Fat adapted and raising carb targets
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jelleigh
Posts: 743 Member
Hello
So im far off from actually dealing with this issue, but I am curious as to how it works. From what I have been reading, once you are fat adapted you can raise your carb targets, sometimes up to 50 grams, and it wont kick you out of ketosis. But I also read that as your body gets used to using ketones for energy, they will not show up in tests as easily. Which leads me to ask, how do you test where your "limit" is? How do you know, without a blood test, whether you are still in ketosis?
And when you start increasing your carb limits, do you just do it a bit each day? Or do you increase by like 5 grams and eat like that for a week and then increase again in increments?
So im far off from actually dealing with this issue, but I am curious as to how it works. From what I have been reading, once you are fat adapted you can raise your carb targets, sometimes up to 50 grams, and it wont kick you out of ketosis. But I also read that as your body gets used to using ketones for energy, they will not show up in tests as easily. Which leads me to ask, how do you test where your "limit" is? How do you know, without a blood test, whether you are still in ketosis?
And when you start increasing your carb limits, do you just do it a bit each day? Or do you increase by like 5 grams and eat like that for a week and then increase again in increments?
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I think it is hard to make hard and fast rules about things like this. I dropped my carbs to <20 in October of 2016, and I have never increased them. Net carbs today were 5. I have never checked ketones, but I am reasonably sure I am fat adapted and in ketosis, etc. I say try it if you want to. Let us know what you find.0
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I think it varies, a lot, between people.
If you are metabolically healthy, and not completely sedentary, then 50g of carbs should keep you in ketosis as long as you aren't eating them all in one meal.
If you are healthy, you could probably go even higher if you time carbs around exercise.
Blood tests are the best way to know. For some, like me, ketostix start fading out after a few months but it isn't rue for everyone. You won't know until you get there. For me, I last ate plant a couplde of weeks ago, and my ketostix tend to just register faint to negative (if I'm really well hydrated).
Plus, ketostix tend to measure weaker in the morning so testing later in the day can help with accuracy.
I tried increasing carbs at maintenance but it affected my appetite and I started regaining. Others do better with it. The only way to know is to try.
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I don't think there's any hard test for finding where your carb limit is for staying in ketosis. Most of the time I just go by how I feel. If I'm not getting the crazy food cravings. If I can go long hours without eating and still not get hangry. If I can perform at my workouts even without eating first. These are the clues I use to tell me when my carbs are low enough and I am still in ketosis. Food cravings for me are usually the first clue that I dropped out of ketosis, so when I start getting those, then it's time to examine the food diary and see what happened.
I carb cycle, so I bounce between 30 and 88 depending on if it's a strength training day or not...In the past I have been able to go as high as 110 on my lifting days and still don't seem to drop out of ketosis. And I think we had a guy on here lifting who was able to get over 200 and still remain in ketosis. Much of it is individual metabolic rates, as well as how much and how fast you are burning energy with activity.1 -
The only way I know of is taking an RMR test at a DexaFit type facility every few months. That test will give you a reading of your current calories burned at rest and also tell you an average of your body usage for energy needs of fat vs sugars. Anything over 60% is constant ketosis from what the rep and chart showed. My last check had me at 77% which was well fat adapted and at the time I was eating up to 70g of carbs a day/net carbs around 40-50. Everyone is different in their tolerance and my workouts plays a big part in this. I do intense power hot yoga 3 times a week and crossfit twice so carb tolerance is high.1
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I just gradually upped my carbs until my blood ketones were at 1.0. I also carbcycle on weightlifting days and my carbs can get upto 100 and still stay at 3.0. But i also fast 23hours a day.0
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Thanks for the input everyone! I will have to look up carb cycling . I keep hearing about it but know nothing about it.0
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I do the Leangains version, so it's basically daily carb cycling...some people do weekly or monthly...like anything else diet related, there are 100 different ways to do it.0
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I don't eat red meat or dairy, so a lot of my proteins have some carbs in them (turkey jerky, non-dairy substitutes, beans, etc.). This is why <net50 is as low as I can go. It gets me in ketosis, though, and I've now lost all my excess weight (am at goal). So it's working!4
