Help! I'm Confused

macros

(Lorena) #1

Hi, I’m new here and have been eating the Keto way for a month. My progress is slow with a pattern of lose 2 lbs, stay the same, gain 2, lose 2, stay. I bought some Keto strips to see if I was even in Ketosis and I’m not really. A little about myself: 59 y/o and I need to lose about 10-12 lbs. My exercise includes running/walking on a treadmill and elliptical with some weight training. I average 45 min to 1 hr 4-5 days a week.

I’ve done research on how and how much to eat and each site I have seen says to use macros which I am. My %'s are about 65-70% fat, 10-13% carb and 20-15% protein. One problem may be that my total calories are only around 900-1000 calories so my carb grams are about 25. From what I’m reading here, that may be too many carbs. Nearly all my carbs are coming from veggies. I do use heavy whipping cream for my coffee and will eat homemade peanut or nut butter as well. When I started I said I would only eat this way if I could do it eating as clean a diet as I could so as little processed foods as possible.

I use LoseIt to track which I am finding is very helpful. I wish I could post a day’s worth of how I eat to see if someone can tell me what I may be doing wrong.

I try to do some intermittent fasting, usually 14 hours.

I’m pleasantly surprised that I haven’t gained weight but a deathly afraid that I’ll gain or just have no difference at all. I was brought up that fat is the enemy and know that is wrong but I’ve always eaten a high protein, moderate carb and low fat diet, sadly a lifetime of being overweight. About 10 years ago I just lost my appetite and could not eat very much food at all. I was literally wasting away and lost about 60 lbs which I’ve kept off with no problem until the last couple of years, hence the 10-12 lb gain. I would like to get down to a healthier weight.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!


(Jill F.) #2

I would say shoot for more fat and try to stick to under 20 carbs a day. I like PB too but be sure to measure it out as it has carbs. Be sure and take your measurements and dont rely solely on the scale.


#3

10-12lbs isn’t a lot to lose, so it will probably be slow to come off. But you do seem to be under-eating, 900-1000 calories isn’t much. Try upping the calories, with mostly fats, for a few weeks and see how that feels.


(Full Metal KETO AF) #4

Under eating, fasting, excessive workouts, high carb macro. All this can work against you starting out.

If your feeling hungry at all your metabolism slows down to preserve energy and your weight will try to stabilize.

Fasting is recommended for later when fat adaptation is happening for the same reason mentioned above.

Working out while trying to achieve ketosis and convert your metabolism to fat burning mode work against each other. Exercise creates cortisol which will stress your body further with the dietary changes slowing down the process. Try long walks for now.

Most importantly put the confusing percentages with macros aside for now and put your focus on keeping daily carb intake under 20 net grams, getting enough protein to stay strong and not lose muscle mass, and be liberal with oils and fats. Butter on veggies, eggs scrambled with plenty of butter or coconut oil. If you’re concerned about processed meats don’t eat them. There’s no :bacon::bacon::bacon::bacon:required. But it is yummy. Most of us don’t buy into the “nitrates bad” thing here but you do as you wish. This is YOUR way of eating. My best wishes for your success with the keto lifestyle. :cowboy_hat_face:


(Lorena) #5

Thank you everyone. After reading your thoughts I will create my day’s food based on my carb grams only and try to get more oils etc at each meal. That way it isn’t about volume, which is the thing that gets me because I still can’t eat a lot at a single serving so the oil/butter is a good way to get the fat and calories in without volume. The good thing is that the LoseIt program makes it very easy to track the carb grams only. I find I am not hungry at all and honestly I feel very happy eating this way.

I love bacon so that is included but in moderation. I mean…bacon IS very good.

I am walking mostly and doing more of a HIT but for me that isn’t really high. I just want to try to run a little but it’s mostly walking and the elliptical offers some change. I do realize that I may be burning and the burn to intake of food is hindering. I’ll try your suggestion of walking though.

I wish I’d looked for this site before all the other keto sites. I think they do confuse it for beginners because they focus on the macros and protein isn’t that high.


(Carl Keller) #6

I agree with the others about undereating, especially if you find youself hungry between meals a lot. What you eat is far more important than how much you eat and the number of calories is best determined by your hunger.

My advice is to set a goal for a certain number of carbs (I found 20 net ideal) and to eat protein and fat in order to achieve satiety. Let the numbers fall where they fall.


(Lorena) #7

I created a new post entitled: Sample Meals where I’d uploaded some pics of a day’s worth of food showing calories and carb grams but I’m not seeing it so I’m copying and pasting here:

Hi, I’d posted about a week ago asking for some guidance and I got some great advice. I dropped my carbs to 20 and it was not that hard to do. I had been hovering around 25-ish. My weight loss has been, well kind of up/down in the 5 weeks that I’ve been eating this way. I am up .5 as of today. I feel good, am sleeping better etc. I know I don’t have a lot to lose but I just want my clothes (pants) to fit better. I’ve noticed they are tighter than they were and my weight has creeped up over the last couple of years but it isn’t so much about the # on the scale as the way my clothes fit. So, that said, I am doing this for that reason but also I have borderline hypoglycemia. I’m 59 y/o f, 5’4, 146.

I’ve been tracking since I started. I copied a day and hope that someone can point something out. My calories may seem low but I am very satisfied, am not hungry between meals and not craving sweets. Before I found this forum I had ordered the keto strips so I guess I have to use them as some reference even though it sounds like they aren’t as useful for information. According to them I am between 1.5-4.

As suggested from my last post, I cut my exercise to just walking. I think I walk about 3-4 miles maybe 4 times a week. I REALLY am getting some great information from you all. It keeps me sane as I can get a little crazy trying to do it exactly right. I read someone say something about spreadsheets and I’m that person too. My weight is lower today but I’ve been overweight my entire life, my highest 217 but a lifetime of dieting has probably killed my metabolism. I lost the bulk of my weight starting about 10 years ago over a years time. Something very traumatic caused me to just lose my appetite. So it’s stayed off for some time until the last 3 years. My lowest was 122, very unhealthy.

Thanks for listening!

The 2 calorie days show the full days worth of food. The carb is for # of carbs only.