Educate me on steak

#1

This year has been a helluva ride. A year ago I was diagnosed with cancer and after 7 months was declared cancer free. In the process due to the steroids I was taking, ballooned up to the tune of 50lbs. I remember my doctor saying that weight gain is the sign of a thriving body, it’s the weight itself that comes with adverse side effects. He said if you’re gaining weight on chemo, then your body is handling it well. I thought ‘that’s great’ until I had to deal with that weight. By the time it was over I weighed in at 307lbs on my 6’6 frame. I was miserable living at that weight.

Fast forward to a month ago when I began what I would call a Keto diet. I began walking 3 miles a day and eating a 15:9 diet (fasting from 6p-9a, eating from 9a-6p), mainly eggs, bacon/ sausage for breakfast and meat vegs/salad for supper. Many times I would only eat 2 meals a day with cheese/jerky for snacks. After 1 month, I was down 23.5lbs, lost all my sugar cravings and lost all indigestion, which is where I stand today. Work is beginning to pick up which means meeting clients at for meals and such and like today, I found myself at a steakhouse for lunch. I didn’t see anything that really piqued my interest so I ordered an 8oz Sirloin with broccoli and green beans, water, no bread. It seemed harmless enough until I began reading about protein overload knocking you out of ketosis.

With all that said, where do steaks fall in a keto diet and what sizes and cuts do you limit yourself to? Is what I ate today enough to knock me out of the progress I have made? (Sorry if that is a dumb question, I literally have no clue)

Thanks in advance!

(This was lunch)

steak
steak.jpg2048×1536 322 KB

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #2

How many meals a day are you eating? What cut of meat is that?

I’m in weight loss mode and eat at least 8 oz at dinner and have other sources of protein and fat with dinner. What is on your plate does not look like enough calories. I eat at least 16 oz of meat and or eggs a day for my 5’8" frame.

Keto is not calorie restriction. Keto is carb restriction and eating enough protein and fat to satiety.

Please tell us a little more about what you are eating.

Congratulations on being cancer free. Very cool.

(George) #3

Steaks are perfectly fine on Keto, ribeyes are my go-to cuts. The fattier the cut, the better. When at a steakhouse, just ask for a side or 2 of butter and add it to your steak. Keep your fat macros higher than protein. Just make sure you’re eating enough. Don’t walk away from a meal if you’re still hungry. You want to feel satiated, not restricted.

*Edit - Also, what you ate looks perfectly fine. I believe green beans are a little higher in net carbs per half cup than other green veggies, so I would probably order double broccoli with a slice of cheese melted on top (if possible), or asparagus

#4

I try to eat 2 to 3 meals a day with a couple of fuelings in between (cheese, jerky, etc)

This was an 8oz sirloin and was my 2nd meal of the day.

#5

That meal looks delicious!

I’m a 129lb woman and I scarfed down a 7inch sizzler steak for lunch today, along with sauteed veggies and mushrooms, (and lots of ghee and avocado oil to cook it all in). I’m still newer to LCHF but from everything I’ve read/watched so far, red meat is a key component to this way of eating and steaks can be a staple of our diets :slight_smile: I’m now eating red meat/steaks almost every day and I’m really enjoying it. I also highly recommend finding a local butcher’s shop if you can-just did that today for the first time and the difference between that meat vs the stuff you get from the regular grocery store is insane!

Also, if you haven’t watched any of the Keto Connect youtube videos I’d start-I’ve been binge watching them and they talk a lot about what kinds of meat they eat/how much etc. I just watched the one where they eat like Shawn Baker for a day, who’s a carnivore. They were pounding down massive steaks, lol.

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #6

Okay if that was 8 oz that is good. Put some more fat with it.

Get the obesity code book and start to work through it. Are you T2D?

Don’t starve yourself. You want your metabolic rate to stay up. Steak is a great food, so is fatty fish (Salmon, sardines, etc.), ground beef, lamb, pork, eggs.

#7

That’s where I get confused with Keto. What options are there to achieve higher fat than protein when eating, for example, chicken? What is your go-to?

I’d like to hear some sample meals from anyone willing to provide a couple. It would really help me when eating out.

(hottie turned hag) #8

I concur. I’m a wee old bag of a female and I can easily eat a much bigger steak. I’d say up steak and down veg, unless you adore veg.

Here’s some happy flowers to celebrate your cancer-free status :cherry_blossom::rose::hibiscus: and some steak to whet your appetite :cut_of_meat:

#9

Nope, believe it or not, I am healthy as a whip. Cancer is the only negative diagnosis I’ve ever had but despite my weight, blood pressure was good as was all my blood panels.

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #10

Okay obesity code is a good book to help you understand the metabolic approach to losing wt with keto.

(George) #11

When it comes to chicken, you want to avoid breast, as that’s just lean protein. If you have to have it, then I bake mine with olive oil, and add more olive oil when serving, also a fatty salad dressing is good to add.

Skin-on thighs are better, which I also bake with olive oil, and finish off by pan searing skin side down with butter.

I keep my meals simple, for example:
Ribeye steaks cooked in butter, baked bacon wrapped asparagus with olive oil drizzled on top, side salad with an olive oil/apple cider vinegar/salt/pepper dressing, and an avocado

Or, 5-6 egg scramble or omelette cooked in butter, with a few slices of bacon, some fatty spiral ham, some low carb sausage links, 1 avocado, side of pork rinds

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #12

Remember that in food recommendations, unless they explicitly say “as a percentage of weight” they are talking about percentages of calories. If you eat 100 g of protein and 100 g of fat, you will be eating 400 calories of protein and 900 calories of fat. Congratulations, that is 31% protein and 69% fat—over twice as much fat as protein.

This is a holdover from the old “eat less, move more” days, when only the calories ingested mattered. Since, when eating ketogenically, we are concerned more with the quality of food than its quantity, our recommendations tend to be couched in grams, and we ignore macro percentages. So we advise a limit of no more than 20 g/day of carbohydrate and a target of 1.0-2.0 g of protein/day/kg of lean body mass. (In practice, this results in people’s eating an amount of protein that is reasonable and feels right.) The rest of your calories, which you need not count, should come from fat (so as to minimize your insulin response). If you eat fat to satiety, you will have eaten enough. Steak is about 25% protein by weight, so to get 150 grams of protein, you would need about 21 ounces of raw steak.

There is generally no need to go crazy adding fat; the fat you cook with and the fat in the food will likely be enough. (To help lower your inflammation and improve your cholesterol numbers, however, avoid vegetable oils, because they contain far too much polyunsaturated fats. Stick with butter, lard, tallow, and bacon grease for cooking, and avocado, coconut, or olive oil for making your mayonnaise and salad dressings.)

#13

This is precisely why I like chicken breast - you’re better able to control the type of fat. I’m vaguely concerned with the Omega 6 content of fattier cuts so if I buy & poach the breast I can add the fats of my choice such as butter, mayo or avocado in the quantity that suits me :slightly_smiling_face:

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #14

@828Keto

What Paul is referring to is PUFAs - Poly Unsaturated Fatty Acids. So-called vegetable and seed oils. Soybean, corn, canola… Stick to Olive, avacado oil, butter, lard, tallow and fat like that. The PUFAs are inflammatory. Avacado oil has a higher smoke pt than olive oil and can be used when cooking at high heat.

We live now in an altered universe. Chicken wings and bacon are good for us. Welcome.

(Carl Keller) #15

My vote for best LCHF macro-friendly food is the ribeye. It’s equal grams of fat and protein and positively ketolicious.

(Alec) #16

@828Keto, your meal is just fine. I would say don’t worry too much at the start about this protein/fat balance thing. Too many people get hung up on it, and it is not worth the head twist until and unless you are on a stall or you start gaining weight. If you are losing, just keep doing what you’re doing.

The only thing I personally would add to your plate is a side of butter. Yes it is lovely pure fat, but also I like a sauce of some kind, and there’s no better sauce than the Liquid Gold!

#17

A quick snack question, which nuts are best for keto? I assume peanuts are too high in carbs?

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #18

Walnuts and almonds tend to be the most-recommended. Macadamia nuts are even better, but they are very expensive. Just watch the carb count, and control the number of servings you eat. I believe that in the brand of almond I buy, one serving is something like six nuts.

(George) #19

Yup, exactly what @PaulL said

(Alec) #20

Nuts can be very tricky for some people. Easy to overeat, very morish, some folks report breaking stalls by removing nuts. As Paul said, a “serving” of nuts is ridiculously small. I could eat 10 servings in a sitting, easy. I try to avoid. Try is the important word.