Higher fat days, is protein high enough?

kristafb

I kicked myself out of ketosis last thursday and haven' t been able to get back in. Today I've decided to have a couple of higher fat days and see if it helps. So I have my fat at just over 85% today, if carbs are at 5% that only leaves 10% for protein. is that high enough? When I did my protein calculations before I thought it was around 60 g or so. but with my 1500 cal day thats only about 40 g. I don't plan on doing this for more than a few days, 2-3 tops but still I want to do it right.

SnowFlinga

2 things that seem to be the "trick" for me in establishing (and then deepening my fasting ketone levels) are protein intake and caloric level (of course after limiting carbs, but we all know that).

The way I've been designing my diet (and as advised on other sites) is to first set your carb intake (for instance 20g net carbs). Then determine your required protein intake based on lean body mass (1g protein per kg of LBM). Then add in healthy fats until you reach your desired caloric level.

I would think that additional limiting of protein for a few days wouldn't be a problem as long as you're not working out hard and expecting any kind of strength gains. To get your fat ratio to top out around 85% while limiting calories usually requires some kind of compromise somewhere else (usually with the protein).

Leonidas_meets_Spartacus

For 2-5 days its most likely not a big deal. Longer than that might get trickier.

kristafb

Thanks for the replies. I can't see me eating over 85% fat for more than a couple of days. I don't go to the gym again until wednesday or thursday so I won't worry about it until then.

Appreciate your input!

Jim1960

Something else to consider is to exercise more. As I understand the biology of getting into ketosis, you pretty much have to burn both your dietary carbs; but also your stored carbs before your body will switch in a big way to the ketogenic cycle to gain energy by burning your fat stores. So if diet alone isn't doing it; add some exercise to burn off those excess carbs that are in your body. And maybe you could add in more protein calories that the extra exercise will allow you to eat and still maintain your desired calorie deficit.

kristafb

Good news! after one day of high fat (85%) I'm down 2 lbs and my ketones that were stuck at 0.2 for 4 days went up a tiny bit to 0.3, not much but any increase is good to see.

Working 12 hour nights shifts so getting the gym is difficult but start vacation in the morning and plan to get there tomorrow.

SnowFlinga

The call out on exercise is a good one (forgot to mention that). Also, I have noticed in my tracking that measured higher ketone levels seem to trend 48 hours after my major dietary shifts. So I predict you will see a much higher level tomorrow (as long as you continue to keep protein and calories in check).