Frustrated with bloat and no loss

(Michelle) #1

Been doing keto 5 weeks. Lost 14.4 lbs quickly and now stuck. Plus am bloated and not regular anymore. I have cut out artificial sweeteners. Haven’t had flour sugar or processed foods the entire time. I drink lemon juice water all day everyday. I drink ACV morning and night. I take vitamin plus magnesium and buffered salt pills daily and add sea salt (about 1 tsp or so ) daily to foods. I am getting extremely discouraged.

(John) #2

Looks like we started about the same time. I am male, so my results may not be applicable to you. However, I will share my experience.

I had similar results - dropped a lot the first two weeks, stalled in week 3, and even gained a few pounds during week 4 and early week 5. Around the end of week 5 and now here in week 6 I am seeing some more weight loss. I lost the weight I had gained in week 4 and a couple pounds more.

When I started in I decided to give it 8 weeks before I re-evaluated. I am down about as much as you are overall, maybe a little more, and for me that is great.

You can try Smooth Move tea if you aren’t going as often as you’d like. I’ve used it a couple of times to get things moving. It is a pleasant-tasting herbal tea. Just one cup of the tea, and usually by the next day you’ll see results.

A low carb diet is typically low residue, so you may not need to go as often as you are used to. If you aren’t actually constipated, but are just going less often, that may be perfectly normal.

(Michelle) #3

So have you noticed actual size loss?

#4

A couple of thoughts.

You have lost a lot of weight in 5 weeks! That’s great progress! Congrats!

I am not sure how much lemon juice you are consuming but 1 cup has about 15g of carbohydrates.

It took awhile for me to become regular. I think it has to do with your intestinal flora/biome/bacteria getting used to this new way of eating. If you have been eating the SAD then so much is changing in your body.

It’s a pain for sure and annoying, but it does settle down after awhile. I definitely supplement with magnesium for both electrolyte balance and to assist with motility. For awhile I used psyllium husk but now I don’t need it.

Good luck!

(Brian) #5

Kinda curious, what are you normally eating? Is your keto diet radically different than what you came from or are there lots of good keto foods ghat you were eating previously?

(Running from stupidity) #6

Are you tracking your food intake?

Are you eating enough?

(Troy) #7

What the others have said , tracking foods? How much?
And Perhaps as important, many others , like myself
React differently to foods

Dairy🤢
Once all but removed basically, bloating was gone :smile:
To each their own

Good Luck

(Hyperbole- best thing in the universe!) #8

Another factor is that since fat cells store estrogen, burning fat can sometimes mess with a woman’s cycle for a few months. It settles down again and many women who had trouble pre keto find once they get past the first few weird months things are better than before. If you’ve been keto 5 weeks, maybe that is the cause of your slow down. Also… 14 lb in 5 weeks! That’s fantastic!

(Michelle) #9

My cycle has been regular with no issue. In fact probably better with fewer cramps

(Michelle) #10

I track everything that goes in my mouth. Lol and the only dairy I consume is cheese and that’s not often

(Michelle) #11

@juice I do track my foods and I would say there is a possibility I don’t eat enough calories. However doing 16:8 and 18:6 IF, it’s hard for me to eat 1200 calories in 6 hours. I’m still tweaking that part because some days I am not hungry and go 20-22 hours without food so I only eat once with 600 calories or so

(Hyperbole- best thing in the universe!) #12

Ah! I misinterpreted “bloated and not regular.”

Great then! In that case, yeah, some of our gut flora takes time to readjust. That and electrolyte balance changes.

(John) #13

Yes, about 2" smaller waist size. I also started exercising regularly since week 2 (walking, some light weightlifting with dumb bells and body-weight exercises like pushup and sit ups).

It is possible I am doing some body recomposition - replacing fat with muscle without seeing the scale needle move much. Though I am not doing anything really intense, exercise-wise. I am in my 60s and was pretty sedentary so it’s more like re-toning muscle and building up some basic cardio endurance (I’m up to about 1.5 miles now walking), so not like I’m in a gym packing on the bulk.

(Running from stupidity) #14

Yup, I’ve had to really make sure I eat 3MAD to get my required calories in unless I smash some fat bombs to ensure I don’t have a deficit. If I don’t, I’m sure to be in a bad-number deficit on a regular basis.