30 Days & I Gained a Pound

(Vanessa) #1

I started the Keto diet almost one month ago exactly. I got an app and to lose 2 pounds a week I’m supposed to eat like 1300 calories. The app which is the Total Keto Diet broke down the carbs and protein and fats so I knew how many I could have during the day.

Some days I went a few carbs over. Other days I went a few protein over. But nothing that would make me gain weight that I know of.

I drink butter coffee in the morning 5 days a week with butter, coffee, cream and coconut oil and one packet of Stevia. I also sometimes put in a little bit maybe a third cup of coconut milk.

On the weekends I’ll eat two scrambled eggs with cream and 5 pieces of bacon for breakfast. That pretty much holds me until around 3pm where I might eat 6 oz of ribeye and a salad with ranch dressing. Or I might eat a quarter pound hamburger patty and a salad with ranch dressing during the evenings during the week.

I lost 3 lb last month when I first started the diet and then now I have gained 4 pounds. I haven’t eaten any sugars or pasta or flour and I am mostly satisfied without having to eat snacks.

I’m not craving anything. I’m not hungry. I’m just not losing weight. I use the measuring tape and measured myself. I haven’t lost any inches.

I’m a type 2 diabetic. When I measure my BG it’s usually around 110 or 120, within range of what I should be.

I feel better but I’m just not losing any weight. My clothes don’t fit any looser.

So what is my problem that no weight is coming off?

Last summer I dieted for 3 months and only lost 10 lbs. I thought Sheesh, all that starving (LOL!) for only 10 pounds???!!

I want to eat this way forever because I believe it’s healthy, I eat less and I feel better than I did. I’ll continue but I’m just wondering why no weight loss.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

#2

Set up a video camera and see if you are sleep-walking to the fridge. LOL. Just kidding. Just keep pushing on, and I’m sure (hope) the weight loss will work out for you.

#3

Hi, am quite new to the Keto diet only been on it 8 weeks.
I have started the diet for other health benefits not just weight loss.
Initially I lost about 3lb but had a lot more energy and have been exercising and loving it nearly every day. My lean muscle mass must have increased since I am noticeably stronger than I was 8 weeks ago.
This week in 4 days I have put 3 to 4 lb on, the only thing that has changed is the quantity of food, am eating more fats than before and vegs.
Am quite confident that keeping my macro ratios the same and reducing overall calories to what they was 2 weeks ago will start to drop my weight very quickly, since my body is now fat adapted.
It may be worth adding up your total daily calories and see how that fits with weight gain or weight loss.

#4

@Nessa1 Vanessa, my guess is that with your blood glucose in the 110-120 range, your insulin is still high, which means you can’t access your fat stores. That will change as you continue to keep your carbs low.

Between insulin resistance and being female, the weight will probably not drop off suddenly, but you should see tremendous health benefits and eventually you’ll start losing fat.

110-120 might be a solid range for a T2D but it’s on the high side for … well, for human physiology. Is that your fasting level, your post-prandial level?

Are you on medications to control your diabetes?

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #5

First thing is to remember the keto basics:

  • Carbs under 20 g/day (keeps insulin low, so you can burn fat)
  • Protein moderate, pegged to your lean body mass (quite a bit of wiggle room, eat what feels right)
  • Fat to satiety (i.e., eat till you stop being hungry; fat is safest because it doesn’t stimulate insulin production)

The carb limit is the most important. If you can do that, you’ve got over 90% of this way of eating licked. There are other tweaks and hacks, but start with this. The rest will come.

Also, we find it helpful not to skimp on calories, which is why the advice is to eat to satiety. Myself, I can’t diet if I have to go hungry (it’s a mental thing about deprivation), and I’d go bonkers if I had to count calories, so for me, this way of eating is ideal.

Lastly, as Madeleine pointed out, things are different for women. Your hormones will affect your response to this way of eating, especially during your period. Some women in this community went a month or more, or even gained at first, before losing fat.

Try to give this way of eating one more month before giving up, and look for carbohydrate that you might not be aware of in the food you are eating (“hidden carbs,” we call them). Be sure to look at the list of ingredients, not just the nutrition panel, because in the U.S., manufacturers are allowed to pick a serving size that lets them list sugar and stuff as 0 g/serving, whereas if the serving size were larger, they’d have to list an amount.

Do keep us posted, and we’ll try to help you achieve your goals. Here’s some virtual bacon to encourage you: :bacon::bacon::bacon:

(Raj Seth) #6

Those apps are using the old, misinformed, CICO (calories in calories out) method.
if you are going to use an app to compute your projected intake - be sure to set it to “maintain” NOT lose weight.

Or, better still, do the following
Eat when hungry
Eat till full/satiety
DON’T eat when NOT hungry.

And whenever you eat - remember -
carbohydrates minimized (mostly from green leafy vegetables)
protein moderate (less than 100gm most likely)
Fat for all your daily energy needs - don’t measure or count - just buffer your intake with fat till you feel full.

No muss, no fuss, no counting, no measuring, no tracking.
You may say - but I have to keep my protein restricted? don’t I have to track that?
No, Virginia, you don’t. If you eat real food, avoid super lean chicken/turkey breast meat, boneless skinless chicken etc. you will get enough fat and not too much protein. Just make sure you cook everything with a generous amount of healthy fat.
Look at your plate - there should be fat all over, wrapped around some protein (like ribeye, bacon, pork rinds, liverwurst etc), with some green leafy stuff in the corner almost as garnish.

If you continue to calorie restrict - your body will never up its metabolism, and never ever ever ever give up its “doomsday” fat stores. Body wants to keep you alive - and it has 3 million years of evolution guiding it. Body will win. With your extensive history of ‘starving’ and calorie deprivation, your metabolism is likely wrecked, and your body is clinging to all its stuff. You will need to let the body repair its metabolism first before you will see progress. You may even see some weight gain :astonished: as this happens - but trust the process

Post some stats (ht, wt, age, sex, A1c) so some on here can take a stab at what you should be eating. But, no matter how you cut it, unless you are 100lbs, 1300 calories is likely way way too low
I had to create a 100lb female, 5’4", 35 yrs old, and make her sedentary to get 1300 calories. If I made her lightly active, it went to 1420. This is using the https://www.ruled.me/keto-calculator/

(Vanessa) #7

Thanks for the help!
Age: 62
Weight: 222
Height: 5’4"
A1C: 6.5 last summer
For Type 2 diabetes I take 1500 mg of Metformin and Trulicity which is a shot once a week.
Am I suppose to be keeping track of grams or percentages or what? I mean I’ve read about how Keto works but I just can’t figure out how much of this and that I need per day to lose weight then to maintain.
Sorry I am not good at this.
I want to lose 20 lbs. to start.
Thank you.

(Vanessa) #8

LOL, you nut!

(shane ) #9

If you are going to incorporate calories into your calculation, which I use, let me give you some advice.

Skip the 2 pounds a week. That is a 1000 calorie deficit a day. That is a huge deficit. Shoot for a pound a week. If you lose 52 pounds by this time next year, would you be happy with those results?

Second, use a food scale. People are VERY bad about assuming portion sizes.

I have a guy here at work doing keto with me. He is having a hard time losing weight and I brought in a food scale and we weighed some pecans that he was snacking on. When I showed him and ACTUAL 200 calorie serving size he realized he was way over eating on his cals for what he thought he was eating. And this was just one item he was eating.

Scale the foods you eat daily and this will start to show you actual portion sizes.

Good luck.

#10

…

…aint we just two peas in a pod. lol

#11

After reading your post again and the replies, I can’t stress enough, especially in the beginning, of not worrying about calories. You may want to track for a few days exactly what you’re eating though. Especially take a look at any condiments. They’re the things everyone’s so used to using that everyone forgets to include. You mentioned that you have ranch dressing. Unless you’re making your own ranch, with your own mayo, it will have sugar in it. It’s nearly impossible to find store-bought dressings or mayo that doesn’t. It will also have the wrong kind of oils. Maybe take the next few weeks to slowly wean yourself off the ranch dressing.

Based on what you wrote about your diet, I’ll bet there are some hidden sugars that are limiting your ketosis, but aren’t pushing your readings high enough to notice. For me, I didn’t start on the butter coffee until I was at a point where I wasn’t eating breakfast. Even now, I only have it when I’m hungry and can’t make some eggs.

To summarize my opinion/advice: take a week and write down everything you eat, but don’t worry (for now) about how much, just what and when, ditch the ranch, watch the condiments, and limit the butter coffee.

(Raj Seth) #12

I put your numbers in ruled.me keto calculator = 1738 kCals daily for sedentary, 1940 for lightly active (eg walking less than 20 mins a day).
Your A1c is borderline diabetic.
I would suggest your health goals may be better served by first repairing your metabolism - ie getting your insulin levels lowered. This takes minimizing carbs, and having moderate protein, and getting all your energy needs from Fat! If you don’t want to figure out how much of this and how much of that - keep it simple.
Eat carbs only as leafy greens that you WANT to eat - this is optional. Eat real foods that are fatty. Real fatty foods come with protein - so you don’t have to track anything if you don’t want to. Don’t eat vegetable oils except olive, coconut and avocado oil. Prefer animal fats - butter, ghee, bacon grease, lard, tallow etc.

The weight will come off only when your body is ready to give up its deathgrip on the fat stores that it has. It will only do that if insulin is lowered and enough nutrition is coming in. Only then it will be ready to come off DefCon 1!!

#13

I haven’t read all the previous posts, but for me, weight loss has been slow. I’m female, over 70. My first year on keto I gained 10 pounds. I had to come to the realization I was fooling myself. My body is not broken. I am physically active, take no meds, and am relatively healthy except for being fat (about 207 this morning - I started at 223.5 Jan 10) - I was just eating too much (especially too much fat and meat) even on keto and not eating that many carbs.

I don’t count calories, and while it may not be an exact formula, they do matter, especially if you are an older female. In addition to fooling myself about amounts I was eating, I have had to readjust my unrealistic expectations about weight loss. For some of us, it’s going to be a hard slog.

That said, after taking control of amounts consumed, (timing of eating, no more snacks, losing fat bombs, no more ‘keto treats’, etc), I have lost over 15 pounds in about a half year, and feel great. Smaller body, more active, etc.

(Katarina) #14

I have seen so many people severely calorie restricting on keto and having trouble losing weight. Rajseth posted your minimum calories needed and I would strongly suggest eating at least that much!

(Vanessa) #15

My doctor told me there’s no such a thing as borderline diabetic. You either are or you aren’t. I am Type 2 diabetic. My starting A1C was 14. I want to get it lower and that’s my reason for wanting to lose weight. To be healthy!
Someone here said 110-120 BG two hours after eating is high. My doc said to aim for 100 after eating.
My BG seems to be well within range. I’ll try eating more of the right food.
At this point I’m so disgusted because I’m not really understanding what’s going on.
Thanks everyone for your help.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #16

Since obesity and diabetes are both symptoms of insulin resistance, and the one does not cause the other, don’t worry about your weight too much; it will normalize as your insulin resistance is resolved. In the same way, your HbA1C will also come down as your insulin resistance is resolved.

(Vanessa) #17

Thank you, Paul. That makes sense.

(Vanessa) #18

So I’m using Cronometer. I bought it.
If I want to consume 70% fats, 25% protein, and 5% carbohydrate per day how many calories is that? Or do I need to not count calories? How many grams does that break down to?
Rajseth, the ruled.me site has me for 1738 kCals. (What happened to good old calories? What’s kCal?)
Isn’t that if I want to keep my weight the same? Because when I put in that I want to lose 2 lbs. per week that cuts it back around 800 calories.
DviDwnInGA, why skip the 2lbs. a week loss?
What do you mean "1000 calorie “deficit?”

(Raj Seth) #19

Losing weight is a hormonal thing. Lower your insulin by adopting a keto WOE, and the hormones will slowly get fixed. ummmm rapidly get fixed.
The weight will come off not by calorie restriction, but by hormonal balance getting restored.
food calories are actually kilo Calories - a measure of energy, approx 4.2 joules is one calorie, and one food calorie is a thousand calories

as for weight reduction fixing diabetes, what PaulL said above - fix the hormones, ie insulin, and the diabetes will be repaired as well as the weight.

(Vanessa) #20

Thank you for your kindness and wisdom…ALL of you.!
It sounds like my body is so messed up that it’s fighting to keep hold of the fat?
I will continue Keto because I know it’s right. I sleep MUCH better. I feel MUCH better. Not only do I feel better but I have a sense of well-being, if that makes sense.
I found this on Keto Summit, is it correct if I want to weight 160?

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