What are your goals for going Keto if you don't mind me asking? Since you have been able to bring your weight down with low carb already. Congrats on that BTW.

Keto typically is less than 20 carbs in 24 hours. Hit your protein goal and eat fat to satiety.

KarlyHK wrote: »

I don't know a lot about keto, other than the fact that it's high fat.

I wasn't sure if I just set my protein goal, or if there is a certain number I want to meet?

I'm interested in keto mostly cause my sister has switched from low carb to keto and loves it. I thought maybe it would help me lose the last few pounds I'm trying to shed. But if it's smarter to continue on my low carb diet, I will.

It may help to lose the last few pounds especially if you do fasted exercise during. But you would likely gain a couple back in water upon raising carbs back to your current range. That's no big deal. Just realize it's not fat when it happens.
But it's not really a "better" way to lose the last few pounds if what you're doing is working.
But you can always give it a go and see what you think. Keep your protein where it is and lower carbs. You don't need to force feed yourself extra fat but you'll need a bit to make up for the carbs you're not eating. So it's really just a few calories really...

What I have been doing with keto is watching macros, 70%fat, 25% protein and 5% carbs, which is around 30g. I shoot for 30-50g of carbs, Ive played around bringing the amount up and 50 still keeps me in ketosis.

From the sound of it, you are already doing well with your current plan! If you want to try it to see if it works any better for you you got nothing to lose! I love the energy I get on keto, not as sluggish when I am eating higher carbs.

Congrats on your awesome progress with LC. I think everyone does keto a little differently depending on individual needs. Take the input from everyone on this forum, visit a few macro calculator sites and experiment for yourself. You will eventually find the balance that is right for you.

clawson91 wrote: »

I have been researching going from LC (under 50 carbs per day) to keto. I'm stalled on weight loss so thinking this may be a good change to get these last 10-12 pounds off. I used the following: http://ketodietapp.com/Blog/page/KetoDiet-Buddy and came up with 10% carbs, 20% protein and 70% fat. Input anyone?

Being in full time ketosis has its benefits, but more fat loss as compared to your 50g carb plan, which no doubt had you in ketosis regularly, is probably not one of them. I mean, maybe. If you're very insulin resistant... or if you aren't getting enough appetite control at 50g causing you to graze all day...
I've been consistently in ketosis at the lowest total carbs I can manage on a daily basis, which averages about 8-10g total (not net) per day since April and averaging less than 20g total prior to that and have been trying to lose the last 10 pounds for over a year. I've been keto for over 18 months. All of the weight I've lost happened in the first 5 months and then completely stopped. I did however lose an entire pant size without losing a single pound during that time.
I'm still at about 30-34% bodyfat, which is more than I want and I've tried many things to "break the stall" over the last year only to actually gain back 5 pounds from my lowest ever weigh in. My clothes didn't get any smaller though.
I honestly think that at some point, our bodies just try really hard to put the breaks on losing anymore fat. For me, at 41 years old, maybe 30% bodyfat is what nature considers normal and nothing short of intense workouts and building some muscle or forcing it off by significantly undereating consistently, will likely reduce that any further, and if I did those things and lost that last bit of weight, could I even maintain it if I didn't keep doing the thing that created the change? I just don't feel like that's probable. I know that I want to eat at keto levels for the rest of my life because I fully believe in its long term health benefits and I honestly don't miss anything at all from my previous diet. I haven't even needed low carb bread or sweet food alternatives to stay compliant. This isn't going to be a challenge for me long term and so I am confident that my current weight and bodyfat will be easy to maintain.
I'm working on establishing exercise that becomes just as natural to me for the long term and I have been doing well lately, but if I were only driven by losing the last 10 pounds I would be stopping because all I've done since I started is gain weight. I have to trust the process and trust that my body knows what it's doing. I couldn't possibly be more compliant to a keto way of life, but that alone just isn't going to create the fat loss I want. Even weighing and measuring every single thing I eat to the gram and keeping calories low didn't do it. I don't know why the last 10 pounds are so hard, but I just feel like if we do everything right, we're not falling off the wagon or eating questionable foods or pushing our luck with some bad habits... then there's just more to it than we understand and I personally have accepted that and I'm okay with it. I changed my focus to developing muscle since according to estimations from my scale I am at the low end of normal for a woman my age. Instead of forcing my body to lose the fat it apparently doesn't want to give up, I will work on gaining muscle and strength which is so important for long term health.
There's nothing wrong with focusing on fat loss, but I think what's required to make that happen is more in line with specific training like what someone might do for a competition. Very focused on being 100% compliant to a strict plan specifically designed for that intent. I don't hold much faith in long term maintenance of that kind of thing though.

I'm with you @cstehansen I should be like in the 170s but I'd look ridiculous at that weight, I think...tall, gangly and gaunt. My goal once I'm finally under 200 again is to see what 180ish looks like and go from there. I've never seen anything less than 194 but I felt then I was looking pretty good then (that was about 10 years ago)

Just want to try to clear something up. I did NOT lose my nearly 40 lbs. on 50 carbs per day. (I want to lower to 50 or less per day) I was still following basically Weight Watchers which had my carbs well over 100 daily (never really tracked carbs until I found this board). I've always tried to do lower carbs due to my medical conditions. I've only discovered LCHF within the past few months. At that time I lowered my carbs to around 80-90 a day but my fat was still low-moderate and my protein was still high (150 a day). I'm trying to reduce protein and increase fat. I've read excess protein turns to glucose so I figured keto or very low carb would be a good plan. I do exercise but not enough to for my body to use all that protein. I am hypothyroid and have an autoimmune disease. I am not trying to lose vanity weight. Yeah, my face looks thin in my pic but I carry excess fat around my lower stomach which is the worse place for a woman to carry fat. And I mean to the point I wear a size larger pants just to accommodate my stomach which are way loose on my waist. (and I know there is no such thing as spot reduction but my body can lose more fat.) Plus I am only 5 feet tall. So losing the last 10 -12 pounds is not vanity nor am I "too old" to lose a few more pounds. I know the BMI can be misleading but according to BMI I should weigh between 100 - 125 pounds. That is far too thin and it's not going to happen. This is not about perfect weight but becoming a healthier me. I have learned so much from this site and appreciate everyone who has answered questions and given helpful suggestions along the way. Especially @KnitOrMiss helping me with supplements. And I truly hope no one takes this post wrong like I'm mad or something. I just felt I had not explained my journey that led me to this point well enough.

clawson91 wrote: »

Just want to try to clear something up. I did NOT lose my nearly 40 lbs. on 50 carbs per day. (I want to lower to 50 or less per day) I was still following basically Weight Watchers which had my carbs well over 100 daily (never really tracked carbs until I found this board). I've always tried to do lower carbs due to my medical conditions. I've only discovered LCHF within the past few months. At that time I lowered my carbs to around 80-90 a day but my fat was still low-moderate and my protein was still high (150 a day). I'm trying to reduce protein and increase fat. I've read excess protein turns to glucose so I figured keto or very low carb would be a good plan. I do exercise but not enough to for my body to use all that protein. I am hypothyroid and have an autoimmune disease. I am not trying to lose vanity weight. Yeah, my face looks thin in my pic but I carry excess fat around my lower stomach which is the worse place for a woman to carry fat. And I mean to the point I wear a size larger pants just to accommodate my stomach which are way loose on my waist. (and I know there is no such thing as spot reduction but my body can lose more fat.) Plus I am only 5 feet tall. So losing the last 10 -12 pounds is not vanity nor am I "too old" to lose a few more pounds. I know the BMI can be misleading but according to BMI I should weigh between 100 - 125 pounds. That is far too thin and it's not going to happen. This is not about perfect weight but becoming a healthier me. I have learned so much from this site and appreciate everyone who has answered questions and given helpful suggestions along the way. Especially @KnitOrMiss helping me with supplements. And I truly hope no one takes this post wrong like I'm mad or something. I just felt I had not explained my journey that led me to this point well enough.

I think all of us wish we could do spot reduction. I have gotten to the point of seeing a 6 pack, but still have these little "love handles" on my lower back. Granted, they are not the size they used to be, but still just an annoyance.

No one is too old to become healthier. Until just the last 1 to 1 1/2 years, my philosophy was I would workout as much as I had to in order to eat what I wanted when I wanted and as much as I wanted. That lead me to T2 diabetes despite never being significantly overweight. Gorging on pizza buffets and large Dairy Queen Blizzards into my mid forties before taking diet seriously was not too late for me to get significantly healthier since just last summer. In fact, I would say much of that was at low(er) carb but the last 3 months of keto saw the best results from an improvement in body composition without much change in weight. I can honestly say I feel healthier now than I did 20-25 years ago.

This is not about weight loss per se. It is about being healthy. Research shows again and again that our diets gradually increasing in carbs (especially sugar and processed carbs) over the last 50+ years has had a detrimental effect on our collective health. I am glad you found this group. I have found so much help from many here, not just from advice, but from links to the actual research.

Getting the right proportions like hip to waist ratio are important to overall risk for disease. Everyone here will support you in your journey for health. We are not going to judge you as trying to do this out of vanity. There are probably some in this group who are looking for weight loss for those purposes, but from the vast majority of the posts, it is obvious that health is the primary concern.

And, it is ok to be mad. Just be mad you didn't have the information you needed sooner. Be mad at the body you have - mad enough to lose it for the one you should have.