Anyone out there doing the ketogenic diet (low carb, moderate protein, hight fat)? My husband and I started it to lose weight, and get our health back, and also it is supposed to be a healthy way of eating to maintain my kidney health.
Well I did C25k early this year and completed around March/April. I started running 5k consistently. I trained and did a 10k race, a 5k race and last month an 8k race. My running journey has been great. But when we started our new diet, my legs couldn't run anymore! I'm still getting out there but it's hard. The first 1-3 months of Keto is a transition period of your muscles learning to burn fat for energy instead of glucose. We are on day 20 so I am hopeful that this will change soon and my runs will feel good again.
BUT, to get to the point, my 12 year old daughter wanted to start running with me so we could do a race together. So we started c25k together. We are on week 2 and she is finding pretty easy. She is young and fit so she should adapt easily. She is quite a bit quicker than me and I have to ask her to slow down! I'm glad that she is taking an interest in running, and that we can start from the beginning, because I don't think my legs can take much more!
Anyone else out there doing Keto and running?
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ToniCR
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Vegan female and runner does make you high risk for anaemia but enough plant nutrition should keep this at bay. If you legs are telling you they are tired, then stop..
It’s gonna be tougher to remove the prime fuel source and run. The toxic 10 is going to be longer as fat burning tends to kick in a little slower.
Also, while the diet works on the principle that if you can’t make glycogen from carbs you’ll make it from fat, it’s also true that your body will make it from protein, so will use muscle.
Ketosis scares me to be honest. Is may be good for the kidneys but I can’t see how having blood sugars crash is any good for anything else.
I think the diet was actually designed to help kids with seizures and was successful to some extent with many side effects, one of which was weight loss... personally I don’t think the other side effects are anything I’d want.
I lost a lot of weight, I didn’t follow any fad diet, I didn’t pull any dangerous magic tricks by shocking my body. The only risk I took was that I was obese for longer. I also didn’t pay anybody a penny for a book about it. I ate healthy portions of healthier food and continue to do so. I’m a firm believer that diets only work if they’re for life. The people who make money selling diets are firm believers in weight yo-yoing, they get to sell more books. I’m 12 stones down on my peak weight. I have the energy available to run. I don’t cut any food groups.
Hi there, no, I’ve never followed any fad diet, or anything alleged to be good for this or that....I eat healthily, have a balanced diet and don’t deprive myself of any food groups.
If I ever was interested in a diet being sold as the next big thing, does this or that - usually via buying a book or shelling out money, that claimed to have specific health benefits - you have mentioned kidney health.....then I would check with an independent medical practitioner or my GP first.
Anything that advocates high fat in take, certainly does not seem like a good idea to me, that can’t be good for you surely? As far as I’m aware losing weight and improving health is hard work and takes time, there are no quick fixes, we all know, really, what we need to do to eat healthily, and we need to move about a bit more, with regular exercise.
I certainly wouldn’t recommend this diet, but I hope you find something that will work for you.
Toni, I think that by cutting out the primary fuel and having your body forced into selecting the "emergency tank" is unlikely to be successful in the long term.
So you cut out, or down on carbs which would give you glucose for energy and your body has to select fat as a fuel source.
We naturally would be in this state if we were starved, and bear in mind the body can also use muscle as fuel!
Personally I think a well balanced diet that doesn't exclude food groups is a better long term option.
You could consider something like the 5:2 diet which has proven health benefits, and no risks identified.
I actually did this for 3 years prior to running, and think that I will probably return to it, or a modified version.
When I was doing this I felt no loss of energy, even on 12.5 hour shifts.
Back in September I cut out carbs from my diet, this gave me a kick start into losing some weight. I didn’t follow all the different terminology or count carbs, I just cut out pasta, bread, rice, sweets, chocolate, chips and alcohol from my diet.
Around the same time, I started C25K. After 2 weeks of no carbs, I started eating a small bowl of bran cereal for breakfast, still avoiding carbs for the rest of the day, as I found I needed to get energy for the increased running.
This week I will ‘graduate’, along with hitting my target of losing 2 stone!
I have reintroduced some carbs back into my diet, but in small portions. I feel happier, fitter and more confident. So long as I don’t go mad with what I eat, and continue running I can keep the weight down.
It’s not a diet I could maintain long term, as I had to manage mealtimes for the rest of the family too!
I feel so much better for managing the insulin level, so I don’t get the drop in the afternoon and crave something sweet. I definitely have more energy, and am more motivated.
I’m trying to do both - keto and running. It’s been just over a month of keto (some carbs over the weekend) and fasting until noon weeksays.
I’m not sure that my running is more difficult - runs have always felt like hard work and even now some are easier than others but none are effortless!
I haven’t really seen weight loss (haven’t measured) but my concentration has greatly improved and I sleep very well.
Sorry I cannot help more but I’ll keep doing keto and keep running.
I have had great success so far - losing weight, mental and physical energy is high and steady through the entire day and my sleep is better. I'm also intermittent fasting several days a week, eating my first meal at noon. Adaptation to this way of eating takes 1-3 months and so I'm being patient with it - which isn't hard because I feel amazing - better than I have in 13 years! I'm back to C25k for now while my daughter and I practice running together (which is super awesome, so proud of her and she's doing great!), but my goal next year is a half marathon. This article gives me a lot of hope for my running future! nypost.com/2018/03/19/heres...
Thanks for your reply. I watch Thomas DeLauer on YouTube and he maintains that a keto diet is good for moderate exercise people. I consider my running to be moderate (or even slow = I run 5km in 40 minutes). So, I'm not doing any high intensity workouts and I think once I get beyond that horrible 10 minute mark, I'm usually okay plodding along for 30 more minutes.
I do eventually want to speed up and when I tried the C25K+ podcast on interval training, I did find it difficult. But I'll try that again in the next week or so to see if I've made progress.
I'm pleased to hear about your success on keto - well done. Can you recommend any particular resources? I'm always looking for food ideas and inspiration - I'm getting tired of bacon and eggs!
I like Dr. Berg on YouTube. He recommends the healthiest version of Keto which is heavy on the vegetables. His videos can be a great resource. Also there is a website called diet doctor which has free Keto recipes and low carb recipes.
Yes, I like Dr Berg too. And have seen Diet Doctor. I also like Keto Christina - who has a down-to-earth manner
My difficulty is my weekend cheats. It’s hard to say no to Saturday morning crepes or Sunday morning baguette (i live in Switzerland - very close to France). I’ve been eating some carbs over the weekend (not nearly as much as before but definitely above 20g) but I don’t know if it’s worth it.
I guess I’m still trying to figure it out - and find a family-friendly balance.
Balance is good, and honestly, I think varying the diet can be good for you too. Dr. Pompa has some interesting advice on diet variation that might be worth checking into. Balance and moderation are hard for me and I'm in trouble of falling back into old habits. So right now it's all or nothing until I can get a handle on things. I do much better following a very strict eating plan.
When I reduced carbs, I lost a lot of weight quickly. But I had no energy to run. My legs just turned to jelly after about 3k. Brilliant advice on here as always, now including carbs within my plan and my energy is back. I am still losing weight but slower, some weeks not at all. I am a teacher and I teach children in science that a balanced diet is good. Cutting one food group?? Might be good for weight loss but is it sustainable? I want to lose weight but I also want to live and eat reasonably normally. I want to run!! So carbs are my friend, I just eat them sensibly.
Please could you share how you eat carbs. I would like them to be my friend but once I have some bread or something, I feel like my cravings are back up - for both savory and sweet carbs. I don't like having to tell myself that I'm not allowed to eat certain things and I'd like to strike a balance but right now the "all or nothing" approach seems to be the only way for me. I'd be interested to hear how you've managed to find the balance.
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Week 9 Run 2 c25k. Enjoyed so much.
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2 years after C25K Graduation 
