You sure? You say you’re not loosing like you want to and your starving which is a dead give away you’re not eating right, or not as in ketosis as you think you are. You say you’ve adapted already but in less than a month that’s unlikely and again, the starving thing says otherwise. What macros are you going by, and what are you eating?
We need an example of your days eating, like today’s assuming your still dealing with the hunger issues.
Robin
I am intrigued. What were you expecting to happen? Is there another WOE out there that provides a higher weight loss in a month for a 157lb person? If there is, I want to know cos I am missing out!
Cheers
Alec
Anywhere from 15-1800. Just depends. And every keto calculator gives me something different.
I’m just worried I’m going to be consuming way more calories than I need and either maintain or gain. Doesn’t there have to be some type of deficit in my calories in and out?
Robin
There’s quite a bit of science to understand here. But don’t worry about that right now. For now, just understand that you should not be counting calories, just forget them. They are not your friend. Just eat fat when you are hungry.
Let your body decide what intake it needs. It knows better that you do.
Cheers
Alec
Im not really overweight.
Then what exactly did you expect to happen? If you’re not really all that overweight, then what (literally) do you have to lose?
I just put up a post/poll that addresses this. What many in the ketosphere have seen is that in the first two months or so, any person can expect to shed roughly 30%-50% of their excess body-weight. Then weight-loss slows down.
Let’s say you as being “not really overweight” were roughly 25lbs over your ideal body weight. You’ve lost 10lbs. That’s about a 40% reduction in your excess weight. It’s no surprise (in my eyes) because that’s roughly what happens. Now, let’s say you were 50lbs over. You’d likely have dropped (like me) even more in that time. Why? Because I had more to lose.
It sounds to me like you’re right where you should be. Just keep at it, and judge how you’re feeling, NOT what you’re weighing.
I’m overweight for my height. I have a high BMI. I thought trying this style of eating would help me lean out while rebooting my system from my very carby lifestyle. And it has. I can look right over sweets now and it doesn’t phase me, but I I thought I would lean out. Yes I realize it’s been a month, but this is also a quick loss type of eating plan, so…
Nope, sorry, this is not correct. I don’t think anyone who knows keto would claim this. Where did you get that impression from?
Cheers
Alec
No, it’s not. It may be if you have a big number to lose, and is most certainly an effective tool for weight management, but this is not a “diet” or “eating plan”. It’s better to look at it as a “way of living and eating”, and addresses many other health issues/concerns above and beyond mere weight. The public or media may chirp on and on about weight-loss, but for anybody who’s done keto for more than 3 or 4 months will tell you, it’s not about fast weight-loss. It’s about losing it, and keeping it off while at the same time being nutritionally sound, and most of all, sustainable…
People who lose a lot of weight fast typically are extremely overweight and/or male.
The closer you get to your ideal body weight, the slower it comes off. And if you are a woman, you get a double whammy. Our bodies want to hold onto fat for potential pregnancies. And then we hit menopause and it makes it even harder.
I can and have lost weight faster on low fat diets, but all CICO diets are unsustainable, so you end up gaining it all back and usually more.
Do yourself a favor. Go the slow route and enjoy being able to actually eat while you’re losing weight. It’s the only way you’re going to be able to maintain the loss.
THIS and THIS again! If we could frame this in flashing lights at the top of the forums, this would help a lot!!!
Beautifully put. A1 star for you!!
Cheers
A
No deficit required, especially not when first starting out. you HAVE to give your body what it asks for.
You’ve never mentioned how much protein you are eating. It could be you need more protein. When I first started keto a year ago, fat was not only unsatiating for me, it was going right through me. I upped the protein a bit and I found that more satiating. It also helped firm things up.
Also, if I am hungry somewhat soon after a meal, I will have some salt. Sometimes the hunger is just my body’s request for salt.
I have the same issue with fat. About the only fat I can tolerate is peanut butter and avocado, some hard cheese. Olive oil, forget it. Thanks for mentioning.
WOW!!! Ten pounds in a month seems awesome to me. Maybe your goals are a little aggressive? Keto is a way of life and it can do some awesome things, but it’s not magic. Your results seem really good to me, I only average about 3-5 pounds per month. I lost about 15 during the initial first few weeks, but things have slowed down gradually since then. People on the forum also say that if the weight isn’t coming off initially, that you should just keep calm and keto on. Enjoy eating the great food, enjoy how good you feel and enjoy the inches that will disappear. Most of all, enjoy the healing that is occurring in your body. The weight will take care of it self in time. (Sorry, no one wants to hear that last part, but it is true)
I can’t relate to the hunger part. Keto is notorious for making people feel really full and satiated almost from the beginning, that was my experience also. Something is going on if you are hungry all the time, I’d make it your mission to find out why. Not enough fat is my first guess, not enough protein would be my second guess. Assuming carbs are as low as you say then my next guess would be that something is messing with your system (i.e. artificial sweeteners, snacking, etc). Are you sleeping well and drinking enough water?
Just to clarify, you’re telling us if you eat for example 4 eggs fried in butter, 4 strips of bacon and an avocado that you are hungry after an hour? Because if that’s the case then something isn’t right…
THIS. ALL. DAY. I’m finding it really hard to effectively communicate this to neo’s and other curious parties. If you only have 20-or-so pounds you want to drop, keto is not likely the way to get it off quickly (some may argue at all). Those of us who are/were obese or even morbidly so will invariably drop quite a bit of excess weight rather rapidly when depleting glycogen/water stores (folks tend to forget that water weighs quite a bit. Remember: “a pint’s a pound the world around”) Purging all that water -via- reduction in glycogen stores is the vast majority of the initial weight-loss; some also comes from the reduction of systemic inflammation that ketosis/>20carbs facilitates. But honestly, once all that fluid is out of you, what you’re left with is all the same fat cells you started with, but at their most depleted and empty state. This is why our remaining adipose–particularly abdominal–starts to feel “squishy”. It’s not dissimilar from a balloon: full of water, it feels pretty firm; deflated, it’s very squishy. Same balloon, same amount of cellular material. Two different states, so two different behaviours.
And yes, men and women experience weight-loss very differently, no matter what style of weight-loss they’re attempting. This is just biology/physiology, and I get really cranky when some “keto sage” tries to sell it as “one size fits all”. That sets up really unrealistic expectations, and pretty much aims the new keto practitioner straight to frustration and disappointment.