How much Fiber will kick me out of Keto?

#1

I’ve been keto a little over a week after being low carb for 5 months. Since Keto and fasting I’ve lost 7 pounds in 9 days. But It’s not clear what will kick me out of ketosis ( I don’t have a meter yet).

Today, I consumed a romaine salad, some asparagus, and a little broccoli, which were my sources of carbs. I totaled 38g of carbs out of 2000cal, 75% of cals from fats. Assuming a 30g ceiling for carbs (ala Thomas Delauer) is this a problem? A bunch of the carb load is insoluble fiber. Is the only way to know if this is kicking me out of ketosis to get a meter? Thoughts?

Dave

(Full Metal KETO AF) #2

Welcome to the forum Dave, it’s great to have you here. It sounds like you’re tracking Total carbs, I would switch to net. That amount excludes fiber so you’ll have an easier time knowing what carbs are digestible and the fiber is subtracted. Stay with <20g. Net Carbohydrate is my recommendation. You’ll get into a deeper level of ketosis faster and get fat adapted sooner. Also look at carb count as an upper limit, not a target to be met. The lower, the better. Use a scale to measure veggies, not measuring cups so you will be accurate. You can buy a digital kitchen scale for less than $15. I have never tested in 15 months, just stay under 20g. of carbs and you are almost certain to be in ketosis, true for almost everyone.

:cowboy_hat_face:

(Susan) #3

Welcome to the forum, Dave =). I agree with everything that David said. We usually recommend 20 grams or less of net carbs, no sugar, adequate proteins, healthy fats, enough water and electrolytes.

I have been doing Keto since February and I have never bought strips or any blood monitor, etc. You can easily do Keto without testing. Some people like to because they want to, but neither is necessary at all =).

(Robert C) #4

Yes!

Your given examples are not likely the issue (depending on what you put on them when you actually eat them) but a meter is the way to go generally to be sure about what you are doing.

It also lets you worry less about whether something is creeping in somewhere generally over the coming weeks / months. After several months you might become so efficient that the meters do not help anymore - that is why it is best to use a blood ketone meter while learning.

Use net carbs on natural things - probably best to not use net carbs listed on labels of processed “keto friendly” foods (if you must eat them - use total carbs listed).

(back and doublin' down) #5

As David and Susan suggested, calculate net carbs of real foods.

Meter vs Not meter. I personally have never measured my ketones. (OK, once because a colleague had a meter and we were both curious cause I was losing so fast he thought my ketones would be out the roof. They weren’t. Now I look back and figure my body was already using them efficiently). Is a meter in your budget? Can you spend $60+ on a gadget that might or might not guide your food choices? Are you a data person? Some get into the data, and whatever keeps your food choices at the front of your mind can be a valuable tool.

As opposed to a meter, do you use any apps to track your food? I use Carb Manager. Others like Cronometer. When I’m seriously focused on dropping weight (like I am now), keeping track of every bite helps me see sneaky carbs and make different choices.

Glad to have you around. Lots of helpful, supportive folks and a variety of thoughts on every subject. Take what you like and leave the rest.

(Jack Bennett) #6

My guess is that fiber is unlikely to kick you out of ketosis on its own. It provides a little bit of food energy via fermentation into short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) but this is fat energy, not carbohydrate.

If you ate a huge amount of fiber in natural food sources, the glucose that came along with the fiber might stop ketosis.

On the other hand, I hypothesize that if you ate a very large quantity of fiber alone (e.g. via supplementation) it would not kick you out of ketosis. That said, the only way to confirm or disprove that would be to do the experiment, and there might be unwanted side effects of all that fiber (gas, bloating, etc).

#7

Thanks for these thoughts, all. I had been using MyFitnessPal for the past months but since that does not track net carbs as you suggested, I switched last night to carb manager and am now set up and ready to go. Sure enough, yesterday’s net carbs were a safe 20g though I had 38g total carbs. My body felt like it was pressing hard, which, considering I still lost almost a pound after 2000 calories and only a twenty minute hiit session, it was!

FYI you can get the precision extra ketone and glucose meter on eBay for under $25. The strips are separate. The reviews are good.

(less is more, more or less) #8

There is another approach to low-carb not represented in this discussion.

Dr. Westman, who has taken the torch from Dr. Atkins some time ago, recommends a more simple approach that does not require calculating net carbs or tracking what you eat. Having been his patient (now alumni) and keeping my weight loss, while enjoying the improved health benefits of his approach, as many old-timers here know, I’m a zealous advocate for his approach. What I like about his approach is that it is a sane, for-the-rest-of-your life approach. There’s no way I would ever track my meals into my final days.

I’d rather simply enjoy living and delicious steak.

With his approach, you count ALL carbs, with a max of 20 total per day, but not with a tracker. He has a Page Four approach. Stick to the foods on this page, and you’re set.