Newbie Introduction and Plan. Any Red Flags or Obvious Misses?

#1

hello everyone! i’ve been interested in the low carb idea for a good long while (even tried atkins for about 6 weeks just out of curiosity at some point about 4 or 5 years back). but after a lot more reading and listening to the 2kd podcasts i think i’m back and ready to give it a go with keto.

i guess here’s a quick rundown about me: male, 33 years old, weight 72 kg (158 pounds), height 180 cm (5’ 11"). i don’t accurately know my body fat percentage, but after looking at some of those visual charts i’m guessing about 28%. and my activity level is sedentary. i’m looking to change that quickly but after much reading i think i will continue to put it off for a couple more weeks.

i was raised a vegetarian and have been for the majority of my life. even now i’ve basically been a vegetarian during the work week. this is why my atkins experiment was so short lived. i didn’t really have too much trouble eating low carb (after the first week or so anyway) but because i also thought of it as a high protein diet i found it incredibly difficult to hit such a high level even with the whey protein shakes and chicken breast, etc. at the time i was also clearly fat adverse and focused a lot on calories in and calories out.

oh also one other thing that might be worth mentioning, i have typically been on an intermittent fasting pattern. i did do a couple 24-36 hour fasts as an experiment. however on a regular basis i followed a 16 hour fast / 8 hour eating window for i don’t even know how long (perhaps a year or two?). i’ve always been pretty good with the window but certainly wasn’t very strict as there were times i’d give in and extended it a 9-10 hour eating window.

so onto where i am now, this past saturday i started with my keto diet. i didn’t prepare correctly and believe i under ate significantly the first couple of days. however as of yesterday i know i’m doing better as i’m now tracking and am not really having any major pangs of hunger. if anything it hits me just before bedtime at which point i usually just go to bed. out of habit i am still basically following my IF pattern. if it continues or grows stronger i’ll definitely be giving in and concentrating on the fats here.

here’s the meal plan i put together for myself (see uploaded image):

keto.png1155×501 15.3 KB

as you can see this is essentially what i’ll attempt to stick to on a regular basis and will add variation as needed but will do my best even then to keep the macros in line. with the way i’ve set this up i don’t leave myself much wiggle room on the net carbs so in the event that i get a serious pang of hunger i’ll lean on just the fats to help get me through it. the greyed out section below is foods that i’m not currently incorporating but want to keep track of and consider going forward.

oh and currently a staple of the plan is a meal at chipotle which is just a salad with: greens, barbacoa, cheese, guacamole, and fresh salsa. i got the numbers off their website. and that goes for everything listed i just took the numbers from the nutrition label on the packaging. and the servings are also just following the serving size on the packaging. also the meal at chipotle isn’t hard and fast but more of place holder. i’m thinking a keto version of any of the following would swap in pretty easily: bacon cheeseburger, chicken wings, cheesesteak, etc.

my meal plan is slightly limited because i unlike what seems to be the solid majority of people don’t like butter, mayonnaise, ranch, etc. blasphemy! i know. i’ve always really detested them all. the only exception was butter but ONLY for garlic bread. however since i want to give this a real go, there’ll be no more of that. c’est la vie!

as far as drinks go i’ve long since kicked the regular or diet sodas and juices. i really just drink a lot of water (still or sparkling), tea, and i’ve newly added a daily cup of coffee.

i also take a daily multi vitamin. i’m considering adding fish oil and maybe some sort of super greens supplement. i also looked into a collagen protein but was scared off by the reviews of horrid taste on even the more popular brands.

tl;dr - so i’ve rambled on long enough. i think that covers everything. just a quick recap: i started keto this past saturday, after really poor preparation i estimate i ate probably around 1200-1300 calories the first couple days and did feel a bit hungry a couple hours after dinner, i’ve since come up with the meal plan above and believe it fits keto and hits the targets appropriately for me, i’ll for the most part continue my IF pattern with a 16 hour fast / 8 hour eating window, and will get moving for a better activity level in a couple weeks.

at some point in the near future i want to look into cooking on my own. i really like cooking and am pretty good in the kitchen but a bit intimidated never having cooked meat other than on a grill at a bbq. also fat bombs look pretty interesting. so certainly a lot more to look into!

and lastly at some point in the not so near future if/when i’m lucky enough to be fat adapted i’m fairly certain i’ll incorporate a tighter IF window or maybe a weekly 24-36 hour fast depending on appetite. i’m also looking forward to a lot more training and exercise.

again sorry for the novel but if you made it this far then just one request: any advice or feedback especially with regards to the meal plan and potential supplements would be really appreciated! thank you!!

(Bart) #2

Net carbs are REALLY high for Keto, in my opinion

#3

hi Bart! my goal was to keep the net carbs to 20g. on my plan i have it at 19g. is the aim supposed to be ZC?

(Bart) #4

My bad I was looking at the calorie line… ooops

#5

no worries! i didn’t like that last column there, i think i’ll move on my spreadsheet in fact.

does the meal plan seem like i’m on the right track then?

(Bart) #6

I am 10 years older than you and inch taller and weigh about 9 more pounds. I am at around 10% body fat. Those are similar macros to what I eat in a meal when I do 24 IF, some days a lot more. Where I am at now my body has been adding lean mass. Not sure what they will do for you. 5’11, 158 pounds, 28% body fat seems kinda high to me unless you have very little muscle. I bet your bf% may be lower than you think.

I think that is a great place to start and see how you respond and tweak as you go. Add more fat if you are not feeling full and do not be afraid to lower hose carbs even more.

(Bart) #7

Also, have you tried heavy cream instead of half n half?

#8

good tip, i’m not much of a coffee drinker (new habit for me) and in the past whenever i did i always just had it black, no cream or sugar. i’ll give the HWC a try, thank you!

(John) #9

I am constantly amazed at the types of body compositions in the world, and how people thing one diet can fit everyone. I am your same height, but at 200 i’m less than 20% bf, I would be a skeleton at your weight. Are you sure that is right? That would make you 130 pounds with a 6 pack. If so, I would think 1700+ calories is too many, that is what I use at my weight, which calculator did you use?

Personally I think you have a good approach, as long as your numbers are right it is very good to have a set plan to fall back to, but still be able to change it up.

#10

wow, right on Bart! i’m not sure i’m disciplined to be anywhere near that even in 10 years but maybe somewhere about half way there? haha

yeah you could very well be right about me overestimating the bf%. some charts made it look like 25% others like 28%. maybe i should consider a dexa scan or at the very least some calipers and taking the time to measure it a little more realistically.

however, since i decided to err on the side of overestimating. now i’m a bit confused about what it would mean for my macros if say i was actually maybe 22%? like would that mean i should be eating more or less fat? protein? i’m assuming the carbs stay fixed since i’ve always read 20g.

oh and i just looked at the screenshot i posted again and i just realized i overdid the carbs on the chipotle meal specifically because i’ve noticed serious fluctuations in the amount of guacamole they’ve given me. the site for my meal reports net carbs at 5g. and absolutely i’ll try and push the net carb lower. the HWC instead of half and half is a good start, i imagine i won’t have the same amount of pickles, olives, and almond butter every day. and i’m also thinking about adding bacon to my breakfasts which will at least add more fat as well. but i’ll do my best to push carbs down and fats higher without blowing out the protein too much.

(Bart) #11

I say do this, keep your carbs around 20 net grams, your protein around 70 grams and eat fat till you are full. Do not worry about calories and do not worry if you go over on the protein either. The main thing is the carbs. It is not that I have a lot of discipline (thank’s for the compliment though), I just put in a lot of practice and like anything it becomes habit, second nature. One thing I do have going for me is while it like good food, I can also eat the same thing over and over for days and days on end and be fine with it. I do mix it up, don’t get me wrong.

Oh, I eat an avocado nearly every day and out butter on almost everything. I

#12

hey John! i’m really not sure about my bf%, i thought to leave it off completely since i wasn’t sure and now i really think i should have. i’ll look into getting a more realistic idea.

regarding the calories though, i read that early on i shouldn’t be aiming for a deficit which is why it’s so high is that right? i used a few different calculators that i saw as i was doing my reading through the forums. they all gave different results but i don’t think they were wildly off from one another. i think i used at least these 2 at some point:


as i mentioned in my first couple days i probably ate somewhere i the neighborhood of 1200 calories and while i did feel hungry i wasn’t completely starving. i only upped it because i was under the impression that when starting off it’s more important to concentrate on hitting the fat and protein ratios without a deficit. and honestly even before starting this on saturday, i believe i probably would eat around 1600 calories for the most part on a regular basis (obviously would overdo it on junk food every once in a while but during the week i bet i was always around that 1600 number and never feeling overwhelmingly hungry)

and even moreso, i was on these forums last night and was in some thread that got shutdown as being considered trolling or something. regardless everyone there seemed to stress that keto isn’t about CICO and instead just eat fat. so if we disregard the CICO as suggested by those folks i believe my ratios are on point?

(John) #13

Nope you are good, I just wanted to make sure those numbers were right. I am at your place at a deficit so if you are not at a deficit that looks just right. With IF going already you won’t have a problem at all!

#14

sounds good Bart, i’ll give that a try. and so i guess i’m not too far off with the plan. my real pitfall i guess is in the event that i get hungry i absolutely have to rely on fat as my net carb and protein numbers are pretty much already maxed out. times like this i wish i liked butter, mayo, ranch, sour cream and so on.

and that sounds reassuring because i feel the same way about both of those things. that once it becomes like a routine i’m all over it and yeah it absolutely becomes second nature. i think that’s why i’m wanting to make sure i get off on the right foot now rather than later.

also, i don’t mind one bit eating the same foods over and over as long as i like them. that’s why i started with that chipotle salad as my staple. before starting i probably ate a homemade vegetarian burrito bowl at home 3 or 4 days a week easily. very not keto though because it was definitely high carb and low fat because it was essentially all greens, black beans, and fresh salsa.

i’m totally with you on the avocado, the butter i’m not so sure about. i think i might have to look into some infused or flavored butters (if they even exist). i can probably get behind it in some way if it’s got a different flavor.

oh and my calorie count is high because i’m not allowing for a deficit since i read it’s easier to get on with keto at the beginning without a deficit. like i mentioned to John i probably ate around 1600 calories on a regular basis before starting keto.

#15

cool, thank you very much for the feedback John, i really appreciate it!

(Bart) #16

Try grass fed butter like Kerrygold, tastes a whole lot better and is better for you. Macadamia nuts are another staple in my diet.

#17

i’ve heard that about irish butter. absolutely will do, as i think it’s going to be important to incorporate more fats.

and agreed about macadamias, i actually got some of them today. didn’t realize, a. how small a container i bought and b. how small a serving is! haha. i think i’ll be bumping it to 2 servings though because that fat:protein ratio is awesome.

thanks again for all your input Bart, very much appreciated!

#18

Yeah, regular butter tastes like wax in comparison to grass-fed butter, so there’s no competition in my opinion, but others don’t taste a difference and save money by buying the cheap stuff.

Coconut oil, olive oil, macadamia nut oil, and almond oil would probably be good sources of fat for you, too.

#19

Welcome. I think the guys have covered everything. Just wanted to say hi.

#20

thanks Bill, i use coconut and olive oils already and will a lot more when i get some recipes under my belt and start cooking. i’ll have to look into those nut oils. thanks again!