60 Day Contest on Keto

JanerichoC18

Hey everyone, I have slowly been changing over to Keto, last week I completely changed over and I will say I've never been happier! Part of the reason for my switch was to see if I liked it as a long term choice, but also for a 60 day contest at my gym (national winner gets $5,000.) My trainer LOVES keto and only tells a few of us so he wont get in trouble (doesn't have the cert for that but I know his background and trusted his opinion.) So I changed over I'm good with the test strips and everything now. My contested started Monday, I started last week to adjust and I am already losing weight at a crazy rate, which is great! My only issue is that I am having trouble keeping my protein from sky-rocketing on this. Obviously I need protein but I was about 40 grams over on protein putting my fats a little lower (%) than I had wanted.

Is this something I should worry about? Or since I am in ketosis and I am still running between 65-70% fats and still 5% carbs am I good anyway? (I know net carbs and grams > % but it's easier to explain this way)

Just trying to be efficient as possible - to give an idea I was bumped up to 3400ish calories my goal is 75% fat 20% protein and 5% carbs (again I know grams > % I am watching both) but I have a lot of trouble getting that much fat without my protein going over. I am burning between 5500-6500 per day, he had me increase calories because of how much I am burning and he wants to be safe obviously (and I guess I do too.)

I know this post is half rambling half actual question but long story short, do I need to worry about getting fats up into the 75% range if I am already in ketosis or am I good at the 65%-70% range I am in?

KnitOrMiss

I'd check your figures on the calculators, but as long as you're working out steadily and burning quite a bit (assuming weights and such), having the protein up a bit isn't bad... But your numbers may be low for that, too...

http://www.flexibleketogenic.com/

Remember, your lean body mass determines how much protein you need, and there are calculations for that, depending on your regular workouts and such. I think for men it is 1.0-2.0 grams per pounds of LBM, but don't quote me on that. I know the ranges for women are lower (0.6-1.0 g/lb). If you need a reference on that and someone else doesn't send it, I'll look it up.

kirkor

Ratios don't matter a whit. Keep your net carbs as a hard limit, hit your protein target based on weight/BF, fill in fat as needed for satiety and energy.

aleehagen

I'll echo what kirkor said, 1-1.2g of protein per pound of LBM should be more than enough even for heavy lifting, keep your carbs around 25g and eat more fat if you are hungry.

It's hard to tell your body composition from your picture, but you can either get your fat from diet or your body, once fat adapted it will be easier to eat at a deficit. If weight loss is your goal for your contest, I would think twice about eating ~3400 calories per day... unless you are trying to bulk on muscle as well, but that is counter intuitive for weight loss, good for fat loss, but not weight loss.

Have you checked out the subreddit r/ketogains? Sounds like it might be right down your alley.