Post: #1

I was going on a LCHF ( low carb,high fat) diet for about four years. I think not many guys here have done that so I want to share my experience and straighten up some question marks. Excuse me for writing, I'm not a native English speaker.

The Diet.

As the name goes you should minimize your carbohydrate intake or exclude them totally and you should and eat a lot of natural fats.
A basic rule is that you shouldn't eat anything that contains more carbohydrates than 5gr per 100gr of food,max 20gr carbs per day. This is very individual for everyone how much carbs your body can take without getting out of ketosis. Personally I always ate less than 10gr per day.
When your body is in ketosis it doesn't allow you any cheating. If you drink a soda or down a ice cream your body will get out of ketosis which means you have to start all over again. For me it takes about five days to get back in the ketosis again after cheating. This diet won't get you ripped,but you will definitely loose all the extra weight without loosing any muscles.

What to eat?
It's actually about going back to the primitive or the stone age before humans became farmers. Nothing strange or complicated, just plain natural, unprocessed food. No bullshit.
Everything that contains less than 5gr carbs per 100gr is a good rule to follow.

This is excellent food to eat:

All kinds of meat,fish, eggs,butter,nuts, cheese, and several other high quality dairy products. Vegetables that grows above the ground like cauliflower and cabbage. Berries like blueberries,raspberries and lingonberries is great food aswell.
Try to buy natural and unprocessed products and prepare them yourself. That will prevent you from eating unwelcomed ingredients that industrial food may contain.

What not to eat?
Sugar,potatoes,rice,bread,milk,pasta,fruits,candy, chips,ice cream..and all these other sugar filled crap food. Avoid industrial food as the plague.The same goes for margarines and other industrial fat.

Drinks?
Water,tea or coffee. Avoid all juices and sodas which are full of sugar!
Coke zero won't effect your weight or ketosis but I can't recommend anybody to drink that piss.
About alcoholic drinks you should stick to vodka,whisky or dry red wine which contains almost zero carbs. Beer is like drinking bread, avoid it.

For whom?
People who are suffering from overweight. This is probably the easiest way to loose weight, you can literally eat away your extra kg's without being hungry.
For people suffering from Diabetes type 2. My dad excluded all carbs and started to red meat and butter, in six days his blood sugar levels were normalised and he didn't need to inject insulin anymore as long as he stayed on LCHF.
For people who are aiming for a balanced and healthy lifestyle and overall well being.

The myth.
Even in 2013 a lot of doctors still claim that eating animal fats will cause heart diseases. However that's not true, it's a perception from the 1950's from a study in America which wasn't true from the beginning. But somehow this study became the guideline for animal fat fright all over the world which resulted in a massive sugar consumption that we all can see today. Humans have never been so fat and suffered from so many heart diseases like now. Several researches proves this and I can dig up sources if anybody demands it. Eating animal fats is never harmful for your body. Saying that animal fat and red meat causes heart diseases is like saying that the world is flat. Sugar is the real poison.

My own experience:
As a teenager I had 20kg overweight. It always bothered me so when I turned 19 I finally told myself that enough is enough. I lost 23 kg in about 3 months,but what I did was to literally starve myself thinner.I lost a lot of muscles but at that moment I didn't care because I was very happy of my weight loss. In the following years I always struggled to not gain weight again. I discovered that I had to remain hungry all the time to not gain any weight. This might sound anorectic but I wasn't really skinny. (190cm/88kg)

However, years passed and I kept on being hungry, I didn't want to become a fatass again. I got interested about nutrition and how different foods are effecting our bodies. I spent a lot of time reading on the web about different lifestyles and diets because I was convinced that I was doing something wrong. Later I found a Swedish article about LCHF and that got me interested from the first minute. I was allowed to eat the food I like the most and then loose some extra kilos on top of that! I thought what the hell, let's give it a try!

I only wanted to loose about 5kg but that wasn't my main goal. My goal was to find a balanced lifestyle which allowed me to eat healthy and tasty food without starving. I gave it a try and after one month of LCHF diet I was convinced that this lifestyle was the right one for me. I felt stronger and my body felt better than ever. I kept eating like this for more than four years. I tried to step out of it a few times, but I started to feel like shit so I decided to continue. The only exceptions were when I was travelling abroad. As soon as I stop travelling and roaming around I will get back into the same lifestyle again.

Pros and cons.

Pros:
- Never sick. I only had one small flu in a period of four years.
- Possible to enjoy a lot of tasty food.
- Overall well being, my body has never felt as strong and good before.
- Stable weight, no ups and downs.
- No hunger. I can't eat as much as I want until my stomach is satisfied without gaining a single kg.
- My blood and blood sugar levels couldn't be better.
- No desire of eating junkfood. My sweet tooth disappeared after the first week.
- Money. I only buy HQ products, not a single cent is spent on buying junk or beer.
- Dental hygiene. Your teeths will thank you for excluding all sugar, no caries.
- Productivity. Because of eating this kind of food I'm rarely hungry, usually I only eat one meal per day. Sometimes I forget to eat because I'm not often hungry and there is no sweetooth that's bothering me. I can focus on other stuff instead of food.
- My cooking skills skyrocketed. Since I only use 100% natural and unprocessed food I cook all the food myself. It's great fun and girls usually dig it.
- Sleep. I slept better and I didn't need as much sleep as before.
- Less alcohol. After a few weeks my body couldn't handle alcohol anymore. I used to have a very high tolerance level but after excluding carbs I got drunk as a skunk only after a few glasses of whisky or wine.
Less money spent on alcohol.

Cons.
- No beer. I used to be a great beer lover and this was maybe the hardest thing to stay away from.
- Annoying situations. When Friends and colleges invited me in to their place or to a party they had a hard time to accept that I refused to eat their cakes or drink their cocktails. Sometimes people get really offended when I say I'm fine with coffee or a glass of water.
- Going out with friends. This can be difficult also since steakhouses and seafood restaurants are basically the only places that serves decent food.
If my friends goes to a Indian place I will not order anything and sometimes they get offended by that. Well, it's theirs problem, not mine.
- Difficult while travelling. It's possible but it's a hassle to be on this diet when you're travelling. Especially in Asia where the food is high on carbs.
- Hangovers can be like nightmares.

All in all I recommend this to everybody who want to have a healthy and balanced lifestyle. One you start with LCHF you begin to feel so good so it's hard to go back to your old unhealthy eating habits.

Well,this is all I can think of right now.
Feel free to ask if there is anything you want to know.

Post: #2

Some good info on LCHF with real personal experience.

Post: #3

I've just finished a juicy strip of pork belly as I read that.

I'm four months into ketosis and loving it. I can agree on many of your points, particularly the sweet tooth disappearing and not feeling hungry. I've convinced it's a more natural way to eat.

I've lost about a stone and trimmed up well. Now at 11st10lb to 12st, 5'11" tall. Had to punch extra holes in my belt. It's not just what the scales say- it's your arms and face, things other people notice but you don't. This afternoon I stopped off in town to browse the charity shops- great opportunity for day game on a sunny Friday btw. Ran into two exes- both said 'You've lost weight'. Clearly I must have!

OP- do you have carb up days at all? On the bodybuilding forums a lot of people advocate 'cheat days'. I often do just because a few beers with the lads over a BBQ is too tempting. I find I can drop back into it the next day no sweat.

Interesting that you recommend cheese. Most literature I read on ketosis advocated against this, and also against caffeine. No way in hell I was giving those two up however, and it doesn't seem to limit me entering ketosis.

I would recommend anyone give it a go- once you get stuck into real food- chunks of meat dripping in fat, along some leafy greens in butter well seasoned- that donut looks pretty rubbish.

Post: #4

Thanks for sharing your experience with us, great write-up.

I've cut down on carbs in the past year, but my diet's not yet full-on LCHF. The biggest reason is the cost; I'm a student and live in one of the most expensive (food-wise) regions in my country. Buying unprocessed and healthy food digs deep into the wallet. What are your favorites among nutritious and cost effective LCHF meals?

Post: #5

Great write up OP. I tried full paleo and ketosis for a while (3 months) but it just got too dificult to keep up long term. I currently stick to low carb with maybe max 100gr carb a day and its working good for me. Now I eat 2 times a day as opposed to once a day with a light snack when on ketosis. I never had a serious weight problem (maybe 25lbs over weight on a 6ft frame at my peak of dozen beers a day and lots of carb with the food I ate) so I dont think I am that carb sensitive. But I will second the OPs conclusion that for ease of losing weight nothing beats ketosis. When I went on it I lost that 25 lbs extra weight in a month effortlessly.

Post: #6

(08-23-2013 09:52 AM)roberto Wrote:  Interesting that you recommend cheese. Most literature I read on ketosis advocated against this, and also against caffeine. No way in hell I was giving those two up however, and it doesn't seem to limit me entering ketosis.

Atkins, the original popularizer of lo-carb diets, discussed this in some detail. Younger cheeses have more carbs, like farmer's cheese.

He recommended cheese aged some minumum amount, like cheddar cheese at least six months old or something.

As I've gotten older lo-carb is the only way I've been able to lose weight. At this point I don't drink at all, my impression is alcohol has significant other weight-adding effects that go beyond its blood-sugar effects.

Post: #7

(08-23-2013 09:52 AM)roberto Wrote:  Interesting that you recommend cheese. Most literature I read on ketosis advocated against this, and also against caffeine. No way in hell I was giving those two up however, and it doesn't seem to limit me entering ketosis.

No problem as long as you eat cheese that contain zero carbohydrates. I prefer cheese made of unpasthorized milk. I know some people who are doing LCHF who exclude all dairy products. But it doesn't affect me at all. The same goes for caffeine.

(08-23-2013 09:56 AM)DarianFrey Wrote:  What are your favorites among nutritious and cost effective LCHF meals?

Most cost effective are maybe omeletts,fried eggs and also dishes that contains smashed meat. You can use these ingredients with a lot of variety in many kind of dishes. Especially smashed meat. Steaks are my favourite, but eating steaks everyday will burn a hole in my wallet.

(08-23-2013 10:17 AM)iknowexactly Wrote:  Atkins, the original popularizer of lo-carb diets.

Yeah, but Atkins and LCHF should not be mixed up. In Atkins you're still excluding fat meanwhile in LCHF it's something you should plenty of.

Quote:As I've gotten older lo-carb is the only way I've been able to lose weight. At this point I don't drink at all, my impression is alcohol has significant other weight-adding effects that go beyond its blood-sugar effects.

I totally agree. You body won't burn any fat or carbohydrates as long you have alcohol in your body.
It need to be burned away first.

Post: #8

Great post. I might go into more detail on my experience in another post but had similar success as yourself.

My diet - Paleo principles, similar to what you did (basically eating plants and animals in their most natural state - grass fed beef, organic veggies, etc, and eliminating the processed carbs such as sugar, wheat, corn and their derivatives)

Before - 212 lbs, 58 HDL, 88 trig, 22% body fat

After (10 weeks later) - 178 lbs, 89 HDL, 55 trig, 12% body fat

And I did this while in rehab for my shoulder so I couldnt even get a decent workout in. I have kept it off for 6 months now with relative ease. This type of diet change my life.

Post: #9

I just finished Gary Taubes latest book. Did a round of Paleo last month and lost 10. Doing lchf now.

Questions
1. Do you lift?
- what to eat and how much prior
- eat after?

2. Breakfast? Do you eat it?
3. fasting - do you?
4. How do you know if you're in ketosis?
5. Lunch at work?
6. High intensity interval cardio training - do you do it
7. Energy levels throughout the day? The post lunch sleepiness was immense with Paleo for me

WIA

Post: #10

(08-23-2013 09:56 AM)DarianFrey Wrote:  Thanks for sharing your experience with us, great write-up.

Buying unprocessed and healthy food digs deep into the wallet. What are your favorites among nutritious and cost effective LCHF meals?

I find eggs one of the best- an omelette with, say, mushrooms or tuna can be made in five minutes in the microwave.

Pork belly is also reasonably cheap if bought in bulk- it's one of the meats 'health concious' people avoid due to the high amount of fat! Sprinkle it with garlic powder and pepper, in the oven for ten minute on each side. Simples.

'Raw' food should be cheaper than processed stuff. Have you got a wholesaler of some sort near you? This thread might help: /thread-26185-...#pid497624

Post: #11

I've done this for the past several years and I had good results not gaining weight, and losing moderate amounts. Its my favorite way to eat since I don't have a big sweet tooth, and you just feel good avoiding processed junk. However, in retrospect I wasn't exercising intensely enough so I found that my metabolism slowed down, putting a floor under the weight loss. It's possible to eat very little food of this type and be satisfied. IF becomes very easy.

It probably should be combined with HIIT and maybe carb cycling, to avoid a down-regulated metabolism.

Anyway, since I've started lifting (SS) I've temporarily given up being very low carb. I'm still avoiding processed carbs though (for example, white flour and sugar, and most anything in a box or package).

Post: #12

(08-23-2013 03:44 PM)WestIndianArchie Wrote:  Questions
1. Do you lift?
- what to eat and how much prior
- eat after?

2. Breakfast? Do you eat it?
3. fasting - do you?
4. How do you know if you're in ketosis?
5. Lunch at work?
6. High intensity interval cardio training - do you do it
7. Energy levels throughout the day? The post lunch sleepiness was immense with Paleo for me

WIA

1. Not at the moment as I'm travelling. When I was home I did the P90X program. So I guess the answer is no.
I always ate around 9pm after workout.

2. No, only black coffee. Sine I eat late in the evenings I'm not hungry in the morning.

3. Yes. I usually eat only once per 24 hours, sometimes I do 48 hours fasting if I feel like it.
I highly recommend this, you learn when your body is actually hungry and when your brain is playing tricks with you.

4. You can test your urine with some sticks if you wanna be 100% sure. But I notice it especially after " cheating" or a month of travelling. After four days it feels like my body is burning fat again because my body is getting tighter again.

5. Never. This always bothered my collegues a lot. They couldn't understand how I don't need to eat during the whole working shift.
It's a great way to provoke people. It never bothered me, but really it pissed off some people. Especially when some collegues had birthday and brought some cookies,donuts or cakes and I refused to eat it every time. It's amazing how your eating behaviour can piss off some people.

6. No, I have only done P90X, swimming and some running.

7. I always had a very stable energy level throughout the day. No ups and downs. Not even if I get hungry. This is one of the reasons I love this diet / lifestyle so much.

Post: #13

Thanks Chaos

Post: #14

I never read anywhere that skipping meals is good on this diet if anything they tell you to eat more.

Post: #15

What do you mean by skipping meals?
With LCHF there is no need or rule that you beed to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Isn't a more natural way to eat if you follow your instinct and stomach and eat when you're hungry instead of looking on the clock when it's lunchtime?

Personally I only eat when I'm hungry, usually one meal in a cycle of 20 to 30 hours. But it often turns out that I eat between 8 and 11 pm.

Post: #16

I'm curious as to what age most people are in this thread. I ask because I was on a LCHF diet for around 7 years. I started eating that way around 24/25, and I felt great for years. I'm almost 34, and I noticed almost 2 years ago that some markers in my health really had changed.

I'm not sure if it was due to my age, but I ended up changing my diet around, to a more carb based diet, and I feel much better.

Post: #17

I find it's a lot easier to go low calories (while taking in enough protein) when I'm very low carb. I don't get those insulin spikes followed by low energy levels and hunger pains normally caused by dieting. I also throw in a few cheat days every now and then and it doesn't throw off any progess made. In fact, those cheat days are really useful for leptin levels and my body actually looks and feels more pumped than when dieting. Just make sure you keep your protein levels consistant and make sure you're getting in enough protein. I guess its always good to mix up any program you are on whether its weight training or dieting, good for shocking the system a little to keep it progressing.

Post: #18

I'm mid-fifties, early 30s was when I was first even capable of gaining any fat, it got easier and easier, especially with a desk job and alcohol.

Now I can't drink at all and have to have to do every single thing perfect in my diet to lose weight.

each day I eat oatmeal or rice, 3 protein shakes, a salad with beans, a couple bananas, some nuts and most days either lift moderately or ride bike 1-2 hours. I'm losing about 1/2 to 1 lb a week.

Post: #19

(08-23-2013 03:01 PM)Chaos Wrote:  Yeah, but Atkins and LCHF should not be mixed up. In Atkins you're still excluding fat meanwhile in LCHF it's something you should plenty of.

This is incorrect. Atkins advocated eating a considerable % of fat right from the beginning of the diet. He figured out you need to do that to shift your body to burning fat instead of waiting for more carbs.

http://www.atkins.com/Science/Articles--...ction.aspx

This was in sharp contrast to the theories of the 1970's when he first advocated the diet, and this nonconventional approach was part of why it took a long time before other experimenters provided objective evidence showing he was right.

He started a pretty large research institute and his ideas have gradually been accepted in the mainstream nutrition literature, I've had regular MDs tell me their patients have done well on Atkins. It's not "bro science."

Post: #20

(08-25-2013 02:46 AM)iknowexactly Wrote:  

(08-23-2013 03:01 PM)Chaos Wrote:  Yeah, but Atkins and LCHF should not be mixed up. In Atkins you're still excluding fat meanwhile in LCHF it's something you should plenty of.

This is incorrect. Atkins advocated eating a considerable % of fat right from the beginning of the diet. He figured out you need to do that to shift your body to burning fat instead of waiting for more carbs.

http://www.atkins.com/Science/Articles--...ction.aspx

This was in sharp contrast to the theories of the 1970's when he first advocated the diet, and this nonconventional approach was part of why it took a long time before other experimenters provided objective evidence showing he was right.

He started a pretty large research institute and his ideas have gradually been accepted in the mainstream nutrition literature, I've had regular MDs tell me their patients have done well on Atkins. It's not "bro science."

Thanks for correcting that iknowexactly. I always heard that you should exclude fat in Atkins diet but I never dag myself really deep into it.

Post: #21

Chaos, could you give a breakdown of 3 typical meals you would eat? What would be on your typical menu?

Post: #22

(08-25-2013 03:37 AM)Thomas the Rhymer Wrote:  Chaos, could you give a breakdown of 3 typical meals you would eat? What would be on your typical menu?

I eat many different meals but I always make it simple. Nothing beats a juicy steak, but that's so damn expensive so I usually sticking to cheaper stuff.
example.

4-600gr of BBQ Pork loin. My "salad" is always made of cabbage, 80% mayonaise and green pesto.

Omelette made of 4-6 eggs,cream, cheese and maybe some ham or salami.

Smashed meat of beef is one of my favourites that is excellent to make burgers of, burgers without bread of course. I use lettuce instead. You top it with anything you want.

Fried eggs and bacon.

Tacopie LCHF style without flour or dough.

BBQ chicken.

Smoked salmon.

You're imagination is the only limit, and the options of vareity is endless. But these dishes is something I eat often.

Post: #23

here we go again with another diet thread.

ever heard of flexible dieting?

count your macros and you can eat whatever you want and still lose weight.

no one food/type of food can make you fat

Post: #24

Point taken.
Nobody forced you to read this thread or to comment it.

Your last sentence is a very clever one...

Post: #25

Somehow I missed this thread, and it deserves a bump - because the data contained in the OP is very well organized and very thought provoking and informative.

Surely there are also some related RVF threads regarding Keto and paleo and the role of diet, sleep and exercise, and recently there has been quite a bit of back and forth discussions regarding dietary choices in the belly fat thread.

The comment of Alecks, above, is ridiculous and maybe even trolling?

I personally evolved over to this thinking regarding low carb and high fat in about early to mid 2012, after reading Gary Taubes's two books 1) good calories bad calories and 2) why we get fat and what to do about it. Around that mid-2012 time, I also read a couple of Mary Enig's books 1) Know your fats and 2) why fat doesn't make you fat.

Further, in late 2011 I began listening to a couple of low carb podcasts, including Jimmy Moore's various podcasts - such as living la vida low carb.. and these information sources opened me up to understanding that we should be cutting down on carbs and ensuring that we are getting good fats and oils into our diet (such as butter, coconut oil, lard, tallow, bacon grease), rather than bad fats/oils (such as industrial oils, canola, vegetable oils, margerines, partially hydrogenated oils, soybean oils and transfats)

Anyhow, really great OP and follow through.. and I would certainly be open to batting around a few of these ideas of this thread a bit more and discussing various sources including various misconceptions that remain in the mainstream media (even though there seems to have been some developments that are more accepting of fats in the diet).

There can also be misunderstandings and bad information regarding which numbers matter in your bloodwork... discussing blood sugars, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol and LDL cholesterol.

Docs (drug companies) still like to attempt to push statins with the ongoing myth about cholesterol being a supposed problem (rather than sugar as mentioned in the OP) - and even though there is NO real good evidence to justify the pushing of statins (except profits) and the medical industry and drug companies also like to push fucked up recommendations regarding how to treat diabetes with insulin.. rather than fixing diet and lifestyle... and actually all of us should eat as if we have some level of diabetes in order to preserve our body's ability to burn fats, and because as we get older, we likely become more and more sensitive to carbs and insulin resistance, which could have been minimized in our youth if we considered ourselves to have some intolerances to carb overloading, which seems to be a staple of the SAD...... that is the Standard American Diet.