Been on Keto for just over a year. Lost 23 kilos so I’m quite happy about that. But the past few month got stuck on a plateau. I’m trying to cut down on food but finding it very hard to do. Getting great desire to eat almonds and hard cheese during dizzy spells, which is stopping me from losing weight.
Through out my experience with Keto I have not found any great amounts of energy in fact I’ve been feeling weak most of the time and go to bed fairly early and fall asleep very quickly. But I feel I need to lose another 20 kilos, which will put my BMI to 21. So I’ve gone from Obese to overweight. Now I need to get to normal.
I only eat twice a day (intermittent fasting). So how come out of the blue I’m starting to get hunger pains/dizzy spells? And how can I stop them whilst still being in Keto?
Getin dissy and feel very weak
I’d eat more.
I’ve been doing this 6 years and am still overweight and not “normal”. I’m not sure I’ll ever get to “normal”, and I’m not sure I need to. My OGTT with insulin showed a normal response, all of my markers (save Lp(a)) are great. What reason to go lower?
If you are light headed make sure you are getting enough electrolytes and check your blood pressure.
It sounds as though you are not eating enough. Even on a ketogenic diet, the body will hang on to its store of fat as a reserve, whenever we cut calories, so that it can get us through the famine. It will also slow down our metabolism, so that we don’t use any extra energy. Therefore, we need to be eating enough food that our body doesn’t feel the need to cut back, and the simplest way to do that is to eat enough to satisfy our hunger.
Insulin is the main fat-storage hormone, so the key to losing stored fat is to keep our insulin low enough for as much of the day as possible, to allow excess fat to leave the fat tissue and be metabolised. Carbohydrate has the largest effect on our insulin level, because carbohydrates are nothing more than strings of glucose molecules, and glucose in the blood stream is what stimulates insulin production. Protein has about half the effect (but it’s essential to our diet, so there’s no point in worrying about it), and fat has almost no effect on insulin to speak of. This makes fat an ideal, safe source of energy, because we can eat enough to satisfy our hunger, and our insulin will still stay low enough to let the fat out of our fat tissue. Most people find that in a low-insulin context their hunger and satiety hormones work properly again, thus making appetite a reliable guide to how much to eat. Given enough food, our body sets our appetite to a level that allows it to shed excess fat from our fat tissue, as well as to digest the fat we eat.
ETA: The body’s response to food is mediated by its hormonal response to the types of foods we eat, making the situation a lot more complex than the mantra “Eat less, move more” would lead us to believe. The people who make that recommendation the centre-piece of their advice believe that the only thing that matters is the caloric content of our food, whereas in reality, the body does different things with different foods, making what we eat even more important than how much we eat.
According to Dr. Eric Berg DC on one of his vids he says cutting back is the only way to go. So what amount of food do you suggest then? If I’m not eating enough. I’ve been on a plateau for about 3 months now.
@Eppy
Have your BP meds changed in dosage since you lost the weight?
It may be that they are weight to dose related. And therefore with a loss of 20 kg, you may be getting too much medication now.
Worth a check in with the doctor to review your meds.
Best of luck
One of the main reasons I’m on the Keto diet is to get off as many BP meds as I can. However after a long chat with my doctor it seems that that’s not gonna happen. I don’t think my hypertension is due to weight but more of a genetic thing. My fathers (RIP) weight was perfect for his height but he took quite a few BP meds. My meds get reviewed, My last review was only 3 months ago and everything BP wise is satisfactory.
This could be your problem. Statins are bad. Very bad. Did you have a heart attack in the past?
I did a thread about statins 9 months ago.
I stopped taking them and my triglyceride etc went very high so I stated to take them again… I think I’m in that 1% who needs them. I’ve had a CABG x 3 3 years ago, and have not felt the normal since. I then became type 2 diabetic, thgats when I went on the keto diet. I’m now not a diabetic
The problem with statins is that they cause muscle weakness and memory problems in many people. If you don’t believe me, follow David Diamond on Twitter. He’s been tweeting study after study of these effects.
So, if you have to take statins, you might have to have these effects. too.
I’m just saying one possibility is the statins for weakness.
I’ve been taking statins now for over 19 years, and have no problem with them, so I don’t think they have anything to do with my problem.
Let me reiterate, I’ve been on the Keto diet for a good year and things have gone fairly well. I’ve lost weight and have felt OK. I eat two meals a day; late breakfast and early supper. I get the occasional hunger pain but nothing that bad. However over the past 2-3 months I’ve seen no weight lose. So according to Dr Berg he says cut down on your food intake. If I start to do this I feel as though I’m starving and get dizzy and can eat a horse. One thing though I had my gall bladder removed 12 years ago. I have found having no gall bladder has caused me any problem at all.
After some thought I have just realized that I’ve stopped taking supplements for over 4 months. I have only been taking multi-vits. So thanks for that. I’ve just ordered some electrolytes. I think that might do the trick… Cheers