Gaining in the beginning


(Chris W) #13

How long were you doing that, and how long in general have you been calorie restricting? I may have some special advice for you.


(Felicity ) #14

Ok so I have been restricting calories for my whole life, on and off. I did the HCG protocol for 16 days and couldn’t take it anymore, I had an out of control binge afternoon that ended it, all high sugar foods, sugar is always my usual downfall I am an addict. I’ve been on keto now for 3 days.


(Chris W) #15

Ok that is not bad, But I would bet you are in ketosis already pretty good I would bet. I would really actually increase your intake of fat to the gain weight level for the next few days, say 3 or 4 you will need to get your BMR rate up there after that experience. Or just eat to till full carefully for the next few days which ever comes first. I would try and be heavy on butter or HWC if possible, or coconut oil. You don’t have to but I would try it, and ignore the scale for a little bit. Go for not being hungry and feeling good right at this moment, then try and use the maintain macros for a while say around 3 weeks.

Are you cold a lot? cold limbs fingers etc?


(Felicity ) #16

Not really cold, hard to tell as it’s that time of year when the weather is turning so yeh I guess I have felt colder when no one else in the house is.
I’m so scared to up my calorie intake as I have already gained a kilo since starting keto. This is the lightest I’ve been in years and I’m scared to go back.
I cook everything in butter and add butter or cream to most foods and drinks, I’m doing well at hitting my macros and I pre plan days and meals to avoid stuffing up.
I’m 42, I have to stop dicking around and get this right, I think this way of life will really suit me, even my intense sugar cravings are going and it’s only been 3 days. I set my macros at 5% carb, 25% protien and 70% fat after advice from a user here.


(Ron) #17

Felicity,
If you get some free time you might read through this thread. A lot of your questions were answered her as well as some great advice.
Stay strong!


(Felicity ) #18

Thanks so much everyone for all your help I will KCKO and check back in few days, fingers crossed there’s no more gaining, I’m happy to stall until my body is ready but the gaining makes me so unhappy.


(Jay AM) #19

That’s why you need to put your scale away. Seriously. You have a damaged metabolism like most of us that have found keto and causing further damage to it because you’re afraid of your scale isn’t going to help at all. Would you let a stranger walk up to someone in your life and say, “You’re fat and you’ve gained weight!” That makes them feel bad? Your family? Best friend? I would hope not. So stop letting your scale do it to you.

The idea that we have any control is an illusion we create. We’re taught to stare at a scale and then determine our emotions based on whether the number it shows us is higher or lower than the week before. Based on that number we agonize over each measurement of food and feel guilty if we’re not perfect. The truth is, the only thing we control is the physical object we put into our mouths. Calorie counts on labels aren’t always accurate, the scale can go up or down if we stand on it differently than we did the time before or if it sits on a new spot on the floor, we have no clue how many calories we actually use (we can sort of guess but it’s not excellent.) And somehow, we still think that our body with a million complexities can be so simple.

We also fear the idea of giving up the control we think we have by getting rid of our vices. Getting rid of the scale, not counting calories obsessively, cutting calories and agonizing over each crumb. This is how a dieter thinks. Keto is not dieting. Being in ketosis is utilizing a complex metabolic pathway that already exists biologically. Our body does not care what arbitrary number you use to judge it by and it doesn’t know what a calorie is. There are either things you’ve eaten or not. There is either eating enough or not. And being in ketosis is about selecting what you eat to reduce the insulin and glucose bath our bodies have been subjected to.


(Candy Lind) #20

Two things you need to understand, and then I’m going to tell you a story.

CICO is horseshit. If you restrict calories on keto in the beginning, YOU WILL FAIL. At least weight-loss wise; you may feel a lot better, but you can not restrict calories and heal your metabolism.

Trust the process. Do everything @J_A-M told you in that first reply. Eat AT OR ABOVE maintenance until you are at least marginally fat-adapted. I will add that you need LOTS OF SALT and lots of water, especially at first, or you will get “keto flu” and feel terrible. Processing fat into energy takes more electrolytic processing than eating carbs.

Now that story. I am a 63 YO hormone deranged female, and have been keto right at a year. I restricted calories when I started, because I was previously eating less than 1100 calories and losing little, if any, weight. When I started trusting the process, I decided to go all in, increased my caloric intake to 1300, and WHOOSH. The scale started dropping. After about a month of this, I stalled again. My body had once again adapted to what I was doing. Again, I increased my caloric intake to between 14-1500. ANOTHER WHOOSH. What I’m telling you here is …

THIS AIN’T YOUR MAMA’s DIET - OR YOUR PREVIOUS HIGH CARB ONE. :smiling_imp: It heals what ails you, it improves your metabolism, it gives you energy without reserve once you are fat adapted. Yes, you might gain some weight at first, and I get the overeater thing because I’m one, too - I ate WAY too much yesterday and today and I’m thinking it’s a really good day to start a fast tomorrow. I’ll probably be able to go 4 days, maybe 5, without blinking an eye because my body is SICK of food right now. How’s THAT for an eye-opener? :rofl:

One more piece of advice: back off on the HIIT for a while until you’re fat-adapted. You will go through a phase where you can barely drag yourself through it and wonder what is going on - until you’re truly fat-adapted, when you can start ramping back up to where you were with a new store of boundless energy. If you want to do something, many people suggest doing some weights - slowly, with heavy weights, to failure. Check in the exercise subforum for more info on that. But high aerobic activity is going to be difficult for a while.

FEAR NOT! Once you get going on keto, you will never want to go back to your old way of living. Within a few weeks, your sugar cravings will be controlled (as opposed to controlling you), and you won’t believe how good that feels. All kinds of things will get better. I look forward to your first NSV post! Welcome - we’re glad you’re here. :heart_eyes:


(Felicity ) #21

Thank you!


(Felicity ) #22

Such a wonderful reply, thank you! Ok, I’m going for it. No weighing, no restriction. Balls to the wall lol. I’m so glad I found you all!


(Candy Lind) #23

@J_A-M I really like the way you laid out the “nebulous” quality of all the calorie-related things we do to try to give ourselves a feeling of being in control. It becomes so clear that it’s all a mental game we play to try to keep our sanity when we feel OUT of control. Thanks for the “KCKO” moment. :+1:


(Jay AM) #24

I always appreciate seeing your comments. Sometimes I feel like it’s me against CICO devotees and I’m not excellent at getting my points across. I appreciate your experience and effort around here.


(Felicity ) #25

You are very good at it. Thanks for your help


(Julie) #26

I’ve done hcg too and it worked but I couldn’t keep calories that low forever and eventually regained.

I can totally relate to what you said about never being full…pretty much always hungry. It’s miserable and you can’t live like that. You’re fighting your body and you will usually lose. One thing I found that helps with this for me is intermittent fasting. Try skipping breakfast…moving meal times closer til you get to one or two meals a day. This will not only let you eat more at each meal and feel full, but it will help you lose weight too. It lowers your insulin during the time not eating (and in general) and assists in weight loss.

You’ve gotten great advice about keeping calories higher and easing up on the hiit too. Just another way to help keto work effectively at healing our bodies.


(Chris W) #27

I agree with 98% of everything she says I weight it that way because its important. I don’t agree with the HIT however because that uses a different level of energy than fat adaption can not provide. HIT and cardio are not the same thing, all though they run in the same circles they work differently. I would not cut out or back HIT but do it to failure, then follow it with ETF after a short break. I actually picked up HIT while I was keto adapting, and it allowed me to continue that type of work out without being so cardio until I fat adapted. Not saying it was easy, but when I had energy and could not ride my bike more than ten minutes I needed to do something.
As for ETF the reasoning is simple, you are building new muscle(I should be saying reshaping current muscle) and bringing it online as fat adapted.
In few weeks also I would actually exercise fasted if possible in the morning, but that is me this is supposed to aid in muscle regeneration.


(Kathrine) #28

It was also very scary to me :slight_smile: But I did it, and I have lost more weight… My body know it’s safe now and it’s willing to get rid of the fat :slight_smile:
Do it slowly if you have been restricting for many years, and calculate your TDEE… A TDEE can give you an (idea) of how much you should be eating :slight_smile:
And don’t forget to listen to your hunger cues :slight_smile:


(Marcia Baugh) #29

This 64.5 yo 2 yrs. on Keto after 3 yrs yo-yo-ing on HCG trying to keep from regaining the 35#’s that I lost on it, would love to know why I can’t lose at all on Keto? I do modified fast with a 6-8 hour eating window daily. The most I’ve been down in 2 yrs on Keto is 5 # but then gradually back up again…I won’t go off Keto because I love all the benefits of energy, mind clarity, no sugar cravings (anti cancer benefits) but need to lose 15# and husband (just diagnosed prostate cancer) needs to lose abt 40-50 # and can’t seem to shed it after 2 years of pretty consistent Keto. Did being on HCG for 3 years totally destroy our metabolisms???


(Candy Lind) #30

Are you ever hungry? Are you counting calories (BE TRUTHFUL)? Are you VERY consistent with the IF? In other words, are you eating at the same time and pretty much the same rate every day because you are a creature of habit, and NOT because you’re paying attention to hunger signals?


(Marcia Baugh) #31

Not usually hungry but almonds or walnuts are my snack of choice and I prob need to monitor that more closely :roll_eyes: but one of the things I love abt Keto is not tracking and paying attention to hunger and fullness signals
I hardly ever eat till around 12 and usually end up with one meal a day unless we have an event or appt that involves food and I work that in so adjust my eating window


(Candy Lind) #32

Try to eat enough at meals that you don’t need to snack. If you feel the need to eat, make it a meal. Every snack is an insulin hit you don’t need. And change things up occasionally! Eat two meals instead of one in a day, so your food intake is greater; then listen to your body for the next “let’s eat!” cue. Decide to skip supper one night (and voilá! You’ve completed your first 24-hour fast.) - stuff like that. You can find more suggestions by poking around in the forums. It’s all about helping each other find our own “n=1” for success.

Keep on plugging away, & hubby as well - we’ll help you figure it out. :blush: KCKO.