Day 8 on lchf - questions for experienced keto peeps

daweparker

Hello. I am starting to feel human again at day 8 on a very strict lchf program. Last week was awful Light headed. nauseau. Flu like. Headaches.
I am keeping my carbs to 40g and meeting my fat goals with fat bombs. I lost 14 pounds of water in 5 days!
1- Does it matter that my calories are in the 1600 range? I am having trouble wrapping my head around eating so much fat.
2- Cocoa powder- is it ok on the lchf diet?
3- just ground up peanuts for peanut butter - allowed?
Thanks in advance.

FIT_Goat

1. Nope, doesn't matter. If you are hungry or lose too quickly, eat more. If you aren't losing fast enough, you have room to move down (but I encourage patience and not rushing).

2. Meh. It's not horrible. As long as it fits your macros. I find that it only gets used in foods that are highly palatable and mess with my hunger signals.

3. If you're fine with legumes and the carb counts, yeah, peanuts ground into peanut-butter are fine.

macchiatto

Glad you're starting to feel better. Have you been keeping an eye on your electrolytes? (Not sure if you read the post about that but keeping sodium and potassium up can really help with that.)
1. That's very individual. How did you calculate your calorie goals? Sounds reasonable though!
2. Yes, though different people find they're sensitive to different things. I use cocoa powder on keto without negative effect.
3. Same as #2. Depends on your goals and if it seems to cause a stall, trigger cravings, etc. Peanuts haven't seemed to cause a problem for me but YMMV.

kpk54

I'm only 6 month keto and not even for weight loss so not an expert but have maintained my 60 pound loss while eating 75% fat. Don't fear fat. It doesn't make us fat. I was highly worried about both the fat and increased sodium. No problem for me.

Do read the info on our home page under "Announcements" regarding keto flu. All info there, in the "stickies", is helpful.

I say both peanuts and cocoa are fine if they fit your plan and don't cause cravings. Cocoa powder is the only chocolate I use. I put it in my coffee forward.before brewing sometimes
and occasionally add it to full fat Greek yogurt with sweetener.

I'm personally an advocate of keeping calories as high as possible during weight loss while still losing at a reasonable rate. There are 100s of studies indicating extreme calorie reduction and/or excessive exercise will tank your metabolism. Google leptin and grehlin for starters if interested.

Congrats on those 14 pounds! Weigh is weight so far as lugging it around every day. Stick to your plan. If you have a bad day and you feel like quitting, remember why you started. If you mess up, just say Oops and move forward.

moonlights

+1 on keeping your calories as high as you can while losing. A lot of people, often with a lot to lose, go right in at 1200 a day and then have nowhere to go.

I am 5'2", bmi in the lower 30s and lose easily on between 1500 and 1800 a day (it fluctuates). Your mileage will vary, it takes time to figure out what's right for you.

daweparker

Thanks everyone! I will let go of my old school calorie counting. The article on the flu was informative. I will pick up some broth today to increase my salt and make some new cocoa fat bombs. You guys rock.

RowdysLady

I started at 2000 cals a day and have incrementally decreased them. I went down to 1500ish and wound up binging. I do not know if they were related, but as a part of getting back on track I went up to 1600 cals. I was 258 lbs and have moved the cals as I've lost weight. I'm at 208 now. I'm also very tall with a large frame at 5'10" and I don't get up off my butt to move nearly enough.