My Success So Far on Keto/HF Diet

Unknown
Unknown
in Success Stories
Hi!

I am Josh. I am 28, 5'9", 190 lbs (and losing), I am 21 lbs from being in my "healthy weight range."

I have been eating a mostly high fat diet for the past 7 months, consisting of 72% fat macros. I have stuck to it about 65% of the time on record. Up until 7 months ago, I have struggled to lose any kind of weight to get me below 200 lbs. I quit smoking in October 2012, put on weight because of it, up to 230 lbs. I got myself back down to 210-ish in the summer of 2013, but then just hung around there for about a year or so.

I started following a ketogenic diet, monitoring ketones and achieving nutritional ketosis. I did a lot of reading, and pretty soon, nutritional science became a scholarly hobby for me. I learned what information is generally incorrect, although it got passed by the masses as true.

I am posting legitimate results from a legitimate lab. I am also leaving a disclaimer that I have no genetic predispositions, have had no diseases, and work out intensely. Nonetheless, here is my success so far:

Weight: down from 206 lbs to 190 lbs in 7 months. That difference could be greater if I had greater consistency in my diet.

Fitness: I can cycle harder, run faster, go farther than I ever have in my entire life.

Bloodwork, fasted 9 hours:

Cholesterol-
Total: 170 mg/dL (extremely desirable range)
HDL: 48 mg/dL ( 40-60 is normal)
LDL: 103 mg/dL (3 points off optimal range of <100)

Triglycerides: 93 mg/dL (less than 150 is normal)

Glucose: 83 mg/dL (normal range)

If anyone has experienced these results, please share! Also, if you are curious about it, don't hesitate to ask! I hope all are having great success with their methods.

Cheers!

Replies

  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Calories are important, but insulin levels are a major factor in weight loss/gain. That's one of the major tenets of the ketogenic diet. Restricting carbs brings insulin levels way down because the body doesn't need it so much to manage glucose. (Highly recommended reading: "Keto Clarity" by Jimmy Moore and Dr. Eric Westman.) While it is true that on a keto diet, you can't eat everything in sight and still lose weight, calorie tracking is optional for most. If you are keeping carbs very low, protein moderate and good fats high, it is much easier not to overeat on a ketogenic diet, because once nutritional ketosis sets in, you will not be hungry much of the time. I do set a calorie goal in MFP, but I don't lament when I go over it if all the other macros are pretty much OK. And I DO agree that your weight loss on keto probably will taper off soon. It will continue, albeit more slowly. That's when a lot of folks quit. Shame, really. That's just when all the other benefits of nutritional ketosis are kicking in.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Congratulations Josh!! What would be most interesting for folks to see is what your cholesterol panel looked like before you started keto. Do you have it? I bet most everything, particularly triglycerides, is much improved.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    RockstarWilson wrote: »
    Asharp22 wrote: »
    I just started my keto diet, been logging successfully for six days and have lost five pounds. My question is, what calorie count did your stick with? The keto counters that I have seen project my calories at about 1800, however I have read that calories don't count at all, even eating 2500 could cause loss. Is there any truth in that?

    Calories are ALL that matter, whether you count them or not...this diet is simply a tool to overcome the odds. If I consistently track calories, I use the Mifflin St Jeor equation, with only a sedentary multiplier. I then count any strenuous activity as exercise, but it is arbitrary bc I dont really need to eat to my activity level. Like today, I was shoveling sand for 7 hours. I burned an extra 2000 calories, but I wont even come close to eating them back.

    As far as your TDEE and how much you need to eat to gain/lose/maintain, that is 100% subjective. Also, you will not lose 1 lb per day throughout the diet. Next week, the rate of loss will probably taper off.

    I eat more calories now than I ever have and I have lost 112 pounds since July. Carbs do matter for some people

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