so i’ve just started keto this week, a few questions i have are where is a reliable source with realistic items for meal plans? my current suggestion of intake is “2415 calories. From those, 180g fats, 20g net carbs, and 179g protein”
i am struggling to find meals that fit into these catagories and also feel guilty as if they shouldn’t be in a diet? (cause they’re fatty) also i’ve just had pork medallions (300 grams) and it had really high cholesterol amounts is this okay on keto? or should i be looking for low cholesterol items as well?
if anyone can help, with a simple meal idea that fits well into my requirements or advice on the cholesterol issue i would greatly appreciate it.
Hi Liam. I’m also a newbie to keto. Today is day 14. When I first started I was in awe as to how to keep my calories down, but what I’ve learnt is that on keto don’t need to worry to much about calories but more so carbs. I now have trouble getting at least 1,000 calories in my day… So the best advice I can give at this time is stay away from carbs and get as much fats n proteins…
Hi Liam
I’m not sure where your numbers are coming from. However, listen to the 2 Dudes podcast on Cholesterol. Not what we are taught.http://2ketodudes.com/show.aspx?episode=9 m.youtube.com/watch?t=15s&v=y8pybQjVeiQ
Dave Feldman its about energy not cholesterol.
Check out the thread about boring keto. We post our meals and recipes there.
The macros sound OK - 66% Fat, 29% Protein, 5% Carbs. Many would err on a lower level of protein (since it has a fairly high insulin response vs. fat) and higher fat but you could do this for a few weeks and then start adjusting.
For meals that would achieve these macros or better (higher fat), a few examples from my personal repertoire would be:
a) 5 strips of bacon, 2-3 fried eggs, a couple of slices of Halloumi/Panela, dill pickles high-fat sauce
b) 10oz ribeye steak, 10oz of fried brussels sprouts, fatty sauce
c) 2 chicken thighs (with skin), cauliflower mash (lots of butter/cream), fatty sauce
d) 8oz of grilled salmon, 1.5 cups of boiled cabbage, slathered in butter
e) Dessert - 1.5oz of whipped cream with sugar-free jello and a few raspberries (yum)
All of these will achieve a 70% or higher fat macro. Notice the proteins contain a lot of the fat content, with sauce/butter, pushing the meal over the top on fat. If you use low fat proteins, it gets much harder (e.g. lean pork medallions vs. pork chops with the fat on). You can always add cheese/cheese sauce/avocado to meals to up fat on leaner cuts. The irony is that often, the fattier/skin on protein is cheaper.
My preferred fatty sauce is home-made buffalo sauce - hot sauce + butter + a few spices but there are others you can make. This is also very salty - good to achieve required sodium amounts.
Also check out the 'What did you keto today" thread with thousands of pictures of good keto meals.
As to Cholesterol, if you are keto, don’t worry about it. There are plenty of threads about how cholesterol fear mongering is BS and dietary cholesterol is not an issue so do not fret the lipid menace!
Hi Liam,
This actually my first post so bare with me, I am 5 months keto right now(50 pounds of loss) and I am never hungry anymore. One of the things you need to understand is that the macro numbers are a guide and not a set in stone item. That said the purpose of keto is to limit the carb intake first, so thinking of your carbs as a tank you never want to fill. Its not a end all be all if you reach 20g there is no line you cross but you should try and never reach it. When you are on the keto diet you look at the fat content first, then the protein or least I do now. It may be easier to start off simple for example this how I started. I wrote down what I ate for the first few days in a log and then compared that to the values on the servings of the nutritional facts. From there I became comfortable with what i needed to eat, after a while it will become second nature esp if you stick to a simple plan at first. So for me this was the first week or so, I made 2 eggs(in multiples of 2 for my chart) 3 pieces of bacon(in multiples of 3). I added spinach to nearly every meal breakfast included. Lunch was often a salmon patty with spinach cooked in butter or EVO, at which time I would do the math for dinner based on what I ate and prepare dinner(I work second shift) very often my dinner consisted of 2 cheese sticks, a whoally guacamole cup, spinach with EVO or ranch dressing, some sausage or another salmon patty. I did that for the first month and still do it pretty regular, my macros when I started were 130g fat and 100g protein give or take a few. Now pork medallions are pretty lean in my experience, although nothing wrong with that I like to find meats that accomplish both fat and protein in the same mouth full. Pulled pork does that well, so do many sausages, I love salami for instance(but be careful there can be carbs in it!).
Cholesterol is in my humble opinion is much ado about nothing, you need it, your body craves it, so eat it. Honestly the things I look on a label never includes the amount of cholesterol. I also don’t count calories to any great extent, I add fat and protein grams to hit my macros, the only exclusion to that is nuts, you have to watch nuts they are sneaky. I hope this helps, I would start listening to the pod casts, I have been listening and I made to #50 the first 10 are very informative and helpful for some one who is starting out.
Keto is a high fat/cholesterol diet. It’ll take a little while to unlearn the fear of fats. Minus not going over your carbs you don’t HAVE to keep eating if your not hungry you don’t have to make it a numbers obsession if you don’t want to. Once your eating this way for a couple weeks you can simply eat when your hungry and stop when your satisfied.
Only day 9 here myself. Most of the recipes I have I got from ketoconnect.net. I use the myfitnesspal.com meal tracker and app on my phone (syncs with the health app on iPhones). Pretty sure it’s their calculator I also used to get my daily limits/goals - in mine, my fat is double what my protein is.
Everyone’s body reacts differently to this - me, I’ve had lots of Keto flu symptoms - but you just need to listen to your body and do what you think makes sense. (Sometimes that’s a nice big bowl of bouillon)
Have you checked out Diet Doctor for recipe ideas? To be honest, I did not bother with recipes when I started out, my staples were some combination of the following:
eggs made in lots of butter and finished with sour cream
bacon
some form of chicken curry (I’m Indian) to which I added copious amounts of ghee or butter
broccoli with lots of butter
salad with loads of olive oil and some balsamic vinegar
mascarpone cheese
Bulk Italian sausage cooked in very minimal Indian spices. I always have this handy and add this to eggs/salad/curry to augment
I have no problem eating the same thing everyday. 1 year in, I haven’t deviated much from the above but have replaced the chicken curry with fatty pork curry since it delivers more fat for the volume.
Here’s my truth: I LOVE the simplicity of keto and don’t bother with recipes, keto equivalents of bread, dessert, etc. I spent decades chasing that stuff and causing metabolic damage. A monk like, yet delicious, eating strategy decreases decision fatigue and frees up time for things like relaxation, exercise, etc.
keto is a long term way of eating, there is no expectation that you’ll “do it right” from the get go. Work on keeping carbs very low, and focus on a few goals like eating enough veggies and drinking enough water, or whatever you think is a good goal for you. you’ll tweak and retweak your eating style over the next weeks… dont worry about coming up with the perfect plan.
For me I have found nuts to very easy to over eat, when you consider that about 1/4 cup is my daily allowance at most. Even just taking one pecan or almond now and again adds up quickly. I have several containers of walnuts almonds and pecans I have smoke roasted so they are in particular yummy. I buy them at costco and I think they are all at least 2 pound bags. I have eaten an entire jar of peanuts in two days when I realized it I was pretty mad at myself, they were coated in salt which I think made it even harder to stop.
As for cholesterol, I’m a newbie (only 10 days in) but so far in optimal range (2.4 - 2.6 according to blood ketone levels the last two days, breath, and how I feel). However, I just finished a keto class a clinical dietician was teaching through my naturopath’s office. One thing she reiterated about cholesterol is that multiple studies show that when following a keto lifestyle “correctly” (given that it’s different for everyone), typically HDL (good cholesterol) will go up, and we need it for sex hormones (think “libido” - YAY! LOL), Vitamin D uptake (lots of people are deficient), and proper hormone production/usage in general. So yes, you might want to get tested for a baseline, but you generally shouldn’t have to worry about it. I don’t know if that’s helpful, but the reminder that not all cholesterol is bad, plus the positive benefits of HDL made me worry less. We’re also keeping it simple (repeating meals that work), tracking in the Carb Manager app where we can plan ahead and play around with meals until we find a combo that works, and then we’ll work on more variety later.
a couple websites i like are dietdoctor.com and ruledme.com both have food lists, meal plans, and various FAQs. another rule of thumb that will get you in the ball park for your nutrient goals, is a pound of low carb veggies, a pound of fatty meat, and then enough additional fat to make you feel comfortably full and nourished
I really like that ballpark figure you mentioned, Sarah. I don’t count, weigh or track anything but ketones so I sometimes wish I had just a ballpark, starting point type of number to start from, then adjust up and down from there to find my personal levels.
I, personally, am shooting for the high end of veggies and protein that I can eat and still stay in ketosis because there’s already a lot of fat. And while I enjoy it, it’s not “food” to me so I am always looking for foods to put it on. That being said, I"ve been known to take spoonfuls of butter and just eat it. So gross to think of, but not bad to do
Taste buds definitely change. I hated the mouthfeel of plain butter a year ago, now it’s like licking ice cream (kinda).
But at any rate, it sounds like your plan is good. (It sounds good because it’s similar to me, so duh, right?)
The one thing I’d mention is that you’re not doing yourself nutritional health favors by trying to maximize your protein instead of eating fat. It’s not inherently healthier to get more protein than you need. Increasing you veggies (especially variety) will increase lots of other nutrients, but protein not so much. Your body can burn fat efficiently, but dealing with excess protein isn’t so easy (beyond your daily needs for body function). Eating a wide variety of meats/fish/vegetable proteins that aren’t just muscle protein is also important, but you reach diminishing returns much sooner. But don’t get too hung up. The body can be pretty flexy and you’ll find your sweet spot soon enough, and then it’ll still slowly change over time.
I really appreciate your insight and comments. I love discussing this stuff which is why I enjoy this site so much!
I’m super active daily (running, speed walking, hiking, and heavy lifting) so I do want to eat as much protein as I can and still stay in ketosis. Note, that’s not a lot! Before I started keto I was eating about 100g per day, give or take. Seeing as I don’t weigh a lot more than that, my 60-70g now is a nice drop off for health (cuz too much isn’t good as you note) but I also don’t want to eat 50g. I need protein for muscle growth and repair and I am really good at eating as LITTLE as possible - what I want to do is maximize all the benefits/energy/calories in veggies and meats/fish so the higher end of both of these is where I strive to be.
@ketoteacher1 I wouldn’t worry at all, that 150g a day would “kick you out of ketosis”. It’s just a question of optimal health, and a ltitle bit of the “diet industry” trying to get involved and make rules and make you feel less ca pale of makung decisons abut what you put in your mouth.
Ketones in and of themselves do some magic things, so there is a reason for increased fat. Also the optimal body functions from ketosis seem to happen at a lower amount of protein because ultimately you are trying to drive your bodies insulin response down as much as possible, and protein raises your insulin level. This can be a huge issue for people who are very overweight or have advanced type 2 diabetes or have other serious insulin metabolism problems that are really affecting their basic health. Most humans are much more capable of dealing with variations in their diet and still staying functionally healthy.
So finding the balance between what you need (appropriate use of insulin) and what’s excrssive, is important, and can affect body comp goals, but its not a make or break. But the balance is not necessarily some number you’ve read on a blog or spreadsheet somewhere. A guess about your personal metabolism, and how to fine tune that, is one thing, but also… let’s just say you are more likely to stay compliant and happy and healthy on this diet style, amd pursue your other health goals, and just have a happy and productive life, at 100 g of protein? Even if metabolically, you could somehow calculate that it was 92% as efficient? 87%
