Hi all. I’ve been doing keto for a little over a month now and have had no issues remaining in Ketosis since the beginning BUT after losing 9 lbs in my first two weeks my weight loss stalled completely despite doing everything by the book. I check my blood glucose/ketones daily ( 3 times a day with glucose/ketone meter) until this past week. Ketones are almost alwaysin the 2.5 to 4 or above range. Blood sugar remains stable throughout the day between 75-90 with no large fluctuations. After I eat something I get extremely tired. No exceptions, whether it’s protein/fat or just some veggies I get this extreme tiredness. I’ve checked my BG 30 min and 2 hrs after eating as well as right before and don’t detect any large fluctuations. I’ve tried eating smaller portions at a time but it still doesn’t seem to help. I’m very frustrated between the stalled weight loss and these bouts of tiredness and was wondering if others have encountered this and found a solution? I want to stick with keto since I feel better overall not eating carbs but would like to fix this! Additional info in case it matters, I’m 44, female 129lbs and 5’5 so I’m within 5 lbs of my goal weight. Thanks!
Crashing after eating
Same deal here, especially in the late morning. I’ve altered foods, macros, amounts, exercise, coffee, water, sleep times, supplements–nothing helped. And I’ve crashed like this in the late mornings on every single diet my whole life. Gotta be hormonal or something.
Discovered my only option was to not eat in the morning which means enduring extreme hunger pangs to the point of nausea. No, thanks.
I’m hoping it’s all part of the deranged metabolism mosh pit I’ve been dancing in forever and that it will eventually resolve itself. Because suck.
That additional info might matter a lot. Your desired goal weight might be 5 pounds less than what your body wants to hold on to for its survival.
First levers to pull if you want to go lower is to make sure stress and sleep are in good places - this might help the body not feel it has to hold on to weight.
Ensure you are not over-exercising, again, this can be seen as a stress by the body.
Eating less is probably bad as it is not a good long term solution - you metabolism might slow and you’ll gain even with more cuts.
Eating less often is another good lever - IF or EF if IF doesn’t get you what you want. But, to maintain a body weight lower than your body wants - you might have to continue doing it.
Hi and welcome,
Ttiredness -
About 4 weeks isn’t enough to be fully keto adapted, it does get better the more adapted you are. Meantime:
Are you getting plenty of salt (sodium)? This is vital.
Are you iron deficient? Thyroid function tests … all the essentials still apply, keto or not …
Too much protein makes me drowsy, it did before keto, still does in keto.
Don’t be afraid of butter or olive oil, they are dynamite as far as energy goes. Good quality sleep, stress management etc etc …
About the goal weight -
Yep, I hear ya. I’m about 5lbs off my goal weight and have stalled for the past 4-6 weeks. My body seems to think this is where the joy ride ends. It was more fun when the fat was flying off. So I don’t know if anything can be done on keto alone? We can’t eat too little, calorie restriction is futile. I know keto+exercise means faster fat loss than keto alone but … I don’t know I have no answer, just sympathy.
Ive never seen ketones above 1.8. I think high ketones are like high triglycerides. I wonder if there’s any correlation like if people with high Trigs have low ketones and vise versa? I do know higher ketones means lower insulin. If you cant get ketones up it might be because of insulin and if you have good ketone levels you need not test for insulin.
If your ketones are that high and you are early in keto, chances are your body isn’t using ketones for fuel yet. Going into ketosis is one thing with many good benefits (lower insulin means better health for one!), but for you to be using ketones as fuel your mitochondria have to adjust. That can take a month to six weeks. I don’t remember offhand if the mitochondria have to change, or you have to make new mitochondria that burn ketones.
There is a different chemical reaction using ketones instead of glucose and that happens in the mitochondria, so that adjustment can take a little longer.
Also be sure you are drinking enough water and taking electrolytes. When the fat breaks down, water is released. When water is shed by the body, it washes out salts and electrolytes along with the water and the waste. Plenty of salt and minerals help a lot.
As mentioned, if you have health issues such as thyroid problems, that will also affect you. Otherwise, trust the process, remember that the health benefits are real, even if you have 5 extra pounds and give it time. Give yourself a good six weeks, your body has a lot going on. 
Your body is healing. It takes a lot of energy to do that. Give it time. Be happy that it is working properly to clean out the junk in your system. It is worth it. Really it is!
What do your macros look like? Are you hitting your protein goal, every day? If you are working out really hard and your ketones are that high, you probably not quite fat adapted. That is okay, it takes time, but that could be part of the fatigue issue. Also, just make sure you aren’t overtaxing your body. You do need to rest sometimes, High cortisol levels will make you hold on to weight and potentially gain it.
But, make sure you are not cutting protein, especially if you are training hard. If anything you could try getting all of your calories from protein a few days a week to see if that helps with the stalling. It will also help ensure that when you do lose weight it’s not LBM that you are losing.
I can tell you my personal experience with an after meal crash only, nothing scientific. I find that the longer I wait to eat when I am hungry, the more I crash afterward. I eat breakfast every day and sometimes will eat lunch as early as 11 because if I wait until 1 those two hours are very hungry hours and after finally eating I am just tired and ready for a nap. On the days I eat my lunch early but then have a late dinner (putting eating off again) I have another crash after dinner, almost to the point of going to bed at 7 pm. After an hour or so I am back up again. I don’t know if I’m handling it the best way, but I don’t have time in my day to feel lousy for hours so I eat regular meals and don’t make myself wait when it tells me my body time to eat.
I eat 20 g or less carbs per day.
Also, if you are keeping a food journal keep an eye out for higher carb foods before the tired feeling. I found that if I pack my carbs into one meal instead of spreading them out, I get tired afterward. Hope this helps you stick with it!
My ketones are consistently above 2 and usually much higher than that. My highest was 5.5 two days ago but my blood sugar was still the usual. Lack of ketones are definitely not the issue. It must be something else😕
Thank you, that’s interesting info about the mitochondria adjusting. I’m really hoping something is still adjusting and my body isn’t just digging in to not lose any more weight. I’m not overweight but I definitely have some belly fat and a little extra in other areas that needs to go. I drink a lot of water and take magnesium supplements since I started getting leg cramps at night. My sodium intake is fairly high ( probably too high really) so I’m not worried about a deficit there. It’s interesting that a few people have mentioned sleep as a possible cause since that is actually a big issue for me. I constantly wake through the night so I’m never really rested to begin with but this isn’t new, I’ve been that way since I was a child and just deal with it. I did read that constant sleep deprivation can cause insulin resistance and an increase in belly fat. I really hope this isn’t the cause of my problem since I really don’t have a way to relieve that issue.
Thank you for your info!
I actually was eating too much protein in the beginning since I tend to eat a lot of salmon. I thought maybe the protein was being turned to glucose and that might be causing my stall so I cut back on that and have tried to get more healthy fats (avocado, grass fed butter, etc.) Still there’s been no change.
I just started running last week but nothing extreme. Just a couple of miles a day except when I work long hours on the weekend. I felt good after the runs so I don’t think I’m putting too much strain on myself.
I have done a few days of IF (16 hours) and not back to back but still haven’t seen a change. The only other thing I was thinking of doing was carb cycling every 7th day. I’m just scared it’s too soon to do that and am worried about gaining weight back. I may wait another week or so and try it if nothing has changed.
Thank you for your suggestions and info!
What you say makes a lot of sense. I usually just have my coffee (with mct/grass fed butter/cream) for breakfast. Then I tend to put off lunch as long as possible even if I’m hungry because I know I’m going to be really tired after I eat and I just don’t have time for that. I try to eat dinner before 7:00 since I’m in bed by 9 except for the weekends. My net carbs are usually around 15 and sometimes a little less per day. If I’m going to have carbs it’s usually for dinner since sometimes I actually just crave veggies. It is true that I could have almost my entire allotment of carbs for the day for dinner and I usually crash right after. I’m going to try to spread my veggies out a little and see if that helps. Also, I think I may try eating smaller portions and not waiting as long to eat to see if that makes a difference.
Thanks for your input!
are you able to sneak any additional fat into your meals (either a hard-boiled egg out the door or an egg patty at a fast food place) to see if that helps with both the hunger?
with being within 5 lbs of your goal weight, it is possible that you have burned off enough of your own stores that you need additional exogenous input to help provide energy
Oh yeah I should’ve mentioned that too. That’s what happens to me as well. It was way worse on carb food, but still true now.
People always stall between the initial water weight loss, and the fat adaption phase.
Generally you’ll experience about 4 weeks of no scale movement and you just need to hang in there.
I find a lot of people don’t realise this and end up freaking out in their first few weeks. Stop changing things. Just go with the flow and eventually you will see results.
I have started eating a couple of hard boiled eggs for breakfast or one as a snack if I get hungry. I also cut up an avocado in slices for the same purpose and just eat a couple of pieces if I get hungry. That small amount doesn’t seem to bother me at least.
The same thing used to happen to me. I’m a 56 year old post-menopausal woman about 10 pounds from my goal. I’ve lost 5 pounds so far. I’m not so much in this for the weight loss as the other life improvements.
The secret for me was simple: eat more salt.
I have had to make a special effort to get enough. And it makes all the difference in the world.
DawnMichelle, you said this used to happen to you so I assume you got past it? It eventually just stopped happening? I eat a lot of salt already so I’m afraid to add more. In the summer when I sweat more I would.
I am definitely going to stick with keto even if I don’t lose more weight but I would love to ditch that last 5 lbs! I’ve only been doing this for about 5 weeks so maybe I’m still adapting.
It’s good to know there are others with the same issue so I know I’m not just an oddball exception😉
Hi , I think I may be in that phase as I lost water weight felt amazing amount of energy and no hunger , but now no longer losing weight don’t have that same energy and am getting hungry usually late at night , do I just keep doing what I’m doing an wait and see or tweak a bit ? 6 weeks in now.