3rd week of Keto- how do i let go and stop counting calories?

(Chelsea) #1

Hi everyone!

Recently started Keto to primarily lose the 20lbs of “new relationship” fat I’ve gained over the past year! (Happy but chubby haha) Have also been hoping to get a grip on my bingeing and overeating habits that I’ve struggled with my whole life.

I’ve lost a few pounds so far and have noticed my craving-bingey monster has quieted down which is fantastic! However! I Cannot let go of counting calories.

There is SO much different information out there… some say count, some say don’t. I’m having a hard time trusting the keto lifestyle and letting myself not count calories. Am I doing myself a disservice?

I’m 5’10" female and about 176lbs right now… I’m eating around 1400-1500 cal a day, about 110 grams of fat and 20 or less net carbs.

How do i free myself from obsessive calorie counting on keto but still lose weight and feel like i’m making progress?

Any advice would be fantasic!

Thanks

(bulkbiker) #2

I record calories alongside fat carbs and protein but don’t limit myself… would that work for you as a halfway house? For example I have a meal then work out what the calories were rather than designing a meal around the caloric content.

#3

Totally agree with @MarkGossage I do the same thing.

#4

Yeah! I like the verb “track” instead of “count”. It’s great to have the data to look back at…but then again, that’s n=1 because I’ve never had any eating-disorder type issues so I’m not sure if that would help obsession or not.

Just look at your “tracking” as a passive observation rather than “counting” as an active intervention into the diet. You may find that more calories actually aids in weight loss as it builds your metabolism up!

(Running from stupidity) #5

Yup, me too. It’s a much better descriptor for what we should be doing.

Chelsea, speaking broadly, keto is a HORMONE control diet rather than a CALORIE control diet. (“Diet” being used to mean “the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats” not society’s current usage.) So, you know, keep the carbs down and eat up :slight_smile:

(Chelsea) #6

Thanks everyone. I think calorie counting is ingrained in my head as the ONLY way to lose weight. It’s hard to shift to a new way of thinking/eating and trusting the “diet.”

What i’d really love is the freedom to not track food at all, and just follow the keto principles naturally and find a healthy weight. Not be obsessed with counting, tracking, weighing.

(Carl Keller) #7

It took me a while to stop obsessing about calories but eventually I just focussed on the carbs and about my fourth day in Keto, I woke up one morning and realized I felt great. Since then I don’t care about the calories. I know if i eat the right portions of the right foods at the right times, everything will take care of itself.

Just remember, it’s our old way of thinking that brought us to Keto. Also, in your quest for a healthy weight, you will find that Keto does a lot of positive things for you besides dropping weight. How does better mental clarity sound? or having more energy? or having zero guilt after you eat? There’s this and more…

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #8

I had the carb count of many whole foods memorized years ago when I did a low carb diet.

This time I stay under 20 g carb a day and stay sated and hydrated. I check in with my body a couple of times a day to see if it needs anything (like more electrolytes, etc). If I’m having an issue, I’ll start tracking daily again for a week to see what’s up.

(Chelsea) #9

I do feel like I have more energy and my skin even looks more clear and bright! I also love eating an entire avocado and not feeling guilty haha

However on days where i’m over my calorie “limit” I feel bad and assume that I’ll never lose weight if i keep “overeating”. I’ll just have to try and break that thought process! No one can live like that forever!!

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #10

I stalled really early on and realized I was staying under 20 g daily but NOT eating enough. I just wasn’t hungry. Once I ate more calories daily, I started losing again.

(Chelsea) #11

It seems so backwards! On this diet I find sometimes I can go hours without feeling hungry… and other days I’m starving as soon as I wake up.

Best to just go with how my body is feeling?

(Carl Keller) #12

Just don’t starve yourself. We need to eat certain things to get the proper nutrients in our body. Things like magnesium, calcium, vitamin C, omega 3’s etc. On some days I feel like I might eat a lot of calories but I still stay under my carb goal and I know I am doing my body a favor by getting it things that it really needs. It’s easy to starve yourself of essential vitamins and minerals if you eat the same things over and over and if you don’t eat enough.

For example, macadamian nuts and avocados have a lot of calories, gram for gram. But those things are so full of goodness, you should feel no guilt in eating them. Not only are they filling, they do a lot of good for your body.

(Carl Keller) #13

When I feel like this, I eat 10 almonds or 10 macadamian nuts and the hunger is gone, usually. To switch it up I will eat 4-5 pork rinds (zero carbs!) or a stick of string cheese. Once a week I make deviled eggs and leave them in fridge and usually, 3-4 halves will tide me over. Quick snacks high in fat can be clutch.

(Running from stupidity) #14

Drinking water/ketoaid first thing in the morning is good too for dulling hunger pangs. I usually get half my daily electrolyte supplements in that way with a bottle of my ketoaid.

(Chelsea) #15

Glad I found this forum! Been doing keto on my own for the past few weeks and have had moments of serious doubt! (is this working? why am i so hungry? am i overeating? WTF am i doing? haha) It’s a real shift!

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #16

Try thinking of it this way: the human race has, for most of the last two million years, been eating with no idea of what the concept of “calories” means. Not only that, obesity, heart disease, and diabetes were never the problem that they are today, on the standard American diet.

So it stands to reason that if we cut out the foods that have been added to our diet in the last 150 years or so (I’m thinking of cheap refined sugar and flour, and vegetable oils, etc.) and let our bodies tell us when we’ve given them enough food, we’ll probably be a lot healthier.

When the white settlers arrived in North America, game was so abundant that it was hardly worth the effort to farm. The large quantity of meat and fat in the American diet was why people around the world used to consider it the healthiest diet of all. Then Ancel Benjamin Keys came along and ruined it all.

(Chelsea) #17

But they didn’t have to walk past the bread/cookie/chip aisle at the grocery store every week either :joy:

Do many people on Keto go back to eating carbs eventually? The thought of never eating fruit every day makes me sad

(Running from stupidity) #18

I miss seed bread. Well, I did. Now I basically never think about it, even when I see it at the shop.

(Chelsea) #19

I try to eat 2 or 3 servings of keto friendly veggies a day (broccoli, asparagus, spinach, lettuce etc)

Is it naive of me to think that it’s healthier to eat more fruits/veggies than this? I’m used to eating 4-6 servings of fruits and veggies a day.

(Running from stupidity) #20

Carefully tracking your food intake is an excellent way to KNOW what you’re eating. Once you know that, you can decide what to do moving forward.

Tracking/logging is part of the learning process, IMHO. So many things that look safe are in fact not. It’s also a very good planning tool.

I use Cronometer because it has an official database that is controlled by the company, rather than one that anyone can add anything - no matter how incorrect - to. If I’m doing tracking to ensure I’m doing it right, I want to be sure I’m doing it right.