Can I Maintain a Net 300 Calorie Goal This Week?

Last Updated on May 21, 2023 by Michael Brockbank

With one week left to go on keto, and only 3 left until my planned photoshoot, I’ve decided to take a few drastic measures. For the remainder of the 12-week fitness challenge, I am aiming at a net 300 calorie diet! I know, it sounds ridiculously low. But I assure you, it’s feasible.

And no, not a single part of this plan has anything to do with starvation diets.

What Does My Net 300 Calorie Diet Plan Entail?

Every time I think of 300 calories, Gerard Butler’s voice echoes in my head, “This. Is. SPARTA!”

I suppose that is the kind of mindset I really need to keep this week. I mean, it would be pretty cool to look like a Spartan warrior in the next three weeks.

Setting MyFitnessPal Goal for a 300 Calorie Intake

First off, I set my goals in MyFitnessPal for 300 calories. This means I’m going to need to closely monitor my intake at all points of the day to make sure I keep the numbers green in the app.

For the most part, this shouldn’t be all that difficult to maintain. As long as I can keep myself afraid of seeing red numbers, all should be well.

But that’s been the most difficult part thus far.

In the beginning, I did everything I could to keep the numbers green. And I lost 20 pounds inside a month and a half because of it. Why can’t I muster the same passion today as I had 7 years ago?

Perhaps it’s nothing more than trying to make it a habit again. I need to stop being complacent with the numbers and saying, “eh, I’ll do better tomorrow.”

Keeping the Carbs Low-ish

If I maintain a keto-inspired diet, keeping the carbs low shouldn’t be all that big of a problem. And it’s not like I don’t have plenty of things I can eat throughout the day.

The entire idea of this experiment is to lose fat. And according to everything I’ve read, the keto diet forces you to burn fat as energy extremely quickly. So, there should be no reason why I can’t drop the pounds quicker.

And since I plan on spoiling myself rotten in a week, I need to lose all I can.

Now, there are plenty of things I like still that promote a bit higher of a carb count. But if I can sustain the 300 calorie diet, I should be able to burn them off quickly while still burning fat in the process.

Of course, this is just an experiment. I won’t know how this works for me until after the first week. I may decide it’s just too much.

Heh, story of my life, really.

Fitbit Tracking to Offset Activity

The key to making this idea work is physical activity. My Fitbit records physical data and sends it to MyFitnessPal. That means that if I want to eat more, I need to be more physical.

And there are plenty of things I can do throughout the day to make that happen. For example, I’m about to run another 20-minute house cleaning recording for data I’m using in a future blog post.

Not to mention I can always jump in front of the Xbox for 20 to 30 minutes.

The point is that I need to increase my daily levels of activity. Since I work and play mostly from my computer, I need to get up and move. I’m tired of being tethered to my desk, really.

Not to mention that I’m getting my ass handed to me in the Fitbit Bingo games I play with friends and family.

Working for Every Meal and Snack

The actual premise of this net 300 calorie diet is to burn enough calories to “afford” eating every meal and snack throughout the day.

For example, I have 53 calories right now for lunch. If I want to add more to it, I better get off my ass and burn more. In this case, I’m going to see how much of a sweat I can work up cleaning house.

And depending on what I’m cleaning, it’s actually a lot easier than you might think.

Usually, you can burn enough calories through a 20-minute walk to have a light snack as well. If you pick up the pace and walk faster, you could easily burn enough for most meals.

I Need to Lose 7.2 Pounds This Week

Before I can call it “quits” for the keto diet next week, I need to be at 220 pounds. That’s the deal I made with Sam, and something I am going to hold myself to.

If I can focus as much on this week as I did for the first week of keto, I can probably hit this goal by Wednesday. But, that really depends if I can keep myself moving enough to burn the fat.

The hard part is adjusting for muscle mass. Some parts of my body have been toning up nicely by going to the gym. So, I may be putting on more weight in muscle than I’m losing in fat mass.

There’s also the added emphasis that the holidays are coming up quite quickly. If I want any of the goodies that I love throughout these last few months, I better keep active.

Losing 7 pounds this week is also why I dropped my goal to a 300-calorie intake. I know I can burn half a pound per day if I stick to my Net 600 Calorie diet. Dropping it to 300 should greatly improve my chances.

Or, it could send me into hypoglycemic shock and next week’s blog post will be from the emergency room.

I’ll keep an eye on things. If it looks like I can’t maintain, I’ll just go back to what I was doing before. I’m not going to cause severe injury to myself for the sake of losing 7 pounds in a week.

And Sam loves to stick me with the needle to test blood sugar and ketosis levels.

How Much Can I Lose This Week?

So, here we are. Day one of this week-long experiment to see if I can maintain a net 300 calorie diet. It’s completely doable, even with working out three times a week. I just need to monitor myself closely and make sure my blood sugar levels don’t drop too much.

The next week is going to be interesting, that is for sure. As long as I can manage myself, that is.

About Author

Michael Brockbank

Since 2015, Michael has put in the effort to lose more than 80 pounds by gamifying fitness and eating proper portion sizes. He conducts extensive research into various health and fitness products to provide the best answers possible according to his own experience and knowledge.

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