I looked at Pictures of keto meals that are supposed to be delicious. I found they to look not appetizing. Some of the items itself I enjoy but for some reason the entire meal looks disgusting to me.
I believe in the concept of intuitive eating. I really believe our brain has developed through evolution or whatever it may be to be able to determine what we need to fuel our bodies. We had to have developed the ability to determine what can fuel our bodies in some way as humans probably need to eat a more complex diet than any other animals. I’ve always gravitated towards foods with high protein, calcium, carbs etc to grow. I looked at my own eating habits, I don’t eat much fats, I don’t eat much sugar, especially refined sugar. I don’t even want to eat fruits! Fruits make you fat, not saying never eat fruits but I cut fruits out unless I need the sugar from it. It’s like my brain understands I didn’t need to eat so much of “healthy” foods to grow and I needed high calories and carbs and protein etc to grow. I feel like my body is just really efficient at shutteling carbs into the muscles and using it for fuel vs any other source of energy. I can look at pictures of food and all the foods I enjoy seem to have the same qualities. High protein and carbs, low to moderate in fat and no sugar.
I’m wondering if keto is effective for everyone? I think for some people they might not be at optimal using fats as fuels only. And I’m wondering on the long term if it makes you less efficient at using other fuel sources?
Maybe I’m wrong, but my guess is that most people just try their best at this. And the result is probably a reduced carb diet more than anything. Here’s what’s left of my dinner. (Sorry for the crude set up. We once had a dining room. A second kid later, we are reduced to this small area.)
I think keto is a great tool if you utilize it. I don’t know if it’s really something someone should do for the rest of their life.
Here’s something that I had to think about. I’m about 90kg if I don’t workout and eat just normally (not overeating or undereating) I’m taller than the average person. There’s no way I should eat the same way as a guy shorter and looks jacked at 75-80kg. I look still a bit skinny on a 90kg frame. Even when I train with shorter guys at 70-80kg at their optimal weight to perform. I have to train different to get the same results. For example My heart gives out doing a full range squat before my muscles get tired because my heart is trying to pump farther away and more to my legs. I go all the way down and 90% up. I don’t know if keto is good if I want to build muscles and be optimal in my weight to perform.
But this has nothing to do with the glycogen stored in your muscles or the switchover to burning fat once glycogen is depleted. That’s just a byproduct of being tall. You could pound down Mars bars before every set and still feel light-headed when you re-rack the bar.
I’m saying if my body needs to train differently wouldn’t i need to eat differently. Height certainly influences how my body works, It’s not the only factor but It’s one.
Ah, sorry I misunderstood (based on your example). It sounds logical that different body types would have different diet needs, yes.
Other factors would include how much glycogen is stored by your muscles, how much fat is stored on your body, how readily your body depletes muscular glycogen, and how readily your body switches over to burning fat for its energy needs.
I’m not sure that keto demands the same diet for everybody, though. If you’re overweight and you’re trying to lose stored fat, what Atkins used to call the “induction phase” is pretty similar for every body type - that is pretty formulaic. That phase is well defined by Atkins, however, and after that keto is a matter of finding what dietary intake works best for you, your level of activity, and your body type.
Im just not convinced by body will work better switching to fat for fuel. I seem to do really well using carbs and sometimes sugar (but almost never together) not saying I got a perfect diet as I have to eat whats available sometimes and treat myself but I have a problem with diets that leaves very little room for deviation for long term.
I’m thinking about either doing keto to experiment, or possibly carb cycling or intermittent fasting. I want to see how my body react to them.
It isn’t necessary to sustain it, and as you’ve pointed out, it may not be desirable (I think it’s fair to say the jury is still out on that one). “Keto” specifically is a very-low-carb phase that most people only do for a matter of weeks … because it’s a bit boring. Once they’ve reached their weight-loss goals, they usually increase their daily carbs up to 50-100g/day. My carb intake is probably somewhere up to 150g occasionally, but that’s still drastically lower than the “experts” advise us to eat (because, according to them, we’ll die horribly if we don’t).
The fact is that most people do sustain it, albeit at the above-keto level. People find it much, much easier to stick to low-carb than low-fat, low-calorie, or any of the other government-approved diets that don’t work. As noted, they do let their carbs drift upwards, but it’s perfectly possible to eat like this forever. I’ve been doing it for well over 10 years. All the other guys in the thread seem to have a similar experience; nobody has yet jumped in to say it was so awful they couldn’t stick with it. Those who do have that experience are invariably doing it wrong (usually not enough fat).
I don’t doubt it. The thing is, those guys are working at the limit of human performance. 99% of low-carb adherents are just average joes with a desk job. For them, a fat-fuelled lifestyle works incredibly well to keep them slim and healthy; the alternative (a carb-heavy diet) is not necessary for someone who’s operating at slightly above 1MET for 16 hours of the day and slightly below for 8.
You might want to read Peter Attia’s stuff. The guy is an animal. He’s also a doctor, and enjoys sticking needles in himself to take blood readings and whatnot during/after exercise. He did an interesting experiment to see exactly what the limits of fat-fuelled performance are in terms of peak power, and he found that (for him personally) it’s just a shade lower than carb-fuelled. Other researchers (check out work by Volek and Phinney, who are sports physiologists) have corroborated that result. The interesting part is that, for endurance performance, fat wins hands-down, simply because there’s more of it. And no, it doesn’t make your carb metabolism less efficient; on the contrary, you can “top up” with a small amount of carbs during an endurance event to get a very noticeable boost.
If you’re Taiwanese then chances are you’re addicted to sugar and rice. Most Taiwanese are skinny fat body types. Not much to work with Keto or not. Also, nobody in their right mind tries to maintain ketosis long term… that’ll put you in the hospital. It’s a short term thing for a few weeks at most. Newbs
With what condition? The only people who end up in hospital are those who attempt to substitute protein for carbs … or don’t substitute anything at all. There are plenty of nutcases on YouTube who maintain keto (<25g carbs) for months or even years. Not sure why they bother, but it’s certainly doable.
Done properly, you’ll just be sick of salad and fried eggs is all.
You’re right. For the average person who isn’t as that active, keto may be the best option for them. My perspective is more towards how keto will work for optimal athletic and muscle building performance for a person. Another reason I believe my body uses carbs well is my muscles look extremely full with carbs in my diet and i look very flat when I’m not eating them at a very noticeable level. I’m wondering how making such a drastic change will impact me.
I can skip the sugar easily. But I do love rice and noodles. Rice and noodles before I hit the gym seems to make me function better. Sugar post workout is actually a good time to get them in.
I used to love rice and noodles…until I lived without them and realized they were doing me wrong. I felt much better without them. Moreover, I searched and found that vegetables have more nutrients and minerals. Rice and noodles are sugar, plain sugar. They are just cheap fillers, which is why a bientang is cheaper than a proper meal. More than portions size, the issue is nutritional value and calories, meaning sugar intake.
Many foreign diets do not include rice or fillers. If you go to a fancy restaurant abroad, say Europe, you will rarely see them filling your plate with rice. Even potatoes are used sparingly. So you can tell yourself that your meals are becoming classier.
I understand where the concept of «must have fuel» comes in. Heck, my coworker is paying a 150USD subscription to this famous US trainer, and they are doing this challenge, so the expert sends a meal chart…There are Cherrios in it. I mean, as part of their diet. She is hungry all the time…And they ask her to include Cheerios. Sigh.
It is when you eat out on keto that you realize where your money goes. It is actually a lot easier than it seems. For huguo, just do not have rice or noodles, and ask for fattiest cuts. Japanese food is very useful. I am having a lot of fish lately.
I do not get tired of it but rather it has made me take a hard look at my favorite places. Push comes to shove, I take out my meals and pick away the bad stuff. No biggie.
Rice is a cheap and a rich whole grain carb source also high in calories. So as a 190cm male with probably an above average metabolism even in my late 20s that weights about 90-100kg with around 8-15% bf…rice is my friend in terms of fuel. It’s no secret lower carb intake in general helps shed fat, but am I miserable when I get to around 8% bf and lower not eating much carbs.
But for an average person not so active with a smaller frame, I can see why rice might not be the best for them.
Here’s my concern. I spend a incredible amount of money on food. When I’m really active, I may need 4-5000 calories a day. It take roughly 6000 calories a day and a lot of protein for me to get to 100kg. I sit around 93-96kg because it’s so hard to maintain 100kg plus without eating garbage. Rice and noodles help soften the cost of my food intake. I’m guessing food normally rich in fats are not the cheapest if I’m going to reach my daily calories count.
