Healthy fat

Question? I’m trying to lose weight. I’ve lost 12 pounds so far. Should I stay under my carbs, protein and fat macros? I never got my full fat count. But I try to at least be 60 or 70% to the fat goal I just never hit 100%. Is that okay? 

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    • Pat F
    • Pat_F
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Mrsdavis35, the short answer is to stay under your carbs, meet your proteins (being careful not to exceed them) and stay under your fats at first.   As you lose stored body fat you’ll need to up your fat intake to sustain yourself, but you’ll realize that as you get there.

    I’ve read a lot since starting this back in mid-Oct.  The body requires a certain amount of energy to sustain it.  This energy can come from burning either carbohydrates or fat.  The less carbs we eat, the more fat we force our body to burn.  It’s a zero-sum game; less carbs to burn means more fat has to be burned to keep us going.  And within fat, the body burns a combination of what we eat (dietary fat) and what is stored (adipose fat); there’s a constant ‘churn’ of dietary and adipose that’s cycled into the fat burning process.  Indeed, from the Virtahealth website’s (more on that below), is the following FAQ:  Is dietary fat burned before stored fat on a ketogenic diet?

    ‘Certain fats, like medium-chain triglycerides found in coconut or MCT oil cannot be stored in body fat, so whatever is consumed must be promptly burned for energy. This means that if you’re adding these fats on top of your dietary fat consumption for satiety, this type of fat takes priority.

    For regular dietary fats, once they are digested, they enter the circulation and participate in what is called ‘fatty acid turnover.’ Whether fed or fasted, the body is always releasing, burning, and storing fat. When insulin is high, storage predominates, but turnover continues. When insulin is low, release and oxidation predominate. If you eat fat along with a lot of carbohydrates, it is prone to be stored. When fat is consumed in the context of a well formulated ketogenic diet, it—along with fat released from adipose stores—is prone to be burned. But once digested and absorbed, dietary fat and stored fat enter the ‘turnover pool’ and are in a constant state of mixing.’

    But it’s still a zero-sum game.  If, as an example, the body requires 100g/day, it will burn 100g’s from the fats in circulation as described in the FAQ above.  But if you eat 100g of dietary fat, all you did was replace that amount.  Think: burned 100g but replaced 100g for a net loss of zero.   To lose weight in keto, you’ll need to stay below your fat macro. How much depends on the individual but I think the further below (to a point); the more the body runs at a fat deficit and the higher the weight loss.

    You don't want to exceed your protein macros by too much or too often.  Excess proteins are converted to sugars and that’s just like excess carbs.  Proteins power muscles, organs, etc. so you don’t want to short them by too much or too often - bodily ‘systems’ start to degrade without sufficient proteins.  

    So (I believe) the best way to generate weight loss is to cut back on carbs (we’re all different but as an example, I’m at 12g/day in order to keep my blood sugars down) and keep things at or just below proteins to properly power body systems.   As for fats, they’re not really a goal or objective.  Again, a combination of both dietary fats and adipose fats are burned.  Less dietary fats eaten means there’s a fat deficit, particularly at the beginning when we might have more stored fats to burn.  As the weight comes off and the health improvements take place, you can up your dietary fats since there’s less stored fat to burn.

    Last, a lot of folks want to take what I think is the quick way - still want their shakes, bagels, buns, cakes, etc.  Just because something is labeled ‘Keto’ (as is quite often the case out on Pinterest), it doesn’t mean that it is, only that somebody’s doing some clever (or nefarious) advertising.   My readings suggest it’s best to stick to ‘real’ foods: beef, chicken, fish, pork, with salads.  (I come to tell myself that ‘Keto junk food’ is still junk food.)

    There are some great books out there, and I’d recommend ‘The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living’ by Drs Jeff Volek and Stephen Phinney. They’re also on YouTube, and you can google Virtahealth to find their business (I’m NOT a customer) where they have a plethora of medical case studies to back up what they say - either way, they can explain things very well and give all the medical science behind the scenes.

    I hope this helps. 

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    • KA
    • cyan_cat.2
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Super helpful information, thank you!!

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