After losing 80lbs, weight is creeping back up


#1

Hey everyone. First post here but I’m not sure where to go.

I’ve been extremely successful with Keto so far, I’m morbidly obese and was at around 470 lbs when I started my diet. Since November, when I began, I lost 80 lbs. However in the last 2 weeks, not only have I stalled but I’ve slowly crept up in weight, going from 390, about 10 days ago, to 394 as of this morning.

I have no great way of measuring my actual body fat percentage at my extreme weight as even 80 lbs later my Body Fat monitors throw up an error when I use them. BMI is around 56 and I’m supposed to be burning around 3400 kcal a day.

I’ve been doing IF for a couple of months now, usually 16-8 though I did do a full day fast to maybe try to kickstart my body back into gear. I’m also considering going OMAD or doing a smaller window.

My diet is primarily meat and cheese, vegetables are EXTREMELY had for me to get down in most situations. I’ve had mixed success with Zoodles, but even then they can cause me to gag (as does broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, and nearly anything but onions (well cooked), tomatoes, and lettuce.

I haven’t noticed a big change from what I ate before, I do allow myself an Atkin’s bar treat daily, which I have since I started, but my net carbs should be well under 20. My usual eating window is from 12 pm - 8 pm.

Average meals are:

Breakfast: Coffee with about 1 tbsp - 1.5 tbsp of butter, and a little MCT Oil
Lunch : On days I work it is often a meal replacement shake (no sugar, 6g net carbs) with a dash of cream and MCT.
Dinner: Beanless chili, ground beef seasoned, eggs and sausage or bacon, low carb chicken parm. Or some recipe online (checking carbs to keep it under)

I did snack a lot before, now I am keeping it under control, I eat nothing after 8 pm.

I am concerned that what might be happening is that my metabolism has dropped. For example, it’s extremely hard to eat 3500 kcal a day with only meats as I will get full pretty quickly. But I have noticed I am definitely feeling hungrier lately, even if my stomach feels full.


(Ken) #2

Since you haven’t increased your carbs, the weight gain hasn’t been fat, nor glycogen. Most probable is salt induced water retention. To keep losing fat, do not eat unless actually hungry.

Hunger is felt in the stomach, caused by a ghrelin secretion. It is not felt in the mind or mouth, which are simple cravings.


(Bunny) #3

My personal rule of thumb:

Potassium sourced from leafy greens (only) is what melted the fat right off my bones. Man made potassium is not the same. This helps clean the liver too!

MCT oil intake (1:1)ratio to leafy greens.

Meats (1:1) ratio:

*omega 3 (anti-inflammatory e.g. organic cod liver oil & fermented versions; look for light exposure and thermal processing methods which are bad)

omega 6 (pro-inflammatory) meats you buy now days are 10:100 ratio (bad for inflammation). More than 4 oz. (per meal/serving) of meat turns to sugar in the body (gluconeogenesis).

Fermented foods for e.g. biome gut flora like Apple Cider Vinegar & Lemon Juice to prevent kidney and gallstones 1 Tbls. of each to a glass of water a day!


(Jeannie Oliver) #4

A few suggestions here (not from my personal experience, but from a great deal of studying books, research, and videos of scientific presentations):

  1. shrink your feeding time to 6 to 4 hours until you are eating OMAD
  2. test to see if something you are eating regularly is taking you out of ketosis. You don’t mention whether you are diabetic and measuring your blood sugar, or whether you are presently testing ketones. Suspects that MAY stimulate your insulin response include dairy and the artificial sweeteners in that daily Atkins bar or meal replacement shake. Further, your body’s response to these foods may change while you are eating keto.
  3. Try to eat a greater variety of vegetables by preparing them in more palatable forms. For example, add spinach or pieces of raw kale leaves to a salad. Or stir fry pieces of zucchini, mushrooms or cabbage with meat and season well with garlic, ginger and Bragg’s liquid aminos.
  4. Listen to 2ketodudes podcasts, beginning with the early ones. They’re full of good info from the guests and from Carl and Richards’ personal experience. You never know what might come up that will spark a new insight into your own personal situation.
  5. Keep calm and keto on.

(Jean Taylor) #5

I don’t have any super helpful suggestions as far as the weight creeping back up. If you dont think you’re getting enough calories you could try making more sauces. It’s an easy way to add fat. That could help you add variety to your vegetables too. I hide finely chopped greens in strong saucy meats because i hate them with a passion… They tend to not be noticable.


(Raj Seth) #6

Seems like your intake is high on protein, and not enough fat. For a good LCHF way of eating, I target 75-85% of my calories from fat, the balance from protein, and only incidental carbs, if any (I ignore them in rounding)
The fat will satiate your hunger better.
After years, decades even, of being told to eat less fat, eat less, etc. it can be HARD to allow yourself to eat enough fat. I was only 300lbs, so dont know what near 500 lbs feels like, but I certainly wasnt skinny!!

Additionally, I try to only eat real food - no shakes or bars - no matter what the label says. But, if thats what you gotta do, then thats what you gotta do.

Stalls are quite common after losing blocks of weight. Even at 212 lbs, I dont fret 5-10 lbs up and down. I have bounced from a low of 212 to 225, and lost no sleep over it. The body will resume its progress as the insulin continues to be lower for longer. So, at 390, 4# is about 1%. Rounding error.

KCKO. KCFO.


(John Somsky aka KetoGrinder) #7

For me, I found an extended fast (3-4 day) helped to overcome my plateau. You may also need to make sure you aren’t overdoing the protein since that does cause a moderate insulin response. Of course if you are on any blood glucose lowering drugs, you should have medical supervision to fast. You may need to cut out all snacking. Keep it to two meals in your feeding window.

Most of all experiment. Listen to your body. Glucose and ketone meters can be an excellent tool to see how your body is reacting to your diet. Maybe there is some hidden sugar in something. Maybe you don’t react well to artificial sweeteners.

And most of all keep calm and Keto on. Your body is trying to reach homeostasis at a weight higher than you’d like. Eventually you’ll figure out how to coax it down. A little exercise can help raise your metabolism. Nothing extreme, but something to build muscle and get your heart moving. Good luck with continued success!


#8

Ok, thanks for the advice everyone. Some good stuff to look at.

I’ll KCKO I guess, and try to cut out the bars and see how that goes too. I’ll miss them, but after years of fighting this stuff, I’m not gonna let a hiccup stop me.

Thankfully outside of high-BP (which I have been monitoring since I started) I’m thankfully not diabetic or anything else, it’s one of the many reasons I started, the plan, I’d been too lucky for too long nad couldn’t afford to push it any longer.

I’m looking to get a breath meter to measure my ketones, I heard I can use a Breathalyzer, but I know that some people mention KETONIX, but that’s a bit outside my price range currently. Any suggestions?


(Jeannie Oliver) #9

Until you can afford the Ketonix, try the inexpensive Ketostix to test the ketones in your urine. The measurements aren’t as accurate as testing your blood, but they will let you know if you are in ketosis or not. I use them to test whenever I try something new–such as a food that has artificial sweeteners, or a serving of berries with cream, or a glass of wine–to determine whether it has kicked me out of ketosis.

By the way, several on this thread seem to be worried about eating too much protein. According to a presentation by Dr. Benjamin Bikman, we don’t see the rise in insulin in response to protein WHEN IT IS CONSUMED WITH A LOW CARB DIET.


(Kate) #10

So I have been eating Keto for almost 2 years. I lost most of my weight (50lbs of almost 80lbs total lost) in the first 6 months and then I had periods of time where I maintain and then others where the weight just falls off.
I would look at what you are eating a bit more closely to see if something you eat, the next day weight comes on etc. Could it be the meal replacement shake at lunch has something in it or could it be the Atkins bars?

For me the last few months I was eating Atkins bars and it got to the point where I was eating them daily and my weight was going up (also having a major addiction sort of pattern going out of my way to go get them or have someone bring them home). I cut them out completely and in the week or so after not having them I dropped 4.2 kgs/9lbs and have started to lose again. I think they were definitely contributing to my weight gain/losing the same 2 or so kgs over and over.

I went back to eating things like this if I want something as a treat. The recipe below I cook 5 serves for a mini muffins tray (12 muffins 1/4 cup each approx). I cook it a bit longer and it makes a moist muffin/cake in the oven.

Or I make fat bombs as a treat and it seems to tide me over for a sweet fix.

Sometimes I find that when I have stopped losing weight I just have to change things up and ride it out. It eventually starts to come off again you just have to keep calm and keto on. Your body will work it out.


(Christina) #11

You could be simply eating too much. If you overeat fat it gets stored as fat. Try reducing your calorie intake slightly and see if that halts the weight gain.

Fat should be eaten to satiety which really isn’t that much. Having 200g of butter on your steak is going to make you gain weight if it’s not the only meal of the day.

Keto is a high fat diet but remember that it’s 75% of your daily caloric needs from fat. The fat on your plate or the fat on your body. How much fat you eat dictates that.


(Rob) #12

Not necessarily so. There are many experiments that show that people with healthy metabolisms can massively overeat fat on keto and it is NOT stored at all. The body won’t store fat if insulin is low so it totally depends on your metabolic health as to whether 200g of butter will impact you or not.

Most people here (high insulin) are more likely to store at least some of the ‘excess’ dietary fat but it is far from a rule.


(Christina) #13

That’s the key - metabolic health. From the initial post I’m assuming metabolic derangement hence my statement. Yes in metabolically healthy folks BMR rises with increased calorie consumption.


(Rob) #14

It does a bit but that cannot explain the extreme experiments where most of it must be passed through and excreted. Apparently the body is smart enough to know it doesn’t even need to touch the excess.


#15

Do your self a huge favor and watch Dr. Eric Westman’s “White Coat” video. Keto Clarity! He is from Duke University and has bee using the ketogenic diet for over 20 years in his obesity clinic. He stick to Total carbs not net and has a pretty simple food list that he asks you to follow. Good luck and Keto on!


(Karen Parrott) #16

My BMI was 35, now it’s about 22.4 I respond really well to a low carb, yet higher protein, lower calorie for weight loss.

It’s just me. I don’t really get to pick and choose. Being overweight since the age of 6, I had figured out what worked.

In my 6 years of weight maintenance, at years 3 to years 5 of weight maintenance, I did indeed gain weight back about 6% of my total body fat. I noticed and felt crummy. And yes, I was overeating dietary fat.

By just adjusting my macro nutrients ever so slightly (still LCHF) (still Keto) but by just slightly trading fat grams for protein grams, keeping carbs the same, I was able to shift into burning my body fat, very close to my goal weight. The secret was doing Intermittent fasting (keto) while signaling my obesity FTO genes- to say HEY! Yo, it’s okay to burn a little body fat, but let me let you access that stuff…

Anyhoo, it work/s/ed like a charm. Shhhhhhhh, don’t tell anyone but long term weight maintenance may be as much work for folks who have been obese since childhood. I cycle through periods of weight loss, weight maintenance, and some weight gain over a years time , at least once a year or more.

With some very small tweeks and adjustments your body, your biochemistry, and your genetic disposition will show, and you can Outwit, Outlast, Outplay.

Onward, keep a careful food journal, at some point an activity tracker, and some critical thinking on shifts and trend on your weight. Do everything in your realm to keep from regaining. Weight maintenance, if you can while you experiment with your food and lifestyle template. Fasting may be key.

Keep going. Experiment and let US know what works. By being very, very quiet about what worked, I could be free to not swirl around in what didn’t work too long. 3 weeks to 3 months should be enough time to adapt to your experiments.

Think this is hard. You are right. Dr. Westman is right, it’s and endocrinology thing, your fat wants back biologically, don’t let it. Best wishes and you body will let you know what works. There is no one simple answer for some of us. I’m on weight maintenance island with a variety of folks. One to two ways were best for them. We are a tribe of many strategies, just waiting for our friends.

Come join! :sunny: :desert_island:


(Alan Williamson) #17

If I eat 3 meals a day, I will gain weight too. I do OMAD or 5:2 diet, fasting 2 days a week for 36 hours each day, to keep from gaining weight. It works for me.


(Diane) #19

I definitely find this to be true. This forum is a great place to get ideas for dietary tweaks.


(Diane) #20

Thanks for a great response Karen.

Love this! We are all survivors! Aren’t we?

Yes!


(Jan) #21

I just discovered Dr Bikman on YouTube. Not only is he a legitimate researcher, but also an excellent teacher. And this is my favorite talk of his.