When should I Eat?

Austin_36

Hey LCHF friends!

I have been living keto for almost a month now and have lost about 7 pounds. I started at 165 and my goal is to maintain 170 with <10% bf. I am definitely starting to realize my hunger is almost non-existent throughout the day, especially when I wake up. Each morning I have a keto coffee and practically "force feed" myself 2 eggs, bacon and an avocado to kick start my metabolism. My question is, should I continue to "force feed" myself in the morning, or just stick to the coffee and wait until I am hungry. I do not want to lose weight, but I want to reduce the fat on my body and maintain/build lean mass.

Any thoughts? Would love some feedback!

Thanks

ccrdragon

Eat when you are hungry - there is no reason to force yourself to eat. Following the keto diet, you will have days where you are not hungry and days when you are - just learn to read your body and follow it's cues.

Personally, I have been LCHF/keto/carnivore for the last 9 months and usually have 2-3 days a week where I have a hard time eating 1200 to 1400 calories in a day and then I will have 1 or 2 days where I push it closer to 2000. It all evens out in the long run.

Bonny132

Listen to your body and eat when you are hungry, as @ccrdragon points out above, it evens out over time as some days you will eat more than others, and some of us simply do better on intermittent fasting, so we prefer to eat no breakfast and eat at lunch and dinner. Your body will tell you when it prefers to receive its nutrients.

peggyd73

I have similar questions - although I am definitely trying to lose! According to several keto online calculators, I'm supposed to target between 100 - 115 grams of protein in a day (range from different sites). If I just have BP Chai for breakfast (very helpful in getting my fat % up and I'm not hungry -- and loses have picked up since I started this instead of eggs in the mornings), it's hard to put 100 grams of protein into the two remaining meals....especially since I've also read you should have a max of 30 grams of protein at any one meal.

the math doesn't work on those two rules!

ccrdragon

Let me preface this by saying this is my personal experience and not based on anything else...

I have heard the 30 grams of protein rule before and I don't know whether or not I buy into that. I typically eat 2 meals a day and average 100 - 110 grams of protein a day, lift heavy 4 days a week and I'm pretty sure that I'm not losing muscle mass (or at least not a significant amount) based on measurements of my arms, legs and chest plus the fact that all of my lifts are steadily increasing - I know strength gains do not equate to muscle gains, but I would think that strength drops would equate to muscle loss. I also find it easy to get 50+ grams of protein in a meal - 3-4 eggs plus another protein source, steak (6-8 oz), chicken and turkey all add up the protein fairly quickly.

cstehansen

peggyd73 wrote: »

I have similar questions - although I am definitely trying to lose! According to several keto online calculators, I'm supposed to target between 100 - 115 grams of protein in a day (range from different sites). If I just have BP Chai for breakfast (very helpful in getting my fat % up and I'm not hungry -- and loses have picked up since I started this instead of eggs in the mornings), it's hard to put 100 grams of protein into the two remaining meals....especially since I've also read you should have a max of 30 grams of protein at any one meal.

the math doesn't work on those two rules!

I would recommend the below link given you are trying to lose weight:

https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/how-much-protein-is-excessive/

You need to scroll down a bit to get to the part with the heading, "How much protein is enough?" which shows how you need to lose some lean body mass in the form of skin, blood vessels, connective tissue, etc. Those who have gastric bypass or gastric sleeve surgeries or do programs like the biggest loser often have to have excess skin removed because they did not catabolize enough of this lean body mass.

In my personal experience, I lost doing lower carb but before I knew anything about LCHF so I had high levels of protein. To be honest, I looked like I aged 20 years due to the increased wrinkles. In the last 4-5 months of 2016, I reduced my protein significantly and it made a huge difference. I posted a thread on this here including pictures that are almost exactly 1 year apart:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10491330/downside-of-too-much-protein#latest

While you are losing, that minimum level of protein is not as high as it will be once you have lost the weight.

As with just about everything you read, YMMV. I just thought you may want to see this from another point of view.

BTW, since getting to a level of body composition which is what I want, I have brought my protein intake back up while staying in maintenance. Everything I have written above is solely based on the fact you are in the process of losing weight.

kpk54

There seems to be 2 camps of thought.

1) is that you limit your proteins per meal because protein does convert to glucose. This is the thinking/protocol of Medically Therapeutic Ketogenic Diets where both protein and carbs are rigidly controlled and some entities for ketogenic for weight loss consider the same. (limit protein)

2) is that you should just ignore the fact that protein is converted to glucose because protein (glucogenisis) is demand driven not supply driven so it is not that it will always convert but rather, only on demand. Here's 1 article supporting/explaining that:

http://www.ketotic.org/2012/08/if-you-eat-excess-protein-does-it-turn.html

Personally I choose #1 since I follow a Medically Therapeutic Ketogenic Diet. For weight loss it probably doesn't matter which you follow. You don't have to be in ketosis to lose weight. Millions lose weight and pay no attention to macros.

peggyd73 wrote: »

I have similar questions - although I am definitely trying to lose! According to several keto online calculators, I'm supposed to target between 100 - 115 grams of protein in a day (range from different sites). If I just have BP Chai for breakfast (very helpful in getting my fat % up and I'm not hungry -- and loses have picked up since I started this instead of eggs in the mornings), it's hard to put 100 grams of protein into the two remaining meals....especially since I've also read you should have a max of 30 grams of protein at any one meal.

the math doesn't work on those two rules!

kpk54

Austin_36 wrote: »

Hey LCHF friends!

I have been living keto for almost a month now and have lost about 7 pounds. I started at 165 and my goal is to maintain 170 with <10% bf. I am definitely starting to realize my hunger is almost non-existent throughout the day, especially when I wake up. Each morning I have a keto coffee and practically "force feed" myself 2 eggs, bacon and an avocado to kick start my metabolism. My question is, should I continue to "force feed" myself in the morning, or just stick to the coffee and wait until I am hungry. I do not want to lose weight, but I want to reduce the fat on my body and maintain/build lean mass.

Any thoughts? Would love some feedback!

Thanks

I'm not understanding. Or maybe I am. You started at 165. You've lost 7 pounds so you now weigh 158. Your goal is to GAIN to 170 while reaching or maintaining 10% body fat. If your goal is to GAIN weight then I'm thinking you are bulking on keto? It seems to me this "eat only to hunger" advice is in conflict with your goal to gain or at least not lose anymore.

This question would be best answered by someone who is into that realm of things. Cutting and Bulking. I'll start with @Gallowmere1984 ?

kpk54

https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/how-much-protein-is-excessive/

I have to say @cstehansen , I prefer this article (copied from your post above) WAY more than some of the other articles and opinions about protein that get bantered about here. Not that it matters that I like it but it certainly makes elite sense to me. Thanks for providing.

cstehansen

kpk54 wrote: »

https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/how-much-protein-is-excessive/

I have to say @cstehansen , I prefer this article (copied from your post above) WAY more than some of the other articles and opinions about protein that get bantered about here. Not that it matters that I like it but it certainly makes elite sense to me. Thanks for providing.

I have been slammed for saying people don't need as much protein as they think. In general, I think the science shows that most don't need as much as they think. For those of us who are extremely active, more protein works, but I think it makes sense to start low and add in while tracking what is important to you (i.e. BG for me) to see what your personal limits are. For therapeutic purposes, blood ketones may be a better measure and for weight loss, the scale may be the best measure.

I think part of why people think they need more is by looking at fitness studies geared toward what an athlete needs and then applying that to a couch potato lifestyle (or at least not a non-athlete lifestyle).

Way back 100 years ago or so, Dr. Joslin used to treat diabetics by cutting carbs to near 0 and then gradually increase to see what each person could tolerate. Given the varying effects protein seems to have on people, I think a similar approach makes sense. Obviously, I am not advocating going to 0, but going down to the low end of what is seen as required makes sense.