Protein & Fat Requirement Confusion

dmannira

I am fairly new to Keto. I have been attempting it for a little over 2 months now and have lost 10 lbs but I am currently yo-yoing up and down on the scale. I have been doing a lot of research but it seems to confuse me even more on the amount of Fat and Protein I should eat. I Just started using Cronometer recently in the hopes to track better. With my profile set up on Keto and strictness set to moderate the requirements show as below.

Calories 1147 – Before FitBit uploads calories burned.
Fat 107
Protein 57
Carbs 45 – which seems high – is this total carbs for day? I have it set to track Net and try to stay under 20.

Other Keto calculators state I should have 87g Protein and about 95g Fat. I want to make sure I am following correctly to be as healthy in my weight loss as possible.

Thank you for any help you can provide!
Dawn

Susan_RD_101

Thanks for your question @Dawn!

The reason we reach a plateau in weight is:

1) Losing weight causes a reduction in our metabolism
2) Eating less causes a reduction in our metabolism

Translation: your body is likely trying to maintain equilibrium and prevent further weight loss. Without knowing your health history (and please don't share it in a public forum ), I feel like <1200 calories is too low of a dietary intake. It's also very difficult to meet vitamin and mineral needs and to feel like you have the fuel you need for your workouts.

My advice is to spend some time tracking as accurately as you can (weighing and measuring food) for at least 1-2 weeks. Perhaps you area eating more than you thought? I'd also work on increasing the activity since this is key to helping people maintain and continue losing weight.

@Frank is our resident keto expert, so I'll let him chime in on the recommendations you posted above.

Kind regards,

dmannira

Thank you Susan for your response. I should have clarified that prior to cronometer I used MFP to track food. I have been doing this all year. I weigh and measure all my foods as well. Activity has been low due to Achilles tendon surgery the end of Sept. Health is great and blood work is all good numbers. Just overweight and want to lose before my health does suffer.

I look forward to hearing from Frank to see if he can help me with my protein and fat intake to ensure I am targeting the correct amounts.

Susan_RD_101

One final thing I want to reiterate is that you can be "overweight" and healthy. It sounds like you are in great health and taking important steps to maintain this. Keep up the great work!

NML

Can anyone tell me how to set my diet goals to "modified ketogenic"? This is what my doctor recommended; but I can't find where that setting is. Thank you.

Hilary

@NML Does your doctor mean Moderate Ketogenic Perhaps? Select the Profile Tab on your web browser version of Cronometer. Then scroll down to the Macronutrient targets section and select "High fat/ Ketogenic" from the drop down menu, and then select "Moderate" from the next drop down menu.