Help starting LCHF

aimos87
aimos87 Posts: 55 Member
edited December 2 in Social Groups
I'm still researching and starting to make changes. Looking to lose about 15kg. I'm also 5f9inc and around 86kg. I'm just wondering do u use the calc to set ur macros then stick to 1200 cals but make sure ur macros are totalling your total calorie intake for the day? Do you all stick to a certain amount of calories doing Keto or do u eat until full?? Sorry trying to get my head around it and so sick of yoyo dieting and carbs and sugar seem to not agree with me!

Replies

  • anglyn1
    anglyn1 Posts: 1,802 Member
    A lot of people use this http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com/ to set their calorie and macro goals. I just try to stay under 30 carbs and don't worry much about calories. Keeping carbs low just naturally led to reduced calories for me.
  • aimos87
    aimos87 Posts: 55 Member
    Thanks for ur help:) do you enter into MFP just to track ur carbs?
  • rachelbl72
    rachelbl72 Posts: 64 Member
    Well yes and no I enter everything cos I am interested to see what is actually going into my body on a daily basis and work out what's been a good day. For example the other day I had a glass of Diet Coke, next day I felt really bloated and tummy hard again so didn't drink it again and my tummy feels better again.
    Add me as a friend if you want and you can nose through my diary
  • aimos87
    aimos87 Posts: 55 Member
    Thanks I've added u:)
  • RowdysLady
    RowdysLady Posts: 1,370 Member
    Personally I'd fail terribly if I didn't log my food on MFP. It's what keeps me in the right frame of mind. When I see I've eaten something higher carb or higher calorie I can easily adjust. When I just "know it in my head" I can easily and conveniently "forget"

    This website and moreover this particular forum has been the foundation of my successes.
  • aimos87
    aimos87 Posts: 55 Member
    RowdysLady wrote: »
    Personally I'd fail terribly if I didn't log my food on MFP. It's what keeps me in the right frame of mind. When I see I've eaten something higher carb or higher calorie I can easily adjust. When I just "know it in my head" I can easily and conveniently "forget"

    This website and moreover this particular forum has been the foundation of my successes.

    Awesome I agree. It's def better to see exactly what your patterns are etc! Do u eat a certain amount of calories or do u just track to measure carbs?
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    drcate.com/going-low-carb-too-fast-may-trigger-thyroid-troubles-and-hormone-imbalance/

    This could be the cause of some Keto Flu symptoms perhaps? T3 and reverse T3 are subjects I am trying to gain a deeper understanding about.
  • anglyn1
    anglyn1 Posts: 1,802 Member
    I log all my food. I have my calories manually set at 1800 because that was about maintenance when I started.
  • RalfLott
    RalfLott Posts: 5,036 Member
    drcate.com/going-low-carb-too-fast-may-trigger-thyroid-troubles-and-hormone-imbalance/

    This could be the cause of some Keto Flu symptoms perhaps? T3 and reverse T3 are subjects I am trying to gain a deeper understanding about.

    @GaleHawkins - Keep us posted, eh? Nice to have you back.
  • FitToLead
    FitToLead Posts: 275 Member

    Fantastic article. A few years ago I was hiking in the Himalayas, seemingly perfectly healthy, on extremely low carbs - and everyone was amazed at how I ate - no rice, no junk, no alcohol, no sugar sweets - when hiking way above the snow line up to 10 hours a day. 1 Year later I contracted meningitis and ... long story .. and it took a few years to figure out that the lingering lethargy, pain and cognitive impairments were not due to permanent damage from meningitis, but a whacked around thryoid. Interestingly, at the time, they thought thyroid was affected by the meningitis, but a few times since that I've gone very low carb the same thyroid symptoms get extremely bad - quickly - and don't get better like keto flu usually does. Who knows chicken or egg, but at this stage, I have not dropped carbs too low. I will see how next few weeks go.
  • RalfLott
    RalfLott Posts: 5,036 Member
    edited June 2016
    drcate.com/going-low-carb-too-fast-may-trigger-thyroid-troubles-and-hormone-imbalance/

    This could be the cause of some Keto Flu symptoms perhaps? T3 and reverse T3 are subjects I am trying to gain a deeper understanding about.

    Here's the nub of it:
    If you have gone low carb successfully, you have accomplished a major change in your metabolism, one that involves turning on scores of enzymes your body has not needed or used for a long time, decades in some cases. Not everyone can accomplish this overhaul in time. Those who can often continue low carb for life with great success. But those who cannot accomplish all the necessary changes flip the hibernation switch, increase production of rT3 and thyronamines, which causes crushing fatigue and may lead to intense carb cravings in order to turn off the hibernation switch again.

    For these people, an easy way to avoid flipping the hibernation switch and reduce carb cravings may be to simply make a more gradual reduction in carbs rather than an abrupt one.

    Atkins, who advocates an abrupt switch to less than 20 gm per day, seems to have been aware of this problem and in fact in his writing he warns people they may experience fatigue in the first few days or weeks after going very low carb. Unfortunately, for some people, the fatigue never improves and they give up on low-carbing all together.

    Incidentally, none of my patients reported feeling worse when they went low carb. I suspected it had something to do with the fact that I introduced them to low carbing one meal at a time beginning with breakfast. I made this recommendation simply because I didn’t have time to go over everything with them in one visit. I only had time to give them ideas for one meal, and had them start by cutting carbs from breakfast because that is the time of day we are most able to switch our dormant fat-burn enzymes from off to on.

    @baconslave @dragonwolf - an item for the Launchpad?
  • JessiBelleW
    JessiBelleW Posts: 836 Member
    I eat many, many more calories that the mfp allotted number. I still log sometimes to check in with my carbs, and its nice to see the protien and the fiber also.

    For background I would say I eat lower carbs, and high fat. So I choose my protein, and enough veggies to help me feel full, and then eat some high fat foods to round it out.

    Have a play with the ratios and see what works for you - you may struggle to hit macros (especially for fat and protein) with only 1200kcals and I would say go higher
  • baconslave
    baconslave Posts: 7,021 Member
    RalfLott wrote: »
    drcate.com/going-low-carb-too-fast-may-trigger-thyroid-troubles-and-hormone-imbalance/

    This could be the cause of some Keto Flu symptoms perhaps? T3 and reverse T3 are subjects I am trying to gain a deeper understanding about.

    Here's the nub of it:
    If you have gone low carb successfully, you have accomplished a major change in your metabolism, one that involves turning on scores of enzymes your body has not needed or used for a long time, decades in some cases. Not everyone can accomplish this overhaul in time. Those who can often continue low carb for life with great success. But those who cannot accomplish all the necessary changes flip the hibernation switch, increase production of rT3 and thyronamines, which causes crushing fatigue and may lead to intense carb cravings in order to turn off the hibernation switch again.

    For these people, an easy way to avoid flipping the hibernation switch and reduce carb cravings may be to simply make a more gradual reduction in carbs rather than an abrupt one.

    Atkins, who advocates an abrupt switch to less than 20 gm per day, seems to have been aware of this problem and in fact in his writing he warns people they may experience fatigue in the first few days or weeks after going very low carb. Unfortunately, for some people, the fatigue never improves and they give up on low-carbing all together.

    Incidentally, none of my patients reported feeling worse when they went low carb. I suspected it had something to do with the fact that I introduced them to low carbing one meal at a time beginning with breakfast. I made this recommendation simply because I didn’t have time to go over everything with them in one visit. I only had time to give them ideas for one meal, and had them start by cutting carbs from breakfast because that is the time of day we are most able to switch our dormant fat-burn enzymes from off to on.

    @baconslave @dragonwolf - an item for the Launchpad?

    Whutcha think, DW?
  • saltysailors
    saltysailors Posts: 101 Member
    anglyn1 wrote: »
    A lot of people use this http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com/ to set their calorie and macro goals. I just try to stay under 30 carbs and don't worry much about calories. Keeping carbs low just naturally led to reduced calories for me.
    Thanks for this! I am in my first week of LCHF and I'm trying to figure out the macros. I just plugged in my numbers and got the results. Yay now I have a better idea of where to start!!
  • RowdysLady
    RowdysLady Posts: 1,370 Member
    aimos87 wrote: »
    RowdysLady wrote: »
    Personally I'd fail terribly if I didn't log my food on MFP. It's what keeps me in the right frame of mind. When I see I've eaten something higher carb or higher calorie I can easily adjust. When I just "know it in my head" I can easily and conveniently "forget"

    This website and moreover this particular forum has been the foundation of my successes.

    Awesome I agree. It's def better to see exactly what your patterns are etc! Do u eat a certain amount of calories or do u just track to measure carbs?

    I watch calories too. I was around 2000 and stalled in my loss so I dropped down to just over 1700
  • DeSterren
    DeSterren Posts: 8 Member
    I've been really wondering about this: should I focus on staying at the 1200 cal limit, even when I'm really hungry? Sounds like some of you are saying to still track to see the breakout of fat/carbs/cal, but not to focus too much on total cal. Very helpful!
  • RowdysLady
    RowdysLady Posts: 1,370 Member
    @De Sterren Depending on what your body needs, that may be too low. I could not survive at only 1200 cals but I'm also 230+ lbs right now and I try to walk at least 5 miles every other day. I have found that once I found my balance I don't feel hunger. I had to play around a little though.
  • RalfLott
    RalfLott Posts: 5,036 Member
    edited June 2016
    DeSterren wrote: »
    I've been really wondering about this: should I focus on staying at the 1200 cal limit, even when I'm really hungry? Sounds like some of you are saying to still track to see the breakout of fat/carbs/cal, but not to focus too much on total cal. Very helpful!

    Welcome!

    We're all unique science projects, so you have to experiment on a number of fronts to find what works best for you. (The real trick is figuring out the most efficient way to do this. I've flunked that teat several times ..)

    I finally settled into a "lock-jaw" system, with:
    • Daily weight-loss macro- and calorie targets; and
    • A lock-jaw calorie ceiling a couple hundred calories higher, which I very rarely exceed.

    (I recalculate the weight-loss targets once a month or so using the keto calculator mentioned above.)

    A hidden bonus in the lock-jaw system is that it gives you more fasting hours till your first meal the next day if you hit the lock-jaw limit earlier in the day (usually late afternoon at the earliest in my case).

    If I don't keep track of calories, my weight and BG start to creep up, but there are plenty of lucky LCHFers here who don't have those problems.

    Best of luck!
  • bjwoodzy
    bjwoodzy Posts: 593 Member
    Some great reading, here.

    Like many here, I also got started using the http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com/

    I was just tracking what I ate, but I found out that MFP will let me enter in a plan for my daily menu in advance. So last night, I sat there and entered in what I planned to eat, much like a busy mom might plan the menu for the entire family's meals for a day or whatever, and you know what? Aside from a couple tiny slip-ups (I drank half & half in my coffee in the morning instead of heavy cream as planned, and sneaked in some extra cheese into my evening snack), I was actually closer to hitting my macros than ever before, because I planned out my meals to fit my daily macro goals and only went over a tiny bit on my calories.
  • Dragonwolf
    Dragonwolf Posts: 5,600 Member
    baconslave wrote: »
    RalfLott wrote: »
    drcate.com/going-low-carb-too-fast-may-trigger-thyroid-troubles-and-hormone-imbalance/

    This could be the cause of some Keto Flu symptoms perhaps? T3 and reverse T3 are subjects I am trying to gain a deeper understanding about.

    Here's the nub of it:
    If you have gone low carb successfully, you have accomplished a major change in your metabolism, one that involves turning on scores of enzymes your body has not needed or used for a long time, decades in some cases. Not everyone can accomplish this overhaul in time. Those who can often continue low carb for life with great success. But those who cannot accomplish all the necessary changes flip the hibernation switch, increase production of rT3 and thyronamines, which causes crushing fatigue and may lead to intense carb cravings in order to turn off the hibernation switch again.

    For these people, an easy way to avoid flipping the hibernation switch and reduce carb cravings may be to simply make a more gradual reduction in carbs rather than an abrupt one.

    Atkins, who advocates an abrupt switch to less than 20 gm per day, seems to have been aware of this problem and in fact in his writing he warns people they may experience fatigue in the first few days or weeks after going very low carb. Unfortunately, for some people, the fatigue never improves and they give up on low-carbing all together.

    Incidentally, none of my patients reported feeling worse when they went low carb. I suspected it had something to do with the fact that I introduced them to low carbing one meal at a time beginning with breakfast. I made this recommendation simply because I didn’t have time to go over everything with them in one visit. I only had time to give them ideas for one meal, and had them start by cutting carbs from breakfast because that is the time of day we are most able to switch our dormant fat-burn enzymes from off to on.

    @baconslave @dragonwolf - an item for the Launchpad?

    Whutcha think, DW?

    I don't see why not.
  • KnitOrMiss
    KnitOrMiss Posts: 10,103 Member
    drcate.com/going-low-carb-too-fast-may-trigger-thyroid-troubles-and-hormone-imbalance/

    This could be the cause of some Keto Flu symptoms perhaps? T3 and reverse T3 are subjects I am trying to gain a deeper understanding about.

    @GaleHawkins Thanks for posting this. I was just this week/last week diagnosed with a bad RT3 ratio and ongoing hypothyroidism not responding as well to increased T4 meds as expected. The hypo was diagnosed PRIOR to going low carb, but officially after a dramatic weight loss following my divorce. I'm going to dig into this, too, specifically because my pharmacist mentioned that she now has liver damage from being on the T3 medication my Endo added to my treatment regimen (took first dose this AM), but she also takes NDT...so I'm trying to determine if the risks are related to the T3 med or the combination... So much information!! I'm going to dig into this article.
  • KnitOrMiss
    KnitOrMiss Posts: 10,103 Member
    Hmm... Now I'm more confused than ever. This article references rT3 symptoms without other thyroid issues. I have both. My doctor has in fact increased my T4 medication (my TSH was terrible 6-9 months ago - like the worst it's ever been) 2 times since I've been low carb - and has now added a T3 medicine (lowest possible dose) to see if it helps my rT3 stuff... I'm going to extract this into a Thyroid Thread, so as not to permanently hijack here!

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10405962/thyroid-weirdness-and-low-carbing?new=1
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