Keto Goal Tracking: Motivation or Madness?

I woke up a little perplexed the other morning. 🤔

My numbers were all over the place!

I was going to kick off the day by testing a new low carb bread for you (and me!), but my glucose and ketone levels weren’t at my usual baseline numbers.

The bread is GREAT by the way, but I always do CLEAN TESTING (vs just guessing) and I had eaten several things the day before that I haven’t tested yet. All low carb, but one thing was a piece of sugar free candy I haven’t ever tested for example.

I like to eat super clean for 72 hours (plain meat, eggs, raw pecans, etc) before “clean testing” a new food or recipe or product for you to get accurate results on how it affects my blood sugar & ketone levels.

My Keto Tracking & Testing Tools

I wear a Fitbit, which I have synced to the MyFitnessPal app, and I track pretty much everything: how active or inactive I am, sleep quality, my meals & macros, weight loss & daily weight fluctuations, appetite levels, etc.

I also use a Keto Mojo meter to test my blood ketone & glucose levels, usually to test the effect of various foods, and document those results as well.

Here’s a snapshot of all the crazy numbers I woke up to the other day, which I’ll explain in detail in a second…

This is our 15% off Keto Mojo discount link if you want to check it out.

I mostly keep a casual check on everything as I go, so I didn’t stress out over my ketone & glucose levels being so off – I simply put off doing the test on that keto bread until my numbers stabilized.

To be honest I find it all fascinating, and it gives me TONS of insight as I learn more about my body and it’s patterns – plus responses and reactions to various foods & external factors.

But that wasn’t always the case for me, and may or may not be the best thing for YOU to do…

Let’s Talk NUMBERS (Motivation or Madness?!) and Keto Goals…

📉 Goal weight, current weight, weight fluctuations, pant size, calories, carbs, macros, ketone levels, blood sugar, grams – RAH! 🤯

It’s enough to drive you mad… IF you let it.⁣
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Note: they’re JUST numbers, and most of them are going to fluctuate A LOT – by the hour even. 😉⁣

I get that having a goal weight or a goal size can be a great motivator, but it can also cause a lot of stress. Especially if you put a timeline on it, or set unrealistic expectations.

I discovered that I was actually WRONG about MY goal weight, and also that I could be that same weight – but several sizes bigger or smaller. I’m a size 8 now for example, but close to the same weight I am now I was once a size 4/6.

That’s because your body composition can totally change: more lean muscle, less muscle and more body fat, etc.

I also ran into problems being TOO focused on a goal weight. Especially once I reached it, because then I felt LOST and kept feeling like: now what?! 🤷‍♀️

And for years before that, I found myself in a crazy cycle of self-sabotage every time I got within 10-20 pounds of my “goal weight” – which was just weird.

Fear of success maybe, or not ready to stop struggling?

I know: nuts! 😜

Having a goal weight also became an unhealthy obsession for me, to the point that I was missing out on ENJOYING my daily life because I was too focused on “the numbers of they day.”

Numbers are great to track, but NOT an ideal goal or focus.
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I have no idea what had my blood glucose & ketone levels SO off the other morning (because I wasn’t doing “clean testing”) but both numbers recovered quickly within a few hours.⁣

Interestingly 0.4 is “out of ketosis” yet I woke up almost a pound lighter that morning (a 0.8 lb loss). Go figure. 🤷‍♀️⁣
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They’re JUST numbers.

I had almost 2000 calories, was well under 20 net carbs and only ate “keto” foods, had elevated blood sugar and was “out of ketosis” the next morning and weighed almost a pound less.

The numbers don’t always make sense. Especially if you’re TOO focused on certain numbers without considering the WHOLE picture.

My point is: don’t let any one number throw you off, or NO change in numbers even: whether the scales move or not, move in the wrong direction, etc.

Seeing that 0.4 reading on my ketone meter could have easily made me think “oh man, I’m out of ketosis for some reason! I might as well just eat whatever I want then…”

That’s just silly! 0.5 is IN ketosis, so I was barely outside that, and still registering ketones in my bloodstream – and my numbers DID stabilize within a few hours and I was right back in ketosis with my usual baseline blood sugar level.

Instead of blowing the whole day, and potentially derailing myself into a binge that lasted for DAYS, I simply noted the numbers and stayed on track and got on with my day.
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The important thing is to live your life, ENJOY your life, and make healthy choices TODAY. ✔⁣
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That works great for me.

I used to get all caught up in the numbers and let it RUIN my day, cause me to make irrational decisions, or totally derail me from my goals. 🤦‍♀️ (Don’t do that.)⁣
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Now I simply monitor everything with interest, always in testing mode, always curious – in a FUN way! 🤔⁣
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It’s like a game figuring out your own bio-individuality: what causes what, food culprits, sleep quality, environmental factors (weather patterns, air quality, etc), circumstances, stress, hormone cycles, other health factors – it’s all fascinating! ❣⁣
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I don’t sweat calories or have calorie goals, and I never have. I lost all my weight just keeping it very simple: 20 net carbs max and 70% fat minimum. Here’s a simple illustration & explanation of how keto macros made simple.

I do mind my macros because I need to stay in nutritional ketosis for health reasons. You can read more about my story here, and how ketosis helps me manage chronic pain issues and live a FUN active lifestyle now!

I don’t fret over scale fluctuations anymore though, I just note them in my MyFitnessPal app. And as long as the pants flatter my figure 👖 I don’t care what size they are.⁣
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I simply want to be HAPPY AND HEALTHY and open to always listening to & learning my own body 👀 and constantly improving both my health & happiness .🙌⁣
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Consider Creating Better Goals

If you find yourself “dieting” or constantly feeling stressed, or think you might have an unhealthy obsession with numbers and goals, it’s a great time to reevaluate what your goals REALLY are.

Instead of a certain weight or size for example, my current goal is to get back in AMAZING shape, and to feel and look my BEST.

That goal motivates me to make healthy choices, smart decisions, find time for simple strength training or work exercise into my social time, and instead of being stressful or all-consuming… it actually adds more FUN to my life, in an easy relaxed way!

What about you: do the numbers drive you nuts?

What do you track, and why do you track it?

Here’s what I track:

* carbs, fat & protein macros
* sleep quality
* weight/size changes
* appetite cycles
* blood sugar & ketone levels
* how individual foods affect me

Like I said, I keep a casual “finger on the pulse” of my overall health & well being, and monitor changes with interest. It’s not something I obsess over, but rather… enjoy.

I’ve had WAY more fun getting to know my body and learning new ways to improve it’s performance, than I *ever* had “dieting” or constantly punishing my body because I was PUSHING for results.

Listening to my body, instead of constantly trying to tell IT what to do, was a radical shift that took away tons of stress and frustration.

It also makes me feel more empowered and in control, instead of feeling controlled by all those numbers.

Testing Over Guessing

As a final note, I can’t express enough how important it is to TEST and know things for sure instead of just guessing or assuming things.

I’ve seen so many people eliminate dairy (and complain about it, and feel deprived) without ever having done a clean testing series, or being tested for a dairy sensitivity or intolerance – as just one example.

The whole point of getting healthier is to be HAPPIER and to open up even MORE options in your life.

If you find yourself LESS happy, or eliminating more and more things to the point that it’s affecting your quality of life or daily enjoyment… it’s time to rethink the direction you’re going!

Through proper testing, and making strategic tweaks over time, I’ve been able to add in a wider variety of foods over the last year – like sweet potatoes for example.

I think it’s GREAT to have goals…

As long as those goals are serving you, keeping you motivated (instead of deflated), IMPROVING your quality of life, improving both your physical AND mental health, and making your daily life more FUN. ❤️

Having been on both sides of this, I can tell you firsthand that it’s NICE to relax and have “bigger picture” goals than it is to be fixated on numbers.

There’s way less stress, and you can have goals that are easily sustainable long term: like simply being healthier & happier for example. 😉

I would love to hear YOUR thoughts & experiences with goals…

Leave a comment & let’s discuss!

Best,
Lynn Terry,
aka @LowCarbTraveler

 

 

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