Ketosis dangerous if at goal weight?

[el corazón]

Hey can someone tell me if its bad to be in ketosis if youre already at goal weight? I havent been eating so few carbs on purpose, just eating a lil more meat lately and I dont wanna go above my 1240 or so cal. limit. I'm not in ketosis yet (that Ive noticed). Ive been averaging around 15-20 TOTAL (not subtracting fiber) carbs a day. I dont feel hungry or like Im hurting myself but I thought I'd ask the experts to be sure. Thanks for all the help!!

[Natrushka]

Hey can someone tell me if its bad to be in ketosis if youre already at goal weight? I havent been eating so few carbs on purpose, just eating a lil more meat lately and I dont wanna go above my 1240 or so cal. limit. Hi there. There is absolutely no danger associated with being in ketosis if you're a healthy human being. It's a perfectly natural state that we enter into when blood glucose is in short supply.

Just curious, how did you come up with 1240 calories as your 'limit'? That is awfully low. IMHO, eating at that level consistently is a sure fire way to decrease metabolism permanently. LC shouldn't be low calorie - if you make it that way you'll get low calorie results (i.e., rebound weight gain as metabolism slows).

Nat

[kay3osu]

el corazon,

first, congrats on your success!!! :dazzle: and i was wondering if you could answer a few questions. did you lose 29 pounds since june? wow! and were you ever in ketosis when you lost all that weight? also, was this your first time losing weight? i'm having a hard time and like to hear success stories to keep me motivated! thanks and happy you are feeling so good!! kay

[el corazón]

Nat,
I was told 10-12x your body weight..goal weight is the amount of calories you should eat. 120x10=1200...i tend to eat between
1215-1250 tho. I definatly dont want to lower my metabolism and I REALLY dont want to gain the weight back. So...what do I do...? Would you PM me and tell me where I can read about this stuff? Now youve got me nervous :)

Kay,
I dont really know if Ive lost all the weight since June...I think I was at about 130-135lbs in June? Im guessing. I THINK I was in ketosis maybe once or twice. When I first started LCing I wasnt actually LCing..cut out most breads and pasta, though I had some every now and then. Still ate cookies too. Then I found this website and really cut back and started LCing. It was my first time losing weight. The most I ever weighed was 149, went down to about 145 by running and TRYING to eat less, still alot of bingeing. Now Im down to 118-121 depending on what I eat, I dont know what my actual weight is quite yet. PM me if you have any other questions or if I can help with anything. I dont know 1/2 as much as the rest of the people here but Ill try my best.

[Natrushka]

Nat,
I was told 10-12x your body weight..goal weight is the amount of calories you should eat. 120x10=1200...i tend to eat between
1215-1250 tho. I definatly dont want to lower my metabolism and I REALLY dont want to gain the weight back. So...what do I do...? Would you PM me and tell me where I can read about this stuff? Now youve got me nervous :) I prefer to do it out in the open, so others can benefit as well :)

There are many 'formulas' out there for figuering out BMR calories. BMR calories are those calories your body needs to keep it healthy and working if you were bedridden. It does not take into account your lifestyle, your daily activities or the termogenic effect of the food you eat (TEF) - food that is whole and natural takes energy to break down and digest, this is why we say the very act of eating raises metabolism. Adding all these numbers together gives you the amount of energy your body uses every day.

Typical weight loss plans will have you take this number, your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), and subtract 500 calories from that for a one pound a week loss. In a perfect world.

All these numbers are best guestimates, and from these guesses come formulas like 10x current body weight, 10x goal weight, etc. Caveats to this exist as well - studies show that women eating below 1350 calories on a consistent basis can permanently lower their metabolism. The 10x goal weight is similar to the Katch-McArdle formula for determining calorie intake and it is geared toward the obese - and the other is closer to the Harris-Benedict model - but both are missing key elements. You need to factor in activity levels.

Based on the Katch-Mcardle model a 120 lb woman w/ 20% BF who is moderately active would burn 2033 calories a day.

Using the Harris Benedict model that same woman would burn 2075 calories/day.

How low is too low? The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that calorie levels never drop below 1200 calories per day for women or 1800 per day for men. Even these calorie levels are extremely low. A more individualized way to determine the safe calorie deficit would be to account for one's bodyweight or TDEE. Reducing calories by 15-20% below TDEE is a good place to start. Taking the 120 lb woman from the example above:

Example 1 subtracting a straight 500 calories for 1 lb loss a week:
Your weight is 120 lbs.
Your TDEE is 2033 calories
Your calorie deficit to lose weight is 500 calories
Your optimal caloric intake for weight loss is 2033 - 500 = 1533 calories

Example 2: Your calorie deficit to lose weight is 20% of TDEE
.20% X 2033 = 406 calories
Your optimal caloric intake for weight loss = 1627 calories

you can read more here:
http://www.fitren.com/res3art.cfm?compid=18&artid=46

Cheers,
Nat

[Natrushka]

thanks for the help. i dont want to sound like a pain, and ive tried searching on the boards already but cant seem to find an answer. how many calories should i be eating to maintain my weight?

okay i think i have it figured out. i did a lil searching and found this site
http://www.countcarbs.com/advice/LC...s_WhatGives.htm
and think i understand now. i need 1411 calories to simply exist. so i should be eating at LEAST that many. problem is ive been eating in the 1240 range for about 3 weeks now. it scares me to jump to 1411 so fast. tomorrow i have down that i will eat 1362 calories. is that okay? i read that my body could have gone into starvation mode. does that mean im going to GAIN weight? im so sorry for all the questions and being such a pest. thanks for all your help

You're on the right track :) Increasing the calories slowly is something I should have added to my original post - especially if you've been eating low cals for an extended period of time.

The 1411 cals to 'simply exist' sounds like a good number to aim for - but keep in mind this is the minimum number you should (eventually) try to stay above - it's not the maximum number you should eat. This is like when followers of Protein Power figure out their minimum protein requirement and try to eat just that much every day. Minimum is just that - don't go below it, but that doesn't mean you can't eat more :)

You might want to focus on measurements for the next few weeks as a gauge for how you're doing - it's possible that weight might increase slightly while your body gets used to the higher calories. If it's been stressed it is in conservation mode - it's holding on to water and fat stores in the even calories are even further restricted.

Measurements will tell you if you're rebuilding tissue. Just to give you an example - My weight has not changed much in the past few months, yet clothing I wore 6 months ago is a lot looser. Had I gone by just the scale I'd be thinking I hadn't changed at all when that just isn't the case.

Seeing as you're at goal - or past it :) - instead of thinking "fat loss" you might want to focus on body composition. Looking better, leaner, more toned, at your current weight. Replacing fat with muscle, or even adding a few lbs of muscle, will raise your metabolism further, allowing for more calories at maintenance. It's very common to gain a few lbs of muscle, some scale weight, but lose a clothing size because muscle is more dense than fat, so it takes up less space / volume.

As you haven't been exercising starting now would definitely help offset any scale blip - especially if you looked at resistance training (lifting weights).

-Nat