@inactive_user, glad it’s starting to come together! One thing you might try is just cutting way back on carbs without going into full ketosis. Takes longer, but I was still losing at a good clip, and it kept the cravings away, as well as scary stuff like the kidney pains I’d get on full keto. You can still eat keto food, etc. but I would often have sandwiches with a couple of Dave’s 60 cal bread slices for lunch, occasional beers, etc.
Different things work for different folks, though. I know some people find it easier to drop carbs when they cut them almost completely, because it helps keep the sugars and carbs from causing cravings for more.
Yeah, it’s a simple program, but it’s worked great for me. The first couple of runs, I was winded after the 90-second running sections. Now I’m up to 25-minute sustained runs. (Okay, 25-minute sustained slow jogs.) My pace is nothing to write home about, but if I can complete a 5K, I’ll be doing so much better than before.
A number of years ago my son and I did the Zombie Run 5K, and that was a blast. You’re chased by zombies throughout, and if they pull your flag from your belt, then you’re a zombie now too.
Does anyone have headphone recommendations for using with the Peloton?
Not sure if this is the best place for this question so direct me to another thread if this has been discussed elsewhere or there’s a better all-purpose exercise thread. This seemed like it might have a wide audience across people doing various exercises though (instead of just the Peloton thread).
Ideally I want big comfortable over-ear headphones with good sound and suitably sweat resistant. Since I’m mostly stationary on the bike, not bouncing as much as running, wired is probably fine as long as there’s nothing specifically obnoxious about the wire (extremely short or long), unless someone else wants to chime in with their experience and advocate against wires while cycling.
The Wirecutter is usually my starting point, but I couldn’t find a review for workout headphones that included wired options.
Some years ago I went from 216 to 170 pounds (98 to 78 kg) through a very strict diet regime (took 3 months). That was the second time I did a severe weight loss (before I went from over 100 kg -didn’t weight myself- to 80). First time was due to picking up exercising a lot (went from lol, exercise, what’s that to running half marathons). Then life got busy and I could find time to run 6+ hours a week, so I picked up weight, slowly but steadily. Getting married didn’t help either :)
The second try held up for several years, but then my father got terribly and suddenly ill (operation accident) and we as a family coped by drinking a lot. Which helped, but I creeped back up to 96.
This time I’m taking it slower. Exercising 4 times a week (HIIT 2 times and about 9k running other 2 times). And dieting Monday to Friday night (nothin special, just following some menus but not cutting on anything). Weekends I have no self imposed limits, since I want this to be a long term plan and I do enjoy social weekends and a more Spartan approach wouldn’t be sustainable (I obviously try to control, but our social events are very, very heavy on fine food and fine wine -southern Europe…-).
So far it’s working. About 2 months of talking it seriously, and the weight is steadily going down (a little less than half a kg a week on average). I’ve also lost a lot of volume due to the exercising (I fit in my 85kg clothes from my no-exercise times). Goal is to hit 90 kg by late July (almost there) and then 85kg by Christmas, at which point I think I’d be close to a good weight.
But checking on weight is hard. My body fluctuates 2kg up/down during the week easily (it’s mostly liquid retention, I think). I’ve found out Friday morning is always the week’s lowest, so I’m using that as the baseline, but it’s frustrating not knowing if you are doing well during the week.
I’m avoiding weighing myself. Set up my annual checkup for about a month out of my starting date, which will give me a baseline weight (and I was weighed at a different appointment shortly before starting, so I have a pretty good idea where I started).
Plus getting the blood work done will make me feel better as far as looking at things like mineral levels and cholesterol and such.
Figure I’ll weigh in monthly or so afterwards, but I’m keeping my primary metric firmly on how I feel. Seeing the numbers go the wrong way (because weight fluctuates no matter what you do) has been a huge demotivator in the past.
Yes it will be mostly. I can fluctuate 2.5kg in a day without doing anything different. I commonly “lose” between 1.2-1.8kg overnight, but occasionally more than 2 kgs, which is mostly pee.
I weigh myself every day at more or less the same time - about a 30 minute spread - but importantly in the same state - in the morning before drinking & having peed after I get up. I chart the results - well, I am an accountant after all - so I can look at the trends rather than getting worked up about daily fluctuations.
If you’re serious then the good old tape measure should be your friend also - take various circumferences but also at a regular time and in a regular state.
The pancakes themselves are okay, pretty nutty and mealy as you’d expect from the ingredients list. Topped with whipped cream and pecans, it was definitely missing something. Probably some acid and/or salt. Next time maybe I’ll drizzle a little lemon juice or just go for like almond butter as a topping. I got a whole stinkin’ bag of the mix, so there’s plenty of room for experimentation, heh.
The other part is that a meal’s worth of pancakes (4 4" pancakes; I have a hard time believing that just 2 is going to get me anywhere worthwhile) is 10g net carbs, which is half a day’s worth! Plus whatever out of the pecans I topped it with. This bears consideration.
I am a creature of habit. So for breakfast every day, almost without fail, I have a couple of over easy eggs and a couple of slices of bacon. You can cook the bacon in the oven for around 18 minutes in a foil lined pan so you don’t end up with much mess to clean up.
It helps that I am an early riser and also have been working from home since the pandemic started, so I don’t have much time pressure in the mornings. Plus I’ve always felt that breakfast was a meal I did not want to skip so I kind of like having a “fancy “breakfast every day now.
Yesterday really drove home some of the benefits of the new keto program.
So work has been super stressful for the last several weeks. We’ve all been there, right? Anyway, yesterday I wasn’t super hungry when I woke up – I really haven’t been for the last week – so I just chugged water, started sipping some coffee, and got on with my day.
Well, one thing led to another, and a big block o’ meetings crept up on me as I was getting to the point of wanting to get some food in my belly. No chance to actually eat anything until like 1pm. And I was hungry, to be sure, but I wasn’t hangry or losing focus because of it. Eventually I made myself a broccoli/feta/garlic four-egg scramble and was right back at it. Later had a moderate dinner of a pork chop and some kale stewed together with some almond milk & cream. Worked out fine.
Now, I’ve always been a super regular eater. I don’t skip meals. I have eaten only two meals in a day maybe a handful of times in my life, and only under duress and with significant discomfort. (Yay, modern standards of living!)
Things that didn’t happen yesterday that absolutely would have three weeks ago:
Overeating once I finally got a chance to
Low-blood-sugar focus loss, headaches, and irritability
Food coma
I still intentionally haven’t weighed myself, but I have some clothes that I could swear are starting to fit a little better around the middle. Regardless, I have way more energy and more consistent energy throughout the day, I sleep better, the fucking asthma I’ve suffered from my whole life has been dialed back to about 10% of its pre-keto intensity, and probably more things.
Next up: 16:8 intermittent fasting (seems easy to do in the new low-hunger paradigm) and Couch to 5K (seems like a reasonable way to move my body, comes highly recommended).
Not sure if anyone mentioned the MCT oil/powder in this thread and I just missed it, but seeing you mention coffee I wanted to offer that I drink a ton of coffee but have cut back to half-caf or decaf pretty much all the time now. Unless I’m out and they don’t have decaf for some reason. I used to drink a pot to a pot and a half a day of fully leaded and when I’d try to cut back I would get some headaches. I read about the MCT stuff during my early Keto days and finally decided to try it. Seems to work fine as I never had any caffeine withdraw headaches at all.
It mixes better than any others I’ve tried especially when in hot coffee. And I says a scoop is a serving, but I probably only use a half scoop total across 3 or 4 cups of coffee. Three thumbs up!
Semaglutide was recently approved for weight loss. It’s safe, already approved and in wide use by type 2 diabetics, and… amazingly, it seems like it actually works. Side effects may include Hershey squirts and mild nausea. This is a Big Deal, the first weight loss drug that doesn’t have potentially deadly side effects.
Note it is fairly expensive and it’s unclear if insurance will cover it, estimates at $1300/month. But if you’re morbidly obese and the drug helps you lose 15% of your body weight, it may be worthwhile paying out of pocket.
Also the drug must be kept refrigerated and is injected once per week. That sounds scary but it’s an injection pen with a tiny 2mm needle, no big deal.
I drink 20oz of coffee a day pretty religiously. The smoothed-out energy levels on keto have actually helped me cut back to that level! I fill up my big ol’ Contigo in the morning and sip it until it’s gone or I’m sick of drinking coffee. Maybe a third of the days over the last couple weeks I haven’t even finished it.
I’ve read a lot about “Bulletproof” or otherwise fortified coffee, and tried it a little. It’s…fine? My mornings are honestly really good right now so I don’t feel the need to add the calories.
Has anyone tried cooking with MCT oil? Does that break down the chemicals? I picked up a bottle of it with the thought of putting it in coffee a while back, but now I kinda don’t know what to do with it.
I’ve been doing 16:8 for a while now. I’d actually been using a smaller eating window before that but I had to overhaul my protein intake because I wasn’t getting enough to support the exercise I was doing. It was easy for me, but I’ve spent years doing only one meal, unlike you. But if you continue to not feel hungry early in the day, it should be pretty easy for you.
Three weeks in and my blood pressure has dropped from “Uh, we need to have a conversation about medication” to “Totally reasonable if on the higher end of healthy.”
They do! I really don’t miss the alcohol much at all - and I actively love getting away from the habit of it. On the food side, there’s a lot to love. My biggest concern is being able to stay keto without overdoing meat/protein (you know what sucks? Gout. Gout is an absolute bastard) but I haven’t felt any real cracks in the discipline at all so far.
Way to go @inactive_user ! I’ve found that once I’m doing full keto it’s easier to keep it going. It’s the starting that is tough for me. And also at some point I wouldn’t worry much about the occasional cheat day. Holidays, date nights, whatever. Again, for me I can cheat and get right back on it with no issues. Knowing the at at some point in a week or two I can have a good pizza and/or piece of pie helps me stay Keo the rest of the time.
I think that’s true for most people. My wife absolutely hated it when she tried years ago, but it’s really my lifestyle now (has been for a long time).
Yeah, I definitely had some keto flu for a few days there. But once the muscle fatigue cleared up it was like a switch flipped and it’s been pretty great since.
I still can’t get over the complete rewrite of my relationship with hunger. It’s just not a big deal when I start feeling hungry, because I know I’m not going to be crashing and miserable in an hour if I don’t get some food. I drink some water and move on.
I eat when I want now. I have so much more control than I ever have. It’s really great. Going to 16:8 (or 17:7 or 18:6, like as not, depending on the day) is kinda just a thing that happened with only the smallest of pushes on my part.
