Keto Tip: Eating Too Much Protein Can Be The Same as Eating Too Many Carbs

Today’s keto tip is one that took me a little while to understand in my own weight loss journey.  In the beginning I pretty much thought of food as either one of two things, either I could eat it or I couldn’t.  I didn’t really understand that I could eat too much of a “good” thing and it would cause problems for my weight loss.  At first I had to realize that eating a bunch of nuts, nut butters, and dairy was slowing my down but then I learned that eating too much protein would do the same thing.

What is Gluconeogenesis?

Gluconeogenesis is a metabolic process where the body makes glucose from something other than a carbohydrate, typically excess protein, which will knock you out of dietary ketosis.  There is no hard and fast amount of protein that I can tell you to stay under to avoid gluconeogenesis because each person has a different tolerance level.  I know that for me personally, I got in to trouble if I had more than about 10 oz of meat in the evening and really had to be careful to increase the total amount of fat I ate during the day to be sure I didn’t hit my limit.

How to Avoid Gluconeogenesis

We tend to think of a ketogenic diet as a High Fat, Low Carb diet but you really need to add “Moderate Protein” in the middle of that list.  There are a few little tricks I had to learn to keep my protein levels at the right level.

#1 Track Your Food and Weight – It was so helpful for me to track what I ate and how my weight responded the next day.  This was the the most important thing I did to discover both my protein tolerance and what foods affected my bodies in different ways.

#2 Test Your Ketones – I wish I could afford this Ketonix breath ketone analyzer because it seems like a much easier way to do it but these ketone strips work as well.  It’s nice to be able to see immediately how what you ate affected your ketone level.

#3 Eat High Fat Meat – Don’t be scared of protein but if you are choosing a cut of meat, eat the one with the highest fat content.  So rather than have that boneless skinless chicken breast, eat the leg or thigh with the skin still on.  Get the steak or pork chop with the big strip of fat or the most marbling.  Choose sardines, salmon, Chilean Sea Bass, or anchovies over catfish, cod, or flounder.  Wrap your meat in bacon and slather it in butter.  Just consistently try to eat as much fat with your protein as possible.

Eating a ketogenic diet has absolutely been a god-send for me as I was totally incapable of losing weight until I found it.  It has taken a little tinkering to figure out the ins and outs but it has resulted in a consistent weight loss of over 150 lbs so far and I know it will work for you!

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