Day four: What can I do better with my plan?

[Bikini_bug]

Hello all! This is such a valuable community for me as I embark on my new Keto based lifestyle - thank you!

I’m on day four, feeling good, yet want more ways to optimize my dietary needs. Here’s me in a nutshell:

• 5’6” and 142 lbs
• Ashtanga yoga and biking four/five days a week.
• Here to improve my strength and stamina for better surfing (I surf for a week, 2-3X a day, every three months).
• Near term goals: Lose 7 lbs within 5 weeks, improve stamina and strength (via ashtanga and biking).

Based on the Perfect Keto calculator, my daily macros are 15g carbs, 60g protein and 100g fat, and 1204 calories.

While I’m still adapting to these numbers, so far I’m feeling good (amazing energy levels, clear cognitive function, more definition). Only issues are: 1) I tend to get cold hands and feet, and 2) I’m desiring more variety in my diet without exceeding my macros/ calories!

My daily avocado tends to take up most of my carb macro so I’m reducing onions and garlic to make up for it.

Can somebody take a look at my plan and let me know if it’s a healthy/reasonable plan? Do you think my calories are too low? What can I do to combat cold and “menu boredom”?

[LeCheffre]

I dunno what to tell you about specific weight by a specific date. If you had a lot of extra water stored, you could lose that 7 in two weeks. If you were already reasonably low on bound extra water, who can say. You sound pretty healthy to start, and the last pounds are the hardest.

Cold extremities: more fat.
More variety: So eat a broader range of things… don’t go all the same meal every day unless you’re wired that way. Check out the #food:boringKeto thread and get some ideas.

Maybe reduce the avocado to a half avocado to leave room for some greens or something.

I think your calories are too low, but I do not claim this to be an informed opinion on female metabolism and people just over half my starting weight.

[Bikini_bug]

Ooh, thanks for the much needed boring keto link!

Good idea to half my avocado . I think it’ll still make for a pretty mean smoothie (w organic cacao added).

I feel my calories are a tad low too. But these were the numbers recommended to me by the app. I’m in no urgent need to drop weight quickly, so maybe I can adjust this to a healthier range.

I’d be curious to know if my protein is too low and fat too high, so that combating cold w more fat just might not be appropriate for me. I’m a newbie so learning as I go along!

[ssablich]

I would up those calories, especially as you get started. Cold limbs are always a sign of this for me. Just make sure that you up the calories with fat if those are low… At this point though, with the lifestyle you are already living, I would bet that you could use more protein.

There are also many keto calculators- maybe check out a few more to get another average?

[Bikini_bug]

I think you’re right, upping my calories and protein seems to be the consistent theme here!
Good idea to get a “second opinion” on my macros/ cals through a variety of keto calcs - thank you!

[J_A-M]

Your calories and protein look low for your activity level. If you were around 19% body fat at that weight and activity level you’d be trying for about 52g-78g of protein (1g-1.5g per kg of lean mass). This is a goal, not a restriction.

You may lose that amount in excess water weight if you have enough but, you may not. Your loss is completely individual. If a scale can cause obsession, consider ditching it for 4-8 weeks.

A ketogenic way of eating is not about restricting anything but insulin spikes which we control by eating low carbohydrates and allowing our bodies to shift to burning ketones as fuel. It is not a yo yo diet. It’s a way of eating that allows your body to heal itself with a side effect of weight loss. Your body does not care what arbitrary number you use to judge it by. All it cares about is taking the right inputs and being its best self. We have two sayings here, “keep calm and keto on” and “trust the process.”

There are two phases to ketosis and a ketogenic lifestyle.

Nutritional ketosis is phase one. Your body begins to produce and uptake some ketones while dumping the rest. It will still search for glucose to use as fuel. In this phase it’s not an efficient process. It has to work actively to get rid of stored glycogen, clean up excess blood sugar, and turn on the ability to use ketones.

Fat adaptation is phase two. Your body is efficiently producing ketones from intake and stored body fat and is also using them efficiently for energy. It takes around 6-8 weeks of strict keto to achieve for many but not all.
Basically, the whole point of doing the ketosis is to reach the fat adaptation. People who stop short won’t ever experience the true reason for the work they and their body have put into this metabolic shift.

I’ll go ahead and post the basic idea here:

The basic “rules” I go by and many others can agree with especially for beginners are:

*20g net carbs max (you might tolerate more but, starting out, 20g net carbs or less will get you into ketosis.)

*Moderate protein (1g-1.5g per kg of lean bodyweight is a good goal based on the 2 Dudes recommendations.)

*Fat to satiety (add fat to every meal and, if you are hungry, eat more fat. Don’t be afraid of fat. It is energy.)

*Do not restrict calories

*Drink plenty of water

*Get plenty of sodium and other electrolytes

[Bikini_bug]

Thank you for this insightful response! Learning so much already.

So, I ran my numbers again through a couple of other calculators and followed your guidelines to help me optimize my plan to a healthier level. Here’s what I ended up with:

1,300 Calories (increased due to increased carbs and protein per below)
20g Carbs (increased to recommended baseline level)
80g Protein (increased based on 1g - 1.5g per kg of lean bodyweight)
100g Fat (no change)

Does this plan look better?

Personally, 1,300 calories still feels a little low to me but these are the recommended outcomes, so maybe I’d just need to adjust it on my own as I go along. First, looks like there’s leeway for me to up my protein level some and still improve my fitness and lose weight. Admittedly, eating more protein is a bit of a challenge for me, so I’ll need to experiment with what the new quantity might look like without making me want to gag.

Next, if necessary, I’ll adjust my fat intake to help me increase my calorie consumption. If there’s room to move on the carbs, I’m happy to down more electrolytes and coconut water!

[J_A-M]

I’d just need to adjust it on my own as I go along.

That’s exactly what any calculator is good for, a baseline of goals.

if necessary, I’ll adjust my fat intake to help me increase my calorie consumption.

Fat is what keeps you from being hungry so, don’t be afraid of it.

When I started keto, I followed the under 20g of net carbs and just ate and still tracked but didn’t restrict. My first couple of weeks I was eating around 3000-4000 calories a day. (Lost 10 lbs, probably water weight.) The next couple of weeks I wasn’t even hungry enough to eat 1000 on most days. (Lost another around 10 lbs) After that I evened out to around 1800-2200 and some days I am a lot lower. But, my body knows what it’s doing and what it wants to do and I just try to give it what it needs to do that. I focus on adding fat to each meal and, if I snack, it’s also high fat.

[Rajseth]

When I put your info into perfect keto’s calculator, female, 30yo, 5’6", 142 lbs, exercise more than 4x week mid intensity, it gives me 1809 calories

What am I missing

[rkd999]

Welcome to the world of Keto!

If one of your goals is to lose 7 lbs within 5 weeks, you should have no problem (and then some if you want).

I agree with others who have posted above that your calorie level is most likely too low. This topic as been discussed on other posts on this board as discussed link below (click on the hyperlink in the thread below to see the full discussion);

I'm cold all the time!

Hi - I’m new to Keto (8 days in), new to the forum, and catching up on 2KD podcasts. So far so good, but I’m impatient and want keto-adaptation ASAP. I seem to be cold all the time. I know that it’s cold outside, but even with warm clothes and a blanket, I am cold all the time, even indoors. Anyone else have this happen in the beginning? thanks all, happy to join the group. Michelle

(You can search for keywords by use of the magnifying glass ICON in the upper right corner of the page)

[Techtao]

Great response.

What are some of your favorite snacks?

[J_A-M]

I like pepperoni, cheese, cream cheese rolled up in meat, the occasional Quest bar, low carb jerky, bacon, bacon jerky. I try not to snack often but, if snacking needs to happen then so be it.

[Techtao]

Thanks for the info!

[Viv]

What is the best way of measuring lean body mass?

[Dan_Dan]

Dexa scan is believed to be the best

[Viv]

Thank you.

[SarahJustMe]

Do your best. The real changes from keto take months, but that doesn’t mean you won’t see real results in the first few weeks too, and don’t get discouraged if your physical stamina tanks for a few weeks. Focus on pranayama and let your body adapt, you’ll bounce back better than ever.

[J_A-M]

Another option is to look at body fat images and estimate where you think you’re at.

[Bikini_bug]

Thanks for everyone’s input on my initial keto plan. I am not sure what I had done to come up w such low numbers but I redid my calculations yet again, with a variety of calculators and averaging those numbers. I also read up a lot more to get a better understanding of how everything works and ties together, followed some best practices and further personalized my plan to hit my dual goal of better fitness and weight loss (I’m starting with a 20% calorie deficit). Third times a charm, I hope. So here’s, where I landed w my modified planv2:

1410 Calories (increased due to increased fat and protein per below);
20g Carbs (recommended baseline for ketosis);
87g Protein (increased based on 0.8g per lb of lean body mass);
109g Fat (increased).

This plan definitely allows more room for leafy veggies (nutrients!) and fats (so I stave off cold hands and feet!).

WDYT? Better?

I’ve been on this lifestyle only 5 days now, and while I’m still testing and tweaking stuff, I’m already feeling a lot of good stuff: more energy (ashtanga yoga 5 days in a row and ready for more!), mental clarity (razor sharp focus and alert, and no longer feeling like a zombie by end of day!), and miraculously, no more obvious pinches and pains in my knees (I can now, for the first since in a long time, enter certain knee poses in yoga without restrictions or modifications). Does keto yield immediate benefits or am I just doing a variety of things right at the same time and everything’s just coming together at last?

[Bikini_bug]

Yep! I used images and estimated my body fat at 23% at the conservative end.