1 month in gained approx 3 kgs

(Lenka) #1

HI guys,
I am 37, 172, and around 71kgs but I would say around 35 body fat at the moment… I lost a lot of muscle in the past year with bad nutrition due to traveling and no exercise.
I started keto one month ago and honestly I still keep waiting for any of the benefits

I have struggled with binge eating disorder and I keep eating too much fat so nosuprise I actually gained 3 kgs (visibly … stangely the fat is all around my legs and knees which is not an area I normally gain)
in general the way my body reacts since starting keto has been super strange… also i think i am retaining water a lot and my body is full of inflamation

I eat mosly meat grass fed beef, some avocadoes and sometimes a bit of spinach and eggs… I aim for 1300 kcal 70 protein, around 90 fat (but for sure I overshoot quite often) but realy I am mainly carnivore, nothing processed at all

I know I am in ketosis because I check my blood … I am around 1.5 but even after a month I have no mental clarity, no energy, pretty fast weight gain, water retention, super dry skin, exemas, inflamation, cravings , heavy depression
I dont know what I am doing wrong, I drink electolytes, around 3 liters of water… I also pee very little (like 3x a day)

I had four days last week when suddenly I could feel it started to work I went mostly carnivore but then I suddenly I started to feel very sick to my stomach so I added a bit of veg and then it went dowhill again. (no energy and super hard cravings)

I am super scared especially since I am gainig weight really fast…

Also need to say that I have no disease, no issues with anything but also have history of binge and restirction so my metabolism is a bit of a mess I am sure.

#2

I consider that a very good thing as 1300 kcal is barely anything… And you aren’t, like, 40kg…

Not everyone get benefits on keto - though I get some if I go near carnivore but all of us are different. I never will get “mental clarity” but I don’t even want it, my old high-carb level is just fine :smiley:
I don’t get more energy either, sadly, I hope for longer term carnivore if I can pull it off. But with 1300 kcal I wouldn’t expect any, actually (for myself, I mean).
But food choices are important too and it’s individual to some extent… Some of us need lots of experimenting to find the sweet spot.

Weight gain and water retention is odd, I can’t say anything for that. But no way you gain a noticeable amount of fat eating super little, fat is stored energy and you don’t have that extra energy. Fat doesn’t come in odd places on keto either so I would think it’s water, not fat.

Hopefully the others will have more and more helpful things to say…

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #3

Thirteen hundred calories is not a lot of food. The point of a ketogenic diet is to eat in a way that allows fatty-acid metabolism, which means keeping insulin low. Hence the limited carbohydrate intake, since carbohydrate intake stimulates a lot of insulin secretion. The standard advice is to eat very little carbohydrate, a reasonable amount of protein, and fat to satiety. Restricting calories can be counterproductive, because it signals the body to hold on to its fat reserves for as long as possible. Many forum members have found that their fat loss did not start until they started eating more, not less.

There seems also to be a problem with your arithmetic, because (70 × 4) + (90 × 9) = 1090 calories, not 1300. If the remaining 300 cals are from carbohydrate, you could try lowering your carb intake to 80 cal/20 g or less, and eat correspondingly more protein and fat. Of course, the fact that your serum β-hydroxybutyrate is at 1.5 shows that your insulin has dropped below the threshold for ketosis, so you may not need to worry about your carbohydrate intake at this point.

Another possibility is that if (as your name indicates) you are a woman, it can take several weeks for hormones to re-regulate themselves, before things start to work. Also, a ketogenic diet’s primary effect is to promote metabolic healing; the loss of excess stored fat is really more in the nature of a very pleasant side effect. So the metabolic healing can, in some cases, take priority over the fat loss.

Another possibility to consider for the fat deposition on your legs and your legs alone is that there are a couple of diseases that cause that. You may need to see your doctor, in case there is something that needs to be done.

(Lenka) #4

Thanks a lot for your reply… I actually eyeballed the fat and protein ratio when writing the post but I was aiming for around 70-90 protein and the rest fat. I know this calories is super low but I am recovering from covid and have zero movement…
But yeah I get what you are sayin :slight_smile:
Honestly if I go by gut feeling I and take out the counting I would probably eat 500 grams of steak a day to satisfy me…. I was just concerned about too much protein and overall calories but maybe I should just stop obsessing and leave it be.

The only thing that I find very weird is very unusual new fat distribution around my knees and tights with visible celulitide that was not there before. It started to become visible only after staring the diet and is getting worse and worse.
But maybe it could be hormonal… truth is I have been having problems with a realy heavy hormonal imbalances for years so it could be related to that

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #5

The thing about eating in a way that doesn’t stimulate fat storage (as the standard diet does) is that the caloric intake becomes much less important. And without insulin to interfere with the appetite hormones, most people can safely eat to satiety without fear of overeating. In fact, there are data to show that after a while on a ketogenic diet, people’s appetite spontaneously drops and they end up eating around 1000 calories less than their daily energy requirement, as long as they have excess fat to provide the missing calories. (Of course, eventually we shed all the excess fat, and all our calories will be coming from our food intake, but that is much later in the process.)

If you are trying to eat fully carnivore, then don’t worry about your protein or your fat. Just eat meat, and eat three times a day in the beginning. As many of the long-term carnivores advise, most of the problems that a beginner experiences can be solved by eating more meat. Now this is not the same for people on a ketogenic diet, who have some carb intake. But in any case, don’t fear calories, because the body is capable of increasing the metabolic rate and even wasting energy.

Of course there are limits, as in all things, but the key is to eat as much food as your body says it needs, not to eat to any target. I ate a lot at first, but eventually my appetite dropped noticeably and for the first time in memory I experienced what it was like to be satisfied, as opposed to stuffed. It was very weird.

Bear in mind that I am a man, so I really can’t advise you about your hormones, but many women on these forums have found that persisting in a ketogenic or even carnivore diet did a lot to straighten out their hormonal problems. Perhaps one of them will read this thread and provide some real advice.

#6

If you can afford steak every day, good for you! :smiley: It’s not much on carnivore, doesn’t seem very much fat either… Sounds like a plan to me :wink:

Too much protein is a thing but most of us can’t do that. Maybe unnecessarily high (like my 200+ g sometimes), sure but a too high average to cause problems? Most people don’t eat that much if they just eat to satiety. Some people can though, it’s not super rare but until one doesn’t fail with as much protein as they likes (without eating it after satiation… I can do that sometimes even with satiating meat), I don’t see a reason to limit it.
I definitely managed to lose a little fat lately and I practically never go below 120g protein (I can’t even if I try, I get hungry at midnight) and it’s often way higher… I can’t know how much you need and can eat without problems but it may be higher than you think.

(Lenka) #7

Yeah it is weird what is happening with my legs but I searched the net and could be lipedema cause it sure looks like pictures o found online.
Weird is that it started with Keto diet…
I am gonna need to see a doctor I think

(Allie) #8

I would lose the avocados and spinach, eat more meat, and stop limiting calories.

#9

I learn new things. I didn’t know such things can happen until PaulL mentioned it just before…

#10

Fellow binge eater here, many years of Keto, Atkins and every other LCHF way of eating. Couple things, 1st, don’t waste your time or money on ketone testing, it doesn’t matter, as you’ve learned first hand. Your ketone levels (or existence of them) simple means you’re getting the carb amount right to be in ketosis, that’s it! Doesn’t mean you’ll lose, doesn’t mean you won’t gain, so useless as a whole.

1300 cals is very low, 70g of protein is low, especially if you’ve already lost muscle and want to gain it back and also not lose more. You’re gaining, so you’re eating too much, which at 1300 cals, isn’t a good thing. I’d up your protein and lower your fat, are you working out? You need to increase your metabolic rate because you don’t have very far to go down before you can’t eat anything.

Are you actively tracking your intake? Or just watching carbs? For the water retention, a naturaly diuretic like Dandelion root should be able to take care of that, If you’re going crazy on the salt as many do, don’t assume that because you eat keto that the salt can’t stock pile water on you, because it can.

(Bob M) #11

Are you on Twitter? Siobhan Huggins has lipedema and discusses this a lot. She also gave a presentation at KetoFest 2022 on it.

(Lenka) #12

I used to work out a lot but than traveled and had covid two times and kind of have not been able to get back on track so yeah I have nowhere to go right now. I’m pretty sure that my metabolic rate is super low… yeah normally I would also thing that 70 is low but when I was reading everyone said that to be in ketosis that’s enough (but to be honest it does not feel like my body wants that)
I am gonna go with what feel right then.
Thanks :pray:

(Lenka) #13

Thanks I wilm check that out… I never had this development until now :woman_shrugging:

#14

0 is enough for ketosis… But we need protein for various things and 70g may or may not be enough. I definitely wouldn’t eat less, it’s not a big amount and what would you eat, lots of fat? It is an option for some, even preferable while feels bad for others.

(Lenka) #15

Yeah I meant that if I go more I will get out of it but you are right I have been too obsessed with being in ketosis… since I come from weight lifting background I know this is not enough I just got pulled into that whole “have to do this, have so to that” in search of ketosis and ended up eating too much fat which did not keep me satisfied and pushed be to just go and munch on ghee (which is probably why I have been gaining weight ) :joy:

Anyway, thanks a lot for setting me back straight I sometimes get really pulled into stuff trying to help myself and end up just messing up :slight_smile:

(Lenka) #16

You know I tried full carnivore for a week and I started to be really sick with extrem nausea, pieces of fat in the stool etc. so I added some stuff back in as I got scared what was happening.
But maybe I just need to ride out. I wi try again because before I got sick it was keeping me satisfied while this obsession with watching protein is stressing me out…
thanks!!! :slight_smile:

#17

Or you should do differently…? One carnivore style that is perfect for one may be very unpleasant and unhealthy for the other. I only had (slight) nausea in the beginning when I ate as fatty as normal and I couldn’t handle it without the usual carbs. It didn’t last long but I ate leaner during that time and all was well. I still can get nausea if I really overeat fat or eat something very, very fatty all alone. (And I just had some fried pork fat tissue for pre-lunch :smiley: Maybe I was brave but I was borderline hungry and it was nice and crunchy! :smiley: I feel the need to get some protein very soon but it will happen.)
And if I say leaner, it doesn’t mean I ate close to zero added fat, that’s what I nearly always do. It means I avoided fattier meats in bigger amounts too. They were just too much.

Why do you want to keep your protein low? It seems it’s better if you raise that and not fat… Your target as 70-90g protein actually seems fine to me, I had those time too, I just failed EVERY day… And I could handle lots of fat while it seems you have problems with that and protein satiates you better. So eat more protein.

(Lenka) #18

Actually I notice that the fat gives me nausea only on carnivore (on just Keto I can eat heaps and be all right) but only sometime and a little bit …
I actually think that before when this happened when I was really sick was because I ate something that was seasoned with garlic :see_no_evil::see_no_evil:

I was worried I would get kicked out ketosis with too much protein but honestly I can see that right now I need to focus to fix my satiety signals and only carnivore seems to do that for me…
I’m gonna do that and just eat to satiety for now and not stress about weight gain :smiley:

Btw I can actually eat pork rinds just out of a jar by spoon :joy::joy::joy: after those I get a bit nausea
…. Butter on the other hand :joy: I can just eat separately and not have any issues :slight_smile:

#19

I ate high protein and got fat adaptation just fine so too much protein isn’t my concern. As far as I know only a minority of people have problems with higher protein. Very high is bad for everyone with a human body but 150-200g works for many of us… Maybe 200g every day would be too much for me but my average is a bit below on my wilder times* and it’s fine. Just like my occasional 250g days, no problem.
Some people eat way more protein than me on this forum.

*I really try to minimize my protein intake, my goal is 120-130g as I am unable to eat less. So I have 120g times when I really focus. But I often am higher. Never noticed a problem.

(Lenka) #20

Great good to know :slight_smile: thanks because I could feel the whole time that under 100 I was really having to stress about what and when to eat…
Thanks a lot for your help!