Gaining weight, 4 days in

newbies
weightloss
help
(Cole Chapman) #1

hey there everyone, so i began this keto diet on Monday January 15 and so far i have gained 15 pounds. i started at 429lbs and am now 444lbs. before i started my diet was absolute garbage. im also using an app called Lifesum to track my carb intake. monday was a weird transition day so i ended up eating way to many carbs. but tuesday i got better and only had 29 grams (which is still to high i know) wednesday i did really good in only consuming 18 grams of carbs. and today only 8 so far. im also only eating at 11am and 7pm every day no snacks or anything.
ive been lazy in not making myself a lunch for work (im in excavation and mostly doing labor) so my diet has pretty much been mcdonalds for lunch and home cooked goodness for dinner. im also drinking 2L of water every day.

Tuesday:
Lunch: Chicken Ceaser from a local German restaurant with no croutons. and a bowl of cream of mushroom soup which was homemade.
Dinner: 5 eggs 1 whole avocado, bacon bits, 2 thin slices of cheddar cheese. and 2 meatballs.

Wednesday:
Lunch; Angus burger no ketchup no bun lettuce wrapped, and a chicken breast with 1L water.
Dinner; 4 pieces bacon, fried a tuna steak in the bacon grease, side bowl of spinach with avocado mayo (1 tablespoon) with a half serving of triple cream brie.

Thursday:
Lunch: Angus burger no cheese no bun, one egg and one sausage patty. small salad with bacon no dressing.
Dinner: Tuna Steak, 3 slices Bacon, hazel nuts avocado.

am i eating to much? i hope im not doing it wrong, obviously as i get into it more i am learning more about which foods to avoid. and im trying my best to keep my carb intake as low as i can. but like i said ive gained weight. should i be worried

#2

Welcome. Congratulations on a lifestyle change!

How tall are you?

Age?

Activity level?

How much water are you drinking each day?

As you begin, you’ll recognize success sooner by getting your diet to foods that you know the ingredients. Many items in restaurants have hidden carbs.

You might consider dropping the chicken and sausage. Also, no carrot or tomato in the salad.

(Candy Lind) #3

You’re not eating enough for your weight. I didn’t see enough mentions of fats in there, either. Are the burgers loaded up with mayo? Are you adding butter to all that protein? Tuesday, were those eggs fried? Was the cream of mushroom soup full of cream, or some other thickening agent (ie., CARBS)? Wednesday lunch appears heavy on protein and no mention of fat. Wednesday night’s supper was the best looking, but ADD EVEN MORE FAT. More bacon, more mayo, a full serving (maybe more) of Brie. You should be eating over 2000 calories a day and around 150-170 grams of fat (that’s 1350-1550 calories from fat alone).

This is my guess from plugging your weight into a keto calculator. You should do this on your own (read the HOW TO) and maybe even increase the fat some more. DO NOT FEAR THE FAT. It will make you feel full and keep you from eating the carbs you crave.

(Cole Chapman) #4

hey there thanks for the fast reply! i am 6’0" in height, i just turned 21 years old. activity level depends whether im meant to be running machinery or not. it could be 8 hours of constant walking and labor, or 8 hours of climbing in and out of machines. just got a gym membership so im planning on doing 1H weight training during my mornings if i can change up my sleep schedule to wake up earlier. i am drinkng 2+Liters a day. i also read that chicken thighs are the best chicken to eat so i did a costco trip and bought a bunch. i hope this helps you!

(Cole Chapman) #5

Hey there thanks a ton for your help! every meal i cook has salted butter and avocado oil or coconut oil included in the cooking process. i cooked my tuna in the bacon grease was well as a tablespoon of coconut oil. the burgers had mayo on them as well. i see it in my app and it says im not getting the amount of fat i need, and im honestly having a hard time finding all the fat i need. i couldn’t give you an answer on the soup, im sure it was as healthy and natural as possible. if adding more is what i need to do then i shall do it, i kept it low because i thought maybe the grease was going to be too much. like i said im brand new to this and am just adapting haha, i appreciate your response and i hope this helps you understand better!

(Candy Lind) #6

Increase that to SIX. You need a lot of water on keto. You also need plenty of salt, potassium, & magnesium to help your liver process the fat.

#7

You are off to a good start, just as recommended I think you need more fat.

Given your size, activity and work - consuming more water might be difficult but i’d try to find ways. I’m 6’4” and now 200 pounds and I try to drink 3 to 4 liters of water with added salt each day. Also my intake is about 85% fat.

(Candy Lind) #8

Like @Keigan said, do what you can to increase the water. You can do this! Do your best to add fat to everything and drinking BPC or tea will help that. If you haven’t tried it, it’s great stuff. (BulletProof Coffee, coffee with coconut oil and/or MCT oil and/or butter and/or HWC (heavy whipping cream) BOOM! Lots of fat grams added in one awesome cup! (Whip it up with a hand blender or frother to emulsify the fat). Do that keto calculator and try Cronometer or another diet tracker, so you can see how close you are getting to your macros at first. Try not to eat anything that you’re not SURE what’s in it - carbs are hidden EVERYWHERE. Worry more about your fat intake for now, though. You’re a big guy, you have to use up the glucose all your muscle cells and your liver are hoarding, along with a lot of water as they empty, and THEN your body will start trying to use the fat for energy. Concentrate on that, not the scale. The weight will come off.

(KAREN GUNN) #9

I am 5’10 and 245lbs now, started at 270 2.5 months ago I eat over 2200 calories a day under 20 carbs and around 50 protein. The rest is in fat. I drink two BPCs a day that have 2T of butter and 3T of coconut oil (crack in a cup). Also, adding fat to every thing you eat is not only yummy but impotant. I focus on sauce, homeade Alfredo sauce is delicious and easy.

(TJ Borden) #10

Like others have said, eat more fat. Although there’s no need to “count” calories, a guy your size (I’m down to 430lbs, having been close to 500lbs myself) needs around 4000 calories just to function. If you don’t eat enough (especially startIng out), your metabolism will just slow to match what you’re taking in. Until you’re fat adapted (several weeks), don’t fight hunger. If you’re hungry, eat…fat. Add butter to everything. Buy a few pounds of bacon and have at it.

#11

I’m a newbie here and don’t want to contradict anyone, but I want to flag attention to this and add to this piece of advice, because of the potential for serious harm: That six litres needs to be spread evenly throughout the day, and keeping sodium and potassium up is key for safety.

Although rare, it’s possible to develop hyponatremia by drinking too much water too fast. The kidney can only eliminate 1/2 a litre of water per hour, so the rest goes to dilute the electrolytes in your blood. That’s normally not an issue if it’s only 2 or 3 litres, especially if you’re already thirsty. But if you take 4 litres upwards in a short space of time, it can trigger the condition.

So don’t get to the end of the day, realise you’ve only drunk 2L for the whole day, then try to take 4L in one hit before bed, or anything silly like that. As a larger guy, you might have a bigger safety buffer, but I just wanted to make sure you were aware that it is possible to drink too much in one sitting, and the condition can be fatal.

(Candy Lind) #12

Good point, @Sunder!

(Cole Chapman) #13

thanks for the tips! although im not a coffee or tea drinker myself. do you have any advice on what a guy can do to get that heavy cream into my body? besides from drinking it by itself

(TJ Borden) #14

It’s a great base for soups and sauces, but I’ll be honest; HWC in a highball glass is one of my favorite Keto indulgences.

(Debbie) #15

I’m a newbie, going on 4 months now and down 20lbs. I found it very helpful to use a calorie and carb tracker app. I plan my meals the day before on it. It works for me, maybe it will help you .
One of my favorite foods that I eat every nite is green beans. I eat a whole can fried in two tablespoons of salted butter. That helps me get my fat in. That’s like candy to be. I also like to have 2oz of summer sausage w/ 1oz of hard cheese as a evening snack. Olives are filling and make a good snack. I eat a LOT of chicken with skin, and I love to throw a big pork butt roast in the slow cooker and eat on it through the week. Good fatty meat. I eat a 6oz portion and believe me that is a LOT of meat. I use a food scale to measure my food out. This is just a few of things that have helped me. I hope it will help you. Good luck.

(KAREN GUNN) #16

I make homeade Alfredo sauce a lot and it’s yummy on everything! Butter HWC and parmasian cheese season to your liking. I add lots of garlic.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #17

You can also whip up the cream and put it on some blueberries. Go easy on the berries and go heavy on the cream. And of course, no sugar in the whipped cream. After you’ve been low-carb for even a fairly short while you’ll find that the berries will be sweet enough without sugar in the whipped cream.

Another yummy source of fat is unflavored whole-milk yoghurt. Get a brand with no added sugar, and watch the portion size, because it does have milk sugars (lactose and galactose) in it. If you find the yoghurt tastes too bitter, you can use a small amount of artificial sweetener to take the edge off (although some people find that certain sweeteners stimulate insulin for them—you’ll have to experiment; it’s different for everyone). I find that regular whole milk yoghurt tastes lovely now (though I disliked the taste when I was a sugar-burner), but I still find Greek yoghurt too strong to really be enjoyable. But a quarter-teaspoon of Truvia is enough to make it palatable.

There is even such a thing as double-cream yoghurt, which I really like but can’t find anywhere, because everyone is so afraid of fat. My local supermarket bought some by accident a couple of months ago, and boy, was it yummy!

#18

I couldn’t get into ketosis for 8 weeks and a handful of 36 hr fast while eating clean. Hang in there this will take time but it will work. And you will be so happy for your effort. Read Obesity Code.

#19

Pardon me if this is considered a hijack, but since I’m also on day 4, I thought I’d report I’m also gaining weight. Only half a kilo (A touch over one pound), so I am not too worried yet. I think I am having too many calories, and perhaps too many of them from meat.

We haven’t really corrected our shopping yet, but creamy cheeses aren’t all that cheap, and avocado right now is extremely expensive. Last night, I was hungry before bed, so I finished an entire wheel of Brie in one hit… Dinner was unfortunately very lean lamb, even though the lamb we normally get is very fatty.

So I’m still figuring it out, but I think 4 days is too short for anyone to tell whether the diet is on track or not.

I have multi-chemical urine test strips that are about a year old, so no idea if they’re any good or not, but I’m not going to start testing until the 2 week period is up.

(JGL) #20

Literally came here to say the exact same thing.