Welcome. It does sound like you are doing something right.

Protein is the best macro to hit. I would at least try to get it to 90 or 100g. That protein will help minimize lean mass loss. Slightly leaner cuts of meat can help. I tend to "cheat" with a serving of sugar free protein powder in my coffees because I struggle to hit my protein goal too.

IMO, veggies are less needed when you are not eating carbs. Antioxidants and fibre are not really needed for a meaty diet. But if you are going to eat carbs, veggies and berries are the way to go (or higher carb fruits if carb totals are not important to your goals).

Speaking of meaty diet, you might want to join the Meaty May challenge. You are basically already there.

ETA here is the challenge:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10659049/meaty-may/p1

Some have fat less than protein - especially while losing. Once you get to maintenance, you would be increasing fat (and maybe some protein and carbs) so fat will probably be the larger macro then.

As long as you are getting more than your minimum protein you are fine. A common recommendation (among lifters and athletes) is to get about 1 g of protein per pound of body weight. The bare minimum (but you want to be well above that) is 0.8g per kg, or 0.36g per pound.

There really is no rule for a ratio of protein to fat. Just do what works best for you.

I'm planning on doing the Meaty May challenge too. I've done similar in the past, and it worked well for me. The only reason I don't do it all of the time is nuts, snap peas, and coconut. Yummm.

I always try to hit my protein goal, go under or hit carbs, but I'm really cautious about fat. I use it to make myself full, but rarely even hit my target.

I think the main thing is NOT to go over in carbs, and some of us go higher fat and some of us go higher protein. :-)

I had a hard time getting in enough calories when my focus was on minimizing my carbs. It got easier when I switched to trying to maximize them; to get as close as I could to 10% net carbs without going over. Suddenly every time I ate cheese I could also eat berries; a good steak could “buy” me a side salad and a serving of Halo Top. The calories pretty much took care of themselves from that point on.

Oh, and while I do have testers, I can always tell when I’m in ketosis by how often I need to pee.

Seems you've started just ahead of me @xMikeh - so it's encouraging to hear you are loosing already. Well done!

I'm following the recipes on the Diet Doctor two week challenge. I've been cooking up double portions so there is enough for lunch the next day too, although it seems there is actually more than he and I can eat, so there are now lots of extra meals in boxes in the freezer!!

The Diet Doctor has quite a high fat level. Protein is normal and net carbs low. It definitely fills you up! I'm also tracking the foods on MFP (which I did before several years ago loosing weight) and it surprises me now that I'm not at all hungry on this way of eating, even in a calorie deficit. This can only be good news.

Anyway good to hear you are succeeding. And "Go You!" being the Dad at home. I know just what hard work that can be. Mine are all now 21 plus, but those years were fairly relentless - in a good way but relentless nonetheless!

Onwards....

baconslave wrote: »

Now if we were talking medically theraputic keto,

Where can I find more info on this please?

I have ME (or CFS in USA - what a rubbish name), anyway my stamina improved when I took up fasting. This was quite a surprise, cos I started fasting to control my blood sugars better after doing some self tests and finding them rather elevated.

And, I was told that fasting can put you into ketosis, so I thought perhaps that was what was helping my health, so that notion has brought me to the point of trying a keto diet.

I put it off for so long thinking it would be really tough, but now I've started I'm pleasantly surprised.

Anyway if you have any links, I would appreciate them. I've been binge watching Diet Doctor videos lately. LOL

@xMikeh Sorry - don't mean to take over your thread. All interesting stuff.

@kpk54 Thank you. That gives me loads to start off with. I found a similar thing with fasting. Great gains when I started, but waning as time went on. Still if I can get a little lift coming into the summer it would be appreciated, and a few lbs down would be another bonus. Hope you too find another little something you can tweak for physical improvement. xx

Edit to add - just found this great page... which will keep me going for a while! https://www.epilepsy.com/learn/seizure-and-epilepsy-news/keto-news

Salkeela wrote: »

baconslave wrote: »

Now if we were talking medically theraputic keto,

Where can I find more info on this please?

I have ME (or CFS in USA - what a rubbish name), anyway my stamina improved when I took up fasting. This was quite a surprise, cos I started fasting to control my blood sugars better after doing some self tests and finding them rather elevated.

And, I was told that fasting can put you into ketosis, so I thought perhaps that was what was helping my health, so that notion has brought me to the point of trying a keto diet.

I put it off for so long thinking it would be really tough, but now I've started I'm pleasantly surprised.

Anyway if you have any links, I would appreciate them. I've been binge watching Diet Doctor videos lately. LOL

@xMikeh Sorry - don't mean to take over your thread. All interesting stuff.

@kpk54 was the person I was going to tag regarding your question.

Do let us know how that works out if you do give it a go.

1st thing I think you are doing great , I really really tried the Keto , just can't do it .....but I am doing low carb and I do not eat over 20 carbs a day (sometimes less) I do eat protein and veggies , and I have added in extra good fats like coconut oil and real grain fed butters , olive oil .right now I am eating the fathead pizza made of coconut flour and flaxseed flour and Mozzarella cheese and an egg , then top it with cheese ,pepperoni .....only 8 carbs for the whole pizza (the size of a 8 inch plate) salad too only 10 carbs whole meal .... the Keto I watched all these videos DR.Berg and he is smart and I did get what he was saying , but really I just couldn't do it , PLUS my blood sugars went up (diabetic) I am back to doing just low carb and only 2200 calories a day and I am back to normal BS , I need to lose 200 pounds and I need to do a life style I can maintain .


IN no way am I saying to stop Keto , cause 19 pounds is not just water weight , you are doing it !!! Good Luck and add me if ya want !! I have fat bomb recipes and fathead pizza recipes .

easy ... if you eat something and say it's 10 carbs and 7 fiber ...then your net carbs are 3

xMikeh wrote: »

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baconslave wrote: »

Thank you, this actually clears up everything. Thank you thank you thank you. I'm now way further into it, I've lost count but I'm keeping strong. I feel some people lose weight faster than me but I can't complain because in the end I'm losing weight no less. I'm actually below 300 pounds, it's been 5 years since then. Fat is something I tend to avoid for the most part, I usually have a decent amount of protein every day in comparison, today is actually the first day I had more fat but that's cause we went to iHop and I got a custom omelette.

Well, like I said, fat is good for you. You need enough fat for your body to run optimally. But you should be getting enough in meat, nuts (if you can budget them in), the greasing of a pan to cook, avocado, and in low-carb dairy to not need to add extra fat while in weight loss mode (like fat bombs and extra butter or CO.) I think they make over fat so much for a couple reasons. 1) We're coming from the chronic fat phobia years so the hook is "eat all the fats!!!" which for some is a huge piling on of dietary fat when you look at it from their perspective. 2) A lot of the first Keto Gurus were body builders, to build muscle you eat in a surplus. So adding extra fat was what they needed to get those calories up there. 3) Keto Gurus continually spout out Macros! In percentages, which is nonsense. A nutritional ketogenic diet doesn't need to be as high fat as is necessary for a neurologically theraputic ketogenic diet, and as I said up-thread, it's not necessary to hit ultra-high fat macros. They keep going on and on about 70% fat and above. I only was ever able to hit 63-65% for the 1.5 years I was keto while losing and still stay in my calorie goal because I made sure I got enough protein. Percentages are movable anyway, dependent on your calorie intake. If you are supposed to have more calories, you eat higher everything. Higher carbs, higher protein, higher fat. Lower calorie goals, and you get even lower. On the lower ends, you aren't getting enough protein. So it's better to worry about staying under carbs, meeting your protein range, and filling the rest with fat. Which is still plenty of yummy, healthy fat.

Yeah, some people lose faster than others. It stinks. But loss is loss! Comparison is the thief of joy.
Taking a little longer has a few bonuses. One of which is to give you more time to hammer these new good habits of the WOE into your tricky brain before maintenance. Practice makes perfect, as they say. You also won't have as much visible skin sagging. It takes up to 2 years after you are done losing for it to pull in all it's going to. I'm still seeing improvements farther out than that. So you'll have less visible at once. And also, you won't be shrinking out of your clothes every 2 damn minutes. Which on one hand is a nice thought, but in practice, when having to replace your clothes AGAIN, complete PITA.
Some of that may be a bit of a stretch, but hey, you have to chase those silver linings. It's good exercise anyway.

Great job on staying on-plan at IHOP. But omelettes are DELICIOUS, so that's not too much of a hardship, amirite?