Can you critique my diary?

Marty19666

I was lazy keto for 3 weeks, then started logging. I have trouble hitting my macros without going over calories. I work out with weights 3-4 times a week, yoga some mornings and cardio maybe 3-4 times a week. I do not always log the exercise.
I am 50 YO male, 6 feet, 187lbs. I'm down from 210 6 weeks ago and would like to get to 180. I seem to have stalled out at 187.
My handle is marty19666 and the diary is public. Thank you.

lodro

Oftentimes you're well under calories. Up them by eating more fat? You need to fuel your workouts as well. 3 weeks is a short time to get fat adapted. What is lazy keto? hovering around ketosis? That's inadvisable if you want the full benefits.

How are your workouts going?

stefne888

I keep going over on my calories too even though I'm still under 20g carbs. I am not losing as fast as I was and I was wondering if going over my calories could contribute to that? I always thought calories didn't matter on keto?

KnitOrMiss

Calories ALWAYS matter, @stefne888. It is impossible to eat 1000 calories over what your body needs, regardless of plan, and not expect to gain weight. One of the main benefits to a ketogenic diet is the high satiety levels, leading to a naturally reduced appetite. The majority of folks who can eat only until satiated while doing keto naturally regulate their calories. But, for some, that level of self-regulation does not come easily - or at all - and for those folks, tracking calories in addition to carbs is recommended.

It's all about how your body regulates appetite, as well as various eating or metabolic challenges and/or disorders.

There are also a number of foods like nuts and cheese, that are very nutrient dense that are very easy to overeat due to the lovely combo of fats, sweet taste, and salty tastes... So if you are keeping to reasonable portions, you wouldn't have an issue, but for someone thinking they can manage it, not measuring out a single portion, they might look down, surprised to realize they've eating an 8 oz package when they meant to eat only 1 oz. Mindless eating, stress eating, binge eating, etc., all of those things will still impact one's ability to regulate true hunger signals...

bowlerae

@Marty19666 I've read your diary for the past week and, unless you are not tracking everything, you are very far under your calorie goals (by 400-750). Also, in almost every case I saw, your protein is way over your fat, sometimes even by double. Add more fat to your diet. Try BPC in the morning.

KnitOrMiss

Agree on the too much protein, too little fats. Also, quest bars and alcohol will likely both have a dramatic effect on your lack of weight loss. The body will stop processing everything else to get rid of the poison/alcohol. And the faux ingredients in quest bars are not recommended for regular consumption. In fact, most folks do not subtract more than half of the "removed" carbs from these carbs, due to it's proven impact to most bodies.

Why aren't you eating the skins on your chicken? Why are you adding egg whites? Those are two great sources of fats/nutrients. Also, is there a reason you're way under on calories? Especially since you're working out regularly? If you are not going to eat back exercise calories, then you need to create your deficit through exercise alone. If you are going to eat them back, then you can create a deficit by restricting calories. But you're giving your body a double whammy and likely stalling out your metabolism, or at the least, making it panic, holding on to everything it can...

I would up your calories to eat ALL of your calories WITHOUT a deficit at all if you are working out daily - or with a deficit IF YOU ARE EATING BACK EXERCISE CALORIES.

According to this calorie calculator, your BMR is 1749 - which means you should NEVER EVER eat under that number. EVER. Add in moderate calorie burn to 3-5 workouts a week, and your TDEE is estimated at 2424 kcal. After reading more, I went back and bumped this up to more of a burn, since you do multiple workouts a day sometimes. This gave your TDEE as 2828 kcal.

Using the default of 34% body fat it gave me, it means you have approximately 123 pounds of lean body mass.

Using 25 grams carbs daily, it says you need 75-123 grams of protein a day. If we go with 123 grams of protein (to support your weight lifting), it recommends 186 grams of fat, and that's with a 20% deficit. If we use 100 grams of protein for middle of the road, it recommends 196 grams of fat, still with 20% caloric deficit. Maintenance at this weight would be 258 grams of fats.

So long story short, it looks like the reason you aren't currently losing is because your deficit is far, far too steep, and you're likely metabolizing your muscle, rather than building it. Personally, I'd suggest increasing your fats by a large margin.

Are you in a cut? Or what other reason is for restricting the calories so far?? You're likely to end up permanently damaging your metabolism if you stay at that low of calories for any length of time. Frankly, I'm surprised you're still able to perform at your workouts and normal activity... I don't say this to be mean, @Marty19666 - just out of concern...

Please give us an update!

Marty19666

Thank you all for your responses, I'm sorry for not responding, I had notifications turned off on MFP. I'm still not hitting my 1500/day, but have worked very hard to get protein up to ~30/40grams per meal. I had no idea hitting my calories was such a big deal, truth is, I'm never hungry and have to force a lot of the food. I guess I've been thinking, less is more when it comes to losing. I will work harder to get fat up and hit my 1500/day. I am quite tired when I start a workout but always feel better halfway through and fully energized by the end. "Permanently damaging" my metabolism sounds pretty dramatic! I mean, I am logging everything, yes, and yes I'm not hitting 1500 all the time, but, I feel good. I've lost a couple of pounds since I first posted this, but have def built some muscle. I really appreciate all of your advice and will try to apply all of it moving forward!

Marty19666

lodro wrote: »

Oftentimes you're well under calories. Up them by eating more fat? You need to fuel your workouts as well. 3 weeks is a short time to get fat adapted. What is lazy keto? hovering around ketosis? That's inadvisable if you want the full benefits.

How are your workouts going?

Not great, but not terrible. I mean, I'm pretty tired to start but always feel good after. And it's pretty tame, 30 minutes Arc Trainer (elliptical type machine), then cable machines, pull-ups, arms every other day. One thing I'm doing lately that I really dig is 50 or so pushups right when I wake up.

Oh, and lazy keto is just low carb without logging or tracking macros.

lodro

Marty19666 wrote: »

lodro wrote: »

Oftentimes you're well under calories. Up them by eating more fat? You need to fuel your workouts as well. 3 weeks is a short time to get fat adapted. What is lazy keto? hovering around ketosis? That's inadvisable if you want the full benefits.

How are your workouts going?

Not great, but not terrible. I mean, I'm pretty tired to start but always feel good after. And it's pretty tame, 30 minutes Arc Trainer (elliptical type machine), then cable machines, pull-ups, arms every other day. One thing I'm doing lately that I really dig is 50 or so pushups right when I wake up.

Oh, and lazy keto is just low carb without logging or tracking macros.

In that case, maybe you do want to start tracking macros and calories, just to get to a pattern of eating that is sustainable for you + workouts. For instance I struggled a lot with "proper meals", but then found out bullet proof coffee and mct oil were excellent ways of regulating calories. That freed me to concentrate cooking on one meal only, make that very nice. The rest of my eating I made super predictable. A tablespoon of MCT oil or coconut oil already ups the calories substantially. If you track this for a while and play around with the freedom from hunger that being in keto gives you, you'll be able to find a pattern of eating that is adaptable to your situation.