KETO/LBM Protein Grams/% of Fat intake/Daily Calorie Deficit

bencoen
bencoen Posts: 4 Member
Hey MFPals! I could use a little help here. I am getting more serious about my fitness and diet. I am on a keto diet. I have a couple questions regarding the title of this thread:

1. My lean body mass is 190 and I am trying to hit that in grams of protein. Is that too much protein? Will it kick me out of ketosis?

2. I have my % of Fat intake at 66%. Is that enough fat for Keto?

3. For my calorie deficit, can I say I am sedentary for my TDEE and use my activity/workouts as my deficit?

Thank you in advance for any input!

Replies

  • 2t9nty
    2t9nty Posts: 1,624 Member
    edited May 2017
    I will preface this by saying I am not a keto expert. I have been following a keto diet since October, so I have some experience with it and I try to mostly stay up with the forum.

    I shoot for 70% fat, 5% carbs and 25% protein. As I understand it, the diet requires carbs to be low, so your body burns fat. You want protein to be high enough that you do not lose muscle mass. The fat is in the diet for hunger control. If you are adapted to burning fat, your body is quite happy to get it from the strategic fat reserve you have stored away.

    I call myself sedentary, and usually add exercise to the logs. I don't "eat back" exercise, so that is part of my deficit. My goals include a modest deficit just with no exercise at all.
  • cstehansen
    cstehansen Posts: 1,984 Member
    WARNING- talk about protein intake will bring quite varied opinions. Get ready.

    From the science side, if you are sedentary, you need 0.6-0.8 g per kg of lbm. In that, it is very important to get the right amino acids to ensure your body properly recycles the protein it naturally breaks down each day.

    Dr Phinney, whom I think all on here will agree is a top expert if not THE top expert, recommends 1.5-2g per kg of ideal body weight for MOST people.

    Some, especially in the athletic world, will recommend very high levels of protein.

    Because things like insulin resistance, genetics, activity levels, etc. are different, you will have to find the right level for yourself through n=1 experimentation.
  • AlexandraCarlyle
    AlexandraCarlyle Posts: 1,603 Member
    cstehansen wrote: »
    Dr Phinney, whom I think all on here will agree is a top expert if not THE top expert, recommends 1.5-2g per kg of ideal body weight for MOST people.
    so, n=1, self-examination aside, I'm just under 53kg, which means according to the above, I SHOULD be taking 106g of protein/day.

    damn.

    My figure set to 60g/day...

    Think I need to up that, don't you...?

  • cstehansen
    cstehansen Posts: 1,984 Member
    cstehansen wrote: »
    Dr Phinney, whom I think all on here will agree is a top expert if not THE top expert, recommends 1.5-2g per kg of ideal body weight for MOST people.
    so, n=1, self-examination aside, I'm just under 53kg, which means according to the above, I SHOULD be taking 106g of protein/day.

    damn.

    My figure set to 60g/day...

    Think I need to up that, don't you...?

    It depends on your school of thought, activity level, IR, etc. If 53kg is your ideal body weight, then 79-106 g would be appropriate if you are metabolically healthy and average activity level. That is a very large range (about 7% of total cal for 1500/day).

    Also, if I understood him correctly, this was the level to which you needed to drop to get to ketosis. I am not sure he was saying you needed to get up to this level. I know he mentioned it in a talk that he did down in either Australia or South Africa recently that was posted by @RalfLott a while back if you want to listen to it yourself.
  • bencoen
    bencoen Posts: 4 Member
    cstehansen wrote: »
    From the science side, if you are sedentary, you need 0.6-0.8 g per kg of lbm. In that, it is very important to get the right amino acids to ensure your body properly recycles the protein it naturally breaks down each day.

    I lift heavy 5 days a week so I really want to stay at 1g/pound lbm or 2.2g/kg lbm

    As for my caloric intake goal, I "say" I am sedentary so my intake is pure maintenence and I am using my activity/workouts as my deficit.

    Do you think this is okay? I burn 800 to 1200 a day per fitbit
  • cstehansen
    cstehansen Posts: 1,984 Member
    bencoen wrote: »
    cstehansen wrote: »
    From the science side, if you are sedentary, you need 0.6-0.8 g per kg of lbm. In that, it is very important to get the right amino acids to ensure your body properly recycles the protein it naturally breaks down each day.

    I lift heavy 5 days a week so I really want to stay at 1g/pound lbm or 2.2g/kg lbm

    As for my caloric intake goal, I "say" I am sedentary so my intake is pure maintenence and I am using my activity/workouts as my deficit.

    Do you think this is okay? I burn 800 to 1200 a day per fitbit

    Unless you have some metabolic issues, you should be fine with this, especially if you are wanting to gain muscle with the heavy lifting. You're a guy, so I am expecting that "if" wasn't really necessary. I personally rotate my workouts every couple of months and am doing heavier lifting right now as well. The difference is I am in maintenance in terms of total weight right now, so I do eat as much as I burn. My protein intake is pretty close to the 1 g to 1 lb range.
  • Sunny_Bunny_
    Sunny_Bunny_ Posts: 7,140 Member
    bencoen wrote: »
    cstehansen wrote: »
    From the science side, if you are sedentary, you need 0.6-0.8 g per kg of lbm. In that, it is very important to get the right amino acids to ensure your body properly recycles the protein it naturally breaks down each day.

    I lift heavy 5 days a week so I really want to stay at 1g/pound lbm or 2.2g/kg lbm

    As for my caloric intake goal, I "say" I am sedentary so my intake is pure maintenence and I am using my activity/workouts as my deficit.

    Do you think this is okay? I burn 800 to 1200 a day per fitbit

    0.8 to 1g per pound of lean body mass aligns with what the experts at Ketogains recommend.
    Eating more than that is unnecessary but is also totally fine and it couldn't interfere with ketosis because ketosis occurs when your body must make its own glucose. So GNG is ketogenic in itself.
    I almost always exceed my necessary protein intake so that I can still remain satisfied and also eat a bit less fat allowing more body fat utilization. I've never once tested negative for ketones. I have done tests for several days at a time throughout the day just to see and it never happened.
    I believe I was mostly metabolically healthy prior to keto and have been keto now for 2 years.

    You can run your numbers through the KG calculator if you want to see what recommendations it would offer.
    If you lift weights check the box that says Ketogains recommends at the bottom and they generally still suggest setting activity to sedentary even if you work out unless your full time work is very physical.
    https://ketogains.com/wp-content/cache/page_enhanced/ketogains.com//ketogains-calculator//_index.html_gzip

    Also, it defaults to an aggressive 25% calorie deficit if you choose to lose weight and you can adjust that percentage how you see fit.
  • RalfLott
    RalfLott Posts: 5,036 Member
    cstehansen wrote: »
    cstehansen wrote: »
    Dr Phinney, whom I think all on here will agree is a top expert if not THE top expert, recommends 1.5-2g per kg of ideal body weight for MOST people.
    so, n=1, self-examination aside, I'm just under 53kg, which means according to the above, I SHOULD be taking 106g of protein/day.

    damn.

    My figure set to 60g/day...

    Think I need to up that, don't you...?

    It depends on your school of thought, activity level, IR, etc. If 53kg is your ideal body weight, then 79-106 g would be appropriate if you are metabolically healthy and average activity level. That is a very large range (about 7% of total cal for 1500/day).

    Also, if I understood him correctly, this was the level to which you needed to drop to get to ketosis. I am not sure he was saying you needed to get up to this level. I know he mentioned it in a talk that he did down in either Australia or South Africa recently that was posted by @RalfLott a while back if you want to listen to it yourself.

    Chris Masterjohn in a recent video (also posted here) recommends around 1g protein/lb lbm.

    There's also a chapter in Phinney and Volek's Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living. on body composition and physical performance.

    Finally, @lemurcat12 recently posted a link to a sobering discussion from caloriesproper.com on keto and LBM maintenance.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    RalfLott wrote: »
    cstehansen wrote: »
    cstehansen wrote: »
    Dr Phinney, whom I think all on here will agree is a top expert if not THE top expert, recommends 1.5-2g per kg of ideal body weight for MOST people.
    so, n=1, self-examination aside, I'm just under 53kg, which means according to the above, I SHOULD be taking 106g of protein/day.

    damn.

    My figure set to 60g/day...

    Think I need to up that, don't you...?

    It depends on your school of thought, activity level, IR, etc. If 53kg is your ideal body weight, then 79-106 g would be appropriate if you are metabolically healthy and average activity level. That is a very large range (about 7% of total cal for 1500/day).

    Also, if I understood him correctly, this was the level to which you needed to drop to get to ketosis. I am not sure he was saying you needed to get up to this level. I know he mentioned it in a talk that he did down in either Australia or South Africa recently that was posted by @RalfLott a while back if you want to listen to it yourself.

    Chris Masterjohn in a recent video (also posted here) recommends around 1g protein/lb lbm.

    There's also a chapter in Phinney and Volek's Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living. on body composition and physical performance.

    Finally, @lemurcat12 recently posted a link to a sobering discussion from caloriesproper.com on keto and LBM maintenance.

    I'm not seeing that link. Can you point me towards it?
  • RalfLott
    RalfLott Posts: 5,036 Member
    edited May 2017
    RalfLott wrote: »
    cstehansen wrote: »
    cstehansen wrote: »
    Dr Phinney, whom I think all on here will agree is a top expert if not THE top expert, recommends 1.5-2g per kg of ideal body weight for MOST people.
    so, n=1, self-examination aside, I'm just under 53kg, which means according to the above, I SHOULD be taking 106g of protein/day.

    damn.

    My figure set to 60g/day...

    Think I need to up that, don't you...?

    It depends on your school of thought, activity level, IR, etc. If 53kg is your ideal body weight, then 79-106 g would be appropriate if you are metabolically healthy and average activity level. That is a very large range (about 7% of total cal for 1500/day).

    Also, if I understood him correctly, this was the level to which you needed to drop to get to ketosis. I am not sure he was saying you needed to get up to this level. I know he mentioned it in a talk that he did down in either Australia or South Africa recently that was posted by @RalfLott a while back if you want to listen to it yourself.

    Chris Masterjohn in a recent video (also posted here) recommends around 1g protein/lb lbm.

    There's also a chapter in Phinney and Volek's Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living. on body composition and physical performance.

    Finally, @lemurcat12 recently posted a link to a sobering discussion from caloriesproper.com on keto and LBM maintenance.

    I'm not seeing that link. Can you point me towards it?

    Dang, not somewhere I can search conveniently. I'll backfill when I get to my laptop.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    I had put it in my response to this thread in the other forum (which directed OP to this group -- wonder if my post got accidentally deleted). I think it was in the thread here about exercise too, as what interested me in it was the ketoadaption bit, as I've been interested in how long that takes. It's here: http://caloriesproper.com/a-timeline-of-ketoadaptation/
  • RalfLott
    RalfLott Posts: 5,036 Member
    Thx!
  • medic2038
    medic2038 Posts: 434 Member
    bencoen wrote: »
    cstehansen wrote: »
    From the science side, if you are sedentary, you need 0.6-0.8 g per kg of lbm. In that, it is very important to get the right amino acids to ensure your body properly recycles the protein it naturally breaks down each day.

    I lift heavy 5 days a week so I really want to stay at 1g/pound lbm or 2.2g/kg lbm

    As for my caloric intake goal, I "say" I am sedentary so my intake is pure maintenence and I am using my activity/workouts as my deficit.

    Do you think this is okay? I burn 800 to 1200 a day per fitbit

    I eat about 160g per day (which is a little more than 1g/lb LBM), and about 50g/day carbs and maintain ketosis. FWIW I generally get about 40g of that from whey. So going by a pure ratio (which I don't actually use anymore) that tends to be about 35+% of my daily calories. I've never had any issues with the 1g/lb.

    As far as calories go, I've had a lot of success using Lyle McDonald's X10 idea. Basically eating at your weight X10-11 should be a deficit, X12-13 should be maintanance, and X14+ should be surplus(IIRC). I'm trying to cut to 160, so I eat 1600 per day.

    Personally I think using activity as a primary deficit is way too complicated, and one of the main causes of people failing. It's really really easy to screw up, and overestimate. I think it's far easier to cut out 500 calories from your diet than try to make up 500 through activity (but that's just me).
  • kirkor
    kirkor Posts: 2,530 Member
    medic2038 wrote: »
    As far as calories go, I've had a lot of success using Lyle McDonald's X10 idea. Basically eating at your weight X10-11 should be a deficit, X12-13 should be maintanance, and X14+ should be surplus(IIRC). I'm trying to cut to 160, so I eat 1600 per day.

    Personally I think using activity as a primary deficit is way too complicated, and one of the main causes of people failing. It's really really easy to screw up, and overestimate. I think it's far easier to cut out 500 calories from your diet than try to make up 500 through activity (but that's just me).

    9CPK9OU.gif
  • AlexandraCarlyle
    AlexandraCarlyle Posts: 1,603 Member
    edited May 2017
    Ok, @kirkor, he's gettin' on mah noives now....