A couple questions from a newb

(Britt Bot) #1

Hi all! I have a couple questions, so I will start off with an introduction. I am a 30 year old woman and have been doing Keto for about 7 weeks now. I have only lost about 11 lbs during this time and I have been measuring most places on my body, but haven’t had more than a couple inches of difference. I have been noticing some clothes fitting loosely but not really. I am rarely able to get anywhere near my fat goal. I am usually 60g-70g below my target. I know that the fat is not a target, but I am just curious if I need to find better ways to get more fat, whether it be shots of olive oil or something else. I have also noticed that I am at least 200-900 below the 1708. The deficit seems to be getting larger the longer I am doing Keto. I feel great though. I have energy all day. There are no more 2pm crashes. I rarely snack and during the week, I can go from 7pm-9pm the night before until about 12pm-1pm the next day without anything other than water. I will get some hunger pains but they go away when I drink more water. I eat lunch around 12pm-1:30pm and don’t eat again until 6pm-7pm. Most weekends I can push myself to only eat once a day.

So, questions…

  1. I just want to be sure that my macros look ok or if I should adjust them somehow?
  2. If I should adjust them, what do you recommend?
  3. Is it possible that I am fat adapted? Are there any sure ways to tell that you are fat adapted?

These are my macros, weight/height and goals:
1708 calories
20g carb
60-65g protein
152g fat

Height: 5’5
Starting weight: 195
Current weight: 184
Goal weight: 150

(LeeAnn Brooks) #2

How about you give us a typical day’s meals and the people here can help find any potential problems or just areas you can improve?

(Roy D Rushing Jr ) #3

I’d say that if you’re below your calorie target every day you should be eating food when you feel hungry instead of trying to sate your hunger with water. I’ve been putting butter in my coffee for extra fat lately. That also has the benefit of killing my hunger completely. I like the idea that I’m giving my body a steady supply of the macronutrient that I’m trying to train it to get good at metabolizing as well.

(Britt Bot) #4

Sure! I don’t eat out because I am terrified of hidden ingredients and sugar being in EVERYTHING. lol. I cook everything in olive oil, butter or coconut oil. I mostly count net carbs… however, I am usually under 20 either way.
So… the past couple days aren’t the best example due to the holiday and everything, but I still did my best to stay on track:

sunday
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monday
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today
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(Britt Bot) #5

I usually do eat when I am hungry except in the mornings, because I am trying to get my body used to fasting so I can start doing that for longer periods of time. I stopped drinking coffee because I don’t like most artificial sweeteners especially with coffee and I also prefer it more cream than coffee, so I was just wasting my macros and decided to just give it all up. I have read about people doing shots of olive oil, etc. I really don’t want to have to do that, but if it will help I might. lol.

(Alec) #6

You definitely need to eat more fat. Slather everything with butter? Cook and have some fat bombs when you get hungry? Bacon? Pork belly? Meat fat? Cream cheese?

(Britt Bot) #8

I am still trying to find a better macro balance and relearning what is good to eat vs what I have always been told to eat I guess. I will start keeping some bacon cooked and ready to go and come celery and cream cheese and hopefully that will help. How much higher should I be getting my fat? Also is there another name for pork belly? I can’t seem to find it in the grocery stores around here, which is weird since I am in a major city. :confused:

(Alec) #9

I wouldn’t change too much. You are losing 1.5lbs per week, which is good going. Just try to eat more fat rather than less. Pork belly is just pork belly. Have you tried a butcher?

(Chris) #10

On the fat topic, sometimes I find it hard to keep my macros proper aka. Over 70% fat because I’ve been told to hit my protein goal. If I hit my protein goal, then amount of fat I would have to eat is beyond when I feel full. I’ve also heard not to eat fat just yo get it up as long as you’re full. So how do I conderder both these factors?

(LeeAnn Brooks) #11

Only place I can find pork belly regularly stocked is Costco. Otherwise I have to go to a specialty meat store and even there it’s a special order.

As far as learning to fast, it should be a natural progression. If you are feeling hunger and your not getting enough food intake, your body isn’t ready for fasting yet. You may need to become completely fat adapted before you can start fasting.
I would go back to eating three full meals until you don’t have any hunger. Especially with your calories so low. You are putting your body into starvation mode and slowing your metabolism.

(Britt Bot) #12

I will have to see if there are any butchers near me. They are really rare to see unless you actually know where they are now that Walmart has taken over. :confused:

(Britt Bot) #13

That is what I have been told as well. I need to hit my protein or get as close to it as possible and then eat the fat as I feel hungry and to not actually try to hit the fat goal, but get as close as possible with my hunger, etc.

(Britt Bot) #14

I will have to check Costco then. I keep meaning to check it out especially for meats and other stuff we use constantly but never seem to have the time. With the calories, keeping my macros where they need to be I can’t seem to get my calories higher most days, but I am thinking adding a couple slices of bacon or some other fatty foods will probably help that and it’ll help get my fats up, too. Do you have any quick and easy no/low carb suggestions?

(LeeAnn Brooks) #15

Something I love to have at the end of a meal is 3 tablespoons of marscapone cheese. I add 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, a dash of cinnamon and a drop of Stevia and mix it all up. Just eat by the spoonful or add atop a few squares of extra dark chocolate. The chocolate has carbs, so forego if your carbs are at the limit, but the marscapone is no carbs and almost all fat. Very yummy too. Like a dessert.

Also as a side, take shredded green cabbage and mix with a good amount of mayo. I use Chosen Foods Avacado Oil Mayo because it reminds me of Miricle Whip, but many make their own. You can add 500 calories of almost all fat with this as a side dish.

When I get lazy, I just fry up 4 or 6 slices of bacon and then fry 2 or 3 eggs in the grease. Almost perfect macros for this meal and it take less than 10 minutes to whip up.

(Britt Bot) #16

Thank you so much! I will def be trying the marscapone cheese and chocolate. That sounds amazing! I’m not a fan of uncooked cabbage (weird I know haha), so I might cook it and then just cover it in mayo. I make crackslaw and add mayo and mustard to it. haha. I am thinking I will just have to start eating more bacon and eggs… I usually have a boiled egg for breakfast with half an avocado, so I may start just adding some bacon to it.

(Troy) #17

:heart_eyes:
Yet another example of this WOE is so yummy
So true
Exactly why eggs and bacon are always stocked up and ready at any and all times

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #18

Actually, a well-formulated ketogenic diet is based on these three notions:

  1. Keep carbohydrate under 20 g/day (minimizes insulin secretion).

  2. Keep protein moderate, around 0.8 to 1.0 g/kg lean body mass/day (avoids both malnutrition and ammmonia toxicity).

  3. Eat fat to satiety (replaces lost carb calories, while avoiding insulin secretion; gives body enough energy to heal and to feel comfortable parting with stored fat).

Eating this way should cure your metabolic dysfunction, normalize your blood work, and allow your body to put on lean muscle tissue and dispose of extra adipose tissue.

(Britt Bot) #19

I have been good with the carbs, but apparently not so good with the fat and usually good with my protein. So based on your info and my height/weight, etc, do my macros look correct?

Height: 5’5
Starting weight: 195
Current weight: 184
Goal weight (for now): 150
Mostly sedentary lifestyle

Macros:
1708 calories
20g carb
60-65g protein
152g fat

(Roy D Rushing Jr ) #20

That looks right to me. I’ve been treating protein and fat as rather soft limits personally with no ill effects. I have a very active job and I lift weights most day though. I’m a beginner as well, and I’ve been testing my ketone levels daily to make sure I stay in ketosis. No problems this far.

(Britt Bot) #21

Thank you so much! I have been doing good with everything but the fat apparently. haha