Gaining Weight on Keto diet ? Why?

newbies
(Amer R) #1

Hi All,

I have started keto about 2 weeks ago. However, I have gained about 5 pounds in 2 weeks. Why ??
I don’t count calories, keep that in mind.

I have been eating 2 meals a day, no snacks in between, For example yesterday I had the following:

Breakfast - Nothing.
Lunch - I had non breaded chicken strips (breast) with butter, I cook it, then add mushrooms, and heavy cream, and little bit of parm cheese. i eat my lunch around 12 or 1 PM

Dinner - Fathead Pizza, 2 Cups of mozzarella cheese, 1 cup of almond flour, 1 tablespoon of butter, 1 egg, 2 tablespoon of cream cheese to make the dough. Then I add low carb tomato sauce, toppings, and more cheese. Yes I eat about 1/2 or 3/4 of the pizza ? I eat my pizza around 9 PM after i get home from work. I dont make pizza everyday, 2 or 3 times a week. All my dinners and lunches are/around the same time. I am not a coffee drinker.

ok weekends, I eat peruvian chicken with no sides. just the chicken (Sunday). on Saturday Chick fila grilled nuggets (30 count = ~550 calories) with avocado & lime dressing (The dressing is a Fat bomb, its 300 calories).

Other dinner dishes I eat: 2 avocado’s mushed with olive oil, 4 eggs with blue cheese.
Other lunch dishes I eat: non breaded chicken strips (breast) with butter, cooked, then 1 spoon of pesto sauce with sun dried tomatoes.

desserts: Diet root beer float. I make with 2 scoops of halo top ice cream, and whipped cream .my whipped cream is made from mascarpone cheese mixed with whipped cream liquid, liquid stevia, and vanilla extract.

Or mascarpone cheese with whipped cream and unsweetened chocolate mixed in.

I usually eat dessert about 3, 4 times a week.

By the time I get home I am hungry and cant wait to eat.

I don’t exercise right now, my job is sitting at a desk all day. However, I do take walks about a mile a day when its not cold or raining or snowing, etc.

What am I doing wrong ??

#2

How many net carbs do you eat per day?

#3

It looks like you are doing everything right. But, you have to be careful of sneaky carbs.

If I were to offer a suggestion it would be cut out the artificial sweeteners and desserts.

For sure, that ice cream can be a problem. I just looked at one of them, that’s 11g of carbs in 1/2 cup. That’s pretty high especially because you are getting carbs from mushrooms, onions, dairy also has carbs.

While not counting calories is fine, when you are first starting out you really need to count carbs. Keep them as low as possible.

Have you done any testing for ketones?

#4

Your lunch also sounds pretty low in fat. White chicken is pretty lean.

Also, did you check Chic Filet’s nutrition info on the grilled nuggets? They may use a seasoning or rub that has sugar in it.

Bottom line, lower the carbs and artificial sweeteners and increase your fat.

Of course everyone is different so YMMV.

(Amer R) #5

Hi - Yes I have, for the first week I was around 45, now I am 5 or negative. Either i am out of ketosis or my test strips are duds, and i did a bunch.

(ianrobo) #6

no point testing for Ketones after just two weeks is it ?

Clearly a issue here and @Ramamni have you felt the Keto Flu yet ?

you mention low carb tomato sauce, just how low carb is it ? remeber ideally to start with you need carbs I think lower than 30g a day. Then you mention ice cream just looked up and 14g of carb per serving …

#7

45 what? Are you using urine sticks? As long as they are turning blue your spilling ketones. But, they aren’t very accurate. A blood test would be more accurate.

(Amer R) #8

Yes i am using Urine Sticks.They are not turning blue.

#9

I agree. I suspect that there is no counting of carbs.

When doing keto for the first time, it’s helpful to meticulously count carbs in everything you eat. It trains you to know the carb count in foods. Later on, you can grab a food and go, knowing how many carbs it has, because you trained yourself.

I strongly suspect the OP is eating in excess of 20 net carbs. This is a very very common issue.

(Amer R) #10

I am using Mezzetta pasta sauce. Which has 5g carbs net. 1/2 cup in each serving.

Halo top is 240 calories per pint. which is 16g of carbs total. I use about 2 scoops which is equivalent to 4g or carbs.

(Amer R) #11

The grilled nuggets has no sugar in it and it has 2g of carbs for 8 nuggets.

(ianrobo) #12

but you have not had Keto flu so somewhere extra carbs are coming in or you could be very carb sensitive ?

I would say as well and this debate is long that counting net carbs won’t work and count total …

(Amer R) #13

is the keto flu like a normal flu ?

(ianrobo) #14

yep may be shivering, feel headaches etc it goes quick enough but can last a week

#15

You feel fuzzy headed, tired, drowsy, sniffles…it varies with people

#16

I’m still suspecting too many carbs. Here’s the math based on your first post:

Lunch: with breaded chicken (2 g), mushrooms (1/2 cup? 2 g), cream (2 tablespoons? 1g) = 5 g net carbs

Dinner: fathead pizza 1/2 pizza (almond flour 6 g, 1 cup mozzarella 4 g, 1 tablespoon cream chees 0.5 g, Tomato sauce 2 g) = 12.5 g for 1/2 pizza or 19 g for 3/4 pizza. Note you said there were “other toppings” but you didn’t say what they were…this can easily add 5 to 10 g net carbs.

So, in summary, it looks like you are over the 20 net carbs limit.

(kimhowerton) #17

Not everyone gets the keto flu!

#18

That ice cream serving size says 1/2 cup, so 1 pint has 4 servings.

(kimhowerton) #19

If you are struggling to get into ketosis… or gaining weight…

COUNT TOTAL CARBS for a week. If it doesn’t fit under 20 g total carbs, don’t eat it.
This cuts out the Halo Top and will cause you to be judicious with your carbs.

Now you can try adding in erythritol or xylitol and see how that works for you if you need to.
If that goes well, you can count them net. (note: one might work while the other does not)

Once you know the answer to that, you can try moving to net carbs in regards to fiber and see how that works.

(Marie) #20

One of the clear signs of ketosos is appetite supression. If you’re so hungry you can’t wait to eat then you are not eating enough fat at lunch. One thing I’ve noticed is that while I do get hungry, it’s not the stomach-growling crazy hunger I used to have, and I can easily wait until mealtime. My overall advice is to simplify your diet to get solidly into ketosis. Fathead pizza is delicious but the carbs add up and its easy to eat past satiety - the desserts should be eliminated too at this point. Eat protein, fat, and some green veggies - that’s it. The less processed, the better. And start measuring and tracking your food, at least for awhile - you may be surprised.

You want to send your body the clear signal that it needs to switch to using fat as fuel - you may be sending conflicting signals. Once you get it right, you will know it!