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tanigrrrrr
tanigrrrrr Posts: 137 Member
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Okay... just a thought, and want other peoples opinions.

Ive read plenty of blogs about people loosing a huge amount of weight doing keto. but theyre saying they restricted their diet to 1200cal per day. Which then leads me to think, well.... you probably would have lost that amount of weight either way whether you were in ketosis or not.

I try to limit my net calories to around 1500cal per day.. but am wondering what everyone else does... I am aiming to loose around another 30 - 40 kilos (66 to 88lbs for all you americans)... so I am obviously aiming high and wanting to achieve this in a timely manner (hoping to reach my goal this year). I have heard of people eating 2000+ cals per day, or even not even counting...

Thoughts?

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  • foochick
    foochick Posts: 105 Member
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    Often, people who have low carb success have it, in part, because it's the only type of eating that has allowed them the self control to actually control their calories. When I'm not eating low carb, it's like an eating monster takes over and there would be no way to limit my calories to 1200. In the beginning, it's best just to not count calories. Adjusting to low carb is hard enough...but there is indeed a bottom line in regards to calories eaten and burned. It's something you have to kind of experiment with to see what your personal limit is, to still drop weight.
  • Bill_from_Philly
    Bill_from_Philly Posts: 83
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    I think that when you see Ketoer's having only 1200 calories or so a day, it's not because they are restricting their intake..it's that they just aren't hungry. I know on a regular low cal diet that includes sugar/carbs I was always hungry but the longer I'm on Keto the less my hunger pangs are..fat is filling :) I don't really watch my calories at all, just watch what I eat and I obey what I call the 2nd commandment of Keto (first being drink lots of water)

    Eat when hungry, stop when full.

    Most days I'm 1200 calories or so but if I'm hungry I eat and if I go higher so be it...listen to your body.
  • 2bmeagain12
    2bmeagain12 Posts: 284 Member
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    I'm with Bill on this one. Being on keto has been a great way to control my calorie intake. At the beginning I was very focused on that 1200 calorie limit. But then I hit a small plateau. I did a couple of things, I upped my intake to 1500. In all honesty I think it was more psychological than anything. I usually don't get near that number, it gave me the freedom to eat when I was hungry and not when I'm not. I have plenty of wiggle room in that limit to avoid getting that dreaded, "you've eaten too little" or having my daily diary look as though it's over all the time, and the guilt associated with both.

    But before upping it to 1500, I did some research regarding eating more to weigh less (one of the threads here), and played around with a BMR and TDEE calculators to find a good number for me. I think I could have set it as high as 1700, but I wasn't comfortable with that number.

    The other thing that happened was getting a Fitbit. As you know our BMR assumes that you are already burning a certain amount of calories just being you, even if you are sleeping or being a couch potato. Well, the Fitbit showed me that even though I'm not exercising as much as I want to (like I should be right now), I am burning above my BMR on most days just by walking around my house, doing errands, etc. So by connecting my Fitbit to MFP, I usually gain an extra 100-300 calories by doing what I'm already doing every day.

    All that gives me a ton of wiggle room in my calories. I tend to focus most of my energy on making sure I hit my macro percentages 65%F/35%P/5%C.
  • GoddessG
    GoddessG Posts: 175 Member
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    My calorie intake generally varies between 1175 and 1400. But some days I have to push myself to eat to get the calorie count up to that range. Keto takes away the hunger.
  • aprilelayne
    aprilelayne Posts: 41 Member
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    Keto takes away the hunger.

    Simple and to the point.
    I struggle to get to 1200 calories simply due to lack of hunger, not truly intentional.
  • tanigrrrrr
    tanigrrrrr Posts: 137 Member
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    Interesting,

    Thanks for all of the responses.. I am on my second attempt at staying in keto - i only lasted a week last time before something happened and I gave up.. but back on the horse and am 4 days in my calories are somewhat lower.. but I am definately keeping an eye on them.. I assume it takes a bit to let go of calories.
  • GoddessG
    GoddessG Posts: 175 Member
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    For MY body, WHAT I eat is very important. If I eat 25g of carbs a day, I will gain weight, even at 1250 calories a day. I am extremely insulin sensitive.
  • Taraanne76
    Taraanne76 Posts: 111 Member
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    For now I am set at 1600 cals (bmr) and was going to ask if anyone ate back any exercise cals? I guess not since not many are experiencing hunger.

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