Hi!
I’m confused about how much I should eat! I eat keto till satiated, sometimes is it enough? Is it too much?? I usually have one meal a day, and occasionally I have a keto lunch. I have my bullet proof coffee with about 1/4 cream, and a perfect manhattan in the evening. Sweeteners? 2 Truvia only in my morning coffee. I enjoy both tremendously, and have gone without hoping this is what’s stalling me, but after a week, no change. I intermittent fast most of the time, and have tossed in a 30-60 hr fast from time to time. I lose 5-7 lbs, only to gain it back after I start eating again. Want to keep my metabolism revved, without overeating. Also, I’m 54, been on some form of low carb most of my life, on and off, yet I’ve been focused over the last 5 months and have only lost approx 20 lbs. Don’t get me wrong… I’m thrilled that I’ve lost 20, but when I’m struggling to lose another 100, the 20 bs over a few months is very discouraging. Only meds are for hypertension (lisinopril - hopefully not for much longer. I used to drop weight pretty quickly with moderate low carb, but now, man its soooo hard!! (Keto isn’t hard… but staying motivated is starting to be!!).
Confused, and a little discouraged
Are you testing your glucose and ketone levels? That might be a good way to get a handle on what’s going on.
Dr. Phinney, in several lectures that I’ve watched online, advises when people are stuck like this, first to reduce or even eliminate the carbs (sorry, but there goes the Manhattan, lol); and second, to increase fat.
It’s possible that you’re getting more than enough carbohydrate to knock you out of ketosis, so that should be the first thing to look at. Excess protein gets turned into glucose, so you also want to look at your protein consumption. The recommendations I’ve seen all run in the range of 1.0 to 2.5 grams max per day of protein per kilogram of lean body mass.
Lastly, there is evidence that non-sugar sweeteners can stimulate the production of insulin, which would be another factor that might knock you out of ketosis.
These are just guesses of mine; I’ve only been ketotic for a couple of months. It will be interesting to see what the experts have to say.
Hi,
Sorry to hear you are having trouble. I was just wondering do you do anything other than weighing yourself to check your progress? Measuring your waist, hips, arms and/or thighs can be really useful.
I only say it because the guys on the podcast and across a lot of the videos you find on YouTube talk about some of the stalls being related to the body restructuring itself, losing fat and gaining muscle and that weightloss usually kinda halts around these times. Its just a thought.
Also the 5-7lb loss when fasting might be down to you losing your glycogen stores and their attached water molecules. That would suggest that during your keto phase you are replenishing those stores, so maybe swapping out more of your carbs for fats, as PaulL mentioned is something worth trying? Perhaps do your fast and afterwards try a lower carb, higher fat version of what you are currently doing and see if you put all the lost weight, the 5-7lbs, back on? If you don’t then its probably a good sign you have your carb level right. If you do, then you might need to try lowering it a bit more. There’s a lot to be said for experimenting with this stuff.
Good luck and don’t give up!
Rich
I agree about the Manhattan! As a first step…Secondly, a better idea of what else your daily meal(s) consist of would help.
Like said above, it could be not enough fat , or the opposite…too MUCH fat. Or too much protein.
Give us more info and we’ll help you knock it out of the ballpark.
Congratulations on the 20 lbs over 5 months! It is not a bad rate of weight loss. Keep it up and in two years you can lose the additional 100 lbs you want gone. You probably gained the weight over a longer time.
The best rate of weight loss is the rate you are comfortable sustaining long term. You can accelerate weight loss with heroic effort, but if you aren’t comfortable sustaining that level of effort perhaps indefinitely you may set yourself up for an unpleasant rebound.
Look at other factors in addition to diet. Is your sleep long, deep and restful? Can you avoid or reduce chronic stress? Are your family, friends, work and hobbies sources of joy such that you aren’t turning to food as a mood enhancer? Are your activities and exercise sufficient to promote health and fitness or maybe they are excessive leaving you perpetually worn out?