Giving Keto a Bad Name

(Tina Emmons) #1

Ok Guys,
Some of you have heard me whining here for some time but I really need some advice going forward. Have you ever heard of this and/or what would you do?

I am not a newbie. Success on Atkins in the past. Know the diet. Not afraid of fat.
Went full keto for life Jan 10, 2018 after much research with Fung and 2KD.
Love fasting! Have IF’d lots, EF quite a bit, 110 hours longest.
70 pounds to lose.
Female, 51
Active. Walk 1 hour plus several times a week. Run 4-6 miles several times a week. Body weight resistance training(when I’m being good)
Don’t measure much, just pretty much no carb except veggies and dairy.
According to Aug bloodwork, reversed IR, May test 13.1, now 4.4 fasting insulin(thought it was all gonna kick in then) Slightly elevated liver enzymes in Aug.
Never hungry. Mostly not interested in food after switching to fat burning. No stress or boredom or emotional eating.
Like alcohol but have gone long periods without to see if it would help, has not. Have cut way back now since trying dosing THC for sleep.
Terrible sleep last couple of years, hormones I think. Trying to manage. Cold room, melatonin, THC, magnesium. Been a bit better with cold room and THC.
No meds. Went off BC in March. No period since.
First four months, no cheating. Since then, once or twice a month maybe, one meal of half restaurant cheeseburger, beer and a few fries and then back on track.
Don’t feel better on keto, felt fine before. Don’t feel worse when consuming carbs.
Skin just cleared up from hormonal(I think) acne. Not sure if I can attribute to keto but happy to take it.
Had a metabolic doc early in the year who promotes keto and fasting but he’s on sabbatical now. Don’t want to see a doc who’s going to tell me to quit eating all that fat. And…no insurance right now so I’m hesitant to see a doc out of pocket in case there is really something wrong with me and it would be considered a pre-existing condition.
No inches lost.
NO pounds lost. In fact, I think I’m 5 pounds heavier than last Jan 10.
I feel I’m giving keto a bad name. My friends, clients, family all know what I’m doing and obviously see there is no significant change in my appearance.
No health issues I know of.
Supplements of Mushrooms, magnesium, pink salt, milk thistle(for liver).
Strive for 100oz water daily.
Meditate, positive affirmations daily.
At this point I change my mind 10 times per day about what I should do next. Thinking there could be something medically wrong now. A few symptoms of PCOS and hypothyroidism but not enough that I’d ever looked into them before. Just starting to read stories of both around not being able to lose weight no matter what. Also, if either of these are a problem, treatment is keto and fasting, right? Soooo…now what?
Thinking of a clean fast for all of January to see if I can make something snap.
(Aside: Did keto summer of '17 for 5 solid weeks and lost an average of 3 pounds per week and in retrospect if you’d asked me about it, I would have told you it was not successful. Stupid I know but I’d take that 3 pounds per week back in a heartbeat now!. Can’t imagine why it was working then and not now.)
I read one report of a woman going 10 months with no loss and then it started but other than that, I am so tired of reading about stalls when I haven’t started! And of people JUST doing IF, no keto and losing massive amounts of weight, eating cake n cookies, in their freaking “window” UGH!

Help, just help:sweat:

#2

Maybe tracking would be a good place to start.

(Diana ) #3

I wonder about the dairy; could you be getting too many carbs there? And also, if you don’t have much of an appetite, do you still eat a fair amount of fat? The reason I am asking is something I have been wondering about. Once a person is fat adapted, it makes sense to me that in order to use up stored body fat, you would need to eat less fat.
I envy you being able to do IF and EF. Just the thought of fasting makes me hungry.

(Tina Emmons) #4

Thanks but I have. I did extensively at first as this was the first time I had ever added the HF to LC. I’ve tried everything, even upped calories to 3000 for a couple of days before fasting, a few times. That was a trip as eating MORE calories has been against every fiber of my being for my entire life. There was a little exhilaration from that control but alas, no weight loss.

(Tina Emmons) #5

I guess I could try eliminating dairy as an experiment but there’s no way it’s putting me over on carbs. One cup of coffee most mornings(not every day) with HWC and some cheese, not even daily. I think I eat plenty of fat but wouldn’t say too much. I get most of my fat from meats and add avocado, evoo, butter, coconut oil to salads, soups, and other things that would be lacking fat if I didn’t.

#6

Fasting insulin isn’t hugely helpful when you’re keto unless it reads high. You could still be having higher than normal post prandial insulin releases.

Any clue as to why this might be? Do you have your triglyceride numbers by any chance?

(Tina Emmons) #7

Have not heard of the post prandial release. Will look up. Should have included that my blood sugar is always normal, like under 100, and was even with the elevated insulin number.

Don’t know why liver enzymes were up but it was small enough that my doc said it wasn’t anything to even address at this point. A1c was under even pre-diabetic also. Don’t have triglycerides. I really want more labs like adrenals and triglycerides but that’s back to working out insurance first or taking my chances paying out of pocket and hope nothing comes back too scary.

(Pat) #8

In the second half of 2017 I lost weight about 3 kgs without even trying to diet. I wanted to lose more so I started keto at the beginning if 2018 and gave up alcohol completely. I counted everything. I started at 63kgs, I am just under 5feet. After about 4 months doing keto and not losing anything I was really disappointed and decided to have a few drinks. That was not a good thing to do but I still did keto and consequently put on 4kgs more. I have been struggling to lose those extra kilos I put on with not much luck. I don’t know what the answer is. Someone said I wasn’t eating enough calories so I did my macros and still nothing. This isn’t very helpful to you but it seems I am in the same boat. Maybe someone on the forum has some advice that might work for both of us.

(Tina Emmons) #9

Welcome to our story. Yeah, the absolute only thing I can think of nutritionally is I’m not eating enough but when you consider the amount of food I have NOT eaten since January with all my fasting and then keto when I do eat, it’s mind boggling. I have tested positive for ketosis with stix and blood monitor consistently since January. I truly know I’m not overweight for over eating nor under exercising and yet you know you are judged just walking down the street by those without these issues. Thanks for commenting.

#10

I haven’t watched this one but Amy Berger is brilliant. There may be something in this video for you.

(Pat) #11

that is a brilliant video. Did you watch it cwemmons Tina Emmons. There’s a lot in there that might apply. Thank you safi

#12

This is Amy’s website - tonnes of great information here as well http://www.tuitnutrition.com/ :slightly_smiling_face:

#13

It is not unheard of, not losing weight can happen. For example due to internal candida overgrowth (we all have some candida but some people have a massive internal overgrowth).

Or you could require a supplement to jolt things along. Or maybe stop a supplement you are currently taking.

I’m only going off what Dr Atkins said in his books. Of course the Atkin 20 Induction Phase diet is what we now call a “keto diet” a new buzzword but otherwise it is identical (I’m spelling that out for people reading who might not know that) - so maybe you can find someone with solid Atkins/Keto experierence, a doctor or nurse who has helped thousands of patients over decades … hopefully they can pinpoint exactly what you need. I’ll probably be something small.

Meantime are you absolutely certain you’re not getting some hidden or unexpected carbs in there somewhere? Are most of your carbs from veggies or something else?

Are you eating too many proteins?

Could there be a particular food which is throwing your system off? Instead of getting carbs from ABC try XYZ all 20g but a different combination. Same for proteins, try a different source, fish not beef or visa versa…

Are you eating enough?

(Pat) #14

Thank you that’s great.

(Pat) #15

Amy Berger’s video makes a lot of sense and she’s given me a lot to think about, especially about not relying too much on the scales.
I know for a fact I do not get the right amount of sleep. Just before Christmas I started going to bed earlier. It’s hard to do when you are used to going to bed later.
I have done Dr Atkins several times over the last 20 years and read his book a few times. I remember some of it.
I do like this way of eating. I think I have to go away and work a few things out - do me macros again. Amy says don’t be afraid of protein and don’t overdo the fat consumption. Cutting out the carbs is not a problem for me having suffered reflux for years and now it’s gone due to the reduction in carbs.
Perhaps I’m eating too much of the same food. Veggies and meat/fish and dairy, not milk but cheese and cream. I try and count everything. I’m going to go away and have another look at Amy Berger’s video and look at her website. I’ll let you know how things are going.

(Running from stupidity) #16

#imintuit

(Janelle) #17

I’m only a little better off. I’m two years younger than you and am at a pound a week or less. Nothing the last week and a half so - less. My husband, who eats roughly the same exact thing is now at his goal weight. He was never as big as I am anyway - despite eating a junkier diet. I’m just going to commiserate with you.

I get a kick out of people who start asking about carb creep. If you’re eating protein and fat to satiety and adding in a few vegetables, just how much carb creep can you have? You know what you’re eating.

I also listened to Amy Berg’s talk on fasting (different than what was just posted). To sum it up - you don’t have to - unless absolutely nothing else works. Then you might. Ugh.

(Karen) #18

Do you like what you eat on keto?
Is it hard for you to continue doing keto?
If it is not,studies have shown, that it does not hurt, and will likely help in the long run.

Or Join me I’m going to do carnivore for January. I have been listening to the carnivore cast podcast. I’m going to see if it makes my system budge to increase protein.

(John) #19

I also agree you should track what you are eating. Even though its against the grain I think you should include calories in that tracking. Also I personally do not see a reason to eat more then normal before a fast. I may have not read what you were saying correctly though. Just trying to help

(Empress of the Unexpected) #20

For me, just a few days of mainly meat will cause me to drop a couple pounds. Dairy, vegetables and nuts and seeds really add up.