I am a 45 yrs old. 180lbs - 5’2" Teach reading all day to small groups, so not a lot of movement…I use the CarbManager app to log food. But according to it, I should be eating. It has me at 19 gr of carbs, 50 gr of fat, and 40 gr of protein. Does this sound right? I am CONSTANTLY going over my protein and fat… so I got online and googled carb calculator and clicked on one and it seems to make more sense… it has me at 20 carbs, 120 protein, and 116 fat w/ 1600 calories. BUT it says daily calories to lose weight is 839…so does that me eat no more than 839? So confused.
So far I have read in the beginning to just worry about net carbs. It just seems impossible to stay under 50 gr of fat and 40 of protein on carb manager.
Eat till your full. When it comes to calorie counter I find it more useful as a reference tool for nutritional information than a day to day dietary guideline. If you’re certain that your carbs are in the right zone, I find it really hard to over do protein unless you’re doing things like drinking protein shakes. So listen to your body, you’re probably doing just fine #KCKO
The second set of macros you listed seem about right. Eat what you want as long as you don’t go over 20g net carbs. Ignore the calorie deficit they have applied. I am not familiar with that particular app but, I am sure there is a way to turn the deficit off, or at least change the percentage.
As others have already said and as you suspected your protein and fat are too low. I use that app and find it very useful for tracking and accountability and learning the contents of what I eat but I manually set my macro amounts. I would suggest focusing on low carb (20 g) and then eating to satiety for a period of time, say a week or so. Look at the average of your fat and protein and that’ll be more close to what your body needs. You can then adjust the app settings manually. Keep it simple initially, focus on low carb and not being hungry and use these early days to learn and then you can tweak numbers as you go if you feel the need or aren’t seeing results. Good luck.
I like Maria Emmerichs keto calculator. She gives a range of options depending on your goal…fast weight loss to aggressive and she includes protein sparing fast macros. Hope this helps. https://mariamindbodyhealth.com/keto-calculator/
Until you’re fat adapted I would just focus on keeping your carbs under 20 grams, eating high fat foods, and letting your body adjust to burning fat for fuel. How long have you been eating a ketogenic diet? I just wouldn’t tweak until you hit that 6 week mark, and definitely don’t go hungry. If you’re hungry, eat - ribeyes with butter, bunless burgers with mayo, eggs and bacon, avocado, creamy salads, cheesy veggies, etc. Once you think you’re keto adapted, then maybe start fine-tuning. If it’s working for you, just keep doing it!
I have heard some smart people diss the apps that tell you when to eat and they made sense.
Also the “20g” suggestion sets a lot of people up for failure.
Not everyone can eat 20g and go into ketosis (some can eat 50 others barely 10g) plus most people starting out MISS some carb count somewhere from not reading labels or using condiments etc.
My rule has always been: Stop all carbs until the ketosticks go medium or better.
Add a little carefully and keep the sticks medium or better.
40 years it worked for out family.
(We didn’t have meters then; only bought one recently.)
Today I would use a ketone meter but haven’t seen any discrepancy from the ketosticks yet.
If the stick is purple you’re doing fine and if it isn’t you probably aren’t so tighten up towards truly 0 carbs.
(People in advanced ketosis over long periods may stop showing in urine but it’s rare for the sticks to be wrong at the beginning in our experience.)
Biological 0-carbs is what we seek – small enough your body just doesn’t notice.
Yes, but it works for almost everyone, that’s the point.
Also, the piss sticks are generally a waste of money.
Saying it sets a “lot” of people up for failure is a massive exaggeration. There’s a reason it’s settled for most as the recommended level to begin with.
I was thinking something along similar lines this morning, in between sharp sensations of dread in my sternum over the thought of going to my shitty job.
I suppose it depends on the person & their level of commitment really. I have found it extremely easy to stay under 20g of carbs since day one & entered ketosis by day 2. Currently, I rarely go over 10/12.
I will agree with you on the pee sticks, though. I prefer to keep track of my levels & by doing so I should be able to tell when I become fat adapted. Beyond that, I will probably switch to test my blood ketones.
I’m not sure it’s commitment exactly. Keto, for some, can take a serious mental shift when we’ve been told for years to “eat your fruits and vegetables.” And, in more recent years, there’s been a push for 3 meals PLUS snacks. I think it can be difficult for some people to actively go against all that medical and dietary advice so they try to fit in all their veggies along with keto and that pushes the carb limit.
Of course, for some, the carb count is due to trying to fit in the junk, sweets, etc. but for othes, they’re still trying to eat “healthy according to SAD” while still doing keto and that just doesn’t work well.
Something isn’t right in your Carb Manager settings. You can have it to “Smart Macros” or manually set them. Smart Macros usually actually sets my macros a bit higher than I like, so I manually set mine to the recommended 75/20/5 percentages based on about 1500 calories a day (I set that manually as well). My carbs are set to 19 net grams, Fat to 128 grams, and Protein to 75 grams. It’s a great app for tracking what you eat and seeing how close you come to the percentages. It’s really important to eat enough good fats - maybe more important than keeping net carbs below 20 grams. And despite what people say, calories DO count. You cannot eat 4000 calories and expect to lose, no matter how few carbs you eat. You CAN eat too much protein. For example, an 8 ounce New York Strip has 58 grams of protein. If I add 3 ounces of Dubliner cheese, that puts me at 80 grams of protein - over by 5 grams and that’s just one meal. If you have heavy whipping cream in your coffee, eat a chicken breast for lunch, etc. your protein intake is going to be way too high and your fat intake too low. You will be hungry, won’t lose, and will be frustrated. Keto is not that hard. The Carb Manager app helps a ton! Just get your macros set correctly.
A typical day for me is coffee with heavy whipping cream in the morning. I don’t usually eat lunch but may snack on pork rinds about mid-afternoon. Then for dinner I’ll have a dinner with chicken or beef (about 6 ounces), often cauliflower in some form or another, usually with some cheese on it, a salad with avocado and bleu cheese or caesar dressing, and maybe some keto-friendly dessert later (usually no dessert). The avocado is the key, for me, to getting my healthy fats. I have made Fathead pizza (super easy and delicious), various cheese-based keto snacks and breads, eggs and bacon for dinner, etc. I don’t lose nearly as quickly as I would like - certainly not the 4-5 pounds a week that some people do - but I have been losing consistently about 1 pound a week average. I have definitely lost inches. All my pants are loose on me and I’m down a size in all my tops. I’m 64 years old and have a pretty sedentary job. Keto is the only way of eating that works all the time for me and keeps the inflammation down. I feel so much better and have no carb cravings at all. Just my two cents.
Not even CLOSE! The carbs are fine, 50g of fat on a high fat diet? FAIL! 40g of protein? Sounds like a great way to loose muscle mass which directly effect our metabolism. Never allow an app (including keto one’s) to set your macros, this always happens.
This is a good calculator that let’s you account for alot. https://www.ketogains.com/calculator/ there are many people that are protein-phobic. so be ready for that.
I haven’t played with carb manager in a long time, but you SHOULD be able to override anything. If not, switch to cronometer.
The key here is for people who aren’t knowledgeable about all this stuff which is almost every beginner (unless they find a site like this first or read a bunch of technical detail.)
Dr.Fung talks about how almost all of his patients messed up keto. They looked at the food diary and people were eating Nan or other bread stuff not even realizing it was still BREAD and carbs.
It’s one of the advantages he lists for Fasting. It’s so simple. Do nothing.
Telling people “20” works if you also tell them about the range of what works and to just use the ketosticks (or now buy a meter).
I never tell people what their number will be because no one knows until they test themselves.
It will be unique, and almost everyone will let some extra carbs in without adding them to the “count”
Another issue for beginners is that every carb that sneaks in increases the carb craving making them miss sugar and bread etc. even more.
Anyone can count to ZERO whether keto or fasting.
Anyone can pee on a stick.
You still must deal with the 100 names of sugar and reading every label if it’s not a fast.
