7 months and haven't lost a single pound

(Nicole) #1

The introvert in me says, “Don’t post!,” but the frustrated part of me says, “Someone out there can help” so here goes…I started eating the Keto way at the beginning of 2018 and haven’t lost anything, no weight loss, no inch loss, no body fat loss. I need ideas on how to hack this using data analysis. So what do you track? Foods, blood glucose, carbs, ketones, protein, fat, exercise? I’m looking for some correlation between factors that may be inhibiting my weight loss. Thanks in advance for all your support and wisdom.

(John) #2

Track ketones if you have the ability, other than that track food strict for a few weeks and take a look. That is where I would start.

#3

Nicole, this must be frustrating!
You can post your usual meals here (along with age, size, any health issues) if you want some specific advice but per your question, I would track everything that you can for a few weeks, and then as you start to notice patterns you can probably dial back the tracking a bit.
Good for you for watching inches as well as weight. You’ll tend to see those moving first.

#4

Agree with Madeline. Need more data

I like Cronometer for tracking. Try keeping under 20g carb per day total. Limit protein to around 1 gram per Kilo of lean mass or ideal weight and eat fat to satiety. Try to eat whole foods without additives and no sugar whether natural or artifical

(Jamie Marie ) #5

In addition to food and fasting, you might consider your stress levels. Dr. Fung suggests it could play an important role.

(What The Fast?!) #6

I have been hearing this story more and more lately. I have been keto for about a year and a half and am in the same boat. I have been looking into every possible solution. I’d love to hear a podcast episode on people who have NOT seen the same results as most of the population when going keto. Most times, people will accuse you of carb creep, too much protein, or not enough fat…but I’ve talked to many people now who have solid macros and they just don’t see any weight loss. My hunch is this is a hormone imbalance for most people…but I’m not sure.

@Nxcole How much body fat do you have? Are you restricting calories or eating intuitively? Are you doing IF or extended fasting?

(karen) #7

I have two wildly different and unfortunately contradictory ideas, sorry.

  1. The number of calories you’re eating is matching up with the number of calories you’re burning. I know, CICO is the devil talking, but I do believe that even eating keto and doing “fat magic”, it’s possible to remain static. You might solve the puzzle of insulin resistance / adding fat, but why would your body burn its own resources if you’re providing it everything it needs.

  2. Going with the more enticing keto theory, your body is keeping metabolism low and holding onto its fat because it’s not convinced there will be calories available tomorrow.

I have had awesome results with EF, which is much easier once you’ve been on keto for a while. To me, it’s so much simpler to 1. always keep my carbs (and protein) low enough to stay in ketosis, giving basically no thought to how much fat or calories I’m eating, which either keeps my weight steady or causes just a slight gain, and then just Not Eat for a while (which theoretically doesn’t cause metabolic slowdown or much muscle loss) to push my weight setpoint down a pound or two.

#8

What in the heck are you eating?

#9

Not sure this applies to you, but I’m wondering if keto weight loss isn’t as drastic for people with healthy insulin function. If you don’t have an insulin issue than maybe your body doesn’t care if your blood glucose goes up because it deals with it efficiently to begin with.

Not that there are not other benefits to being in ketosis. But some peoples bodies might already be good at using both glucose and fat for fuel naturally.

Just a theory, no studies or anything.

(shane ) #10

I agree with this guy. And will add, how much are you eating.

(Nicole) #11

I’m 40% body fat. I don’t count calories any more. I track carbs, which I keep under 20 - all residual from daily green salad and whatever residual from avocados and cheese, etc. My IF routine is 16:8, but the eating window is usually shorter and I do a 24 hour fast on Mondays (Sunday supper to Monday supper).
This is frustrating, but I enjoy eating this way and I feel good so I’m by no means giving up, I just want to figure it out.

Thanks!

(What The Fast?!) #12

Yes. This. We need to start talking about when keto doesn’t spur weight loss. I’m in the same boat.

(Nicole) #13

Thanks John. I track ketones in the morning. My routine is to check Ketones and BG two hours after I wake, but always before I work out or eat, I try to make it consistent as possible. In general, the ketones are between .5 and 1.5. If I have a alcoholic beverage (which is rare) the ketones stay between 0 and .5 for a couple of days then steadily rise. Other than that I haven’t done an N=1 on any foods.

(Nicole) #14

JamieMarie – Thanks for the response. Stress is an issue, but I am actively learning new stress relief techniques including challenging my co-workers not to say anything negative for one hour a day. It does lead to some pretty funny conversations when people try to complain without complaining! I’m a fan of Dr. Fung, also.

(Raj Seth) #15

My first wild a** guess with the limited data you have provided is that you are likely not eating enough, your metabolism is wrecked from years of calorie restriction, and with low BMR and limited calories your body will NOT give up what it perceives to be doomsday supplies ie body fat

Would need ht, wt, age, sex, typical daily food consumption, years of yo-yo dieting etc to start to make slightly more educated guesses

(Nicole) #16

Thanks for the reply. So this my frustration - I do keep to under 20 grams and I scrutinize every label so I’m comfortable with my carbs - I don’t have any carb cravings and I have no problem walking by a donut or birthday cake. My protein goal has been .8 per pound of lean body mass (80 grams) and the rest fat. Sweeteners are limited to stevia (liquid and fresh from my garden) and Erythritol. I dont track food on an app anymore - I keep a spreadsheet, which is handy to build charts to include BG and Ketone levels.

(Lena) #17

I found a lot of hidden carbs in my food, and I really had no clear idea on how many calories I was consuming which caused a problem. I make a meal plan of what I eat during the week and literally write down 1. What is a portion size 2.Carbs 3.Fat 4.protein. So I know how to hit those macros (not obsessively) I was also eating way too much protein. I don’t have to look at everything I wrote down after a day or so because I already know the food profile. Are you using condiments or drinking something that might have something in it slowing it down?

(Andrew) #18

Your insulin is just too high. Any diabetes? What are those BG numbers?

I too have been on keto for 6 months with basically no change.

You probably need negative carbs. Either fasting, or BG lowering meds to get your insulin low enough that your cells will recalibrate (make more insulin receptors).

Once you are insulin resistant it is hard to correct. People with normal insulin can eat whole grain foods even and stay skinny. I could long ago.

(Nicole) #19

I’m tracking foods in a manner similar to you. I track the carb/fat/protein (no calories) on a spreadsheet - just the numbers - so I know that I don’t exceed the carbs - I quit tracking the exact food because it give me flashbacks to my Weight Watchers days. I have considered going back to detailing the foods, but I don’t know how to use the data to figure out what the problem is.

(Nicole) #20

About two years ago, my endocrinologist put me on Metformin because I complained about not being able to lose weight. To quote him “maybe you are insulin resistant.” My BG was high normal so we thought it would be worth a shot. No tests were run, so it was basically just him guessing. At that time, I didn’t know anything about insulin resistance or keto so there wasn’t much more to say. Once I started Keto and started monitoring BG levels, I stopped taking the metformin to see what would happend, but my fasting BG started to rise so I went back on it. All that to say that I’m certain there is some insulin dysfunction as work. Thanks for your response!