Okay, here’s my next ramblings and observations about Ketogenics. I’m going to write this as an internal Q&A session in my mind.
QUICK NOTE: A good friend from High School contacted me through FB Messenger about Ketogenics when I posted my loss of 44 pounds in 68 days. I’ve poured out as much knowledge as I have to him over the last few weeks. He started his Keto journey just over a week ago. He just messaged me today that he’s lost 10 pounds in one week! Success!
Back to the topic at hand.
I’ve read a lot of folks here that say they don’t like tracking their food or macros. Here’s some insight why it’s important.
Again as last time, I’m doing this as a way to get people here to use that big organ between their ears to help them succeed. I LOVE helping others achieve success for themselves. What I write here is not personal, it’s here to help you change your paradigm about the Ketogenic way of life. If it hits home, or even a nerve, then use it to change what you’re doing to be successful!
Self-Rant: I hate tracking food / calories / macros! I really don’t need to do it, I can just make sure I only eat ___ (insert your Carb Maximum here.) If I keep my Carbs down, I’ll be fine. I mean, I’m a pro! I lost 50 pounds in 74 freaking days! I don’t need to track my sh*t, or anything else!
Self-Reality: Oh give it a rest! When has “winging it” ever worked for anything not in a Hollywood Movie Script? If you FAIL to PLAN, then just PLAN to FAIL Knucklehead!
Case in Point: I was very BUSY yesterday, as in blind-cat-in-a-room-full-of-rocking-chairs BUSY!
So what did I do? Yes! I “Winged It!” all day.
At bedtime, I finally added my food to the My Fitness Pal app and was shocked by the results.
My Carbs were great. My goal is 25 grams per day. I hit 23. Then everything else went to Hell in a Handbasket from there.
My daily Fat goal is between 130 and 135 Grams. I hit 164 grams!
My daily Protein goal is 127 to 130 grams. I hit 143 grams for the day.
My daily caloric maximum (with a -30% deficit) is 1811 to 1840 (each app is a little different.) My caloric intake for the day was 2140!!!
Oooooppps! I went over my maximum by over 14%. Why? How? Because I didn’t take the time to do it right. I forgot what made me successful in the first place.
Why is going over almost (not quite) as bad as eating too many Carbs? Because I ate too many calories for the day. The 20% to 30% caloric deficit is there for a reason. It primes your body to burn stored fat for energy, vs. using the supplied food.
If you don’t track your food / calories / macros with each meal, then how will you ever know how well you are meeting, or exceeding your needs?
I count every calorie, every mg of Sodium, and I went over by 14% the FIRST time I “Winged It!” Hmmm…
I was laser-focused on meeting all my numbers from my week three of my keto lifestyle change, and what happened? I was successful, that’s what happened!
I’ve said this before, Ketogenics is food-based Math, that’s it. If you get good at the Math, then you WILL succeed!
Remember: If you FAIL to PLAN, then just PLAN to FAIL.
Thanks for reading this, I hope there might be something that helped some of you! As always, PLEASE let me know if I can help!
Best Regards,
F