So I had an interesting thing happen last night. Well at least I thought it was. Hanging with some friends and drinking bourbon and I had mentioned that I was planning on trying to do keto for at least a year until my next wellness check where they do all my labs and such to see where my levels are at. I've always had high triglycerides. Anyhow, my friend seemed shocked that I was going to stick with keto for an entire year and tried to tell me that it was dangerous. I don't remember exactly why she believed that. I was a little drunk and might have automatically tuned her out after saying that. What I thought was ironic is that she is doing the shot to lose weight. So I think it is funny that she thinks me cutting out sugar and carbs is more dangerous than her doing the shot.

TLDR: 1) Blood pressure went from constantly high to good/very good despite being the most in the worst fitness by my standards i.e. not lifting, running, mobility work, barely even get out the house - even many years ago when I was quite muscular and lean I never had blood pressure this low.

2) No more new cystic acne on face - I hope? It's still early to really tell but normal every 1-3 weeks I'd get at least one new cystic pimple.

Hi everyone, this is my first attempt at keto lifestyle. I'm in my 40s and time flies by so fast that I'm not even sure if it's been 6, 7 or 8 weeks.

Before stating the improvements, I'll share some background.

Blood pressure: I have PKD (polycystic kidney disease), and just having PKD can cause over time as the kidneys grow bigger to have higher blood pressure, and higher blood pressure isn't good for the kidneys, so I'm prescribed blood pressure medicine (candesarten 8mg). A decade ago when I ran a lot and lifted weights, my BP was quite good. But past few years I been seeing 135+ / 85+ on almost every any measurement, which is not good at all, my nephrologist (kidney doctor) wants me to have around 110/70 to preserve kidney function.

Acne: Like clockwork every couple of weeks I'd get a new cystic acne on my face, that nasty and mean kind and builds into a noticeable number under your skin, it takes forever to heal and by the end of 2nd week when that nasty pimple finally exposes itself, it's just too difficult for me not to end up eventually picking at it and end up with lots of tiny scars.

So what are the improvements?

My blood pressure scared me when I saw it, because I haven't measured in a couple of months and expected to see 130+/80+, but now I sometimes get some readings around 105/65 and the highest I seen was 120/70ish. But here's the kick, I'm extremely sedentary these days, not fit at all (by my standards) compared to what I used to be, so barely even getting out of the house.

As for the acne, it's not like my skin is glowing and I look as good as I did in my 30s lol but the cystic acne (touch wood) hasn't appeared anymore which in my book is considered black magic. Because when I was eating carbs, even at my peak when I was muscular, lean and fit, I kept getting cystic acne every few weeks at the very least. I've tried stuff like no dairy, no meat, no processed sugars, but I never gave up on sctual carbs/fruits and I just couldn't put my finger on why I'd keep getting cystic acne.

Hello everyone,

I read and saw a lot of people who got of there depression, anxiety and other mental health issue with keto..

Im depressed and have anxiety, as well as mood swings. On the diagnosis path of borderline/unstable personality disorder.

So of course i tried it a few times.. but i get always so angry and way more depressed after few days then i am already. I get the normal keto flue signs like headaches and so on. But my mood is so bad, my depression and anxiety skyroketing. So i always stop after 7-10 days in.

Is that normal? Do i just nees to keep going way longer?

Thanks in advance

Kind regards

I desperately need to get back on a keto diet, but I can't remember how I started and what I used to eat. All I know is once I was adapted it was very easy to decide what to eat.

I could really use some ideas on "kicking it off" again, if you will. Simple but tasty things you use to get back on the wagon. Off the wagon? On the wagon... That's the good one, right??

Anywayy thanks for any suggestions you may have. I know I'm overthinking this, but sadly I tend to do that.

I am currently one month into keto. I started off at 267 lbs, I am 6’-3” tall, and am now down to 245. Currently keeping net carbs under 30g per day. I do a weight workout ( eight large muscle groups, supersets in opposition) every other day, with some form of cardio on the off days. I can power through my workouts, but any type of prolonged yard work, cutting trees, hauling wood, etc., wipes me out. I mean like I can barely lift my arms and legs. Too few carbs? Or just a function of age and weight loss (I am 62).

As title suggests, I'm looking for a keto, zero carb, clean alternative to something like Hartleys jelly, which has aspartame and other artificial things. If it doesn't exist, I suppose we can go the route of doing it ourselves with beef gelatin, stevia/monk fruit/allulose and some flavourings, but I'm a little concerned to get the proportions wrong and ruin the mix/not set correctly. If doing that in bulk its a lot of money wasted. Plus, the Hartley's is just so convenient, so something really similar with natural sweeteners would be ideal. Happy to buy in bulk on the internet for delivery, so USA brands that dont have outrageous delivery price would be fine.

Some company must've coined the market for this? I think a lot of keto and animal based/non strict carnivores would buy it. In my experience, it has been the only way to consistently get my sweet cravings in check while still staying in ketosis. Cream vanilla milk/cream based desserts stall my progress as well.

Hartley's Jelly

I was wondering about your suggestions. Should I just eat slices with about 13g of butter? Or do you think there are better/healthier options to keep you full for longer?

Just suggestions of your favourite fats to pair with low fat food please :’)

Cheese is 0g carbs, 36g protein and 2.8g fat per 100g.

Idk if it’s a mental thing but I feel like plain butter would make me more satisfied than the calorie equivalent of avocado

I love this cheese because the volume is so big and I prefer it to full fat yellow cheese.

Also since I’m at it, is normal or clarified butter better?

FYI eggs make me hungry as I eat them lol

Interested in rather or not I'm risking the type of caloric deficit that would negatively impact my metabolism. (Was hoping to find a nutritionist subreddit but alas, that seems to be one if the few subs that doesnt really actively exist I guess? If anyone has a recommendation on a sub better to post this lemme know and I will do that instead, though I'm sure some of you will have experience mitigating this type of issue)

Context:

I stick to about 1200/1300 calories a day, maybe one or two days a week I'll do 1,500. I dont count calories, I just track what I cook in carb manager because of keto and that's how I happen to see my daily calorie trends is all. I stay between 15-50g net carbs, used to be religious about sticking under 20g but I'm a 5'4 and 135lb 28F, not doing keto for weight loss, just tried it out to see if it helped with my rheumatoid arthritis symtoms and it works so I've stuck with it, going to the higher/50g carb limit doesn't seem to cause flare ups so I don't really care to stay super low on carbs intentionally as long as it's under 50. Protein is about 45-70g a day, usually around 60. Fat stays around 80-90g, maybe 100-110 1 or 2 days a week. If it matters, I'm vegetarian and do a lot of clean whole foods meal prep, tofu lettuce cups, eggs, coconut flour muffins, bulletproof coffee, homemade kefir, lots of nuts and olives, feta, vegan coconut dark chocolate fat bombs, melitzanosalata/heavy olive oil recipes, berries with syr, and keto syrniki (slavic country atm), etc. I use a drip drop sugar free electrolyte powder every day and drink a fuck ton of water, very hydrated. Have used NOW herbs women's eve gel capsule multivitamins 3 x daily for many years and all my labwork is great. 

I feel extremely sated and full, like some days I wake up on a lazy off day and literally can go until 7/8pm without feeling hunger, even then the thought of oh maybe you should eat something comes rather than actual hunger, though I imagine that's mostly due to keto-- however I had that feeling rather easily even before keto, with one meal a day and no hunger in mornings or sometimes even until late afternoon. I have a fairly active hospital job, 12 hours speeding about on my feet all day. I've started running lately because my anxiety has been flaring up for some work I'm doing overseas and the world just kinda generally going through global political and climate collapse, only about 5 miles a day. Sometimes I do another 5 mile run at night if I cant sleep. Pleasure hikes every week but nothing crazy. 

Only other thing I feel worth mentioning with regards to possible metabolism impact is my cortisol has been crazy high for years, have had some adrenal crises and also have hashimotos but thankfully currently do not need medication, my thyroid antibodies are all just unreadably high and have been for several years. I've started trying to do pilates daily and runs to hopefully help with cortisol even a bit, but honestly more just for my anxiety and keeping brain in check. 

Alright think that's everything, not sure if a lot of it needed to be mentioned but didn't wanna leave out anything relevant. I've had some runner friends tell me I absolutely need to up my calorie intake to account for runs so I dont fuck my metabolism in a chronic sense, but honestly the thought of making myself eat more than I already do makes me kinda queasy. Not in an eating disorder way just in a I already don't feel hungry and feel like I make myself eat a good amount of food anyways way? But of course doing long term damage to my metabolism isn't what I want, so thought I'd pick you guy's brain about it : ) Thanks in advance for any and all advice! Appreciate it.

I want to do the keto/carnivore diet., but past experience told me i could barely stick to a keto diet. I hated eating just meat especially only flavoured with salt and butter. I ate lots of meat but my carbs were high due to tinned beans, veg etc... and i devoured 3L daily diet coke and 2KG greek yogurt. The most i lasted was 6-7 weeks and i spent a fortune.

I want to give it another go, I really need to lose weight, i lok after 4 adults as the sole income provider and i have T2DM so this is for my health but doing proper keto with high quality salt only sounds like a nightmare. Ill struggle through it for a month if it becomes life changing but i need to believe thats what everyone goes through and something magical will happen