Keto Confused!

(Colin) #1

Hi.
Looking for some advice to get to my goal weight of 200lbs.

Started Keto diet 4 weeks ago, was 265lbs, Keto calculators told me i should be trying to achieve daily 115g protein, 191 g fat, 28 carbs, 2291 cals.
Im definetly in Ketosis as my blood reading are between 1.4 mmol/l to 2.7 mmol/l.

Today i am down to 250 lbs, 8cm lost from each chest and waist measurements in total. The weight came off in the 1st 2 weeks and stalled for the last 2 weeks, in week 3 my measurements had come down some and then in week 4 it all seems to stalled out.

Im quite active , lift weights 4 times a week, and do 30 mins of running after each lift session. Also get about four 1 hr walks in the evenings.

I weigh my food religiously , so try to hit my marco goals, and most days im 300-400 kcal below whats recommended. I never go above 20 carbs per day

Tonight i have checked different keto calculators and some have told me eat more and some eat less and very different fat, protein and cals figures. I use the keto app, on iphone that has the pig on the scales as its easy to add the stuff up.

Im happy doing keto, but am really confused about what my daily goals should be now . Anybody got any advice or calculators that you can recommend would be a great help.

Im not so disheartened that im gonna comfort eat, i just want to try and keep on the right track.

Cheers
Colin

#2

Hi Colin, congrats on all of your improvements in such a short period of time! Weight is a tough thing to focus on. What I have learned from this discussion board from folks who have been keto’ing a lot longer than I have, is that your body is in transition during the first few months of starting keto. It is adapting to your changed diet, and at the same time, trying to also adapt to your fairly rigorous exercise routine. Remember that muscle weighs more than fat, so you are probably building muscle while losing some fat, and the net result is that you weigh more. If your ketones are on the mark, then you are good so keep doing what you are doing. You should definitely start seeing some weight changes in a few months if not sooner.
KCKO

(Colin) #3

Hi Ann.
Thanks for the reply. its appreciated. like i mentioned i have input the same data in 3 or 4 different keto calculators, they come out arond the same cals but the fats and the proteins are considerably different.
Im just hoping there are some people out there with roughly the same stats so i can compare the marco`s mentioned above, its too wide a range in the calculators for a newbie to know what he is doing haha

(Ellie) #4

Hi Colin,

Keep it simple!
20g or less of carbs (be strict)
1g per kg of lean body mass in protein (going over a bit is ok)
Fat to satiety

Eat enough so that you aren’t hungry again for a few hours and then, when you are, eat a meal, don’t snack.

I would estimate at 20g carbs, 80-90g protein and 190g+ fat to start with, but try to listen to your hunger signals rather than relying on a calculator.
The key thing is not to undereat. You don’t want to lower your metabolic rate, especially easy to do if you are restricting calories and exercising a lot. You’ll probably end up around 2500 cals per day to start with until you become fat adapted.

#5

Your daily goals are to get enough protein to maintain or gain muscle (whichever is your goal) and fat to satiety/as needed for fuel. As long as your carbs are right you can only screw it up so bad. Calculators GUESS based on generic info and just like people, have different opinions. They’re only a starting point. I’d personally up that protein, you’re talking about loosing 50lbs, you wanna protect that muscle. If you notice your strength taking a hit more than a week or two as the scale is dropping up it. If you’re having no issues as this goes on it’s up to you. I lost a LOT of strength in my 100lb loss, got it all back plus a ton at this point but I didn’t notice it happening really and blamed a lot of it on energy levels until I started getting BodPod’s done every couple months and caught it. Now I’m at a g/lb of muscle mass which for me is a about 180g/day and that’s fixed the issue and allowed me get that back plus a lot more in a lot shorter time than I did before I upped it. PLUS your running 30 min after! Keep an eye on it. Don’t get TOO crazy about the numbers, especially at first. As you get closer and closer to the weight your body feels it should be at it starts to give you the finger, enjoy the easy times!

(Colin) #6

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated. @Jacymac & @ifod14, you both make very good comments and i have noted and taken onboard.
But you have both said opposite things regarding Protein im currently on 115g and Jacymac says to cut and ifod14 advises to increase.

I hadnt taken into account lean body mass,not actually sure how to work it out but my body fat is around 32%.

Im trying to understand the basics,but as i have mentioned before it can get a bit confusing.

(Allie) #7

You have to find what works for you as an individual. Some people need lower protein, others need higher. There’s no calculator that can tell you what you need.

(Ellie) #8

Mine was an estimate as I don’t know your height or bf.
It was probably a bit low for the extercise you are doing, so I would think that the 115g you’re on is fine.
The 1g/kg LBM is a reasonable level to maintain muscle. Going over, especially if you are lifting etc is no issue and you may find that you can tolerate more. That’s a personal thing as @Shortstuff mentioned.

edit to add
To calculate LBM roughly, if you are 250lbs and est at 32% bf, then you are 68% lean. 68% of 250 is 170lbs which is roughly 80kg, which gives 80g protein.

(Frank) #9

When you look at that fat on the plate and you say to yourself, I just don’t feel like eating that but I should to hit my macro, that’s when you don’t eat that’s extra fat. In my experience, it was listening to my body and brain that kep me on the path. Don’t force it. If your listening and reacting properly, it’ll happen. This has been said many times. Keto woe is not a weight loss diet. Weight loss is a side effect of healing your metabolism. Based on your loss, you are almost assuredly healing yourself. Stalls will occur along the way and depending on your goals you can work through them with experimentation and advice from these forums. It probably too a long time to gain that weight. Don’t expect 50 lbs to come off overnight or even a year or more. I said don’t expect it. That’s not to say that it won’t happen. I’m down 48 lbs since January. Down 2 pounds since June. I fully expect the last 5 lbs (which is completely arbitrary btw) to take me another 4-5 months. Maybe never. Point is, take a more long term view of your journey. It’ll be less stressful in my opinion.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #10

This is all good advice. I’ll just add that some researchers suggest eating up to 2.0 g of protein per kg of LBM. And everyone agrees that, whatever is a good level for us sedentary folks, those of you who are building muscle need more. I just watched a video by Dr. Ted Naiman, in which he claims, among other things, that people seem wired to get a certain amount of protein, and it happens without our ever needing to think about it. In fact, he says that our food intake will automatically go up and down to provide that level of protein, regardless of how much else we eat in the way of carbohydrate or fat.

But keeping carbohydrate intake low enough to avoid stimulating high levels of insulin is over 90% of the battle, so as long as you are doing that, you can relax about the other stuff.

I advise against calculating macros. I don’t track them. If I tried to, it would drive me crazy. The advice I read before I started all suggested keeping carbohydrate really low, not worrying about protein too much, and eating fat to satiety. That works for me. I lost sixty pounds effortlessly, and if it weren’t for having to wipe the bacon grease off the stove, I’d probably never get any exercise. (Hoping to lose another forty or fifty pounds, but that’s another story.)