Here I am at week 6 in my new Keto nutrition journey and to my surprise it has been working. I have never in my life been faced with having to “diet” or even think about my food intake… I am 49 years old and found my self weighing in at 325 pounds and at a size 46 waist. I decided that I can no longer just keep buying bigger sizes.
I am very fortunate that being a man of my size and age that I am not experiencing any side effects of my weight gain (diabetes, high blood pressure etc…)
I began my Keto nutrition plan about 6 weeks ago and have lost 25 pounds and I am now wearing size 40 waist pants. I began my plan being (in my opinion) on a strict Keto plan. Absolutely NO sugar, NO carbs other than what occurs naturally in vegetables a lot of water and common since eating. I have been able to stick with the High fat, moderate protein (whatever that means? Is there a percentage of intake or something to help describe what “moderate” means?) and low carbs, I have tried my hardest to keep at or just below 20 grams per day, once in a while I might slip 2 grams above only because it exists in my broccoli.
I have been doing a ton a research, much like everyone else I have spoken with, one thing that I keep noticing is that I am “supposed” to be eating just over 2,000 calories… For me to eat 2,000 I have to push my self and force myself to eat even if I am not hungry and when this happens I am usually going over in carbs by a few. SO I have backed off from the 2,000 calorie daily count and come much closer to 1,500 and still feel satisfied.
I am getting a little nervous that I haven’t lost a single pound in just over a week, I fear that I am sabotaging myself with the calorie thing or maybe I need to introduce a fat bomb once in a while, this will introduce more fat into my system and bring my protein down to a “moderate” level.
I have also been doing 16/8 intermittent fasting which works out really well for me. I begin eating at 11:00am and finish eating by 7:00pm.
I am really happy with my results so far and just want to make sure I am setting myself up for success and not failure.
Started with success! trying to continue without blowing it
Congrats! I was surprised when it worked for me too. Its a great morale boost. Great work!
Welcome David.
Moderate means 20-30% of your daily calories but there are some of us who allow our hunger to determine what the true amount of protein we need is. Some experts will suggest as low .6 grams per kg of total body weight and some say as high as 1.5g per kg of lean mass we have. The perfect number for you is the one that works best. Some might find that weight loss is more difficult with a higher amount of protein while others need a higher amount to reach satiety.
Don’t get caught up in eating to satisfy a macro. It’s best to eat when you are hungry, stop when you are full and try to avoid snacking. Learning to understand and respond appropriately to our hunger is very important part of keto. I’m not saying you should follow my numbers but just for the sake of example:
I was eating about 1800-2000 calories for the first 5 weeks I was on keto. But once I became fat-adapted, my hunger practically vanished and I found that 1200 was leaving me perfectly content. The magic that occured was that my body became proficient at using body fat to supplement caloric deficit and my metabolism never suffered. The pounds melted off at a rate of 2-3 pounds per week and my energy level was as good as it’s been in decades.
It’s possible you could be at this stage and can simply lower how much fat you are eating. It’s an easy experiment to conduct and if your hunger doesn’t shoot through the roof after you lower it, then you know you are not ready. Once again, this is why you should eat until you are not hungry… you may not need all the food you are eating.
The questions you need to ask yourself so that you can tell if you are fat adapted are:
Do I have consistent all day energy?
Can I go long periods of time without being overly hungry?
Are my cravings gone?
Do I sleep well?
If you can answer yes to those, then you are most likely fat adapted. It’s at this point that you can stop focusing on making fat a part of your every bite of food. Don’t worry about butter in the coffee or the extra butter on your steak or the dollop of sour cream or mayo with your salad or whatever. Just focus on basic foods without the extra fats. This might mean reducing nuts and dairy but it’s not a bad trade in the end.