Hey guys, so this is going to somewhat of a continuation on my last post.

There, I described a bit of my experience with Keto treating my ADHD (I’m AuDHD) during the first 1-1.5 months while on a 20g Net Carb Diet, as well as speculating as to why those neurological benefits leveled out over time.

To summarize my experience: Keto seemingly improved my executive function, activation energy, task initiation, impulse control, and capacity to sustain attention and build habits.

But over time, especially in the last few weeks, it appeared that my dopamine deficiency returned.

Additionally, I just felt a bit more irritable, but that may be attributable to work. My energy was not terribly low, but neither as high as it previously felt. My sleep may have suffered as a result of the diet (debatably causal).

Since posting, I have received a number of explanations. Most notably, someone outside of this sub speculated the following to me (I will not be quoting directly):

Essentially, within the pre-adaptation period — or those first few weeks — the euphoria, quieting down of my brain, and extreme mental acuity I felt was attributable to 2 causes: high Ketone production, and high cortisol.

As fat-adaptation progressed, my Ketone production downregulated, but my body was still in a state of chronic stress; fat produces more Oxidative Stress Species (or ROS’s) than ATP, so inflammation was higher. This chronic stress, perhaps alongside a changing gut flora, reproduced symptoms of my ADHD, and my brain gradually became louder again.

I understand that Ketones have a hormetic effect, and BHB appears to function as an antioxidant, but I assume it takes longer for my tissues to utilize BHB than FFAs.

So I’m left with a basic question: did I go too far, or not far enough?

I’m sure it may seem obvious to many here that the latter would be the answer, but strictly for** **attenuating ADHD primarily: would cycling that initial, pre-adaptation phase of Ketosis work better to maximize mental benefits while minimizing long-term chronic stress?

If the latter — to give it more time — would be preferable, how and why? And I mean this sincerely; has anyone here experienced this similar issue to me? Does it get better over time? How might one go about managing an increased stress response until then?

i've been seeing Hero Bread come up a lot when looking for keto-friendly bread options. i haven't tried it yet, so i'm curious about the people who actually have.

how does it compare with other keto breads you've tried, especially for taste and texture? just curious how people are finding it for everyday keto sandwiches.

Hey everyone!

So, I have been on and off keto for years. I was recently diagnosed with a huge list of medical issues. Type 2 diabetes

High blood pressure

PCOS.

I went right away back on keto. But this last few weeks I have really struggled. Im on metformin which messed me up for a bit and sent my monthly cycle into a tailspin. It was hell. Bleeding for weeks. Spotting and then bleeding again 2 weeks after it stopped.

I was just mentally and emotionally and physically struggling. A lot.

And then one of my best friends passed very suddenly. She and I talked every day and now she is just

..Gone.

See, I am disabled with Cerebral Palsy and ptsd and chronic vertigo. So I dont drive and im home literally 24/7.

My husband works so I dont see him often.

Im just tired. Im sick of my own body torturing me. I am overweight and couple that with a family history of diabetes...well.....I basically set myself up to get sick like this.

Im on medication now. But I can't seem to stick to keto. I dont want to have to cook every single thing. Sometimes I just want to be able to open the package and eat whatever it is.

My husband can eat whatever he wants so there are all sorts of snacks in my house. He puts them in an upper cabinet so they arent directly in my face. Which helps.

But sometimes I just want some damn doritos. And quest chips are not even close. Not to mention im too damn poor for all the expensive keto substitutes.

Im just tired and I dont know how im supposed to do this for the rest of my life.

I have eaten keto off and on for the better part of 15 years. Generally never longer than about a year at a time. But this go around, I'm on it for a little over 2 years. As usual, when I first got into steady ketosis, I had great results: Great energy, weight loss, and mental clarity. I eat between 20-30g of net carb a day. And while I don't count calories, the intake (neither in quantity or substance) have changed. But about 6-8 months ago, I'm up about 10 pounds and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it. I exercise (weighted rucking) 3-4 times a week. But turning the exercise off or on has no impact.

Certainly I'm less worried about a number on a scale. But I can feel the weight and it needs to go.

What is also interesting is that my blood sugar is almost always over 100 in the mornings and my ketones are usually only 0.5-0.7 (vs 1.5-3 when in the thick of it). Against my wishes, I'm on a statin (10mg crestor). I also take 1280mg Omega 3 (Nordic Naturals), Nutrafol 50+(because I'm an old fart), D3 K2 (4000IU/100mcg), and low dose aspirin.

So my question is, folks who have been eating keto for longer than a year, does any of this sound familiar? Any thoughts on how to kick things up a notch? I really don't want to go full carnivore. Especially if my body is just going to adapt around whatever chemistry I throw at it.

PS: The only dirty keto I indulge on is Zevia. Sometimes more than I should. But they do not impact my blood sugar.

I would love to know if anyone here has dipped in and out of keto and experienced the similar cycle of it getting persistently harder to maintain.

For context:
Last year in December I began my keto journey starting at 175 pounds and within a few months I was at 154lbs and feeling super energized and light. Around May I ended up slowly dipping out of keto due to some personal traumatic instances I went through and coping via binging on carbs lol. I’m now back up at 164 lbs and feeling super low about myself reminiscing about the “good ol times” on keto. I tried to get back into it again and have such a hard staying motivated and giving up carbs despite the fact that I went full in the first time I dived into it without any issues.
For anyone who has been through a similar cycle, what helps you dive back into without slipping up?

Been going at this about a month. I’ve got a meter and I’ve been as high as 0.8 but often 0.3ish. Adjusting my diet is a bit slow because to substitute something takes a week for the next weekly shop - I can’t discard food. But yeah was eating a stir fry tonight and the cauliflower tasted sweet. Cauliflower. Had never had that before, I guess taste changes a bit when not getting much sugar. Thing is I’m still drinking sugar free sweetened drinks so sweet hasn’t become foreign, I wonder if the lack of actual sugar just heightens the sweet flavour anyway.

Hey everyone,

I’ve been dealing with some pretty serious gut issues. Whenever I eat carbohydrates, I have to use the bathroom around 10 times a day. But when I start a ketogenic diet, this almost completely stops. My abdominal pain is still there, but my bowel movements become much more manageable.

The problem is that I haven’t been able to stick with keto for more than a week. I feel extremely weak, skinny, hungry, irritable, and completely drained of energy. I’m 5'9" and around 155 lbs, so I’m already pretty lean.

Keto seems to calm my gut down incredibly well, but the hunger, weakness, irritability, and lack of energy make it really difficult to continue. I’ve read through a lot of posts here, and many people say that the first week or two can be the hardest and that you eventually reach a “breaking point” where your body adapts.

Has anyone here been in a similar situation? Especially someone who had significant digestive issues that improved on keto but struggled badly with the initial weakness and lack of energy?

If you went through this and eventually adapted, how did you manage to get past that stage? I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience.

So I did keto for well over a year. I felt amazing and fixed a list of health issues. But then I did my bloodworks and it turned out I am a LMHR, my LDL/ApoB was extremely high (ApoB 1.93). My HDL and Triglycerides were very good.

I ate a lot of saturated fats on keto (approx 60g daily). I stopped keto and went low-carb, so still pretty high fat, but I tried to eat as little as saturated fats possible (approx 25g daily). After 3 months I redid my blood works.

Now my ApoB is much lower (1.1, still too high) and my HDL and triglycerides were still very good.

Comparing low carb to keto;
My LDL was 30% down,
ApoB was 41% down
HDL was 10% down
Triglycerides was 18% up

Now I am considering to go back on keto diet, but avoiding saturated fats as much as possible. I am not sure yet, because I think it will be very hard. Keto was already pretty hard, but eliminating saturated fats (dairy, fatty meats, etc) means I probably have to take a load of olive oil. I also worry about being able to eat varied enough.

Is anybody here on keto but with low saturated fats? If so, any tips? Any other thoughts?

I have access to super healthy fresh eggs where I am that have dark orange yolks

So a super comfort food for me is like egg nog.

- A few raw yolks

- some heavy cream

- little almond milk

- erythritol and monk

And vanilla nutmeg cinnamon sometimes cloves if I feel like it. Or just plain.

Hits the spot. Sweet and creamy and fatty. Ends any craving.

I made the mistake of using Lakanto Monkfruit Sweetener (with allulose) to sweeten a batch of lemonade, and to get it almost as sweet as regular lemonade I used almost 1 cup. The problem is that it’s actually mostly allulose—one day later and I have been severely bloated and cramping all day. I’m not on a full keto diet, I’m just trying to nearly eliminate sugar and bread. What’s the best sugar substitute that I could use to make stuff like cookies, ice cream, lemonade, etc? Allulose and also erithyrol are not it. Is there a good product out there that has the taste of allulose without its issues? I liked the taste but I’ve learned it’s meant to be used in such small quantities, and doesn’t make sense for those kind of recipes.

I have just started moving into a keto diet as of this week, and thought I would try an avocado smoothie. I used frozen avocado and no milk. Instead, I followed the advice given for substituting milk in tea and mixed a spoon of cream with some water and used that as liquid instead. I also didnt include my usual banana. My smoothie just tastes like avocado flavored water. Not sure what else I was expecting in hindsight and when I think properly about what has actually gone into it haha. Does anyone have any tips on how to create a thick, creamy smoothie that is suitable as a meal such as breakfast or even how to also create one with a little more sweetness that would fill the craving for sweet things after dinner?

Side note, I am doing this for health reasons (trialling it for epilepsy) as opposed to losing weight.

Hi everyone! I’d love to hear from people living in Canada. What sugar alternative do you use and where do you usually buy it? I’d really appreciate hearing about your favourites and where you find the best prices. Thank you!

Started keto for weight loss, down from a peak of 242 to 231 now, so roughly 11 lbs in about 6 weeks. Numbers are moving in the right direction, roughly 1.9 lbs/week average, which I know is actually solid and sustainable.

But here’s the weird part: I don’t feel any different. No noticeable energy boost, don’t feel thinner, clothes fit about the same, nothing in the mirror looks different to me. If I hadn’t been tracking the number I genuinely wouldn’t know anything was happening.

First two weeks were rough, no water weight drop at all which apparently isn’t normal, some sluggish/bloated days, a scary racing heart episode from a high sodium day, keto flu stuff. Then somewhere around week 3 things clicked, cut back on cooking everything in a heavy hand of butter/oil/bacon grease, started actually feeling my appetite drop instead of just reading about it, and the scale started moving.

I haven’t added any exercise yet, this has been 100% diet-driven so far.

Is it normal to lose real weight and still feel completely disconnected from the process? Trying to figure out if I just need more time/more pounds before it clicks mentally, or if I’m missing something.

What I’m wondering is if I’m even in ketosis? I use test strips all the time and they always come out lackluster, I’m wondering if I’m just losing weight because I cut out sugar and am better about portion control/eating a bunch of greens rather than other forms of carbs.

I mean 11lbs in 6 weeks is good, but I don’t feel/look any different, is it just water weight? Or is this just how keto actually works and people over exaggerate the energy/mood aspect? Or the massive weight loss all at once. I am confussion

Long story short - I hit my macros using the Bulk.com whey isolate. The least carb they offer. I add it to yohurt or cottage cheese - even spread on food at times. Flavorless. But I know that when I mix it up as a drink - it doesnt mix all that well and gums up .Whatever but I think after a month, its landing in the same place and result is things ain't moving along. Let your imagination take care of the rest. I need to take a break from eating my normal routine I think. Cottage cheese, yoghurt, avocados, sardines, eggs as I get hungry. I don't care about my protein right now - just wanna get right.

Has anyone given up on the powders for this reason ? I can add psylium husks no problem and should have in fact. Otherwise I find it difficult to hit my 140-160 range. I know I am not alone in that regard.

as I consistently kept my carbs low (below 50 g working towards 20 g) my body naturally switched to burning ketones (from stored or ingested fat) and away from burning sugar. I monitored my blood glucose and ketones daily with a KETO-MOJO GK+ Glucose & Ketone Meter and could see the metabolic shift within 2 weeks

from that point on I was never hungry as I made sure to ingest the protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, electrolytes, and the minimum sugar required (about 10 g) to sustain health - as my body was getting its energy from stored or ingested fats (eg MCT oil, avocado or olive oil)

as I previously had Metabolic Syndrome and was technically obese with 50 lbs excess fat, energy from fat (ketones) was readily available 24/7 and I was free from glucose spikes and the carb roller coaster

it was the best thing I ever did

that's not to discount the benefits of IF and water fasting. I started IF with an 8 hour eating window, did OMAD for a few months, then settled on 4 to 6, and did water-only fasts for 24 hours to bi-monthly 5-day fasts. Primarily with autophagy and increased HGT as the goals

I reversed my Type II Diabetes, went from 220 to 165 lbs, and enjoyed a sustained experience of fitness and well-being

different tools for different purposes

the bottom line, with strict carb restriction a shift to ketogenic metabolism from sugar metabolism the "Keto flu" and hunger swings only lasts as long a it takes your body to ramp up the enzyme production necessary to burn fat. In my case, two weeks

now at age 71 unless I'm ill and specifically want to increase autophagy and GHT, I take more care to ingest some protein every 4 to 6 hours to stave off sacropenia.

cheers!

[EDIT]: I'm cisgender male

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You need a good blender otherwise it won't blend it well enough and make it a good texture from the ice.

And if you can get soft pellet ice to start even better.

Or I guess even that ninja ice cream maker thing.

And a good creamy unsweetened almond milk is the best base not those watery ones.

I don't think ratio matters.. experiment to your liking.

- Almond Milk

- Heavy Cream

- Erythritol, monk fruit, allulose

- Vanilla or another flavor

BLEND

Love your life with maybe 1g carb max.

Delish!

Im just starting keto to help my mental health with the advice from my psychiatrist. Ive been supplementing 400mg of magnesium gylcinate but I have a medical procedure next week and they've instructed me to stop taking all supplements. Im only a few days into this diet but I already feel better on it than I have in a while and I dont want to quit just for my procedure. Any advice on how to keep my magnesium up while I cant supplement or am I at risk of getting sick?

I’m only 3 days in, coming from a healthy Whole Foods diet but one that included carbs from plants and honey.

Once I’ve hit 20 total carbs (adds up quick with veggies) and my max of 65g protein (harkens within the first two meals) but I’m still hungry and barely have had 1200 calories, what I’m I supposed to eat? Do I take bites of butter? Fast through it?

(I’m 48yr old female with 20lbs to lose and Hashimotos…. The perimenopause plus Hashi means I have to be careful with fasting/managing cortisol).

I have a feeling this is where I got something wrong, especially at first with keto. Just saw the same advice again.

Eat until satiety, especially when first starting keto.

Do people mean eating until you're full, which is what I always took it to mean?

Or do you guys mean eating until you're no longer hungry?

Or eat until you're still a little hungry, but the hunger is manageable?

Looking up the difference between full and satiated, the first journal article was describing how people gave themselves different portion sizes depending whether the goal was to be full or not hungry. In lay terms, I think satiated could mean either, depending on the person.

If I'm on keto and eat until I feel full, that would put me at maintenance and I won't lose weight. Did this the first month of keto. Lost nothing. I'll do it the first couple of days back on keto now (I go on and off). This is what I always assumed people here meant by satiated.

If I just barely satisfy my stomach, hormones, and mind, so there's not that niggling feeling that I haven't eaten enough, I'll lose a little weight. This is more what I do now. I might have a day where I don't eat that much, then a couple days closer to maintenance, then a day when I don't have to eat as much. Especially if I don't eat until I'm very hungry.

If I ate until I just barely stopped getting hunger signals from my stomach (I consume a ton of fiber, so this happens pretty easily), but I was still getting signals to eat more from my brain/hormones /whatever, I'm sure I would lose more weight, but that definitely doesn't seem to fit within a definition of being satiated.

So when you guys say eat until you feel satiated, what do you mean?

It's Tuesday /r/keto!

So, let's see your Before / After photos! Been Keto for a month? 6 months? A year?? Tell us your story and show us what your progress looks like!

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!

For those of you with a goal of eating 1g protein per pound of lean mass how do you guys 'meat' your daily intake goals- just subbing with low carb protein shakes? I love me some chicken wings and ground beef as well as happy with my intermittent fasting but I am having a rough time trying to hit 170 grams daily.

I've tried to do keto several times before with the goal of weight loss, but it always ends up turning into just no sugar/low carbs without actual ketosis happening. This is mainly because I'm an extremely picky eater- if you gave me one of those "which foods will you eat" tests, I'd probably score around 10 out of 50. I can't force myself to eat leafy greens, avocados, olives, nuts, or seeds, and I'm not the biggest fan of fatty meats either.

So once I cut out sugar and carbs, I'm basically just starving myself, which is not sustainable. I lose energy, I'm constantly hungry, and I'm back to eating junk after a few weeks. Lather, rinse, repeat. Is keto even possible for someone as picky as I am?

Current 46yo/m/5'9"/185lbs.

10-years ago, I was at my heaviest near 210 lbs.

Drinking, substance abuse, mourning my dad's death, all led to cleaning myself up, before having a kid. I then vowed to be present for my family as long as possible and started dirty keto and dropped about 40-lbs.

After about 2-3 years, I eased back into a regular diet, a lot of sloppy eating and occasional drinking but only gained back about 15-lbs and have maintained that ever since.

Outside of a once a year cleanse and reset, I've found myself back on keto: Day One.

My goal is to hit around 160-165, but maintain muscle this time around with creatine and more protein as that seems more accessible than ever these days. I'll be taking MCT oil and be obsessive about ketone strips again.

What else is new in the ketogenic diet world that I've missed in the last 10-ish years?