New Year Keto Reset (2020): Protein, Vitamins and Salts First, Everything Else Optional

2020-01-01

This is a 38-minute Live I did in my Facebook group on New Year's Day 2020, after a dropped connection forced a second start. It was never on YouTube. It's my most stripped-down version of the diet: figure out what your body can't store, supply that every day, and treat the rest as a matter of taste and comfort. It was week one for anyone restarting in January and week five for the group that had started the reboot with me on December 1.

In this recording

[0:01] We're a weight-loss group, not a ketogenic group as such; ketosis is a tool for hunger and energy.
[0:55] While you lose weight you don't need dietary sugar, and you carry many days of energy as body fat.
[1:36] Protein is hard to store and water-soluble vitamins and minerals leave daily, so those are what you supply.
[2:20] Below about 30 g of fat a day there may be hormonal trouble, but on real food that's very hard to reach.
[2:56] Vegetables: eat the ones you like for nutrition; they aren't what made you heavy.
[4:14] Less food means less nutrition from food, so I close the gap with a multivitamin, plus calcium and magnesium and salts.
[5:35] My view that "starvation mode" isn't something a low-carb dieter needs to worry about.
[6:15] Intro phase: fattier meats, cheese and nuts are fine; cut rice, bread, pasta, soda, cookies and chips first.
[10:11] Why higher-carb diets worked in active farming cultures that weren't insulin resistant.
[20:50] Anything is a ketogenic food in a small enough amount; keto is a restriction of carbohydrate, nothing more.
[23:29] "Free foods" for the year: leafy greens, eggs, white fish, shrimp, chicken breast, while you're well above goal weight.
[25:20] The rule: if carbs plus fat (in grams) beat protein, that food is in danger country.
[27:08] My protein formula: 80 g, plus 20 each for tall, active or male.
[29:44] If you're hungry right after eating diet-sized meals, bring carbs down further.
[31:28] Week-five group: start bringing added fats down and lean on leaner proteins.
[32:45] The 2020 tip: grab-and-go protein snacks, especially seasoned oven-baked chicken bites.
[33:57] Diet drinks: artificial sweeteners won't make you fat, though they may trigger cravings for sweets.
[36:54] Salt targets: potassium 4,700 mg a day, sodium at least 3,500 and probably 5,000 to 6,000 mg.

Watching this in 2026

The skeleton of this Live still holds: carbs are the lever for hunger, protein is the target, and fat fills in around them. What I'd change is how blunt I was. I said that weight loss is basically as simple as "don't eat anymore," then called that "kind of anorexic" and moved straight on to supplements (live QWCT4343). If you have any history of disordered eating, that framing isn't for you. Keep a doctor or therapist involved, and don't use fasting or very low intake as a fix.

The second thing: this is the Live where I tell the week-five group to bring fats down and the newcomers to just cut carbs. That's the same three-phase idea as my 2017 fat video, only firmer (live QVVT1357; write-up).

The claim worth unpacking: the 80-plus-20s protein formula

My formula gave me 140 g, as a tall, active male. A tall woman gets 100 (live QWCT4343). It's easy to remember and doesn't need a calculator. Here's how it sits against the protein evidence page:

The adult RDA is 0.80 g/kg/day (IOM 2005). That is a floor for preventing deficiency, not a dieting target.
A review puts needs during energy restriction at 1.8 to 2.0 g/kg/day, depending on the size of the deficit (Phillips & van Loon 2011).
Across 24 trials and 1,063 people, energy-restricted high-protein diets gave modestly more weight and fat loss and less loss of fat-free mass (Wycherley 2012).
Raising protein from 15% to 30% of energy cut intake by 441 calories a day without anyone being told to eat less (Weigle 2005).

So the instinct to push protein during weight loss has support. A flat 80 g doesn't scale with body size the way the g/kg numbers do. If you have kidney disease, set your protein with your doctor, not from my formula.

Then vs now: the salt numbers

The targets I gave here, 4,700 mg potassium and 5,000 to 6,000 mg sodium, are higher than the reference bodies. The National Academies' 2019 adequate intake for potassium is 2,600 mg a day for women and 3,400 for men, and it says to reduce sodium if you're above 2,300 (NASEM 2019). The large PURE cohort did associate 3 to 6 g a day of sodium with fewer deaths and cardiovascular events than intakes above or below (O'Donnell 2014). But it estimated sodium from one morning urine sample, and it's observational. I'm putting my old numbers next to theirs rather than replacing mine. If you take blood-pressure medication, or have kidney or heart problems, get your doctor's input before you add salt or potassium.

On the multivitamin: the US Preventive Services Task Force calls the evidence insufficient for preventing heart disease or cancer (USPSTF 2022). My reason was different, filling gaps on a smaller diet. In the A TO Z trial, women on Atkins had shifted toward inadequate thiamine, folate, vitamin C, iron and magnesium by eight weeks (Gardner 2010).

Key points

Supply daily what your body can't store: protein, vitamins, minerals. Most of the rest is up to you.
Quick check for a food or meal while losing: protein grams higher than carbs plus fat.
Be as strict on carbs as you're comfortable with. Go stricter if hunger and cravings are driving you.
Week five and beyond: lean proteins, less added fat.
Involve a doctor for blood-pressure or diabetes medication, kidney disease, pregnancy, or an eating-disorder history.