So in February 2018 I decided to make some significant changes to my life most notably my relationship with food. I have several friends who have adopted the Keto lifestyle and it has improved their health profiles immensely. Going back further in time say 30 years I was a 6’2” 185 pound post pubescent 16 year old. Pretty athletic. Tore my acl that year and was unable to participate in hockey and football. It’s at that point that my love affair with beer and processed carbohydrates really started. I graduated 1 year later at 210 pounds. Not “fat”, I didn’t think anyway, but definitely not at my peak of health. Then life started. College, wife, kids, jobs, etc. I followed the typical path of the majority of Americans and gained weight slowly but steadily over the years. Aside from a few blips on the weight gain radar it was a steady climb. Fast forward to January 2018 I weighed in at 235. Again I said to myself, I’m not fat.....right? Nope. Definitely. Classic beer belly and chin. I started doing my research and watched as much YouTube as I could on Keto. The book the obesity code by Jason fung really changed my perspective on obesity and weight gain/loss. I started in earnest in February on my Keto journey. 6 months later I’m down 45 pounds and haven’t felt this good since I was 16. Now comes the hard part. Integrating Keto with my love of homebrewing. Fortunately my home brewing is seasonal from April through November so at the very least I can give my metabolism a rest for 5 months of the year. I will say this, being fat adapted doesn’t allow for much overindulgence. 2-3 beers and I’m done. Curious to see if anyone else has undergone a similar journey and any tips/tricks they may have to have your cake and eat it too.
Keto and homebrewing
- Thread starter Nmnbrewer
- Start date
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How is this working out?
I'm less than a week into keto and a little grumpy and slightly lethargic/foggy. Losing weight fast - 8 pounds as of today. I understand that is probably elimination of my Thanksgiving holiday overindulgence plus a bunch of water weight, but it's good for motivation short term. Got a metalic taste in my mouth and got a nice purple urine test so I guess I'm more or less doing it right and willing to stick with ithrough end of the year and evaluate how much I like the diet then. At minimum that will keep me from eating like crazy during Christmas and give me a good start going into 2019 to evaluate how I want to proceed.
Once concern is that I brewed a large batch of a pliny clone about 2 weeks before deciding to go on this diet. Gonna keg it later today and it should be ready to drink in a week or so. Not a beer to age. Hope its good enough to bottle and distribute to my non dieting friends for Christmas presents. Also thinking to try reintroducing homebrew into my diet about 4oz per day and watching those test strips as I do it.
Don't want to give up the hobby and curious about other homebrewers that manage to keep at it while going to low carb diets. Was a little disappointed to not see any responses to what looked to be the best thread title here but maybe we can start something.
I'm less than a week into keto and a little grumpy and slightly lethargic/foggy. Losing weight fast - 8 pounds as of today. I understand that is probably elimination of my Thanksgiving holiday overindulgence plus a bunch of water weight, but it's good for motivation short term. Got a metalic taste in my mouth and got a nice purple urine test so I guess I'm more or less doing it right and willing to stick with ithrough end of the year and evaluate how much I like the diet then. At minimum that will keep me from eating like crazy during Christmas and give me a good start going into 2019 to evaluate how I want to proceed.
Once concern is that I brewed a large batch of a pliny clone about 2 weeks before deciding to go on this diet. Gonna keg it later today and it should be ready to drink in a week or so. Not a beer to age. Hope its good enough to bottle and distribute to my non dieting friends for Christmas presents. Also thinking to try reintroducing homebrew into my diet about 4oz per day and watching those test strips as I do it.
Don't want to give up the hobby and curious about other homebrewers that manage to keep at it while going to low carb diets. Was a little disappointed to not see any responses to what looked to be the best thread title here but maybe we can start something.
damn beat me too it, i was going to say 'glucoamylase'....
AkTom
Well-Known Member
Keep up the good work. I’m cutting way back on processed food and sugar. I just started and have lost 5#. I’ll be watching this. I’m not quite ready to go Keto. Not yet...
charliethebum
Well-Known Member
Carbs aside, I know from experience that alcohol can throw you out of ketosis quick. Doesn't take much to get a solid buzz, though.
Hermit
fuddle
I'm doing intermittent fasting. It is often done in conjunction with keto. Using up your glycogen stores makes your body burn fat. I've gone from 193 lbs in August to 170 lbs as of this morning. I don't count a few beers in the evening a few times a week against my diet. I'm still slowly and steadily losing weight. The best part is that it has slowly made me less and less hungry between times I eat. If I have fat to burn is my body really calling out all that much for food or is it habit?
i use cron-o-meter...don't really follow a diet, per-se(SP?). just how ever i feel like getting my vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and lipids for the day.
I did something similar, but it was a Scotch Ale. I started keto October 1st, and am down 29lbs so far. I really have limited my beer intake over the last two months, but getting my weight down was more important. I tried the Mich. Ultra since it's only 2.5g of carbs, but I think I'd rather just drink water.
myndflyte
Well-Known Member
Weight loss must be in the air after Thanksgiving. Back in 2014 before kids, my wife and I tracked our macros and were working out and got really fit. It was probably the best shape I'd ever been in. Fast forward 4 years and 2 kids later, we decided we need to get back to tracking food and working out. The stout and porters I have on tap now really eat into the daily carbs quickly. I was only a weekend drinker before this anyway but I think even that will now have to get cut down to 1 or 2 per day on the weekend. But I may need to dive back into perfecting my saison and try some dry sours too.
I like the idea of a brut ipa....great suggestion, and motivation to try something new.
My daughter decided to follow the diet just to try to break the sugar habit. She doesn’t need to lose weight and isn’t tracking her food but interested in breaking some bad habits.
triethylborane
Well-Known Member
Carbohydrates are the nutrient that will throw you out of ketosis; consuming ethanol will not kick you out of ketosis. Ethanol can positively effect the level of ketone production and metabolism, but this is only true if the carbs are "aside." If you are drinking beer (not that no-carb bull s h i t beer), then yes, you might be going out of ketosis. If you are drinking something like tequila, whiskey, vodka - straight - then you will not be thrown out of ketosis. The rate of fat metabolism will be reduced while the alcohol is metabolized, but you will not be out of ketosis.
At this point I have been keto adapted for a few years and carnivore for nearly 9 months for athletic purposes. I can go for days without consuming food if need be and I can perform at high demands both mentally and physically. However, any addition of carbohydrates is like adding jet fuel and gives me serious energy resources when it comes time to perform. My consumption of carbohydrates is rare and highly targeted, but this is to ensure my body will glide back into keto metabolism yet get a few more gears to shift into when performing. I am mid 30s and my blood/hormone labs have never been better, my periodic health assessments are great and I wish I had gone this route sooner.
Assuming you are going ketogenic because you are facing a disease such as obesity, diabetes, or simply want reduce high body fat % and get a beach body, forget about consuming alcohol until you are truly fat-adapted. The reasoning is based on dietary habits that you are trying to break will not benefit from consuming alcohol because of its powerful effects on the CNS. Plus the ketogenic benefits of alcohol are not applicable because you are not yet fat adapted (foggy/sluggish/keto flu symptoms) and this process can take months.
Beer is a low performance choice compared to other carbohydrate sources but it is an interesting feel when consuming carbohydrates with alcohol. Homebrewing at this point is strictly for the love of brewing and sharing with family and friends. I buy the beer I drink, which occurs rarely.
T==
Thanks for the feedback. My reason for trying keto was to jump start a new diet. I initially intended to use this to get through the holidays with idea to get under obese BMI, from my start that required a 30 pound drop and I'm more than halfway there in just over 3 weeks. Have been in clear ketosis every time I've checked with the urine sticks (started checking about day 10, now I just can tell I'm there from an odd sensation on my tongue).
I've not given up alcohol but switched to bourbon straight and occasional beer. I've determined my local brewery's schwarzbier is about 15 carbs for the 18 ounce pint they serve. This is based on the brewer's reported FG and ABV. Having one of those does not put me out of ketosis. I hear your concern regarding new habits but for me the key habit is logging food consistently and honestly. Everything gets measured or estimated and logged ASAP. This worked from me about 10 years ago when I tried south beach diet for a month or so but then kept food logging for almost 4 years after. I am thinking I can do similar starting from keto.
I'm feeling good enough on the diet I'll probably continue for another 30 pounds after hitting first goal. But will test increasing carbs and reincorporating homebrew. Ordered some enzymes this week and already planning a Brut IPA. I think I can get that down close to 0 carbs. If that works out I'll set a reward for the second 30lbs am thinking a Spike conical fermenter would be nice reward to aim for. But that is me today, maybe in 4-5 months when I'm hitting that weight I'll opt for a new bike instead.
Thanks for the feedback. My reason for trying keto was to jump start a new diet. I initially intended to use this to get through the holidays with idea to get under obese BMI, from my start that required a 30 pound drop and I'm more than halfway there in just over 3 weeks. Have been in clear ketosis every time I've checked with the urine sticks (started checking about day 10, now I just can tell I'm there from an odd sensation on my tongue).
I've not given up alcohol but switched to bourbon straight and occasional beer. I've determined my local brewery's schwarzbier is about 15 carbs for the 18 ounce pint they serve. This is based on the brewer's reported FG and ABV. Having one of those does not put me out of ketosis. I hear your concern regarding new habits but for me the key habit is logging food consistently and honestly. Everything gets measured or estimated and logged ASAP. This worked from me about 10 years ago when I tried south beach diet for a month or so but then kept food logging for almost 4 years after. I am thinking I can do similar starting from keto.
I'm feeling good enough on the diet I'll probably continue for another 30 pounds after hitting first goal. But will test increasing carbs and reincorporating homebrew. Ordered some enzymes this week and already planning a Brut IPA. I think I can get that down close to 0 carbs. If that works out I'll set a reward for the second 30lbs am thinking a Spike conical fermenter would be nice reward to aim for. But that is me today, maybe in 4-5 months when I'm hitting that weight I'll opt for a new bike instead.
