3 Questions, not quite sure where to post

(Amanda) #1

I’m still not quite forum savvy. I don’t want to break any etiquette rules, so I hope this is an okay way to do this. I have some nagging questions.

  1. Is there a reasonable amount of water that is too much? I’m not talking about drinking super extreme amounts of water (like 10 litres or more). I took my weight in lbs divided it by 2 and use that as my oz needed for the day. (150 oz or about 19 cups, 5 litres) Some days I am close (about 4 l) other days I am falling quite short closer to 2 l. I find that there is a bit of a pattern 2 high days, then one low. Is this normal, okay?

  2. How do you know what is going on inside your body? I’ve read about using Keto to heal your body, help your hormones and such. How will I know if this is going on? What does Fat adapted mean? I know it’s a goal, but why?

  3. Advice on my macros. I think I have a pretty good understanding of “good” (spinach, zucchini, mushrooms, etc.) and “bad” (pasta, potatoes, sugar, etc.) carbs. I just want to make sure that I am in the ballpark. I used the Keto Calculator (https://keto-calculator.ankerl.com/) to help me come up with my macros.

Cal 1698 Net Carbs 20g
Protein 85g Fat 142g

According to my app (I understand that these may not be the most reliable) my averages since starting are;
Cal 1539 Net Carbs 16g
Protein 80g Fat 126g

I’m feeling great, I just don’t want to be going happily off course and all of a sudden realize that I’ve been doing it wrong, or worse yet harming myself without knowing it.

I’ve spent too long being fat, sick and tired to spend another day complacent!

Sorry for the length, and thank you for making it to the end! :smile:

#2

Hi Amanda and a warm welcome to the forum. No rules broken and never apologise for asking questions; we all do it and the great thing about this forum is that its full of supportive, helpful bods who are keen to help each other. :smile:

1.In my experience I never bothered to work out how much water I should drink(didn’t realise there was a formula to be honest!) but just set myself a target of 2-3 litres/day. When I was away on holiday in Egypt recently I’d easily drink 4-5 litres/day due to the heat. So do think it depends on temperatures where you live also. You can drink too much, but your body should tell you “no more” if its had enough. If you’re not going to the bathroom regularly in the early stages of eating the keto way, and if when you go your urine is dark in colour this means you’re dehydrated. If your taking in too much water your urine will be very pale (water like in colour) and you may get pain in your kidneys; which case reduce your intake.

2.Your second question is a big one. You don’t know for sure how your body is prioritising its healing processes, but many people get tests done to define / understand where they need to heal e.g. HbA1c,insulin sensitivity, fat distribution and percentage etc etc. Are you Type 2 diabetic? Normally the body will prioritise healing from within first and weight loss is a secondary bonus of this way of eating. Hence, women tend to lose at a slower rate as their bodies are dealing with more active hormonal changes on the whole.

I would advise you to listen to the podcasts and read much of the great info found in the resources regarding explanations re fat adaption etc etc . I spent a month reading/listening to the podcasts before I started eating this way. In a simplistic nutshell, fat adapted is when your body changes from using sugar/carbs for fuel/energy to using fat for fuel/energy. Your body doesn’t need sugar/carbs and will function much better once it becomes fat adapted. Its a goal which most attain after 6-8 weeks, and you know you’ve reached it as you experience a great mental clarity and energy, plus a really positive state of mind.

  1. I’m not going to comment on your macros as I choose not to use a calculator myself. I choose to track my carb intake (less than 20g) strictly, eat fat to satiety and moderate protein. Everyone does what works for them so I’m sure some of our friends who are more knowledgeable will help you here.

Good luck with your journey, its a great ride!
Ali

(karen) #3

This website has some good info and examples of foods that have few or no carbs. (It has a paid membership but there’s plenty of free advice and info too.) The foods you mentioned are all low in carbs, making them good choices on a keto diet, but the bottom line is that you may want to count those carbs at least at first, because even if they’re coming from mushrooms and zucchini they can add up.

#4

if your urine is dark yellow then not enough water, if it is clear then to much water, a light color of straw is perfect.

(Chris W) #5

Welcome

  1. Water for the first 2 weeks will vary wildly, but I did what you are doing and other than depleting my salt it worked well. I was thirsty that much at least most days I was on the order of 120oz or half my weight at the time. I started cutting back after the 4th week to about 2/3 that amount. The amount you use in sweat will also make a difference both from physical activity and just heat. I don’t completely believe the color of your urine determines a whole lot, as you progress on burning fat you will notice it deepen in color at least it did for me even at greatly increased water intake. I find what I drink makes a much larger difference in the color more than the amount but maybe that s me. Also as your insulin drops your water retention will go down, as well as you mobilize fat your water output will increase as a by product, so increasing your salt intake this is very important.
    I did not try and force in the water, when I was thirsty I drank. I avoided most sodas and the like for long time before resuming them, on the order of 4 months.
  2. Not sure, stuff, good stuff everyone is differnent and has different dysfunctions. That is more a reasonable guess, there are things happening at many levels and rates. Things that are certain, your beta cells are getting a break from heavy duty, your mitochondria are repairing themselves, your liver is working the fats, your blood glucose is dropping hopefully to a lower floor everyday. Since the ketogenic way of eating is a catabolic state your repairing of internal organs and cells is increased. Hopefully your inflammation is dropping and the macrophages are starting to do their work. Even though you may prioritize weight loss, or more to the point fat loss don’t be surprised if you don’t for a while after the initial water loss. Your body is getting ride of the visceral fat first hopefully, as well the fat in muscles, then your sub q fat. Your cholesterol is going up, don’t fret that is your energy supply, as you progress and inflammation goes down your levels will work them selves out.
    Fat adaption, which follows keto adaption, is when most of your body cells are using the fat mobilized by the hormones directly. This cuts the liver out of the game to some extent, it also tends to make life easier as you are not relying on the liver as much and you tend to have more energy during exercise and long low impact use. For many people after fat adaption fasting and calorie manipulation becomes easier. Its not going to be a light switch moment, its gradual, but you will esp if you exercise notice it when it hits the tipping point. Hunger also tends to go down for people who have have higher body fat levels and IF tends to start all on its own. As you progress satiety signalling will become more and more important.
  3. Its hard to comment exactly on your macros without more specs(age weight height etc), based on the weight you have lost and water intake figures I am going to say you are low on your intake overall but people who are heavier tend to loose weight at restriction for a while until it does not work. My advice is the first few weeks is eat to your macro levels, if you are still hungry after that eat more fat until full. Once you understand satiety then eat to satiety, again hit your protein and finsih off with fat until satiated. Protein macros can vary but I recommend you start at 1.0g to kg of LBM for a while and then go from there. Most people need to do a lot of repair that has been neglected due to higher insulin levels, this can take a long time. My protein has varied wildly through my journey only until recently did it really start give me issues with ketosis other than very blatant overages like holidays or eating a really big steak. We have a saying here N=1 you are your own experiment so you are going to have try different things. Restricting your intake below maintain can lead to lower BMR and that will slow fat loss, and may make you feel bad after a while. I tell everyone to use the maintain macro levels, you don’t have to but I lost weight at those levels, felt good save when I was eating at a deficit of 20%. While doing it my weight loss slowed to a crawl after going back to maintain my weight loss returned to normal. If you give your body the energy it needs it will use, fix, repair, heat, your body will spend your fat like a drunken sailor spending money at a port of call if you provide it with enough coming in.
    As for carbs, the least is the best, most people can tolerate more than 20g but that limit is intentionally low. Its not something you want to hit, I try never get past 12g in a day. Do I go past 20g yes, but not often. Its very hard to be knocked out of ketosis by vegetables that are keto friendly, leafy greens and what not. Eat your veggies with fat, some of the best advice that can be given in regards to them.

I hope this helps.

#6

If you’re feeling great, you’re doing it right!
Seriously, there is no “right” or “wrong” approach. There isn’t a singular best approach, there are many different approaches, its a matter of finding whats best for you. And while you’re figuring it out, don’t worry, you’re not going to do harm to yourself by eating whole, nutritious foods.

If you want to know what’s going on inside your body, you can use intuition or you can use testing or can do both. Whatever you do shouldn’t increase your anxiety or cause stress.

(Amanda) #7

Thank you so much for your reply! I appreciate the time you took to help me out.

I have felt that I want more protein and fat, but since I hit the limit of my macros, I would not have any. I just assumed that this was because I have such a poor relationship with food. I have no idea what “normal” servings of anything look like, and little connection to the feeling of satiety. I have been weighing/measuring almost everything, just until I learn what 4 oz. of something looks like.

Upon reading your response last night, I have recalculated my macros.
I am 38 yo female with little to no real exercise (yet) (Navy based BF 61%)
Your Personal Results
Here are your personal macros:

2414 kcal Daily Calorie Intake
20 g Carbs (3%, 80 kcal)
119 g Protein (20%, 476 kcal)
206 g Fat (77%, 1858 kcal)

This seems really high, but I am new to all of this. This does sound more like what I have read about other people eating, I just always assumed they were way more active than I am. Prior to this, I have been trying mainly to keep my percentages (carbs 5% or lower, protein 20% or lower, 75%+ fat) in range and keep the protein under 85g. The new numbers are way less restrictive. I will still measure and track so that I know what I am taking in, but this seems way more sustainable. Should I still aim for the percentages each day, just keeping under the new limits for protein and carbs?

Thanks again!

.

(Consensus is Politics) #8

I have a tendency to get long winded, so I’ll address the possible health issue. Dehydration.

The amount of water you need per day is of course variable per day. It’s also quite fuzzy. As in there is plenty of margin for error. You could be off +- a liter or more and still be perfectly healthy. I pulled that number out of the aether, but probably close.

Test yourself for dehydration. Throughout the day, maybe every hour or two, but at least multiple times of day, pinch the skin on the back of your hand. Alternatively press one of your fingernails down tight, it should change colors. It should return to normal color pretty much instantly. If you can see it fill back up over about an entire second, you might be dehydrated.

The skin test in my opinion is better. Just below your knuckles, pinch about 1 inch of skin into tall crease, or peak. When released it should drop right back into shape. If it almost goes flat, but still has a small peak to it, then you are probably dehydrated.

If you think you are dehydrated increase your intake per day by about 10% each day until you aren’t. If you think you are taking in too much, then reduce it by about 20%. Being too hydrated can leech off electrolytes very quickly. This is a deadly condition. It’s difficult to get there by accident, but it is possible. So be careful, and make changes to your hydration in moderation.

(Chris W) #9

Still don’t know your weight but at 61% you can probably not really mess up right now.
Your numbers sound better, you should not really be hungry after a few weeks in. The hormone signalling for hunger is complicated but if you negate the insulin effects for a while it calms down. Some people have issues even months in so again the macros are a guide but not a hard and fast rule.

You will need to figure out what works for you in the end, these are suggestions.
Depending upon how far along you are on the journey IMHO dictates how tight you should be with your macros vs your hunger and satiety signals. At first esp before keto adaption its probably not such a big deal to be loose with protein, it may be in your best interest to monitor your ketones to make sure you don’t get too high of intake. After keto adaption I was pretty strict except for thanksgiving which messed me up with to much protein from turkey for a week.
“Normal” servings are going to change steadily through out this WOE, the less BF you have the more you will need to intake of fat. I would probably scare some people at the amount of fat I ingest on days when I know I will be at peak expenditure. But yes figuring out what the baseline is a great tool. Unless your hunger signals are really broken you will get to a point were measuring is not really needed, it will almost be wrote, or by feeling. There days when I want meat, and I follow the instinct, so I eat extra meat. There days I don’t need anything so I don’t eat at all. My signalling is slightly broken though, I can and have not gotten a hungry signal when I should have this developed when I fat adapted and as my BF has dropped has caused me some issues that I would have never expected.

(Amanda) #10

Thanks for your info. My current weight is 297 lbs.

(Chris W) #11

I came up with similar macros, so you should be on the right course. Give this WOE some time, there will be stalls, there will be challenges, there will be times you need to change things up some. We are here ask, there is not really a wrong way to do this, other than eating too many carbs. Recalculate the macros around every ten pounds of loss, I would say if you can maintain a steady loss of no more than 2.5 pounds a week you are doing awesome. In some time intermittent fasting will start and if you want you can try extended fasting, I would wait until after fat adaption happens. Many people gain the motivation to start exercising, if you stick with this you may find that you have a fairly decent body structure that is already there.
KCKO

Lectured by a Vegan 🙄 What other ways has Keto improved your health/ life?