After coming to some rough realizations about what I can realistically expect from my ketogenic diet, I have been doing the best I can (sans weight loss expectations). Overall I’m quite happy with how it has gone and wanted to share my experiences with a few often discussed aspects of a ketogenic diet: Energy, Hunger and Wagons.

Energy

Every time someone talks about nutritional ketosis, just going low-carb or full blow ketogenic, they report that they have tons of energy. For me it wasn’t so cut and dry. Even when keto-adapted and with sufficient blood ketones, I still struggle with having enough energy. For example, I just got a new fancy standing desk but many days am too tired to stand for even one hour. Surely part of that is becoming used to standing but when I am too tired to even try… I feel like a wimp. :)

Without a doubt, I have more energy than when not keto-adapted but there is room for improvement. I get as much sleep as my body wants, no set bed-times or alarm clocks for this girl, and that ends up being around 9-10 hours a night. I am no longer restricting calories either. Maybe its those mythical adrenals?

One thing that has helped is switching from working out twice a week to just once a week. My trainer and I are thinking that while I have been able to progressively lift greater weights over the months, my ability to recover from a workout has not increased at the same pace. Another note on the exercise front is that my progress in the gym has neither been harmed nor helped by being in ketosis. I swear I have lazy mitochondria which would explain why my performance is quite lack-luster in either state! :)

Hunger

Again, most people report no longer being hungry all the time, reduced cravings and even the ability to skip meals. For me, not so much. I still get true hunger 3x a day (about every 4 hours). I still have intrusive thoughts and cravings in between which I know isn’t real hunger but is still effective in getting me off my butt and foraging for a snack…

Some of my worst cravings have subsided now that I am eating higher protein. When I was eating about 0.4g/lb, I was able to get my ketones higher than 1.5 in the morning but the cost was constant, REAL hunger. Now that I get at least 30g per meal, or 0.7g/lb, my fasting ketones are always hovering around 0.5 but a lot of my hunger pangs have subsided. I could play with adding even more but this is how much my body seems to want, adding more just makes me feel barfalicious.

I would love to get to a point where I don’t need to snack. But it isn’t hurting my blood sugar or causing weight gain so… I am leaving well enough alone.

Wagons

One last “myth” that I hear often is that if you “fall out of ketosis” it will take 2 weeks to recover. Here I am happy to report that this has not been my experience! A few times I have eaten more carbs in a meal than I normally get over the course of 3 days. Sure that knocks my ketones right down to “lo” (and sends my blood sugar soaring), but I have been able to get my ketones back up to “pre-goof” level in 1-2 days.

In August, after my meltdown, I switched from ketogenic to “just” low-carb and was completely out of ketosis for weeks. When I decided that I was ready to give it another go, it only took 4 days.

I am not sure where the 2 week estimate to re-adapt comes from. Maybe because that is how long it can take someone to switch over from a very high-carb diet? Luckily for me, I bounce back much quicker and without any low-carb transition issues.

So how am I doing?

I have gotten to the point where I can maintain my goal blood ketones (0.5) without weighing or tracking my food. My blood sugar is predictable (huzzah!) I can happily wing it at a restaurant or friend’s house and not “ruin everything”. Even if I do indulge in a few extra carbs… or cows, it’s not a big deal and I can move on without guilt since it just takes a day or two to recover.

When I first started, I had to track everything, weigh my protein and purposefully add fat to achieve an adequate blood ketone level. It felt like a lot of work and probably was not something I would keep up forever. Now that my body is adapted (and I have learned what 5oz of pork chop looks like), it seems just as easy as my previous low-carb diet.

In the end, if I can go to the grocery store on autopilot and eat whatever looks good in the house while staying “on diet” then I know it is sustainable.

Being the hippie cat lady that I am, when I saw that there was a new clay alternative cat litter on the market, Blue Naturally Fresh from Blue Buffalo, I had to try it. It is made out of walnut shells, is a clumping litter and is supposed to be low-dust and reduce tracking of litter throughout your house. Here are my experiences with various aspects of the litter:

Clumping

I was surprised at how well it clumped. It held together while scooping much better than Swheat Scoop (wheat based) or World’s Best Cat Litter (corn based). The final clump is smaller and less firm than what you get from a good clumping clay litter but none of the clumps broke apart so I think it’s pretty comparable with clay.

Odor Control

After decades of huffing clay litter (unscented or otherwise) the natural smell of the walnut was really a welcome change. Suddenly my laundry room went from smelling like … litter (clean but still unmistakably litter) to a fresh wood smell. The used litter didn’t have much of an odor. I couldn’t smell any urine and while the poop smell wasn’t completely hidden once scooped, while it was in the litter box, you couldn’t smell that it was “dirty” at all. In my opinion, this works better than clay when it comes to odor.

Weight

I was happily surprised that this litter is much lighter than the equivalent volume of clay litter. I used a 34lb bag in place of my usual 40lb.

Dust

The manufacturer claims “Virtual No Dust” and “Unlike clay litter, which often throws off silica dust, BLUE Naturally Fresh is virtually dust-free so you and your cat can breathe easier!”. I’m the first to admit that clay litter is dusty and I’m not comfortable with the idea of either me or the cats inhaling silica dust. However this stuff was dustier than clay! The litter is a dark walnut brown (surprise, surprise) and when I ran my hand through the litter, it came out completely brown. Imagine putting your hand in a bag of cocoa powder…

The sides of the box turned brown instantly, and after one use all 3 cats had dark brown feet, leaving footprints through the house. When I tried to clean my white footed cat’s feet, it stained both his foot and anything it touched. I can’t see how they can say with any honesty that this litter isn’t dusty. Maybe it’s healthier dust (debatable) but the visual damage to my house, clothes and cats was much worse.

Tracking

Again I was unhappy with the difference between how this litter was advertised and my experience. They say “doesn’t stick to your cat’s paws so it’s less likely to be tracked throughout the house”. I call BS. I had brown, wet pebbles throughout my house within hours. I would say it sticks to paws just as much as clay litter, and since it doesn’t clump as hard, some of the wet litter can escape as well. FAIL.

Price

It retails at $1.23 / lb, while Arm and Hammer Clumping Clay litter (not the cheapest brand out there) is only $0.67 / lb.

Final Thoughts

I was planning on trying this litter out for 30 days but couldn’t stand it and changed the box after 2 days. I loved the odor, weight and health benefits. I could have lived with the price. But the brown dust was everywhere and once a cat tracked wet litter onto the dinning table I was done. Maybe if I were a better kitty mom, I would have said the health benefits were worth it. But evidently I’m not that good of a kitty mom… Maybe it depends on the cat. If it hadn’t stuck to their feet, I think I would have stuck with it. Two of the cats have long hair and “toe-hawks” though. If you have short hair cats, I would say it’s worth a shot.

Once I dumped the box, I put in Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract since it is supposed to be one of the lowest dust clay litters on the market. We’ll see how it goes and I’ll report back.

UPDATE: Don’t read this and despair! Things have gotten better since I posted this.

It’s been a while since my last post for a reason. I was frustrated with my lack of weight loss on a ketogenic diet and then listened to Jimmy Moore’s Ask the Low-Carb Experts interview with Dr. Stephen Phinney. I was very hopeful that I would learn why I wasn’t losing weight.

Instead what I heard was very upsetting and demoralizing. Ultimately my negative reaction completely derailed me which I accept as my fault and has nothing to do with the interview really. However, I’m still struggling to get back on track. I have decided to not go into a rant  and “commit into the eternity of the internet” what is most likely an emotionally biased interpretation of the advice given that I will come to regret later.

The short version is that the question in my heart was “If I am 100% following the diet prescribed in the books, am registering ketones and have a calorie deficit, but am not losing body fat, what should I do?” While I didn’t get a chance to ask that question, based on his answers to the other questions this is what I heard:

• Ketosis does not equal weight loss. Instead it only facilitates fat mobilization. Calories will ultimately dictate weight loss.
• His answer to most questions about being stalled is that they must not be following the diet correctly.
• One should not be hungry on this diet.

Since I didn’t like my pieced together answer to my question, I reacted poorly. If you are interested, please listen to the episode and let me know if I completely misunderstood. I received some replies to my comment on the show page and they all agreed that I am “not getting the message”. I accept that but then what is the answer to my original question? I am not trying to be perverse, but am still stuck in the same position and don’t know how to proceed. “Ask your doctor” is probably the right answer but I find it unsatisfactory, due to the complete lack of help they have been in the past.

I would have preferred to not share this at all since it doesn’t really make me feel good or proud of myself. The fact that I allowed being told that calories matter to throw me off so much (even compromising my hard wrought blood sugar control) reflects poorly upon me. The fact that it’s been a month and I still don’t have my blood sugar under control again… shows a lack of will power and self respect that again shames me to report.

I’m not sure why I am sharing this at all. The point is not to bash anyone or elicit replies that “It’s working for me” or “You must be either not following the diet or eating too many calories”, etc. Honestly, I would rather not have to read those right now… Maybe I’m just hoping that sharing my failure will help stop a self-destructive cycle…

I originally reported success in finally losing weight after switching to a ketogenic diet. Well… there’s a reason I haven’t posted any weight loss updates since then. I lost the majority of those 6 lbs in the first 2 days of the diet which indicated to me that it was probably water and glycogen. It’s been 2 months now and I gained 3 of those lbs back, I gain all of it back when bloated. I’m quite sure at this point that no fat was ever lost and it’s all water…

I have tried a number of different ketogenic diet variations since then with little success. Each variation had the same absolute amount of carbs and protein which can’t go any lower honestly. I’ve tried restricting calories by eating less fat (though it was still ketogenic), eating to satiety (calories be damned!) and intermittent fasting.

I had the best weight loss success with fasting but it was also the biggest flop for me. I take hormones to keep my life bearable and the fasting managed to completely nuke my delicate balance and made my life a living hell for about a week. So yeah I temporarily lost a few pounds (promptly gained back I might add) but obviously fasting is not an option for me. Which is unfortunate because for some of the other women who are trying this diet, fasting seems to be the only thing that is helping them lose weight.

The entire time however my blood sugar has been amazing. Sometimes it’s too easy to focus on the weight loss and completely ignore the blood sugar improvement which isn’t fair. I’ve always said that I would prefer to keep my toes than lose weight. Maybe I should tattoo that on my spare tire so I don’t forget. Even if I don’t lose another pound, this diet works the best for controlling my diabetes so I’ll stick with it.

Having just admitted that the weight loss may never happen I read that Jimmy Moore’s Ask the Low Carb Experts guest this Thursday is Dr. Steven Phinney, one of the authors of The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living and Performance! The topic? Weight loss stalls on a well-formulated low-carbohydrate diet. How timely! I’ve already sent in 2 questions via email and plan on calling in as well so I can pester him live. I am hopeful that some nuggets of wisdom will be heard and I will have new ideas to try out.

I just made the “Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookies” from Low-Carbing Among Friends vol 2. While I can’t post the recipe, I would like to share some of my substitutions.

First off, the recipe calls for sugarless chocolate chips. After looking around online, I didn’t really like any of the options as they had sweeteners that I don’t use, like malitol. So I decided to make my own, though I could have instead bought a very dark chocolate bar (like Dagoba Eclipse 87% which only has 19g of carbs for the entire bar) and just chopped it up. I may do that next time since making chocolate chips is a bit of a (tastey) pain.

I used this recipe to make my chips, though I substituted 5 scoops (210mg) of pure stevia for the 20 drops of liquid stevia and used butter instead of coconut oil. I also powered my erythritol first in the food processor because the granular erythritol doesn’t dissolve well in chocolate. Another change is to cool the chips in the freezer instead of the refrigerator. I gave them 3 hours in the fridge and when I tried to chop them they melted and mushed together. 15 minutes in the freezer and they chopped nicely and stayed separate. Next time I’ll skip the fridge and put them directly in the freezer.

For the cookie dough, I used ¼ tsp of pure stevia in place of the 1 cup of Splenda. I also used 2 extra tbsp of butter (no clue how that got in there!) and next time I plan to use 2 entire sticks of butter since I like my cookies to really spread out.

The only other tweak was to bake them longer than the recommended 10 minutes. I peeked at them after 10 minutes and let them go until they were brown around the edges. That ended up taking about 14 minutes for a sheet of 12 cookies.

The verdict? They weren’t overpoweringly sweet and I didn’t notice any cooling effect from the erythritol or bitterness from the stevia. If you have a sweet tooth, I would go with more sweetener in both the chips and the dough. The texture was perfect, not too chewy or dense, though I was tempted to dip them in whipped cream…