It's possible your pancreas has enough function to give you normal blood glucose with this approach under ideal conditions--when you're under less stress. You've only recently had a dramatic improvement in your blood glucose, maybe with time your metabolism will become more resilient.



Maybe you should try to get in your full protein requirement on both your fasting and your fed days, and see what happens. Either that, or get in enough on the fed days to make up for the fasted protein intake. It's true that protein is used in gluconeogenesis--but we have a certain minimum requirement for glucose no matter how ketogenic our diet is, and if the protein for that doesn't come from our diet, it will come from our lean stores--so up to a certain point, additional protein should have minimal impact on increasing glucose production. It seems worth a try.

I only put the 'maybe' in there about trying to get in enough protein because I didn't want to seem pushy. This is me being pushy. Get enough protein.

I'm using a formula in protein power and it gave me 53g of protein, however Dr. Fung says .75 your Ideal weight. I think mine is 150 so .75*150 is 120g. What are the limits of protein?

Lessara, I'm 1.5" shorter than you, so to me your PP calculation sounds a bit low and your Fung calculation sounds a bit high - does he use kilograms?

Protein Power uses the same protein calculator as The Zone, based on lean body mass & there are online calculators for both at:

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/zo...zoneprotein.htm

It says 72 g of protein i should be eating. I only eat 53 on my eating days and far less on my fasting days. it appears my bone broth is roughly 9g per cup serving. wow. who knew.

You may want to aim for 72g on eating days and 53g on fasting days with regular LC eating. Without any extra protein, your body may want to consume some muscle to produce extra glucose. You won't notice this for a while and can then start to feel weak and tired. I typically pick my protein first, add a few carbs and the rest is fat, fat, fat. It is hard for me to eat 53g of protein at one sitting (unless it is roast chicken w/skin), so on fasting days I often have two meals 2-4 hrs apart. A can of salmon or tuna with mayo & salad, followed by a single burger later, works well for me to get my protein in. Other times I make a salad or cook some LC veg with the whole 53g of protein (usually two of meat/poultry/fish/eggs), eat as much as I can when I break the fast and put the rest in the fridge until I feel like eating the rest a couple of hours later.

But if you are consistently eating a ketogenic diet while IFing, once you are fat adapted (which takes a couple of weeks of perfect keto-eating), protein intake is not as critical, according to Mark Sisson:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fast.../#axzz3QHKNNkWR

I only eat two meals on eating days and finding ways to get protein over 53 is really tough. For fasting days I'm closer to 30g and can't get to 53g. Its hard to eat more than 4oz of meat for me.

I guess it's not really a bad thing, that you're experiencing that level of appetite suppression, this early in the game. This year, I've had protein intake as low as 60 grams a day for extended periods, with no obvious loss of lean mass or decreased strength working out. So personally, I lean towards the lower end of what the various low carb gurus recommend. But you're still a slight bit under that.

Protein requirements are based on what level of protein intake will put most--say 95 percent--people in positive balance. What this means is that lots of people will be in positive balance at a lower protein intake. There's also some extra protein thrown in above what's needed to put most people in balance, just as a precaution. So you might be all right, it's just that bit of insurance you're missing. I don't really think the 53 grams of protein a day is necessarily that bad, it's more the day at 30 grams that makes me wonder.