I am trying to turn over a new leaf tomorrow. Although I have been doing what I considered ‘strict’ ketogenic dieting since the beginning of January. I believe I may have made mistakes with artificial sweeteners and alternative grains such as coconut flour. I have always loved the simplicity of the LCHF lifestyle but I believe I need to begin some tracking or records to become more efficient. What would anyone reccomend as minimal record keeping? Can i get away with sticking to less than 20 grams of carbs a day or must I track all macros? I have not yet invested in any keto or glucose monitor.
I am a single mother of two and I want to keep this as simple as possible but of course I want sucess…and by that i mean weight loss. I have other long term goals but weight loss is my current proirity.
Please advise
N=1. When I started, I just kept my net carbs as low as possible. You’ll likely see results just tracking carbs and keeping them below 20g net. If you plateau, you’ll likely need to tweak something. Which means you may need to track protein and fat also.
For myself I needed absolute routine to get things started. In support of that, I wanted to see-lay understand my consumption to form routine and then apply that discipline to my additional ingredients and foods as I expanded.
Now I stick to my own simple rule:
- when in doubt, reduce protein and add more fat.
@Buttercups, When I started, I did nothing more than just kept track of my carbs and kept them at 20g net. I didn’t worry about the other stuff until I knew I was fat adapted. If you just start out that way and enjoy this lifestyle, You’ll do fine. I wish you much success.
@Buttercups, welcome to the keto lifestyle. If you’re just starting, I’d suggest downloading MyFitnessPal app on you smartphone and computer (the free version). It has a large food database, and contains data on not only calories, but also amount of carbs, fats & protein in each food item. Just log in your food during the day, and it automatically tallies up your daily intake of calories, carbs, fats & proteins. When I was starting keto it helped educate me on which foods were keto friendly and which were not so much.
A keto monitor is useful, but not necessary.
I log what I eat and my weight at Fitday.com I’ve learned a lot from the numbers and details, and it’s helped motivate and keep me on track.