Oops! Protein aint it

 Letter to author of ketogenic-diet-resource.com:

 

After spending hours playing with the numbers, I decided it's close enough for horseshoes! 

I got into this conundrum because I lost 20 pounds the first two months and zero (well, up/down 2#) the third!! And my body loves ketosis! Anyway, since I track compulsively (loseit and myfitnesspal), I couldn't figure it out. And then I found your site and the plateau section. Which is why I was trying to determine if I was getting too much protein. Unfortunately, since I've decided it's close enough for horseshoes, that only leaves the one I feared: not eating enough. (Eating can get very boring without carbs!) 

Sure enough, when I thought about it, I remembered that I had deliberately DOUBLED my exercise time in this third month (trying to increase my fitness level), but I didn't change my calorie intake. Clearly, I have to try to manage this during the fourth month, but it's scairy. I HATE having to suddenly come up with 400-500 more calories including boring PROTEIN at the end of the day plus there's so much guess work involved in calculating calories burned. However, I think I will plan on making your shakes (I LOVE shakes!). Wish me luck, and I'll let you know how it goes.

By the way, before I found your site I had experimented with increasing carbs. Oh, disaster. Immediately got depressed and grouchy again. It's so sad that people in my generation (I'm 73) spent our LIVES avoiding fat. It was Dr. David Perlmutter'sGrain Brain that introduced me to ketosis and the benefits of fat. 

Finally, I don't remember if I read it on your site or elsewhere, but I was THRILLED to learn that I can do this forever, that there's no downside.

Refining Purlmutter: the Ketogenic Diet

Purlmutter worked great, but then it didn't. Researching, I discovered http://www.ketogenic-diet-resource.com/ which is fantastic.

 My experience with Purlmutter--which is essentially a ketogenic diet--was that my body loved it. I was never hungry, never depressed. But what to do when it stops working? This new web site has given me ideas. I picked up two facts immediately: 1) a 'cheating' day can result in the body needing another two weeks to get back into ketogenesis, and 2) protein quantity is FIXED as a ratio of LBM (lean body mass) and should never be determined as a percentage of daily intake--which is what I have been doing.

Sooooo, over the next few months I'll be monitoring my LBM and adjusting protein requirements weekly. Today I weigh 200.2 which is 37.9% fat, 31.2% water, 26.3% muscle, with a bone density score of 3.4. This tells me my LBM is 52.6 so my daily protein intake should be 1 or 1.5 x 52.6 or max (let's call it) 80g.