Gaining weight?!?!

keto
beginning
food
(Crystal) #1

I am looking for help.

I lift 6x a week and I’ve been on keto or a few weeks. In the first few weeks, I found out that I was taking in too many carbs so I am now counting my carbs and I try not to go over 20g net carbs.

female. 24 yrs old
~2000 Calories
Intermittent fasting: eating window is 12PM-8PM (I sleep around 9)
lift heavy 5-6 times a week (usually 6 times a week)

Lunch - meat/fish with salad and maybe an avocado
dinner - egg loaded with cheese and a lot of butter
snack - walnuts (28g/ 1 serving), pecans (28g/ 1 serving), Smoked gouda cheese (28g/ 1 serving), Cheddar cheese (28g/ 1 serving)
supplement - Perfect Keto chocolate sea salt with 1/4 cup of heavy cream, unsweetened almond milk and a dash of erythtriol

I gained ~15 pounds from keto. please help. I also have a hard time stopping myself from eating when I get home, a REALLY hard time. I will snack on walnuts and pecans ALL DAY LONG and cheese too! Water does not do the trick - nothing does.

PLEASE HELP!!!

(Rob) #2

I am really not qualified to advise you (not a woman, not in my 20’s, not a lifter, not fit) but just some thoughts before more knowledgeable folks weigh in.

15lbs in a few weeks sounds odd. 2000 calories doesn’t sound like too much for a young, fit lifter. There are likely to be multiple factors.

A few clarifying questions:
Are you measuring your body beyond weight - many measure waist, hips, biceps, quads etc. Will this give you any clues? Are you building muscle?
Do you feel, look like you’re adding fat? Should be fairly obvious if it is all fat.
Have you done a body composition test at a gym etc. That would help, though more useful if you have a pre-keto baseline.
Are you using a consistent scale, that is properly calibrated?
Have you put your food into a food tracker to know how much protein vs. fat you are taking in. It sounds pretty keto 5/25/70 but worth checking.

If you are hungry under keto, you probably need more energy. I would consider having larger meals to avoid the snacking or just don’t worry about the snacks. You might actually need 2500 calories per day due to your metabolism/lifestyle.

Maybe it is a combination of building muscle and holding onto more water (not sure why).

General disclaimers - women react differently to keto, hormones, other conditions, impact of heavy lifting, etc.

#3

Ditch the “net carbs” mentality and try to stay under 20g total carbs.

(Jessica) #4

Is the lifting new? Where are you in your cycle? Both of those will add scale weight.

(Crystal) #5

I am gaining weight bc I can feel/see it

(Crystal) #6

Lifting is not new. I’ve done it for a couple years now. However, I am consuming an abnormally large amount of calories so I think that’s why I’m gaining weight

(Andrea) #7

I’d use the keto calc to work out your macros. I am only eating about 1,000-1,200 a day (~20g carbs). I’m F/42 and not a lifter!

(Emma Cohn) #8

First!
Stop snacking. Especially on nuts. They have carbs and are easy to over eat.
Eat larger meals with more fat and no snacks. By snacking you are keeping your insulin high all day. When your insulin is high you can’t access your body fat for energy or satiety. So all the extra fat you are eating is getting locked up in adipose by insulin making you heavier, meanwhile you are starving for energy.

Other factors that could be keeping your insulin high are artificial sweeteners, dairy, and the nuts. Some people are sensitive to dairy and sweeteners, while others don’t have that problem.

You are still in the very early stages of fat adaptation. And you mentioned that you have been eating too many carbs until recently. Getting into ketosis takes a few days if you have liver glycogen to burn. Becoming fat adapted could take as long as a couple months.

In the beginning it’s normal to have strong cravings for carbs and more food. Eat more fat with your meals. There’s a lot of discussion on this forum about whether calories matter or not to weight loss. Many people have reported that it was only after greatly increasing their calories consumed that they were able to lose weight.

The initial weight loss people report when starting keto usually comes from a sudden loss of water that was stored with glycogen. Using up the glycogen releases all the retained water. If you gradually tapered down your carbs that could have already happened for you. Give your body time to adjust. Focus on getting enough fat and protein and keeping the carbs as low as possible and don’t look at the scale for a few weeks.

Also, I always gain about 5 pounds right before my period starts and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. After my period the weight drops off again. Could this be happening to you?

(Edith) #9

Not having enough electrolytes can make you hungry. When you are hungry, try drinking some bouillon tea or drink a cup of water with a half teaspoon of salt. That may quench your hunger.

Also, did you eat that much dairy pre-keto? If not, the extra dairy may be causing inflammation which causes water retention.

Let us know what you figure out.

Edith

(Liz ) #10

I want to second the idea to stop snacking. If you are hungry, eat a big fatty keto meal until your hunger goes away. As was said, insulin will spike every time you eat. When your insulin is up, fat burning does not happen. Also yes, don’t skimp on salt.

(Louise ) #11

I second the snacking, especially on nuts as they easy to over consume.

As an older woman who lifts heavy (only 3 x week) questions that come to mind are:

  • weight gain might be muscle rather than fat (have you measured your belly hips:waist ratio)?
  • after lifting, I know I’m super hungry, so have a good sized plate of bacon and eggs
  • exogenous ketones (Perfect Keto) is not really needed as you are wanting your own ketones to do all the heavy lifting (so to speak)
  • are you overtraining?
  • maybe you’re not getting enough fats if you’re eating avocado and some fats from meat and nuts?
  • what is your body fat %?
(Mike Glasbrener) #12

I second being sure you get enough salt. Maybe your nut cravings are way for you body to get the salt it needs if your workouts are producing heavy sweat and salt/electrolyte loss. Also agree if you can lift your consumption window it will help.

(Trish) #13

Could it be carb creep? Are you logging all your food. Actually weighing or measuring not just eyeballing it. It’s a PITA to have to log everything but you’d be surprised at what gets overlooked or underestimated when you don’t.

(Crystal) #14

Thank you everyone for the support! I tend to want to snack all the time even though I’m not even hungry. It’s hard for me not to go in the kitchen and not snack bc I live with my family. I will definitely try to add salt in my water. How often should I do that?
Also, I have started to count my calories as well so I’m not trying to go over 1200 cal a day. I eat 2x a day (lunch and dinner). As for nuts and cheese, I eat them during my meals as a side. I do know that I have gained weight from doing keto wrong (excessive amount of calories and probably carbs too). And I’m trying to do this right by my birthday in March.

(Ken) #15

The only possible explanation is that it’s water weight, perhaps with a little muscle gain thrown it. I’ll bet you’re consuming more salt now than you did pre keto. Since you’re training, I suggest going over to the Keto sub forum on Bodybuilding.com, everybody is or has done what you’re doing, the info you receive will be more specific.

#16

In reading I am wondering what your goals are.

Do you have any signs of metobolic disease, family history or are IR or prediabetic?

Aside from the recent weight gain, are you trying to lose weight, how much? What is your weight or BMI or body fat % (ie are you trying to lose 5lbs 20 lbs or 120)

Are you trying to build muscle or lift more? (not my area of expertise)

Do you want other benefits of keto such as lack of hunger, mental clarity or relief from an autoimmune illness?

Absolutely cut out the nuts and the keto supplement and the artificial sweetner and see if that changes anything. I would eat more fat rather than less and I would consider eating earlier in the day. Do I understand that you finish eating at 8 and go to sleep at 9? I would say that is too close to bedtime.

I would consider eliminating the cheese as well. I think it is probably fine but as others have said, it may cause inflammation.

I am not sure how you are eating 2000 calories in a day, nothing you are eating jumps out as being particularly high calorie but I am not familiar with the keto supplement.

One thing that really helped me curb snacking is fasting. I learned that I do not always need to grab something each time I have to go into the kitchen. I go into the kitchen a lot since I have a family that I need to cook for. It broke the urge to grab something