Admin If you’re interested in trying Keto, the idea of tracking every bite you take can be overwhelming and undesirable. If you’ve tried keto before, even tracking macros, you’ll know that it can be difficult to stay on track.
Portion sizes increase, you don’t know if your favorite coffee shop is sneaking sugar into their scrambled eggs, and it can be exhausting to constantly think about whether your broccoli carb count is total or net carbs. What’s even harder is to know if any of this matters.
Before you give up on keto because you think about tracking every bite of food for the rest of your life, let’s review whether you need to track – and how to succeed on keto without counting any macros.
Can You actually Do Keto without Tracking Macros?
Despite what the keto police may say, there really is no right or wrong way to do things. It’s more important to find what works for you and your goals, rather than someone else telling you what to do.
Macro-regulation is highly emphasized in conjunction with keto treatment. But this is more because limiting your total carbohydrates is necessary to achieve and maintain ketosis.
However, tracking all of your macros is not mandatory. Some people like to use specific numbers to help them achieve their goals. But many others treat macros as laws and end up putting a lot of unnecessary stress on themselves.
Tips for Success with Keto without Tracking Macros or Calories
1. Stop weighing yourself every day
When you’re trying to lose weight, stepping on the scale is probably already part of your daily ritual.
If you associate your success with the number on the scale, I have news for you: your weight does not equal your happiness, energy or confidence.
Transforming your goals into something you can actually impact on a daily basis will lead to long-term motivation and success.
If you like having some sort of data to back up your motivation, try measuring yourself once a month.
2. Accept that you will make mistakes
Chances are you’re eating something high in carbohydrates without realizing it. This is normal. It doesn’t mean your keto journey is over, or that you’ve failed.
If you can accept the little bumps in the road, you won’t be completely derailed and you can make your next choice a healthy keto meal.
3. Keep a list of your tried and true Keto meals that you enjoy
Instead of counting carbs or calories, have a keto diet that you enjoy cooking and eating. You don’t need to track carbs or calories because you know they already fit.
Whether it’s a cookbook, a keto recipe website or an old 21-day meal plan, you can recycle those recipes you like and make them your own.
4. Learn the difference between brain hunger and body hunger
This is critical if you let go of tracking macros on Keto. Many of us can’t distinguish between carbohydrate bloat and satiety because we’ve trained our brains to think it’s the ideal feeling after a satisfying meal.
Brain hunger can be brought on by a range of factors, including hormones, social situations, cravings, stress, poor sleep, and more. If we can recognize brain hunger and learn to soothe it, rather than fuel it with carbohydrates, we can reduce our cravings.
5. Wait until you’re fat adapted for the most success
Once we have been eating keto for about 4-6 weeks, our bodies become “fat adapted”. This means that our body has become accustomed to burning fat instead of carbohydrates as fuel.
The main benefit of fat adaptation is that our body now prefers to burn fat – so even if we eat high carb foods and get out of ketosis, recovery is much faster. It no longer takes 3-4 days, but sometimes only a few hours.
If you can stick to a strict keto diet plan for the first 4 weeks or so, you can be flexible after that because your body will recover from ketosis quickly.
Summary
Whether or not macros tracking is the right choice for you depends on your personal goals and your previous experience with Keto. We need to make Keto enjoyable and data entry for most people, is not fun!
