Hi all,
I’ve been eating a ketogenic diet since March when I first read Keto Clarity by Jimmy Moore. (Prior to that time I had been eating a low-carb diet for more than a year, but not the ultra low-carb levels as in the ketogenic diet. I’m a healthy, fit 43-year-old female who is lean, but have always carried extra weight around my middle, even when I was literally at an American size 0 - which can stick out pretty badly on a lean body type - and when I started the ketogenic diet I was 5-7 pounds above my ideal body weight.)
I followed all Jimmy’s and others’ recommendations, including even buying and taking Cinsulin and MCT oil, intermittent fasting, buying the blood testing meter, testing my blood first thing in the morning while fasting, etc. I already sleep well and thankfully have a fairly low-stress job so no problems there.
Yet I could not seem to get into ketosis or lose weight for anything. My blood glucose level was also consistently higher than it was before I started the ketogenic diet. I kept dropping my carb and protein levels, dropping it more, dropping it still more, etc. Now I’m down to 18.5 carbs (total carbs, not net carbs), my protein is at the recommended amount - 1 gram per pound of lean body weight - and I have been eating what to me seems like a TON of fat. Today I was at 6% carbs, 30% protein, and 64% fat. My daily calories are way above what it recommended by various health websites (including keto websites) for my weight.
Finally after all this trying, I’m at 0.5 ketones/blood level, but I cannot seem to get above that. ONE week I managed to get an 0.8 reading but then it fell right back down to 0.5 even though I did nothing different in terms of diet or exercise, and there it has stayed. It is extremely frustrating. I don’t know how I can bring my carbs any lower. I already had to even cut out greens like spinach to get to the level I’m at now, so I’m eating no fruit and no vegetables and I know that’s not a healthy long-term option.
I take prebiotics and probiotics. I eat organic, whole foods. I eat 100% pastured butter, 100% pastured eggs, full-fat cheese, etc. I just ordered a 100% pastured meat share from a local farm so I can eat that too, as it’s nearly impossible to find 100% pastured meat in grocery stores where I live. I have not been drinking alcohol (or milk) at all. I had to travel for business for three days and did everything I could to eat keto - and managed to do it even with airport food as the only option at times - including literally eating only little balls of butter for breakfast when that was literally the only item on the breakfast buffet table that wasn’t full of carbs. THAT was not fun.
The two things I will say is that for eating so many more calories than I am apparently supposed to, at least I have not GAINED any weight. (Which is pretty amazing.) And there have been times where I’ve been able to skip a meal without feeling hungry, though this is definitely the exception rather than the rule.
Still, this 0.5 ketone level (and the higher blood glucose too - what in the world is with THAT while I’m eating 6% carbs) is extremely frustrating. I mean, what else does a girl have to do to get into actual levels of nutritional ketosis instead of skimming along the very bottom of the minimum? And when will I be able to eat spinach and arugula again??
