I am so confused, the more I study the more confused I am. Don’t eat too much fat, if you have body fat to lose. Don’t eat too much protein or it will knock you out of ketosis and store as fat, don’t eat too many carbs, which is every thing else you could eat. What is left to get your calories? I’m confused and hungry. I stopped putting butter in my coffee and eating fat bombs, I’m more hungry so I ate more protein, then went over my goal, so I add more veggies and go over carbs, or I’m still hungry.
What is left to eat?
Shortstuff
(Allie)
#2
Forget everything else you’ve read and just focus on getting used to carbs below 20g a day. When you’re used to that, adjust something else if needed. No need to tie yourself in knots by over-complicating things.
MarkGossage
(bulkbiker)
#3
Completely agree with @Shortstuff
Keep the carbs low enough and eat some decent food… things that look like food and not something from a factory… fatbombs… hmm try without them and see how you get on. Meat , fish, eggs, green veg, butter, cream, cheese. That makes up most of my shopping basket.
rslaughter1960
(Renee Slaughter)
#4
Yes what @Shortstuff said. Just the basics. In the beginning, I focused only on getting by carb count at 20 grams for me total. Don’t worry about too much in the beginning. Don’t worry about too much fat or too much protein. If you need ideas about what to eat check out the boring keto thread. Truly this is not hard. Best wishes.
fischersd
(Steve)
#5
Agree with what the others have said. Only thing that should knock you out of ketosis is too much carbs. Not sure where you heard to stay away from protein, but I think that’s BS…your body needs protein for SO much!!
If you’ve used a calculator on one of the sites (myfitnesspal is what I used), then you should have the macro numbers. Your fat number is a goal. You need lots of fat, as you’re starving your body off of carbs to get it to use fat as the primary energy nutrient.
Me, I keep my carbs under 20, try to keep under my daily calorie goal and try to get the rest (including potassium) as high as I can. Seems difficult to do on a keto diet, but not for lack of trying! 
I also have jars of walnuts and almond halves ready as stacks. Can only have 8 of either to total a gram of carbs. Lots of good keto recipes on ketoconnect.net.
LeCheffre
(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman )
#6
Yep. Keep carbs low and the rest should sort itself. Fears of fat are overblown by folks who grew up with the lowfat movement. Fear of protein dates from then and has new life due to excessive focus on insulin without looking at its opposite hormone which is also triggered by protein, Glucagon.
JustPeachy
(Sophie)
#9
I odn’t think the chart was big enough to list all the benefits of Keto, just some of the high points.
Bellyman
(Brian)
#10
I started out just getting rid of the carbs. I doubt I’m below 20g a day most days but I’m usually under about 40g or so. It’s a good place for me.
Of late, I am focusing a little more on protein. For some, eating too much protein might be a problem. Having spent a good many years as a vegetarian, I tend to go pretty light on the protein and have needed to boost that a little, somewhat intentionally. I am finding that too little protein tends to have me a bit out of balance. I suspect if I were eating too much, it would also have me out of balance.
The fat is what’s left. Luckily, I have a pretty good source of energy stored that ketosis helps me tap into, in addition to the dietary fat I consume. I have about 30 pounds of fat I’d like to lose yet and even that will put me in a place where some would still consider me a bit overweight. It’s where I remember feeling good in the past, though, so that’s where I’m headed. I can always adjust downward when I get there IF, IF, I decide I want to.
Honestly, I try to keep it pretty simple. I’ll take a bit closer look if there is a stall or if I think something may not be quite what it should be. Hey, it’s almost spring time. The garden area is calling, a bunch of little seeds are about to get planted (maybe today), life is calling! And there’s a lot of other stuff to do than think about what I’m gonna eat today.
Have a good one!
fischersd
(Steve)
#11
Wasn’t criticizing, just commenting. Fatty Liver’s a lot more common than most people realize. According to the Mayo Clinic, anywhere from 25-30% of Americans have it.
TNTDyno
(Tessy M.)
#12
Actually, if you consume more protein in a meal than your body can use at that time, it will be converted to glucose and spike your insulin.
Dr. Fung and the 2 Dudes have discussed this in their podcasts.
TNTDyno
(Tessy M.)
#14
Right, the finding (and pardon me for not linking it, but it’s posted in this forum) is that men with high lean body mass and are not T2D, or insulin resistant don’t seem to be impacted. But, unless you are limiting your helping to only what your body needs at that moment, it will be converted to glucose and spike insulin.
For anyone wanting the science, use the search box and search for protein and insulin or protein and glucose. You’ll find the postings, backed by science.
FatBomb
(Jay Patten)
#15
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a 1000 times… stick to the basics!
Just eat less than 20 grams of carbs per day and cook your protein and veggies with fat (butter, olive oil, bacon grease… whatever you have).
As you become more fat adapted you will naturally eat less and less. I’m 3+ months in and I could not eat as much as I ate during month 1 even if I tried!
Don’t worry about fat consumption right now.
I promise, this strategy works!
fischersd
(Steve)
#16
I hope they’re also providing the means that people can determine how much protein they should be ingesting, otherwise it’s a little irresponsible to be telling people to limit their protein.
Carol_Motsinger
(Carol Motsinger)
#18
Thank you all for commenting. But I am not a beginner, I am in the Tweaking phase I guess. Been keto over a year, lost in the first few months then been stalled ever since. My carbs are very close to zero, but I don’t feel like I am in ketosis, breath test doesn’t show it either. I keep trying different things, less fat, then less protein, etc. Started in March doing zero carb, so cut out nuts and veggies. Reducing fat leaves me hungry, so I eat more protein but then I hear that is causing my stall. I don’t know. Just frustrated.
Bellyman
(Brian)
#19
Sometimes I think our culture and our background dictates a lot of what we feel like is “natural” or “normal” for us, whether it’s actually healthy or not.
I was listening to a talk by Ted Naiman a few days ago. He was talking about how quite a number of his patients were protein deficient, not getting enough protein. But he also mentioned that a lot of them were vegan, vegetarian, and some of East Indian descent. Those are people who’s lifestyles and cultural backgrounds could easily influence them to under-eat protein. (Not saying that to be ugly, honest.)
When I look at the 0.7g to 1.2g of protein per pound of lean mass, I see a lot of days I haven’t been making it, probably closer to 0.3g to 0.4g on some days. That’s why I’m starting to pay closer attention to making sure I’m getting at least closer to the lower end of 0.7g. Since I’ve been doing that, the scale seems to be liking it, BTW.
I can see how too much could be a problem for some. I can recall several posts by people who do not do well when they have too much protein. For them, strictly limiting the upper end is important, even if it doesn’t make it to that 1.2g number.
No matter how you slice it, to at least some extent, it’s going to come down to an n=1 type thing. Guidelines can help give you a place to start. But ultimately you’ll have to figure out what your body needs, and that’s an individual thing.
Good luck!
avocadosrule
#20
Have you attempted intermittent fasting or extended fasting? Those are great strategies once you get stalled. There are many ‘stall’ threads on this board.