hi, i’m on day 5 of keto currently and loving it! the only part i’m a bit confused about is to how to properly target what my macros should be in these beginning stages. i’m a 25 year old, 6 foot tall male, roughly 210 pounds, and i’m probably somewhere around 28-30% body fat? that number could be off but it’s my best guess. anyway, i jog daily to the point where i get a really good sweat in, and do 3 light sets of curls / crunches 4x a week. by taking the averages from a few different keto calculators i tried out online, i decided i would start off by following a daily regimen of eating equal or less than 2300 calories, 180-200g of fat, 80-100 grams of protein, and always equal to or under 20 net carbs. do these numbers look okay? my primary goal is to lose weight from this diet, so i REALLY want to make sure i’m following an accurate macro plan. i feel great on the diet so far, the only difference i’m currently noticing since i started keto is that i have a lot less energy during my workouts, but i’m assuming this will come back a few weeks or months down the road whenever my body becomes fat-adapted. do you guys think 200g of fat is too much if my goal is to lose weight? is 80-100g or protein a good amount? should i just continue following these numbers if i’m feeling good for now? i mainly just want to make sure that i’m not taking too much or too little of something. i also make sure i’m staying plenty hydrated as well as getting a proper amount of sodium, magnesium and calcium through the foods / supplements that i’m taking. also, i generally only eat between 2 and 10pm, with all of my food spread out into 3 meals. is this ok?? and is 20g of carbs or less daily gonna be ENOUGH if i’m exercising every day also? i just want to consume whatever / however much or however little of these macros as i need to to most efficiently lose weight as well as gain more energy. any tips / advice anyone has for a beginner confused about his macros / current meal-timing would be great! thanks!! 
Do my macros look okay?
Your macros look good.
You are almost exactly the same height and weight as me.
The fat macro is only important at the beginning as you become fat adapted.
You should eat fat to satiety, not to a macro and as you become fat adapted and you start using body fat you will naturally become satiated with less fat.
Your exercise may cause difficulties with seeing weight loss on the scale. Did you exercise before?
As far as meal frequency goes. Start with 3 meals a day and try to avoid snacks. Over time you will probably find yourself reducing to 2 or 1 meal a day as your appetite reduces.
Listen to as many 2ketodudes podcasts as you can for lots of information and ideas.
Welcome and good luck.
thanks for the reply!! yes, i began running every day a few months ago, and just started keto last week. i began the curling / crunching routine when i started keto. i’m a bit confused as to how my exercise could potentially cause difficulty with weight loss? since i primarily do cardio, wouldn’t thatbe a good aid in promoting weight loss? thanks
That’s part of the old eat less move more paradigm
Exercise is fabulous and essential for your muscular body health - but not really a good part of fat loss regimen. Fat loss is a hormonal thing. As you start your keto journey, you may feel somewhat less energy as the body switches it’s fueling mechanism. Additionally, your exercise may result in lean body mass gain in parallel to fat loss, so it may confound your scale indications - can be discouraging if you are slave to the scale - like most are
As for macros. Carb is a limit. Protein is a looooooose target and fat is an open ended filler - eat fat to satiety, now and forever. If you eat real foods and are not only chugging olive oil or chewing butter all day - your fat will come with adequate protein so you really need track only carbs. The rest will take care of itself
thanks! believe it or not, i don’t even own a scale. i just want to look and feel a bit better, so even if my fat loss is being replaced with a bit of lean muscle, i’m perfectly okay with that. i just wanted to make sure that me jogging daily wouldn’t in any way SLOW the process of my fat loss (excluding gaining some lean muscle, which again, i’m good with).
and regarding my energy, i have DEFINITELY noticed a decrease in my current energy levels. i’m still in the first week of doing the keto diet, so i’m hoping my energy will bounce back up in a few weeks or months or whenever i’m fully fat-adapted. i’m still able to make it through my daily routine for now though (which is running roughly a mile, with plenty of walking in between). i’m going to stick to under 20 net grams of carbs a day for now until my workouts become too difficult and my body tells me i need more.
if you think that increasing my carb intake from 20g a day up to 30 or 40g a day might be a smart move, please let me know. i’m definitely very sweaty and out of breath by the end of my jog every day and am sure i’m burning a lot of calories, seeing as how i run outside and in 90 degree weather. and i’ve heard that if you exercise without consuming enough carbs, it can actually stall how quickly you lose fat, and that’s the LAST thing that i want. i’m also only on my 5th day of keto now and am still not sure of all of this info. all tips are appreciated. thanks : D
I’d definitely stick to 20g or lower otherwise you may get stuck in no man’s land of not really being in ketosis and therefore not becoming fat adapted. Your energy will recover but it can take 6-8 weeks to become fat adapted.
The jogging may slow down weight loss as you raise cortisol. Personally I would hold off the jogging and other things for a couple of weeks to not add confounding issues.
You absolutely do not want to increase your carbs at this point. That advice about increasing carbs for exercise is not accounting for fat adaptation. Once you are fat adapted you will be able to run marathons fasted if you want. I do Crossfit and when I first started keto I bonked every single workout. The fatigue hit me hard. But after a couple of weeks I was better and after a month I was as good as i had been before and on zero food since I worked out before my first meal of the day.
The only thing increasing your carbs is likely to accomplish is kicking you out of ketosis and preventing your body from learning how to access its fat reserves efficiently. Messing with your carb macro is something you should save for later and only if you are testing your ketones. Some of us can tolerate a few more carbs while staying in ketosis, but many of us cannot.
What others here have said is absolutely correct. The only macro you have to hit is the protein one. Carbs can be zero and fat is for satiety. You do not need to hit your fat macro if you are fully satisfied below it. But don’t try to calorie count. Eat good hearty meals full of fat and as you become fat adapted your body will more easily take the fuel from your body instead of your plate and you will be less hungry. At that point you may feel also that you do not need 3 meals.
Try not to snack. You are trying to have your body in a low insulin state for longer periods. It’s only when insulin is low that your body will turn to its fat reserves.
More carbs will just slow down the process. Heck I’d say go full carnivore - zero carb.
As for energy level - up the salt a lot. Hydrate a lot. Eat lots of 
ah, that’s a bit of a bummer to hear. i thoroughly enjoy working up a good sweat every day. but if it can potentially harm me in these early stages of going keto, maybe i’ll hold off on the running for a bit. would walking be okay? thanks.
or would avoiding exercise all together for the next few weeks be the best thing for me to do? i also enjoy occasionally going to the basketball court and shooting hoops / running around a bit, would this be alright? thanks in advance for any responses
Walking is fine and I think a bit of basketball or whatever is fine too, but be aware that you may get a bit light headed in the first week or 2. Plenty of water and salt should see you through.
You’re very welcome! 
With respect to exercise: I’d keep doing the resistance training (weight lifting). Muscles fat adapt separately from other tissues, so it’s a good idea to get them started. You don’t need to go heavy or fast though. Just take it slow until your adaptations kick in.
absolutely - go to the court and shoot hoops - do whatever keeps you happy - heck run a marathon. Its not that the exercise will hinder anything. Its just that without carbs/exogenous glucose for fuel, your body is adapting to the new fuel source - fat. During these first few weeks you will have less energy available, could be a LOT less. So, listen to your body. Its not keto’s fault that you are enervated. If you get discouraged by this negative consequence, and abandon keto - the total loss to you is gigantic. As long as you hydrate till your belly jiggles, and have so much salt that you start thinking of getting a salt lick - you will be fine. performance may not come back to pre-keto for 2-8 weeks. World class athletes are finding fat adapted performance takes unto 6 months to exceed glycolytic performance.
thank you for that info! i really hope it doesn’t take 6 months for me to regain my running energy that i had pre-keto 
and regarding sodium intake… is there a maximum daily amount you would recommend? i’m currently averaging between 3000 and 3800 mg daily, but if i were to go even a bit higher than that, do you think that would be potentially unsafe? thanks