Keto tracking. Confused. Help

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ASAIAHSMOMMY
ASAIAHSMOMMY Posts: 14 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm trying to start keto/low carb diet and even with the calculators I have a hard time tracking my macros. Maybe I'm making things more complicated than they are. But I'm wanting to log it on my fitness pal and I'm at a lost.can someone help. I'm 265 pounds and I'm 5'7 can someone explain it to me in more depth.

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  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    What exactly are you having trouble with?
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    To lose weight, you need to consistently eat fewer calorie thna you burn. MFP will have given you a calorie goal to hit. If you hit this every day, you lose weight.

    You can eat anything you want as long as you log it and hit your calorie goal. If you want to eat low carb, set carb goal lower and fat goal higher. To track macros, you have to go to settings: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

    If this wasn't what you were asking, please try again :)
  • Old_Cat_Lady
    Old_Cat_Lady Posts: 1,193 Member
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    Keto seems so hard.
    I know if I make this hard, I WILL quit. Please don't quit. You can count calories and lose weight.
  • ASAIAHSMOMMY
    ASAIAHSMOMMY Posts: 14 Member
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    What if I don't get my goal for the day of calories? Cause I've ate less than 1000 and I'm not even hungry. Will I lose weight or stall? I think I'm making this more complicated than it is... On keto, it's 70% fat 25% protein and 5% carbs correct? Can someone look at my diary to see if I'm doing it correct and what else I should be consuming
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    Those are fine macros for ketosis. Some people go up to 10% or so carbs and others go to almost zero. Protein at 25% is pretty good. Some prefer higher while losing to help minimize lean muscle loss.

    Many people find their hunger drops off in the early days of keto, or just gets more manageable. I would not worry about a few days at 1000 kcals, but I would make sure that you are hitting your protein goals. No need to hit carbs or fat if you are having a not hungry day.

    A low calorie diet is not great in the long term, but it seems relatively harmless for a few days here and there.

    Perhaps try meeting your protein goal a bit more. You do have room for more veggies, nuts, and fats if you want them.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,988 Member
    edited September 2017
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    ASAIAHSMOMMY wrote: »
    What if I don't get my goal for the day of calories? Cause I've ate less than 1000 and I'm not even hungry. Will I lose weight or stall? I think I'm making this more complicated than it is... On keto, it's 70% fat 25% protein and 5% carbs correct? Can someone look at my diary to see if I'm doing it correct and what else I should be consuming

    If you actually had 200 ml of Tabasco, which is almost a cup, no wonder you're not hungry :smiley:

    For whole foods like eggs, I'd avoid using user created entries like "Piggly Wiggly - Grade A Large Eggs, 2 cooked" and instead get the syntax from the USDA database and plug that into MFP. In this case, assuming you cooked them in the coconut oil, you'd want "Egg, whole, raw, fresh."

    Unfortunately, the green check marks are used for both user-created entries and system entries. System entries come from the USDA and do not say "USDA" in them. They may sound overly convoluted, like "Chicken, broiler or fryers, breast, skinless, boneless, meat only, raw", but that makes them easy to spot.

    For packaged foods, I verify the label against what I find in MFP.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    ASAIAHSMOMMY wrote: »
    What if I don't get my goal for the day of calories? Cause I've ate less than 1000 and I'm not even hungry. Will I lose weight or stall? I think I'm making this more complicated than it is... On keto, it's 70% fat 25% protein and 5% carbs correct? Can someone look at my diary to see if I'm doing it correct and what else I should be consuming
    Hunger and satiety signals aren't reliable enough to be the only markers of whether you've eaten appropriately - that's why we track. Low carb tends to lower your appetite, at least initially. Undereating will in itself not cause your weightloss to stall - in fact, the less you eat, the more you lose, there's no magic here - it's that undereating will make you hungry, sooner or later, and when you're hungry, and there is food, you eat, and when you haven't eaten enough for a long time, you'll eat a lot. THAT is going to stall your weightloss. And eating in a way that isn't comfortable for you - as in, for instance, you miss your favorite foods, or you can't eat socially, having a nutritionally perfect diet that keeps you constantly full, is not going to help you one bit.

    Your macros are good for keto. The first real question is whether keto is necessary and effective for you. To lose weight, you have to consistently eat less. For good health, you need to eat enough of all the nutrients you need every day, and not too many calories over time. Keto isn't unhealthy, but it can be hard to get in proper nutrition, and to stick to. Eating less has the same challenges, but keto may be intensifying those challenges. Or lessening them. This is individual. The second real question is whether you log correctly. PP gave a great instruction to correct logging. If you don't log correctly, you can't know if you're eating the amount of calories you think you are eating, and if you're overweight, you'll tend to (subconsciously) pick entries that have lower calories, not higher, or leave out certain things, or underestimate amounts. That's why we have to weigh everything, and check that the numbers line up. We could call it "being honest", but I like "accurate" better; eating is not a moral action, and you're doing this to improve your health, not to get a medal for self-sacrifice.

    I would just suggest that you aim for 3 things:
    Stick to the calorie goal MFP gave you, through correct logging. Prelogging works great for many people.
    Include a wide variety of foods from all the food groups every day (you know, fruit, vegs, starch (more whole grains than white), dairy, meat/fish/eggs/beans, nuts/seeds, fats/oils). Cut down on the obvious junk foods.
    Eat food you like and cook meals that are easy and fun enough so you can keep making them, and look and taste appealing to you so you will want to continue eating them.

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