-
Hello, Redsprocket and welcome to the app.
I’ve read a lot since starting this back in mid-Oct. 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. And within fat, the body can burn either fat we eat or stored fat (again, think zero-sum game, less of one requires more of the other).
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 (typically down to 20-50 grams per day, but we’re all different. 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 and you dont want to exceed them. Again, burning fats can include dietary fats, stored fats, or a combination of both. Less fats eaten means more stored fats burned, 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.)
Make sure you’re drinking a lot of water. Ketosis uses water more than a carb-based diet and the kidneys dump it much higher than before. And you’ll need to increase your sodium intake as it’s also dumped at a much higher rate then before. Typically, 5g sodium per day and since table salt isn’t pure sodium, the best advice I’ve read is to salt food to taste and drink two cups of broth to make up the difference.
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 find their business by googling Virtahealth (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.
The folks at keto-mojo (source of blood testing meters that will test both blood sugars and ketones) also have some good documented articles to read.
Hope this helps.
-
Pat F This is really great information! Thank you for sharing!
-
Cooperb you’re welcome.
