A friend today was telling me that eating keto isn’t necessarily eating under 20 grams of carbs a day… which I thought was strange because that seems the pretty standard amount I’ve seen in this forum, articles, books, etc.
He continued withsome people eat 50g, 75, 100 and 150g of carbs a day and still stay in ketosis.
Is this true?
Yes. 20g is a general safe bet for beginners. In fact I’d give that advice to everyone. But yeah some folks are much more metabolically flexible than others.
I’d like to meet someone who can eat 150grams a day and still be in ketosis, I don’t really think it’s possible. To me that’s not even LOW carb, it’s moderate.
20g is advised to ensure you enter ketosis as that’s the safe amount for most people.
You would have to be rather fat adapted and test significantly to find your personal carb level.
150 is on the high side. I know Dr Phinny has talked about 100 grams and staying, but he was working with athletes.
My guess is someone that is metabolically healthy and very active might be able to hit the 150 mark.
I’m pretty sure I couldn’t. In fact, I’ve gotten so used to near zero, even a day with 20 makes me feel a little off.
You’d think that they would have to be high performing athletes to ingest that many carbs and then burn through their glycogen stores in their muscles at a superior rate.
My friend that suggested it is actually a very active body builder… so maybe that’s why he suggested that?
Same with me. I stay very close to near 0 carbs a day. But I am also T2DM, so it’s a bit tougher.
Several years ago when I learned about ketones, I was getting between 50 and 100 grams of carbs. Took me three weeks to even get the keto flu. A week after that I began to smell the acetone. Once I could no longer sense it I got test strips and measured it. I stayed in ketosis (I think I did anyway) for about three months. My experiment ended simply because I wanted to eat some pizza. This time it’s permanent. Started 17 Oct 2017, and still going strong.
One of these days I will do an experiment and see what happens if I eat a moderate load of carbs one day. I’ll have it measured very carefully, and will keep a log of how it goes. Maybe I’ll do it on my birthday. Coming up pretty soon.
I did eat at a Chinese buffet last week. I was very careful about choosing high fat as much as possible, trying to avoid carbs where I could. I ate about one whole plate. Everything tasted very sweet. So I’m assuming every thing had some sort of sugar based sauce made for it. So I was careful not to mop up the sauces 
. I measured my BG in the restaurant right before eating (was 84). Then again when I got home 30 minutes after finishing, (BG was 117). I measured again an hour later and it was 109. I was very pleased with this. I was very attentive for the hunger feeling to come back. But it never did. All this without taking my metformin for a few weeks.
It does depend on the person. My husband can stay in ketosis eating 40g per day or less. I personally need to be under 25g.
anyone who engages in regular, very intense exercise and hasn’t been metabolically broken for most of their life can easily get away this level of carbohydrates. context matters
This topic interests me.
I regularly “exercise” 6hrs a day at low level aerobic paces as a bike courier and for the most part keto supports this. I think going 20g/day is a tool for reduced inflammation and checking in with clear biofeedback about how much sleep/recovery/self-care my body and mind need. Then creeping up carbs towards 50-75g/day near the end of the week seems to help me keep up with caloric expenditures. I remain in ketosis regardless.
I suspect that if the person only ate 150g of carbs, they very well might go into ketosis. That’s a mere 600 kcal. I’d probably maintain ketosis on that if I OMAD’d it.
Yes, but 150 is a stretch for most people. If somebody is near goal weight, active and lifts weights (intensity) or does intense HIIT style cardio I can see 100 and still spending most of the day in ketosis, but those people are the minority overall. It also depends greatly on WHERE those carbs are coming from. Cauliflower, Sweet Potato’s, and Apple Pie aren’t the same thing. All about the Glycemic load they create and not the carb count alone.
