Anyone else NOT use the scale to gauge progress (when wanting to lose weight)?

(Cindy) #1

I told hubby tonight that my biggest fear right now is that I’ll stick to keto for 3 months and NOT have any significant progress. Not to say that I’ll go back to my former way of eating then, just that I’m using this as a focus to get through winter.

I think I can tell a smidgen of difference in my clothes already, but honestly, I wear so many stretchy/comfy clothes (I work from home), that I might just be imagining it.

I figure that, just by cutting out the sugar, there should be some improvement. But then that old voice in my head starts saying “Oh no, you’re eating FULL FAT (fill in the blank)!” and I think…how in the world can I lose weight when I’m not tracking, counting, weighing, every single morsel, stepping on the scale every day or week, aka, doing what I’ve done in the past (that didn’t work anyway).

Patience really is not one of my strengths, so I’m just wondering if anyone else adopted a “give it time” attitude without active measuring.

And just to detail “my” keto…essentially no carbs (as in, no intentional carbs, but I know some are in the greens I eat, cauliflower, etc), eating only when hungry (so sometimes going 16-20 hrs without eating, some days eating 1 meal, some days 2), and eating to satiety. I’m eating some cheese, but not large amounts, haven’t had nuts in weeks, use very HWC …

(Robert C) #2

You can skip tracking food macros, calories etc.
You can skip measuring your body weight.
You can wear so many different clothes over varying size and stretchiness so that you cannot be sure of a change.

BUT

You can’t do these and everything else to avoid measuring anything and then worry that in 3 months you will not have any significant progress.
Instead, you’ll just have to accept where you are in 3 months - because you don’t really know where that is anyway.

To get significant progress you have to measure something and then adjust if after 1 month (of your 3 months) if you are not near one third of what you think is significant progress.

For example, you might be right on the money - maybe your “full fat” food intake is higher than your maintenance level. You might be keto/fat adapted but never allowing body fat to be burned - always supplying a little more than is necessary from the plate. No progress after a month but blood ketones look good - maybe fat bombs and BPC need to go or maybe you need to break down your macros/calories and determine if your satiety signals are coming way too late.

Only by measuring body weight or waist size can you tell if, after a month, you are on the right path (as well as telling you how far off you might be - if you were looking for 4 pounds a month and only lost 3 pounds - still “good” but if you were thinking 4 pounds down and actually gained a pound - big rethink time).

(Wendy) #3

Well you do need a bar measurement so you know whether you have changed.
I never mind the scale. I liked it when it showed progress but understood it flunctuates, often.
I am not good at measuring food but I have still lost weight. I’m not prone to binge eating, and I have natural appetite signals since lowering my carbs and processed foods.
Have patience, be smart and chances are you will see results.

(Cindy) #4

Rob, for me, significant progress will simply be to fit into a pair of jeans that I stopped wearing earlier this year. Not looking to drop multiple sizes, don’t really care what my waist measures, etc, because those numbers will obviously have changed if I’m more comfortable in my clothing. So my “significant” isn’t big. :wink:

I don’t eat fat bombs or BPC. In fact, I don’t add any fat except for some avocado or olives, or maybe using a bit more homemade mayo than I would have in my pre-keto days.
Satiety signals have me eating less than I probably should. For example, I had prime rib for an early dinner today. Ate about 1/3 of it with a couple of bites of braised cabbage. About 4-5 hrs later, I was hungry again…warmed up the prime rib and still couldn’t finish it. So I’ve had ~12 oz of protein, a bit of cabbage, and some cauli mash.

I do think, in a month, I’ll be able to definitely say yes or no to whether or not things are headed in the right direction. But that’s not quite the same as weighing weekly…and that’s where the patience (and commitment to this as a long-term wof) comes in for me.

#5

I obsessed with the scale in the beginning, but now I don’t bother at all. My clothes no longer fit, I’m on my 3rd wedding ring, I can walk without getting out of breath, and heck I can even run! As long as you count your carbs, you should be just fine.

(Robert C) #6

Sounds like you’ll do okay then.

Definitely skip the scale if it will cause stress leading up to a weekly weigh-in day.

I happen to be the opposite - I will stress if I don’t know where I am at or cannot explain an up or a down on the scale.

#7

Hi Cindy,

My advice would be to do it the way you want to. If you want to wait for 3 months before you find out if your hard work has paid off or not, don’t measure. If you want to know if your hard work is paying off before that, measure. Which ever is best for you.

BTW if you had 120g protein from a piece of prime rib, that’s approx. 2 200 calories and 185g fat. Doesn’t leave much room for any other food that day.

Are you sure it wasn’t 120g of prime rib? that works out as approx. 1 360 cals, 120g fat, 80g protein.

(Cindy) #8

mememe, I’m not sure where you got the 120g from? I think the prime rib was originally 16oz, but I ate probably about 12 oz of it in 2 meals. So that’s pretty close to your 120g for the day…or ~1350 calories. I did have some cauliflower mash with my second meal, but that’s about it.

If I were doing CICO, then I ate way too many calories for the day. The last time I lost 85 lbs, I was eating 600-800 calories/day. :frowning: So that’s part of why I worry about the effectiveness of keto…I know I’m not eating too many carbs, but I certainly AM eating more calories.

(Carl Keller) #9

Sounds to me like you are doing things right Cindy but perhaps very high insulin resistance is what’s making your body hang on to your fat. Perhaps if you incorporate regular walking into your day and make sure you get plenty of sleep as well as try to relax as best you can, then maybe the weight loss will come. You can ask your doctor to test your insulin resistance if you like.

Here’s a neat little calculator that shows me (178 pound male) to eat around 1200 calories per day (18g carbs, 99g fat, 64g protein) to lose 15% of my current body weight. Maybe you can try it’s recommendations for a bit to see if that gets things moving better.

https://www.kissmyketo.com/pages/keto-calculator

Just keep trying Cindy. Your health is worth it

(Cindy) #10

Those are awesome NSVs!

(Cindy) #11

Ugh. LOL If I use the keto-calculator, then I’m back to tracking calories. Granted, keto changes the percents of what I would eat, but it still means restricting to 1200/day. I’m NOT the type to add in extra fat…I know I have plenty of fat in storage for fuel. So I’m fine if calories stay naturally low from feeling more full, but I want this to be a lifetime, sustainable woe for me. And tracking calories or macros, when I’ve done it off and on for 30+ years, is NOT something I want to do.

(Carl Keller) #12

Yes but I look at the grams of each macro as something to shoot for, not necessarily how many calories… but the two are certainly linked. The best thing I learned from this is I am probably eating too much protein and should cut back some, if my status quo is not working.

Fair enough. Good look to you.

(Bob M) #13

Personally, I like eating protein. It gets me satiated, unlike fat, which does not. I lift weights, though, twice a week typically. Not sure whether that makes a difference, though.

#14

LOL do you know what Cindy, after reading my post again, it doesn’t make any sense whatsoever!! :grin:

What I was getting at (very poorly) was you said you’d had 12oz of protein. I was asking if you meant 12oz of meat… … not protein!!