Ughhhhhhhh. 

I saw myself on a security camera the other day and I have never felt so crappy. I've gained so much weight since having kids and breastfeeding it isn't funny.  No - I don't loose weight breast feeding, I pack it on.

I'm wanting to try the keto diet - on a budget and my husband wants to start too. Anyone have any advice? I could use a lot of help. 

I don't follow a keto diet but my older sister does so I texted her and asked for her input.

App she uses to track her diet: Keto Diet Tracker (she has an iPhone so idk if it's available on other devices) - you put in your height, weight, and goals and it personalizes how much of what you should be eating, you can find foods and their nutrition info on there and add it to your 'plan'

Preparing meals in bulk: She freezes a whole week's worth of meals often. Also plans and makes containers of food in advance so she's less likely to grab fast food or snack when there's already easily accessible food ready in little bins.

Pinterest & the interwebs: According to her the easiest way to find new things to try and what not to do and ways to minimize costs is to just search on Pinterest and Google. Mom bloggers often have whole anthologies of recipes and tips and tricks to look through. ([1] [2] [3] [4] [5])

Being accountable to family/friends: Both her and her husband follow this, and she works out with two girls she's known since high school and they all keep each other accountable for following it and support each other.

I know there was another thread about this not too long ago so I'll link it here as well - [6]

Those are good websites FWF! Ketogasm is awesome it has a free course you can go through that explains what exactly keto is, how it works, and tips and tricks.

Make sure you buy electrolyte tablets! When your body is burning fat for fuel instead of glucose you burn through them quicker and the best way to avoid getting the keto flu is taking the tablet. 

Make sure you are drinking at least 100oz of water a day, more if you can.

Try not to over think it. It's hard to wrap your head around it in the beginning but it's easier to prep and cook than you think. Download a keto app to help you track if you need to. Carb manager, stupid simple keto, keto diet - there are quite a few. I haven't found one I'm in love with yet, I still use my fitness pal I just adjust the macros.

5% carbs, 20% protein, 75% fats 

Carbs are a limit, do your best not to go over on them. Most people aim for less than 20 NET carbs a day, Net carbs is Carbs - Fiber - Sugar Alcohols = Net carbs (on a nutrition label)

Protein is a goal, try to hit it but if you are under, just listen to your body. As you get into being fat adapted you really won't be hungry.

Fat is a lever. Eat as much as you need to feel full. At the start, you are going to need more while your body is transitioning into ketosis. Once you are fat adapted you will want to eat less fat, because your body will be trained to burn your body fat.

Fasting is amazing on keto. It helps you stay focused, you have an eating window, and a fasting window, so when you are in your fasting window it has helped my "need to snack all the time" mentality lol - now I typically eat in a 4 to 6 hour window (one large keto snack, and one meal) and then fast the other 18-20 hours of the day drinking only water.

When you are fat adapted your body will still need nutrients, even though you won't be hungry. So when this happens I suggest making leafy green smoothies. Aloa vera juice and apple cidar binegar drinks are a great way to rid your body of inflamation too!

For meals, a fatty meat is best but you can still cook leaner types like chicken breast or lean ground beef just cook them in healthy fats. Kerrygold butter and Ghee and Coconut oil are life. I cook everything in one of those three things. Then low carb veggie sides, and cheese. Check labels, some people on strict keto totally stay away from vegetable oil, soybean oil, etc but I'm not totally stick so I stilll eat things like peanut butter.

If you are doing it for weightloss, the goal is to not spike your insulin levels because that's what signals to the brain that it's time to burn glucose. After it's burned the glucose it will store the fat is doesn't need. Ketosis is a state of constantly burning fat.

There are urine test strips you can buy to check to see when you are in ketosis. Blood meters are more accurate, but I haven't felt the need to buy one yet.

If you want to message me and add me on FB I have a facebook group I'm in where my friend who is a dietetic student has screenshotted a tons of her keto cook books.

I know I have more to type but I'm drawing a blank. I'm here to help!!

I've actually hit a stall in my weightloss so I'm going to be changing my routine up but I've lost around 17 pounds since Feb and my best friend who I am helping with her keto diet is down 15 lbs as of yesterday and she's a month and one week into the lifestyle change!

A word of caution in respect to this diet.

A friend's husband developed gout after being on this diet. For that reason alone I would never recommend anyone go on it.

I'm sorry to hear that Absinthe!!

Con, if you have any health concerns or questions you can always talk to your doctor before starting. I am in no way a health professional, I just follow the advice of my friend who is in school for nutrition to be a registered dietetic. I haven't had any problems, but I can totally see with it being such a high fat diet how people with pre existing conditions, people prone to certain things, and people who don't get enough nutrients/ electrolytes. The goal of keto is to keep your body in ketosis, so it continuously burns fat. If you go over on your carbs every day and still eat high fat, your body is going to store that fat and you are going to gain weight, and possibly have porblems with kidney stones, fatty liver, gout, high cholesterol, inflamation, all the negative health conditions that usually come with an unhealthy diet. It usually takes about a month to two months for you levels to even out when starting keto because you body is transitioning the way it runs. Once you are fat adapted the risk for that is very low. This diet has helped diebetics, cholesterol levels, people with memory problems, with seiszure conditions. Because it is a complete switch of the food pyramid, and a shift in how your body operates, definitely read up on it before you start so you know what you are doing. But I love it so far! To keep myself from health risks, I make sure to have that green smoothie I talked about, take daily electrolytes and drink tons and tons of water. I will obviously let you know if I run into anything abnormal, but from all I've read and talked about with Arletta (my nutritionist friend) - I feel like this is right for me. And actually, once you are fat adapted you don't need to consume as much fat. At that point, your body will stay in ketosis until you do something to kick yourself out of it. So how much fat you are eating is going to change.