Eat to satiety or eat more to cover my minimum protein?

(Kevin Haney) #1

I’m struggling with the role of protein in the keto diet, as far as minimums… My understanding is that I should have at least my minimum recommended protein so I don’t lose muscle mass, but also hearing it said that you should listen to your body and eat when your hungry, stop when you satiated.

I understand the percentages are important too… for example today I end up with:
fat : 79% (172 g)
carb : 2.8% (13.7 g)
protein : 18.1% (88.8 g)

that’s not including some veggies (peppers, zucchini, onion) sauteed in olive oil, so the carbs would be be a little higher but I can’t be bothered to figure out the exact amounts on that.

but the point is, keto calculator indicates I should be eating closer to 100 grams or more of protein.

am I worrying about this too much?! as I said, I’d prefer not to lose muscle mass. I could have some whole fat greek yogurt to bump up the protein and carbs a bit, but I don’t want to force myself to eat to cover the protein number if I don’t have to.

thoughts?

(jilliangordona) #2

If it happens every once in a while I wouldn’t worry too much. However protein should be a goal, and I would aim to hit it whenever you can.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #3

The recommendation is to eat somewhere between 0.8 grams and 1.0 grams of protein per kilogram of lean body mass per day. So if you weigh 100 kilos, and your lean body mass is, for example, 70% of your weight, then you would be eating 56 to 80 grams of protein. I don’t know why the calculator you are using is telling you to eat 100 g of protein; it is unlikely that your lean body mass is as much as 100 kg/220 lb.

Remember, by the way, that meat, etc., is not 100% protein; you have to figure out what portion size will give you the target amount of protein. So, for example, if you want to eat 80 g of protein, you need to eat 320 g of steak. The fat content of that steak will contribute to your satiety.

If you are eating enough calories, you are unlikely to lose muscle mass, and it appears you are eating around 2000 calories, so I doubt you need to worry. It looks as though you are doing just fine. Eat at that level of protein and carbohydrate and eat fat until your hunger is satisfied; then stop eating and don’t eat again till you’re hungry. It’s that simple.

#4

It doesn’t need to be that complicated. Eat protein, and it doesn’t really matter if you go over as long as you don’t mind some trips to the toilet, and eat fat to satiety. As for carbs, I don’t even eat them anymore apart from the trace amount in eggs and a little cheese.

There are bigger things to worry about on a ketogenic diet such as the role of artificial sweeteners, and ensuring you maintain sufficient electrolyte levels. Electrolyte issues are going to cause you more of a problem than protein as gluconeogenesis is demand driven. Don’t live in fear of eating too much protein.

(Allan L) #5

Use an online tool like myfitnesspal or www.fatsecret.com, this will work out your macros almost automatically and fairly accurately, fatsecret.com (website not mobile app) can quickly be configured to show net carbs and not total carbs. Onions can have lots of carbs, I tend to use onion powder to give the flavour without the carbs.

My protein will move between 50g to 80g depending on the day and how I feel. As long as the weekly average is close to my goal then I am happy.