Calling on the Wise Ones! Help!

#1

Have re-gained all of my keto losses and don’t know where to turn!

I started keto in March of 2018 and by June of 2019 had lost 50lbs. Was pretty much at my goal weight and super happy!! I maintained that weight until fall/winter of 2020. I went into early menopause and over the following couple of years gained all the weight back plus about 20 more. :disappointed: This was all while maintaining how I’d become accustomed to eating on keto.

I totally went off keto after getting super frustrated that it wasn’t working for me any longer. Since then I’ve gone back to strict keto and seen almost zero results like I did the first time.

I’m desperate and looking for help, words of wisdom, or anything that I can try that might help!

I have 70lbs to lose and feeling completely lost and dejected.

(Robin) #2

I’m a firm believer that your body takes note of your ups and downs as we lose and gain weight over and over again. So this time your body may not trust you yet. But if you trust the process, it will eventually convince your body that it’s safe now.

So it can take longer than the first time around. That’s ok. You’ll get there… with patience and perseverance. It will pay off.
You got this!

(Alec) #3

Can I suggest carnivore? I lost a lot of weight in the same timeframe as you on keto & fasting, but regained it all because I was too loose with the rules.

18 months ago, I restarted, and fell into carnivore (at the time, I thought carnivores were crazies!) and it has absolutely worked for me. You may be someone (like me) who just doesn’t go well on plants.

Give it a try for 30 days and see how you feel.

(John Bradshaw) #4

@veryvette I agree with @Alecmcq, try strict carnivore for a month. Watch Ken Berry and Anthony Chaffee on YouTube and once you have educated yourself about carnivore, give it a try.
Dr Eric Westman on YouTube has a “prescription strength keto” (less than 20g Total carbs a day)… That would work too.

(B Creighton) #5

Well, this is not really my wheelhouse, but I know weight gain is a common issue with menopause. My wife is going through the same thing.

My best suggestion is to eat things which will uncouple your mitochondria. This will help turn some of your fat into brown fat. Brown fat burns more energy. It’s kind of like comparing a 12 cylinder Rolls to a 4 cylinder Toyota to go the same distance. Exposing your body to cool temperatures for a couple hours per day will also encourage production of brown fat. For me this means a cool house in the winter time. Or a cool swim for an hour or so on a daily basis can do it.
Things to eat to encourage mitochondria to multiply or uncouple are
MCTs
Omega 3 fats - ALA from flaxseed is one I recommend. Omega 3s tend to turn white fat into brown fat and activate it. (Lund, Larsen, and Lauritzen. Fishoil as a Potential Activator of Brown and Beige Fat Thermogenesis. Adipocyte, 2018; 7(2)).
Turmeric or Curcumin from turmeric - tends to turn white fat into brown fat. Curcumin in turmeric prevents the formation of the mature fat cells, thus obesity. Another way with which curcumin enhances weight loss is by transforming the white fat into brown fat.
Capsinoids from peppers cause the body to burn more fat through brown fat.
Wormword - there are several papers which discuss the mode of action of wormword via mitochondrial uncoupling.

Prolonged Berberine supplementation - Lingyan Wu, et. al. Berberine Promotes the Recruitment and Activation of Brown Adipose Tissue in Mice and Humans. Cell Death & Disease volume 10, Article number: 468 (2019). Here, we reported that 1-month berberine intervention increased BAT mass and activity, reduced body weight, and improved insulin sensitivity in mildly overweight patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Chronic berberine treatment promoted BAT development by stimulating the expression of brown adipogenic genes, enhanced BAT thermogenesis, and global energy expenditure in diet-induced obese mice and chow-fed lean mice.
Increase Melatonin - According to a 2018 study melatonin also has the potential to help increase brown fat in your body. You can increase your melatonin intake by consuming foods such as cherries, coriander, cardamom, tomatoes, and almonds.

(Allie) #6

You say you’ve gone back to strict keto, but what exactly does this mean for you, what are your macros, how much are you actually eating?

#7

Ah! Thank you, Robin. Kind words can be so encouraging. It’s so nice to be back in the board! :heart:

#8

@Alecmcq and @John_Bradshaw

Thank you for the carnivore suggestion! I hadn’t thought of that and am going to do some reading up. That’s a really interesting proposition.

Interesting to hear you experienced similar occurrence and then this helped!

#9

Wow! Thank you for the detailed reply. I’m going to dive deep and start experimenting with these different suggestions. Was unfamiliar with the concept of turning white fat to brown fat but makes complete sense.

I just knew something was going on with my body and physiology that was not the same as before. I only wish I’d done keto earlier to be able to maintain at the same weight for longer prior to going into early menopause. I just turned 49 a few days ago and was in complete menopause at 46.

I really had not considered many of the supplements (other than turmeric) that you mentioned. I’m such a big fan of the farmacy over the pharmacy! :blush:

(Alec) #10

Carnivore is very straightforward (I would argue much simpler than standard keto). Meat, fish, eggs, dairy: in other words, nothing that comes from a plant. I can tell you that this is much easier to stick to than keto because it is so simple… there’s no counting, you just eat no plants or anything that comes from a plant. Simples.

The number of anecdotes of people just healing and losing weight effortlessly through carnivore is just remarkable. Anyone who is “stuck” should consider carnivore as a natural option to try.

(Jennifer M Worth) #11

Holding my hand up. Menopause slows down the weight loss. I haven’t dropped pounds like I used to in my youth. You will in all likelihood get smaller in size before you see the scale move. (bizarre but my experience)

#12

It’s definitely simpler, it’s part of the charm (even if I manage to complicate it, still so many options and experiments to do… ;)). And as I write so often, it’s very different to get our carbs from animal sources, at least according to my experiences… It feels different, better that way.

Good luck, @veryvette!

(Edith) #13

No one likes to hear this but how much we eat still matters. I am on month eleven without a period, so I’m pretty sure at 57, I’m finally heading into menopause. Over the past two years, my weight has been slowly creeping up. I do like to exercise, so that has helped keep the weight gain to a creep, but never-the-less is has still been going up. I also went back to work full-time and becoming more sedentary at a desk all day has not helped, either.

The only thing that has stopped the weight gain for me has been cutting back on my portion sizes. Even though I was still keto, I had to take stock of how much I was eating and cut back on those portion sizes. So, while you are back to keto, you may need to track how much you are eating for a week or two and double check that you are not overdoing it with quantity.

(Robin) #14

I am basically in maintenance. I believe a big factor in my weight loss and keeping it off has been my determination to not eat after 5:00 or 6:00 pm.
When I eat later, the scales will show a gain of a pound or two.

(Denise) #15

I’m so glad someone usually asks this question. I know that people can have a totally different take on what Keto actually is so it’s always good to know what we are actually eating in an average day. I’ve been fortunate 99% of the time because I eat the same foods I did when I started 2.5 years ago, and only gained a couple of lbs that didn’t stick around long, by eating too many peanuts:sweat_smile:

Keto for me is a lifestyle, more of a change of life (no pun intended for menopause) but I had really bad post-menopausal symptoms when I first started Keto. They are either gone, or some just occasionally like hot-flashes :wink:

I wouldn’t have stuck with keto if it wasn’t a way I could enjoy eating, and I do enjoy eating this way. I learned how to cook much better, wayyyyy better, and I can bake a couple of things for desserts on occasion using stevia, but I am not addicted to those desserts like I was to sugar so I don’t need or want them often.

(Denise) #16

I’m with you Robin, I feel soooo much better too when I lay down to read before I fall asleep, now that I don’t eat any snacks after my dinner by 5 pm :smiley:

(Robin) #17

Yes! I sleep so much better. Can’t believe I had come to think that gert was just normal.

(Marianne) #18

To me, it seems clear that you know how to do this. I am not minimizing how you are feeling and have certainly been there. It is a horrible place.

From what you related, it seems to me that something changed from when you first started. Can you examine your program in the beginning and what it morphed into? You may discover excess calories or hidden carbs that you weren’t aware of.

It seems that when a lot of people restart after gaining, it’s different than the first time. I think time and patience are the key. I do believe that if you follow clean keto and eating less than 20g carbs/day for the long term, it will come off in time. I detest exercise, but maybe if you incorporate something enjoyable and moderate like walking or the like, you will see more favorable results on the scale. Just be careful - to me, the scale is the devil. I’d rather use my appearance and clothes to be a more accurate marker of my progress. It’s not about the number. I think your body and metabolism need to reacclimate and know that your eating pattern is stable and will remain unchanged. Could you get your macros and follow those for a while?

Good luck. I look forward to hearing about your journey.

(Marianne) #19

I complete agree with this!!!

(Marianne) #20

I did carnivore for over a year and found it very easy and enjoyable. Just be careful as it is not a license to eat unlimited quantities of food, like I thought. I got into trouble from eating too much and gained some of my weight back. Everything in moderation.