Keto Help

sdpollitt1
sdpollitt1 Posts: 4 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello all. I need help/advice to critique my meal plan. I’m new to the keto diet and I’m having trouble making sense of it all. I’ve read countless articles and blogs on keto and have a general idea. When it comes to the food numbers and percent’s is where it is confusing me. I’m sure I’m making it harder than it really is.

Here are my stats:
Male
5’8
165lbs
Age 31
Body fat 27% from scale
Work out 4-5 times a week. Weights mostly

On the keto calculator I put a 30% calorie deficit, with zero carb consumption and for protein I put 1.2g per pound.

Here are my marcos results: 1573 calories. From those:
111g fats
0g net carbs
144g protein

I put together what looked like a good keto diet, but the numbers to ME aren’t adding up. I may be wrong? I’m not much of a cook, and simplicity works better for me. Here’s an example of my diet.

Breakfast: 2 eggs and 4 pieces bacon
Lunch: Ground beef 112g
Dinner: 2 chicken thighs, 1 cup spinach.
The totals are 4g carbs: 74g fat: 82g protein

Here’s where I’m confused, correct me if I’m wrong, but if my Marcos are 1573 calories. From those, 111g fats, 0g net carbs, and 144g protein (from above) then is my diet is way off?
From the marcos I need to be eating a lot more minus carbs.

Also my protein is higher than my fat. Is this ok?

Replies

  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    328 calories for protein, 666 calories for fat and 16 calories from carbs so 1010 calories total for your calories based on the diet you provided. So ues, not enough. Why so extreme?
  • JessicaMcB
    JessicaMcB Posts: 1,503 Member
    edited April 2017
    OP why are you trying for zero net carb? I have been keto for some time now and would never attempt zero carb unless I was willing to live the tip to tail lifestyle (which I am not ftr). Also the day you quoted (assuming 1 cup of spinach was weighted at 42g and each egg weighs in at 52g) has 2.5 net carbs anyway.

    It's fine to have protein set higher than fats if you aren't on a therapeutic ketogenic protocol (I.e. for epilepsy), which I don't get the impression that you are. The most important part of the fat loss equation is rigid tracking, so make sure you weigh and record everything as accurately as possible.

    Also I very much agree with @Hornsby that the macros are way off from whatever calculator you used. If you are serious about living a ketogenic lifestyle I would suggest visiting Optimal Ketogenic Living's page and getting a correct macro split against your height and gender from them.

    Good luck to you!
  • sdpollitt1
    sdpollitt1 Posts: 4 Member
    Wasn’t my intent to be extreme. I’m new to keto but I’ve seen similar keto diets with maybe additional veggies.

    What do you think I should add to my diet? Two more eggs in the morning/ veggie for lunch?

  • sdpollitt1
    sdpollitt1 Posts: 4 Member
    JessicaMcB wrote: »
    OP why are you trying for zero net carb? I have been keto for some time now and would never attempt zero carb unless I was willing to live the tip to tail lifestyle (which I am not ftr). Also the day you quoted (assuming 1 cup of spinach was weighted at 42g and each egg weighs in at 52g) has 2.5 net carbs anyway.

    It's fine to have protein set higher than fats if you aren't on a therapeutic ketogenic protocol (I.e. for epilepsy), which I don't get the impression that you are. The most important part of the fat loss equation is rigid tracking, so make sure you weigh and record everything as accurately as possible.

    Also I very much agree with @Hornsby that the macros are way off from whatever calculator you used. If you are serious about living a ketogenic lifestyle I would suggest visiting Optimal Ketogenic Living's page and getting a correct macro split against your height and gender from them.

    Good luck to you!

    This is where I’m getting confused. These numbers are confusing me. Like I said I’m probably making this harder than it really is. I used the ruled me keto calculator.
  • RhondaHage
    RhondaHage Posts: 4 Member
    Try the Ketogains macrocalculator. It explains everything.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited April 2017
    sdpollitt1 wrote: »
    Hello all. I need help/advice to critique my meal plan. I’m new to the keto diet and I’m having trouble making sense of it all.

    Check out http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group

    You have to ask to join, but it has a ton of helpful information and people who are doing various forms of keto, and links I think would help explain things.
    On the keto calculator I put a 30% calorie deficit, with zero carb consumption and for protein I put 1.2g per pound.

    Not keto related, but this seems high for the amount you have to lose and your activity and (I assume) muscle keeping/building goals. I'd do no more than a 20% deficit.
    Here are my marcos results: 1573 calories. From those:
    111g fats
    0g net carbs
    144g protein

    Why 0 carbs? Roughly that is coming to about 64% fat, 36% protein. Normally you'd have something like 5% carbs even for starting keto, 75% fat, 20% protein. Your protein percentage will be higher if your calories are so low, I suppose, although you could probably lower it a bit
    I put together what looked like a good keto diet, but the numbers to ME aren’t adding up. I may be wrong? I’m not much of a cook, and simplicity works better for me. Here’s an example of my diet.

    Breakfast: 2 eggs and 4 pieces bacon
    Lunch: Ground beef 112g
    Dinner: 2 chicken thighs, 1 cup spinach.
    The totals are 4g carbs: 74g fat: 82g protein

    Here’s where I’m confused, correct me if I’m wrong, but if my Marcos are 1573 calories. From those, 111g fats, 0g net carbs, and 144g protein (from above) then is my diet is way off?
    From the marcos I need to be eating a lot more minus carbs.

    Yeah, you'd eat more. I'd starve on that and I'm 5'3, 125.
    Also my protein is higher than my fat. Is this ok?

    For grams it can be, since protein is 4 cal/gram and fat is 9 cal/gram.
  • JessicaMcB
    JessicaMcB Posts: 1,503 Member
    sdpollitt1 wrote: »
    JessicaMcB wrote: »
    OP why are you trying for zero net carb? I have been keto for some time now and would never attempt zero carb unless I was willing to live the tip to tail lifestyle (which I am not ftr). Also the day you quoted (assuming 1 cup of spinach was weighted at 42g and each egg weighs in at 52g) has 2.5 net carbs anyway.

    It's fine to have protein set higher than fats if you aren't on a therapeutic ketogenic protocol (I.e. for epilepsy), which I don't get the impression that you are. The most important part of the fat loss equation is rigid tracking, so make sure you weigh and record everything as accurately as possible.

    Also I very much agree with @Hornsby that the macros are way off from whatever calculator you used. If you are serious about living a ketogenic lifestyle I would suggest visiting Optimal Ketogenic Living's page and getting a correct macro split against your height and gender from them.

    Good luck to you!

    This is where I’m getting confused. These numbers are confusing me. Like I said I’m probably making this harder than it really is. I used the ruled me keto calculator.

    Personal opinion but I wouldn't follow anything on ruled me. Calculators in general aren't great imo as they push for fats to be too high and protein to be too low. KetoGains has a calculator and the values fall more in line with the OKL table (though the table would be the superior reference point between the two to my mind).

    Keto world, much like all dietary factions, will have many different people spouting many different dogmas. For this reason in depth research is important so that you have a good grip on all the conceptual elements of the WOE. The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living is a good jumping off point
  • sdpollitt1
    sdpollitt1 Posts: 4 Member
    Thank you for all the answers! Your help is much appreciated!
    I guess I will jump the carbs to 5%.
    Considering my diet, could someone give me food additions to my diet that will get me where I need to be? I’ll also add a protein shake after workouts.
  • medic2038
    medic2038 Posts: 434 Member
    It's literally impossible to have a 0 carb diet, so that shouldn't be your goal. Even eggs/etc have carbs (albeit trace amounts). Like some others have said you're definitely going to want to be eating some veggies as well. You're almost guaranteed to run into some bathroom issues without a decent fiber intake.

    Anything under 50g carbs per day will usually be ketogenic, although you may have to experiment with that a bit. I shoot for less than 50net per day and do maintain ketosis. When I first started I did under 30g/day net.

    But yeah using MFP here you can figure out your macro totals. Your protein intake looks good, so that's probably 30-35%, next figure out what your daily carb intake would be, and that should be in the neighborhood of about 5-7, fill in the rest with fat.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    I would join the LCD group linked earlier. They usually have a few threads on food and recipes going at all times.

    I wouldn't worry about keeping protein low unless you have a health issue or need high ketones.

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