Hi, all. First day on keto. I’m a bit confused-are you supposed to track the carbs in things like eggs or bacon? What about labels that say 0 or <1 carb, but have ingredients like honey or something listed on the label?
So far, today, I’ve had two eggs, bacon and a half cup of cheese for breakfast, chicken ceasar salad with no croutons for lunch and a beef stick and babel cheese. By my estimate, I’ve had a total of like 5-10 carbs and 1200 calories. Can that be right? Is it really so easy or am I underestimating my carbs?
Record what the label says no matter what it contains.
For a newbie, it’s that simple.
An easy method to track your input is to use an App such as MyFittnessPal (the free version, available on both your smartphone and computer). Just input/scan everything you eat, it not only counts calories but also summarizes macros (i.e. fat, protein & carbs)
To answer your question, whole, unprocessed cuts of meat are zero carbs. Things like sausages, bacon, beef sticks are usually processed and do contain a small amount of carbs due to added sugar in the processing.
Thanks for the response! I guess I also should have asked-what about things that are less than 1 carb like eggs, which google says is .6 carbs? Should I round up? Do most people actually get into decimals?
The only real way to know is to track. It will also depend on if you count total or net carbs. The salad would have some carbs, but your guesstimate might be right.
I have a follow up, maybe kind of dumb question: if you keep your carbs super low, like, let’s say you get away with 5 carbs all day, can you just splurge on something dumb? If I ate nothing all day and just had exactly 20 carbs worth of pure sugar for dinner, would that still technically be keto?
Not sure it makes much of a difference. A goal of a maximum of 20g of carbs a day is goal. If you eat 22g of carbs it will not make a big difference, but if you eat 75g of carbs in a day it may.
It depends. If your insulin resistance is high, probably better to keep it on more of an even keel. If your metabolism is in decent shape, then yeah, it probably is okay.
Lastly, there are different levels of dumb to be had around 20g. Krispy Kremes are never keto, but a basic one goes about 27g.
That’s awesome, I was under the impression that doing keto meant potentially not eating breads or similar things for weeks or months. It’s nice to know you can ‘cheat’ with some planning
Let’s go at this one more time. Are all these questions about “cheats” being asked because you are having cravings? If so, planning a “cheat” like you’re talking about could completely submarine your efforts.
I am a sugar/carb addict. Carbs put me into an out of control tailspin. I have a VERY occasional keto sweet treat, but I have to be careful even with keto-friendly (that’s a subjective term) sweeteners.
Sugar and grains will never again voluntarily touch my lips. I like having control over what I put in my pie-hole far better than I liked eating the things that made me lose control since I was a child. If you’re a carb addict, that’s a decision you will have to make, as well. That’s the hard, blunt truth.
I’ve found a sustainable lifetime way of eating that keeps me happy and in control. It’s healing many things in my broken body. I hope you’ll join me.
Record everything. MFP is usually pretty good about splitting up the macros. When I first started I learned some labels will say <1 gram but the serving size is minuscule and it adds up quickly. I was munching on Breath mints and downed the whole package one day sitting at my desk. Then discovered because of the sweetener they use the serving size is less then a gram, but the whole box was like 16. Hard lesson to learn but I didn’t do that again. So now I just round up and track everything.
Candy’s words x2. To be read and digested fully. Read again because the words will give you indigestion. Sugar is a dead end - empty non nutritional product. Why cheat?! Go the whole hog and find good keto replacements for ‘treats’ maybe some berries and whipped cream. Even 90% chocolate is a possibility. Give your body a rest from the rollercoaster of sugar hell unless of course being on a rollercoaster is fun! Seriously if you dedicate the effort to being in keto it will pay enormous dividends and sugary foods and white flour and rice will no longer be attractive options because your palate will change over time. I’m approaching six monthly and the difference is staggering. I have so little desire for carb laden foods now it’s hard to believe.
I’m tracking. I use My Fitness Plan app. It’s been amazing to use. I also refer to the Fat Secret app when i need to work out carbs on particularly South African foodstuffs and just add that particular food to myfood or mymeal so I can refer to it again- it’s very domestic and works the same way. I started 7 days ago and was tracking only carbs and trying to stay “in the ballpark” of the calories. But looking but, i’ve stayed under the calories, protein and carbs every day, even if I’ve exceeded the fat some days. It’s also about listening to your body in that if you’re not hungry, i discovered it was best not to eat until i was.
I go contrary to some of the advice here. I don’t track what I eat for the simple reason that I don’t want to be a slave to food (or my iphone to record my food). I know that if I don’t eat the obvious carbs (bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, sugar, and did I say sugar), cook from scratch the majority of the time, and don’t use much from a packet, then my carb level will be OK.
There’s no keto rule book, you’re not going to be kicked out of the club, but YOUR body might or might not be kicked out of ketosis. MY body might have the same reaction or a different reaction. It all depends on your insulin levels, insulin resistance, genetics, history etc etc etc. If you do want to measure something, measure blood ketone levels and experiment on yourself.
This is good advice from @CandyLindTX. I’ve been doing this for almost 2 months now (nothing compared to many here) but If I’m hungry I eat some fat (cheese, avos, or olives normally, sometimes nuts). If I’m not hungry, then guess what, for the first time in my life I’m NOT hungry. I haven’t felt the need to cheat from a hunger or craving perspective. I’ve been in circumstances when I’ve wanted to cheat for non-hunger reasons such as at my god-son’s birthday party where I was offered a cupcake. That time as I’m still new at this I will-powered my way through. In future I expect to have the odd piece of bread or cake, and then get myself back into ketosis through fasting, but special occasions only. Ultimately though it’ll be my body that decides what it can handle rather than my mind. Good luck!
A lot of this will work itself out as you get to know your body. For example, some people can use artificial sweeteners just fine, while other people can’t. It is an experimental learning process that we all go through.
Also, while I check a lot of labels, I don’t track carbs. If you stick to the staples (eggs, bacon, butter, fatty meat, small servings of salad/ low carb veggies, certain cheeses, etc) you will not be hungry enough to eat above 20 carbs per day! .6 carbs per egg is almost 40 eggs. Can you eat 40 eggs in a day? Lol.
Just stick to the basics for the first few weeks. I am two months in and my cravings for carbs are near zero! It gets easier once you have fat-adapted your body.
I stuck to the basics. On Dec 29th, 2017 I weighed 280 pounds. Today, Feb 27 2018 I weigh 246 pounds. STICK TO THE BASICS!!
Signs of insulin resistance I found mentioned in the forums or have personally experienced (PK means Pre-Keto):
Yo-yo dieting; you can take it off but not keep it off (PK)
Hungry all the time, even immediately after a meal (PK)
Food cravings
No energy (PK)
It seems like you can’t lose weight unless you take in less & less calories (PK)
High fasting blood glucose, even when extended fasting
High fasting insulin (which most folks don’t know, & don’t test)
Belly Fat
Skin tags (yep!)
Tinnitus (ringing ears)
I could keep searching, but I need to go pick up a prescription! Everyone else can chime in with more.
I was never diagnosed pre-diabetic, but I’m highly insulin-resistant. I also have low thyroid. I could be the poster child for deranged metabolism! On keto, it’s better, though. I can eat close to 1500 calories a day and still lose.
On keto, it’s better, though. I can eat close to 1500 calories a day and still lose.