3 Weeks In, Not Too Impressed, Ready to Give Up

(Jeanne Wagner) #41

@JLM79 THIS!!! What @Virginia said!!

And I’m a relative newbie, about 3 months in for keto (mid December) and still learning a lot. I haven’t gotten my macros all figured out yet, but I’m totally committed. My total weight loss since July 2017 when I only went gluten free is a whole 17 lbs. That’s 17 lbs in 8 1/2 months. SO, keep at it, don’t give up. This is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s for life not a couple months, lose weight, and go back to the carbage eating again ('cause like, you’d gain it all back again).

Men typically lose weight more quickly than women. They don’t have all the hormones affecting us as we do. My body has a LOT of healing to do, and I know it’s happening. I want to get healthy, then I know the weight will come off.

Also I am learning that the carb intake for me must be total count, not net. As a T2 diabetic, I have to be very strict. AND even when eating low carb veggies, if I have too much of them, it messes with my appetite. I get ravenous and want to eat all the carbs. I resist of course, but it’s a PITA.

So there are many things that can hold you up. Just keep trying your best. Cut down stress and get lots of sleep. That is more important than you realize. In any case, keto is better than the SAD diet no matter what!

(Jess) #42

Thank you so much for your response! I was first showing periomenopausal symptoms and told that’s what It was when I was 34-two years after our son was born. Nurse practitioners and my OBGYN all have said I was periomenopausal. My hormones have been wacky for the last eight years, between pregnancy, post partum and perio menopause. I hope it’s done soon.
My body temperature seems to be returning to normal. I haven’t been overheated or had night sweats for awhile and have gone three months without a period.

It’s hard to be happy for my husband, but I also want to celebrate his victories.

I had wondered about pre diabetes as well, but blood work was showing that wasn’t it.

(Missy) #43

You are extremely lucky that your nurse practioner and OBGYN diagnosed you early on. I went through 5 different family practioners and 2 OBGYN’s in the span of 6 years to finally be told I was perimenopausal. I know what you mean by wishing it was done soon. I’ve been trying to stick it out and let it happen naturally but my periods are getting significantly worse, so I caved and I have an appt with a different OBGYN, (my 3rd now in 6 years), tomorrow to discuss possibly getting a hysterectomy.
Besides the fluctuations in hormones, the only other symptom that persisted was night sweats and since going keto, both of those problems are no longer an issue. I think if you stick to keto, it will eventually help in balancing out your hormones too.
I know it’s hard to be happy for your husband, but thankfully, this is not about him, this is about you! Remind yourself that everyday and ask him if he could keep his scale victories to himself, until you find a place where you’re comfortable with talking about scale victories and weight loss. Take it from someone who has been there 2x…I deeply resented my own husband for basking in his success, and the whacky hormone flux didn’t help. The happier he got, the more miserable I got. That’s why it’s important for you to try and not think of this as “you both doing it together”. Beat it in your head that you’re doing this for you and you alone. Don’t let the hormones take over. The 3rd to 4th week is usually the most difficult and when most people end up quitting keto. You’re almost over that hump and you should start feeling changes in the next few weeks to come. It might be little changes or really big ones! Who knows…:thinking: There’s only one way to find out…stick with it.:grin: You got this!

(Jess) #44

Thank you! I’m feeling more hopeful for the weeks to come and changes!

(Robert Hollinger) #45

apparently my body is having a gender identity crisis

(Dr. Emily Franklin ) #46

You are doing great - hang in there and keep up the good work! Your body thanks you!! :smiley:

Keto is definitely hormone balancing, and can really fix a lot of perimenopausal/menopausal issues given enough time. I used to have the most wicked hot flashes - I called myself The Volcano - before Keto, but after a few months on Keto, the hot flashes completely went away and never came back.

Keep in mind that the scale is a devil - you could be losing fat but building bone and muscle and doing tissue repair, all of which are great and won’t show up on the scale as “loss”. Measure your belly for another way to track your progress - losing belly fat and inflammation is a much better gauge of your progress than weighing on the scale.

One tweak you could try in order to ramp up your fat burning is to delay or even skip the BP coffee in the morning - this will extend your “clean” fast longer, keeping insulin lower for longer (=good), and it will make your body burn more body fat for fuel (instead of ingested fat). I find that many of my female patients who are approaching or in menopause need a shorter calorie-consumption window most days (<8 hours) in order to lose weight. So, maybe this “hack” could help you! But, the most important thing is, stay the course. KCKO. :slight_smile:

#47

I didn’t check to see how old this was but wanted to contribute. 3 weeks in lost 8 pounds so far. After a few weeks of sorting through all the Keto info I settled on Dr. Eric Westman’s page 4 food list. Totally working for me not hungry reached ketosis this week. He is strict about using carbs not net which is what flipped me over this week. Good luck this is such a healthy WOE I wish I had found it years ago.

(Jennifer ) #48

I have been on keto for 3 years now. When I first started I was dealing with perimenopause and had gained 70lbs no matter what I did. My doctor was the one to suggest keto and after a month was not seeing any changes. I was about to give up, but my doctor encouraged me to keep going. I was a really slow loser, but every pound I lost was one more pound toward my goal. About 3 months in my husband decided to join me since I wouldn’t cook anything that was not keto and he can’t cook. :wink: He dropped 10lbs quickly and I was so frustrated since he is already a string bean. I just kept plugging away and in 18 months I dropped that 70lbs and went from 200lbs to 130lbs. The best part is, even though I am now full menopause have kept the weight off and my health has improved significantly with my blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar numbers down to a person who is an athlete (all without exercising). In addition, yesterday I was hanging out with some college students and no one could believe that I was their parent’s age. It is the best feeling because I knew I looked haggard before I started keto. One suggestion if you are tired and your electrolytes are low is to drink beef broth. It has plenty of electrolytes and you can add a bit of butter if you need more fat. That really helped me over the first weeks in fat adaption.

(Jess) #49

Thank you so much for the tips! I have added in a tablespoon of extra butter, here and there. :grin:

(Missy) #50

Love this! I hope to achieve this one day. And congrats on not only losing the weight and keeping it off, but kudos for the improvement with blood test results AND looking younger! That is great!:blush:

(ba3c53a7b092ede3d0a7) #51

I so enjoyed reading your post MissyMe. I went into a carb binge this weekend after trying a new sweetener on Friday and I’ve realised I just can’t handle sugar! Instead of berating myself nastily as I normally would I’ve simply let it go and keep ketoing! V new behaviour for me and definitely a NSV - an abbreviation I only learnt on this forum and is JUST where I’m at. I’ve put on “a stone per child” over the last 15 yrs (apart from occasional weightlosses through painful dieting) and with 4 children that’s more than I want. But tuning into my body is such a new and v useful concept. V happy Keto newbie.

#52

OH!! There was a discussion on this hormone-peri-menopause thing on another thread, and it might help a few of you like it helped me. So, I am nearing 51 in a couple months, and perimenopausal. I’ve been on Keto for 1 month now. My cycles are going apeshit crazy in a bad way. “Robust” was the word a wise woman used to describe this phenomena.
The reason for the over zealousness of these cycles is linked to the amounts of stored hormones that are released during the early phases of Keto. After she mentioned it, I recalled the same issue when I did Atkins 13 or so years ago. So, its just something to be aware of. My recollection is that the unexpected, relentless cycles will slow down as our bodies adapt to this WOE.
So, hang in there and be patient. Aside from extended fasting, being patient at this point is damn hard. No way around it. Just set your eyes on the goal, and we’ll forge ahead together!

(Missy) #53

Thank you. I had a feeling this happens more often than not. Love having this forum and finding people who have had similar issues. It helps out a lot!

(Missy) #54

I’m happy to hear you’ve found success by switching to keto. It has done wonders for me and continues to do so. And I agree that tuning into your own body is a very much useful concept. It’s crazy once you start really listening to what it needs as opposed to what your mind wants. 2 totally different things.:rofl:

(Norma) #55

Continuing the discussion from [3 Weeks In, Not Too Impressed, Ready to Give Up](https://www.ketogenicforums. To com/t/3-weeks-in-not-too-impressed-ready-to-give-up/34556/13):

160lbs and 5’ 5”,I keep my carbs to 20g or less. I aim for 39 maximum of 39g of protein. With the 4:1 ratio of fats, that means 195g of fats preferably (5x39). It’s hard to do, but if I am not there after my last meal, I drink heavy cream with coconut oil to get the ratio correct. Sometimes really hard to do. The worst is when you overload on protein and the ratio is all out of whack! I’ve lost 10lbs in 5 weeks. But I do wrigh each morning as soon as I get up with no clothes on. I keep an accurate record of my food intake with CRONOMETER app and most importantly weigh everything I put in my mouth! Plus, this app allows you to scan food labels for quick nutritional amounts. I also use ketone sticks each day to make sure I am in ketosis… overkill of proteins, or carb intake over 20g, puts me into weak ketosis. Otherwise I am in moderate to strong readings. I will keep this up. Last thing I forgot … I use Pinterest to find ample recipes. There are many.

(Jay AM) #56

There is no weak or moderate or high ketosis. You are either in ketosis or you are not in ketosis. If you are at 20g of net carbs or less, you are in ketosis or you are dead. (Less carbs doesn’t mean you are more keto.)

Keto strips for testing urine only test what ketones you are losing in urine. You could eat a donut and it would be the darkest color on the strip because your body dumped ketones. Or, you could eat a donut and it would be the lightest color because you don’t have excess ketones to dump. If you are going to use these to measure anything, your goal is the lightest color when you are strict keto at 20g of net carbs or less. That shows you are probably efficiently using ketones.

I’m not sure about all your other obsessing about ratios and such. Your protein seems very low and I’m not sure where you got the number from. If you were to get 0.8-1g of protein per KG of lean mass, at 15% body fat for a 155 pound person, that’s still around 47g-60g of protein. Honestly, just reading your whole formula made me stressed and I can only imagine how it feels to be tracking that daily and making sure each number falls in place etc. Cortisol isn’t good either, you know? There are a lot of resources and podcasts here that you can look into.

(Jess) #57

Week 6, day 2. Still hoping for a miracle, as I have been told the magic happens, starting with week 6. 7.5 lbs down today, but it will change again tomorrow, weight still fluctuates .5lb-5lbs up or down. Feel I’m spinning my wheels, not to sound like a Debbie Downer, just continuing to be frustrated. Had some blood work done last week and my bad cholesterol is slightly elevated, high Vit B12 & Folate. Doc is not concerned about the bloodwork. I dunno how much longer I want to keep doing this. whine over

(Robert Hollinger) #58

If it helps, I’m still waiting after 2.5 months and i’m a guy. I’m focusing on the NSVs for now which includes getting my A1C as low as possible. I suspect my insulin is still too high for any significant not-fasted weight loss.

(Rob) #59

You’re doing great but I’m not sure where you are getting these macros from. I don’t know any model that requires that level of fat. Not that it is dangerous but you seem to be making keto a bit more difficult than necessary.
Your actual macro stats (from what you mention - 20/39/195g) are: 1991kcal, 88% fat, 8% protein, 4% carbs - macro % are based on calories not grams. The weird combination of grams and calorie % in the targets gets confusing. You are also at the low end of protein (39g = ~ 0.8g/kg of LBM based on ~48kg by calculator) though many do advocate the lowest level possible to maintain muscle mass. You might want to experiment with different protein levels since many people thrive on higher amounts, especially if they workout a lot. Do not worry about the BS some people spread about protein turning to sugar, especially at such low levels.

For your size and weight, it is also a higher than normal calorie count, but fortunately all in additional fat. If your metabolism is healthy, you may well just not process more fat than you need and if it’s working for you, then keep it up. However, you may want to experiment with less fat and a bit more protein primarily if you want to make it easier to keto. If you don’t have any trouble doing 88/8/4 then carry on, but don’t feel tied to such an extreme macro ratio unless you like it.

(Jess) #60

I’m glad you have experienced some NSV. I haven’t had any yet. Which I guess would make this all seem worth it, if there was something to “show” for it.