What would my one meal a day look like if I'm 450lb and want to lose weight?

newbies
(Ricardo Sanchez) #1

Hi guys, so I want to start doing keto, but I don’t know how much I’m supposed to eat daily. I’m a 30 year old male, 5’10", and weight 450lbs. My lifestyle is sedentary.

A decade or so ago, I did lose half my weight, losing and weighing 225lbs. I was going to a weight-loss clinic, I took pills, which were extremely helpful, at least at first, had family to support me, an a lot of other powerful external motivators, but the problem with external motivators is that they can go away, and so I rebounded.

I want to do keto for several reasons, I heard it can naturally suppress hunger, so no pills, it works specifically with fat, so maybe no muscle atrophy this time around, and builds mental fortitude, maybe it can help lower my stress which has often lead to overeating and on occasion panic attacks.

I’m not starting from scratch though, I do still have some remnants from when I first lost all they weight namely, I’ve grown accustomed to eating once per day, I’ve cut sugar from my diet, but I do love other carbs like bread and pasta. I do have a Bowflex Xtreme, which I think is great for low impact exercises, especially with my weight.

So given the information, what would my meal look like, being that I’m 450lbs, and want to lose weight. I tried a calculator but it kept giving pretty large calorie counts, not sure how I would lose weight if I ate that much.

I really appreciate the help!

(Chris) #3

Figure out how many calories you currently are eating in a day/week average. drop that number by 250-500 calories a day and go from there. Odds are you will not come close to consuming that amount in one meal.

#4

Hi Ricardo, you have made a start, you are hear. lot’s of helpful information will come your way now. Good luck.

(Natasha) #5

i imagine you’d struggle to overeat (calorie wise) if you are doing OMAD. At 450lb your meal could be a 2,000+ kcal feast and you’d still lose.

(Todd Allen) #6

I wouldn’t start out doing one meal a day. Nor would I start out thinking about calories. Fight one battle at a time and the first battle ought to be cutting the carbs.

#7

How is this keto? He said he is eating pasta and bread…

#8

Like a few others have said, I would keep it simple and only worry about your carb intake. Keep it very low. You should have great results. Your appetite should naturally go down over time, but those of us who started with large amounts of weight to lose have the advantage of dropping pounds even with little changes. I ate a LOT when I started keto, but kept the carbs low, and the weight dropped off as long as I stayed on plan. Eventually, my appetite was decreased immensely (fasting helps this too, but is definitely not necessary).

(Doug) #9

Well said, Todd.

Ricardo, it was the same for me, though I still had gained a lot of weight over the years. There are definite and very important hormonal benefits to be gained from eating very little carbohydrate, rather than just eating once per day. Bread and pasta = starches, which the body breaks down into sugar. They provoke high insulin response which is what led many of us to become overweight in the first place.

If you’re used to eating only one time a day, you’re set up with some advantage as far as getting used to burning fat for energy, i.e. becoming ‘fat-adapted.’ On calorie counts - once you’re burning your own fat, you don’t need calories from food for energy, so one can eat much less on that score.

(Running from stupidity) #10

This.

Generally speaking, keto is a HORMONE control diet, not primarily a CALORIE control diet. (“Diet” being used to mean “the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats” not society’s current usage.)

(Ricardo Sanchez) #11

I never said I was, thank you for the advice though.

#12

Ah sorry, I misread that part of the original post.

(Carl Keller) #13

According to this calculator:
https://www.lifespanfitness.com/fitness/resources/calories-calculator
… you need 4027 calories per day to maintain your current weight.

But, Keto isn’t really about counting calories; it’s about counting carbs and keeping them under 20-50 (depending on who you ask). I was able to get into keto by keeping my carbs under 50. That was a lot easier than starting at 20 but now I find myself able to do 20 with no problem. A sample of what I ate when I first started was as follows (2 meals with very light snacking before and after):

Breakfast: 3 egg omelet with cheese and spinach. A dallop of sour cream. 4 slices of bacon.

DInner: 3-4 cups of romaine, iceberg and or spinach mixed as a salad. A few ounces of cheddar cheese, 1 avocado, 1/8 cup of sunflower seeds, 1 boiled egg and dressing of choice.

Snacks: a few deviled eggs or a few pork rinds or 1/8 cup of macadamian or pecan or almonds, string cheese, an ounce of beef jerkey to name a few.

At first I was snacking a fair amount but eventually once I switched to ketones for energy and since I was consuming more fat, my hunger become less and snacks were more habitual than necessary.

Keep in mind I’m the same height as you but half the weight so you obviously might need greater amounts than the quantities that I suggest. Just keep track of those carbs and keep it low. I suggest you watch some YT videos about people who are going keto grocery store shopping. You can get a lot of great ideas for what you might want to put in your fridge or pantry since nobody wants to eat the same things over and over.

(Ricardo Sanchez) #14

Thank you all for the quick and insightful responses! Especially the advice on how I should look at this moving forward, it has really changed my perspective. Would you guys then recommend using an app like cronometer, carb manager, or the use of ketone test strips? What about recommendations like pink Himalayan sea salt, MCT oil, nutritional yeast, and electrolyte supplements? Are they really needed, or worth the premium in cost? Am I fine just using extra virgin olive oil, avocados, green bell peppers?

#15

Hey Ricardo, if all of the above seems complicated, just remember this. 1, keep carbs below 20 grams. 2, Prioritize your protein, 3. Eat fat’s. That’s it, no need to complicate it.

#16

If you’re eating (regular) bread and pasta, you’re not likely to go into ketosis. And ketosis is what is providing the natural hunger suppressant. Initially, you’d want to stay under 20 net carbs. You can probably go higher later, but that’s a good place to start. There are low-carb versions/alternatives of bread and pasta, but they are different in taste and texture.

I was a larger version of you. 20 months ago, I was 6’5" and 650 pounds. Down 180 pounds so far. The two biggest keto advantages for me have been:

  • Control of my hunger. I used to me hungry all the time.
  • Control of my blood sugars. I’m a T2 diabetic. I used to have an A1c of 7.3 while using insulin and metformin. Now, I no longer use drugs to treat my diabetes and have an A1c of 5.4.

The only thing I took away from the online calculators is my protein macro. I set my daily goals from a little different perspective, basing them on my overall goals:

  • < 1200 calories (because I want to lose weight)
  • < 20g net carbs (because I want to control hunger and blood sugar)
  • > 120g proteins (because my body needs them)

I don’t have a set limit/goal for fat, but it is implied by the calories. I really don’t need to consume fat for energy. I have plenty stored up, ready for use. I may eat more fat if I’m feeling hungry.

I’m currently in a several months long stall, because my metabolism has slowed down. Which is to be expected, as I no longer need the energy to digest all those additional calories I used to eat.

(Dan Dan) #17

Here is what one of my OMADs look like :grinning:

Appetizer (1150 kcals and 12 net carbs)

3 oz mixed nuts (9 net carbs)
3 oz cheese
3 oz salami (3 carbs)

Main Course (1700 Kcals and 10 net carbs)

One Pound of Fatty Meat or Poultry with Skin (Reverse Seared with Grill Mates Steak Season ground in pepper grinder and Butter)

Half Bag of Low Carb Frozen Mixed Veggies grilled topped with lots of Butter and or sour cream
(10 net carbs)

Dessert (150 Kcals and 9 net carbs)

Box Sugar Fee Jello (zero carb)
Vanilla Pudding cup Sugar Fee (4 net carb)
Chocolate Pudding Cup Sugar Fee (5 net carb)

Total 3000 Kcals and 31 net carbs

This is how I naturally eat Keto I have always planned my meals and then count the calories and carbs and it always works out :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

It takes me 4 hours to eat and I don’t eat until I’m hungry again I often ADF/OMAD (44/4) :sunglasses:

Please remember YMMV :thinking:

“May the Force (fat adaption) be with you”

IF/EF Keto WOE is Self-Discovery :wink:

Good luck and much success in your journey in IF/EF Keto WOE :grin:

(Todd Allen) #18

I use the free version of cronometer and like it a lot. It’s a convenient way to look up carb content and nutrtitional info on foods. However, the database is incomplete and imperfect. Sometimes you can find wildly different listings for a given item. And even at its best nutritional data is just an average or sometimes just a single sample from long ago and could vary quite a bit from the food on your plate. You get hard numbers but the data is fuzzy, so don’t sweat shooting for precise targets. I think the biggest value is that if you find you are consistently coming in very low on an essential micronutrient you can make adjustments to your diet or supplement as needed versus blindly taking lots of supplements just in case.

The urine dip strips are notoriously inaccurate, more appropriate for detecting diabetic ketoacidosis than managing a keto diet. The blood strips are much better but silly expensive. If you have too much money they have their uses but I’d put them at a lower priority than buying high quality food. MCT oil is also fairly low bang for the buck, not at all needed, especially when starting. Electrolytes are fairly essential, especially salt. Lots of choices there, experiment and find what you like. Many find supplemental magnesium helpful, and potassium sometimes too.

(Running from stupidity) #19

I absolutely use supplements for Magnesium, Potassium, Calcium and Sodium (zero carb blend).

I like the Himalayan salt, but I don’t believe it’s any better for you than normal salt, so I wouldn’t pay extra to get it on that basis.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #20

@War_Destroyer The most important aspect of this way of eating is to keep your carbohydrate intake as low as possible. That lowers your insulin level and allows the excess fat to leave storage and be metabolized. We recommend under 20 g/day, because it is a level at which almost everyone gets into ketosis, except a few people with bad metabolic damage. The ultimate purpose of this diet is to become fat-adapted, so that your muscles burn primarily fat and your brain runs primarily on ketones.

After keeping carbohyrdate low, making sure to get enough protein is the next priority. Eat a moderate amount, but err on the side of too much, rather than too little.

Lastly, give your body enough calories to heal. This means eating fat to satiety, because fat stimulates insulin secretion the least of any macronutrient, so it’s the safest source of calories. Fat is also tasty and satisfying, and will help your satiety signaling recover and start operating correctly again. Most people find that for the first week or two, they eat quite a bit of food by eating to satiety, but the body quickly starts regulating the appetite to a level that allows both the fat in the diet and the excess stored fat to be metabolized.

Don’t intentionally restrict your calories, let your body manage that, by listening to your appetite. Eat when hungry, stop eating when you stop being hungry, and don’t eat again until you are hungry again. It’s a very different experience from what you are used to, I’m sure.