This forum seems to be a treasure trove of information and personal experiences. I am starting on my keto journey today, after months of bad eating habits made me put on a couple of extra kilos.
My stats as they are right now are below, and I have included some screens of my meal plan for the foreseeable future (derived from MyFitness pal app). I’d like to know if this looks ok, or if there is something I am missing here.
So I did some calculations and figured out that I should be doing about 1500 calories a day. I plan to do OMAD since this makes sense to my lifestyle. I am also continuing with my daily probiotics (Now Foods Probiotic Defence), Biotin and Omega 3 supplements, as well as Pysllium husk, all of which I plan to consume before my daily meal in the evening.
I’d appreciate any help you can give me with my meal plan above. I’m not one to vary the food that I eat everyday, so if this plan makes sense I could have this everyday for the next couple of months.
Honestly, I’ve been on a calorie restrictive diet (around 1700 calories) for over two years now and my metabolism is quite out of whack, though I did lose about 20kgs.
The last couple of months, I gave up on calorie restrictions, and that caused me to put on a bit of weight.
I’ve only recently discovered that Keto and IF may have some significant effects on insulin levels, and therefore on general metabolism in general.
If you’ve been restricting calories for some time then your metabolism probably is a bit iffy. The good news is that keto is not a diet/way of eating in which you have to forcibly restrict calories. If you do so you may continue to harm your metabolism.
This is the key. By switching fuel sources & lowering insulin you may find that your appetite naturally reduces or that you are able to lose weight while eating at a higher calorie level. It’s about repairing/normalising metabolism.
A good place to start is keep carbs at 20 grams or below, protein at about 1 gram per kilo of (reasonable) desired bodyweight & eat fat to satiety.
Also, have a look at this primer (the expanded version is worth the time) written by one of our members.
Keto is this easy (Keto for beloved noobs)
This is for Phase One - the starter phase. It’s still not complicated later, but this is the really easy to explain version which will help you no end.
Eat under 20g of carbs a day
Don’t worry about the scale
Eat plenty of good food - fat and protein - while adhering to 20g/carbs/day. Don’t worry too much about macros and calories EXCEPT carbs. Keep them below 20g/day. (Prioritize the protein - always start with protein in every meal, but don’t panic about it.) Your job is to get fat-adapted, so give your body the fuel you want it to use. Also, your appetite will vary - it’ll disappear, then it’ll come roaring back. Happens to most people, don’t sweat it.
ELECTROLYTES/SALT - KEEP THEM UP
Buy the meat you can afford - don’t stress about grass-fed, organic (con), etc… The worst meat is better than the best bread.
This site has a search function (magnifying glass at the top of the page) and a newbies section - use them both, you’ll get a better variety of answers to your questions far more quickly that way. SERIOUSLY, THIS IS VERY USEFUL.[1]
That’s as difficult as it needs to be for a couple of months.
My good friend Terence (being friends with a Kiwi feels kinda dirty, but there you have it, keto makes for strange bedfellows) tells me this thing I have described above is called “dirty keto.” So yeah, do dirty keto, kids!
[1]If you can’t find a useful answer after searching and reading for a while, we can help you a lot more if you tell us relevant data about yourself such as your reasons for doing keto, your weight/height/age/gender, a sample menu plan & any relevant health conditions.
Thanks so much for all the information, and for patiently explaining things to me. I am going to read through the expanded article, and I will report back with any questions I have
I agree calories and protein look a bit low. Also I might suggest that you don’t consume Skippy peanut butter if at all possible. Its full of sugar, soy, and hydrogenated bad oils. Look for a peanut butter in which the only ingredients are peanuts and salt.
Keto is different than the MFP starve yourself diet. You may eat fewer calories but it happens naturally not through forced restriction. If you restrict carbs everything else should fall into place. Fat is your friend now!
My biggest challenge with the non restrictive approach is that I am prone to overeating. It’s probably to do with all the years of screwing up my system with processed food.
Granted that overeating fat will not be as easy as overeating cards though, atleast for me.
I agree with the others about intentional calorie restriction not being a good idea. I just want to add that your height, weight and goal are very similar to mine and keto has more than met my expectations.
I believe that your satiety is your best possible guide and that eating mostly fat and moderate protein, while keep carbs under 20, is all it takes to be successful. I don’t fret if I exceed or end up short of what the macros tell me as long as I am not hungry or stuffing myself.
Having said that, I probably ate around 2000 cals per day for the first 2-3 weeks of keto and as my body better adapted to the process, I started averaging 1200-1600 cals per day for about a month but I never aimed for these amounts. The amounts are simply how much food I ended up eating and found myself comforable.
Lastly, I may know what my data looks like over the past 4 months of my journey but that’s because of my fascination for the numbers (due to using cronometer.com), rather than an a obsession to reach those numbers.
Thanks very much for your reply, and for speaking with such kindness and encouragement. I too am very obsessed with numbers I will take up your advice and try to focus less on the actual numbers as best I can. It’s day two, and no problems in sight yet! Fingers crossed!
Quick update. Day three and going strong. Not feeling too hungry, though I did feel quite sick after last night’s meal, probably because of all the fat intake. I’ve decided to tweak my diet a bit to make me feel a little better after eating the only meal for the day. I’ve made a list of below, and done some calculations on excel.
I’d love some clarity on a few questions I have:
Are only net carbs counted towards the restriction of 20-30gms of carbs or day?
I understand that I should ideally eat about 1 gm / kg of target body weight, which in my case translates to about 72gms of protien. Is this on the lower side?
I am planning to have half a cup of strawberries with heavy cream as dessert after my meal. I understand that even though the strawberries are nutritionally suitable to a low carb diet, the sugar content, or the sweetness of the fruit may cause an insulin spike and or bring me out of ketosis. Is this true, and if so, I presume eating any kind of fruit (except an avocado perhaps), on a daily basis on a ketogenic diet is a big no no?
PS: Please don’t bother with the serving quantities in the attached image, those are very cryptic and not standardized.
Once again thanks guys for all your support, advice and encouragement!
PS : The green chilli peppers are only there to stop my tongue from dying of boredom while eating this stuff. I am Indian and I do need something hot to keep me alive
I am also Indian, Keep going!! I can say counting macros is not necessary still you can do it. Eat healthy keto food and do it right. Make sure of fill your stomach.
