Thanks @rdegges - 100 carb habit
2/29/2012Randall Degges wrote about his ketogenic diet about a month ago. I'm not going to pretend to know much about diet, but the more I read about it the more sense it made to me.
I left the Marine Corps with a big appetite. Sure, I tried to continue working out for a while, but I just wasn't able to put in 2-3 hours a day like I had been. Not that it would have mattered much, all those hours of sitting would have made it difficult to keep the weight off, anyhow.
So I tried the keto thing. Carbs were completely banned at first. Ketosis came quick and burned off 23 pounds just in the first month. The most amazing thing was I had not changed any habits, I didn't count a single calorie or exercise. I kept on living my overworked programmer lifestyle, with a 1 year old at home and taking classes on the side. Just add lots of steak and bacon.
I also didn't lose any muscle mass but my favorite shorts no longer fit me. I've sucked in a belt notch. My face still feels strangely thin in my hands. It's pretty awesome. The nurse who checked my blood pressure yesterday told me "that's pretty good."
I did experience some negative side effects though. I did get the heart palpitations that they warn about, and I had started to wake up at 2-3 in the morning and not be able to sleep again. So I eased up a bit on the carb restriction, to less than 100 carbs a day, and those effects have disappeared. The loss rate has slowed since then but I'd rather sleep.
This is not something to try if you have any kind of heart disease. Check with a doctor. (No, seriously.)
What's also amazing is that eliminating carbs has also cured my heartburn. It had slowly been getting worse over the last few years. But since restricting carbs, I haven't needed a single Tums.