• Macrophages play a significant role in regulating adipose tissue functioning during health and disease
• In addition to conventional functions such as clearing cellular debris and participating in tissue immune surveillance, lipid buffering is an important function of ATMs
• Obesity-induced inflammation, characterised by an elevated number of proinflammatory macrophages in adipose tissue, has been suggested to contribute to systemic insulin resistance
> One might hypothesise that the role of macrophages shifts during the progression of obesity from a predominant role in stimulating adipogenesis at the start of adipose tissue expansion to inhibiting adipogenesis once obesity progresses. The observation that adipogenic clusters containing macrophages appear at an early stage of adipose tissue expansion during obesity, yet decline in number upon the progression of obesity, supports this hypothesis. Reduced adipogenesis at later stages of obesity would promote hypertrophy of adipocytes to allow for storage of the excess amounts of lipids entering the adipose tissue, which is in turn linked to metabolic dysfunction such as adipocyte insulin resistance. Indeed, increased adipocyte size has been found to correlate with macrophage presence in obese adipose tissue
I don't know how to push through that.
I also do the Saturday cheat day thing.
More seriously, my irritability and lightheadedness got alot better after about a week, and it was worth just embracing it until then.
I lost 10lb my first month (didn't need to lose much), but more importantly for me, my blood pressure is way down from borderline hypertensive 130/90 to 114/77 yesterday. The conventional wisdom is you control 10% of your BP with lifestyle. Low salt and exercise did not touch it, but Keto with the same exercise knocked it down in less than a month.
What got me started was when random friends and relatives started talking about it. Then I looked around online and found dozens of podcasts, FB rooms, and so forth all sprouting up in the last year or two. The trend is clear. I don't think we've reached the almost-vertical part of the hype cycle yet.
The initial symptom was wanting to eat all of the time, even if I wasn't hungry. My brain was convinced that I had to spend huge chunks of my time chewing on something flavorful.
So I sliced off some very flavorful cheese and nibbled little tiny pieces during the morning. That seemed to work. Note that I avoided all artificial sweeteners. There's some danger there that I felt I should avoid.
Eating a bunch of cheese leads to constipation. Some fiber every morning fixed that.
There were a few other things. My energy level dropped right off, then came back. Now I have much more energy than when I started. I had a little bit of brain fog, but it was manageable.
The biggest thing I've found about keto is that my personality changes. I am much more relaxed and sedate than I used to be -- more on an even keel. That's not necessarily a benefit. It was just unexpected.
ADD: The crazy thing about keto, as opposed to just IF, is that you have to be really OCD about what you eat. Manufacturers sneak carbs into everything. A food journal was critical for me -- and it was something I felt I didn't have to do, since I already knew so much about nutrition! Good thing my SO talked me into doing one.
It's insane. You go buy beans, and there's rice flour in it. You buy salmon, and there's sugar in it. It's beyond ridiculous, and explains so much about rising levels of obesity. Anything even vaguely processed has a lot of unnecessary carbs added, for one reason or another.
I'm currently a non-strict keto-er, which means I'm really just a high-fat, low carb eater. I think consensus on 'keto-flu' is really just that when you're flushing all the glycogen, it's taking with it a lot of water, and it's upsetting your sodium/potassium levels, I don't really know. I just know that I don't suffer from it when I transition from periods of moderate carbs back to low carbs.
See reddit.com/r/keto for help.
First few weeks (in particular) I had to drop my weight amounts in the gym and found (fighting in) martial arts I tired quicker. Helped this with BCAAs and cream in my coffee prior to exercise (prior to this, my first meal wouldn't be until ~2pm and I'd exercise in the morning fasted). I suspect MCT oil would also help? Also struggled with low blood pressure/headrush when standing up quickly. Helped this with dioralyte and increasing my salt intake. Other than that, it's been good.
Pretty amazing diet really. Far, far leaner, no energy dip in the afternoon, and I'm far less bloated and uncomfortable. Although that's possibly because my diet seems to be a bit more FODMAP friendly. Interesting experiment, either way.
Keto and IF can be very dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. I'd suggest getting regular blood testing with your doctor while adjusting and figuring out your routine and meal plans.
Three weeks ago I went on a ketogenic diet. This week I've added intermittent fasting, only eating between noon and six.
After the "keto flu" period ended, it's been quite enjoyable. The IF comes quite naturally and is painless.
I'm not one to spot diet trends, but my intuition says that keto/IF will be a big thing over the next few years. It feels like it's reached critical mass.