Hi All
I did the BSD sometime ago, but fell off the wagon in a big way with various stresses. However, I decided to get back on track this year with 16:8 fasting and drinking much more water. I sort of then fell into eating 800 calories as I didn’t feel hungry, so decided I should just commit to fast 800. I’ve lost 4.5kg in Jan (I’ve 30kg to lose), which I’m OK with as I always lose slowly (45 year old female).

I’ve been recording all my food on myfitnesspal, so I can track macros and calories. I read the book at the weekend, but I couldn’t really find anything on macros, and when I input the recipes into myfitness pal, there were big variations in the calorie count.
My carbs (gross) were averaging 47g per day last week, having reduced from 87g per day in the first week as I was easing myself in. They mainly come from veg so net would be lower but myfitness pal doesn’t track that. I have been in keto according to my ketostix pretty much from the start (I have also started weight training 3x per week). Last week was my lowest loss (.5kg) but my lowest carb week. My question is whether I should cut carbs further for faster loss, or would that be pointless if I’m already in keto?
Any advice appreciated – Thank you
Andrea

AndreaG, First of all I am not into the macro thing as long as I am under 800 cals and 50g carbs and eat plenty of veg, some protein and no white carbs I let the macros take care of themselves. Can I also say that macro counters are not very accurate or reliable.
I use a site to check my cals and carbs but it screams at me every day that I have not eaten enough and automatically adjusts my ideal calorie intake, tells me I am doing too much exercise and says I should eat more spuds – joke. That said, I think you are doing great. You have good weight loss, your carbs are below 50g, you are exercising and not even complaining about anything like headaches, boredom, hunger etc. You think you are a slow loser but not everyone loses at the same rate. It took me the full 8 weeks to lose 5.5kg. If you have been doing this since beginning of January then you are about due for a very slow week and your 0.5kg is probably just that. Your body needs to reset itself as there have been big changes going on inside even if you cant see them on the scales. I know there are some who like to be around 20g carbs but I personally find that difficult as I then struggle to balance the diet without eating too much protein. There are carbs in veg, most veg (except the below ground ones) are great so, you can either stick with what you are doing in the knowledge weight loss will kick in again or go lower. It is really up to you but dont get too worried, you are doing great.

About the ketosis, just answered a question on this. Once your body is used to seeing all those ketones it stops flushing them out and starts using them as a source of energy – especially for brain function – so it will appear to your sticks that you are out of ketosis which might lead you to go even lower on carbs. This is the normal process and measuring ketones is not really a good indication of how you are doing on the diet. Keep going, you are doing great.

Thanks sunshine_girl – it can be difficult not to obsess over the numbers! Thank you for the encouragement!
I’ll stick with what I am doing as I feel fine – no headaches, I just feel more cold than normal. I think drinking all the water takes care of the hunger. I’ve lost a few inches as well and feel less wobbly so I’ll take that for now.

Thanks again 🙂