kfunk6113 and MrsMcsMuffins how are you feeling, how is the fast going? I woke up today thinking of you. My baby kept me up since 4 am and I really threatened her with formula so that I could get some sleep - and fast :D :D :D I really can't wait to try a longer fast!

wow, so many weird autocorrections, edited for clarity!

Good morning ronja!! I am only hour 14, so I am doing pretty well so far. I am really tired though!! Oh no, I hope that she sleeps well tonight so that you both can get a good rest!!

Hi kfunk and ronja. Well it's 4.30pm here and I'm holding up well :) Not missing food at all and at 6pm I will have hit 24 hours - yay!
Kfunk I'm 100% sure I will stick with keto after I've hit goal yes. I started eating keto 15 years ago age 20 for health reasons as there's a lot of cancer in my family and I know that cancer cells pump out insulin and feed on sugar. I ate keto continuously until I was 29 when I fell pregnant. I had terrible morning sickness and was hospitalized a few times. Also at the time there was some debate as to whether ketogenic diets in pregnancy can reduce the baby's IQ slightly and I didn't want to risk it. I ended up having a second baby and my pregnancy break from keto turned into a full 6 years.... :o
I'm never been as overweight and unhealthy as I have in these past 6 years. It was difficult to admit that I had to go back to keto once I got a taste for sugar back but as far as I'm concerned it's the only way for me.
I don't have a target for sugar because limiting carbs naturally limits sugar. The only thing I would say is I try not to eat more than 10g of net carbs per hour to avoid insulin spikes but as I only eat about 30g of carbs a day that's generally not a problem.

I am glad that you are holding up and that you don't miss food!!! I dooooooooooo, but my mental resolve is strong!!

That is awesome that you will continue with Keto long term!! I am so ignorant when it comes to this subject, but about 9 years ago I had a type of blood cancer, so it is very interesting to me that eating Keto could potentially prevent a reoccurrence! Have you ever noticed any negative impacts from eating more fat in your diet, I guess the only thing I can think of off the top of my head would be high cholesterol?

I am so glad that you are doing this with me, I don't think I would last if I had attempted it by myself :)

You are less than 20 lbs. away from your goal, that must feel amazing!! I can't wait for that day, but at times it feels like it will never get here!

I agree that when you have sugar in your diet, you crave it, I have noticed that my cravings for processed food and other junk food, fast food, etc. has been greatly reduced by eliminating wheat. I still have my moments of weakness, but its not every day anymore lol.

I seem to be hung up on sugar on the keto diet, and I had it in my head that I needed to be looking at the sugar information food labels, but sounds like I can just go by the carb count instead!

kfunk6113 hang in there, you can do THIS! You will be amazingly proud of yourself when this fast is over, I am sure :) Still following you, girls!

Thank you for cheering me (us) on!! I just poked in on your thread and commented, you are doing marvelous!!

kfunk6113 thank you so much! I do try. But you have just inspired me to try for a 36 hour fast tomorrow. I had my diner now at 8 pm (Europe) Tuesday and I will try to fast until 8 am Thursday....water, tea and coffee only! See if I can manage... if not, I will have a light diner tomorrow and make it 24 hours only. But I would like to reach 36.

Go ronja!! Didn't know you had a thread going....I'll pop in and cheer you on :cheer2:
Kfunk, it's the biochemist in me coming out again (and I'm so sorry, I really don't want to blind anyone with science or push my views exclusively) but I believe high cholesterol is pretty much a myth. Cholesterol is very very late to the party in any cardiovascular event. Far far too late to be the culprit in my opinion. Cholesterol is so essential for every cell in our bodies that if we don't eat enough then our bodies actually make more of it. My husband has hereditary 'high cholesterol', we don't worry about it and he sure doesn't take statins! I really feel that there's no compelling science that cholesterol harms anyone and I personally eat plenty of it.
All of my scientific background, everything I know about chemistry and biology all lead me firmly to believe that sugar is the villian of the piece is almost every non-communicable illness known to man. Sugar makes us hungry, sugar makes us fat, sugar makes us ill.
It's your choice kfunk, I'm not telling you how to eat but I would say look at all your options. If you don't feel calorie counting and low fat is working, if you feel hungry, if the weight isn't coming off as you'd like then take a look at other diets. People don't fail at diets, diets fail people. Keto keeps my mood good, keto stops me feeling hungry - it's 8.30pm here so I've been fasting for 26.5 hours now and I feel great. Keto works for me so I don't worry about fat because I'm proving that fat works great in my diet.

MrsMcsMuffins yet again, I couldn't agree more with what you're saying. First they told us cholesterol was bad, then they said there is "good" and "bad" cholesterol while in reality, it's sugar that causes cardiovascular diseases, as well as many other auto-immune disorders. It makes sense both biologically and evolutionally, our bodies are adapted to process fat, while sugar - not so much.

I want to really dive into keto once my Whole30 program is over, but I worry about counting carbs. I know with my lifestyle I need a diet that is mentally simple to follow. When I was on paleo/primal, I just knew what to eat and what to not eat. Counting and monitoring carbs seems like lot of work to me, so I'm not sure if I can do it.

You can do it ronja! I did it for so long (9 years before my break for babies) that I never had to count. I just knew. To start off though you can look at some good visuals on dietdoctor.com - he gives examples of what Xg of carbs looks like in veg or fruit or bread etc. When I feel like tracking I also use cronometer.com and it works it out for me.
It's easier for me to have a list mentality though so things I don't eat and things I do. That helps me naturally stay low carb. So I don't eat bread, cereals, fruit (except berries), potatoes, sweetcorn, etc. If a dish has those foods in it I know I'm not going to eat it and that will naturally lower my carbs without me counting them. I do suggest using cronometer or something similar at first though to get your head around it.

ronja Good luck with your fast!! We have the exact goals in mind. I would like to make it to the morning on Thursday, but if I cant then I will eat a light dinner!!


mrsmcsmuffins Congrats on making it through the day!!! I hope tomorrow is better for me, but I am in a really nasty mood right now. (24 hours in) and feel like I could cry at the drop of a hat. I did have a couple small cups of green tea, is that okay? The rest was water.

You never have to feel the need to apologize, I asked and I enjoy what you ladies have to say!! This is all very interesting. Would it be safe to assume that artificial sweeteners are just as bad as regular sugar?

Is there a big difference between keto and other low carb diets, like aitkins, for example? I have no problem eating the same foods over and over again, so I think that counting carbs might be pretty easy once I get the hang of it. I would be really curious to track a normal week to see what they are before I start trying to cut them. I think that they must have been through the roof before!! Thank you for the links, I will definitely check them out. Do you have any favorite recipes that you sub ingredients out to make them keto friendly?

I think you have inspired me to take some pics of my stomach as well. It would be nice to have something to look back at in the upcoming months.

You ladies will be reading this when I am in bed for the night. I hope you both have a good start to your days!!!

I'm sorry you're not feeling well kfunk. It's ok to eat if you need to. Please don't feel it isn't. I had an advantage because I was in ketosis from my diet before the fast. Listen to your body and don't make yourself ill :hug:
I've just woken up for work and it's hour 37 for me...guess we'll see how today pans out. I bet as a nice side effect of fasting yesterday though that we've lost a pound or so... losing 1lb would take me to my halfway point and my second mini goal...baby steps :)

Sorry kfunk - missed your point about atkins... Well atkins is a ketogenic diet, it's one of the original keto diets going and it was my way into keto when I was 20. I love 'old style' atkins and think Dr. Atkins was a true visionary. 'New' atkins? Not for me. I think Dr. Atkins would be rolling over in his grave right now if he could see his old team recommending protein bars and shakes on the induction phase, eating more carbs or reducing saturated fat. It's a real shame but I think the atkins corp lost a lot of money after Dr. Atkins' death (there were some stupid rumours going round that he died of a heath attack when in fact he slipped on ice and sustained a head injury) and they needed to counter the bad press by paying lip service to the low fat mandates of our time.
So in a nutshell, if you can find an OLD copy of Atkins Diet Revolution in thift then great but I wouldn't sign up to the new atkins programme.
Other than that, you don't need to follow a particular named diet to eat a keto diet. Sign up to a fitness tracker and just track it so you keep your net carbs (carbs minus fibre) below 40g a day. That means basically no fruit except small amounts of berries, no bread or wheat products, no grains of any description, no starchy vegetables like potatoes, corn, yams, etc and no beans. I do love cronometer.com because the default setting on that is 40g carbs per day and it shows you the percentage of carbs, fat and protein in your diet each day. A good ketogenic diet is high fat, not high protein. You need to aim for about 75% of your diet to be fat each day. About 15-20% should be protein and the rest carbs. So you see that's not a lot of carbs!! A good rule of thumb is if a carb is not a vegetable that grows above ground or a berry then don't eat it.

Just a very quick messae (my kids are home from school so there is no way I can sit at my computer) but I will pop in later to check on you ladies. I have been fasting today and so far so good. No cravings, just a few hunger pangs but nothing I can't manage. I have a headache though so I may eat some clear broth later tonight, I will see. STay strong my friends, we can do that, well, you definitely can :)