Counting Calories on Keto Can Hurt Your Progress

Are you still counting calories, even while following a keto plan? Let’s talk about how that plan can actually hurt your long-term results.

I come across this same bad low-calorie keto advice pretty much every day while scrolling Facebook. The other day I was scrolling in a group and came across a post that said, “I give up! How am I supposed to last on a diet where a chicken drumstick and two eggs count as a meal?”

This poor newbie read a very popular keto book, and the meal plan laid out in the book was a low-calorie keto plan.

And I don’t want to call the book out, because it’s only one of many.

We’ve all been brainwashed for so long about calories in vs. calories out that it’s even made its way over to keto.

And it just makes me sad. This keto newbie, who said she weighed over 300 lbs … how is she supposed to survive on such tiny portion sizes? Not to mention, she won’t even get lasting results if she follows a plan like this.

Yes, she will get some results when she’s first starting off. And since she has a while to go before hitting a healthier size, she may even get results for a while.

But eating these minuscule portion sizes will only last so long before she hits a big weight loss stall, or worse yet, starts regaining the weight she worked so hard to lose.

And if she’s eating meals like a chicken drumstick and two eggs for lunch, she is going to work hard for that weight loss. Meals like that are a starvation diet – and I know from decades of experience, starvation diets are one of the quickest ways to stay stuck in yo-yoing weight.

And that doesn’t even mention, that a meal like that doesn’t even have much fat!

You Need Adequate Fat to Get into Ketosis

If you’re not taking in enough fat on a keto plan, you’ll never get into ketosis in the first place … which means you’ll be cutting carbs, but you won’t be doing much else but feeling miserable.

When I work with challengers, the first thing I do is to ask them to cut their carbs, yes … but I also want them to take in enough fat.

And while that fat ranges anywhere from 100 grams all the way up to 175+ grams per challenger, depending on age, weight, height, activity level, etc. – I rarely calculate a challenger eat less than 100 grams of fat per day.

So if you’re not getting at least 100 grams of fat per day because some book is telling you to limit your meals to a drumstick and two eggs, I’d definitely find a new book.

And maybe she was exaggerating a little with this meal – but not by much since I’ve seen some keto diet plans that tell women to eat between 1000 – 1100 calories per day.

That’s really the minimum most women should eat just in fat calories each day.

Of course, if you’re getting results with a low-calorie keto plan like this, I don’t want to call you a liar – but I do want you to know it is going to be very difficult for you to keep anything you lose off long term.

If you’re struggling to figure out how much you should be eating, start with lowering carbs and upping fat to at least 100 grams per day for a while to see how you do. But again, most people will need more.

If you’re having problems digesting fat…

which looks like nausea, gas, diarrhea, loose stools, itchy skin, or acne, then:

Ramp up fat more slowly until you’re able to digest it better
Add in coconut oil since it’s the easiest form of fat to digest
Take beet flow to help your body emulsify fat better

Those are the tips I have for you to skip past starvation keto diets and start getting results as the challengers get – this past challenge, there were quite a few challengers who hit double-digit losses in only 3 weeks … and these are challengers who previously struggled with keto. So a lot of times, eating more of the right foods works, especially if you’ve over restricted for too long.

Your body needs to feel safe!

Just yesterday I also released the Meal Plan that was previously reserved for the Challengers and for our Keto Decoded Members – it’s called the Mix and Match Meal Plan.

If you’re having trouble figuring out how to put together keto meals that get you results, definitely check out the plan.

It’s actually more than just a meal plan, it’s really a complete keto meal planning system.

I also added in a few bonuses to help you get even better results,

Like a customizable keto shopping list where you can check off what you need as you run out of it and have a shopping list ready to go whenever you’re ready to shop.
There’s a Fasting Fast Start Guide – which if you haven’t added a fasting component to your routine yet, you’re really missing out on better results, and fasting just makes life so much easier – let me know in the comments if you’re still not fasting at all.
And since living a keto lifestyle takes focus and motivation, I also threw in my Master Your Motivation Workshop – it contains key strategies you can use to stay motivated for the long term.

I lost more than 100 lbs over 3 years ago, so I’d say I have that motivation part down … and I want to share it with you!

You can get that plan here.

Now – go eat more fat!

I’ll be back again next week to answer even more questions about keto that you probably didn’t even know you had!