The face numbers of simplicial polytopes that approximate $C^1$-convex bodies in the Hausdorff metric is studied. Several structural results about the skeleta of such polytopes are studied and used to derive a lower bound theorem for this class of polytopes. This partially resolves a conjecture made by Kalai in 1994: if a sequence $\{P_n\}_{n=0}^{\infty}$ of simplicial polytopes converges to a $C^1$-convex body in the Hausdorff distance, then the entries of the $g$-vector of $P_n$ converge to infinity.