I’ve talked a little bit in other blogs about the fact that I’ve gained back about 10 pounds that I had originally lost on keto. This has happened in the last 6 months or so. It’s not a big deal. I know that I’m going through menopause, so my hormones are likely out of whack. But that’s easy to say, and more difficult to accept in real life. I decided to do two weeks of counting calories on keto to see if that would make a difference. Just track what I was taking in, to feel more confident that I wouldn’t gain back all 65 pounds I had lost.
How to Count Calories on Keto
So, most keto experts tell you not to count calories on keto. It’s more important to ensure you are getting the right amount of fat in relation to carbs and protein. And, I agree with that somewhat. But occasionally, I know that even though my macros are on point, I am eating over 2,000 calories in the run of a day. That certainly isn’t my norm, but it happens when we go out to eat and have a larger portion that we usually do.
I decided to track my calories and carb intake for two weeks, just to see what happens. The first week, I’m going to just eat normally but record what I take in. The second week, I’ll plan a little more and try to reach my goal amount of calories and carbs. I’ll weigh myself at the first of this experiment and then again at the end and see if there is any difference.
How Many Calories Should I Take In?
The first trick was to find out how many calories I should be taking in. I used the Mayo Clinic calculator. I like this one because it takes into consideration things like your activity levels and your age. To me, it’s just a little more accurate. According to this calculator, I should be taking in 1800-2000 calories a day to maintain my weight.
I used to believe that you just needed to decrease your calories in order to lose weight. I subscribed to the calories-in-calories-out method. It made sense to me that if you took in more calories than you burned, your body would store them as fat. Likewise, if you took in fewer calories than you burned, your body would use fat storage for energy. It turns out that it’s a bit more complicated than that.
The Hazards of Counting Calories on Keto
I will be totally honest, I don’t understand exactly how our bodies work. I’m not a nutritional scientist or doctor. My understanding is that your body is somewhat like a car. If you take care of it with top of the line energy sources, it will work more efficiently for you. But, if you fill your body with crap, it can’t work at its top effectiveness. This is why most keto experts suggest that you eat whole foods and get your nutrients from real food, rather than supplements, as much as possible.
When we start starving our bodies by cutting the amount of calories we take in, our bodies start to stutter and panic. It can no longer depend on you to feed it the supreme fuel, and our metabolism starts to waiver. There are many studies that show that if you cut calories too far below our ideal amounts, our body re-adjusts and decides that is now its new normal. Therefore, instead of maintaining your weight at 1,800 calories a day, it starts maintaining your weight at 1,500 calories a day. The more you reduce your calories, the lower your maintenance level will be.
A History of Counting Calories
Many of us – in fact I’d say most of us – have dieted by cutting calories. And, most of us have experienced gaining that weight back plus some when we go back to eating our normal amount of calories. I’m looking at research around how we can heal our metabolism once we’ve messed with it. That will be another blog for another time. For now, I just want to be clear that I am counting calories only to see where I am – not to cut the amount I am eating.
Next Steps in Counting My Calories on Keto
So, this next week I will count the number of calories and carbs I am taking in each day. I’ll do a summary of this information and do a blog next week on what I have found. After that, I’ll decide if it’s something I need to change or if I am good and if I can just maintain this weight with what I’m doing. Stay tuned!
Wendy
