Butter, etc

#1

Not sure I am doing this right.

Started on 1/25/19.

AM =

2 glasses of water
Coffee with 1 packet of SweetLeaf - Organic Stevia Sweetener, drop of Half n Half
1 Tablespoon of Bulletproof Brain Octane

Later AM

Coffee with 1 packet of SweetLeaf - Organic Stevia Sweetener, drop of Half n Half

Afternoon

Coffee with 1 packet of SweetLeaf - Organic Stevia Sweetener, drop of Half n Half

PM

Dinner:

Steak made with lots of butter.
Side of Broccoli with cheese (4 cups)
Water with dinner (usually 2-3 glasses)

Other times it salmon with Cauliflower with cheese
or Chicken with pesto & asparagus.

Before bed

1 Tablespoon of Bulletproof Brain Octane
2 Glasses of water.

I do not refrain from using fresh pepper or salt.

No soda.
No snacks.
No alcohol

Cannot say the fat is melting off at all, so therefore, after on month on this I must be doing something wrong.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #2

I would imagine you’re hungry. Are you hungry?

More info:

https://www.ketogenicforums.com/c/newbies/getting-started

https://www.ketogenicforums.com/c/newbies/not-losing-weight

#3

No, prior to this am a 1 meal a day person.

Albeit with pasta 4x per week, 2-3 glasses of red wine per night with dinner. Bread, etc.

So, hunger is not an issue.

Just not seeing any noticeable weight loss, so I have to be doing something wrong.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #4

A few things come to mind. Why are you just having coffee and one meal if you’re just starting? You need to cut down on that and eat food more especially when you’re starting.

My second suggestion is drop the bedtime whatever that is you’re taking with water. Water is good but you don’t need ketone supplements if that’s what it is, especially at bed time. The point is to get your own body producing ketones and feeding off your stored fat.

Drop half and half and use heavy cream, organic if you can get it.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #5

Also, your stats would help. Age, gender, height, weight, goal weight. Certain meds can hold you up, not enough sleep, a bunch of stress, illness, etc. The more you tell us, the better we can try to help.

#6

No meds.

Had major surgery a year ago that saw part of my large intestine removed.

Prior to that was a 3-4x week workout, 160 lbs, 5’ 10"

From that time put on weight due to having to take it extremely easy.

Failed to mention I do take supplements in the am:

Centrum
Zinc
Vitamin C
Fish Oil

Sleep wise, 6-8 hours

Goal is to return to my weight pre-surgery.

#7

There’s a lot of fake sweetener in there. Fake sweeteners can cause an insulin response and insulin is a fat storage hormone so it may be hampering your efforts. I have discovered I can’t do stevia as I get hungry 30 mins later for this very reason.
Also seems like very low calorie. If you’re too low and not fat adapted yet, you’re body will treat this like a calorie restriction diet and lower your metabolism to meet the calorie input, not the other way around. You want your body to start to see your own body fat as fuel and it needs to get used to using fat instead of glucose first

#8

Prior to using the organic stevia (which I thought it was natural, not fake) was using Splenda

https://blog.myfitnesspal.com/is-stevia-safe/

Calorie wise, what should be my target?

Fat wise what should be.my target?

Some days, I am well below 20G carbs gross, but have never exceeded 20G carbs net.

Should I pull back on the butter, say on my steak?

Not sure how to balance this.

#9

Well, let me rephrase that… sweeteners. One thing that can happen when using a product like stevia is that your body can have an insulin response as if it’s received a carb, protein etc. This is different than a glucose response that will spike a blood sugar. This is a release of fat storage hormone in response to a non caloric item. This means your body is going to hold onto and store whatever it can. This isn’t the same for everyone as everyone is an individual however it is common.
Calorie needs are individual, and mine personally are such that I can eat 1600-1800 and still lose weight on a 5/25/70 ratio of carb/protein/fat. Now that I’m suspecting I’m fat adapted I am reducing my fat from 120-140 grams to 90-100 grams and increasing my protein from 70-80 to 120 or more grams so that I’m not taking in too much of what my body now sees as fuel and it will continue using the fat on my body and not just the fat on my plate.
A mental tally of what you’re eating seems like you might be too low. I don’t know what size of steak you are using but most average about 60 calories an ounce. 4 cups of broccoli is 100 calories. Lots of butter could be a tablespoon or a half cup lol. Not enough information. But say you’re only getting 900-1000 calories and your body isn’t adapted to using fat as fuel, plus your releasing insulin all day in response to the stevia… your body is going to slow down whatever it can to bring the expenditure down to the intake.
When you’ve become fat adapted then your body is receiving 900-1000 calories a day it’s going to say “hmm, that’s kind of low… guess I’ll eat up this fat over here to make up the difference.”
You actually may benefit from eating more food and more fat for awhile in order to become fat adapted. Fat adaptation is not Ketosis. Ketosis is just the switchover. It takes weeks to become fully adapted.
You might have to tweak your targets as you go. My targets and my boyfriends and not exactly alike. I can do 20-25 net carbs no problem but he need to be under 20 net and preferably 20 total. He needs more fat than I do still as he’s still adapting. So that’s a long way of saying, don’t know until you try it. Try no sweeteners. Try more food. Try both. It’s the only way to find the balance that works for you :blush:

(Frank) #10

At 5’10” and 160lbs what exactly are your goals? You mentioned a removal of part of your large intestine. Is there something related to that which prompted this woe?

(Carl Keller) #11

I wonder why you need to lose weight with those numbers. 132 to 167 lbs is considered normal weight for your height. Moving the scale is not easy when you don’t have a lot of body fat to lose.

#12

WAS 160.

Since the operation that is no longer the case due to having to move to a more sedentary lifestyle as I heeled. It took almost a year.

In that time, not from over eating, but from lack of exercise have put on 30 pounds.

It is the 30 pounds I am seeking to shed.

(Carl Keller) #13

Gotcha.

I do hope you have noticed a positive change in energy or how you feel in general. If you are, then I believe you are on the right track.

The only thing I might suggest you consider is dropping the stevia and I loathe to say it because I like stevia in my coffee and while drinking it black is doable, it’s not that enjoyable. Jason Fung says in his book The Obesity Code:

Despite having minimal effect on blood sugars, both aspartame and stevia raised insulin levels higher than even table sugar.

So if you are raising your insulin levels at regular intervals throughout the day, this doesn’t give you body much time to access fat storage.

#14

Deep 6’d the Stevia as of yesterday per this boards recommendation.

Replaced half n half with heavy cream.

Friday was a tough day on the body and have not been feeling all that well the past few days. When I first started, did have energy, but recently have very little.