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Keto and EM2WL?

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MarissaTriesAgain
MarissaTriesAgain Posts: 766 Member
in Social Groups
How many of you have been successful continuing eating at the higher calorie levels use in the EM2WL community (compared to your avg person looking to lose weight) while on a low carb high fat / ketogenic diet?

My carb addiction is rearing it's ugly head with 40% carbs as my macro. I have been preparing to go low carb again for tbe last week or so. My current cut value is 2400ish, and I was planning on dropping down to 1900 to 2000 calories. Is it possible to stay at my current cut value and see progrest while eating low carb high fat?

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  • zanyzana
    zanyzana Posts: 248 Member
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    Hi Marissa, I'm curious as to why you call it a "carb addiction"? Carbs are a source of nutrients, not a drug! Do you mean that you are craving or eating more than the 40% or you're craving sugary foods like sweets / ice cream / chocolate in particular? Carbs are found in vegies too...

    If your cut value is 2400, what are your reasons for dropping down to 1900-2000? I guess I can't see your reasons for considering these changes. Have your losses dropped off? I think it would be handy to explain what has happened to cause you to make these changes before anyone could help you out...

    Cheers
    Annette
  • RalfLott
    RalfLott Posts: 5,036 Member
    edited November 2016
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    Here's soup to nuts on carb addiction for anyone thinking carbs couldn't possibly be like booze or cigs....

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X8boLYmVo8&list=PLE4F93AEDEAD2E5C8
  • MarissaTriesAgain
    MarissaTriesAgain Posts: 766 Member
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    zanyzana wrote: »
    Hi Marissa, I'm curious as to why you call it a "carb addiction"? Carbs are a source of nutrients, not a drug! Do you mean that you are craving or eating more than the 40% or you're craving sugary foods like sweets / ice cream / chocolate in particular? Carbs are found in vegies too...

    If your cut value is 2400, what are your reasons for dropping down to 1900-2000? I guess I can't see your reasons for considering these changes. Have your losses dropped off? I think it would be handy to explain what has happened to cause you to make these changes before anyone could help you out...

    Cheers
    Annette

    I disagree, it is an addiction just like any other. I also struggle with binge eating disorder. I have it mostly under control, but any bread, pasta, tortilla, rice, potato, sweets, sweet fruits, etc are triggering for me.

    I considered cutting my calories down to 1900-2000 calories because when eating 70-75% I feel extremely satiated, and I'm unsure if I could hit 2400 calories while maintaining my 20g net carbs and not eating too much protein.

    Hopefully I'm just misreading, but your post came across as pretty judgmental.
  • zanyzana
    zanyzana Posts: 248 Member
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    Sorry, I didn't mean it to be judgemental! It's hard to word things right on here sometimes. I just thought it would be easier to help if I / others reading your post understood the reason you were thinking of decreasing the calories. And what carb addiction means to you - how it presents in your situation, I guess.

    I don't think I'm the right person to help in this occasion as I haven't followed a keto diet with EM2WL principles. I think there was a thread about it in the past though. It might be worthwhile having a look over the older threads to see...

    The only thing that comes to mind for me is that the majority of the EM2WL information I've read emphasises the importance of protein in the diet. It doesn't sound like you have difficulty with this area (unlike me - that's my struggle!). I can't remember reading that carbs HAVE to be 40%, just that at least 30% protein is important...

    I'm sure someone else will pop in and have some more experience and relevant words of wisdom to share. Sorry again that my comment came across as judgemental - it wasn't my intention.

    Cheers
    Annette
  • Firefly0606
    Firefly0606 Posts: 366 Member
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    So your current cut value is 2400. I'm going to assume that's a 10% cut from TDEE….that makes your TDEE about 2650 right?

    If you decide to cut down to 1900, you will be taking a 28% cut value! That’s much more than what em2wl talks about – no more than 15%! Going down this track, you might see short term weight loss but you will be back on the track of suppressing your metabolism over the long term. Likely you would come to a point where you lose some, but then plateau, and find yourself wanting to cut even lower to keep the weight loss going.

    Now that I’m eating my TDEE, carb binges are a thing of the past. I can totally relate to binging hard on potato, rice and carbs really – for me it was because I wasn’t feeding my body enough, not because I was addicted to carbs. My body was crying out for more fuel, and carbs were an easy target. I guess it is possible to do keto while following em2wl, 20% carbs / 30% protein / 50% fat. Cut value must be sensible from your true TDEE though. Have you tried to find your true TDEE or are you just assuming the calculators are correct?
  • Raynn1
    Raynn1 Posts: 1,164 Member
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    Firefly0606 wrote: »
    So your current cut value is 2400. I'm going to assume that's a 10% cut from TDEE….that makes your TDEE about 2650 right?

    If you decide to cut down to 1900, you will be taking a 28% cut value! That’s much more than what em2wl talks about – no more than 15%! Going down this track, you might see short term weight loss but you will be back on the track of suppressing your metabolism over the long term. Likely you would come to a point where you lose some, but then plateau, and find yourself wanting to cut even lower to keep the weight loss going.

    Now that I’m eating my TDEE, carb binges are a thing of the past. I can totally relate to binging hard on potato, rice and carbs really – for me it was because I wasn’t feeding my body enough, not because I was addicted to carbs. My body was crying out for more fuel, and carbs were an easy target. I guess it is possible to do keto while following em2wl, 20% carbs / 30% protein / 50% fat. Cut value must be sensible from your true TDEE though. Have you tried to find your true TDEE or are you just assuming the calculators are correct?

    This.

    Keto has been done by a few EM2WLers in the past. It can be done. However I wouldnt recommend it unless you have medical reasons for needing it.

    However what you are saying you are doing, is a severe cut in calories, not so much the keto part, which puts you down the diet track again. it will yield you short term results, but I dont think it will be the answer you are looking for.
    As @Firefly0606 said, the binge eating part, for "MOST" of us EM2WLers, vanished when we truly allowed to eat at TDEE and worked on hitting the macros right.

    Binging on the things you are, is common for many bingers. And its almost always routed back to a restriction in diet. Cutting too many cals, cutting too many carbs are all big red flags that will set up the binge cycles. Women tend to binge on the comfort foods, which for many of us, are Carbs.. carbs of all kinds. Here is a really good article on Binge Eating:

    http://eatmore2weighless.com/how-to-stop-the-binge-cycles-forever/

    Kelly
    EM2WL Ambassador and Moderator

  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Just a suggestion - don't increase the protein too high if keto is the goal - that excess protein will be converted to glucose and ruin your desired effect.
    You can get insulin spikes just the same - merely delayed compared to normal carb effects.
    That insulin spike may be causing your lower than body desired blood sugar - causing hunger and cravings.

    And yes, I've heard of several that for medical reasons (seizures & migraines) maintain keto while eating at a reasonable level.
    They just increase the level of good fats.

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