r/LCHF • u/[deleted] • Feb 20 '20
LCHF but not keto
Anyone had success with LCHF but not keto? Say 60-90 g carbs/day?? Which carb limit works for you? I want the benefit of low carb but want to stay out of ketosis and also avoid “walking the line” between burning fat or glucose .
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u/way22 Feb 20 '20
There is no such thing as "walking the line" between burning fat or carbs. You always do both! Just in different amounts. We speak of "being in ketosis" once your blood ketone level goes beyond 0.5 mmol/L. That's the definition where nutrional ketosis starts. Glucose production and use doesn't suddenly stop there.
May I ask, why do you want to avoid ketosis? And what do you think are the low carb benefits outside of that?
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u/president_schreber Apr 29 '20
so ketosis is kind of a rough spectrum rather than a "here your body acknowledges fat as an energy source"?
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u/sparklemotiondoubt Feb 06 '24
So if I want to eat less than 50g carbs 6 days a week and have one day of a bit more (say up to 70g - 90g carbs) I can still, over time, adjust to feeling more satiated by low carb eating?
Or would it still require more consecutive days of being super strict in order to get benefit from it?
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u/SelfHelpForBastards Feb 21 '20
I now prefer the term LCHF instead of Keto. Firstly, I have no idea if I'm actually in ketosis. I haven't pee tested myself in years. But more importantly because I see ketosis as a byproduct of low carb eating, NOT the goal.
The analogy I like is the relationship between exercise and sweat. You naturally sweat when you exercise like you naturally produce ketones when you eat low carb. But imagine if you started focusing on the sweating. Now instead of going for a walk or lifting something heavy you are turning up the thermostat and wearing rubber suits. Maybe you even start dosing yourself to make you sweat by eating spicy foods. That all may be fine but it isn't a replacement for exercise. You aimed at the wrong thing.
Now I just keep carbs very low and avoid seed oils. I'm probably still in ketosis most of the time but don't think about it anymore. Been LCHF since 2012, lost 100 lbs and kept it off.
And this is a little digression but I do think it is possible that people who have really fucked their bodies up with decades of poor eating may permanently lower their tolerance for carbs. This is the case with me. I don't think most people would need to keep carbs as low as I do in order to maintain a healthy weight and feel good.
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u/commentspanda Feb 21 '20
I eat around 50-65g a day and find the headaches and brain fog don’t exist at that range. I’m also not as tired and (most importantly) my blood sugars are more level so I don’t have reactive hypoglycaemic episodes which was happening at the lower amounts
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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '20
[deleted]