Question about carb intake

#1

I’ve been a little discouraged since I’ve been religiously tracking everything I eat in my fitness pal. I have gone over my suggested 20g net carbs most days by eating nothing but healthy foods like salad, broccoli, almonds, celery etc. in order to eat close to the amount of macros I need for my size and weight etc. I’m going into the high 20s most days. And that’s being super careful. Do I need to just cut out veggies for the most part? can someone please give me some guidance here? Thank you!

(Stan Brooks) #2

Are you remembering to subtract the fiber and only count net carbs?

#3

Yes!

(Stan Brooks) #4

Then yeah you need to eat more fat then and cut down on the veg and nuts.

Starting out I found the only important micro is the carbs. Get then low and add fats to everything and you will be alright!

(matt ) #5

Salad, broccoli and celery don’t really help your fat or protein macros. Nuts are a good source of fat and protein but are easy to overeat so watch portions.

Try cutting back on veg if you are worried. Some folks don’y worry about veg.

Up the fat if you can…do you like avocado?

What about fatty cuts of meat? cheese?

(Jay Patten) #6

Yes, I would cut back on the veggies. A small side of green leafy/ cauliflower/ broccoli is okay but you should be getting the majority of your nutrition from fats and then protein.

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #7

This agrees with my experience. Keeping carbs low is the most important thing.

#8

Fats also have net carbs. So for example to keep my fats where they need to be I’m still taking in carbs. Almond butter has 3 net carbs per tablespoon and avocado has 2 I think. Just eating the fats that I need causes me to be at 20. And that’s with no vegetables. Does this mean I can’t really eat veggies very much? That would be very hard for me.

Thanks ,

Heather

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #9

One idea might be to replace the almond butter with something that’s an actual fat and not a fatty treat. Like butter.

(Stan Brooks) #10

Nope.
Butter, zero carbs
Olive oil, zero carbs
Lard, zero carbs

No not at all. If you eat the right ones you should be fine. Here is a good list.

For example I make up a pretty awesome mix greens salad that I eat almost every day. I just grab a hand full.

#11

6 ounces of Avocado is only 4 carbs

#12

Don’t worry about eating celery. By the time your gut grinds down all the fiber in it, it is virtually zero calorie!

(Sjur Gjøstein Karevoll) #13

Nuts of any kind contain a good amount of carbs compared to most keto staples. They’re still allowed, but not something you should be having too much of.

Once you get in the swing of things you’ll find that most foods can be put in three categories: Always, Sometimes and Never. Always foods are always okay to eat in any amount. Sometimes foods are okay sometimes, but you should be careful not to eat them too often and not too much at once. Never foods are foods you never eat.

Most foods are in the same category for all people, but some that are borderline will depend on your own personality and situation. For example, bacon and eggs are Always foods for every on keto. Extremely low in carbs, practically impossible to get anywhere near the carb limit even if you tried. Onions, on the other hand, contain much more carbs, relatively speaknig, so they would be in the Sometimes category. You shouldn’t eat onions with every meal, but you could get away with half an onion for dinner. Flour, sugar etc. would all be in the Never category.

Because we’re all different, some foods would go in different categories for different people. Heavy cream, for example, does contain some amount of carbs, so some people who enjoy cream in their coffee too much need to beware of that and put it in the Sometimes category. Others don’t have that problem and can be as liberal with cream as they want (because they want it less). Nuts are another food that people have varying relations to. Some people, with a high carb tolerance and low propensity for gluttony, can eat as many nuts as they want. Most people need to put it in the Sometimes category because if they aren’t aware of their nut-eating habits it tends to go out of control. Some unlucky people even need to put nuts in the Never category because they have such a hard time maintaining control and would polish of a pound of walnuts if they gave themselves the opportunity.

(Rob) #14

Stan, chill man :grin:. Heather obviously meant ‘(a lot of high) fat (foods that are commonly eaten to achieve fat macros) have carbs’, pointing out the ‘hidden carbs’ in these good fat sources.

Just pointing at pure fats isn’t an alternative since most people will never consider them as ‘food’ items but as cooking ingredients.

(Stan Brooks) #15

Right, but that’s a change you have to start making to get if you are doing this WOL.

(Rob) #16

For sure… don’t fear the fat! :cut_of_meat::bacon::avocado::cheese::fried_egg: (How is there no butter emoji?)

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #17

Fair, but almond butter, while a fatty food, is not a fat as folks should understand the term, right?

#18

Thank you all for the responses. Sounds like I need to dial back the nut butter and avocado and up the olive oil, butter, coconut oil. I will try that! Thanks again!

Heather

(Rob) #19

Indeed - the original comment should have been a little more precise about high-fat foods but the hidden carb point stands.

(Rob) #20

If you track foods (MFP, LoseIt, Cronometer) then you can determine how much of your preferred fatty foods with hidden carbs you fit into your carb budget. Keto is a WoE not a temporary diet so working out how to make it as painless as possible within the boundaries of VLC is important to its sustainability.