weight yet, but my evening weigh-in is significantly lower - I assume this is because of food load. I can’t eat nearly as much volume as on a Canada Food Guide diet. I’m mostly interested in what happens when I can again do a 36 hour fast. Overall, it’s fun to be doing some real cooking at home again. Previously I was eating all my veggies raw.

1 Like

Ok, that’s one week of keto. Weight loss = 0. I still count this week as a success, however. I ate way to much in the first few days - compensating for the missing carbs. I made the mistake of eating a few carbs on day five - which lead to me eating way more carbs as the day went on. So, at least I think I learned a couple of things.
I now know that I can get by on way less food on keto, and that makes intermittent fasting so easy that I could see myself eventually going OMAD on this plan. I also learned that it is much easier to keep carbs at 10% calories on a plate than it is to eat a piece of bread in the middle of the day and then not eat any more carbs.
I’ve also come to realize that I’m probably not getting enough potassium because I’m eating my spinach raw. I’ve decided to either cook more of my leafy greens or add in a potassium supplement.
I think I’ll stick with this for a while, and do weekly updates, since I now believe keto isn’t something that has quick results.

1 Like

You are staying away from reprocessed carbs right? I saw the mention of eating “a piece of bread” so I had to ask.

Not eating bread, pasta, cereal, pseudo cereals, rice, or potato. The piece of bread was a slip. I was making croutons and it’s just a habit to eat one when they are done to make sure they are crispy. Anyway, one lead to two lead to falling off keto for rest of day.

1 Like

One month update on keto diet. My BMI has gone up to 30.4, so I’m now obese for the first time in over a year. I’m not freaked out about it though. Most of that weight gain was in the first 2 weeks - when I was eating much more as I adjusted to lack of carbs, when I was falling off the program periodically, and while I was still having a bottle of wine most days.
My weight has stabilized as I’ve adjusted to the plan and cut out the wine. I started using a blood glucose/ketone meter today to track my ketone levels. I know they are best on my days off, and that I still cheat sometimes at work. I’m hoping that knowing I’ll be taking my ketone levels at the end of each day will give me motivation not to cheat. I’ll post again if/when I see some changes.
Meanwhile, my preliminary view is that keto is not an easy/quick fix. If not done properly, the results can be negative. I hope to get more strict about my carbs and see some positive results in the next month.

1 Like

FYI: I’m not strict keto primarily for the reason for the need to feed the gut bacteria with a variety of carbs. Being strict keto does not fulfill that need.

1 Like