A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine asked if I wanted to join him doing keto (that is, the ketogenic diet). I’ve heard talks of it before, but hadn’t really considered it as something for me. But at that moment, I was intrigued by the idea of trying it out. And so, the past weeks, I’ve been preparing for it.
For those not into it, the goal of the ketogenic diet is to force the body to burn fats instead of carbohydrates. To do this, you want to lower your intake of carbohydrates as much as possible, and instead focus on protein and fat. I’ve also been advised to get fiber somewhere (like avocado) and take multi-vitamins (without vitamin K) and magnesium-supplements.
I’ve also preparing for this by going to the doctor, taking some blood samples and checking my blood pressure. High blood pressure is a thing in my family, so if I can get that down by changing my diet, it’s going to be real good for me. Not to mention that I’m quite overweight, so I’m really looking forward to see if the rumours on keto pans out. That is, that you’ll loose weight like crazy once your body goes into ketosis.
I’m writing about this here to share my story on this, and I’m planning to write some posts on this. If anything I’m going to have some good laughs reading about this experience later on. And who knows, maybe I can help some others at the same time. As for that, I can only share some resources that I’ve found useful:
- Keto calculator: To get you some ideas of the intake you’ll try to go for.
- r/keto: The subreddit on keto.
- Caveman Keto: Apart from their weird focus on organic and “no-industrial” food, they have some good recipes.
- Matvaretabellen: Mostly for the Norwegian readers, but this page lists nutrients for a lot of food.
Update (2016-10-06)
I didn’t really follow up on this, did I? I know, I suck at blogging.
To summarize my experience with keto; It worked really well, as long as I kept to the diet. In the matter of three months I lost about 10 kg, but then I took a break when I went for a trip to the US. In two weeks I gained a lot, and during the rest of the summer I gained about half of what I’d lost.
I tried starting up again after the summer, and started training as well. I quickly realized I didn’t enjoy training and doing keto at the same time (I had grown bored of the diet basically), so I discontinued keto and promised myself to eat healthier by simply having a more balanced diet.
For those with patience and resilience to follow this through - I salute you. But for me, I’m done with keto.