A few questions...one week into ketosis.

I'm trying keto primarily for health reasons...but could do with losing some weight too :P

I never bothered with any organised eating plan before, but a 7 day juice fast made me realise i was much happier without bread in my life at all. Fast forward three weeks...and I've been in ketosis for about a week. I felt awful for a few days, i think that was the ketoflu passing. I didn't bother with ketostix...i thought that if i just ate no carbs at all that i would definitely end up in ketosis.

I bought Lyle McDonalds book...read it whilst suffering from ketoflu. The perfect combination.

I have been recording my eating this first week , it seems my macros are naturally falling to 2% carbs - 21% protein - 77% fat

Do i need to be eating more protein? or less fat? or more carbs? or all of the above?

My Kcal intake has dropped from 2200 to 1500 during this week...simply because i'm not very hungry. I weigh about 230lbs / 110kg so my daily energy expenditure is around 2400Kcal according to keto calculator...my deficit is -1000Kcal for the last three days...and so easy...weird.

I've read loads about people struggling to eat enough fat...but i'm finding it really easy. Olive oil on salads, coconut oil on anything, sometimes by the spoon, macadamia nuts for a snack, lots of good fatty meat, half roast chickens etc.

I've fallen into a pattern where i eat some scrambled eggs with bacon, and some extra butter for breakfast...then a half roast chicken (or other meat) and a salad with coconut oil about five hours afterwards...then some stir-fried veg and some macadamia nuts or cheese as a snack in the evening.

I'm not trying to force anything. Just trying to eat sensibly, the macros i stated are very easy for me to maintain.

I entered all my details on keto calculator and it says that the deficit i am aiming for is very difficult...but it seems truly very easy right now.

Any advice gratefully received.

Replies

  • volfan22
    volfan22 Posts: 149 Member
    I follow 80/15/5 and some days I'm spot on and others I'm off +/- a few percentages - I don't sweat it - I go by how I feel. I use ketostix about once a week just to "spot-check" my levels. (I know they aren't perfect - but I'm not doing the blood thing.) :P I found that it took me into the 4th week of eating this way to be in the high level range of ketones. Ketostix are not a bad tool.

    Have you weighed this week? Notice clothes fitting differently? I would agree that -1000 kcal is aggressive, but if you're not hungry - listen to your body. You could just be getting back to that natural state of satiation. (And that's a wonderful thing.) I find I don't snack - sometimes I don't even have breakfast. I just eat when I feel hungry.
  • mrblitz
    mrblitz Posts: 2
    I'm definitely smaller than i was a week ago. I do not own any scales...but my clothes seem to be bigger this week.

    I'd be happy with a smaller deficit if it came naturally...but feel strange about forcing myself to eat extra food to reach a certain intake.
  • volfan22
    volfan22 Posts: 149 Member
    Agreed!! That's the mentality I have had to really wrap my brain around. Just because there is food there - doesn't mean I have to eat it - sometimes now I don't even finish my plate. And that's OK - (what a concept!) LOL Good for you - I wish I didn't own a scale - I am obsessed with my scale. If you feel good, you're not hungry and your happy - I say it sounds like you're doing it right.

    If you have time - read the article on this page about just what you're experiencing: I found it enlightening (and the recipes aren't bad either!)

    http://mariamindbodyhealth.com/french-toast-and-pure-proteinfat-days/
  • Holly_k88
    Holly_k88 Posts: 59 Member
    No need to force it eat when and how little you want! your body would tell you if you were starving. Ive just recently upped my fat intake because I could barely eat more than 1000 calories, and I've never been a breakfast person. One coffee with a lot of pouring cream is enough to get me through till 3pm sometimes. (Its a shame I don't like coconut oil)

    Your macros look fine to me, mine are set to 5/25/70 but I try to aim for about 80% fat most of the time, the higher your fat % the more body fat you loose...
  • Something to remember is that of that fat percentage, you want some of it to be body fat.....rather than forcing extra fat onto things, let your metabolism use the fat you have stored and ready to go (in my case on my thighs lol). I found that by upping my protein a bit and not forcing extra fat into my diet, I am losing again after a stall caused by mistakenly thinking that eating more fat would burn more fat. As long as your carbs are low and you are getting a decent amount of protein for your body, I am finding the fat levels are taking care of themselves.
    Try looking at this group, it's very informative. https://www.facebook.com/groups/263103927215682/
    Also, agreed,this "diet" is easy as falling off a log, easiest thing I have ever done, and the longest I have ever willingly stuck to any eating plan :)
  • Listen to your body, TDEE,BMR calculations are not really accurate unless you are measuring them.. Also, experiment and figure out what works for you. The best fat loss for me was when i was closer to 80% Fat, 15% protein and 5 % carbs. I don't really care about scale because it doesn't tell you the whole picture. My weight go up and down in a week, but I would burn fat consistently. After 3-4 weeks those fluctuations would go away and my weight would come down to be more in line with fat loss. My Fat loss was usually steady and I didn't change anything because it will give an impression that changes I made is actually making me lose weight again. Majority of your body weight is water and it can go up and down. Some times this causes false positives, where people think that the changes are causing the weight loss again. This is a long term race, listen to your body not scale.
  • ajax041813
    ajax041813 Posts: 136 Member
    This is a great discussion. I am 12 days into keto and so far I love it. It is one of the easiest ways I've tried to lose weight. My body is smaller already, probably water weight, but hey it's still stuff that needs to come off. Once I discovered bulletproof coffee, I have been able to get enough fat in my diet and things have been great. I do sometimes still need a snack here or there, and I am over my calories according to MFP. I am weighing food out at home and logging as accurately as possible, though I'm not worried about going over my calories. My ratios have been great, way under my carbs some days, and no cravings. I am trying to get back into a workout routine. I've been doing 20 min of piyo 2-3x a week, and an arm & ab workout 2-3x a week. Those piyo routines kick my butt. I always wake up so sore the next day! It feels good to get moving again. Thanks for all the great info here everyone!