when in ketosis, your body burns ketones instead of glucose because it has no, or very little glucose to burn... we all burn glucose for energy if we live on a carb based diet, and the extra glucose is converted into fat and stored by the body...
when starting it is recommended to get most of your calories from fat, some from protein, and very few from carbs to get you into ketosis faster... i started this way and then kept on cutting my fat intake and raising my protein - you can get your fat from the plate or your body, and if you want to lose weight, you need to make this adjustment after being in ketosis for a while...
my starting macros were 1800 calories per day, with 75% of them coming from fat, 20% coming from protein, and 5% from carbs... the carbs should be from leafy green veggies which are high in vitamins and minerals we need... i started with these macros and tracked them every day for months... i no longer do as i know what works for me...
pre keto i would eat bout 4000 calories per day... i initially cut it back to what i stated above, and within 2 weeks i was trimming the calories back more and more all the time... after bout a week, i couldn't eat 1800 calories anymore and felt better than i had in years... i was never really hungry at meal time, and my energy level was even all day - bout where it was during a sugar or carb buzz... i'm now at around 1200 calories per day average...
after being on this for this long, i can transition in and out of ketosis very quickly... what i have found though is that my body really prefers ketosis over living on carbs... i have taken weekends off and eaten whatever i wanted - pizza - ice cream - pasta - bread - potatoes... when i eat carbs now, i get thirsty like a bad hang over and drink a ton of extra fluid... carbs are turned into fat and stored in water in the body, so you need more fluid to store them... when i get away from the diet i may gain 5# - what i have figured out is water weight... when i go back to keto eating, the extra water is flushed back out and my weight drops back to about the point it was pre carb up...
if i eat a cheeseburger and fries for lunch, i'm thirsty afterwards, and also hungry and wanting to eat every couple hours until i break the cycle... on thanksgiving i ate turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, meatballs, sweet potatoes, bread, desert - everything i always had, just less, then ate 2 meals of leftovers all weekend until they were gone... i returned to keto on monday morning and by tuesday morning was down 1# since thanksgiving morning... i was right back into ketosis, flushing out the water, and losing more weight... i can take a day or 2 off per week now with no weight gain because i slip back in so quickly...
i have taken whole weeks off now but find myself not wanting the carbs even if i don't care what i eat, because of how they make me feel... so even when not following the diet, i will not carb up for lunch as i would rather eat them for dinner and sleep it off so to speak... i generally feel great in the morning and miss the dry mouth and hungries...
my typical lunch is now some leftover protein (4-6 oz) or summer sausage and some cheese (2-4 oz)...
my typical dinner is 4-10 oz protein and a big salad, along with a few drinks...
i never got anal bout the grass fed organic meat or organic veggies though a lot of what you read online says you must... i keep my carbs to bout 15 to 20 grams per day, but don't stress over it anymore... experts say if you keep your carbs under 50 grams per day, you will b in ketosis...
i'll post a link to my best resource on you tube... dr berg is also very good, but this guy just cuts to the chase and doesn't blow smoke... he is one of the reasons i was successful and able to deal with the startup of keto... he has tons of videos worth watching, and answered many of my questions when i started...
one last thing... the #1 reason i was so interested in this in the beginning is that no one owns it like the other diet plans... you don't have to buy someones food, or supplements, or shakes, or snacks... you just eat real food...
sorry this got so long - not trying to derail anyone here, just trying to help anyone interested cuz it's been life changing for me...
good luck...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_X5NjLz2J0&t=30s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDcLkGYjgZs&t=170s
when starting it is recommended to get most of your calories from fat, some from protein, and very few from carbs to get you into ketosis faster... i started this way and then kept on cutting my fat intake and raising my protein - you can get your fat from the plate or your body, and if you want to lose weight, you need to make this adjustment after being in ketosis for a while...
my starting macros were 1800 calories per day, with 75% of them coming from fat, 20% coming from protein, and 5% from carbs... the carbs should be from leafy green veggies which are high in vitamins and minerals we need... i started with these macros and tracked them every day for months... i no longer do as i know what works for me...
pre keto i would eat bout 4000 calories per day... i initially cut it back to what i stated above, and within 2 weeks i was trimming the calories back more and more all the time... after bout a week, i couldn't eat 1800 calories anymore and felt better than i had in years... i was never really hungry at meal time, and my energy level was even all day - bout where it was during a sugar or carb buzz... i'm now at around 1200 calories per day average...
after being on this for this long, i can transition in and out of ketosis very quickly... what i have found though is that my body really prefers ketosis over living on carbs... i have taken weekends off and eaten whatever i wanted - pizza - ice cream - pasta - bread - potatoes... when i eat carbs now, i get thirsty like a bad hang over and drink a ton of extra fluid... carbs are turned into fat and stored in water in the body, so you need more fluid to store them... when i get away from the diet i may gain 5# - what i have figured out is water weight... when i go back to keto eating, the extra water is flushed back out and my weight drops back to about the point it was pre carb up...
if i eat a cheeseburger and fries for lunch, i'm thirsty afterwards, and also hungry and wanting to eat every couple hours until i break the cycle... on thanksgiving i ate turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, meatballs, sweet potatoes, bread, desert - everything i always had, just less, then ate 2 meals of leftovers all weekend until they were gone... i returned to keto on monday morning and by tuesday morning was down 1# since thanksgiving morning... i was right back into ketosis, flushing out the water, and losing more weight... i can take a day or 2 off per week now with no weight gain because i slip back in so quickly...
i have taken whole weeks off now but find myself not wanting the carbs even if i don't care what i eat, because of how they make me feel... so even when not following the diet, i will not carb up for lunch as i would rather eat them for dinner and sleep it off so to speak... i generally feel great in the morning and miss the dry mouth and hungries...
my typical lunch is now some leftover protein (4-6 oz) or summer sausage and some cheese (2-4 oz)...
my typical dinner is 4-10 oz protein and a big salad, along with a few drinks...
i never got anal bout the grass fed organic meat or organic veggies though a lot of what you read online says you must... i keep my carbs to bout 15 to 20 grams per day, but don't stress over it anymore... experts say if you keep your carbs under 50 grams per day, you will b in ketosis...
i'll post a link to my best resource on you tube... dr berg is also very good, but this guy just cuts to the chase and doesn't blow smoke... he is one of the reasons i was successful and able to deal with the startup of keto... he has tons of videos worth watching, and answered many of my questions when i started...
one last thing... the #1 reason i was so interested in this in the beginning is that no one owns it like the other diet plans... you don't have to buy someones food, or supplements, or shakes, or snacks... you just eat real food...
sorry this got so long - not trying to derail anyone here, just trying to help anyone interested cuz it's been life changing for me...
good luck...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_X5NjLz2J0&t=30s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDcLkGYjgZs&t=170s