A year keto, lost 83lbs, 20ish lbs left, stalling & now gaining after cheat

#1

I have been on Keto for a year this month. My goal is to lose 100lbs & I’ve lost 83 of it, but have stalled in the past 2 months & have recently gained 2 lbs since I started working out this week. Right before Christmas I was at 176 & for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I allowed myself to eat whatever I wanted. I gained 8lbs from that little binger, but went straight back to strict keto afterwards. The following week I had managed to lose 3 of the 8lbs I gained & by the end of December I was down 180lbs. I was normally losing about 7-8 lbs per month with just keto, no exercise before this cheat. After that cheat weekend, it took the whole month of January to get back down to the 176 I was before Christmas, because I gained & lost those same 8 lbs over & over. I tend to eat a lot of the same things over & over that I have eaten this whole year on keto that have worked for me losing weight so diet didn’t change.

Finally the day before Valentines’ Day, I had gotten down to 175. I had been planning a cheat dinner for awhile on Valentines Day because it’s my anniversary, so I ate some chocolate (Reese’s cups), some bread with my otherwise low carb steak dinner & a small popcorn at the movies. I gained 3lbs. I went right back on keto the next day & have yoyo’d up and down from Feb 15th to today the 22nd. I’ve fluctuated as low as 177 but this morning I was up to 179! The past 2 days I’ve gained a pound each. I could not believe it.

I’ve started working out for the first time since last summer this week, with also some walks in between. I’ve gone twice this week. Nothing serious, just some HIIT sprints and walking for about 15 min & then some light weight lifting (legs Monday, arms yesterday). The last 2 days, I have gained a pound each day! I am eating the same things I’ve always eaten for the past year on this diet.

I am starting to panic because it’s worked so well for me & it seems like ever since Christmas I haven’t been able to get my rhythm back but what’s worse is it seems like I’m gaining now. I don’t understand where the gain is coming from? I’m terrified of putting this weight back on.

I know the last 15-20lbs is harder to lose, but this is ridiculous. And it’s also not helping my motivation to workout when I finally start getting active & my first week I gain 2 pounds. Any ideas you might have or anyone whose been keto for awhile have anything like this happen to them?

(Stickin' with mammoth) #2

@stupidrobots just posted something that may apply here.

#3

Thanks!

(Stickin' with mammoth) #4

Trust your jeans and keto on.

(Noline) #5

You are a little hard on yourself. I understand the fear, but you have found something that works for you. Just keep doing what works. And when there are days that don’t go your way, just do what you have been doing.
You have done amazingly well. Keep your focus on what you HAVE DONE, not what you haven’t done yet.

(Tom) #6

Way to go on all of your progress! An important thing to keep in mind is that an 80 lb loss to 176 lbs means that you’ve lost about a third of your body weight. Repeat that. A third of your entire body. In just a year! That’s amazing! That said, our biological processes are keyed for survival, and a huge loss in body weight is “viewed” (to anthropomorphize our regulatory mechanisms) as a massive famine. Thus, the body is interested in re-stocking the shelves to a level it’s used to. It will take a while, but in my experience and the experience of others, there will be times where we stall out, hover around a weight, and then experience a re-start in weight loss. I hypothesize that it’s due to a drop in leptin levels, and since you made a huge reduction in body weight, it might take a bit longer for your body to accept the “new normal” and begin shedding your last few pounds. So congrats, and stay the course! If you haven’t been measuring things like hip or waist circumference, it’d be good to start. Sometimes the scale lies, while the tape measure shows that you’re still shrinking!

You’ve got this!

#7

Thanks for your encouragement! I actually lost 2lbs this morning (which is great because I had gained 2 in the past 2 days). I’m at 177.2 so I’m getting close to being back to the weight I was before the cheat. I’ve been working out consistently this week as well. I’m encouraged that I’m still on the right course & that I’m back on track!

#8

Thanks my husband says I’m hard on myself too. Keto is the only thing that’s ever worked for me so I started to panic when it seemed like it “stopped” working ha

(Noline) #9

You are welcome. Sometimes someone says something and it just resonates. I so understand where you are.
How are you doing now?

(Ashley Haddock) #10

I couldn’t agree more with @acrunchyfrog. I also stalled for a long time after losing 80ish lbs (and have had other stalls since then). I just recently “gained” 3-4 lbs the last month and finally got under that yesterday. I’ve lost 132 so far but still have over 100 more to lose. But the way I look at it is keto is how I am going to eat for life. I know the science and believe it will work 100%. So while it is frustrating when the scale doesn’t cooperate, I know that’s not the main thing I need to be measuring progress by. And even if the scale goes up one lb a day, you’re not gaining 1 lb of fat. Weight fluctuates for a lot of different reasons.

As a side note, have you tried intermittent fasting? That helps me a lot.