Calories (and fat and protein)

[angdilla]

I’ve been at it for almost 2 weeks and am feeling good. I have a good variety of foods to eat, I eat when I’m hungry, and stop when I’m not. I keep my carbs under 15 net grams/day without issue. I have good energy and have substantially less stomach bloat.

I’ve read that you should only eat when you’re hungry. I also know not to limit calorie intake. So what about the days that I’m just not hungry and only end up eating 600 calories? Yesterday I had a bunless bacon cheeseburger for lunch, and parmesan crisps and cream cheese for dinner, and I was satiated. Also, is that too little fat? Too little protein? I feel like now that I have a grasp on keeping carbs limited, I can hone in more on the other ratios but I’m not sure how important each one is - meaning if I’m wanting to lose weight is it okay to have a lower fat %.

My first goal is weight loss. I do CrossFit 3 times a week, but have a desk job. Female, 173 lb (started at 180), 5’3"

[robintemplin]

Yes, it’s tricky. Eat when hungry, stop when not. BUT… we still need to eat enough calories to keep our metabolism going. Otherwise, very low calories will sabotage you. I was like you. So…
When I knew I was ending the day with too few calories, I would just make myself eat something that would put me in the right range. Sometimes there was no joy in that food, but usually I would suddenly feel the urge to gobble it all down after that first couple bites.

This phase will pass. You’ll learn, your body will learn.
Although keto is not about calories, you still enough to run the engines.

I tracked it all in the beginning too, until I found my stride and knew what I was doing. I didn’t worry much bout the ratio between fat and protein. Just keep it simple, especially in the beginning.
You got this!

[Shortstuff]

Eat when hungry, stop when not. BUT… we still need to eat enough calories to keep our metabolism going

@robintemplin is spot on here, but I will add that days this low won’t do any harm here and there but they must not be regular or your metabolism will downregulate and that’s the last thing you want.

[SomeGuy]

@angdilla Yes to everything shared above.

I’ll add that - when you stop eating those carbs that make you hungry again every few hours - your new hunger signals (or lack thereof) take some getting used to, as compared to what you’ve been experiencing for many years until now.

Stay the course and you’ll wind up getting signals that are more in tune with your body’s actual need for nutrition without those carbs. Those weird hunger hankerings (e.g., following a crusty pizza, bag of chips, fries, cookies, whatever) will be gone forever.

[Shinita]

you should only eat when you’re hungry.

I am totally against that as it would be a miserable existence for me (and totally impossible to do it as well). We have different hunger signs but starving never can be right. And some people automatically starve on keto. Some does it even if they stuff themselves every time. They should do something about their food choices or quit keto but starving long term (even short term if you ask me but a few low-cal days may happen, that can’t do much harm to a healthy enough one)? NOPE.

600 is super low but if it’s very exceptional and you feel okay, maybe you can pull it off. I had some super low-cal days myself though anything below 1300 doesn’t happen every year. 1300 is almost nothing to me but occasionally fine. My stats are a bit similar to yours, by the way.

I don’t know your protein need but with your numbers I probably wouldn’t go below 80g regularly. In my own case, it’s 120g because I need that much for satiation and it feels good.
People often keep their protein intake in the 1-2g/kg for LBM range but some people need more, some are fine with less, exercise matters too but there are personal factors as well. I can’t keep it at 2g/kg as it’s way too little for me and I get hungry. But there is an upper limit for everyone but it’s usually no concern.

You are very new at it so maybe it’s temporal… Several days aren’t even bad as I see… So I wouldn’t worry really much but 650 kcal is still very low, don’t let it continue. One day doesn’t matter as long as you feel okay.