Hello all,
I apologize in advance for the wordiness of this. I want advice on my diet and such, and I figure I should give background first.
I am 41, male, and 5’ 9". I’ve been lacto-ovo vegetarian for about 14 years. Back in July, I began the keto diet - as best I could find for my self-imposed dietary restrictions. At that same time, I set a moderate workout regime to augment the diet. I have a desk job and not a lot of support in terms of active people in my immediate family. At present, I get 30-45 minutes of purposeful exercise 3-4 times a week. My workouts consist of high-cardio martial arts (bag work and such), BJJ ground work, and basic strength training (pull-ups, push-ups, etc.).
When I started in June, I weighed in @ 223lbs. I established that my body ran fine in keto when I kept my carbs around 35g/day. I ran my macros @ ruled.me and set the max recommended safe weight loss goal. This gave me 1666cal/day, 124g fats, 35g carbs, 102g protein.
I have an ex-girlfriend who was diabetic and I bought a meter years ago to keep at the house. I discovered it also will read ketones so I bought the strips and do weekly checks on myself. I keep within 1.5-3.5 depending on whether I’ve fasted overnight when I test. My body seems to be comfortably ketonic.
Two months into keto, I had a physical and my bloodwork came back showing ~190 cholesterol. My doctor said my LDL was elevated and my HDL was a little low. I should mention that my family genetics lean heavily toward issues with cholesterol so this is probably the best it had been ever. My doctor is very supportive of trying keto (he’s on it as well) and made some suggestions for me after hearing my concerns about family history - mostly involving focusing on non-saturated vegetable fats and such (lay off the butter) and considering more exercise.
I implemented those changes and am giving them a while to affect change in my levels before I give blood work another go.
So, here I am 5 months later and I’m sitting pretty at 167lbs. I have reached the zone of goal weight I set for myself and I’m starting to increase my calories to maintain. After all that is said, I wanted to float my typical day’s diet out there and see if anyone had any advice they might offer.
Notes: I keep my three meals to as close to 500 calories as possible and my two snacks to 150-200 calories. My current calorie goal is between 1800-1900 calories/day. Also, I cook exclusively with butter, olive oil, and avocado oil and use them interchangeably - moderating the butter so I keep my saturated fat below 20g/day. I eat nuts for snacks quite often but I don’t eat peanuts or cashews. I salt meals with Morton’s lite salt mixture so I get a little hit of potassium along with the sodium.
Breakfast:
I either have chia pudding with almond milk and monkfruit (homemade ~250 calories - 16g fat/1.3g saturated, 20g carb/17g fiber, 7.5g protein), or sometimes I make a little boat out of tomato slices and put avocado over it. I’ll top that with a sliced hard-boiled egg, some black pepper, and a drizzle of oil. With these, I have 12 oz Coffee with cream and, if I’m feeling hungry enough, two scrambled eggs.
Morning snack:
Roasted and salted almonds or pecans. - one serving.
*In a pinch, I might substitute a small Atkins shake - but I limit these to travel days and the like, which are rare.
Lunch:
Steamed broccoli and/or cauliflower, roasted zucchini, and a salad with either ranch (if I feel I can fit it into the day’s food and stay under my saturated fat goals), or red wine vinegar and olive oil dressing. All veggies are either sauteed in olive or avocado oil or drizzled with it before eating. Other vegetables are used as well, but I keep to my macros.
Afternoon snack:
mixed nuts (roasted and salted). If I feel like a little fiber that day, I might have a Quest bar instead. As with the Atkins shakes, these are rare.
Dinner:
Often, I’ll do baby spinach, mushrooms, and onions - sauteed and served in a bowl. I’ll put an egg over it from time to time. I make an almond flour and chia bread that I eat with it. Other dinners for me are savory mug cakes, tomato/mozzarella/basil tossed bowls, and homemade guacamole.
So, how does this look? Any issues or holes I’m missing?
Thanks in advance!