Do I need to tweak something? Update answer was Yes

progress
(Misty Torrey) #1

I am committing to tracking daily this week. I feel like I have been fiddling up and down with the same few pounds MONTHS. I am 10 months in and have lost 70 lbs. But, I have seen a sharp decline in loss since about July. My scale, my clothes nor my tape measure are showing much of a change.

I calculated my net change from the first day of the month to the last and Aug was 4 lbs, Sep was 6, Oct was a 1 lb gain and November so far is a 2.5 lb gain. 4 and 6 lbs are great, less than previous months, but good nonetheless.

I don’t cheat on not allowed foods, but I am wondering if I am getting too many carbs from veggies and cream. I am only tracking half heartedly so maybe I need to do that?

I have a few other posts around that explain my loss and fertility journey, so I won’t dwell on that here. Maybe it is from the meds though.

Some keto friends are telling me I need to “carb up” or have a cheat. Others are telling me to drop my cream in my coffee altogether. Others still think I need to adjust my macros. I am trying to keep calm and keto on. I am super close to my next goal with is 197, yet I feel like I keep missing the mark.

I am going to track better, but I am trying not to obsess over foods. I am having a hard time finding satiation and that isn’t helping. I feel snackish a lot lately, which is new compared to this summer when I didn’t care if I ate or not.

Is there anything else I can look at or tweak?

#2

we need to know what you are eating and drinking and when. How about fake sweeteners?

(Running from stupidity) #3

You’ve given the reason you should as the preface to the question.

Some keto friends are telling me I need to “carb up” or have a cheat.

You’ll probably get this advice from a couple of people here, too. Not many, though.

Others still think I need to adjust my macros.

Given even you don’t really know what they are, this is somewhat strange advice.

I am having a hard time finding satiation and that isn’t helping. I feel snackish a lot lately, which is new compared to this summer when I didn’t care if I ate or not.

I think tracking might help here :slight_smile:

(Robert C) #4

One of the positive aspects of keto (once fat adapted) is that you can drop some meals or days of eating.

Some people naturally drop meals just because they feel satiated but dropping days is a little more effort.

Tracking things daily might not help but - what can you do if you are already keto? Drop calories and you are going into calorie restriction mode and will hold on to weight.

But, skipping meals and days of eating are not perceived by the body as calorie restriction (if done more randomly). Might help…

(Frank) #5

Once you start tracking you will start to see patterns as to what you eat and when you eat. These are the very patterns that your body has adjusted to. Changing these patterns can pull you out of a stall and get the fat burning machine rolling again. In my experience, some of the foods that I perceived as keto are, but that doesn’t mean that I can or should be enjoying them daily. Do I really need cream in my coffee every day? Do I need berries with hwc and nuts for dessert every day? When does a “treat” become an everyday part of a meal plan? If you normally eat your big meal in the evening, try eating it in the afternoon or am every once in awhile. Keep throwing curveballs and it’ll break free. KCKO!

(Ken) #6

Yes, you should consider adding some periodic carbs back into your pattern. That’s how Mankind evolved. Try eating some carbs on the Weekends, there’s no chance of regaining fat, and it can improve your metabolism.

Being completely anti carb is a denial of Science and Evolution, and is a common aspect of Nutty Keto Dogma.

(Misty Torrey) #7

I will post what I eat here ad I go this week. Maybe there will be some insight.

I was on prednisone from June to Oct. In Oct we did oral and injectable fertility meds. I had my 7th pregnancy loss with that round. It was my 3rd chemical pregnancy. I am now off all fertility meds and steroids. I am still on thyroid meds. I know those things can really throw a wrench in life but I also had a miscarriage in April but kept losing and that one was 9 weeks not a few days.

I count total carbs not net. My macros are set at 20g carbs, 75g protein, 125g fat in MFP to make my ratio 5%, 20%, 75%. Someone told me to take my protein down to 56g and up my fat to 133g, that pushes my ratio to 5%, 15%, 80% All based on 1,500 calories.

I generally drink coffee all day. 2-3 20 ounce cups with 2-3 tbs of cream in each one, for a total of half a cup of cream. I count those carbs as .5cups of cream daily.

I rarely eat breakfast, only if very hungry. More likely to do it on the weekend. I sometimes eat lunch. If I do it is hard salami and cheese or leftovers from the night before. Dinner is usually some combination of meat, cheese and veg. I make eggs and bacon often, kielbasa a couple times a week too. We raise our own beef and pork.

If I am still hungry and I have carbs left I might have some lilly’s chocolate chips or Carrie Brown’s ice cream.

I loosely track so maybe there is some carb creep. Maybe I am assuming I have carbs on nights I don’t. If I am going over on carbs it’s like 24-27 total carbs. Never anything like 30 or more. I might have sweeteners twice a month now. Initially I was eating them daily and still losing like crazy.

I will post here to help with accountability. Maybe between that and tracking I can get moving again.

(Running from stupidity) #8

What do you use for tracking?

(Misty Torrey) #9

I use MFP because that is what I used when I started losing weight a long time ago so when keto came along I just kept on keeping on. However, cronometer was suggested to me today as well so I started tracking there too.

(Running from stupidity) #10

I love Cronometer with a more-than-slightly worrying passion.

(Misty Torrey) #11

I am liking it so far. I created my profile and added my lunch today. Seems very intuitive and easy to use.

(Running from stupidity) #12

And gives good outputs, and has good options for tweaking it to the way you like it.

#13

Sounds to me like you REALLY need to start tracking accurately, before you do anything else.

(Misty Torrey) #14

I just finished work and I have a bit of time until my kid is done with basketball so I did some review of my last month or so. In that time I only tracked 13 days, so not a full set of data. Here is what I found:
Averages for 13 days
Calories: 1653
Protein: 84
Carbs: 15
Fiber: 1.3
Fat: 136

One of those days we went to Texas De Brazil so fat and protein were very high that day.

My highest calories were 3057 and lowest was 989. I fasted 48 hours from 10/24-10/26 so technically my lowest was 0.

Protein-my highest was 182 and my lowest was 46.

Carbs-highest was 28 total (27 net) and my lowest was 5.

Fat-highest was 276! And lowest was 77.

I am curious what consistent tracking will yield.

(Misty Torrey) #15

I won’t bore you with exactly what I ate today but here is a summary

Today’s macros:
Protein: 77g/56g 22%
Carbs: 19g/20g 5%
Fat: 113g/133g 73%

1431 calories/1500

No sugar substitutes. 2 meals plus 2 cups of coffee. I had 4 eggs and 1.5 cups of keto Spanish “rice,” a recipe I made up, for dinner and I do not feel satisfied. In fact, I feel hollow and hungry.

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #16

Why are you eating so much fat still when you are 10 months in, probably fat adapted, and can be using your own stored body fat as fuel, which is kind of the whole point?

I am not suprised you are not losing weight at eating over 200g of fat in one day, and close to 150 in all the others.

As soon as I became fat adapted I dropped fat to 30-50g and body fat started falling off of me. I am genuinely curious why you are still eating so much, it’s preventing weight loss, because you are getting your energy from food and not your body.

(Short224) #17

Katie could you possibly post a typical day for you I know I need to cut down on fat as well but i feel lost at doing that sometimes I am so used to eating Bacon and cheese and high fat dressings I guess I am not sure how to do this without this stuff .

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #18

I don’t eat every day
I was doing extended fasting until I dropped my body fat to 20%
Now I am doing alternate day fasting and strength training on my fasting days and feasting the rest of the time.
When I do eat, I mainly eat protein and low fat.
I live on steak, pork belly, garlic prawns, bacon, eggs, roasts.
My body needs an additional 50g of fat only a day to run.

You might find this calculator handy, but basically you are not losing weight because you are still eating so much dietary fat rather than allowing it to come from your body fat stores.

(Lisa ) #19

Track, track, track. You’ll be surprised how a snack here and there (or a “splash” of cream) adds up! Also I have found that artificial sweeteners instantly set off my appetite, so I would advise against them.

(Misty Torrey) #20

I noticed that too when I looked at the data as a whole rather than just a day at a time. When I log my day I think oh, fat was high today, but don’t look back at a history of it. I know some days that I didn’t track were somewhat lower bc I had maybe coffee and a couple eggs, for the whole day. Other than cream in my coffee, I don’t add fat perse. Maybe a pat of butter to cook eggs. It’s fat from meat and cheese. I will have to take a closer look at my cheese.