Consuming Fat when Fat Adapted?

newbies

#1

I’m 7 weeks in and about 16lbs down, slow and steady. I have started 16:8 IF because my appetite isn’t there anymore. I’m below 20g net carbs everyday and working on hitting my protein goals. I’ve read many of the posts about fat and I understand fat is a lever to satiety. My fat grams are not high every day but I’m still satiated. I have eliminated the heavy cream in my coffee b/c I just feel it is unnecessary when I am satiated and not cooking with as much oil for the same reasons. Is there a minimum amount of fat you should be consuming? I thought I read no less than 50g a day. Not trying to turn this into a LF moderate protein WOE unless that is also ok. Advice appreciated! Thanks.


(less is more, more or less) #2

Let the controversy begin!

Drs Bikman, Westman, Naiman and others (whom I won’t mention because they’ll trigger @juice) say the goal is low as possible carbs. Both are more flexible on protein amounts. If your protein comes from meat and not powered protein, you should be fine. Your n=1 always trumps what some random forum poster posits, of course.

Personally, I do better when I’m NOT adding fat for fat’s sake (20+ months in to low-carb living)


(Alec) #3

Sounds to me exactly what we recommend. Fat to satiety. For some that’s a lot of fat, for others that’s not much fat. There’s no recommended grammes of fat. This is deliberate.

You are in fact consuming fat, it is just not dietary fat. As someone said to me a few days ago: you are eating your arse :joy:


(Running from stupidity) #4

Yeah, that’s always seemed like a pretty stupid concept to me, agreed.


(Carl Keller) #5

Hi jowest.

If your energy levels are consistent all day long and you have good control of your hunger and cravings, there’s a good chance you are fat adapted. What it meant for me was lowering dairy and nuts. I stopped including the extra butter, sour cream, dressings etc and just focused on meals featuring a reasonably fatty piece of protein along with a cup or two of vegetables.

If this doesn’t affect your hunger don’t worry that you seem to be eating a scary low number of calories because your body fat is being used to supplement caloric deficit. Just sit back and enjoy your lack of hunger and the knowledge that your body fat finally good for something. :slight_smile:


#6

@CarlKeller Tx. Yes, I feel great. My workouts have returned to pre-keto days. I’m not hungry and have also limited dairy and cheese, down to 1-2 ounces max a day. I typically eat 2 meals a day. My bigger issue is trying to get enough protein as I’m just not hungry! And, I finally have started sleeping better.


(Carl Keller) #7

I would just trust what your hunger is telling you. The working out might actually increase your hunger a bit. Just respond when it does.

Also, these low levels of hunger will end sooner or later. I was OMAD and TMAD and between1000-1500 calories per day for about 5-6 weeks… and then one day I noticed I was thinking about and wanting to eat for most of the day. It wasn’t hunger like before keto, where I had to eat or I was going to get really cranky. It was just the idea of wanting to eat… knowing a steak is waiting for me at 6:00 PM and not being able to shake it.

That’s why I am saying enjoy it while you can. :wink:


(less is more, more or less) #8

<raises hand> Adding non-vegetable or seed fat didn’t seem stupid to me at first, but I chalk it up to one of my myriad n=1 experiments.


(Full Metal KETO AF) #9

I never add fat just because…My food choices and cooking methods usually put me over whatever Cronometer says it should be. And I only eat two meals a day. Bacon, eggs and HWC in my coffee puts me solidly above 50% of the recommended macro for fat. I don’t worry about it, just something I noticed. If I start stalling I will have to make a fat cutting effort.


(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #10

Naturally when once finally becomes adapted, we begin limiting dietary fat to allow our body to be fuelled by our own body fat. I was still eating up to 100g of fat a day and losing weight.


(Bunny) #11

e.g. 70% of the total calories comes from fat, this is not a 70% volume of fat, so it is very easy to misunderstand that; why would you want to outpace your protein and carb intake (calories) with fat when it’s not really necessary?

• Protein – 4 cal/g
• Carbs - 4 cal/g
• Fat - 9 cal/g

Do the math = ____ TOTAL____ How much fat is in that protein? How much fat is in that avocado?

A lot of people get the idea in their head that if they eat a lot of fat that some how makes things better metabolically, not so, it is the lower sugar (5% carb) diet that is making them think that! …lol


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #12

Let me rephrase that: FAT TO SATIETY

At no point in your ketogenic diet should you be eating to a target. Eat only when you are hungry, stop eating when you stop being hungry, don’t eat again until you are hungry again. It’s that simple. If your body, through your hunger, tells you it wants a lot of calories, give it a lot of calories. If, through your satiety, it says it doesn’t want any more calories, don’t give it any more calories. You may eat what feels like a lot of food in the first couple of weeks on a ketogenic diet, because your satiety signaling is still sorting itself out. After that, however, your appetite will do a better job of fitting itself to your needs.

Once you are fat-adapted, eat to satiety. Some days that will be a lot of food, some days much less. It’s okay, because your body knows what it needs. In the early stages of keto (and fat-adaptation is still early in the process), most people with excess stored fat to lose find that they spontaneously eat less than the total number of calories they need, and the remainder of the calories they need come from their fat stores. A man typically needs to eat 2500 calories a day, but a guy in the early stages of keto might find that he stops being hungry after eating around 1500 calories. His body will then take the remaining 1000 calories from his stored fat.

As he continues using up that extra fat, all he has to do is to continue eating to satiety, and he will gradually eat more and more, until all 2500 of the calories he needs each day are coming from the food he eats. It’s always eat to satiety; at no point does he ever need to count calories. All he ever needs to do is eat to satisfy his hunger. His body takes care of the rest.


#13

@PaulL thank you. Makes perfect sense. There have been days where I eat because my calories are low. I’m going to stop that.


(Door Girl) #14

It is equally true to not stop eating if you are hungry (and have good signals from your body) even if you have consumed a lot of food in a particular day. Especially if your body is naturally limiting your consumption on other days.

I’ve personally found that the days when my body wants a whole lot of good food, which can easily be twice my normal satiety-limited amount, I often see a noticeable step down on the scale the next day or two. It is almost as if my body is testing me to see if I’m really listening, and then letting go of some of that reserve when it knows it can trust me.

I weigh daily at the same time on a smart scale so that I can collect data points. I like the info, but I also don’t have an difficult relationship with the scale. If I did, I would use the feature on mine to not show me the weight but rather just a happy face after data is complete. :slight_smile: