Curious about stalls (what's your story?)

(Jenn) #1

Hi everyone,

I’ve been a member of the Stall Club for over 6 months now. I wanted to start this thread because I’m curious about this common occurrence on keto (or any “diet” really) and how people modify their routine to break the stall. It would be interesting to see when the stall happened if any one wants to share their story.

Here’s mine:
33 years old
SW- 268 (Jan 2018)
CW- 190
GW- 130 (for my height and age I “should” be anywhere from 105 -yeah right!- to 130)
Lost the first 50 pounds in 4 months
Lost another 28 pounds then stalled starting in April 2019

I’ve been losing and gaining the same 5 pounds since then. Is my body just happy at this weight? I had about 130 pounds of excess weight when I started and lost 78 which is about 60% of the extra weight I was carrying around. I would love to get that additional 40% off eventually :slight_smile:

Does anyone have a similar story or any advice on dealing with extended stalls?

Much appreciated!

#2

I am about 152lbs now, I had about the same weight when I started keto some years ago (I went down to this weight on low-carb very easily years before then stopped).
It really seems my body LOVES this weight. I don’t. I maintain my weight wonderfully, no matter what except when I manage to go lower, then I somewhat quickly reach 152-160 lbs again and stays there forever unless I do something drastic.
But maybe my body mostly loves eating 2000 kcal or more a day. It’s the minimal amount for me if I eat more than once a day. My activity is low to moderate and couldn’t raise it higher. Besides, I regularly have higher calorie days.
I eat once a day now and automatically less. I am supposed to lose fat now (no way I don’t). But it’s not for everyone, I had to wait to be ready for it myself and sometimes it’s a bit hard to eat enough. But it suits me.

Food choices, timing might be important for you even if you keep your number of meals. There are tricky, not so satiating food items that easily raise your calories and insulin, even on keto. Sticking to totally real, normal food should help in most cases. I eat little meat so I focus on eggs when I am serious. It’s easier with meat as only meat is enough for the human body and it’s less boring for most people than eating 10+ eggs every day for years or decades. Of course, you can have much more variety but be careful with super fatty dairy (heavy or sour cream galore), easily edible snacks, especially sweetened desserts… I need to limit my added fat consumption too as my protein sources are fatty enough.

So, maybe it’s time to get a bit more strict with your food choices. You are used to this woe, you don’t really need crutches (if you had them this far).
If you already eat only the most proper food, maybe you eat too fatty food or too often, even without hunger? It’s hard to have good tips without additional information but it’s almost certain you have less than ideal food items as well.

(Jenn) #3

This is a solid point. I have been eating the same type of meals for almost 2 years. Perhaps it’s time to switch to total carbs from net carbs and I do still eat dairy (I love cheese) but could cut back on that.

I haven’t tried extended fasting. I started doing the 16:8 about a year ago and then tried 20:4 last month which did move the scale a couple pounds that month but it still just fluctuates about the same. No dramatic drop yet from that schedule.

My food is all keto approved and stay under 20 net carbs a day.

It’s just odd how a routine worked so wonderfully and steadily and now it’s just not enough to keep the weight moving down. My brain can’t wrap around the fact that a formula worked and now it’s just stalled. Perhaps I need to shock my body again with an even more strict approach?

(Susan) #4

I had a 2.5 month stall in the summer, which I broke my eating more proteins and fats (I was always eating below the 20 carbs). Tracking daily is important for me. I do IF 20:4 and I eliminated all sugar substitutes.

Since Oct 18, I eliminated all dairy (except some butter, not tons of it, but I will use some). Since the last week of October, I am doing this, and it broke another stall:

IF%20Schedule%20-%20Copy

I follow this, except I do 44 hours on the fasting days, instead of their 42 hours, as I want to keep to my 20:4 IF, eating Lunch at 1pm and supper at 4:30 for a daily, even on my feasting days. I am doing dairy free (except the butter) and this protocol until Nov 30 -then doing my 20:4 IF for December with some fasting -and the Zornfast of 72 hours or more, and then back to the protocol above in January. I like to add a lot of different fasting in the mix to keep my body weight moving, and I do no snacking, no sugar substitutes, no Keto treats, no junk food, just real food. I will do a Keto desert for Christmas day, that will have some sugar substitute but only for that day. I am going to stay as dairy free as possible from now on, maybe having a tad occassionally. Many people say the dairy stops weight loss for them, so I found when I eliminated it, it really helped. I was down to only having HWC and some cream cheese basically, but took both out, and the scales dropped again.

I was 293 in February, now I am 240, so a total of 53 pounds lost so far. I have over 100 pounds to go still, so I need to be strict I feel for the scales to keep moving. I will probably be able to have a bit more flexibility when I finally get to Maintenance mode, but for now I need to never cheat and stay focused, for me this is essential. I am 55 and post menopausal (with all the menopausal hormones still very active!). My last period was on December 2016, when they just suddenly stopped, which was a surprise, but a nice one =).

(Jenn) #5

Congrats on your progress and finding a schedule that helped! I’m not sure if I’m ready for a 40+ hour fast schedule but it’s intriguing! Thank you so much for sharing.

I should also mention I workout 4-5 hours a week. Mix of HIIT and lifting weights. I’ve been doing that since day 1 as well.

I do have to say I am guilty of using some of these throughout the month. The coffee at work is terrible so I add 1/2 pack of stevia. I love the Keto Cups from Whole Foods and once in a blue moon I have a reese’s cup from the Atkins line if I just down right hangry for a sweet snack. Do pork rinds count as junk food? lol because I definitely eat those on occasion.

I’ve seen people post success with carnivore. I’m researching that but not sure it’s something I’m ready to dip into yet.

#6

To me, carb restriction is the key, it was always obvious. It makes fat restriction possible and I need both.
I reached this weight eating below 80g net carbs, it was easy.
And then I stopped and went keto and lost nothing at all… I started to be a bit annoyed when I went from 3 meals to 1 (I eat less if I have fewer meals) and still barely anything. I know I went into the right direction and way more effort resulted in the same nothing! I reached some magical number (energy intake, weight) but I can explain this anyway, I never went out of my wide maintenance range. My strict days were similar to my old strict days, only my crazy days got better. I could eat twice my energy need in a day, now I can eat only 1.5 times as much. And if I managed to do some great days, something happened (typically hunger despite I was perfectly full and satiated in the previous days) and raised my energy intake.
But I never give up, I just need to combine every tricks and not fall off any wagon for a long, long time. It gets easier as I get more experienced.

I believe there must be some not too hard way for nearly everyone. Some lucky ones find some good woe and slim down, some of us stall at some point and need really much time and effort to get over this problem. I feel a bit lucky I reached this at borderline normal weight, I could look better but I don’t think my health is in great danger and my excess fat doesn’t inconveniences me. I can’t gain more fat either unless I really want (but maybe not even then, high-carb is physically impossible for me since years and I hardly can overpower my lucky genetics on low-carb). There are way, way worse cases. I quite enjoy my food too and don’t do hunger and suffering. Some people work hard just not to gain even more fat.

Shocking is a bit harsh but yep, I think a stricter approach probably is the key. In my case, my food choices were involved every time, even when OMAD worked like magic. Not satiating food must go or eaten in tiny amounts.

(Susan) #7

I have never ever eaten any of these in my lifetime. I have looked for them since being on Keto, and have never seen any in the stores actually. For me they would be junk food, as I am very strict, but I know lots of people have them. I have a lot of weight to lose, so I am ultra strict with myself, I need to be, because I am determined to be slim and trim, I need to be for health, and to take care of all my loved ones. I have an ill hubby (who will only get sicker, not better, as he has permanent health issues -diverticulitis, bipolar, hydrocephalus and Parkinsons–so I need to be in shape to take care of him. I still have our 3 daughters living here (one just bought a house with her bf they are renovating so she will move out soon) and a 3 year old grand daughter, so I need to be in shape for all of my loved ones, as well as for my own health!

(hottie turned hag) #8

56 y/o
SW- unknown but had to be around 180 (I’m 5’ so this was fat)
CW-115
GW-100-105
Started Aug 2017. Lost FAST until I got to 122.
Went almost carn, dropped all cheese, got to 116 fast.
Then slowly to 115 where I’ve been STALLED FOR MONTHS :dizzy_face: fml

Have recently switched it up again to include some small carbs, to wit:
2 sweet potatoes/week
1-2 GS apples/day
2-4 CarbMaster yogurt/day
grilled chicken breasts
bologna
cabbage

and I’m visually smaller (won’t weigh for awhile yet) so it’s working

(Jenn) #9

Oh my, you have quite a lot going on! You should be very proud for taking charge of your health and for doing this not only for yourself but also your family. You are an inspiration :slight_smile:

My kids were a big reason I chose this WOL as well. I was sick of not being able to keep up with them!

(Jenn) #10

nice work! 180 to 115 that is amazing

I’m curious about this though:

Are you saying you have 2-4 cups of yogurt a day or 1-2 apples a day? A small apple has about 17 carbs alone. I would maybe suggest reducing the frequency of these items to start.

You have come so far and are very close to your goal weight, congrats regardless :slight_smile:

(hottie turned hag) #11

1-2 apples/day and 2-4 of these CARBMASTER (not regular) yogurts BOTH, yeah, for a few weeks now and I am smaller :smiley: Ribs more visible, clavicle too and face thinner.

I was scared to add back some carbs (I’d had NONE except what’s in veg for over 2 yr) but I was out of ideas!
Like you say above, WHY high fat/low carb/whatev protein (I never counted macros) worked so well from 180-122 then stopped working, I cannot fathom!

And from 180-122 I ate MOSTLY cheese and deli meat, almost no actual meat. I was having 1lb mozz/day plus fatty deli meat galore and losing like crazy. Then it just stopped.

I think I was eating TOO MUCH and too much fat, once I got close to goal and am so small. My TDEE has to be very low, I’m not just small, I sit on ass all day except for walking dog 2h/day.

So I’m trying this and what it’s doing is causing me to eat less; I eat once/24h (have done since the start) but instead of a ton o’bacon or deli meat or a bigass steak, I have the things listed above and I’m done.

I was just eating too much, had to be, though again, eating that much worked fab until it didn’t.

(Jenn) #12

Well, let me know how it goes :slight_smile:

I find everyone’s individual journey fascinating.

#13

Lost 100lbs and then gained/lost the same 15 or so. Go into fasting, lost some more, then stalled out again. Up’d that to OMAD, lost a little more, stalled out again. Finally got sick of it and had my metabolism tested and my RMR was only 1700! I’ve got a physical job and workout at least 4x a week. My theory is since I was eating to satiety and I’m typically not very hungry that my body slowed down to compensate for the fuel it was getting. Started tracking macros with the 1700 my test gave me as a baseline and with a slight deficit I’m loosing again. I have a day (or two) where I’ll eat the amount of food I want as a boost but the rest of the time I limit my calories. Once I hit a weight I don’t mind I’m starting another cycle of slow reverse dieting to get my metabolism back up.

(back and doublin' down) #14

Love this thread!

I’m 5’8", 55 years old.

SW 267
CW 204
GW 170/175 (I’ll know when I get there)

Started keto in April 2018. Lost 60#s in about 8 months. I did keto, carnivore, fasting (at least 2 four day fasts and almost always 18:6 for an eating regimen. Then I got a little sloppy with keto, eating out occasionally, having some drinks. Yet, did ok and mainly stayed on the keto track. Maintained that loss through the year. I spent the summer backpacking almost every weekend, and doing some crew chef stuff that put me around lots of carbs. The physical activity is what I credit with keeping me balanced.

Started on 11/3 with a 93 hour fast that got me down to 201. Now using Fung’s protocol of fasting 42 or so hours three days a week. I’m trying to keep really clean on keto, tracking all my food. I still use artificial sweeteners. I do some cheese, HWC in my coffee (even on fasting days), occasionally treats like keto brownies. But I have to be SUPER vigilant or I’ll get started on something sweet and not stop.

Hoping this new pattern of feasting and fasting gets the weight going down again!

(Jenn) #15

This is interesting. Did you lower your overall calories or did you adjust your total fat and protein as well? I was considering lowering my daily calorie intake. I haven’t been tracking anything for over a year. Maybe I should start again.

(Jenn) #16

Your story sounds very similar to mine. Congrats on your overall loss so far though! Still very impressive.

The initial weight loss is always very exciting. Maybe I’m just being impatient and expecting that rate of reduction all the time when that’s not how it’s supposed to work. It took a long time to put the weight on and I spent a long time carrying it around so it makes sense our bodies need to time to adjust here and there.

Let me know how your 42 hour Fung method works. You’re the 2nd person I have heard today say they are giving it a shot. Looking forward to hearing updates :slight_smile:

(back and doublin' down) #17

Absolutely. I didn’t really lose any weight in the past 10 months…BUT…I did lose an entire size in my upper body and all year long people have been commenting on my “continued” weight loss. My face has changed a lot. So there was something happening for sure. Hopefully even more healing given the damage I caused over the years eating poorly.

(Jenn) #18

Yay :slight_smile:
Now that you mention it, I should note that I have also noticed my body comp changing even if the scale isn’t moving. I did have to go down another pant size.

This is a great statement! The entire body is affected by body weight and food quality. Thank you for this positive perspective.

(back and doublin' down) #19

Excellent! I hear “do measurements” quite often. Even though measurements didn’t change significantly, the shaping changed. I love counting those NSVs!

(Ellenor Bjornsdottir) #20

shave off the protein a bit and drench everything in butter?