Need Advice on Calories for Keto diet

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anneandyanderson
anneandyanderson Posts: 5 Member
edited September 2017 in Food and Nutrition
I'm moderately active so I set my calorie goal to 1400, but I struggle to eat 1000 a day. I'm not very hungry and I do have to contend with food sensitivity.

It wasn't as bad before the Keto Diet, but now it's increasingly hard to make it to or past 800 calories.

I can't eat eggs or soft cheeses because of a digestive issue. But between my breakfast lunch dinner and snacking I barely manage to keep my calorie intake anywhere near acceptable by the apps. I found my self searching out high calorie snacks just to push myself to the 1000 point. I am forcing myself to eat and it's making me miserable.

I snack on berries and almonds and cold cuts and hard cheeses like aged gouda. I eat full meals coming away "stuffed" but now I am at a loss of what to do. I don't want to keep constantly snacking when I am not hungry just to get my calorie intake.

Any one else having this issue, any advice?

Replies

  • anneandyanderson
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    Eat foods that enable you to eat more.

    You didn't become overweight by eating too little, so at some point you have consistently eaten more food. Include those foods in moderation.

    Also check your logging. 800 cals of food is minimal, especially if you're doing keto and eating a high percentage of fat. I can't comprehend how you'd feel "stuffed" on that little food.

    I do not have a scale. I scan the barcode and measure everything. I've always ate small amounts. Such as 1/4 bowl of cold cereal and milk before the Keto Diet. I also can't eat full servings, like blue berries. I cannot eat more than 1/4 cup.

    I had rapid weight gain (40lbs in 2 months) when I started a long term medicine in high school. I was diagnosed with SLE and a blood clotting disorder. I've never gone over 210lbs but since then I have never been below 160. It's been a constant battle.

    I will look into investing in a food scale. Thank you for the advice. I never considered getting one.
  • anneandyanderson
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    sijomial wrote: »
    It wasn't as bad before the Keto Diet, but now it's increasingly hard to make it to or past 800 calories.
    I found my self searching out high calorie snacks just to push myself to the 1000 point. I am forcing myself to eat and it's making me miserable.
    If these two statements are accurate then keto isn't the right diet for you.


    But....
    I eat full meals coming away "stuffed"
    Sorry but full meals plus snacking doesn't gel with only eating 800 - 1000 calories.

    Are you losing weight at a very rapid rate?
    If you aren't then would suspect you aren't logging accurately.
    Nuts and cheese have huge amounts of calories - I could easily add 1000 calories to my normal diet just snacking.

    Would be a good idea to open your diary if you want advice.

    I actually am. Since I started a little under two weeks ago, I have lost 7lbs. I feel I am fairly inactive since I work a call center job and sit at a desk 8-10hrs a day. But I do walk a lot especially since I don't drive. So my doctor told me to keep my Calories at 1440 for activity.

    I don't eat full servings and I rarely eat at or over servings. Breakfast for me is a 12oz glass of unsweetened Almond milk, 1/4 cup of blueberries, 2 slices of uncured bacon and I am full. For a snack I might make a kale smoothie with mango, but it's water based. And a full glass will leave me full.

    I think as Christen stated, I might need to start weighing my food as I may be incorrectly count calories.
  • anneandyanderson
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    SLLeask wrote: »
    I would advise you to stop doing keto. Any "diet" is hard to do with sensitivities. Don't over complicate or think you can only lose weight by following some plan. Just plug your stats into MFP, weigh, measure accurately and eat things that don't cause you problems until you reach your calorie goal for the day. Plan / pre-log for the day if it helps. Good luck.

    My doctor put me on it to try and lower my inflammation levels. Until the doctor says otherwise I will follow the diet.
  • spacecase76
    spacecase76 Posts: 673 Member
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    To me, your diet doesn't sound keto. Most keto plans that I'm aware of don't allow snacking. They push for three meals a day with your macros divided by 3. Berries and fruit are not on any keto-approved diet I've ever seen because of carbs and sugar.

    I recommend getting back to basics and reworking your diet. My husband and I have been keto for a while now. We eat bacon, sausage, steak, different types of "roasts" (including brisket), fish / shrimp, leafy green veggies (and cauliflower), butter, mayo (watch for added sugar), and cheese. Probably 70% of our calories come from meat. We do IF. We actually don't do many eggs. It would be easy to skip the cheese.

    Right now it sounds like you're losing weight because of calorie restriction, not due to being in ketosis. Be sure to get a scale. You'll find that the weight of food usually doesn't line up with the measurement of food exactly.

    Good luck!
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    I follow keto for insulin resistance and to treat some autoimmune issues. ITP is one of mine.

    If you drink coffee or tea, a quick way to add calories is with coconut oil, cream or butter, and protein powder. I like a 1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil, a couple drops of stevia, and a teaspoon of protein powder in my cofee. I use a travel mug so I just shake it to mix it. If you add larger amounts, you could easily add a few hundred calories per drink.

    I agree with getting a food scale. That can tell you a lot.

    Measuring out nuts and leaving them out to graze on may help you get in more calories too.

    Another thing to consider is that a drop in appetite early in the keto diet is quite common. If it only lasts a week or so for you, I would not worry about it. It will change eventually, although some find it isn't until they approach a weight closer to their goal.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    If you can't eat the foods on a keto diet and you can't eat more than 1000 cals of keto food, maybe that's not a good diet choice for you. No one HAS TO eat keto.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited September 2017
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    Keto means carbs that are so low that you will go into ketosis, usually less than 50 g carbs, and high fat. Is that what you are doing?

    Logging and using a scale is a good idea.

    I don't find it tough to eat way more than 1200 on keto if I want, and I don't normally snack.

    Saying you were eating more than 1200 to gain/overate/ate more calories than you burned if you gained weight is NOT the same thing as saying you ate like a pig or ate unhealthy foods or whatever. It's just fact: impossible to gain if you don't eat more than you burn. I got fat (and then lost the weight) and mostly did not eat giant amounts or lots of junk food or whatever "like a pig" means. I overate. To lose, I ate less (or the same but with more activity).

    General idea of my low carb/keto day (I'm not doing keto now, but I did for a while), although as you have sensitivities you'd use what foods work for you.

    Breakfast: 2 eggs, smoked salmon (or I might have greek yogurt instead), vegetables, some feta cheese in an omelet, on the pan I use a little olive oil. If I wanted to add calories I might have half an avocado. Calories around 400 but could be closer to 500 with the avocado.

    Lunch: salad (variety of veg) and also on the salad I would have olives, some dressing made with olive oil and vinegar, some protein, could be lots of things such as chicken or steak (or maybe black soy beans), some nuts or seeds on the salad. Easily 400-600 cal again.

    Dinner: whatever meat I want (meat includes fish/shellfish and I eat a lot of fish), lots of vegetables, if the meat is lean I might add a bit of a sauce with some fat and I'd cook everything in olive or coconut or avocado oil. I often do a somewhat lower cal dinner, but it's quite variable, could be 350-550.

    If dinner was low cal or I otherwise have calories, I might finish dinner with some high quality or interesting cheese or some nuts or maybe some dark chocolate (I really like Chocolove Extreme dark, 88%, and currently have a 99% dark chocolate that tastes nice with some nut butter on it). I also might stir a bit of nut butter into full fat greek yogurt.
  • kaye4health
    kaye4health Posts: 115 Member
    edited September 2017
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    my question is, why did you want to go keto? I myself eat LCHF, but I do not go into keto. If it is to lose weight, then you don't need to be in full blown keto. Just lower carbs. I as others have said, with the sensitivity to foods (protein, high calorie foods) why would you choose Keto as a way to go? I keep my carbs around 89 to 100 and lose just fine. Also I eat 1200 to 1500 calories a day. Main meals and snacks. meat has lots of calories... don't get it??? Ok, disregard my comment. I see above you said your DR put you on keto diet. maybe discuss with your Dr that you find it hard to get the calories and see what he/she thinks? Write down or print off MFP food diary and take it with you to show your DR. Good luck.
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
    edited September 2017
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    Eat foods that enable you to eat more.

    You didn't become overweight by eating too little, so at some point you have consistently eaten more food. Include those foods in moderation.

    Also check your logging. 800 cals of food is minimal, especially if you're doing keto and eating a high percentage of fat. I can't comprehend how you'd feel "stuffed" on that little food.

    I do not have a scale. I scan the barcode and measure everything. I've always ate small amounts. Such as 1/4 bowl of cold cereal and milk before the Keto Diet. I also can't eat full servings, like blue berries. I cannot eat more than 1/4 cup.

    I had rapid weight gain (40lbs in 2 months) when I started a long term medicine in high school. I was diagnosed with SLE and a blood clotting disorder. I've never gone over 210lbs but since then I have never been below 160. It's been a constant battle.

    I will look into investing in a food scale. Thank you for the advice. I never considered getting one.

    You can not ALWAYS have eaten small amounts if you have had a constant battle to get below 160 pounds. You are eating way more than you think you are. Invest money in some food scales and then you will realise that your food consumption is much more than you think it is.


    Edit. Just read on and saw that scales are ordered. This will be money well spent. Hopefully you find what works for you.
  • GlassAngyl
    GlassAngyl Posts: 478 Member
    edited September 2017
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    I know exactly what you mean. When I don't cheat and stick strictly to keto, I have to find ways to add more calories because I feel so stuffed by the end of the day. I LOVE IT! I would rather struggle with trying to eat more than fight temptation and try to eat less. But for someone who has spent her whole life fighting binges (sorry folks, I refuse to get counseling. I know why I do it and they can't fix my issues..) to for once being on the opposite side of the fence.. I'm not going back. It's easier to grab a BP coffee to fill in the gaps than it is fighting cravings.

    Speaking of bp coffee.. 2tbs of butter and 2tbs of heavy whipping cream equals 300 extra calories. You can add MTC oil for another 100 if needed. A lot of ppl LOVE it. I do not. But it DOES keep me full and helps me reach my fat and calorie allowance. And you can sip at it instead of eat it.
  • spacecase76
    spacecase76 Posts: 673 Member
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    I will (cringingly) add some fats into my tea. I have never ever added anything into my tea's.

    Be careful with this! I can't do it, it tears my stomach up! I use heavy cream in my coffee, but I can't add any oil
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    So...

    I have ordered a kitchen scale.

    I will (cringingly) add some fats into my tea. I have never ever added anything into my tea's.

    And I will wait these next to weeks out to see if my appetite increases after such drastic diet changes.

    These were excellent suggestions. I am also less worried now because as a few pointed out, it's probably an entry error on my part. Thank you all for your guidance.


    If you add oil or butter to a tea (chai is nice) whipping it really helps. It is the difference between a nice froth on top and an oil slick. ;)