Hi everyone,
I have been listening to a lost of podcasts, doing a lot of reading and I am getting very mixed opinion; while I understand that you don’t want to under eat, at the same time, some of the macro calculators come up with fairly low daily intake. I have a history of binge eating / bulimia and I am worried that if I don’t monitor, I will just go way over.
Help please!
Thank you
Julie
The calculators almost always default to a deficit.
You can set them to maintenance.
I know it’s really scary, but think about it. 95% of those that follow CICO diets fail. That’s because it’s not a failure of the dieter but a failure of the diet. When you reduce calories, 2 main things happen. 1) your body compensates by reducing the amount of calories it burns. It will even lower its own body temp to conserve energy. So lowering calories by 30% will offset with an approximately equal reduction in the amount of calories your body burns. This lowers your BMR. 2) your body increases hormones that cause hunger. Your body actively works to achieve stasis. It wants to maintain body weight.
That’s because Obesity is NOT a problem with calorie imbalance. It is one of hormone imbalance. Particularly 2 hormones. 1) cortisone. Try to reduce stress as much as possible. Unfortunately this can’t always be controlled. 2) insulin. This is why you’re here trying Keto. There are 2 ways to control insulin.
The first is what you eat. Carbs increase insulin the most. Protein about half as much as carbs and fats have only a moderate insulin reaction. That’s why we say restrict carbs to 20 net grams or less, eat protein in moderation (only the minimum amount your body needs to maintain muscle mass) and eat fat to satiety. The second is when you eat. Limiting eating periods limits the amount of time your body releases insulin. Try to avoid snacking. When your hunger starts to reduce, attempt to shorten the window of time you eat per day. This is called Intermittent fasting or IF.
I know that’s a lot to absorb, but think of it this way. If CICO worked, would you be here right now?
Thank you that makes complete sense, I am just a little nervous because of my history and binge eating / bulimia tendencies
Julie –
I think it can be useful to track what you’re eating, calories and macros, as well as your weight and daily activity. It will give you an opportunity to see how your body responds as well as reasonably good data you can use to make adjustments to your lifestyle to reach your goals.
It’s not so much about CICO, which I don’t subscribe to (although calories do matter) but just for having a better awareness and understanding of your body and health.
Good luck.
I track my macros (fat, protein, carbs) via a web app (fatsecret.com) that gives me calories as well. I pay not much attention to the calories but they are there. I track macros about 8 days of 10. When I eat out I don’t attempt to track. I just try to keep the percentages about right when I eat out. This works for me.
Some people say don’t track. I do because it has taken me a long time to approach fat adaptation and I can easily overeat. I have, I should say I had, no sense of satiety or fullness. I renewed commitment to very low carbs and some IF and I am starting to approach satiety. I’m hopeful in the next week or two I will be completely there. Your mileage may vary.
I would encourage you to see how you do with a few weeks or a month of eating this way. Some people succeed by tracking every gram; some succeed by tracking nothing. Some find they do best when they eat within a certain calorie range; some only gauge how much to eat by hunger/satiety. I know for me, I do best when I stay within a certain target area of food (macros), and then when I start justifying eating anything because it’s Keto, I start gaining weight. And that especially happens for me when I ignore the timing issue and graze throughout the day or just eat whenever I want. I do best on two solid meals on my eating days, nothing between meals.
I found the longer I eat this way the more satisfied I feel and I get fuller faster. I don’t think I could overeat if I even tried. I don’t count calories. I did at first but I pretty much eat the same things and I know that they don’t put me up too high. I just feel satisfied all the time and I love it.
If you’re actually eating keto food, it’s almost impossible(for most) to binge eat! Seriously, how many rib eyes could you throw down or eggs for that matter? You’re supposed to eat until you are full. Good fats and protein will do that for you. Cookies, unfortunately, will not.
I just finished The Obesity Code. I was so impressed, I may have to put off reading The Big Fat Surprise and get the Complete Guide to Fasting first.
Do both, they are both cracking reads. I listen on audiobook to Jason and Nina’s books all the time, over and over.
With cheese and nuts I found it very easy to go overboard unfortunately…
I’m not familiar with Kindle unlimited. I did get both of them in kindle version, and I splurged to get the Obesity Code with audio.
I had been listening to it during my commutes and while I did my runs. Wish the Big Fat Surprise came with audio. I enjoy reading it myself better, but I did go through it super fast by being able to listen to it.
Kindle unlimited is $10 a month but you get access to a lot of books. I got it for $1 as a new subscriber for 3 months.
Ah… I signed up for Amazon Prime accidentally and got 3 months free.
Found I spent wayyyy more than I usually do through Amazon. Had to cancel it after the 3 months, but I ordered a bunch of Keto supplies before I did.
