Starting Keto
gracewhispers
Posts: 1 Member
Hello everyone just starting Keto. How do you know how much fat, protein and carbs you need?
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Replies
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Welcome. Macros truly are different for everyone. The first thing to determine is why you are doing keto?
If you are doing it for extreme medical reasons to get to a therapeutic level of ketosis you could be looking at 5% carbs / 80% fat / 15% protein.
If you are doing it for weight loss then maybe look at starting with 10% carb / 60% fat / 30% protein and adjust monthly depending on progress.
Read up on being fat adapted. Keto is a buzz word right now but there is an even better goal to achieve and keto can help you get there.
Two important points. 1. Protein is needed. ignore the noise and hit or exceed your macro daily. 2. Do to not live and die by the useless $10 bathroom scale. The first 2 weeks of "weight loss" is just water. You haven't lost any real body fat as yet and as such after the water weight drop the scale slows down a lot unless you are 300+ pounds. Use tight clothing and take pictures weekly. If you have access to a Dexafit facility you can get some great baseline numbers to monitor real progress.
My best progress for instance came at 10%/45%/45% that put me in constant ketosis while allowing me to maintain muscle mass and drop body fat. After 7 weeks I was fat adapted and was able to add carbs back in at moderate levels when needed.
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Hello all, I'm just starting Keto as well and want to ask qweck3 a question or two based on his answer above if you don't mind. When you were adjusting your macros to get to your best progress, is there any pattern of adjustment that you followed and how long did you try each adjustment before deciding to adjust again?
Also, how do you know when you are fat adapted?
Your help is greatly appreciated!1 -
@campcasino The easiest way to monitor progress is taking pictures weekly with a very tight piece of clothing. Over the weeks if your macros and calorie intake is working you will see the difference regardless of what the home scale says. If you don't see a change then bring your fat macro down and up your protein. Remember the goal is to get your body to the point of starting to utilize the fat on your body vs the fat you eat. Don't EVER trust the home scale. It has no clue what you are losing: Fat-good or lean mass/bone density-bad. This is where so many people get frustrated and quit although they were really making progress. If you lose a pound of fat and gain a pound lean mass which is great for your health the scale reports a big 0. I get a FIT3D monthly to monitor true progress in the fat/lean mass ratios and make changes as needed.
As far as the easiest way to know when fat adapted: I use a local Dexafit facility that offers something called an RMR test that will give exact fat/sugar burn percentage based on recent diet as well as calorie needs by activity level. One of the most useful and worth the money things I ever did for myself. Re-do them quarterly. If you don't have access to a facility a way to know is when you stop thinking of food, dont really want carbs and at least 6 weeks have passed on extremely strict keto carb levels (20-30 net grams or less) you are likely fat adapted. For example: I went 25 hours the other day without ever thinking about food/never being hungry and no drop in energy. That is fat adapted.
https://keto-mojo.com/pages/kickstart-what-does-fat-adapted-mean-and-how-long-does-it-take3 -
Hello @gracewhispers! Welcome!
Everything will seem very confusing in the beginning with percentages, and macros, and other terms being thrown at you in which you may not understand.
I recommend you find a Keto calculator online to help you determine the percentages you want for you. Then go from there.
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@qweck3 thanks for your reply. I learned long ago that the scale is not my friend and agree that it can actually be detrimental at times. I did start last Sunday and I did use a keto calculator to get a rough estimate of macros, but I felt like the calories were too high and I already tweaked it - but keeping myself at 5%carbs 65%fat and 30%protein. After just 6 days I already don't feel hungry and have been eating 2 meals/day. I really feel great and energized. Keto sticks are showing moderate ketones in Urine and clothes are already looser. I know this is water weight and the hard work is ahead of me but I guess I'm off to good start. I just can't help wondering are my calories too high?, should I tweak the ratio's? but I will take your advice and check progress with the mirror and how I feel overall.
Thanks again and thanks fo the links!2 -
@campcasino Looks like you are in a good place to start and showing initial progress. Good that you know not to trust the scale as most folks live and die by that thing and fail as a result. Watch out for the keto flu. Get some Powerade Zero and put a teaspoon of salt in it if you start getting symptoms.
Your food log isn't public but you can use an online calculator to get a consensus of what your TDEE needs are. Don't stress too much about calories initially. It's almost better to get to the doorway of being fat adapted at about 6 weeks and then reduce intake calories as needed. Most of our bodies have a good 50K+ calories it can access as needed when fat adapted.
Know that pee strips are going to be fairly useless after a month. Those register when excess ketones are spilling into the urine but once the body starts using them there won't be much activity in the urine strips. Blood meters are way more accurate but not needed when playing the long game. Just stay under 30 net carbs and you should be safely inside nutritional ketosis.2 -
@qweck3 I really appreciate your knowledge and will most probably be looking for you for some sage advice in the coming weeks and months!
Have a great day!
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Hey everyone. I just started the keto diet. After the first weeks of dropping the water weight do you have any suggestions that would help to keep shedding the weight?0
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@britney24263 Play the long game and don't chase quick results. There are going to be lots of 0.2, 0.6, 0.9 type losses but while day to day they look small when added up over the course of a year it becomes a very big number.
Fasting for 16-36 hours after becoming fat adapted (2 months of strict keto) can really move body fat off the body.
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@qweck3 thank you!0
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Same here and new to group. Starting to feel good at 2 weeks in. I hope to learn a lot here.2
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baileyanderson36 wrote: »Same here and new to group. Starting to feel good at 2 weeks in. I hope to learn a lot here.
Read everything you can and ask questions when you need to! We’re always here to help! Wonderful group of people here who have been where you are and made it through! Hang in there because it’s so worth it!!
And welcome too!3 -
@KarlaYP What is your story. How long have you been doing the Keto WOE?0
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I’m four years Keto/zero carb/ carnivore. I’m in it for life after I saw improvements in my fibromyalgia pain and some migraine improvements too (not cured, but so much better!)! I’ve lost to my original goal of 180 pounds (from 231). Though I did get to 163 and felt I was too thin, I purposely regained to 180 and have been here for three years!
Now that I’ve gotten used to seeing myself this size I’m going to relose those twenty pounds. It was just such a shock to see myself that thin. I’m 5’9” so it was weird to see after being over 200 pounds my entire adult life.
In 2010 I was 321 pounds and had weight loss surgery, but I never lost to my goal weight and began regaining because I didn’t change what I ate. Plus I was sick! Surgeon converted me to gastric bypass, in 2015, to help with the sickness (which helped a lot!). But I knew I couldn’t go back to eating the way I did that made me want surgery to start with. I began logging my food intake here on mfp while post op and I found the low carb group and then the Keto group. Once I was allowed solid foods I began eating this way and haven’t looked back.
I wish I’d found this woe back then!! I’d have never had my stomach cut on! Can’t change it though. I am happy I did find it, because so many weight loss surgery patients fool themselves thinking they can eat whatever they want because they can’t eat much at a time! That is the worst thinking ever!! Is the reason most of us regain the weight.
Keto changes our relationship with food! It gives us control over it. I’ve chosen not to give it back!8 -
Welcome to keto, newbies!
Remember, this is a marathon, not a sprint. KCKO 3 -
Keto changes our relationship with food! It gives us control over it. I’ve chosen not to give it back!
This is the appeal to me. I'm very new to this WOE, but not having to deal with cravings or feeling hungry all the time is liberating. I always felt controlled by food and thought there was something wrong with me, but now I'm learning that it was likely the carbs that were holding me hostage!! I never in a million years would ever have thought I'd only be eating two meals a day and going 16-18 hrs without eating.
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Hello! Definitely Google keto calculators... I'm at 70% fat 25% protein and 5% carbs. The MFP membership let's you program your fat/protein/carb numbers and that helps me alot!! Best of luck 🍀0
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I just can’t get the carbs down. I am not eating any starchy foods or vegs and no sugars. For breakfast I eat 2t coconut oil with spinach, cheese bacon and 1/4 avocado. Lunch is normally leftovers. Yesterday was a taco salad 1/4 meat, handful of lettuce, 1/4 Romano tomato, sour cream and 1/4 avocado with salsa as my dressing and for dinner I had pork shoulder with a Keto mushroom and onion gravy. Snack I had 12 almonds. I still got like 18% on my carbs. Don’t even know what to do to get it to 10%. I want to eat my veggies.0
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I just can’t get the carbs down. I am not eating any starchy foods or vegs and no sugars. For breakfast I eat 2t coconut oil with spinach, cheese bacon and 1/4 avocado. Lunch is normally leftovers. Yesterday was a taco salad 1/4 meat, handful of lettuce, 1/4 Romano tomato, sour cream and 1/4 avocado with salsa as my dressing and for dinner I had pork shoulder with a Keto mushroom and onion gravy. Snack I had 12 almonds. I still got like 18% on my carbs. Don’t even know what to do to get it to 10%. I want to eat my veggies.
Eating very low carb and/or keto stifled my cravings and provided a satiety that I did not have previously. Though i ate keto for a couple of years, my weight loss method was low carb and a calorie deficit. My maintenance mode is low carb.
Unless you have a medical reason for eating a ketogenic diet there is really (in my opinion) to worry about being in ketosis.
Consider this: if ketosis caused weight loss, all those who choose to eat keto long term...would lose weight until they wasted away to nothing
What ketosis is great for is altering cravings and hunger to help make weight loss easier (in addition to some proven medical benefits such as elilepsy).
Your food choices are nutritious IMO. How long have you been eating like this and are you losing weight?2 -
I just can’t get the carbs down. I am not eating any starchy foods or vegs and no sugars. For breakfast I eat 2t coconut oil with spinach, cheese bacon and 1/4 avocado. Lunch is normally leftovers. Yesterday was a taco salad 1/4 meat, handful of lettuce, 1/4 Romano tomato, sour cream and 1/4 avocado with salsa as my dressing and for dinner I had pork shoulder with a Keto mushroom and onion gravy. Snack I had 12 almonds. I still got like 18% on my carbs. Don’t even know what to do to get it to 10%. I want to eat my veggies.
Are your carbs net carbs or all carbs?1 -
I just can’t get the carbs down. I am not eating any starchy foods or vegs and no sugars. For breakfast I eat 2t coconut oil with spinach, cheese bacon and 1/4 avocado. Lunch is normally leftovers. Yesterday was a taco salad 1/4 meat, handful of lettuce, 1/4 Romano tomato, sour cream and 1/4 avocado with salsa as my dressing and for dinner I had pork shoulder with a Keto mushroom and onion gravy. Snack I had 12 almonds. I still got like 18% on my carbs. Don’t even know what to do to get it to 10%. I want to eat my veggies.
Then eat them veggies, girl! And count net carbs.
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Unless you have a medical reason for eating a ketogenic diet there is really (in my opinion) to worry about being in ketosis.
I know its your personal opinion, but I couldn't disagree with this comment more. I mean I wouldn't worry and/or stress about it, but I personally follow a ketogenic lifestyle to reap all the positive benefits of being in ketosis. If you are not in ketosis you are not keto, you are low carb.
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That is not a large amount of carbs. Maybe 30-50 g ? My guess is that calories are pretty low which makes you macro percentage bigger. 50 g of carbs on 1200 kcal is just below 20% whereas 50g on a 2000kcal diet is 10%.
If you are under 50g of carbs, chances are that you are usually, or at least often, ketogenic.2 -
FWIW, I have never checked ketones. I stay under 20 net carbs a day, so I am reasonably confident I am in ketosis. I figure, if I am not, there is not much hope I ever will be.2
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Also, keep in mind when you are researching, there are different versions of keto for different things. If you are just doing keto for weight loss, then just keeping carbs low is all you really need to worry about.
If you are doing keto for epilepsy control or migraines or parkinsons or cancer or whatever, then it's more about ratios and eating tons of fats and potentially limiting protein and such.
For weight loss, just concentrate on total grams of carbs, subtract out fiber, and get at least a maintenance level of protein, too much protein is better than not enough.
Maybe we need a good overview of the various keto methods in the stickies??? Would that be more confusing or less???1 -
tcunbeliever wrote: »
Maybe we need a good overview of the various keto methods in the stickies??? Would that be more confusing or less???
Good question... I do think it might be good to have a summary of the uses and a few general guidelines about the issues. The challenge is that people are already overwhelmed by all the rules and ratios and which blog says should or should not use MCT oil.
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I'm currently at work with nothing to do...so maybe I'll try to write something up...just basic outlines.0
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tcunbeliever wrote: »I'm currently at work with nothing to do...so maybe I'll try to write something up...just basic outlines.
I will be happy to annotate or add comments to the T2D section.0 -
I just can’t get the carbs down. I am not eating any starchy foods or vegs and no sugars. For breakfast I eat 2t coconut oil with spinach, cheese bacon and 1/4 avocado. Lunch is normally leftovers. Yesterday was a taco salad 1/4 meat, handful of lettuce, 1/4 Romano tomato, sour cream and 1/4 avocado with salsa as my dressing and for dinner I had pork shoulder with a Keto mushroom and onion gravy. Snack I had 12 almonds. I still got like 18% on my carbs. Don’t even know what to do to get it to 10%. I want to eat my veggies.
You need more healthy fat. Remember, that 18% is a ratio. If your carbs % is too high, but your still less than say 25g of carb, you are likely not getting enough fat. I bet if you add 1T of oil to that taco salad along with the salsa dressing, you'll see a nice swing in your ratio while only adding about 120 calories (if you count). Maybe also try adding an egg with your breakfast, that would give you a nice punch of protein and fat without any added carbs. I eat veggies with every meal and am able to keep me ratios pretty well in check.
TLDR; you don't need to decrease the carbs, you need to increase the fats
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They are all carbs. I lost 6 lbs the first week and than all came back the second weeks. Still haven’t eaten anything grains or sugars.0
