Hi guys, I have been following a Keto lifestyle since October 2016 and have lost about 85 lbs. The last 5 lbs have taken me months with a lot of up and down in between. I am confident that carb creep and no longer doing longer (24 hr) fasts is a big part of it but I have lost the fire in my belly. I think mentally, while I am still 40 lbs above my goal I feel so much more satisfied with my body that my motivation has taken a hit. This is good but bad because for me that creates a slippery slope I have been on before. I just needed to get that out there. Any help is greatly appreciated. Oh one other factor at play is that I have absolutely fallen in love with running and in my mind I use it as an excuse to indulge calorically (not carbs out right but HWC etc.).
Frustrated
Sounds like you have a good idea of where things might be going wrong for you. You could try going strict keto, track macros and bring IF/EF in for “just” 4 weeks. If things start moving then change it up again. I’m in the same boat as you, been hovering in the same 5lbs range for weeks now, which I think aligns with the same issues you note above. I know what I need to do, just need to mentally double down on the task.
Thank you for your reply. You are right, we know what to do. I think it helped to write it out. Good luck to you!
I have stalled about 3 times in my downward journey from 316 pounds to 216 pounds… I reckon its my body taking a “breather” while we get acclimatised to a more slender life together. I have used fasting to get through the stall but as I get close to my final aim (completely made up out of my head) of 196 pounds it’s getting harder and harder… I may have to give up and accept my “Phinney weight” isn’t my own personal ideal but it may well be where my body wants to be for the time being.
Well done. That’s remarkable.
Most of us converge upon a set weight when we take our foot off the carbs accelerator. For some people that’s right in their ideal weight range, for some it’s even lower, but for most people who were insulin resistant for long enough it’s quite a bit higher than their ideal BMI range.
The new normal that we settle upon is the weight our bodies believe we should be to optimize our survival given the environment they are faced with - which includes how much insulin our bodies make.
I know of only 2 ways to get lower, the first is to lower insulin by removing dietary stimulants (carbs, and by half as much protein - subject to the fact that you must have some minimum amount of protein).
The other way is time … the amount of insulin we make independent of dietary stimulus changes as we become more or less insulin resistant. Chronic exposure to high insulin increased insulin resistance, chronic exposure to lower levels can lower insulin resistance. It all depends on how insulin resistant we are how much we make in response to our necessary basal amount of glucose in circulation.
That’s awesome. For me it was cycling.
Thank you Mark and Richard. You’ve given me valuable perspective and I am going to do my utmost take the long view. The damage wasn’t done overnight and it won’t be reversed quickly either. So grateful for this forum.