I (44f) need to lose about 15lbs. I know that’s not a lot to many of you, but I don’t feel like myself anymore. In the past I have been successful doing keto; however I gain it all back as soon as I get off the train. I cannot do the long term restrictiveness. I love carbs too much! I did a 3 day bone broth fast last year and felt like absolute shit. Stomach pangs, nausea, headache, lethargy. I didn’t know about adding any supplement support then.
I also have started exercising (rowing) in the last year and find it incredibly challenging while on keto. In the future I would like to add some weigh training, but dieting seems prohibitive of that as my energy feels so depleted.
So here I am considering IF. I need help with what you guys think would work well and be long term successful. I am thinking 16:8 IF with keto until I get to my GW. Then just IF. I also bought some lyteshow to help get me through the rough patches and hopefully keep me feeling better. Please help give me any suggestions on how to be successful. OMAD? Longer extended fasts? BMR is 1220
I am a 42 year old female who had 20 lbs to lose. I’ve lost 10, so 10 more to go. I really don’t think keto is necessary, honestly just eating whole foods, fatty fish, lean proteins, and avoiding sugar should suffice. Obviously don’t spend your eating window on empty carbs.
I do eat carbs like rice (brown as well as white basmati), beans, fruits. I will have the occasional piece of toast, and last month I made a peach crisp. But these are occasional treats and not the norm. They didn’t slow down my progress.
I’ve found that for me, a mix of 18:6 (eating window 2:00pm - 8:00pm) and OMAD (dinner around 7:00pm) has really worked out well. I seem to lose around 1.5 lbs a week if I’m really sticking to it.
Ultimately you’ll have to play around with IF to figure out what works for you. Remember that progress isn’t linear. Good luck!
You can successfully lose weight by not doing keto.
I love carbs too and I’ve lost 30 lbs by just restricting sugar and limiting my carb intake without giving it up completely
I’d say give 20:4 IF a chance
Yes to electrolytes. Also bump up your protein especially if you are gonna be working out.
Also with keto, everyone has a level of carb sensitivity. Maybe use this as an opportunity to find yours? I can do about 60-70g of carbs to stay in ketosis after fat adaptation, but then I also realized that once I got into healthy weight range, healthy cholesterol and other blood markers, eliminated NAFLD, got back to normal insulin sensitivity… ketosis wasn’t really that important anymore.
I Just eat enough carbs to not overload liver stores, bump up carbs the night before I am gonna train (so I deplete glycogen as a result of the workout), train fasted, and bump up protein the day of to help with recovery.
Fat is still higher as a percentage of my diet, but in terms of fat grams I’m somewhere between 80-90g where protein is 125-150g on any given day.
Give 16:8 a two week trial to get you into the habit. However, imo if you only have 15lbs to lose you won’t see the dramatic results with 16:8 that people who have 75+ pounds to lose & somehow lose like 22 pounds in a month of 16:8. My advice is to transition to 18:6 after 2 weeks, start the eating window w healthy type carbs (whole fruit, sweet potatoes, etc.) but end it high fat high protein. That way you get your carb fix but you have your whole day to use it up/burn it. The fat/protein at the end of your eating window should carry you over until the next day. I think 16:8 is a great 2 week start & eventually a maintaince method once at a goal weight. Re: electrolytes, if you’re only doing 18:6, or even 20:4 or less, you should get enough Na, K, Mg, Ca etc. from your food.