Do I need to eat all my fat


(Dan) #16

Thank you.

Can’t beat bacon, although our standard bacon over here is much different to yours so less fat.

I was lucky enough to make my own a few months ago and that was amazing. I’ll try to make more as it is much better than shop bought

Sorry I couldn’t reply yesterday as I can only post 19 times as I’m new


(Bunny) #17

YES!


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #18

The 20 g/day of carbohydrate is an upper limit, not a target. You can certainly eat less, without ill effect. The advice about protein is to keep it reasonable. You want enough in order to avoid losing muscle and bone density, but not so much that your system has trouble dealing with excess ammonia. (That’s a fairly wide range.) The fat, which has a negligible effect on insulin, is the safest source of energy. You want enough to satisfy your hunger. Some people find protein more satiating that fat, others the reverse. You’ll have to experiment a bit, most likely, to find which category you belong to.

Note that we advise eating to satiety, not to a caloric target. The reason is that your body will adjust its energy expenditure to match the intake you give it, and if you set your calories too low, it will cut expenditure to match. This makes eating a caloric deficit in order to lose fat a moving target, and if you push too far, you risk losing muscle and bone density, because the body hangs on to fat as a reserve, well into the process of starvation. If you give your body more energy than it really needs, it will increase its energy expenditure to a great extent, but there is a limit, past which it will start storing fat again for a rainy day. Eating to satiety prevents both over- and under-eating.

BTW, that Virta graph that Eric posted is a made up example of a hypothetical 5’2" woman who embarks on a ketogenic diet. It is intended to illustrate how, by eating to satiety, your food intake automatically adjusts. At the beginning, someone with excess fat will automatically eat less by eating to satiety, which allows the body to burn off the excess fat. But as we progress, our energy intake has to rise until our excess fat is gone, and eating to satiety automatically increases, until we are getting all our energy needs from our food. Do not take those figures as guidelines for how much to eat; they are made up.


(Dan) #19

Thanks guys.

I’m fine with the minimal carbs which is good. Some days I’d like a sandwich or bowl of chips (fries) but I’m pretty good at keeping away from it.

I find the protein easier than the fat but I like to plan my day ahead the night before so I know exactly where I am and what I can have if I still feel hungry.

Although at the moment I feel satisfied after every meal and don’t need snacks or any additional foods


(Janet) #20

Three Biggest Keto Mistakes (net carbs, letting macros drive protein, adding too much fat) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mqHJh3xEWU Dr. Westman explains these three myths. He is a LC Clinical Researcher and director of a clinic for 20 years.


(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #21

The others have already said it. Very pleased to see the advice you’re getting.

I had a whinge about this last summer, essentially saying what everyone above has said: Stop telling newbies to eat more fat!


(Dan) #22

Great video thanks


(Dan) #23

For the first two or three days I was trying to eat the fat as a colleague of mine who is doing keto (who knows everything) told me, however I did read a few things and stopped eating the full amount. Most days I may only eat half of what my macro states.


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #24

Eat when you’re hungry. Stop eating when you stop being hungry. Don’t eat again until you’re hungry again. That’s it.


(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #25

Yeah, macros are kind of bullshit. Stop eating sugar and starches. And as @PaulL said, eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re not hungry anymore. That’s the whole thing.

Once you remove your foot from the metabolic gas pedal by eliminating sugars and starches, your blood glucose will be lower throughout the day, allowing your insulin to remain lower throughout the day, and voila – you will be less hungry, you’ll probably have more energy available, and you’ll burn stored body fat.

Be aware that, if you have a lot of fat to lose, you’ll get great results, and then eventually you’ll hit a new homeostasis, and it might not be quite where you’d aesthetically like to be. But you’ll be far healthier! :slight_smile:


(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #26

While I think stress and lack of sleep are keeping my hormones out of balance and my weight higher than it should be, I definitely think that I could be a little slimmer if I stopped eating when I was no longer hungry – rather than, as is my wont, when I’m stuffed silly!


(Dan) #27

Thanks Gabe

I do have fat to lose but not loads. However according to my scales it’s about 31% when I started


(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #28

I’ve made my own bacon once and it amazing. Will do some more soon. I only have 8oz left in the freezer.


(Dirty Lazy Keto'er, Sucralose freak ;)) #29

Well first off, as it has already been started, no “you don’t have to eat more fats” just to up the fat / protein balance.

That said, I’m not sure what kind of fat bombs you have tried, because my GF makes new different fat bombs all the time, they are like little pieces of fruit or chocolate flavored cheese cake ! Don’t know how anybody could not like them ?
I eat them for a snack before dinner… Or as a desert.
She made some new ones just yesterday… Blueberries and cream, and sweetened with Splenda FTW ! Bam ! :slight_smile:

Other times when she doesn’t have any fat bombs made, and I need a snack to keep me going until dinner, I just mix a few tablespoons of cream cheese, a shot of heavy cream, a shot of vanilla extract, a few packets of Splenda, and some blueberries or strawberries from the garden. Mash it and mix it all up. SO good :slight_smile: And plenty of fuel to keep me going another 3 to 5 hours if need be.


(Dan) #30

Sounds good fish Chris.

Tbh I haven’t needed any snacks. To begin with I did have maybe a handful of peanuts but I was never really much of a snacker. Chocolate sometimes but don’t really have a sweet tooth so prefer mostly savoury


(mole person) #31

That’s a useful video, thank you.

I think the idea that fiber grams are metabolically inert can be a problem. People tend to make the leap from fiber not causing glucose to spike to it not affecting insulin and this isn’t true. Furthermore, there seems to be an effect of processing so that fiber from things like bars, and shakes and ground nuts and seeds has an increased metabolic impact to the whole food. That’s why many here count net carbs for whole foods and total carbs for processed stuff. However, Dr. Westman’s approach is simpler.


(Dirty Lazy Keto'er, Sucralose freak ;)) #32

But the thing is, counting “all carbs” is fool proof :wink: If I count a few non digestible fiber carbs, as just ‘carbs’… So be it. Then maybe I only had 8 gm of carbs that day, instead if 16… But that’s still fine :slightly_smiling_face:


(Dirty Lazy Keto'er, Sucralose freak ;)) #33

Well hey Dan, your lucky like that. I’ve just been a food hog all my life. Loved junk food, and usually didn’t go more than 6 hours without eating something. Was definitely a snacker… But more like a binger. So like if I needed a “little something” to get me through until dinner, I might have a king size candy bar, a big bag of chips, and a 44oz soda…
Or 3 or 4 glazed donuts…
Always had a sweet tooth, and maybe kind of still do… But it’s just waaay easier to control now :slightly_smiling_face:

Speaking of which, I ate an early dinner yesterday… About 3 pm. Then, last night by 2am, of course I was a little hungry… At which point my GF says, do you want one of those blueberry fat bombs ? I paused for second, and then told her, well, I could probably eat about 9 of them right now :slightly_smiling_face: …but no thank you. I’m just going to go to bed, and I’ll think about food tomorrow :wink:


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #34

I think you meant 34, didn’t you? Three or four isn’t a lot . . . :grin:


(Dirty Lazy Keto'er, Sucralose freak ;)) #35

Well, when I say glazed donuts, it was usually those 7" maple bars, sometimes custard filled. If they were little regular donut shaped rings with a little glazing, 5 or 6 would not have been a problem :slight_smile:

And btw, many days last year, Id get 4 big custard filled maple bars, or apple fritters, and have two right before bed, and the other two with my breakfast and coffee :slight_smile: