Keto math = not fun

(Not needed) #21

Keto cuts carbs, which make you retain water. The salt helps you to retain said water. The sodium specifically.

(Candy Lind) #22

EGAD. :scream: You might also want to visit dietdoctor.com and look at their infographics on what foods are appropriate on lchf/keto, and their places on a spectrum based on carb content (pictures of veggies that go from less carbs to more carbs, from left to right, for example.). Really, the only fruits we consider “OK” for keto are low-sugar berries such as strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries, in small quantities. I actually very rarely eat any fruit, because I’d rather “spend” my carbs on something else.

#23

You may want to limit fruit to blackberries and raspberries every once in a while and no more than 1/4 cup with heavy whipping cream. DietDoctor has great graphics and recipes as was mentioned. Huge variations among nuts too. Pecans and macadamia’s low, then Brazil, then walnuts, almonds and then pistachio and cashews should only be used as a garnish.

It is not a complicated diet. 20 g of carb, protein between 1 and 2 times the size of your palm with you are eating meat or chicken and whatever fat you want until you satisfied as opposed to full. The easiest way to look at carbs is above ground vegetables instead of below ground vegetables (lettuce instead of a sweet potato). I limit onion but do add a little to some meals, same with garlic, both have more carbs than you expect. I rarely eat anything that is prepared or comes from a box

Maybe because I am not strict or because of my metabolism I mainly lost through fasting and then maintained the loss with keto

#24

Another vote for lazy keto. I attempted to track my foods for about 48 hours and threw in the towel, realizing that it was increasing my cortisol levels due to stress! I already have a job that involves digital data and tracking info - and really didn’t need more of that ‘on my plate’. Personally what I found SUPER helpful to buy some great Keto cookbooks via Amazon and pore over them and get the gist on how to nearly banish carbs from cuisine, and the many workarounds for various foodie desires.

Then one day about six weeks in, after a day being absorbed in various meaningful work things I realized it had been 24 hours since I’d eaten any protein or carbs (just my usual fatty coffee had helped me sail through a long day). Quite amazing for me, as I’ve always prided myself on eating with gusto, etc.

Also recommend getting hold of some keto classic books like “Protein Power” and “The Art & Science of Low Carbohydrate Living” to boost you on insights, science, paleo-anthropology, and fascinating facts about physiology. I found the work of Dr. Mary Dan Eades, Dr. Michael Eades, and Drs. Phinny & Volek very inspiring. Also keto researcher Christi Vlad’s “Ketone Power” book, amazingly relevant.

There is a range of opinion on keto basics. I incorporate 1/4 cup berries and a quarter of a banana in smoothies (I freeze banana pieces) or for special desserts, slathered in cream and powdered erythritol. I partake of small amounts of wine with certain cuisine (quite workable, according to the aforementioned Drs. Eades) and also enjoy a few little chunks bittersweet chocolate after a good Italian or French meal.

Since I got fat adapted though, I really have to work at eating, I’m so satisfied all the time, lol :smiley:

Keto math is not fun, but Keto Foodie & Fasting & Researching adventures sure are!!! :avocado: :bacon: :herb:

#25

I feel your pain! In addition to all of this, I had to balance T1 diabetes when going Keto which meant tracking everything and working out a completely new way of calculating bolus’s and adjusting basel rates. All I can tell you is it gets a lot easier with time.
I find FatSecret to be the best for tracking, its quick and breaks everything down for you.
As others have said, just concentrate on keeping carbs under 20g to start with and making sure you eat enough fat to keep the hunger away. Protein is probably going to be similar to what you are already eating. All of the tweaking can come once your into a routine.
Good luck!

(Rob) #27

Lots of great advice here. I’m just finishing my 8th week so not an expert in keto, but have years of experience learning to deal with what you called being a control freak … I’ll call myself obsessive. I put off starting keto for weeks because I couldn’t digest all of the facts I thought I had to know. I wanted to know a lot going in. I can relate to what you’re going through.

Many have wisely advised … start … watch your carbs and go from there. Advice I followed and it turned out to be pretty good advice. I eventually learned how to use the app on my phone (I use something simply called the Keto Diet app - paid version … it already knows about many foods). I think it’s important to eventually learn how to track what you’re eating on a daily basis … but that will come and it will get easy (or easier anyway). Your obsessive/controlling self can eventually come back out once things start falling into place … but there’s a lot to be said in favor of getting a little good info and flying by the seat of your pants for a bit.

(Mandy) #28

Week 3 here and understand your angst. When I first started a few weeks ago I tracked everything. I have been using LoseIT for over 10 years and it is a great app. It really is. With that said, the past week or so I have not tracked. I tracked because I was so scared I would go over my carbs, even though I never did. Along with the fact that as a sugar burner, I was always counting my calories, so I needed to track closely. I’m finding that after a few weeks in, I know what to eat. The incidental carbs from veggies, nuts and the occasional glass of red wine has yet to kick me out of ketosis. I am still struggling a little with my salt/potassium/magnesium intake but i can say…SALT SALT SALT!

#29

It is definitely important to keep track of your macronutrients. From what I have read, if you overeat protein it can take you out of ketosis. Also, if you don’t eat enough, from my understanding, you can start losing muscle mass instead of just fat. Also eating too much or little fats have contraindications as well. If I remember right if you eat too much fat in a day you won’t use as much from your fat stores and therefore won’t lose as much weight. I’m new and trying to study all the information. So this may not be overly accurate information but this was my understanding of it.

With that being said I would recommend an app to keep track. I use carb manager. This app lets me either manually input my own recipes to easily access in the future when I eat that same thing again, or scan the barcode and wirelessly look up the nutritional information. Then you just have to select serving size and add it to your meal or snack for the day. Don’t expect to get all macronutrients exact in a day because that is going to be annoying. Just try to get everything within a few grams. All calculators will give you vaguely different numbers anyway. Best of luck to you!

(Katie) #30

I might be able to provide advice, can you explain more of the example of the one meal that took you 35 minutes to log? What was the meal?

(Not needed) #31

You are correct, protein end up triggering insulin excretion, so it basically does the same as carbs. The amount of protein you HAVE to consume is pretty small. It’s all about getting those essential amino acids.

#32

Another lazy keto-er checking in…

I just try to keep the carbs as low as I can and the protein moderate. I never track my macros.

I do, however, take daily blood glucose and blood ketone readings. If my BK reading ends up too low, I know that I somehow screwed up. I usually attribute it to over-consumption of protein.

(Genevieve Biggs) #33

(The beautiful thing about Zero Carb keto (animal-based foods only, no plants) is that you don’t have to count any macros. Ever. Period. Just saying. :wink:)

(Jean Taylor) #34

I started out tracking everything but haven’t been lately my thoughts on lazy keto are it wont work for everyone but we’ll see how it goes. I’m not big on protein so I’m Xing my fingers.

Kinda sounds like your app sucks to me. Or possibly you just haven’t figured out the best way to use it. In mine I can scan barcodes and search for specific ingredients and brands if they don’t have them I can enter them manually. (I just opened the fridge and started scanning things the 1st day and now only add new things) Then I touch an ingredient and add it to a recipe when I’m done adding ingredients to the recipe I save it as a meal. Then I can add a fraction of that total recipe to my day. Might be 1/8th might be the whole thing…

(Patricia Lane) #35

New to keto, about 3 weeks. been tracking my macros using the application at the Sparkpeople site. I don’t have a smartphone, so no apps. I like it because similar to the ones mentioned here, you can create and store recipes and lists of favorite foods, plus their database seems to me to be large enough to find any food/ingredient I’m searching for to add to my meal/recipe. I also like the feature where I can group foods together to make adding things you usually eat together easier to add at one time. Have also found and used (a lot) the copy feature which lets me take a meal from a previous day and just copy the whole thing to another. Saves a lot of data entry. You can set nutrition goals for your macros, track weight (and lots of other body measurements), and look at reports of progress. Only downside so far is the free version does mean the screen displays advertisements (like many webpages do). You can also track exercise, although I haven’t investigated that aspect.

It’s worth a look, anyway. I wish you the very best on your journey! and congrats on your little one - you alluded to the difficulty you faced and I am so very glad you were able to carry this precious one to term.

(What The Fast?!) #36

For making meals/recipes, you can use any app that allows you to create recipes. I use MFP.

Add all ingredients into the recipe in MFP (weigh/measure each item and add).
Cook your meal.
Weigh the total recipe. (If you’re using a casserole dish, make sure to weigh the dish empty first, so you know how much the actual food weighs.
List the number of ounces (or grams if it’s a small item) as number of “servings.” Then - when you serve yourself, you can track by ounces.

Example:
I made curry the other night.
Weighed one zucchini, chopped up pork, garlic, etc.
Added that to MFP along with coconut milk and curry seasoning.
I weighed the final product (let’s say it was 24 Oz), then set servings to 24. I served myself 5oz and entered 5 servings in MFP to get the macros. :slight_smile: