I think it's all about how you're looking at it. I'm about two weeks in, and my goal is 50 carbs per day, so it would be a fine day for me if I chose to do that. For those who are at lower carb goals it wouldn't meet their needs. Does it meet yours? Are you within your carb goal for the day or slightly above? If so, yep, good decisions all around. If not, what about the carbs was calling to you? Was it an emotional need that you needed to meet or a physical one? Not questions you need to answer in public if you don't want to.

I think we're all in this to make better decisions, and it sounds like you made better decisions than you could have and likely would have five weeks ago, so that's a win.

@jessetfan Is making a great point.


@mkrefting you don't know me from Adam, but here's a tiny bit of my background. I was a 34-year-old mom of 4. Obese and both feet on Diabetes Road. I wasn't yet diagnosed, but I'm sure if I had gone to a dr I would have been diagnosed prediabetic. My mother almost died from diabetic complications, and I said "Enough!" I've been low-carb for 4.5 years now. I've been in maintenance for 2.5 years. And what I have learned, and have seen in members here and on other low-carb forums, is that those that learn themselves best are the ones who are successful. We're the ones that scrutinize every mistake, trigger, complete failure, and we figure out how we can learn to troubleshoot ourselves in the future. Why did I do that? What are the factors that led up to that decision? And what can I do to avoid that situation/condition again? How can I stack the deck in my favor, or, sometimes, how can I trick myself into compliance? It's all about learning how to stack the deck in your favor.

You did a great job derailing that carb-train. It might serve you well to figure out what set you off. Were you hungry? Stressed? Thirsty? What saved you? The promise and reward coming up? These are all things you can figure out and will help you not stray in the future when there isn't a promise or reward coming up and you have a similar set of situations going on in your life.

Just my 87.5 cents, which you are free to take or leave with no judgement.

mkrefting wrote: »

I can say I was hungry, and there is something about this one store's chocolate cake, it's soooooooooo good....the strawberry lemon cream cake was on sale (looked delicious), but I am a sucker for all things 50% off or more, and it was below half price. I am seriously addicted to food sales. My freezers are full of steak! Yes, 2 freezers! I think, because I look at macros a lot now, I am scared to be full because it means too many calories. I am not meeting my fats, right about at my protein number, and trying to stay in range of calories. It seems for the amount of fat I should eat, it goes way over on carbs or calories, I could eat a pound of broccoli with a cup of ranch dressing. Perhaps I should forget about calories for a minute until I am more settled into it? I am currently "saying" I do 50 total carbs or less a day, but usually they are below 30.

Well, it IS really all about calories in the end. But you and I both know that there are other concerns sometimes. I've found, and counsel others, that it's sometimes easier to go ahead and just worry about carbs in the beginning. I counted carbs only for just over 3 full months before I started stalling out in loss and needing to count calories, too. By that time, I had created a low-carb habit: a set of routines, learning what low-carb looks like for many different foods. Momentum had been created and carried me through.

Whoever gets to eat the most and still lose weight wins, IMO. So once we have our good habits barreling down the track, and the scale is starting to be extremely resistant, we add in calorie count. At this point our priorities should fall like this:

• Carbs are a ceiling in grams.
• Protein is a minimum range in grams you strive to meet. (This is based on your height, weight, and how active you are. Enough protein decreases lean muscle lost during the weight loss process.)
• Fat fills up the rest of your calories.

Percentages mean ZERO to those who aren't doing a medical ketogenic diet for epilepsy or other neurological condition. Period. Percentages are a sliding scale depending on your total calorie intake. 1500 cal is going to have less fat and carbs than 2000 cals. Keto and diets wanting to hit BG control are concerned with being in ketosis. And that is under 50g. Protein needs to be met for keeping lean muscle mass and long term health. Enough healthy fat is needed for hormone balance and vitamin storage. Adding extra fat by the spoonful isn't necessary. Fat from meat, dairy, and sensible amount of sauce is more than enough to meet that need. And if you are finding your calories are too low after hitting these, THEN you can add more fat.

HTH.