Was told too much walking bad with Keto..??

[HeatherRayne]

I have been getting my body back into shape and out of pain since sugery and complications last year. Walking has been pretty much all I could do during this time. I finally got up to 10k steps a day and often get more. I do this at least 5 days per week. I also do the daily exercises that my PT gives to me. Anyway...I started a keto diet about 3.5 weeks ago and was told by a few people in Keto groups that that much cardio is keeping me from losing more weigh. Is there truth to this? Something about raising my insulin because it drives up cortisol. They said only muscle building exercises are good (which I really cannot do at this point). Thoughts??

[TurbochargeLife]

Point taken. All I know is what my doc told me. Sorry if that is inaccurate, but I didn't realize he was wrong in telling me that. 

[Raviv]

Unfortunately, even some doctors confuse "ketosis" with "ketoacidosis".  I know that sounds crazy but it's true.

Ketosis is perfectly normal while ketoacidosis is a very dangerous problem associated with diabetes.  That may have been what your doctor was talking about.  I don't know why some of them still confuse the two, but I've had to explain the difference to a medical professional myself before.  Which doesn't exactly make you their favorite patient, but might give the next patient a better shot at getting the correct answer.

For the record, while I think ketosis is perfectly healthy, I don't do it myself.  Just not my thing.

[Mermaid3011]

@HeatherRayne

First of all: congrats on getting to 10k steps on a regular basis! After surgery recovery that is a real achievement and you should be proud of yourself. 

I personally dont think there is ANYTHING wrong with walking. Next to swimming it's the most natural and healthiest exercise you can do to improve your overall health!

Weightlifting, running and biking may be an issue being on a keto diet. I have done my share of reading before I started a keto diet myself and it's not easy on your organs. I also remember feeling really weak, without any energy or drive and for me (personally, no judgment here!) it was very hard to stay within the ketosis (used the strips to check daily) and after about 2-3 weeks I decided that I just couldnt see myself living on this regimen for the rest of my life.

I was wondering why you decided to go the Keto Diet route. 

Is it a diet or even lifestyle that you enjoy following? And could you follow it for the rest of your life?

Now, I am not a doctor, biologist or pharmacist. And I am sure there are many people on forums that have read a lot of medical journals and articles. But in the end I would do this: 

- get an opinion of a dietician. 

- get another opinion of a medical specialist for obesity and weight loss medicine.

Make a decision that is based on what you have heard, learned and what you believe is best for you. What you can do and enjoy for the rest of your life. 

All the best!

Birgit

[HeatherRayne]

Thank you to everyone for their input. I appreciate it all!

I chose keto as an experiment. I had around 20 lbs to lose and thought I'd try. Low carb (around 50-60g) and low fat just wasn't working after a 10lb SLOW loss. I was miserable as well. So I thought I'd try.

I have been able to stick to this longer than any other diet in my life. And I lost 8 lbs and 8 in in my first 4 weeks. Gave me the encouragement to stick it out (tho I did take a break during a week vacation...I was still sensible tho).

I am about 8 away from goal weight. After that I will probably stick with a lower carb Mediterranean diet most of the time. Not keto tho. It isn't something I could do 100% forever. But I will take with me a lot of what I learned and I think it will help me maintain from there on out. For example - mashed cauliflower is perfectly fine instead of potatoes. Stuff like that.

Saw my cardiologist this week and she was thrilled. Said my lipids are better than hers - perfect numbers. She told me to keep on until I get to where I want to be. So, I will keep trying. The last 10 lbs are stubborn as hell tho!!!

[Mermaid3011]

@HeatherRayne

That's awesome!! congrats!!! 

See - another opinion often works wonders!!! 

I usually see at least 2 doctors when it comes to decision making.... they arent gods and they sure dont know it all. LOL

Good for you!!!! Keep going! Those 8 lbs will drop and you'll be exstatic for hitting goal!!!

[RexFeral]

I personally don't know if it the walking is bad, good or neutral. All I know is that since I got a keto type diet, I can't stop moving. Ive gone from a completely sedentary lifestyle to one where I walk more than 10'000 steps a day. Some days I go past 20'000.

My goal has always been just a mere 5'000 and I do that in the mornings, when I go for a morning walk. The problem is that as the day keeps going, my body is telling me to go-go-go. I just have so much energy. I don't know if its because of my massive weight loss or what. I remember when I was on a high carb diet, I was extremely overweight and tired all of the time. Now, I have energy to give out to other, if I could.

So basically, I don't even monitor my walking. I just do what my body wants. If it wants to walk, I don't stop it. I never started walking for weight loss, since I realize that's pointless. I just did it to reduce stress, get some cardio and because I can't be still. Now everything I do is an excuse for walking and my husband, the most inactive person in the world, is experiencing the same thing on this diet. Its just great.

[TheBlackWolf]

By the way, the 10,000 step standard has no scientific/medical background.  It arose out of Japan where 10,000 is an auspicious number and in fact, one of the early pedometers out of Japan was names "10,000 steps" as a way to get Japanese people to purchase it.

If you feel comfortable while walking (not stressed, not strained, not injured) then whatever you walk, at whatever pace will probably be fine.

[TheBlackWolf]

Just a note on treadmills -- they do half the walking for you.  If you have inclement weather or an otherwise hazardous environment they are better than nothing.  It is always better to do real walking where you power yourself the whole time.

[valegregg]

I wear my fitbit on my ankle... much more accurate.

[Annabel398]

@HeatherRayne

 If you are looking for a little more efficient way to burn calories than walking, but cannot go the weightlifting route, you might be a perfect candidate for FitStar. It's the exercise app that FitBit bought, and it consists almost entirely of bodyweight exercises--some yoga moves like warrior and down dog, planks, jumping jacks, crunches, various flavors of pushups, shadow boxing, running in place, etc. The video of how to do the various moves is excellent and the "trainer" is encouraging. 

The cool feature is that they start you off with a little fitness test to "place you" and then for each workout, after every set, you get a quick rating screen: how many (or for how long a time) did you do, and was it too easy/too hard/just right. Using your feedback, they then tailor the following workouts to your level. And of course they try to nudge you upward out of your comfort zone a little too. But all the workouts incorporate short rest intervals, so it's not b@lls to the wall for the whole time. I reeeeeally like it.

Download the app--you get two sessions a week free from a limited menu. Subscribe for a year ($40, which I think is quite reasonable) and you unlock a ton more workout moves and unlimited sessions. 

You can use my referral code to get a free month of the Premium service: BXNVCZ (I get a month added to my subscription too).

Oh, I forgot to mention--it automatically syncs with your FitBit account, so the calories you burn in a FitStar session show up instantly in your FitBit app, which is very cool. Most of the sessions run 20-25 minutes and burn 200-250 calories, just the thing to bump up your activity level in a short time. 

[TheBlackWolf]

As long as the 10,000 steps do not leave you breathless (that is you can keep up a conversation while walking) you are not moving into aerobic exercise and not raising your cortisol.  If you powerwalk at a pace where you can't talk and walk at the same time or you have to take more than one breath to finish a sentence, then slow down.

[elderwanda]

Hmmm, I'm not so sure about weightlifting necessarily burning more calories than walking.  That would totally depend on your weightlifting workout and how strong you are.  That varies so much from person to person that it can't really be quantified.  I can take my 49 year-old chicken legs and flabby core, and do 5 sets of 5  60 pound barbell squats, but I don't have the muscle mass or strength to do much more than that at this point.  I don't know how many calories that burns, but it's probably not a huge amount.  

The young guy at the next squat rack is doing the same thing, but he's got tree trunks for legs, and has obviously been working at this since he was 15.  He's moving five or six times more weight than I am, and engaging a whole lot more muscle mass, which means he's burning more calories.  

And of course we've all seen the people who just sit on the thigh machine and gossip for ten minutes, and then have a 300 calorie smoothie to replenish the calories they think they just burned! 😉 

[Dominique]

---

@elderwanda wrote:

Hmmm, I'm not so sure about weightlifting necessarily burning more calories than walking. 

---

You are referring to @HolyGigi’s claim (made back in August 2015) that "you will burn more calories in 10-20 minutes of weightlifting than in an hour walking on the treadmill". Well, I’m pretty sure one hour of walking will burn more calories than 10-20 minutes of weightlifting. Just have a look at the Compendium of Physical Activities: walking is 2.0 to 4.3 METs, depending on speed:

Resistance training, OTOH, is only 3.5 to 6.0 METs:

You would have to compare the slowest type of walking to the most intense type of resistance training in order to get the 1:3 ratio implied by the claim 20 minutes of weightlifting burns more than 60 minutes of walking.

I have nothing against weightlifting (on the contrary, I’m all for it), but its main purpose simply isn’t to burn calories.

[LoserE]

If you are frustrated walking, you must be bored.

I walk by the ocean with lots of benches.

When I get sore and tired I can watch the ocean or all the pretty girls running.

Slow walking, keeps your heart rate low and only burns fat. Thats what you want.