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| This is the quickest way to get into ketosis without having to water fast! |
Do you need to get into ketosis super fast?
Don't think you can handle the deprivation and hunger of a water fast?
The good news is that you don't have to. You can rev up your metabolism, escape hunger, and be on your way to fat burning in one or two days!
All it takes is a ketogenic diet that is lower in carbs than standard Keto. This will cut your cravings to the bone and switch you from a glucose burning metabolism to burning fat faster than anything else!
Ketogenic diets work by reducing basal insulin levels, lowering blood triglycerides, and setting up conditions that will move you into the state of nutritional ketosis.
Getting into ketosis is important because when the body produces ketones, your hunger level goes down, your energy goes up, and you experience a state of well-being.
All of these benefits will make it easier for you to stick to your low-carb diet plan.
On a typical Keto diet, it takes 3 to 5 days to enter into the state of ketosis. But how quickly you do that depends on how many carbohydrates you were eating before you started restricting them.
Most low-carb diets start you off at 20 to 30 net carbs. Atkins 20 and the Reddit version of Keto begin at 20 net carbs, Dr. Phinney's Keto Diet starts at 35 carbs, and the Protein Power Lifeplan begins at 30 net. These amounts are low enough to get the job done within a few days for most dieters.
If you're coming from a carb-heavy diet, it might take a little longer to switch metabolic pathways than if you're merely switching from a low-calorie plan to Atkins, Keto, or LCHF.
However, there is a much quicker method that you can use right now instead of these standard low-carb diets.
The quick-start method I'm going to share with you includes a three-day menu so you can get started on your weight-loss goal right away.
Whether you're new to low-carb diets or you just need to jump start your weight loss, this tried-and-true method is the absolute fastest way to get into ketosis, other than water fasting.
[If you'd rather try the water fasting approach, check out our article on how to get into ketosis in only 24 hours. This 7-step plan uses a combination of zero carb and fasting to make the diet more comfortable than fasting alone.]
This is My Three-Day Quick-Start Diet Plan that Doesn't Require Fasting
Nutrition should never be sacrificed at the expense of your health, so this is a three-day program. It won't be how you eat long term. The following plan is only meant to be followed for three days. And three days only!
After the three days are up, you will be in ketosis, so at that time, you need to switch to a standard low-carb diet plan.
The diet plan I linked to above will introduce you to a wider variety of foods that are available to you on a typical low-carb diet. These additional foods will continue to keep your hunger low and set up conditions for your body to start the process of becoming fat adapted.
Fat adaption is where your body easily burns fatty acids for fuel instead of glucose. While ketosis triggers the beginning of fat burning, ketosis is not the ultimate goal of a low-carb diet.
Becoming fat adapted is.
But before you can become fat adapted, you have to be in ketosis, so here is how you get into ketosis in less than three days.
For those who are struggling to lose
weight, picking the right diet program is essential for success. If
you go with a plan that leaves you tired, hungry, and craving
chocolate chip cookies, that diet won't be very effective long term.
The advantage of going with a ketogenic diet plan is that you'll be able to eat a lot of the foods you are not allowed to eat on a high-carbohydrate fat-restricted diet, so the problem of deprivation is much less of an issue.
If you're new to Keto or just considering whether going low carb is the right choice for you, it's a good idea to carefully look over the acceptable foods for Atkins Induction. If you don't like the foods you're eating, the diet won't be very sustainable.
Sustainability on low carb requires you to create your own personalized low-carb plan, so after completing the introductory period discussed below, sticking to certain low-carb foods will make your plan work better.
Returning to the foods that led to your overweight or obesity is a recipe for failure. The whole idea in switching to a carbohydrate restrictive lifestyle isn't to carve off a few pounds.
The aim is to learn which foods and in what quantities will keep you lean and trim for life.
Before I explain exactly how to minimize your carbs, you need to know how to discover a net carb value.
Net carbs (sometimes referred to as "effective carbs" by Atkins Nutritionals, Inc.) are the total carbohydrates found in the food you want to eat, minus the fiber content in grams.
For example, if you were thinking about eating a cup of broccoli with your bun-less burger for lunch, a cup of cut-up broccoli has a total of 8 carbohydrates. According to my Corinne T. Netzer's "Complete Book of Food Counts," pictured above, (affiliate link), that cup of broccoli also has 4.6 grams of fiber.
To find the net carb count, you subtract the amount of fiber (4.6 grams) listed in the book for that food from the total carb count (8 grams), resulting in a net carb count of 3.4 carbs.
Unless you're doing Atkins 72 or Atkins 92, which use total carb counts, the net-carb count is the number you keep track of.
Common scientific thought is that most people do not break down the fiber in their food, so you don't have to count the fiber grams.
A few people do break down fiber, but you don't have to worry about which group you're in right now. You can worry about that later because the following three-day quick-start plan uses total carbs, rather than net.
Most people actually go into ketosis within 24 hours.
You just won't start spilling ketones into the urine or experience the signs and symptoms of ketosis for an additional day or two. By the time your ketone testing strips are turning at least pink, ketosis is well underway.
However, if you eat less than 20-net carbs and bump up your activity level, you'll get into ketosis faster.
This quicker pace is because your body will have to use more of its carbohydrate stores, called glycogen.
When the body's glycogen level drops to about half of what they were, the liver begins oxidizing amino acids for energy. It also begins to ramp up ketone production to provide the fuel you need to function.
According to Dr. Atkins, the body treats a two-cup salad as if you hadn't eaten any carbohydrates at all. This can be a blessing since zero-carb diets are not very appetizing, and the small salad will help to make the next three days more enjoyable for you.
In addition to the above foods, there is no restriction on fats, so you can plop a pat of butter on top of your meat, dip your hard boiled eggs into a sauce of mustard and mayonnaise, eat deviled eggs freely, or eat a hefty serving of diet gelatin with real whipped cream for dessert.
For those who enjoy coffee, you can have that too, provided you use a little bit of real heavy cream to lighten it, instead of milk, and use sugar substitute to sweeten it. You can also sweeten it with Torani or Davinci sugar-free flavored syrups.
A Keto Diet is one of the easiest ways to lose weight, but that isn't what you're trying to do right now.
Right now, your aim is to get into nutritional ketosis without being hungry and without having to put out a lot of effort. Eating from the above short list of foods will help you get there.
So for 3 days:
Ignore the calories in what you're eating, eat until you're satisfied, and stay completely away from the bathroom scale.
Dietary fat is unrestricted on this three-day kick-start diet, so you'll be more comfortable. Nothing will cause you to bail faster than being hungry, so don't go hungry.
If you're even worried about being hungry, then eat.
I know this sounds counter intuitive, but Atkins, Keto, and even LCHF are not weight-loss diets. They are lifestyles. What you eat matters as much as how much you eat.
Each low-carb program teaches you how to choose the foods that will get you slim and help you stay there. These foods will help you to develop healthier food habits, so you change what you look like now into a new and better you.
There is a lot of controversy within the low-carb community right now about the volume of protein you need to eat to see a decent amount of weight loss each week on the scale.
This controversy actually began from a misconception about sports performance versus a weight-loss plan.
What started out as an n=1 experiment by a popular Keto blogger has grown into a huge following that continues to be driven by misconceptions and inaccuracies about protein and dietary fat consumption, even today.
Dr. Phinney, the original author of the Nutritional Ketosis Diet, also referred to as Keto or LCHF, has tried to correct the misunderstandings about protein and dietary fats that the low-carb community has, but the truth hasn't caught hold yet.
Most people are still trying to follow a low-carb maintenance diet, which is why there are so many people struggling to lose the weight.
When the body runs out of glycogen during the first day or two, it will ramp up protein oxidation. In other words, the body will use protein for fuel. Protein oxidation is the first adaption the body makes when you first run out of glucose.
There is no getting around this.
If you aren't eating enough protein foods, your body will burn muscle tissue for fuel instead of the amino acids you're eating.
If carb restriction goes on for more than a few days, the body can't keep burning its protein stores (your muscles) without endangering your life, so it will switch to predominantly burning fatty acids for fuel.
It is during this space of time where protein is being used for fuel that the body decides to go into ketosis.
Protein does not kick you out of ketosis.
It prevents the body from stripping your muscles to get the amino acids it needs.
According to Lyle McDonald's book, "The Ketogenic Diet", the bare minimum of protein you need to eat to avoid muscle loss during the first 3 weeks of a low-carb diet is 150 grams of protein per day.
That's a lot of protein!
Please don't forget that this three-day menu is an introduction to a ketogenic diet.
It is not a Keto diet itself.
A true Keto Diet is much more varied and includes lots of vegetables to keep you from getting bored.
If you have never been on a low-carb diet before, or you are returning to low carb after a lengthy diet break, before you start this Three-Day Keto Diet, make sure that you read our ultimate beginner's guide to low-carb diets. This extensive beginner's guide explains:
Once you've read the guide, you'll be ready to progress to the Three-Day Quick-Start Keto Menu explained below:
Despite a ketogenic diet's ability to control your hunger and cravings, when the body first runs out of fuel, it will let you know.
Hunger may increase dramatically.
Cravings for cakes and cookies may fill your thoughts, and you'll find it difficult to concentrate on things other than food. You might even begin to dream about eating high-carb goodies, such as cakes and cookies.
In addition, a low-carb diet is very dehydrating, due to the way that glycogen is processed, so make sure that you drink plenty of water and take advantage of the well-salted chicken broth allowed.
When your basic insulin level plunges, as it will on this diet, your kidneys will excrete extra sodium along with all of the water.
Replenishing that sodium will help with any leg cramps or disruption in electrolytes that might manifest during those first 3 days.
If the sodium isn't enough to keep you feeling energetic and free of leg cramps, additional electrolytes you'll want to pay attention to are potassium, calcium, and magnesium.
When sodium is washed out of the body, due to glycogen processing, potassium is washed out with it. Since you aren't eating very many vegetables right now, using No-Salt or Nu-Salt salt substitute on your food can help replace the potassium you're missing.
Nu-Salt is available at Amazon and at some local grocery stores.
Lite salt is similar to Nu-Salt, and contains a 50/50 mix of sodium to potassium, where No-Salt or Nu-Salt is strictly potassium salt. Some people find Nu-Salt easier to tolerate.
Salt substitutes can be a bit bitter, so I always add them to something that contains a lot of liquid like soup or my homemade salad dressings to make sure that the potassium salt dissolves completely.
Since it's a good idea to drink salty broth anyway, you can just dissolve a little Nu-Salt into your broth for a better electrolyte mixture. (For a recipe on how to make your own salty chicken broth, click here.)
If you're coming from a standard American diet, looking over the skimpy variety of foods allowed for the first three days might look a bit scary. A ketogenic diet is going to be a major lifestyle shift, so take it slow.
Don't panic.
Switching from a typical diet to a low-carb lifestyle comes with a huge learning curve. Don't expect to be perfect. The name of the game isn't perfection. The name of the game is permanent change.
3 Ways to Jump Start the Ketosis Process
Can You Be In Ketosis But Not Lose Weight?
Problems Getting Into Ketosis? Here's a Quick Fix!
Becoming fat adapted is.
But before you can become fat adapted, you have to be in ketosis, so here is how you get into ketosis in less than three days.
How Do You Get Into Ketosis Faster?
The advantage of going with a ketogenic diet plan is that you'll be able to eat a lot of the foods you are not allowed to eat on a high-carbohydrate fat-restricted diet, so the problem of deprivation is much less of an issue.
If you're new to Keto or just considering whether going low carb is the right choice for you, it's a good idea to carefully look over the acceptable foods for Atkins Induction. If you don't like the foods you're eating, the diet won't be very sustainable.
Sustainability on low carb requires you to create your own personalized low-carb plan, so after completing the introductory period discussed below, sticking to certain low-carb foods will make your plan work better.
Returning to the foods that led to your overweight or obesity is a recipe for failure. The whole idea in switching to a carbohydrate restrictive lifestyle isn't to carve off a few pounds.
The aim is to learn which foods and in what quantities will keep you lean and trim for life.
The key to making a low-carb diet work is to
get into the state of ketosis quickly, so your cravings for junk food
goes way down. This is accomplished by minimizing your carbohydrate
intake.
What are Net Carbs?
Net carbs (sometimes referred to as "effective carbs" by Atkins Nutritionals, Inc.) are the total carbohydrates found in the food you want to eat, minus the fiber content in grams.
For example, if you were thinking about eating a cup of broccoli with your bun-less burger for lunch, a cup of cut-up broccoli has a total of 8 carbohydrates. According to my Corinne T. Netzer's "Complete Book of Food Counts," pictured above, (affiliate link), that cup of broccoli also has 4.6 grams of fiber.
To find the net carb count, you subtract the amount of fiber (4.6 grams) listed in the book for that food from the total carb count (8 grams), resulting in a net carb count of 3.4 carbs.
Unless you're doing Atkins 72 or Atkins 92, which use total carb counts, the net-carb count is the number you keep track of.
Common scientific thought is that most people do not break down the fiber in their food, so you don't have to count the fiber grams.
A few people do break down fiber, but you don't have to worry about which group you're in right now. You can worry about that later because the following three-day quick-start plan uses total carbs, rather than net.
Most people actually go into ketosis within 24 hours.
You just won't start spilling ketones into the urine or experience the signs and symptoms of ketosis for an additional day or two. By the time your ketone testing strips are turning at least pink, ketosis is well underway.
Ketosis Meal Plan for Getting Into Ketosis Fast
Most low-carb diet plans come with
strict rules and guidelines. A Keto Diet plan is no different.
Ketogenic diets suggest you limit your carbohydrate intake to no more
than 20-net carbs per day.
There is nothing magical about that number, however.
There is nothing magical about that number, however.
Dr. Atkins originally picked 20 carbs because most people can get into ketosis when they restrict their carbohydrate content down to that level.
However, if you eat less than 20-net carbs and bump up your activity level, you'll get into ketosis faster.
This quicker pace is because your body will have to use more of its carbohydrate stores, called glycogen.
When the body's glycogen level drops to about half of what they were, the liver begins oxidizing amino acids for energy. It also begins to ramp up ketone production to provide the fuel you need to function.
The fewer carbohydrates you eat and
the more active you are during those first three days, the faster this will begin to happen.
So here's what I want you to do.
For three days, eat:
So here's what I want you to do.
For three days, eat:
- beef, poultry, pork, seafood, any quantity
- eggs, fixed any way
- up to 4 teaspoons of heavy cream
- up to 4 ounces of hard aged cheese, like cheddar or swiss
- 2 cups of lettuce salad, with cucumbers, radishes, and celery
- full-fat salad dressings without sugar
- chicken or beef broth, heavily salted
- herbs and spices without sugar
- juice of 1 lemon
According to Dr. Atkins, the body treats a two-cup salad as if you hadn't eaten any carbohydrates at all. This can be a blessing since zero-carb diets are not very appetizing, and the small salad will help to make the next three days more enjoyable for you.
 |
| Zero-carb diets contain only meat and water, so Dr. Atkins included a small salad to Atkins Induction. |
In addition to the above foods, there is no restriction on fats, so you can plop a pat of butter on top of your meat, dip your hard boiled eggs into a sauce of mustard and mayonnaise, eat deviled eggs freely, or eat a hefty serving of diet gelatin with real whipped cream for dessert.
For those who enjoy coffee, you can have that too, provided you use a little bit of real heavy cream to lighten it, instead of milk, and use sugar substitute to sweeten it. You can also sweeten it with Torani or Davinci sugar-free flavored syrups.
Diet soda and tea are also allowed,
as well as club soda.
For three days, eat the least amount of carbohydrates you can tolerate and
try to stay as active as possible. That was what Dr. Atkins
recommended in 1972, and this method of getting into ketosis fast still works great today!
Ignore Calories and Weight Loss
The goal of this quick-start diet is to get into the state of ketosis as quickly as possible, so I'm not talking about how to lose weight fast. You may or may not see a huge drop on the scales. If you do, most of that is just water.A Keto Diet is one of the easiest ways to lose weight, but that isn't what you're trying to do right now.
Right now, your aim is to get into nutritional ketosis without being hungry and without having to put out a lot of effort. Eating from the above short list of foods will help you get there.
So for 3 days:
Ignore the calories in what you're eating, eat until you're satisfied, and stay completely away from the bathroom scale.
- Don't weigh yourself,
- And don't skimp on the amount of food you eat.
Dietary fat is unrestricted on this three-day kick-start diet, so you'll be more comfortable. Nothing will cause you to bail faster than being hungry, so don't go hungry.
If you're even worried about being hungry, then eat.
I know this sounds counter intuitive, but Atkins, Keto, and even LCHF are not weight-loss diets. They are lifestyles. What you eat matters as much as how much you eat.
Each low-carb program teaches you how to choose the foods that will get you slim and help you stay there. These foods will help you to develop healthier food habits, so you change what you look like now into a new and better you.
What About All of that Protein? Won't it Turn Into Glucose?
 |
| Getting into ketosis fast requires you to eat mostly protein for three days. |
There is a lot of controversy within the low-carb community right now about the volume of protein you need to eat to see a decent amount of weight loss each week on the scale.
This controversy actually began from a misconception about sports performance versus a weight-loss plan.
What started out as an n=1 experiment by a popular Keto blogger has grown into a huge following that continues to be driven by misconceptions and inaccuracies about protein and dietary fat consumption, even today.
Dr. Phinney, the original author of the Nutritional Ketosis Diet, also referred to as Keto or LCHF, has tried to correct the misunderstandings about protein and dietary fats that the low-carb community has, but the truth hasn't caught hold yet.
Most people are still trying to follow a low-carb maintenance diet, which is why there are so many people struggling to lose the weight.
When the body runs out of glycogen during the first day or two, it will ramp up protein oxidation. In other words, the body will use protein for fuel. Protein oxidation is the first adaption the body makes when you first run out of glucose.
There is no getting around this.
If you aren't eating enough protein foods, your body will burn muscle tissue for fuel instead of the amino acids you're eating.
If carb restriction goes on for more than a few days, the body can't keep burning its protein stores (your muscles) without endangering your life, so it will switch to predominantly burning fatty acids for fuel.
It is during this space of time where protein is being used for fuel that the body decides to go into ketosis.
Protein does not kick you out of ketosis.
It prevents the body from stripping your muscles to get the amino acids it needs.
According to Lyle McDonald's book, "The Ketogenic Diet", the bare minimum of protein you need to eat to avoid muscle loss during the first 3 weeks of a low-carb diet is 150 grams of protein per day.
That's a lot of protein!
Almost 1-1/2 pounds of meat.
So forget what other people are telling you about protein turning into glucose or that it will kick you out of ketosis, (you aren't even there yet), and eat until you're satisfied.
Converting protein into glucose is a lengthy, complex process, which the body only initiates if there are no other alternatives. Since the three-day kick start plan provided below is very low in carbs and only meant to be followed for three days, eating enough protein foods is essential to make it work properly.
The lower in carbs your diet is, the more protein you need to eat!
Once you get into ketosis, and you find your carbohydrate tolerance level, you can then make other choices about your diet and adjust your:
So forget what other people are telling you about protein turning into glucose or that it will kick you out of ketosis, (you aren't even there yet), and eat until you're satisfied.
Converting protein into glucose is a lengthy, complex process, which the body only initiates if there are no other alternatives. Since the three-day kick start plan provided below is very low in carbs and only meant to be followed for three days, eating enough protein foods is essential to make it work properly.
The lower in carbs your diet is, the more protein you need to eat!
Once you get into ketosis, and you find your carbohydrate tolerance level, you can then make other choices about your diet and adjust your:
- calories
- fat level
- protein grams
- carbohydrate grams
A Recommendation for Keto Beginners
Please don't forget that this three-day menu is an introduction to a ketogenic diet.
It is not a Keto diet itself.
A true Keto Diet is much more varied and includes lots of vegetables to keep you from getting bored.
If you have never been on a low-carb diet before, or you are returning to low carb after a lengthy diet break, before you start this Three-Day Keto Diet, make sure that you read our ultimate beginner's guide to low-carb diets. This extensive beginner's guide explains:
- what carbohydrates are
- the benefits of going low carb
- what you can reasonably expect each week of the diet
- the truth about blood glucose levels and insulin
- why many people stall during weeks 3 and 4
- water fluctuations and how they affect fat loss
- the truth about ketosis and fat loss
- how a low-carb diet really works
Once you've read the guide, you'll be ready to progress to the Three-Day Quick-Start Keto Menu explained below:
What to Expect During the First Three Days
Despite a ketogenic diet's ability to control your hunger and cravings, when the body first runs out of fuel, it will let you know.
Hunger may increase dramatically.
Cravings for cakes and cookies may fill your thoughts, and you'll find it difficult to concentrate on things other than food. You might even begin to dream about eating high-carb goodies, such as cakes and cookies.
This is perfectly normal.
The body has run out of glycogen, the storage form of carbohydrate, and is
trying to coax you into giving it some carbs.
If you ignore the
cravings for potatoes and bread, and eat protein and fats instead -- a
can of tuna or rotisserie chicken mixed with mayonnaise works well for that -- the cravings
will go away and the body will switch from burning predominantly
glucose for fuel to being a fat-burning engine instead.
No matter how much you're eating, if you're hungry, just eat more protein and fat. You can't overeat on this three-day diet because the objective isn't weight loss.
The objective is to switch into ketosis.
Once the switch happens, hunger will dramatically go down and the craving for sugar will stop. In fact, the satisfaction that most people get from eating low carbs can even cause you to forget to eat!
No matter how much you're eating, if you're hungry, just eat more protein and fat. You can't overeat on this three-day diet because the objective isn't weight loss.
The objective is to switch into ketosis.
Once the switch happens, hunger will dramatically go down and the craving for sugar will stop. In fact, the satisfaction that most people get from eating low carbs can even cause you to forget to eat!
In addition, a low-carb diet is very dehydrating, due to the way that glycogen is processed, so make sure that you drink plenty of water and take advantage of the well-salted chicken broth allowed.
When your basic insulin level plunges, as it will on this diet, your kidneys will excrete extra sodium along with all of the water.
Replenishing that sodium will help with any leg cramps or disruption in electrolytes that might manifest during those first 3 days.
If the sodium isn't enough to keep you feeling energetic and free of leg cramps, additional electrolytes you'll want to pay attention to are potassium, calcium, and magnesium.
Nu-Salt is available at Amazon and at some local grocery stores.
Lite salt is similar to Nu-Salt, and contains a 50/50 mix of sodium to potassium, where No-Salt or Nu-Salt is strictly potassium salt. Some people find Nu-Salt easier to tolerate.
Salt substitutes can be a bit bitter, so I always add them to something that contains a lot of liquid like soup or my homemade salad dressings to make sure that the potassium salt dissolves completely.
Since it's a good idea to drink salty broth anyway, you can just dissolve a little Nu-Salt into your broth for a better electrolyte mixture. (For a recipe on how to make your own salty chicken broth, click here.)
Three-Day Ketogenic Menu for Getting Into Ketosis Fast
 |
| I always start my Keto Quick-Start Diet with a lot of cooked chicken or turkey in the house. |
If you're coming from a standard American diet, looking over the skimpy variety of foods allowed for the first three days might look a bit scary. A ketogenic diet is going to be a major lifestyle shift, so take it slow.
Don't panic.
Switching from a typical diet to a low-carb lifestyle comes with a huge learning curve. Don't expect to be perfect. The name of the game isn't perfection. The name of the game is permanent change.
Day 1
Breakfast
2 eggs, fried, scrambled, poached, or
hard boiled
3 slices of bacon
coffee, tea, diet soda, or water
Morning Snack: 2 ounces hard cheese
Lunch
4 to 8 ounce hamburger, without the bun
top with mustard, mayonnaise, or sugar-free catsup
diet gelatin
tea, diet soda, or water
Afternoon Snack: 4-ounce can tuna with
mayonnaise (optional)
Dinner
2 to 3 baked chicken legs or thighs, seasoned
with herbs and spices
(I normally use seasoning salt, garlic powder, and pepper)
(I normally use seasoning salt, garlic powder, and pepper)
1 cup of lettuce salad with full-fat
dressing
diet gelatin topped with real whipped cream
tea, diet soda, or water
Evening Snack: hot chicken broth with
minced chicken and celery
Day 2
Breakfast
2 scrambled eggs with 1/4 cup chopped ham
1 ounce hard cheese
coffee, tea, diet soda, or water
Morning Snack: chicken broth with
minced chicken, celery, and an egg dribbled into the broth
Lunch
2-cup salad topped with a 4-ounce can of tuna,
celery, radishes, and cucumber
full-fat dressing or mayonnaise
diet gelatin
tea, diet soda, or water
Afternoon Snack: 2 deviled eggs
Dinner
6 to 12-ounces broiled steak topped with
a pat of butter
celery sticks, cucumber circles, and
radishes with ranch dressing
diet gelatin topped with real whipped cream
tea, diet soda, or water
Evening Snack: 4 slices mixed cold cuts with mustard
Day 3
Breakfast
2-egg omelet; fill with 2 ounces grated
cheese
coffee, tea, diet soda, or water
Morning Snack: Cucumber slices with
ranch dressing
Lunch
1/2 cup chicken salad with bacon, celery,
mayonnaise
wrapped in lettuce leaves instead of
bread
diet gelatin
tea, diet soda, or water
Afternoon Snack: 3 slices mixed cold cuts with mustard
Dinner
2 small or 1 large pork chop sauteed in butter
small salad of radishes, celery, and
cucumbers
full-fat dressing or mayonnaise mixed
with mustard
diet gelatin with real whipped cream
tea, diet soda, or water
Evening Snack: Beef broth with chopped
meat, celery, and egg dribbled into the broth.
There is nothing magical about the order of the menu above. You can switch the days around, or make substitutions using other meats if you like.
Sometimes, I've cooked up an entire bag of frozen chicken leg quarters and other times I've baked up a huge turkey, and eaten just that, so I didn't have to worry about what to eat.
If you can't do dairy, simply substitute:
In fact, if you don't like gelatin and would rather skip it, you can do that too. Diet gelatin is just what Dr. Atkins recommended to add more volume to the menu.
The 3-Day Keto Diet above is merely a SAMPLE of what you can have. You don't have to follow the menu exactly. You can use it like a template if you'd rather. It's meant to show you how to control your carbohydrate intake and what types of foods are best to eat.
Steak and pork chops are not better than chicken, turkey, or fish. Pick your favorite meats and use those instead.
You also don't have to eat this much food if you're not hungry. The snacks are definitely optional and meant to give you ideas of how to eat. Most people coming to low carb are used to grabbing chips or a handful of cookies in the afternoon, so the snack suggestions are just that -- suggestions.
The menu is designed for those who may have 100 pounds to lose, or so. Typically, the heavier you are, the larger the portions you're used to eating, so I've tried to reflect that in the above menu. Portion sizes above are what I would eat if I still weighed over 200 pounds and was doing this three-day quick-start menu myself.
If you are active and still hungry after eating the portions in the above menu, by all means add more protein foods.
Raise the serving size to fit your appetite by eating more meat, eggs, and cheese.
The aim is to keep your carbohydrate content as low as possible and stay active, so you'll switch into ketosis fast -- the faster the better.
This menu is just for those who want to get into ketosis faster.
If you want to move into low carb the traditional way, here is a link to the 7-Day Atkins Induction Menu I designed for those who just want to do a normal Induction.
That menu is based on the 2002 version of the Atkins Diet, and where you go next if you don't already have a fixed low-carb diet in mind, and after you've completed the three-day diet above.
I also have a 7-Day Atkins 72 Menu with Recipes and a Shopping List that is quite a bit more lenient than the three-day menu above if you'd rather follow that one. It's a good choice for those who have done Atkins before or those who have found themselves on a lengthy plateau.
Please note that this Atkins 72 menu includes flaxmeal muffins, Revolution bread, and other goodies to make the week more pleasant and enjoyable.
We also have a 14-day menu plan for Atkins 20 beginners. Atkins 20 is more suitable for those who are younger and more active because the menu contains a lot of vegetables. If you don't like vegetables, you'll be happier with Atkins 72.
How Do I Know if I Am in Ketosis?Additional Tips -- Start on Saturday
 |
| You don't have to eat the jello if you don't want to. In 1972, diet gelatin was a popular dessert. |
There is nothing magical about the order of the menu above. You can switch the days around, or make substitutions using other meats if you like.
Sometimes, I've cooked up an entire bag of frozen chicken leg quarters and other times I've baked up a huge turkey, and eaten just that, so I didn't have to worry about what to eat.
If you can't do dairy, simply substitute:
- hard boiled eggs
- chicken legs or wings
- lunch meats
In fact, if you don't like gelatin and would rather skip it, you can do that too. Diet gelatin is just what Dr. Atkins recommended to add more volume to the menu.
The 3-Day Keto Diet above is merely a SAMPLE of what you can have. You don't have to follow the menu exactly. You can use it like a template if you'd rather. It's meant to show you how to control your carbohydrate intake and what types of foods are best to eat.
Steak and pork chops are not better than chicken, turkey, or fish. Pick your favorite meats and use those instead.
You also don't have to eat this much food if you're not hungry. The snacks are definitely optional and meant to give you ideas of how to eat. Most people coming to low carb are used to grabbing chips or a handful of cookies in the afternoon, so the snack suggestions are just that -- suggestions.
The menu is designed for those who may have 100 pounds to lose, or so. Typically, the heavier you are, the larger the portions you're used to eating, so I've tried to reflect that in the above menu. Portion sizes above are what I would eat if I still weighed over 200 pounds and was doing this three-day quick-start menu myself.
If you are active and still hungry after eating the portions in the above menu, by all means add more protein foods.
Raise the serving size to fit your appetite by eating more meat, eggs, and cheese.
The aim is to keep your carbohydrate content as low as possible and stay active, so you'll switch into ketosis fast -- the faster the better.
This diet is a very restrictive, radical
change from what you're probably used to eating, so the above menu was
designed to start on a Friday or Saturday.
That way you're free to add additional foods to the menu and snacks as needed to satisfy your hunger. No matter how hungry you get for these first three days, eat, eat, and eat some more -- if needed.
Using this easy method, you should be firmly in the state of ketosis by the time you arrive at work on Monday, which will make that third or fourth day much easier to get through. Many people don't need as much food on day three, but occasionally, the body can be a bit stubborn, so just adapt the menu to suit your appetite.
A typical low-carb diet isn't as limited as this menu is, so don't let this sample 3-day menu scare you off. Also note that you don't have to do this radical three-day ketosis diet at all if you don't want to.
That way you're free to add additional foods to the menu and snacks as needed to satisfy your hunger. No matter how hungry you get for these first three days, eat, eat, and eat some more -- if needed.
Using this easy method, you should be firmly in the state of ketosis by the time you arrive at work on Monday, which will make that third or fourth day much easier to get through. Many people don't need as much food on day three, but occasionally, the body can be a bit stubborn, so just adapt the menu to suit your appetite.
A typical low-carb diet isn't as limited as this menu is, so don't let this sample 3-day menu scare you off. Also note that you don't have to do this radical three-day ketosis diet at all if you don't want to.
This menu is just for those who want to get into ketosis faster.
If you want to move into low carb the traditional way, here is a link to the 7-Day Atkins Induction Menu I designed for those who just want to do a normal Induction.
That menu is based on the 2002 version of the Atkins Diet, and where you go next if you don't already have a fixed low-carb diet in mind, and after you've completed the three-day diet above.
I also have a 7-Day Atkins 72 Menu with Recipes and a Shopping List that is quite a bit more lenient than the three-day menu above if you'd rather follow that one. It's a good choice for those who have done Atkins before or those who have found themselves on a lengthy plateau.
Please note that this Atkins 72 menu includes flaxmeal muffins, Revolution bread, and other goodies to make the week more pleasant and enjoyable.
We also have a 14-day menu plan for Atkins 20 beginners. Atkins 20 is more suitable for those who are younger and more active because the menu contains a lot of vegetables. If you don't like vegetables, you'll be happier with Atkins 72.
Struggling to Get Into Ketosis?
If you've been doing Atkins Induction for a solid 2 weeks, without cheating, and are still struggling to get into ketosis, (exhausted and hungry), check out the following articles for additional assistance.3 Ways to Jump Start the Ketosis Process
Can You Be In Ketosis But Not Lose Weight?
Problems Getting Into Ketosis? Here's a Quick Fix!
What if I can't eat those big amounts. I am on day one and only on the morning snack at 10:55 and can't imagine trying to eat 6-8 oz. burger at lunch and then tuna for snack. Ugh
ReplyDeleteYou do not have to eat those large amounts if you're not hungry. Don't force yourself. It's okay. The idea is to eat enough that you're not hungry. If you're okay with less, just eat less.
DeleteHey Vickie, I have the opposite dilemma. I'm 6'2, 217lbs, athletic, and would like to try this to get rid of the last few cm around my waist. I think this might do it, as I've recently reduced my carbs and am seeing the benefits.
DeleteBecause the portions are small for me should I supplement breakfast by adding cheese, more bacon or another egg? I try to consume as little red meat as possible, can I substitute it for poultry? Or does poultry not have enough fat?
Thanks!
Most definitely. Eat all you want to. And you can also sub one meat for another. No problem. Your appetite will regulate itself in a few days.
DeleteI have been doing Keto diet for 2. Weeks..staying under 12 carbs a day, around 1200 calories, and high % of fat as I thought was right. I have not got into Ketosis yet. Am starting this 3 day to see if that changes.. What am I doing wrong?
DeleteIf you've been eating only 12 carbs a day for 2 weeks, why do you believe you are not in ketosis? The Keto Diet is not high fat. You eat just enough fat to put you into a calorie deficit. Do you mean Nutritional Ketosis? LCHF doesn't work for everyone. For a lot of people, its too high in fat. The above diet is the 1972 Atkins Induction Diet. But you are already eating super low carb. I'm not understanding what you're trying to do.
DeleteThanks for the response, Vickie...I saw the Keto diet on Dr. Oz where you do high fat and low carb. I am using the Ketone test strips and that is where I believe that I am not in ketosis. I lost 7 # but have stayed the same for a week! I am trying to lose weight as I am pre diabetic!
DeleteYou won't lose weight every single week. Diets don't work that way. There is a general trend downward over the months, but water fluctuations will cause your actual weight to go up and down. Low carb diets have more water fluctuations than low calorie diets because they tend to be dehydrating, since it takes water to process ketones.
DeleteHight fat, low carb is a bit tricky. It works best for those who are severely sensitive to carbohydrate intake, but super low levels of carbs also creates more water fluctuations. Body loves to stuff water into your fat cells instead of shrinking them, which affects the number you'll see on the scale. Insulin levels will drop severely. Lots of people actually gain weight doing LCHF. I was one of those creatures.
Ketone strips measure only the type of ketone that builds up in the kidney. Not the ketone that builds up in the bloodstream. When the level in the kidney gets too high, the kidney dumps them into the urine. This dumping isn't consistent, so sometimes, it's easy to miss it happening.
The loss of 7 pounds says you did empty your glycogen stores, so the diet is working. Not sure why you aren't turning the ketone strips pink though. There are some people who need to go super low in carbs, almost to zero, to force the body to switch to fat burning. Perhaps, you are one of those. In that case, the 3-day diet above would be worth a try.
Hi Vicky. I have just finished the first week of the induction and today I am up a pound. I have read that certain medication can slow the process. I am taking estrogen and progesterone as well as medication for anxiety. I did also find out that sugar free gum has 5 net carbs so I will stop chewing. I was definitely using the gum as a crutch. Am I doomed to fail because of the medication I am taking?
DeleteAlso, maybe I am using too much cream and stevia in my coffee.
DeleteHi Helene,
DeleteI have heard that estrogen and progesterone can slow down the process too. I don't know about anxiety meds. I would think that those would help, given their ability to lower cortisol levels. I didn't know that sugar-free gum was that high in carbs. Wow. I'll have to remember that for the next time someone asks me. I don't chew gum myself, so I didn't know that. Thanks. I wouldn't say you are doomed, due to meds. Fat loss might be slower though. The latest study on low-carb diets showed that no fat is lost the first week on the diet because the body is adapting to what's going on. Fat loss started sometime in week 2.
Holding water in your fat cells is quite common. The body won't hold onto it forever though. Eventually, the water will have to go and you'll see a drop on the scales.
DeleteThanks Vicky. I was also wondering if I could have a protein shake with almond milk and a cup of berries which are low in carbohydrates. Just as long as I stay under the. 20 grams of carbohydrates during induction would this be allowable? Today I didn't use any sweeteners other than stevia and only one cup of coffee with cream. Let's see if it makes any difference. Even though the scales haven't moved, I do feel less bloated. I do not have a lot of weight to lose. Maybe 10 pounds.
DeleteOnly 10 pounds? That will play into how long it takes as well. The lower your fat percentage, the slower the weight will come off. Yes, you can have a protein shake with almond milk on Induction. If you only have 10 pounds to lose, berries are fine as well.
DeleteThanks for your reply Vicky. That definitely makes me feel better that the scale isn't moving. I am using a pair of shorts I wore last summer and that will be my gage on where I am at. I am definitely not craving carbs anymore so that is a good thing. Appetite has subsided significantly as well.
DeleteUsing a pair of shorts is a great idea. I've actually seen people who were only a few pounds overweight do a low-carb low-fat diet for 6 weeks, and not lose anything on the scale. But their body? You could really "see" a difference.
DeleteOther suggestions to replace tuna? I don't like seafood!!
ReplyDeleteD. Sheets
You could sub chicken, ham, eggs, or any kind of meat you like.
ReplyDeleteI am allergic to artificial sugar what can I replace gelatin with?
ReplyDeleteProbably real stevia
DeleteSorry for the late reply. I can't do artificial sugars either. For me, I just leave gelatin off the menu now. I've never heard of gelatin made with stevia, unless you do that yourself. Some people who can't do substitutes find that stevia works okay for them, since it's a refined herb and not a chemical. If you need something more to eat, I'd just replace it with more meat, eggs, or cheese.
DeleteThank you! I can handle no breads and most startchs lol but no sweet tea is my battle HAHA!
DeleteYou're welcome. I don't like unsweetened tea either. Hope stevia works for you.
DeleteAn unsweet tea with sugar free flavors like peach, mango, BlackBerry etc. Only has 2 carbs and you don't miss the sugar. It's good
DeleteI fOund a sugar free sweet tea and its amazing.sold at Wal-Mart
DeleteThanks. I'll check it out.
Deletewhat if you fall off the diet for a day or two, how will it take to get back into ketosis?
ReplyDeleteIt depends on how many carbohydrates you ate over that time period. Your liver can hold about 300 carbs. If you only ate 100, for example, it won't take 3 days. Many people are back in ketosis within a day or two after they cheat.
DeleteWould a little cream on coffee be okay with this 3 day plan? How much would you recommend?
ReplyDeleteYes, a little cream in your coffee is fine. My 2002 Atkins book just says to limit your daily total to 2 to 3 tablespoons per day.
Deletetrying this tomorrow
DeleteHow did it go?
DeleteIs it alright to drink dry wine or whiskey during this diet.
ReplyDeleteAlcohol can interfere with getting into ketosis during the first 3 days, but once you're in ketosis, it simply puts fat burning on hold until the body burns the alcohol calories off first. It doesn't throw you out of ketosis. Wine has about 8 carbs per 4 oz due to the grapes it's made from; whiskey has 0 carbs.
DeleteFor more detailed info:
http://kickincarbclutter.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-does-alcohol-affect-fat-metabolism.html
The above article goes into detail about how to use alcohol on a low-carb diet.
Thank you so much. I've been trying and trying and can't seem to make it past day 3. I appreciate that this is so simple. There are tons of wonderful resources with wonderful menus and recipes. It's great to have choices and variety, but when you're starting out it can be overwhelming so I really appreciate the simplicity of this. No fuss, very little prep necessary, and to start on a Saturday is pure GENIUS! Thanks for taking this back to basics. I'll start on Saturday and let you know how it goes.
ReplyDeleteThanks you so much. Simple is exactly what I was trying to accomplish with this, so I'm glad you found it helpful. Don't be afraid to eat more or less meat than the menus specify. Just use the menu as an example. Always eat if you're hungry. If you tend to fall down on day 3, you might need to eat more on day 3, rather than day 2, for example. Let me know how it goes.
ReplyDeleteSo fruits are not ok ????
ReplyDeleteAtkins Induction plan doesn't include fruits at all. The purpose of Induction is to get into dietary ketosis and fruit sugar "can" prevent that.
DeleteSo I'm considering doing this. I have a problem with Tuna as well and would substitute lunch meat. Is there a lunch meat to stay away from? Salami? Ham?
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't limit myself until I see how it goes. Some people do have problems with the salt content of processed meats, but not everyone does. I never did. I was able to eat sausage, bacon, ham, salami and all of those types without it interfering with weight loss.
DeleteMy normal diet has been mainly salad with ranch dressing, salmon fish, eggs.Since I have been very light carb eater, do you think that, these 3 day diet plan will still work for me
ReplyDeleteIf you're only eat fish, eggs, and salad, then you should already be in Ketosis. Are you not losing weight eating that way?
DeleteI have been low carb dieting for so long, I cannot get back into ketosis no matter how I try. Any suggestions?
ReplyDeleteDo you mean you're coming back after being off low-carb for a while, or do you mean you're not turning the testing sticks pink anymore? How do you know you're not in ketosis?
DeleteNo, I'm not loosing weight, I want to get down to 130lbs since I'm just 5.4inch tall but I'm still on 150lbs.I think my body got use to my eating habit and learn to leave with it. I need something that can shock my body. I just started the 3 day ketosis plan today. One question I have is. Will eating less than the suggested sabotage my getting into ketosis?
ReplyDeleteNo. Eating less is fine. I just put a lot of food in there for people who are heavy and starting new. I've heard of people who started losing weight when they slightly upped their fats and calories. Weight loss is truly individual. It all boils down to finding your sweet spot.
DeleteI am in a keyto group on facebook. They say eat fat to lose fat. Real butter,ovacodo, real cream.
DeleteThanks Sherry. Do you mean a LCHF group? LCHF and Nutritional Ketosis are the folks who believe in eating more fat to lose fat. Keto is a low-carb diet that limits fat, so that you eat at a calorie deficit.
DeleteHi vickie, can you explain why the new Atkins requires you to weigh your meats? Why are you only allowed so many grams? Is it because excess protein could get stored as fat? Also what's the reason behind eating fat? What would happen if I eat lean meats instead? I can't find the scientific reason.
ReplyDeleteDeborah
I didn't know the Atkins Diet was requiring you to weigh out your meats now. I was only aware that Nutritional Ketosis asked you to do that.
DeleteI did put weight suggestions in the above menus, but only to show that you can eat 1/3 to 1/2 pound of meat per meal and still get into ketosis. The Nutritional Ketosis people are eating scary amounts, of protein, something like 50 grams of protein for the whole day. They believe excess protein turns into glucose, thus preventing weight loss, so their goal is to have an excess of ketones built up in the blood. There's no scientific basis for that.
Excess protein will only be stored as fat IF the body converts more protein into glucose than it needs, and your glycogen stores are full. Glycogen stores shouldn't be full on a low-carb diet, so protein isn't converted into the fat. It's more likely to be stored in the body as muscle.
Low-carb folks today believe it takes a high degree of dietary fat to convince your body it's safe to burn body fat, but like you say, there's no scientific basis for that myth either. In the early Atkins books, his menus used lean proteins. They were not high-fat. He used to consistently say that his diet was not a high-fat diet. His words was to eat protein/fat in the same proportions that you find it in nature, such as a "relatively lean" piece of beef. Personally, I lost most of my weight in 2007 and 2008 eating lean meats, mostly chicken or turkey breast.
That's because even on a low carb ketosis diet, your body still has a BMI index - so portion control is still required for weight loss. If you eat more than your body can burn, even with low carb, you will not lose weight.
DeleteHello there, i've been low carb for the past 6 months. I also lowered my cals for 1200 a day. After losing about 12 kilos, I couldn't be so strict any more, as my body was feeling the pain and stress of it. So I decided to reintroduce carbs here and there (with very few parties execptions) and dome sweets too. I did not gain any weight back as I've been really concious and doing this a new life style. However, i'm stuck and actually scared of going back to Keto and doing it wrong and gaining the weight back. I was 175lb when I started and now 151lb. Need to lose at least 10 more kilos to be where I want. I'm a5"3 female. Any tips on how to get back the right way?
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry that I just saw this. I had to go to comment moderation due to a spammer that was getting out of hand. That's great that you haven't gained any weight back. It means that whatever you're currently doing is what it takes to maintain your current weight, so before you do anything, write down everything you eat for a few days and find out how many carbs it takes to maintain your current weight. Once you know that number, cut that number down by 5 carbs per day and then see if the weight starts coming off again. If the scale hasn't moved in a week or two, cut down by another 5 carbs per day. Back into your level for losing slowly. That way, you won't shock your body.
ReplyDeleteSo Vicki, I have been on this diet for 6 days and I'm not in ketosis, despite the fact that I'm following everything by the book. The ketostix are showing me that.I just found out that proteins can jeopardise things but the majority of foods on this diet are proteins.
ReplyDeleteSome people who have extreme insulin resistance have had better luck with the Nutritional Ketosis program, rather than the Atkins Diet.
DeleteNutritional Ketosis has you dial in your protein intake to get a certain amount of ketone build-up in the blood. The downside to the program is that you can't figure out your correct protein intake without using a blood ketone monitor. When I tried cutting my protein intake without the monitor down to 60 grams a day, I lost tons of muscle and really packed on the pounds. We're all different. A lot depends on how insulin resistant you are.
Ketostix are only useful for some people, mostly beginners. They measure how many "excess" ketones the body is making and dumping into the urine. They don't measure ketosis. The biggest sign of ketosis is your appetite. It will go way, way down when you enter the state of ketosis.
Try cutting down on your protein intake and see if that works better for you.
I am doing keto for mental clarity and stable moods as I'm ADD but I have discovered that my symptoms are mostly related to hyper/hypoglycaemia ( insulin resistance) My adrenals have obviously been overworked regulating my blood sugar as they are now burnt out and I have brain fog everythime I eat carbs. I have been doing less than 50g carbs a day for about 2months now and I have lost 10lbs even though I didn't want to. I'm going as low carb as I can now as the trouble is I can't stay in ketosis or get deep enough in. My highest blood ketones were 1.4 and I felt fantastic but I don't know why they keep dropping back down to 0.3. As I don't have a weight issue should I eat more fat? Also do you think stimulants could be knocking me out of ketosis as I sometimes have to use them while living in low carb limbo waiting to fully keto adapt ?
ReplyDeleteDepending on how much muscle you're carrying, the first 5 to 10 pound weight loss is what happens when you empty out your glycogen stores. Very little of it is fat.
DeleteI don't have a lot of experience with adrenal issues, other than the role the adrenal glands play in the body's stress response.
Do you not feel as good when the ketones drop down to 0.3?
My understanding of Nutritional Ketosis is that you need to eat extra fat in order to keep the body producing enough ketones, so they back up in the blood. That's what you're doing by getting your blood ketone level up to 1.4 and keeping it there. So yeah, try eating more fat and you should see that number rise.
My posts talk a lot about not overeating fat, but that's always in the context of fat loss. If you don't need to lose weight, then you need to eat more fat because the body uses fatty acids for energy.
Bodybuilders use stimulants along with very low-carb very low-fat diets for fat loss. But I don't know if they would affect the number of ketones in the bloodstream or not.
I started the lchf Oct 5 and was doing great. I lost 11 pounds then recently within the week I have gained 10 pounds back. If anything I haven't been eating 🍴 very much but I have been under the 20 net carbs. Why would I be gaining? I also drink about 8 bottles of water a day.
ReplyDeleteCan this be modified for vegetarians? What would you suggest. I do eat dairy and eggs
ReplyDeleteHi Miranda,
DeleteYes. Atkins can be done by vegetarians. Weight loss won't be quite as fast. Here is the link to the post where I explain how to do that.
http://kickincarbclutter.blogspot.com/2014/07/how-to-do-vegetarian-low-carb-diet.html
The link is also available in the top bar of the website, that says Posts Archives. After clicking on that topic, scroll all the way to the bottom of the list. It's under Vegetarian posts.
(Comments are being moderated right now due to several spammers, so I have to okay the comment before it will publish. I get an email that shows me your comment. Saturday mornings are super busy for me.)
Can this be modified for lacto-ovo vegetarians?
ReplyDeleteJust add eggs to the vegetarian diet in the link above. With eggs, you'd be able to eat fewer carbs per day if you need to, since eggs are only about 1/2 carb each.
DeleteHello, I don't understand the salad dressing can you please explain or what kind of salad dressing I can use? thanks
ReplyDeleteThe only restrictions on salad dressing that I've seen is to pick one that's free of sugar and don't drown your salad in dressing. No sugar isn't always possible though, so pick a dressing that's as low in sugar as you can find: Ranch, Italian, oil-and-vinegar types, caesar, homemade, whatever you like. Thousand Island has tons of sugar, but you can make it yourself by mixing together mayo, sugar-free catsup, and a little dill relish.
DeleteHi,Vicky, I've found articles very helpful, can you give me advice on ketone measures, mine are between 4.5 and 6.5. Iam a 68 year-old man,5'9".and weigh 15st 11.Thanks Ray.
ReplyDeleteThose rates sound great! Most people really struggle to get their ketones that high.
DeleteHi, what do you mean by "hard cheese"?
ReplyDeleteThe type of cheese that comes in brick form like cheddar and jack. A cheese stick is also considered hard cheese. Soft cheeses would be something like ricotta or cottage cheese, which has a higher carb count. Cream cheese is also considered a hard cheese now, since it's low in carbs.
DeleteHow much water should you drink per day if you are doing this diet?
ReplyDeleteDr. Atkins said that 64 ounces is the minimum. Most people drink closer to 96 ounces (3 quarts). That's what I drink. The prevailing thought is that you need about 1/2 ounce of water per pound of body weight, but depending on how much you weight, that could be overkill. The keto group at reddit suggests you just drink whenever you're thirsty, but that doesn't work for everyone. You need water to flush out the excess ketones and the liver uses water to metabolize fats.
DeleteHow much water should you drink per day if you are doing this diet?
ReplyDeleteExcellent article, I learned alot and also from the comments. Ive been on LCHF lifestyle change for four days now and my energy levels are through the roof which is better then being sluggish but its keeping me up much later then i like.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point. People don't need as much sleep when they're on a low-carb diet.
DeleteVickie, I have a question about the Diet Gelatin. This might be a silly question, but what is that? That's not Jello is it. Do I have to have that on this 3-Day jump start? Thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteDiet gelatin is Jello. Most low carbers that I know purchase it from Netrition.com where they can get it sweetened with Splenda. But no. You don't have to eat that junk if you don't want to. The menu above is based on what I ate to get into ketosis, and what most people might need to get through those first 3 days. Personally, I wouldn't eat the jello today. I'd simply eat more meat. The important thing is just to take your carbs down as low as you can get them for 2 or 3 days. The lower the carbs and the more active you are, the faster you'll get into, or back into, ketosis.
DeleteThanks for the question Beverly. I think I need to read through this blog post and maybe update it to reflect where I am today.
DeleteThanks so much! I love your site!
DeleteCan collagen be used? Instead of "diet gelatin" I mean. You can add collagen to just about anything, even put it in my coffee. I'm trying to get BACK into Ketosis after falling off the wagon a couple weeks ago, and just can't seem to get back to it. Thanks for this.
DeleteI have never heard of using collagen in food. Interesting. You can sub any of the food items in the menu for other similar things if you want. The menu is only a sample for those having difficulty getting into ketosis. Is your body fighting the process? Or are you having trouble sticking to it?
DeleteHello. Did you ever post the 7 day induction? Thanks so much for creating this site and this 3 day plan.
ReplyDeleteYes, I did. Didn't realize that I didn't add the link to the 7-day Induction menu at the bottom of this post, so thank you for calling my attention to that. The link is there now.
Deletehi there, I would love to hear an update on how you're doing, how much weight you lost, and if you are still low carbing it. I lost 40 pounds years ago on the Paleo diet. I called it the cave girl diet. recently I went into a slump and ate nothing but carbs with carbs on carbs. so comforting and so fattening. I am on day 3 of under 20 carbs. I don't have any ketostix and was wondering if you know when I might see a drop in weight I haven't gotten on the scale except to way myself before I started. I am 5'4 female 160 lbs age.57. The weight is heavy lol I guess it would be. looking forward to hearing an update from you Vicky. Take it easy, Mona
ReplyDeleteI published an update a couple of posts ago. You can find it here, at the bottom of that post, under the section entitled: What You Need to Know.
Deletehttp://kickincarbclutter.blogspot.com/2016/01/how-to-choose-best-low-carb-weight-loss-program.html
Like you, I totally fell off the wagon and smashed my head up a good one, so I know exactly what you mean when you say you feel heavy. I'm only 5 ft tall and right now, I weigh almost as much as I did before I started. However, falling that hard has given me a lot of insight and understanding into what a lot of my readers have gone through and are still going through, so I'm not down on myself about it. I just feel in limbo right now. Not sure which direction to go in next.
What I discovered in 2007, is that returning to Low Carb is never as easy as it was the first time. The body can put up quite a fight. I tried to go back onto Atkins Induction a couple of years ago, but life jumped up and gave me quite a fight. Hubby got laid off, and we were basically living on whatever we already had in the house to eat. The last time I tried it again, everything tasted bitter and sour to me, so I've been trying to work toward a less carby direction, hoping it won't notice, lol.
I'm not a fan of Ketostix any more, now that I understand how the body works a bit better. They don't really show you if you're in Ketosis at all. An insulin spike can cause you to dump Ketones.
If I were redoing Induction today, I personally wouldn't get on the scale for 2 weeks. I've seen so many of my readers struggle with what the darn scale says. Second timers will usually see water retention because the body won't be as quick to shrink the fat cells. But that isn't always true. So how soon the weight loss will come is hard to say. If this is only your second time at dieting, you might be fine.
hope I didn't post twice something disappeared it might have been my first post.sorry you're getting spammed, if I posted twice you will be able to remove it take care Viki
ReplyDeleteThat's okay. No problem. You didn't post twice, and if you had, I simply would have not accepted the second one. Moderating comments confuses a lot of folks, but it's far less time consuming doing it that way.
DeleteHi, I started almost 0 carbs Monday. I hurt my knee on the treadmill last sept. & fractured my foot a month later, & I am trying to heal as fast as I can. Gained weight, so now I am trying ketosis. I have questions.
ReplyDelete1)How much weight is possible to lose weekly/monthly if I stay below 10 carbs a day?
2) Can I still take my Metformin?
3) How much protein is allowed daily?
4) Should I take magnesium/potassium supplement?
%) Do Keto Sticks work & what color do I want to get to for optimal weight loss?
Any & all info, tips, advice will be much appreciated! Thank you for reading!
PJ
Once the initial water and glycogen come off, the amount of weight you lose per week has to do with the size of your calorie deficit. However, if this is the first time you've ever been in ketosis before, you can lose quite a lot for the first few weeks until your body adapts to the calorie and carbohydrate deprivation.
DeleteDon't stop taking Metformin without your doctor being involved. Lots of people do low carb while taking Metformin.
Protein needs are about 0.8 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass, but if you're trying to diet while healing a fractured foot, you'll need more protein than that.
If you go really low in carbs, it will throw your electrolytes out of whack, so you do need to replace the potassium in your diet. But, you'll also need to up your sodium intake as well. Low carb is very dehydrating.
Keto sticks can be mentally helpful if you are brand new to low carb, but they are not necessary. They measure how many ketones are being toss out. They don't measure ketosis. If you're not planning on returning carbs to your diet in the way that Dr. Atkins suggested, they aren't good for much except a mental boost in confidence.
Hi Vickie! I did the Atkins diet back in 2005 and lost 90 pounds. I kept most off until 2014 when I started having back issues and gained nearly 30 back from steroids, medicines and my inability to exercise. I'm about to start back up on Induction and loved your tips here for keratosis. You have a lot of great ideas and I'm planning on starting up tomorrow when I grocery shop.
ReplyDeleteAre ketone strips still available in stores or do you need to order them online? I'd like to have some on hand just to check. It's been so long since I've fully committed, but since I'm still unable to exercise fully as I was able to ten years ago, I need to rely more on the lifestyle and making sure I'm in ketosis.
Ty!
They should still be available in the pharmacy, if they aren't in the drug section of the store. If you're returning to low carb, you need to know that any color on the sticks -- even just pink -- means you're in ketosis. They won't be as dark as they were for you before, since you're body will remember how many ketones it needs to make to support your activities.
DeleteI am very overweight. I ha. Tried to attempt thus three times now. Help!!!
ReplyDeleteDo you keep caving into cravings, can't give up carbs, or what?
DeleteWhat are your thoughts on Quest bars and other atkins type candybars?
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried the Atkins bars myself, but I've had a lot of people tell me they stalled when eating them. I don't know anything about Quest bars. I eat mainly whole foods.
DeleteCan I omitt cheese? I can't eat dairy. For a fat can I subsitte in avocado?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. On both. Half an avocado is allowed per day on Induction. It's a great way to get fats. Since you aren't eating cheese or dairy, you might be able to eat a whole one. Great for potassium too.
DeleteI have been living the LC lifestyle for over three years now. Just today I decided to eat dark chocolate. My entire body is throbbing and I am really surprised that I don't feel sick. Do you recommend that I start induction again to get back in to ketosis? I don't want to gain and start on the path to eating junk again. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people eat dark chocolate and do okay. But it sounds like you might be sensitive to the chocolate or tiny bit of sugar in it. Most people who get sick when they overeat on carbs get sick from wheat or gluten, but you can be sensitive to even the small amount of sugar in dark chocolate as well.
DeleteThe body down regulates enzymes needed to digest sugar when you go without it, especially if it's been 3 years.
Do you have cravings? If not, I'd just not eat that again. If you do have cravings, going back to 20 carbs for a day should stop them. I wouldn't do a whole Induction again if all you ate was a little dark chocolate. Just long enough to get any cravings back under control.
I didn't have any cravings for the chocolate. My husband gave me a dark chocolate bunny for Easter. I will stick to 20 carbs or lower and do so till I feel better. I wasn't sure how my body would react since I haven't had chocolate for so long. Thank you for your prompt response and for this informative blog.
DeleteThis is great so back to basics im starting tomorrow. One thing what can you substitute in the salad? The only thing I eat in this is the lettuce. Thanks
ReplyDeleteYou can sub with any super low-carb veggies you like. In 1972, Dr. Atkins tried to keep the salad as low in carbs as possible.
DeleteCan I still have regular coffee with 4 small French vanilla creamers that gas stations have ? And what should I do about putting sugar in my coffee?
ReplyDeleteFrench Vanilla Creamer is 5 carbs per tablespoon, so it's pretty high. Those little cups are 1 or 2 tablespoons each. Never measured one, so I don't know for sure. The carbs come from sugar. Most people use heavy cream in their coffee, but some gas stations have half n half in those little cups. A bit higher in carbs than cream, but not as many as milk. There are a variety of sugar substitutes available today. Most people use splenda or stevia in their coffee. Most gas stations have them in little colored packages. Splenda is yellow, if I remember correctly. Each packet is 1 carb.
DeleteSo isheavy cream ok to use when going in to ketosis?
DeleteYes. Heavy cream only contains about 6.6 carbs for an entire cupful. It's very low in lactose as well.
DeleteNot sure if you guys have a woolworths - but they now sell lactose free milk. I think it's a godsend for coffee lovers like myself.
DeleteWe don't have a Woolworth's here in Utah, but thanks for sharing that. Maybe other readers have one near them.
DeleteHello. thank you for your help. I'm a 42 woman, 125 lb. would like to loose weight and was interessted in keto diet. I begun 1 mont ago!! and my urine test are always négativ. At the beguinning, i've tried the Atkins book with 20 g HC per day. ( my calorie count everyday is between 1400 and 1800 cal)....nothing!!
ReplyDeleteNow...i'm often less than 15 g of carbohydrates and almost 85 % fat and not ketones in my urines!!! and I didn't loose weight ( i think..because i dont want to use my scale...)I thing i'm gonna give up...
What am i supposed to do ??;-(((
Thank you so much!!
You weigh 125 right now and you're able to eat 1400 to 1800 calories at that weight? How tall are you? And how much do you want to weigh? The Atkins Diet is designed for those that are Insulin Resistant (pre-diabetic) or have Metabolic Syndrome (overweight or obese) or have trouble controlling their cravings (overeat). It doesn't work very well for those who are already at a healthy weight.
DeleteIf you're eating all of the fat your body needs to support your daily activities, you won't lose weight. You have to eat at a calorie deficit, especially if you only weigh 125 pounds.
Hey Vicky,
ReplyDeleteLast year August I started on a lchf diet and slowly my weight started dropping. I started at 147pounds and am 5,5ft tall.
It went pretty slowly but It was quite simple and easier than any of the other eating plans I had been on before. I could honestly say that I did not have too many cravings. (I am also insulin resistant.)
Then I stopped exercising for about a month due to a lower back injury, and all of a sudden I dropped quite a few pounds. I was basically 5 pounds away from my goal weight - which was closer than I had been in years. I felt so great and looked good too.
I then restarted my exercise routine and slowly experimented by adding things here and there and trying to reintroduce specific foods.
But soon after I started noticing that my weight was quite quickly picking up again. I tried to get back into that no-hunger no-craving zone but it has just been unsuccessful. Not due to the lack of trying I have picked up 13pounds of the 22 that I had lost. It is just so disappointing because it feels like nothing is working like it did the first time.
When I first started I literally didn't follow anything specific...I did not count calories or worry about too much protein etc(in fact I didn't even know that you can have too much protein) and it just felt easy and no-fuss.
But since I started picking up and retrying nothing seems to be working...I have been trying to count calories, I am experiencing cravings and despite my efforts the weight is slowly creeping up.
That also makes me feel very defeatist - making it easier to cheat and give in to that emotional rollercoaster.
I am so close to just giving up.
If I could just drop 5pounds to give me that push...I would be motivated and positive again but I dont know how to do it.
I like keeping things easy and simple so for the last 5 days I have been having bacon and eggs for breakfast, sometimes adding avo, evenings I would have a salad and lambtjops or tuna salad...during the day lots of coffee, limiting cream intake. Am i eating too much protein?? I am on 139Pounds.
What should I do?
There are some people for whom exercise puts too much stress on the body, so when they cut that way back doing low carb, they start losing weight quickly. It sounds like you are that type. In those who release lots of cortisol in response to exercise, exercise can actually make you gain weight due to the inflammation it causes. The body will also slow down your metabolism when you over exercise.
DeleteIf your weight is going in the wrong direction, stop exercising and see if you can get it to stabilize. You might be over-training. Low carb uses the starvation pathway, and too much exercise can aggravate that.
You want to weigh 120. Reached 125 doing general low carb and no exercise. Then you started exercising and adding stuff back, which has now caused your weight to go in the wrong direction. It's also ignited your hunger and cravings.
What did you try to add back? And how slowly is slowly?
From what you've shared here, it looks like you started exercising and adding stuff back at the same time. Maintenance is tricky. You have to "ease" your body into it. Too many additions will cause it to go bezerk.
You have to add one thing at a time and then evaluate how your body is responding.
What you tried to add back is also extremely important. Cravings and hunger come from going over on carbs or eating a food that triggers an excessive insulin release.
As for too much protein, I don't believe in the too much protein theory. You need a minimum of 0.8 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass per day, and 1 gram per pound of lean body mass if you're training heavy.
I started this on Saturday morning when I woke up and had no problem getting through Saturday. Sunday was fine until late afternoon then I felt like I wanted to eat everything in site but I buckled down and stuck on plan. Drank lots of fluids and today is going well so far.
ReplyDeleteI am sick so my fluid intake has been up anyway with trying to stay hydrated. What I have found though is I am not eating nearly half of the food recommended. I am just not hungry and can't imagine stuffing myself with it all. Is this ok? I know I read in comments ok then eat less but I mean I am really eating just 2 meals per day and they are keeping me plenty full. No growling belly no other issues.
I also have found my blood glucose to be really low and am actually going to the Dr. today to discuss this.
Another question is Sugar Free Jell-O considered "diet jello" I see above in comments where you mentioned people ordering it but I went with the prepackaged ready to go since I knew not feeling well I would prepare it but wanted some on hand just in case.
Eating way less is fine. Even just 2 meals a day. This 3-day diet is designed to help you get through that "extra hungry" phase the body goes through when it runs out of glycogen and is hunting around for sugar. The lack of hunger means you've entered into the state of ketosis, and have begun to predominantly burn fats for fuel rather than sugar.
DeleteIf you're feeling sick, make sure that you're getting enough sodium.
Low blood glucose levels are also common in the first few weeks, so yeah, it's a good idea to have your doctor oversee what you're doing. Some people find that they need to move into the next phase, 25 carbs per day, quicker than 2 weeks. That's fine too. The diet is simply a guide, which you have to adapt to fit your own particular situation and metabolism.
The pre-packaged gelatin is fine. It's made with aspartame (or at least, it used to be; haven't eaten it in a long time), which Dr. Atkins didn't recommend for health reasons. Many people on low-carb diets use aspartame products (including diet soda) and don't have any problems with them.
When I was in the weight-loss phase, I did use aspartame stuff. It never stalled me. Just keep an eye on what your body is doing. Today, I find that aspartame interferes with my ability to sleep and stay asleep, so I rarely use it anymore. What you can order online is gelatin sweetened with Splenda instead of aspartame.
Thanks Vickie for the speedy answers and comments! I finished yesterday with no problems and weighed in this AM for a total loss of 5.4 lbs in the 3 days. I am pleased with that and have recipes lined up to make this week for both hubby and I that fit my Keto choices and his taste buds LOL!
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize the aspartame issue either and that is good info to know so I will continue to keep an eye on it.
I also happened to be at the Dr. yesterday and although I have been low carbing as best I was able the past few months I wasn't really dedicated but the past month being more strict and the last 3 days doing your menu. I was thrilled to have a 5.7 AIC reading! I look forward to following along and learning more from you as I go.
THANK YOU!
That's definitely the trick to making this work. I am so grateful for your feedback. Although I get lots of comments on this post, no many share how it worked for them. Thank you very much! And I'm so glad to hear that your A1c is so much better. What a relief.
DeleteHello! I started the Atkins Diet induction phase almost 2 weeks ago and lost 10 pounds. I had 1 cheat day and it threw me off and I gained 2 pounds overnight. It's almost the end of the week and I have lost those 2 pounds. But, I felt when I was in Ketosis. It felt like I had taken a diet pill. Well, it's been 5 days since my cheat day and I don't feel like I am in Ketosis. I don't think it should take this long to get back into it after just one cheat meal. I am averaging 20-35 grams of carbs per day, along with about 96g of protein and my fat intake varies anywhere from 25g to 85g per day. Should I limit my protein or fat intake? I am 5"4 and weigh 204lbs. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
ReplyDeleteDelilah
OH...and I forgot to add that I usually eat around 1300 calories per day if that makes any difference.
DeleteBy diet pill, you mean you weren't very hungry on Atkins Induction?
DeleteCheat days are notorious for igniting cravings and hunger, which can take days and sometimes weeks to calm back down, especially since you've only been doing this for 2 weeks. If the 2 pound water and glycogen gain came right back off, that's good. It means things are working like they're supposed to.
I'm a bit confused as to what you're doing though. Atkins Induction is 20 carbs or less for a full 2 weeks, at 65 percent of your calories in fat, and then if you want to move into the Ongoing Weight Loss Phase, it's 25 carbs per day.
Are you just doing a "general" low-carb low-fat diet then?
My advice at this point would be to let things ride for a week or two before you tweak anything. A 10 pound loss for the first 2 weeks is a lot. Most people lose much less than that. For a general low-carb diet, what you're doing sounds fine. In the beginning of a low-carb diet you need the higher protein numbers until the body adapts to burning fats.
I have been doing this for 3weeks and while originally the results were good, I have stopped losing. Even gained a few back. I'm at a moderate level ketone per the test stick. I'm eating almost no carbs and sticking to eggs, chicken, red meat and cheese. Any suggestions for me? I have lost 12 lbs but I have 20 to go. Should I be adding vegetables?
ReplyDeleteYes. The above diet is only for 3 days because it's just to get you into the state of ketosis quickly. After 3 days, you move to a regular Atkins Induction diet. The link to a sample 7 day menu with vegetables and salad is at the bottom of the article. You should be eating 2 cups of salad and about 1 cup of atkins-friendly, low-carb vegetables per day for a maximum total carb count of 20 net carbs.
DeleteIf you've lost 12 pounds in 3 weeks, that's fast. You could be holding water in your fat cells. Body doesn't like shrinking them. With only 20 pounds to go, also know, that weight loss overall will be slow because you don't have that much to lose. Quantity of food also matters when you're close to your preferred weight. Although low-carb corrects hormone imbalances that can interfere with weight loss, you still have to eat at a calorie deficit for it to work well.
Hi Vicky is there a link between Ashe and overeating thanks
ReplyDeleteWhat's Ashe?
DeleteHi Vickie, I have a few questions about ketosis. So do you have to go on a low carb AND low fat diet to get into the keto stage, or just low carb. & also, my color on the keto strip bounce around several times during the day, is that normal for just starting out, or does that mean I am still having too much of something? I'm on Day 3. color bounces around between trace & moderate, then back down to trace, all in 1 day. I'm just trying to figure out if I need to start adding more fats in, or lower fats & carbs more. Before 3 days ago, I was a 3-4 bottle a day Pepsi & Mt.Dew drinker. Now just water.
ReplyDeleteKetosis is about restricting carbohydrates, so the fat content of your diet doesn't matter when trying to get into ketosis. Just eat at the fat level that's comfortable for you. The keto strips measure ketones fragments that are being thrown away, so it's normal for them to fluctuate throughout the day. Ketones can't be stored, so the kidneys will get rid of whatever ketones are building up in the kidneys. As long as you're eating 20 carbs, or less, per day, you'll go into ketosis.
DeleteHi Vikie, ....This is my second posting, however I forgot to say that after two weeks of induction boot camp, now on my 4th week and I started to buy the shakes, candy bars, etc.
ReplyDeleteafter losing 13# I am no longer into ketosis, I guess I should SHAKE the shakes and bars, and the like. Do you agree?
If you're doing Atkins, or something close to that, shakes and bars aren't a good idea for most people. I think the bars have sugar alcohols, which will be processed in the body exactly the same way as sugar if they don't bother you. Sweetened products count toward your 3-serving maximum on Atkins, but 1 shake contains something like 2 servings of sugar subs, so it eats up your daily limits really fast.
DeleteA LOT of people stall using bars and shakes. It's better to wait until your body has become more adapted to this way of eating.
Hello. I'm new to all of this. I never even heard of ketosis a week ago. I've tried carb reduction several times and never made it past a couple of days. I love bread. And my waistline shows it!
ReplyDeleteAfter reading about this a bit I decided to give it another shot. I started 4 days ago. I stuck with meat and eggs mostly. The first 2 days were hell. Yesterday, day 3 wasn't bad at all. I felt pretty good actually. I tested keto level last night and the strip was already really dark so I guess I'm there?!?
I had a couple glasses of whiskey night. That's pretty normal for me, but it's my first time since I started the carb watching. Today, I feel awful. I'm really tired and sluggish.
Does the body process alcohol differently in keto? I've drank tons of water, I feel sleep deprived and maybe dehydrated. I haven't tested myself today so hopefully I didn't mess something up. Since the whiskey is 0 carbs, I wouldnt't think so?
Alchohol will hit you harder when you're in ketosis. It's processed by the body first, so when you have a drink, ketosis is put on hold, but you aren't kicked out. Once the alcohol has been processed by the body, ketosis picks back up where you left off. Here's a more detailed explanation:
Deletehttp://kickincarbclutter.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-does-alcohol-affect-fat-metabolism.html
Thanks Vickie. I really appreciate the reply. I think I was just having trouble getting rehydrated from the alcohol and the keto combined.
ReplyDeleteI do have another question for you if I may....
As I mentioned, I got into keto fairly quickly - day 3 was my first test and I registered 4-5 mmol. I questioned the validity of the test since that seemed extreme from what I’ve read. I had my wife test, who's been doing the diet with me (but I do know she's cheating.. ha ha) and she was a 0.1. I've tested numerous times over the past couple of days and have remained over 4 consistently. Sometimes nearing 6. I am careful what I eat. I don't think I've had more than 15 carbs any day for the past 5 days. It still seems extreme and I'm not really losing any weight yet.
I do take a multivitamin and ginko and such, could that be throwing the keto test out of wack? Is there anything else that could give me a possible false positive? I’m not really hungry or craving carbs (which is VERY odd for me) so perhaps I am in keto?
Thanks
If you've never done ketosis before, the body will make tons of ketones because it doesn't know how many it will need to fuel both the brain and your daily activities. The body has no way to store ketones, other than in the bloodstream, so when too many build up in the kidneys, the body gets rid of them. That's why the strips are so dark.
DeleteIf your hunger has gone down and you're not craving carbs, you're in ketosis, especially if you're only eating 15 carbs or so. However, keep in mind that when you drink, weight loss is put on hold until the alcohol is completely burned through activity or other body processes.
As the body adjusts to what you're eating, ketones will be saved for the brain, and the rest of the body will begin to use fatty acids for fuel instead. The body will also get more proficient at guessing how many ketones you need, so that number you throw away will come down a bit, but a lot depends on how much fat you're eating. Liver will make ketones out of dietary fat too.
As for weight loss, ordinarily, what you see the first 2 weeks is glycogen, water, and a little bit of fat. However, the body sometimes begins to stuff water in your fat cells, thinking carbs are going to come in soon. When it realizes they aren't, you'll most likely drop a few pounds. This is normal.
0.1 is what you'd expect to see if someone was not restricting carbs.
This is the only diet that I see results on my scale like the next day. It took me 4 days to get to full ketosis in the purple color! Love that you can eat until feel full.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that low carb is working for well for you.
DeleteHi i just started getting into ketosis just clarifying should I avoid milk??
ReplyDeleteAlso should I avoid milk completely or can I cheat once I'm in ketosis or does it even matter when I drink it
DeleteMilk isn't normally a part of a low-carb diet due to the amount of carbs. There are 12 carbs in 8 ounces of milk, and you're only allowed 20 carbs for the entire day. There is a low-carb milk available in some areas, that's 3 net carbs per 8 ounces, but I don't know what it's called. If you cheat, it may or may not throw you out of ketosis. It depends on how sensitive to milk sugar you are.
DeleteHello, I am a 53 year old woman who is in menopause. I am 240 lbs at 5'7". So I am very heavy. I have been on the program for 11 days now and while I feel that my stomach is going down and my clothes feel a little looser,the scale however has not gone down except for 1/2 lb. It is very discouraging and I feel that light pink on the stick is also discouraging because I have not cheated once! While inches I know are good why is the scale not moving? I am ready to call it a day and stop because I feel that being so heavy I should have moved that scale at least 4-5 lbs. Only drinking water, one diet soda in 11 days. Meat, hard cheese, eggs and tuna. That is all I have had. Any suggestions? Thank you
ReplyDeleteKetostix measure how many ketone fragments the kidneys are dumping. They don't measure the state of ketosis. Pink sticks are perfectly fine. You're either in ketosis or you're not. Being in ketosis doesn't guarantee weight loss. It simply means that your body is burning fat and ketones for fuel. To achieve weight loss, you have to be eating at a calorie deficit. Being in ketosis just makes that easier because basal insulin levels are low and you're generally not as hungry as you were before.
DeleteHowever, the body has a tendency to stuff water into your fat cells rather than shrinking them. This is super common if you've ever been on a low-carb diet before. Those who have followed other diets often have this problem in the initial stages of the diet as well. Body is resisting because it believes that carbs might be coming in soon. Eventually, it has to get rid of the water, and at that time, you'll drop several pounds all at once.
If you're stomach looks like its going down and your clothes feel looser, you're burning body fat. The scale is NOT a reliable way to judge success on this diet. The scale isn't moving because you're body is replacing the fat that used to be inside your fat cells with water. This problem is only temporary.
Is there a reason why you haven't moved to a normal low-carb diet yet? The above diet is only designed to last for 3 days, just until you get into the state of ketosis. You should be eating up to 20 net carbs per day, which includes a variety of vegetables along with your meat, cheese, eggs, and tuna. That might be another reason why your body is holding water.
Thank you for your quick response. I have added more carbs in and the stick is a darker pink. Happy about that but only 2 lbs. in 2 weeks and not one and I mean not one cheat. So not happy about this but will keep trying. Thank you
DeleteYou're welcome. It sounds like your body needs those few extra carbs to feel safe. I was that way. I stalled every time I took my carbs down too low. Keep in mind you just barely raised your carbs to an Induction level a couple of days ago, so it might take a few more days to the see the total effects of what you've accomplished so far.
Deletehi. am i allowed to join y'all here?
ReplyDeleteooh dear, i came out as anonymous, sorry!
ReplyDeleteNo problem Genie. Glad to hear from you.
Deleteok,l i am gonna fire ahead. i just stumbled across this site. it is ace. i LOVE your take on things vickie. thank you for this wealth of information and sharing it with us. ok. choking back the tears here... i am having a real issue and it goes like this (and i am scared i might need to find a personal LC/Atkins nutritionist to help cos i know how expensive it will be). i know i am a sugar addict. i used not to be able to resist ice cream, chioccy, biscuits etc... really, i ate kilos every day...i couldn't stop....i went up to 182 pounds ( loathed it) .so i wanted a low carb no sugar plan.i studied atkins and i started atkins. i am 46. i weigh 175 and am 5 foot 7. my BMI is i think 26.5? i lost 6 pounds in the induction period, and am in ketosis, and as far as i know, i am doing everything right. no cheating not once. in the 4 weeks since i have lost nothing (well i lost three then put on four then lost one= same as at end of induction!) . in four weeks of scrupulous atkins behaviour i have lost nothing. i do looko thinner. lost 3 inches off my waist. feel sleeker...but weght loss? none at all. i really need real help. i am starting to feel powerless., impotent., desperate. can you help me in any way and if you can thank you so much i would be thrilled, even just a word or two. cheers, genie :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Genie,
DeleteLosing 3 inches off your waist is something to celebrate, not cry over. That's GREAT work. Induction is designed to get you into ketosis, not force the body to lose a ton of weight. Most of what you lose the first couple of weeks is glycogen (your carbohydrate stores) and the water needed to process it.
It's NORMAL for the body to go a bit wonky after Induction. Water fluctuations are quite common for several weeks after you start a low-carb diet. The body stuffs water into your fat cells, so it doesn't have to shrink them. You are still losing body fat. Your loss of inches is a sign that you are doing everything correctly.
The body will eventually let go of the water its holding onto. When it does, the scale will drop several pounds. The scale is not a good indicator of your success. Those inches you've carved off your waist is. Keep up the good work!
Hi Vickie. Just wanted to say firstly that reading through this section has been so inspirational, informative and unbelievably motivating!
ReplyDeleteMy search brought me to your page as I am struggling to determine whether or not I'm in ketosis (haven't bought the stix as I've read you can get a false negative/can be unreliable plus am watching the pennies!). I have been low carbing for around 4 weeks, MFP targets are 1000 cals 13g net carbs, 89g fat and 38g protein (I'm 33, 5,3" and currently weigh 72kg) I stick to these targets easily and include plenty of leafy greens and salad but feel I'm in the same boat as the previous two posters as the scales haven't budged at all, although feeling a little svelter. I did low carb about a year ago trying paleo out for size so I'm guessing I'm experiencing what you previously described? But my question is whether you can be in ketosis without experiencing any signs of keto flu or keto breath as I really haven't at all. Would you recommend investing in the sticks to give me peace of mind... Or should I give your 3 day plan a bash just to make sure?
Many thanks in advance x
The sticks are not necessary. They only reveal when ketones are being dumping, which occurs when they build up in the kidneys. They don't tell you if you're burning fats for fuel, or not, so that's fine.
DeleteThe best way to judge whether you're in ketosis is your hunger level. If you're eating 20 net carbs or less and your appetite has gone way down, then you're in ketosis.
Keto flu is a sign that your electrolytes are out of balance. It doesn't prove ketosis.
Those MFP targets are pretty strange. While you could be retaining water, it might be due to protein deficiency. 38 grams of protein per day is way too low. You need a minimum of 0.8 grams of protein per lb of lean body mass to prevent the body from burning muscle for energy.
The 3-day menu in this post is designed for those who want to get into ketosis faster than the average 3 days it takes following a typical Atkins Induction. This would be useful for those who are experiencing severe cravings or are having trouble making it through a full week on Induction without cheating.
Your carbs have already been very restricted, so the menu won't help.
I ran your stats through the Keto Diet calculator. Your current maintenance level of calories is about 1532 or so. Your lean body mass is about 95 lbs.
For a 20% deficit:
1226 calories a day
20 net carbs
76 grams protein
94 grams fat
For a 30% deficit:
1072 calories a day
20 net carbs
76 grams protein
76 grams fat
The Keto Diet recommends a 20% deficit, for slower weight loss, but since you're short, I also ran the figures for 30% as well. 30% is what you've already been eating at for the past month.
When h say 4 slices of bacon does that mean whole rashers? And a can of tuna, what size can
ReplyDeleteI had to go and look up how much a rasher was. A rasher is about 3 American slices of bacon, or so, so 4 slices would be a little more than 1 rasher. Tuna here comes in a 5 ounce can. Don't know what size that you be where you are. Small. Since this is only to get yourself into ketosis quickly, the amount of protein you eat isn't that significant. It's the carb restriction that drives ketosis, so just eat to appetite. Once you're in ketosis, your appetite will go way down.
DeleteHi again, can you please give more detail on amounts. When you say chicken with bacon how much???
ReplyDeleteThis 3 day diet is just about getting into ketosis, so it doesn't matter how much chicken and bacon you eat. Just eat to appetite. What you want to keep to a bare minimum is the amount of salad and vegetables.
DeleteAfter 3 days, you then move into a standard Atkins Induction. On Induction, the amount of meat you eat still doesn't matter. On Induction, you can have 2 cups of salad and 1 cup of non-starchy vegetables a day. That lasts for 2 weeks.
I have detailed information in the articles on the Atkins Page. While I just started it, the links to how to do Induction (phase 1) and Phase 2 and there.
I have to say that this is a great site and thanks to Vickie for the time, effort and information. I have a short question for you: most people will say I am lucky with my weight - 5'11" and 150lbs. I generally follow a low carb diet and train regularly (7 times a week, a mix of cardio and interval training with weights) but I am interested in following a the ketosis intro in order to get rid of that last bit of belly fat that just won't budge. Thing is, I do not want to lose weight, only fat, and would even be happy to gain a few more pounds of muscle. Any recommendations on how to manage this diet while still working out etc?
ReplyDeleteI normally send folks who are working out like you are to www.bodyrecomposition.com as Lyle is much more knowledgeable on how to pull this off. He is the one expert I trust. I've seen folks over there in the forum do low carb without losing weight, just fat, but it wasn't intentional. He is familiar with all types of diets, including how to get those last stubborn pounds off. He reads all the scientific literature, and won't give you any fantasy stories. Just facts. I've never read his stubborn fat loss book, though, so I don't know what his approach to that is.
DeleteThanks so much for the quick response and the link!
DeleteVickie, I have been eating low carb for 3 weeks now and I still havent reached Ketosis. Could my age Im 61 and medication effect that? Ive cut out all breads and sweets . I do put salsa on my eggs, useing real butter. Could I possibly be overdoing the amt of cheese. Its about my olny snack. Thank You. I feel lightwr just not loseing pounds. Rebecca
ReplyDeleteYes. Medication can affect both the state of ketosis and your ability to shed body fat. Why do you think you're not in ketosis? Did your hunger level not go down? As for weight loss, cheese can affect that in some people. It depends on if you're sensitive to dairy products. Food sensitivities result in inflammation. Weight loss on low carb works the same as for other diets; you have to eat at a calorie deficit. For a lot of people, the reduction in hunger does that automatically. Others, have to keep an eye on the numbers. At only 3 weeks into the program, your body could also be stuffing water into your fat cells as they empty out, thinking that carbs are going to be coming in soon. When I started low carb in 2007, I only lost 2 pounds the first 4 weeks.
DeleteNice menu, drop the "diet" drinks.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
DeleteI switched from Diet Coke to Diet RC because it uses Steviev. Im going to try just eggs and bacon no soda, just water for three days and see what happens. Thanks for Your imput, all is welcome. Rebecca
DeleteA lot of people have good results doing an egg fast. I've been thinking that an egg and bacon fast would work just as well. Let me know how it goes.
DeleteThanks Vickie, I have lost inches and I have lost 6 lbs in 3 weeks. I have been checking my urine with the dip sticks and it still olny reads a small amt. Ill stop checking so often. I do feel better and lighter even if not in ketosis . Ill just stick to the low carb ,I do eat less and I do not feel deprived. Thank You for all your Help. This is a Wonderful Site
ReplyDeleteThe sticks turn different colors because they are designed to look for ketoacidosis in diabetics. If the sticks are turning any color at all, you are in ketosis. The lighter color means you are drinking plenty of water. That's a good thing.
DeleteThanks for the info. I started about 10 days ago and went straight to intermittent fasting. Last meal would be about 8 PM and I would not eat until 3 PM the next day. That meal is high fat and protein but zero carbs. It has been working slowly, considering how little I'm eating. Walking 10,000 steps per day but not much more exercise. I am a 66-year-old woman with about 25 pounds to lose (according to the charts I am 7 pounds heavier than the highest number for my height). My question is, what do you think about intermittent fasting? I'm desperate to trim down and willing to go hungry all day IF if it means losing weight faster but your recommendation is double the amount of food I would eat on a normal day let alone to lose weight. Why fast if it's not going to help lose weight I am thinking. Thanks
ReplyDeleteThe 3-day diet above is only supposed to be followed for 3 days because it's just about getting into ketosis quickly and comfortably. Once in ketosis, appetite should drop. Then, you just eat to appetite. The above diet is not meant to be followed long-term. Even the 7-day Induction Diet that I link to at the bottom of the above post is just for Induction. After Induction, most people raise their carbs. The average low-carb dieter eats about 35 carbs a day.
DeleteSome people do well with zero carb, but most people do not. It often triggers elevated stress hormones, which makes it difficult to burn fats for fuel. My blood glucose went crazy when I tried to do zero carb. But I do know people who achieved successful weight eating that way, and love it.
In general, Intermittent fasting works well for those who are close to their target weight. Some low carbers find it easier than counting calories, but they naturally gravitated toward it, as their hunger naturally dropped, and didn't do it deliberately. If you're hungry, your body can easily slip into starvation mode, especially if you're combining zero carb with Intermittent fasting.
The people I know who are fasting are not zero carb. Most of them eat between 35 and 60 carbs a day, within a 5 hour window. Some of them do high fat because it works for them; others, do not.
High fat did not work for me. I had to do a low-calorie, low-fat, low-carb diet, but I have problems digesting fats due to celiac disease, so I understand not being able to eat the amount of food in the menu above. I'm only 5 ft tall, so my maintenance level of calories is small.
Walking is perfect for Intermittent fasting, as it's gentle exercise, so it doesn't upset the body.
Thanks!!!
DeleteI really don't like cucumbers or radishes. What can I substitute for the cucumbers & radishes in the 3 day diet?
ReplyDeleteThe cucumbers and radishes were included in the above diet because in 1972, those were the only veggies Dr. Atkins allowed. If you don't like cucumbers or radishes, just include a couple of raw salad-type veggies that you do like, such as bell peppers, mushrooms, or a sliced green onions, and the diet should still work. In 2002, Dr. Atkins widened the list to include mushrooms and peppers. Our article on how to do the Atkins Diet contains a list:
Deletehttps://kickincarbclutter.blogspot.com/2014/02/how-to-do-atkins-induction-diet.html
My uric acid level is bit high, can I follow the diet?
ReplyDeleteI'm not a doctor, so I honestly don't know. I have no experience with gout.
DeleteCan the BPC be included on this plan.. so excited to try.. I usually make a blender full but with only the 1 T butter and 1 T coconut oil so I can have 3 small cups coffee during the day.
ReplyDeleteYes. This is just a "get into ketosis faster" plan, so the BPC should be fine.
DeleteHi Vickie! I'm trying and trying to get myself back into Ketosis - I've been "stalled" over the last two months because my cheat days come much more frequently than they should. However, I've been strictly induction the last 4 days and nada.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking maybe hidden carbs that I don't realize?
Should I try to follow this diet that you've outlined or just give it more time. I still have about 60 pounds to lose and I've lost 60 so far! Help!!
When you go from a stalled low-carb back onto Induction, you might not see the dramatic water losses. It just depends. By not being in ketosis, I'm assuming you mean you're not turning the test stick at least pink? How's your hunger. With half of your fat already gone, it's going to be a calorie thing from here on in.
DeleteHello, Thank you for your helpful information. I did the Atkins diet 12 years ago when I was 48 yrs old. I lost 24 lbs in 6 weeks. I stopped only because I became ill and developed severe arthritis. I am pre-diabetic and was weighing in at 230 lbs. I found out about 12 weeks ago that the worst of my arthritis pain was due to wheat sensitivity (or maybe an allergy, I don't know), sugar makes me ravenous and itchy, and most dairy gives me muscle cramps, I cut out all these villains and I don't remember when I've felt this well. I started the low carb/high fat diet in earnest about 4 weeks ago. In the 1st 2 weeks I lost 8 lbs. The next week I lost about 3 lbs. Some days I feel (and smell) like I'm in ketosis for sure. But today was a day that made me doubt. I didn't know the Tbsp of Stevia I was putting in my coffee was adding about 6 grams of carbs to the 2 of the cream I put in it. I don't crave sweets, but I realized that I don't feel full unless I eat a salad (4 cups mixed greens with a clove of garlic and lots of olive oil) with my dinner. A strange thing is that when I eat beef, I still feel hungry. I've eaten an 8 oz steak or a 6 oz burger and still wanted something else. Sometimes I feel hungrier after eating than before. It doesn't happen with chicken, lamb or fish. It almost feels the same as when I used to eat something sweet and remained hungry no matter how much I ate (I think that's insulin resistance, right?. Today I had bacon and eggs for breakfast (3 yolks and 1 whole egg), with coffee, 1 slice havarti cheese for a snack about 5 hours later, A 6 oz burger and a slice of cheese for lunch, and a burger and salad for dinner. I still felt hungry after dinner. I had baked some low carb rolls (almond flour, psyllium powder and egg whites=2 grams carbs each) so ended up eating 4 of them with a lot of butter before I felt satiated.
ReplyDeleteI estimate that I consumed :
8 grams in coffee
4 grams from the cheese
10 grams from the salad (I added 2 Tbsp flax seed, hoping the extra fibre would reduce the carb count-It feels crazy to be afraid to eat too much salad!)
and 8 grams from the rolls= 30 grams--Am I counting correctly?
Is that enough to throw me out of ketosis? Do you have any idea why my body seems to react to beef almost as if it were a carb? I just thought of something...could the fact I try to eat AAA grade or organic beef be the reason I feel hungry after eating beef, since the cows are corn fed? Holy smokes! I started the LCHF diet instead of the Atkins because I read that it has a better effect for insulin resistant people. Do you agree? In the last few days I have increased my activities too. Today I walked around for more than 3 hours, more than I have walked in years. For once the meds managed the pain. Could the increase in activity have thrown off my metabolism and that's why I felt hungrier than usual? Am I over-thinking this thing? Please help.
Dropping 11 pounds in 3 weeks is a LOT. You are doing very well.
DeleteEating 30 carbs a day is perfectly fine, even on lchf. The average low-carb dieter eats between 30 and 40 carbs a day. Atkins has you add those carbs back slowly, but you really don't have to. Anything under 50 carbs is considered low carb.
Flaxmeal doesn't reduce the carb count on anything you put it in, but it almost cancels out its own carbs due to the fiber. It helps you keep you full, too.
As for the beef, some people get an insulin spike from eating beef and dairy. Beef used to make me itch like crazy. Not so much anymore. However, it's okay to eat like you did, when hungry. As long as you aren't eating for "emotional" reasons or "stress," then hunger is your body's way of telling you it needs more fuel.
You don't want to eat at too large of a calorie deficit. A smaller deficit works best.
Doesn't really matter which type of low-carb diet you do. All low-carb diets are great for pre-diabetes or diabetes. Just pick the one that you like the best. Atkins will restrict most of the food choices that you're already eating, so "if I were you," I'd just stick with what you're already doing.
If you've only been doing lchf for 4 weeks, (are we talking Nutritional Ketosis plan, or what?) your body won't have completely adapted to the changes yet. Try not to stress too much. You're doing great!
Thank you for the encouragement. I'm the only person in my family who has reached 60 years without being diabetic. So every time I eat a reasonably-sized meal and then feel hungry shortly after, I panic. Your question make me review the difference between the Nutritional Ketosis Plan and other ICHF diets and now I'm confused. I thought LCHF and Keto were just different names for the same thing, but now I realize I've been alternating between the two. I eat a lot of meat, cheese, fat and eggs. Today I had 2 eggs cooked in butter and smoked salmon for breakfast, a dozen almonds for a snack, a ground chicken burger with 2 slices of cheese and avocado for lunch and 4 baked chicken thighs and broccoli for dinner. I thought that's what I was supposed to do, and enjoyed it. But according to the info I've reviewed, even on the low-carb-high protein diet I'm eating too much protein. Should I lower my meat consumption and fill up on salad, keto bread and olive oil? It would be easier for me to lower the fat than to lower the protein. I don't find that high fat satisfies as much as high protein. Also reviewing the diet rules made me realize my (controlled by meds) blood pressure has sometimes been lower than it should be and I may have interpreted the jittery feeling of low blood pressure as hunger. (I'll take that up with my doctor this week.)My biggest fear is eating this drastically altered diet and goofing it up and causing my weight to increase or my health to be compromised. My doctor knows little and nutritionist knows nothing about this lifestyle. I really appreciate having some one to ask about this.
DeleteThere are huge misunderstandings within LCHF circles about protein and fat. If you don't eat enough protein, your ketone levels will go into the starvation zone, which results in extra insulin secretion.
DeleteOnly "some" people are sensitive to protein. Most people are not. This is why Atkins never put a limit on protein consumption. Plus, the older we get, the more protein we need. If your wheat sensitivity resulted in physical damage or other starvation issues, you need more protein to help all of that heal.
So far, you're losing weight, so I would just do what you're doing and let the body adapt. Some people over at the Redditt Keto forum have said their hunger didn't calm down for 6 to 8 weeks. Those who have this problem eat "lazy keto," which is exactly what you're doing.
Everyone's body reacts differently to the carb restriction.
Hi Vickie, firstly, great article I found it very useful. Sorry if you've already answered this in previous comments but I have a question about how to eat after this 3 day plan, once you're in ketosis. How many net carbs should we be eating then or is the idea to continue eating as low carb as possible for the foreseeable future? Thanks :)
ReplyDeleteAtkins recommends you begin at 20 net carbs per day, with most of those carbs coming from vegetables. You can use a bit of sour cream, heavy cream, lemon juice, sugar substitutes, etc. Just don't go over 20. Net is determined by subtracting the amount of fiber grams from the total carbohydrate count. Some people find it easier to just count 20 total carbs. Both methods work.
DeleteThis is basically called Induction.
After 2 to 4 weeks, you can add another 5 grams of carbohydrates per day and see how you do. Additional carbs over the first 20 don't have to be vegetables. Nuts, berries, soft cheeses, anything that fits within your carb count is fine, as long as you feel good and are still losing weight. If you stall for a week or two, just don't add any more carbs back in.
The idea is to keep adding back a little bit of carb at a time, until you discover what "your" carbohydrate tolerance is, and then use that to create your own personalized plan. There is an Atkins tab at the top of the blog that will take you to our Atkins page. There is a link there to a basic guide on how to do the diet.
This three day 'getting into Ketosis' is something else's. It works!!! I weighed 196.8 the morning of the first day...191.0 this morning. Unreal. Love it. I have been on low carb now for a year losing a total of 22 pounds. I used the three day controlled meals to kick start me again. Again, love it.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing that feedback. I'm glad to hear it worked for you.
DeleteI have been on the ketogenic diet for over a month and have not lost any weight. I am 5'4 and a half inches, weigh 178. The scale goes up 3 pounds and down 3 pounds, or part of, all month. I am getting very discouraged and don't know what to do. I am Type 2 diabetic and take 80 units of a slow acting insulin Lantus at night. I am on blood pressure Vasotec, and hydrochorlothiazide lowest dosage. Is it the meds that are stopping me from going into ketosis and losing weight? How could I possibly follow something and not lose weight. I bought the ketone strips for my glucose meter and it shows that I am not using ketones, and also the urine strips show the same thing. One positive thing is that I am not hungry, but, I don't lose. I want to get the weight off so I can get rid of these meds. I have been type 2 diabetic for 30 years and not under control until now.
ReplyDeleteWhat ketogenic diet are you following? To lose weight, you have to be in a calorie deficit. If it's only been a month, you probably won't be fat/ketone adapted yet. It's common to have lots of water fluctuations during the first few weeks. And bouncing weight is often a sign of water retention. Do your clothes feel any looser?
DeleteKetone blood strips measure how many beta-hydroxybutyrate ketones are backing up in the bloodstream. Typically, any amount over 0.5 is considered ketosis. But if you are new to low-carb dieting, your body will still be using them instead of saving them for the brain.
Urine test strips measure how many acetoacetone ketones you are spilling over into the urine by percentage. Drinking plenty of water can sometimes cause the ketone fragments to be too diluted to register on the sticks. Plus you have to catch it exactly at the time you're dumping them because the body doesn't dump them consistently.
Meds "can" interfere with weight loss, and cause you to lose weight more slowly than average, but I don't know if high blood pressure meds do that or not.
Vickie, help! I have been doing a ketosis diet now for over a month and have only lost 7 pounds. Initially I went from 247 to 240, and now I just sit there no matter what I do. I went to bed last night at 239.6 and woke up today at 241. How does that even happen! Just like the lady above. I'm a male, 6'0 and also since mid december started going to the gym x3 per week. It's definitely strength training but I'm sweating like a sweaty fat guy that goes to the gym for the first time in my life. I do protein shakes for breakfast w/water, a atkins bar or a cheese stick for a snack, a low carb tortilla and tunafish, cheese stick and a homemade cookie for lunch, cheese afternoon snack, and last night for instance ate about 6 ounces of pot roast and a couple full length cooked carrots. And I worked out. This is so frustrating! My doctor said over the past month I've lost 3% body fat, but no inches and no weight in the past month. Also of note - I've given up milk, soda, fast food, etc. Yesterday prior to dinner I'd only eaten about 686 calories.
DeleteThat first 7 pounds is glycogen and the water needed to process that glycogen.
DeleteA weight-loss scale doesn't measure fat loss. It weighs everything. Water, blood volume, undigested food, organ weight, skin, skeleton mass, your hair, etc. So it's normal to see daily weight fluctuations of as much as 3 to 4 pounds, especially if you're working out.
It's the trend over time that matters because the goal is fat loss, and not weight loss.
If you've lost 3 percent of your body fat over the past month alone, you're losing tons of body fat!!! That's what low carb is designed to do. You burn body fat for fuel instead of mostly glucose.
It doesn't matter what the scale says. The scale LIES. It will eventually catch up with what your body is doing. Trust the body fat test. It's much more accurate than a weight-loss scale will be.
Working out, even strength training, will trigger stress hormones in some people, but if your doctor says you're losing body fat, then what you're doing is fine. It's WORKING.
Heavy sweating, however, will throw off your electrolytes and cause drastic water fluctuations. You lose a lot of sodium when you sweat like that. Make sure that you eat plenty of salt to replace what you're losing. In addition to salt, strength training causes microscopic tears that have to be healed, which takes additional water. This means the number on the scale will take longer to see results, but the results are still happening inside, where you can't see it!
From your menu, it sounds like you're doing a generic low-calorie low-carb diet, rather than a specific plan? Not sure what you mean by a homemade cookie. A low-carb cookie? Without sugar? Or are you doing a moderate-carb diet eating one regular cookie? (There's nothing wrong with that. I'm just asking, so I have a better idea of what you're doing.) If you're 6 feet tall, 1000 calories a day might be freaking the body out a bit. When your caloric deficit is too large, metabolism will slow and the body will often stuff water into your fat cells, waiting for the famine to end. The body can't tell the difference between a famine and a diet.
Also, make sure that you're getting at least 1 to 1-1/2 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass. Since you're brand new to working out, some newbies are able to add muscle mass at the same time that they are losing body fat, which can also mask fat loss on the scale. Extra muscle mass is good because it will keep your metabolism up, but you'll also weigh more at a smaller size.
The body can't hold onto the extra water forever, as unused fat cells will eventually be broken down, so at some point, the water inside the fat cell has to be dumped, but it can be frustrating waiting for that to happen. In 1999, when I went on Atkins for the 2nd time, it took 6 weeks (for a total of 8 weeks from day one) for that built-up water to go.
Thanks Vickie, that is really helpful info. I hadn't thought of it as "fat loss" just weight loss. As far as sweating goes, would it be better to drink smart water with electrolytes than just bottled water? My menu is just a generic low carb diet given to me by the doctor at the weight loss clinic I went to. Their suggestion is 1500 calories, 60 carbs or less and 80-120 grams of protein. I always am under the calories, and about 80% of the time stay under the 60 carb limit. today before dinner I'm at 40 carbs, 73 g proteing and 625 calories, and will plan on eating a healthy dinner. As for the cookie, it was a homemade sugar cookie with frosting. Completely unhealthy but oh well.
DeleteOne question for you, what do you mean "make sure that you're getting at least 1 to 1-1/2 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass?" Thank you again for what you're doing, SO helpful!
I'm not sure how much better electrolyte water is over regular water. Hubby works outside and drinks it. It can make getting your minerals easier. That's why hubby drinks it over regular water. He gets leg cramps when he doesn't drink it.
DeleteIf you're working out with weights 3 times a week, the bodybuilder community recommends that you eat a minimum of 1 gram of protein per day for every pound of lean body mass you have. If you don't know what your lean body mass weighs, try to stay within the mid to upper range of protein that your doctor recommends, rather than going under it. 73 grams before dinner is great! Those who work out need more protein than those of us who don't.
I am always interested in what people are doing. There are a literal ton of low-carb diets out there. I'm currently doing something very similar to what you're doing. 60 to 65 carbs a day, eating anything that fits into that plan, and it's working for me, but it did take a while for the scale to catch up. I'm sure, it will be the same for you.
You're doing great! Keep me posted on how it's going for you.
Will do. Thanks for the encouragement and the education. by the way, I grew up in South Ogden. I know Riverton well. :)
DeleteYou're welcome. :)
DeleteSuch a wonderful low carb diet plan is all you need to make things happen.
ReplyDeleteI have a tendency to starve myself since I don't get time to cook and eat. I drink Keto coffee for breakfast, and eat a salad for lunch and sometimes that's all I eat for the day. I am assuming that is why I am not losing weight. But I work a desk job,and I don't get very hungry. Can you suggest some cuts I can make to the quantity so my body can pick up metabolism again, without overeating?
ReplyDeleteKeto coffee and one salad for the whole day is starvation. You need to ADD more food, especially protein, and not take away from what little you're already eating. The average person needs a minimum of 10 times their current weight in calories to avoid starvation. Recovery takes more like 15.
DeleteVickie,
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed reading the articles and posts. My question is about sugar alcohol. A lot of protein bars utilize sugar alcohols for sweeteners, and my concern is Malitol, in particular, considering it's placement on the Glycemic Index near actual sugar. Mainstream media (advertisers) state you can always subtract sugar alcohol from net carbs, yet how is that possible if Malitol is almost a 3/4 equivalent to real sugar? I know the Inuits and "Bisoner's" never had processed foods, but without meal prep or a lot of time it's difficult to stay around my daily intake of 15g carbs. Should i kick the bars all together? Can i even trust the labels or the packaging?
Definitely cannot trust the packaging. Some people don't digest sugar alcohols, like the claim, but they will get serious bathroom issues due to the lack of digestion, so the amount they can eat is very, very small. If sugar alcohol does not bother you when you eat it, that means your body is metabolizing most of it the same as sugar. Some people count half of the total carbs in their daily totals, and some people have to count all of the carbs. It's a "your mileage may vary" kind of thing.
DeleteThe purpose of reducing carbs is simply to trigger fat-burning, and how low you have to go in carbs to do that will be different for everyone. Atkins picked 20 carbs a day because at that level, almost everyone will go into ketosis, but many people will begin to burn fat for fuel at a much higher carb level per day.
Are you having difficulties losing weight eating the bars? Or just concerned about their high GI?
Hi Vickie! I am post bariatric surgery (sleeve gastrectomy) and have hit quite a stall. I have not needed any diabetes meds since my surgery in Dec 2016 and am 60 lbs lighter (I lost all of that in the first 2.5 months after surgery) but now can't get the scale to move either way! My doctor recommended the Keto diet so I have been online studying and your blog came up! Thank you for all this wonderful information! My question is since I have had bariatric surgery and my stomach can only hold about 1 cup at a time of food...what is the best way to get myself into Ketosis quickly and stay there? I was most definitely in ketosis after the surgery (I remember my husband telling me I smelled like medicine) and I lost so much weight so quickly then! I want to give this new body the best shot it has to not only keep my diabetes away but burn the rest of this fat! Thank you for any advice you can give me or let me know where I can get assistance to make this successful for me! I am hoping this works well for me and share my experiences with my bariatric surgery support group!
ReplyDeleteThis would make a great topic for a post. I haven't talked about weight-loss surgery meals on the blog before. Can you do a couple of snacks a day, along with 3 meals, or just three meals of 1 cup each? My sister in law had gastric bypass a few years ago, and was able to eat a couple small snacks in addition to her meals - but I want the post to help as many folks as I can. What's the norm? Or is it extremely variable?
DeleteI'll start pulling together some ideas to help you. With that type of volume, you're looking at an extended Induction that broadens food choices as you go, so it would be helpful for those who can't do more than 20 carbs a day, as well.
Thank you so much Vickie! I can eat a couple of snacks per day....what I have been doing is 6 small meals a day at about 200 calories each....it is easier for me to eat this way as some foods, like meat, fill me up quicker and I can't get a full cup in so I have been doing the six small meals so I am able to gain enough nutrition from food. I believe everybody is different but I think 1 to 2 cups per meal is the normal about 6 months after surgery for most. However with this insulin resistance I am experiencing even at 1200 cal a day I am no longer losing and in a huge stall! Thus, the keto diet was recommended to me by my doctor to get myself in ketosis and out of this stall. I appreciate all your help and knowledge!
DeleteKetosis and high-protein diets do kill your appetite. Leptin is finally able to communicate with the brain and tell it exactly how much body fat you have available for use.
DeleteThe brain uses the amount of Leptin that gets past the blood brain barrier to determine that, so anything that disrupts Leptin from getting into the brain will cause a miscommunication problem.
At the same time, the hypothalamus will also be trying to do things that bring your energy deficit back into balance, which is what eventually happens to most dieters. Weight loss stops because of the adaptions the body has made to what you're currently doing.
If that's what's going on, you have to disrupt the energy balance again.
Whether Keto is enough by itself to get the scales moving downward again, or whether you'll need to also drop your calories a bit, depends on how many carbs you're currently eating. Most low-carb experts believe you're in ketosis if eating anything less than 50 a day.
In my own weight-loss journey, I had to drop my calories to 950 a day to see results, but I'm post-menopause and only 5 feet tall, so that's what it took to see a 2 pound per week drop on the scale for me.
To answer your original question:
To get into ketosis requires you to ditch the carbs, so the fastest way is to eat only meat, eggs, and cheese OR 3 to 5 protein shakes a day (or a combo of those to reach your protein target), but most people can't do that, which is why Atkins allowed his patients and readers to have 2 cups of salad a day, with oil-and-vinegar dressing. In 2002, he allowed both the salad and 1 cup of cooked vegetables.
But that's a lot of food volume.
In your situation, it would be okay to ditch the salad and substitute a cup of cooked vegetables per day, to keep the carbs low and lower the volume to get into ketosis faster. Use a generous pat of butter on the vegetables.
You'll also want to choose foods with a higher protein-to-volume ratio like chicken or tuna. For example, a 1/2 cup of cooked, chopped chicken is 21 grams of protein, while 2 scrambled eggs are only 12.
The chicken will give you more room for vegetables than the eggs will, because it will take a lot of eggs to reach your protein target. You could also use a homemade protein shake for a snack to drive up your protein count for the day, if you wanted to do eggs at a meal.
I've been cruising a few "after weight loss surgery" blogs this morning, and most people are not getting enough protein and filling their meal-volume with starchy carbs like bread. I only found a couple of blogs still active, but the ones I looked at gave me a few ideas for the post.
So I am looking at going 850 calories per day with the Keto plan and my doctor said that should be about what I need to get the fat burning off me again. I work out 4 days per week already, treadmill, swimming, POUND so I have my exercise in check too! I am excited about trying this...I just know I had to be in ketosis after the surgery not eating much (I have not had one piece of bread since surgery and leave the rice/taters alone and eat salad with my protein.so that is not going got be an issue! My question to you is this...my doctor mentioned you need protein but not too much or it turns to glucose. How much protein does one need during the keto diet? Should I be worried about how much protein I am getting if it is too much? I like the idea of meat, cheese and protein shakes LOL Doc said to use coconut milk in my shakes moving forward so I don't get the sugars from the cow milk! I am learning so much from you, thanks Vickie! I am hoping to be a great bariatric success story and share this with my group and others that are stalling!
DeleteOn Keto, the protein recommendation is to eat 0.8 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass you have. Lean body mass is everything that isn't fat, so it's often difficult to determine.
DeleteI usually tell people to eat between 72 and 90 grams of protein a day now, just because that's usually the number it woks out to be anyway. That's 12 to 16 ounces a day.
To put that in terms of volume, 1 cup of chopped chicken is 44 grams, so it would take a little more than 2 cups of chopped chicken to reach 90 grams of protein. In your condition, it would be difficult for you to overeat protein. You'd have to stretch out your stomach or eat nothing but meat only.
And even then, it's a long, complex process for the body to turn amino acids into glucose. It prefers not to, as it can burn amino acids directly for energy without conversion, which is what it does during the first week of keto.
The body "can" choose to turn some amino acids to glucose, if needed. Gluconeogenesis is demand driven. The body won't do it until it's absolutely necessary to your survival because the brain still needs about 30 to 40 carbs a day, but you'd have to eat a ton of protein before that happens.
Plus, the body can make glucose out of non-essential amino acids, the type you don't have to eat.
So, nope. You don't have to worry.
Coconut milk makes really good protein shakes. It's much creamier than almond milk. Many keto dieters use heavy whipping cream, but they have a tendency to go over in calories that way.
You are a wealth of knowledge my friend! You need to write a book! I checked out the Keto books that are online and although some of them have good information they have more recipes than straight knowledge about the diet. I had one more question for you if you do not mind...what do you think of the MCT oil softgels? Should I take them and if so how many a day? Reading all the internet sites is overwhelming and you have made it easy to understand! I look forward to diving into this and seeing the results.
DeleteThanks. I don't know anything about MCT oil. I've never used it and have never spoke with someone who has either.
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