Sample Meals

(Lorena) #1

Hi, I’d posted about a week ago asking for some guidance and I got some great advice. I dropped my carbs to 20 and it was not that hard to do. I had been hovering around 25-ish. My weight loss has been, well kind of up/down in the 5 weeks that I’ve been eating this way. I am up .5 as of today. I feel good, am sleeping better etc. I know I don’t have a lot to lose but I just want my clothes (pants) to fit better. I’ve noticed they are tighter than they were and my weight has creeped up over the last couple of years but it isn’t so much about the # on the scale as the way my clothes fit. So, that said, I am doing this for that reason but also I have borderline hypoglycemia. I’m 59 y/o f, 5’4, 146.

I’ve been tracking since I started. I copied a day and hope that someone can point something out. My calories may seem low but I am very satisfied, am not hungry between meals and not craving sweets. Before I found this forum I had ordered the keto strips so I guess I have to use them as some reference even though it sounds like they aren’t as useful for information. According to them I am between 1.5-4.

As suggested from my last post, I cut my exercise to just walking. I think I walk about 3-4 miles maybe 4 times a week. I REALLY am getting some great information from you all. It keeps me sane as I can get a little crazy trying to do it exactly right. I read someone say something about spreadsheets and I’m that person too. My weight is lower today but I’ve been overweight my entire life, my highest 217 but a lifetime of dieting has probably killed my metabolism. I lost the bulk of my weight starting about 10 years ago over a years time. Something very traumatic caused me to just lose my appetite. So it’s stayed off for some time until the last 3 years. My lowest was 122, very unhealthy.

Thanks for listening!

The 2 calorie days show the full days worth of food. The carb is for # of carbs only.

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(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #2

Sounds as though you are doing well. If you are not already fat-adapted, you should be soon, and at that point you may be comfortable returning to a higher level of exercise.

You are wise not to be concerned about the scale. If your clothes get looser, then you know you are losing fat, regardless of the number on the scale. You may have already discovered this from perusing these forums, but don’t be discouraged if your fat loss is irregular and uneven. That’s just the way it is for a lot of women, and many of the women members of these forums report that they were glad they stuck with the diet, because they eventually achieved the fat loss they had hoped for.

Patience, grasshopper! Keep calm, and keto on—you’re doing very well indeed.

(Lorena) #3

Thanks Paul! Very encouraging! I was looking at my grams in each category over the last weeks. Comparatively speaking I’m pretty high in fat and seem to be a little low in the protein. This week I’m going to focus on eating more protein, keep the fat high and carbs at 20 or below. I’m not too discouraged because I do see that I’m not bloated one bit and feel good. I am also treating this as a science experiment so playing around with the grams of protein and fat will be good. I think, based on all I’ve read here, that this is not a one size fits all so I’m just trying to find what works for me.

Thanks again!

(Carl Keller) #4

I would have suggested this if you were finding yourself hungry but since you are not, I don’t see any reason to change especially since you feel good.

If you find yourself losing too much weight, you can just add more good carbs back into your diet. Going a bit heavier on cheese and nuts should make it fairly easy to do… or even an occasional piece of fruit. Hopefully eating low carb will get your hunger behaving properly again.

(Lorena) #5

Hi Carl, thank you for the advice. That was 10 years ago and I’m able to eat now but find that if I go over 1000 calories it’s just too much. I eat until full and think that’s just me now. I’ll remember this for when I want to maintain!

(Lorena) #6

I’m kind of having fun mixing it up. I plan to eat higher protein some weeks then lower all the while keeping my fats between 60 and 70 grams.

(Bob M) #7

I naturally do that. Some weeks, I’ll eat beef heart and beef liver, both high in protein and low in fat. Other weeks, shrimp and mussels, both high in protein and low in fat. Other weeks, ham and eggs; other weeks keto meals; etc. I tend to prefer the higher protein meals, but I think getting different fat levels is good.

I think as long as you’re eating real food, you should be good.

(Lorena) #8

Hi Bob, I have a question. Does a high protein interfere with a high fat diet? Yesterday I was excited about switching things up and, me being me, made a pretty impressive spreadsheet to keep the information all where I could see it at once. I wanted to plan out a high protein week then a lower protein week. I am wondering if I should try to do high protein/lower fat then vice versa? I know it seems that I am overthinking but at this point for me, at 5 weeks in, I can’t just wing it day to day. I feel more comfortable planning at least 2 days in advance. I use the LoseIt program and am able to do that. I’m sticking to 20g or fewer carbs no matter what and eat as many whole foods as possible.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #9

Remember that protein is approximately 4 calories to the gram, whereas fat has approximately 9. This means that equal weights of each come to 31% protein and 69% fat, in terms of calories. If you wanted to get your protein calories equal to your fat calories, you would have to eat 2.25 times as much protein as fat by weight.

Most people are quite satisfied when their protein is about 15% of total calories. There is a hypothesis called “protein leveraging” and first discussed by Simpson and Raubenheimer, that claims that all mammals have a preferred protein intake, and will overeat on a low-protein diet to get enough, and will eat less on a high-protein diet, because their need for protein is more easily satisfied in that case.

It’s an interesting idea, and I would love to know how your experience fits with this hypothesis.

(Lorena) #10

@PaulL
Thanks! I started out the week eating p:32%, c: 6%, f: 60%. I’ve already taken the protein down. I think it was too much for me. I’m finding that I’m most comfortable with p: 25%, c: 6%, f: 63% or maybe even a little fewer protein %.

This really is a trial and error and I seem to be making more errors. I’m thinking that it’s going to take a while.