Help! Going over protein

(Heather Meyer) #1

Hey yall,

Kk… So Keto = AMAZING yah? Well even though its amazing…im having issues balancing my macros… Here is a sample of my Day.

Breakfast - Fast until 12 noon.
Lunch- 2 pieces of fathead pizza with toppings that are ( crumbled bacon…chicken breast…onion, cheese and G Hughes sugar free BBQ sauce)
Snack- 2 pieces of homemade chocolate mint squares(made from heavy cream, unsweetened chocolate, erithrytol, butter and mint oil)
Dinner- 2# 3oz edible portions of chicken thigh with skin on, bone in and 2 tbsp sugar free bbq sauce.
Desert- sugar free homemade pumpkin custard slice amounting to 1/2 cup

If i eat all of this in a day… i end up roughly with 1400-1500 calories. My limit is 1700 according to the ruled me macro calculator.
However…my net carbs fall right at 20 and my fat is good or under by 10 grams.

BUT… my protein is through the roof! For some reason my body is CRAVING protein…not just any protein… its craving chicken!
Now… granted i am on Day 5 of Keto but still!
If i could…i would eat chicken instead of anything else…

So i need some thoughts about how to balance out my protein? Why in Gods green earth am i craving protein?

BTW… not pregnent! And before this was a carbaholic and had no interest in eating meat… weird right?

Oh and i keep veg on the minimum. Not interested in going full carnivore but my body struggles to process fibre.

#2

I say listen to your body. You’re not eating massive amounts of protein. If at some point your weight loss stalls, you can try reducing the protein and increasing fat, but right now you’re very new to keto and you should give your body what it’s craving.

(Brian) #3

I’m with Rachel. I would go with what my body was craving provided it’s good food. Chicken thighs are fattier than chicken breast and are quite tasty.

Your cravings will change over time. And that’s OK.

#4

The most important thing I have learned is to listen to my body. I almost always eat what I am craving (keto of course) I stop by the store on the way home if I don’t have it on hand. Sometimes I’ll eat big ol steaks 3 days in a row and sometimes it’s tuna salad or eggs.

(Bob M) #5

I wouldn’t be too concerned about protein. Here’s what I ate for “blunch” (between breakfast and lunch, the first meal of the day):
Lunch on 11/21/17, started slightly before 10am, ended 10:16am
37 hours fasting, Body by Science in the morning around 5:30-6am
I can anchovies (drained): 50 calories, 2g fat, 8 g protein, 600 mg O3
1 can sardines (drained): 200 calories, 9.4g fat, 28 g protein, 1,300 mg O3
1 can pink salmon (no bones, skin) (drained), 5.3 ounces: 159 calories, 2.7 g fat, 32 g protein, 954 mg O3
Mussels, 8.2 ounces: 187 calories, 4.7 g fat, 35 g protein, (3g carbs)
Shrimp, 10.4 ounces: 243 calories, 0g fat, 59 g protein
Totals: 839 calories, 18.8 g fat (169.2 calories, 20% by cals), 162 g protein (648 cals, 77% calories)

That’s right, 162 grams of protein in a single meal. Here’s my blood sugar for that time period (taken by a continuous glucose monitor):

Blunch_11-21-17

Note that the initial rise may have been due to carbs in the shrimp and mussels. 5.7=102.6, 6.4 = 115.2 (multiply by 18). There was a small increase, but protein did not turn into sugar.

I also have data from when I ate a pound of 80/20 ground beef (about 122 grams of protein) and a can of anchovies and got zero blood sugar rise. It was if I had not eaten.

For me, protein does not turn into sugar.

(Allie) #6

If your body wants protein give it protein. Just keep carbs below 20g and listen to your body.

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #7

Sin #2 of folks new to this manner of eating is worrying about protein.
Get your carbs <20g and let everything else sort itself until you feel great. Then tweak if you’re not getting the (realistic) results you want.

(Running from stupidity) #8

Good stuff. Feed it chicken! Carbs (good ones) below 20g, then eat what you want. Carbs is the key macro, especially initially.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #9

It’s okay, I keep my carbs under 20 grams. Protein fills me up!!! You can tweak macros later on. Just keep carbs low and eat protein or fat to satiety.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #10

My experience was that it took a lot of food to satisfy me in the early days, until suddenly, in the middle of a meal, I stopped being hungry. Since then, my appetite has slowly been declining, and my sense of satiety has been strengthening. It’s helped me distinguish sugar/carb cravings from real hunger. As others have already pointed out, over 90% of keto is keeping carbs low. The rest is tweaking and learning how to listen to our bodies. Keep calm, and keto on!