Hello r/keto Community!
Please use this support thread to talk freely and support each other. **We've switched up the format to a week so that there's more time for interaction on questions and answers.**
This is the place for you to tell us if you fell of the wagon or just said "what the heck" and went hog wild on non keto food.
All visitors, new and old, are kindly reminded to observe the sidebar rules, check the FAQ, and use the Search Bar before creating new posts.
If you're new to r/keto and need some info, start with Keto in a Nutshell and the FAQ. Or, if you have a question that doesn't seem to be covered, head on over to the Community Support thread (pinned to the top of the subreddit) and ask the community!
Welcome to r/keto. If you don't know what to eat, need a meal plan, or are just tired of bacon and eggs you may find the following links helpful
One Week Meal Plan
Grocery Lists
r/ketorecipes for specific recipes
r/ketomealseatingnow for meal inspiration
r/ketoMealPrep/) for meal prep
As a reminder, please read our FAQ before posting to r/keto. It can be found at https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq. Please also review our posting rules and community guidelines.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
I am one month into keto and got my ketone monitor today. My level this morning was 1.9. Is that too much?
I’ve also notice my glucose is higher than my normal fasting glucose. Is it proteins being transformed to glycogen? It’s still in the normal range but I was having low glucose levels the first few weeks.
Otherwise, I lost almost 10 pounds, seems like a lot! But generally feeling fine, my digestive track has never been this regular. Maybe my hair feels less healthy?
Not sure about tracking electrolytes yet. I bought some electrolyte salts to dissolve in water. How do I know if I need it?
Why are you testing for ketones if weight loss is your goal? Ketone numbers don’t drive weight loss, a calorie deficit does. Are you diabetic?
When are you testing for glucose? What are your actual readings? Are you working with a doctor to you can learn how to properly interpret the data?
What do you mean by this?
Are you experiencing symptoms of electrolyte deficiency? Lethargy, headaches, dizziness, muscle cramps, brain fog, nausea, digestive issues, etc.? If not, then you don’t need to supplement electrolytes.
Thanks for replying. Weight loss is not my main goal. I am doing keto at my doctor’s suggestion to manage mood, ketosis is needed for the mood benefits according to theory. He told me to monitor both ketone and glucose levels. The benefits are also thought to diminish inflammation.
I am not diabetic but weight gain from a recent psych med drove my fasting glucose in the pre diabetic range. That’s why I test it, the morning fasting glucose. I am no longer on that med and weight loss is probably a consequence of both stopping the med (because of an unrelated side effect) and the diet. I do end up with a caloric deficit following my macros mainly because I stay below the fat levels?
I eat whole foods, meats, fat fish, leafy greens, berries, whole fat creamy skyr, eggs, psyllium fiber, hemp hearts etc… maybe I don’t need electrolytes.
Did the doctor that told you to try keto not give you any guidelines about where your ketones should be for the purpose you were put on it? Did your doctor not also give you guidelines on how and when to test your glucose? Google “the dawn phenomenon” for an explanation of your high morning fasting numbers. I’d highly recommend reaching out to your doctor instead of asking Reddit if you were given instructions to start keto, that’s the best bet as we don’t have your medical chart in front of us!
I will say that many people find they experience the benefits of keto without needing to test for ketones. I am one of these, I’ve eaten this way nonstop since 2017 and haven’t tested for ketones at all. It takes 8+ weeks to really adjust to a brand new way of eating, so you’re well within the adjustment period and it may take more time if you’re not feeling better yet! I think keto can really help you, but it may just be because of a positive dietary change and not ketone numbers. 🙂
Hi all, my birthday is coming up in two weeks and I would like to celebrate and started considering allowing myself a cheat day so I can eat cake/pastries as it's a once in a year event. If I eat a few bites of a cake slice, how would that impact my progress later on? In other words, I'm trying to gauge if it's worth even doing so. I'll keep everything else keto so that would be the only cheat meal.
I'm F, 25yo, starting weight was 141 lbs (64.2kg) and current weight is 134.5 lbs (61kg) - I started strict keto two weeks ago.
Are you going to go so in on eating cake/pastries, or just a few bites of cake? I wouldn’t call a few bites “cheating” per se, since technically you could fit those few carbs into your carb budget for the day.
If you eat more than a few bites, expect to gain back water weight and maybe have your cravings/hunger retriggered, these are the most common side effects I’ve seen people complain about here after a cheat. Maybe some gastrointestinal distress (stat near a bathroom!) But as far as gaining back actual body fat is concerned, you’d have to eat 10k calories for that to be an issue. Carbs alone do not cause us to gain body fat, a calorie surplus is necessary.
Hey. I'm not fully understanding how this works or will this comment be visible for people to interact with but here we go. I started keto a month ago. I was 75kg and I fell down to 69. I was doing so good with my cravings since I'm an emotional eater and I just want to eat my feelings away. I have two little kiddos and feeding and cooking them carbs is a challenge in itself. Last night I made homemade pizza for my husband and kids from scratch. It was insanely good. I held myself back and had some sausages and cheese. Today I GoBBLED down TWO whole slices in the morning when my kids were giving me an absolute nightmare of a morning. I feel so awful and demotivated. I was doing so good. Will this alter my progress????!
Alter your progress how, like gaining back body fat? Not unless those two slices equaled 10,000 calories or somewhere thereabouts. Carb intake is not what causes body fat gain, a calorie surplus is needed for that. You may see the scale tick up with water weight, but that’s about it. Keep calm and keto on!
I'm (40m 390ish lbs non-diabetic) cheating my way through Christmas/New Year's. (Well as much as I care to, my taste has changed). My simple question is should I keep my body seeing high fat until I get back onto keto, or just eat as few carbs as I can?
High fat and high carb is a terrible combo (that’s the standard American diet), so ideally you’d just not cheat if high fat+high carb is the other option.
Hello. I attempted to post my experience starting the ketogenic diet but my post was auto removed, and though I messaged the mods 2 days ago I haven’t received a response.
FWIW, I had an unfortunate experience (shingles) and my reading from this channel and faq did not have very much content on the risk of a substantial metabolic change.
We don’t have any messages from you in our inbox. None that I can see anyway, I may have missed it but I combed through them.
Why do you think starting keto caused shingles? I’ve never seen this at all in my years and years of keto/moderating this subreddit.
I used the message mod feature after the post was auto removed. Are you able to read the post?
https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/s/QuTGHgE7UN
Can't wait for all the Christmas and New Year's Eve stuff to be over. Man, the bloating and constipation while not on keto is ripping my bowel apart. It's weird because I never struggled with this on keto, I had perfect, zen digestion while on it, even the days I wasn't regular. Now, no matter if I take 3 liters of water a day, magnesium citrate, coconut water, prunes and bisacodyl, all at the same time, stool still is and feels like concrete bricks (sorry for the TMI).
It's almost like my gut wasn't made to digest wheat, sugar and corn or to have more than 2.5 meals a day... but hey! I'm the one who is wrong according to our loving grain-fed society.
I swear to god I'll go back to keto and just have pork thigh with eggs and cauliflower rice as soon as January 1st at 1pm lmao. Not even waiting until January 2nd.
You don’t have to wait until January 1 to get back on the keto train if you’re THAT miserable! Just saying. 🙂
Definitely, though this is the first time I experience such thing after keto (it used to be the opposite, so I think it could be worse), so it really took me by surprise. Also, I would be fooling myself If I expected my gut to act normal again in, let's say, 3 days.
I believe I was fat-adapted and ate around 100g of carbs today, what is the extent of the damage I did? And any rough idea of how long it will take to get back to fat adaptation?
Damage in what context?
There’s no true accurate gauge to tell whether or not you’ve been taken out of fat adaptation, just continue with keto and move on! 👍🏻 Nothing to do beyond that.
I need to maintain a constant, unbroken state of ketosis to treat schizophrenia.
Two days ago, I had two tablespoons of homemade hummus (chickpeas with olive oil and some spice/herbs). The hummus was in addition to my regular meals. I tested my ketone levels the next day and it was fine. (Ketone breath meter reading 99 - which is the max reading).
Yesterday, I ate the same amount. I also ate one strawberry. In addition to my regular meals.
Today I tested in the evening and was at 41.
Not sure if it’s from eating too much carbs yesterday or eating too much carbs today.
41 is apparently still ketosis and I still feel better than pre-keto.
How can I know what it was that caused my ketone levels to drop?
The ketone breath meter measures acetone in the breath in ppm.
Starts from 1ppm to 99ppm. (Over 99ppm still reads as 99ppm). I usually measure between 70+ to 99.
I know blood meter is best and accurate but I’m poor and need time to sort my financial situation out.
Breath meters can be really, really inaccurate. 🤷♀️ There’s no guarantee your ketones DID drop honestly. If you’re feeling fine and you’re not experiencing negative symptoms, then I wouldn’t worry about it so much.
One sweet potato today literally took me out! I’ve been in ketosis for probably 5+ years now.. and I ate some sweet potato today and you’d think I was dying! My stomach got so distended, hurt, my heart started racing and I felt sick. I know this is maybe to be expected when eating carbs but it’s crazy I can’t tolerate them at all!