KETOGENIC??

Note: Carb re-feed may be needed when a person has extreme RH or Hypoglycemia, and have imbalanced hormones. But it may slow down or prevent weight loss that is needed. Working on becoming "fat burning machine" should be a goal for most of us.

That is a complicated issue. There is RH and Hypoglycemia. I have both... But I learned to manage them.

The simplistic explanation below - is how my body deals with it.

We can burn fat or carbs. Often or body has preference - and we can teach it to burn fat. But it may take days or weeks to be fully adapted to burn fat - ketones.

To balance BS - or body need either glycogen or proteins... And hormones... Balance the hormones.

Glycogen is stored in a liver, muscle, and other tissue in us. When BS drops - our hormones gets activated stimulating the stored glycogen or to convert proteins into BS. Hopefully - we don't have high fasting insulin - because that would mess it up... And makes life really complicated...(high blood insulin can prevent glycogen or protein conversion - and that is really why some diabetics or people with high fasting insulin can get low BS)

The protein conversion is slow - so if i do cardio - and I don't have enough glycogen - I would crash, and crash badly. Or if I forget to eat...

When I follow a very low carb diet for a few days - my glycogen stores can be depleted so I would have more Hypoglycemia episodes... Really really bad ones...my BS dropping to low 40's or 30's.

The trick for me is to eat enough carbs to re-establish my glycogen stores, have that for a situation like that - but not too much to cause weight - fat gain.

I also have adrenal insufficiency- so that makes the situation even more challenging.

Every gram of glycogen needs 6-8 gr of water. When we go on low carb diet- as we burn glycogen- we lose the water. A person can "lose" 6-10 lbs in a first week following very low carb diet- but most of it is water. Once you add carbs - you may see similar "weight gain".

I am below my personal goal- but my weight can fluctuate up to 5 lbs. I can gain up to 5-6 lbs in a day or 2. Depends on my glycogen stores. When my weight gets too low - I know I am depleted. I also may get more muscle cramps- twitching. That happens before I start getting severe RH or Hypoglycemia.

The low weight to me is an indication I need to carb re-feed. And "gain" 2-4 lbs. So if I forget to eat, or really don't want to eat carbs- I still can function very well.

I often re-feed using fruits (berries) or nuts- nut butters. These are very safe for me "carby foods).

RH - can be caused by body overeacting to carbohydrates. If our body makes too much insulin in response to eaten good- that may cause low BS and prevent glycogen release from our cells even after the sugar start dropping. I call that "insulin storm". Eating your highly processed? food very fast - or drinking highly processed protein drinks can cause very rapid absorbtion and insulin storm in the body. (Protein bars can cause RH)

I know my body overproduce insulin- so if I eat carbs - I make sure I monitor my BS and catch any low before they get too low.

When I carb re-feed - I often balance my BS with eating nuts or nut butter app 30-45 min after the carbs.

Btw- lean proteins can activate excessive insulin in some people and cause RH. I know that was my case. Whey protein shake made with water or fat free milk - used to cause a severe low BS app 30 min to 1 hour after. The higher the lean proteins in a simple - highly processed meal - the lower my BS would get. Same with egg white protein shakes, very low fat chicken, even tuna. Adding good fat - and limiting my portion helped with RH.

(Typing on a tablet - so ignore spelling and autocorrect )

Wow! That is complicated. Sounds challenging to figure out. My body prefers to burn fat, and always has, which is (I discovered) genetic. This is why I do not follow a low-fat program. Must include some good fat in each meal. This is the problem I have when a program prescribes one plan for everyone. I don't discuss my fat intake with my dietician. I take her advice on what works for me and leave the rest involving carbs and fats. She advocates staying at around 80 grams of carbs. I would never lose an ounce on that even with low calories. It truly is a journey of discovery for each individual! Thanks for that detailed explanation.

Excellent explanation!! I know I can have a full blown RH episode after eating high protein. I'm still working on finding and perfecting the balance

The diet progression my clinic advises is high protein, but actually very low fat. They also include what I consider to be a LOT of carb-based foods. I was stunned to see the addition of cereals like Rice Krispies on Stage 5. Cereal is a trigger food for me, so NO THANKS!
I have tried to maintain a high-protein, low-carb lifestyle for years, which automatically led to eating a higher fat diet than most doctors prescribe. More recently, prior to surgery, I experimented with Keto. It worked well for me. Basically, you have to ingest some healthy fat to burn fat. Atkins is high-protein, low-carb, moderate fat. Keto is (as well explained by others here) high fat, moderate protein, low-carb. We are talking 10-20 grams of carbs on both, but again that depends entirely on personal metabolism. Carbs should NOT be refined or any type of sugars.
Since surgery, I eat a higher fat diet than my clinic advises, but I also don't add the soft fruits and other high carb foods they list as "OK."
Further on, I will most likely go Keto making sure to keep the calories as low as possible. If that stalls me, I will switch back to Atkins by adjusting the ratios.
You really have to find what works best for your metabolism.

I have been eating modified Keto since January and have lost 87 lbs. Unfortunately, I had regain 4 years after my sleeve. I eat 100 grams of protein daily, carbs 30-35 and calories 800-900. I don't monitor fat as it's always relatively low. My sugar never drops or raises, I have more energy then ever and feel so good.