Getting Enough Fat vs Protein

#1

Hey all, I’m starting keto on Monday and have a meal plan laid out for the next few weeks. But I have one general concern: Getting much more fat than protein.

My goal macros are 169g of fat, 100g protein, and 20g carbs. Obviously, I’ll be cooking a lot of my foods in butter and olive oil. But I’m worried I won’t get to a 69-gram difference in fat to protein.

My question is: What happens if there are days when I don’t achieve this big a gap? What if it’s closer to 120:100? Will I not achieve ketosis?

And what snacks do you all recommend, or tips if this IS a big deal? Just throw in an extra tablespoon of MCT oil in my morning shake to cover the difference I know almonds have a great fat:protein ratio, but 10 almonds is still only 6 grams of fat and will take up one of my precious net carbs too!

This would be a lot easier if I ate bacon, I’m sure…but alas, I don’t.

Thanks in advance for the help!

(Allie) #2

Keep carbs low, treat protein as a goal to reach (though 100g is actually a bit on the high side for many people), and use fats to satisfy your hunger.

(Sarah ) #3

Here’s an in testing tip someone told me, I calculated it out and it’s mostly true.

A pound of veggies, or half a kg, is easily 20 g carbs or less, if you select lower carb veggies. (Like these https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/vegetables)

A pound or just under a half kg of non lean (like chicken thighs or standard stew meat) meat is about 125 g protein, depending on the type of meat, andhow it’s cut.

So basically, if you eat plenty of Iow carb veggies, maybe 1/3 of a kg of meat (I haven’t crunched the numbers for fatty fish), and as much fat as you want *sauces, dips, creams, cooking oils, you’ll probably hit your macros just fine, and still have room for some of your favorites snacks like nuts, or fancy coffee drinks with all the appropriate modifications, or a few berries with whipped cream, or a dipping sauce that’s got a tad of sugar…

(Sarah ) #4

BTW the only thing that matters for ketosis, is keeping your carbs low, your body won’t burn fat if it has carbs on board. Getting the right amount of protein is for your health, just like eating enough fat to give your body the energy it needs, fiber, viramins, minerals, etc…

(Liz ) #5

As stated above, carbs are a ceiling, protein is a goal, fat to satiety. There’s no need to meet your “fat goals” unless you are left hungry after meals. No snacks! Give your body a chance to let its insulin go down after meals.

(Pete A) #6

4-5 hours between 3 meals seems to be the sweet spot for me. Then 15 hours overnight. For me the time I eat matters.

(Debbie) #7

If you like cream cheese right out of the package, the fat to protein ratio is about 10 to 1. I love cream cheese so this is what I do to keep my fat up at times. Usually I don’t have a problem but yesterday I sat down and enjoyed 4 TBS of it. Lol

(Sarah ) #8

Side note: if your not used to eating concentrated amounts of fat, just throwing an extra TBL of MCT oil in your morning smoothie will send you straight to the bathroom. definitely start with a teaspoon at a time, for a few days, and work up. Also a second note, you will be surprised at how full fat makes you feel, but it’s a slow burn… you won’t necessarily realize how much fat you overate (this will happen sooner or later) till a good 30-45 mins after the fact, and you’ll feel stuffed for a few hours. That why people say “eat fat to saity”. You have to listen to your body’s signals.

(Karen Parrott) #9

Time will give you results. Use your logic and desired goals to pick and choose. I lose weight on those days and seem to gain muscle. I flip back and forth between my fat and protein ratios with extremely good outcomes.

I think some podcasters who also promote keto call this fat adaptation. I’m at risk for T2D, so I use Keto to minimize my risk. Optimize it fo your risk.

Shhhhh, it’s how to look really nice in your clothes, avoid sarcopenia, avoid bone loss, and for me maintain a 70 pound weight loss with many obesity and type 2 genes. I’m a post menopausal woman, post morbid obesity, post auto immune disease, with a family history of bone loss, so set up a plan based on your own goals.

Actually, it’s not a secret, but I do find I get verbally beaten up for saying what works for me, most of the time in most forums. I have almost no satiation normally signals (food addict in recovery). People HATE me for that. They don’t understand. But there are loads of community examples of folks in my situation.

Here’s my 100% truth and how I figured out my totals and ratios.

When I eat over my fat threshold, it’s too many calories, I get fat, sub cutaneous 8-10 pounds over 1 year or so. Muffin top. I track my weight daily so 4-5 days, I’ll dial back the totals and fat grams closer to 1:1.

When I over eat protein, I get bloated and I get painful joints immediately. I feel just horrible. That’s 1 day feed back.Typically, I can stop myself due to a faint not feeling well signal.

I let my body tell me, all I need to do is listen and slide into my keto , LCHF size 6 revenge pants along with lifting 42 pound bags of kitty litter, big bags of garden soil and whatever else needs to be done. Every day. For six years. I can tell at the gym if I’ve had muscle loss. So very quickly, I adjust.

My ketones stay around 0.5 to 1.5 all the time because I 17:7 fast. Everyone is different. Plus mild levels of Ketones have always, always, always given me excellent results. Higher levels give me worse results.

My ALL of my family members on one side are/were extremely disabled due to sarcopenia, osteoarthritis, vertebrae problems- all lost 4-5 inches as they aged. The steaks are huge (sorry for the pun). But it’s a serious quality of life aging issue for me.

Let your body give you feed back and change your plans to meat your goals. Use my and others guidelines as a suggestion only.

(Lonnie Hedley) #10

B[quote=“Shortstuff, post:2, topic:30629, full:true”]
Keep carbs low, treat protein as a goal to reach (though 100g is actually a bit on the high side for many people), and use fats to satisfy your hunger.
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Best comment of this entire thread!!! Why do people have to give such complicated suggestions to people new to keto? When you begin just keep is simple. Carbs under 20g net (this is how you get into ketosis), eat some protein, and lots of fat until full. Then after you adjust start tracking, experimenting, really getting into the science.

(Brian) #11

Avocado is my friend. It not only helps to keep good fats up, it helps me to maintain good levels of potassium, which I don’t feel so well if I get low on.

Just a thought. :slight_smile:

(Gail Dawson ) #12

I have trouble keeping my carbs below 30 net carbs, so I try to keep them below 50. Otherwise, I get dizzy and have heart palpitations. I use the urine test strips, and I am always in mild ketosis .5 to 1.5. The weight is falling off without trying. I am doing this to prevent Alzheimer’s disease, which my younger sister has. I don’t have acetone breath. Do you think you have to be in deep ketosis to reap all the benefits of keto?

(Gail Dawson ) #13

P.S. I also do IF for 16 hours a day.

(Karen Parrott) #14

I think it depends. I certainly don’t get Weight maintenance benefits from deep Keto. Certainly not weight loss either, but some do and that’s great.

I put a good amount of decisions on my glucose; hs-CRP and low joint pain; lean body mass, No migraines either. All those things mean better aging for me

I met Allison Garnett who is a cancer coach( she had a bran tumor). For her, epilepsy and her clients it can be therapeutic.

Best wishes and here’s to being able to use Keto as your best tool, with adequate protein.

(Adam Smith) #15

I’m betting you’re not fully fat adapted. I never got keto flu, but I did get what you described for a little while. I think it was part of the transition process for me. I doubled down on fat and it went away after less than a week.

(Allie) #16

This is likely your body going into ketosis properly and needing salt.

#17

Just wanted to say thanks so much for all the responses! Some great insight here that really alleviated my concerns. Really appreciate you all taking the time. We’ll see how this goes…