My Keto Recapitulation

Friday, Feb. 09, 2024

Besides just journaling my Keto experience, I want to include a few specifics:

Weight loss
Fasting
Sleep
Health/How I feel
Logging Food/Nutrients
Body Measurements

Today is the fifth day of my Keto restart, so not even a week yet. Here's how it's going.

Even though I made a sudden change to my carbohydrate intake, I did not get the Keto flu! Keto flu is flu-like symptoms from the sudden drop/change in glucose that results from lowering carbs, that usually lasts a few days to a week. I read that taking B vitamins can prevent this, so I began taking them on Tuesday and I'm assuming they worked.

Even with the sudden change, it took a few days to reach ketosis, a metabolic state that occurs when your body burns fat for energy instead of glucose. I noticed the change Wednesday night, I slept better, but was up numerous times through the night to urinate (as glucose and insulin levels drop, excess water retention drops). This may take a few days. By Thursday morning I was feeling better, had less pain and stiffness when I awoke, and I had more energy through the day.

I got on the scale this morning even though it hasn't even been a week and discovered I have already dropped five pounds. Yes, five pounds in four days, but this isn't fat, it's the excess water I'm retaining, and explains why I have less aches and pains, and why I'm already feeling better.

Along with Keto, I'm also incorporating intermittent fasting to increase my metabolism. I'm still doing research on this to find the best fasting schedule, but for now I'm doing it like this; two days of three meals a day, then a short fast and two meals, followed by a longer fast and one meal. So, the first fast is 18 hours from dinner at 6:00 p.m. to lunch the next day at noon, followed by dinner again at 6:00 p.m., the next day is one meal, dinner at 6:00 p.m. so a 24 hour fast, then back to a couple of days of regular, three meals a day, eating. I completed one cycle yesterday, and it was difficult. I did pretty well up to about 3:00 p.m. then the hunger started in. But, I made it. Now I have today and tomorrow of regular eating before starting the fasting cycle again.

I'm logging all my food and beverage intake with Cronometer, https://cronometer.com/ and have purchased the premium membership so I can take advantage of all the features; it just makes monitoring my calorie and nutrients easier because the premium has settings for the Keto Diet.

It's going great so far and even though this is my second time with the Keto plan, I'm surprised how much better I feel and how much my energy is already increasing. I know the large weight loss at the start is just water, or mostly just water, but it still feels good to see the scale dropping. I have not taken any body measurements yet, so I still have to get them logged so I can blog on them as well.

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