Advice please-

(Luke) #1

Would nuts and cheese be keeping me FAT on Keto? I use them to keep my fats up , but I know they are not great for weight gain. 3kg down from 1st week in and still the same over 2 months now. I basically just lost 3kg of water from not eating carbs… TIA

(Chuck) #2

I eat a small amount of nuts and cheese each day. I don’t pay a lot of attention to what the scale says as when doing keto, you can be losing fat and not see a change in weight and even an increase in weight. One of the first things I read when starting keto was to throw the bathroom scales out and pay attention to the measurements of your body. This is so true. My weight hasn’t changed in almost a month but my belly, waist, and upper thighs have gotten smaller.

(BuckRimfire) #3

Are you keeping your fats up because you are too hungry otherwise, or are you doing it to hit a macro target that you think you are supposed to hit? If it’s the latter, stop that.

Cut carbs as strictly as you can. Cut inflammatory seed oils as strictly as you can. Eat enough protein (ideally beef) but not too much (unless you are bodybuilding or otherwise highly athletic), which is a debatable number but let’s say 1 gram per kilogram of lean (calculated ideal) body weight per day. Other than that eat as little as possible to avoid serious hunger and make that mostly very-low-carb veggies (i.e cabbage family, maybe peppers; garlic and very small amounts of onion for flavor probably OK) with butter and lots of salt and herbs. Edit: if possible, compress your eating window to fewer hours per day, but don’t make it so difficult that you quit!

If you’re doing all that and still on a persistent plateau, this is a hard case!

Once/if the strict plan above is working for a month or two, you can start experimenting with adding in new food items a couple at a time every few weeks. Everyone is idiosyncratic, so what works for me won’t be exactly what works for you. (Particularly true in my case, because I’m one of those hateful monsters who can’t get fat if I tried, even though I’m pushing 60, and I’m doing keto/low-carb for other reasons.)

Measurements > scale weight, for sure. If you are exercising much, this could be a thing.

And good job sticking it out this long when not seeing scale gains! That’s impressive!

(BuckRimfire) #4

Also, how do you FEEL? Any healthier? Other improvements? Oppressed?

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

How much we have to restrict carbohydrate intake in order to get into and stay in ketosis depends on how insulin-sensitive or -resistant we are. The more insulin-resistant we are, the more insulin we secrete in response to a given amount of carbohydrate, and therefore the less carbohydrate we can eat and stay in ketosis.

It is possible that the carbs in the nuts are just too much for you. You might want to take a look at what you are eating and make sure you are staying under 20 g of carbohydrate a day. If you are, then you might need to restrict carbohydrate intake even further.

It is also not helpful to eat to a caloric target on keto. Eat enough to satisfy your hunger, so that your body won’t feel that it’s in a famine and needs to hang on to its resources.

So the essence is to restrict carbohydrate as much as possible, get enough protein (and remember that whatever your protein target is, most meats are 1/4 protein, so for 100 g of protein, eat 400 g of meat), and then add enough fat to your food to satisfy your hunger. Fat is energy-dense, so if you cook with butter/ghee, bacon grease, lard, or tallow, and eat the fat that comes with the meat (often you can get the butcher not to trim it), you won’t need to add much more.

(Marianne) #6

How many carbs a day are you eating?

(Chuck) #7

A better question is how much was his weight above what he should weigh when he started.

#8

I go through about a tub of cream of 300ml and more in a day and scoff down several slices of cheese as well. I’ve not noticed any noteworthy weight gain. In fact, while I’ve gained 1 kg (within normal fluctuation range) everyone I know comments on how much I’ve slimmed down and streamlined. My lipoedema is still there, but it’s been improving since I began a ketogenic WOE, and since my body has transitioned to carnivore. All the bruises on my legs (typical lipoedema feature) are gone which is great, and I feel pretty good. We’re all different of course, but I eat when I’m hungry and quit when I’m full. I prefer fatty cuts of meat, as they are much more satisfying. I never weigh food, pay attention to macros and just don’t worry about it. If my body is feeling good and experiencing benefits and the food tastes great, I don’t ask for more🙂

#9

That’s normal if you eat too much to lose (my case) but there are other possibilities. Too little isn’t good either and certain items may interfere, there are many experiences like that, some people should give up dairy, sweeteners etc. to lose fat properly for some reason.
But in general, no, nuts and cheese doesn’t necessarily keep you fat, it depends.
They aren’t good for me under normal circumstances as I already eat plenty of fat from my more important, better, more satiating protein sources (eggs and meat). And satiation or not, some of us can overeat certain items… Though probably mostly the not so satiating ones… Not everyone is a weirdo like me who can eat a ton after satiation (even I need to choose my food somewhat wrong for that. it’s way easier with carbs. but a huge eating window “helps” too. apropos eating window, do it as it suits you, you don’t need to do IF if it doesn’t feel good just like one shouldn’t avoid IF in the very beginning if only IF feels good).

So you should figure out if you need to avoid or minimize nuts and/or cheeses for fat-loss. Despite me not finding nuts satiating, I lost fat while eating 150g oily seeds a day (way before keto). As my energy need was a bit higher back then and I didn’t eat meat, I had to get my nutrients from something else than eggs and dairy… But a lot of oily seeds on top of meat and eggs, nope, it wouldn’t work for me. But if I run just one marathon a day, it probably wouldn’t be a problem… But maybe it would be, no idea, actually.

So there are many factors.

And as it was already said, you can lose fat without losing weight. Nowadays I just focus on my just barely tight pants as they show small changes easily and what’s more, those are the changes that matters to me, not my weight.

Do you know your macros? Maybe that would help us to have a guess what’s wrong.

And high protein (not crazy high, that’s unhealthy, just more than adequate) shouldn’t be a problem though it’s possible it is for some… I lost fat while eating about 2g/kg for LBM (the lowest I can go if I am lucky).

Can you try to seriously limit your nut intake (let’s change just one factor for now so keep eating cheese, it’s lovely anyway, it would be hard for me to give it right now, I have a cheesy phase :slight_smile: ) for a while to see if it helps?

Yeah that’s quite important too. I never lost on keto but easily lost with more carbs just because I was fattier in the latter case… Not because carbs would help with it, it’s the opposite. And the food amount my body and mind was comfortable with happened to be below my old needs but it changed as I lost weight and fat.
Some people easily slim down completely but some has a harder time when they get nearer. Some have a hard time even when still having plenty to lose as well (my ~40lbs isn’t sooo much but I don’t consider it close) but I think it is rare when one is really, really heavy. Big successes happen there.

(Luke) #10

Hi. Pretty low I thought. I was not counting any macros I was just making sure I was in ketosis. I’m 1.4 blood ketones today which I thought was ideal. I just eat protein and salads made from veggies off the keto veg list. But I think I go a bit nuts on the nuts mainly macadamia and I put cheese with my salads every meal. I was just asking the question because sometimes the advice is to just keep going and you will slowly get fat adapted and the weight will go.

(Luke) #11

Hi I’m feeling ok. Not bouncing off walls like some people say the feel on keto. I think I actually feel a bit foggy some days , but feel like I think clearer if that makes sense. I feel healthy I don’t get hungry hungry like I used too but still hungry enough to want a meal when it’s time. I guess if the results were amazing I’d be saying I felt that way rather than a bit Meh about it. Results keep you going.

(Luke) #12

Thank you Chuck.

#13

It’s a good advice just to keep going and wait for fat adaptation… First it’s important to get used to keto, don’t add extra rules unless you are sure it suits you. Just keto is enough hardship for most of us, I had to change my recipes and handle the changes after low-carb, it wasn’t hard but worrying about a bunch of things right in the beginning, I probably wouldn’t have lasted for long.
And anyway, maybe just keto is enough.
The months pass (it already happened to you) and if there are no results, we still can change something, experiment with different things…

Fat adaptation doesn’t guarantee fat-loss either. Something still may be off, wrong items, bad timing… Just because many people automatically eat the right amount of keto for some nice fat-loss, not everyone is like that. Many of us even easily overeat on keto. And a normal body doesn’t lose fat in that situation.

(Marianne) #14

I only counted macros for about the first two weeks. The protein and fat macros were somewhat inconsequential to me, but I tried to keep the total carbs per day to as well under twenty as I could.

As another member said, a lot of times, weight loss can be impacted by how much you have to lose. It seems like the more you have to drop, the faster it comes off and vice versa.

Based on your post, it sounds like you are doing just fine. Eat to satiety and let the time pass. Eat if you are hungry and don’t if you’re not. Amazing things are going on inside your body, which will translate to weight loss, body recomposition and a more consistent feeling of well being. Maybe for variety and to get more fat and salt, instead of a salad some days/nights, have some steamed vegetables in bacon grease or butter.

(Luke) #15

Hi thanks for all the info. I’ve heard Paul talk about body recomposition and you mention it as well. You will have to excuse if I am misunderstanding but will I get a better physique eating this way. Not just looking like I’ve lost weight , but more fit looking if you can call it that. They say abs are built in the kitchen right? It just interests me if I could look fitter maybe more muscular, just through eating a certain way. I do physical work so this will obviously help a little. Thanks.

(Robin) #16

I would be surprised if you can actually gain abs by diet alone, but the fat loss around your existing abs will likely make them look more pronounced…? Just guessing. I think the recomposition of our proportions is mostly just getting the fat out of the way.

#17

I doubt it. 6+ lbs in the first week and now nothing. Seems very odd. Are you measuring your ketones? Curious about your blood type? I have a friend who had a similar situation. His blood type was Type A and after 3 months and no weight loss, he abanded Keto and now eats what I would call a modified vegetarian diet. He lost 45 lbs in about 4 months. I have found in my circle of friends and acquaintances that those who have Type O seem to be super responders to Keto. Not sure if blood type plays any role in Keto, but have found that Type O’s have a much easier time adapting.

(Chuck) #18

I am type A and I am losing some weight but more importantly I am losing the fat and inches all ver my body. I have read about eating for your blood type but it hasn’t worked for me. While I love vegetables I can’t eat them only. I was raised on the farm and mostly ate meat growing up and didn’t get fat until the military introduced me to high carbs. I am back to eating the way I grew up and it is wonderful.

#19

I am glad to hear it’s working for you. I am just curious if there might be a correlation between the two.

(Marianne) #20

Yes, I do believe you will get a better physique if you continue eating this way. I’ve been thin before (thinner than I am now), but my body now is better proportioned than the times I reached my goal weight through conventional dieting. My waist is more defined, no cellulite (amazing), back fat gone, saddlebags much reduced and now just right, etc. I think a “six pack” per se is pretty elusive and hard to obtain without crazy exercise, no matter how clean you are eating. Still, I’m sure you will be happier with your body as more time passes.

My husband has worked out every day (weights are cardio) since before I’ve known him (24 years). He has always been relatively thin, although when he started keto, he lost what little weight he had (20 lbs.) and lost the belly weight he had from poor eating that plagued him even though he was “fit.”

Good luck!