1982nodak's Journal, 14 November 2018

What type of diet are you doing? Are you logging what you are eating? How many calories does your body burn in one 24 hr period if you do nothing. This is your “maintenance” calories. Mine is 1900 calories per day. If I maintain a 500 calorie deficit and only eat 1400 calories for 7 days that is a total deficit of 3500 calories and I will lose 1 pound. If I (we) keep carbs to less than 50 each day we will lose faster as the body starts to burn its own fatty deposits! Yeah! KETO diet! Salt your foods and drink water! Healthy fats greatly reduce hunger pains..... Good shedding!  

My maintenance calories are over 2,600 calories per day. Breastfeeding helps it stay up there. I have considered Keto, but honestly the only thing I really care about is that it is organic and non-go and is from scratch. I like pasta from scratch, bread from scratch with only organic ingredients. I care a lot about what is put in my body. But I can't do the true KETO diet with the intermittent fasting because my blood sugar drops down into the 30s and 40s if I even go 3-6 hours without eating. I even wake up in the middle of the night with blood sugar dips. I don't have diabetes and my doctors don't know why, but that is one of the reasons why I avoid the KETO diet. Although I do a really high protein and good fat diet and I'm low on carbs, I'm just not a no carb girl.  

Whoops Non-GMO not non-go, lol. 

If you’re just counting calories and not doing keto, keeping a good caloric deficit is what matters. A caloric deficit is key for any diet for that matter. I burn about 2000-2300 kcals a day, according to my health app. I consume, everyday, 1515 or less calories than that. So I’ll continue to do that until Thanksgiving. However for the holiday since I’m cooking a lot I’ll get to portion the meals 😈! And I also put it in my mind to expect a 5-8lbs weight increase, shooting for 5. I hope you don’t let the holidays stress you out too much! 

I will try to save calories, but I am ok if I gain 5 lbs 😁 

MsEra, Stress in my nemesis. I found out I have a rare thyroid condition where when my cortisol increases (stress) then my thyroid becomes more hypo. So whenever I get stressed my meds need to increase. I don't have hashimotos or anything, so you are right when you say don't let the holidays stress me out. I just love Thanksgiving and everything on the table and even if I just have a bite of this or a bite of that I will go over my calories that day, and lets be real I will have more than a bite. At least this year I'm not hosting. I love to host, but like any good cook you do have to taste every step along the way to make sure the seasoning is correct and so at least for this year I will miss out on those extra calories. I've been aiming for 1500-1600 calories the last few days (again I just started) and that isn't too far off from what you have been doing. I think it is great that you are realistic and putting in for your weight gain, but I really don't want that to happen and want to find other ways to still lose without every having special meals and special occasions. I want to find balance.  

I just treat it like all my other meals - Plan what I am going to have and keep the portions the right size. I might go over on carb free items but other than that I can't really eat that much anymore with out being very uncomfortable.  

1982, I have no knowledge of your health issues, but the point of the keto diet is to stop running your body on carbs (glucose) and run it on fat (ketones) instead. Your body has a much bigger store of fat to draw on than of glucose; and would be much less susceptible to highs and lows. 

I, too, need to plan out what I'm eating for the day. I don't plan the week, but I will also try to exercise more around big eating days. 

@gz9 Bingo!