I am new to this forum, but I have been on the Keto diet for about 2 months. I have kept the carbs to 20 or less net, fats high, and protein around 40 grams. My calories have not been that high, because this kills my appetite. The Keto pee strips always show that I am in the “light” ketosis area, morning, noon, and night. It always turns pink. I have been exercising in the heat, so dropping a lot of water I think, but my scales have still barely budged. I think I may have lost 3 pounds, but it fluctuates so that may just be due to water weight. This way of eating makes me very tired and makes me lethargic, wanting to sleep all of the time. I am not a big sweet eater, but I do miss an occasional snack of fruit. Perhaps I need to get some berries as my carb intake may be too low. This week, I finally made some cookies with Swerve and Almond Flour. Before that I pretty much have stuck to meat, fish, shrimp, chicken sautéed or baked in olive oil, stir fried with lots of green veggies or green salad with blue cheese and ranch dressing added. Any advice from the community. This way of eating is not too hard for me as I like to eat natural, unprocessed food, but I do miss and love fruit. If I am not going to lose weight at all, I would rather introduce fruit, sweet potatoes, and healthy grains (brown rice, barely, faro) back into my diet. I am just surprised this is not working. Half the people that I know are doing this and dropping weight like crazy. I also notice they drink and deviate from the plan a lot more than I do, but manage to lose weight, when I don’t! Grrrrrr.
Have any women eating a strict Keto diet with carbs around 20 (hitting all macros) not lost weight
I don’t have much to add food wise but let me say this because I think it’s important. I am 3 months in. I have just, in the past week or so, started dropping weight. I didn’t lose the initial 10 pounds of water. I lost nothing until just recently. I think it’s very true that weight loss happens when your body wants it to. It could be very busy doing other healing. You really have to change your mindset about this WOE. It’s not a typical “weight loss” deal. You are trying to get healthy and then lose weight, not necessarily the other way around. I had to stop comparing myself to others to move into a better space. Good luck!
There are a lot of unknowns to give you a clear answer but I can tell you that ketosis does not automatically = weight loss. That is a fact. Also the urine strips are notoriously inaccurate. As a newbie, you may still be in the adaption phase which can make a person feel weak because burning fat for fuel is not yet totally adapted. I understand that the average adaption rate is about 6 weeks but for some people, up to 4 months.
Low calorie over several weeks can be counter productive. You say you are consuming around 20 g carbs and 40g protein which accounts for around 240 calories. You should be consuming at least 100g of fat to have an adequate diet. It doesn’t have to be every day but most days. Especially during this period of adaption.
If only a small amount of weight is to be lost, it can take time. The thought is that if this is the case, it shouldn’t matter because in order to keep weight off, this is a long term commitment so slow weight loss is ok.
There is no such thing as ‘healthy grains’. The human body is not good at digesting grains. It might be good for you to do some research in that area. You also can consume a few berries or even a small amount of some melons being careful to count those and all other carbs.
Welcome to the forum!
I see that you are getting some really great advice so I will only add a couple of thoughts
First: 40 grams of protein is adequate if you only weigh 110 pounds. Otherwise, you need to be eating more. The general calculation is one gram of protein for every kilogram of lean body mass.
Do you know how much of your weight is body fat? If yes, then the math is easy. If no, then post some statistics about your self and your size and we can figure it out
Second: calories deprivation does not work for weight loss. What does happen when we deprive ourselves of calories is that our basal metabolic rate slows down and our bodies just burn fewer calories. Did you know that by eating more calories, especially protein and fat calories, that we can actually increase our basal metabolic rate and make us burn more calories?
Third: don’t worry about the ketones. Follow the plan and it will work without regard to the level of your ketone production
Remember there’s no such thing as an essential carbohydrate.
It takes considerable time to become fat adapted and for many people there is no weight loss until this happens. Don’t give up yet
Eat more. More protein and more fat
If your appetite has decreased try reducing your eating window to a few hours in the afternoon or evening.
Lastly: be careful about the dressings. They frequently contain sugars or other sweeteners that cause insulin spikes, resulting in fat retention not fat burning
Hang in there
Keep coming back
I hope you find this helpful
Keep calm and keto on
Hi there, 28 yo female. I’ve been at this for about 3 months and ill tell you, its not the quick fix weight loss I initially thought it would be. BUT, I’m amazed at how much better my whole body feels, and that’s whats kept me going. I just recently, in the last few weeks, started dropping lbs. I agree when the others say your body needs to repair the damage before you’ll start seeing results on the scale. You may be losing fat but building muscle which won’t reflect on a weight scale.
Also, I was religiously tracking my macros for the first 2 months, trying to hit every target. It helped me get a good idea of macros in food which was great, but it was time consuming and I was obsessive so I stopped. I let my body tell me when and what I should eat and I feel like that’s really working for me. I’ll check on and enter my meals once a week or so to make sure I’m on track but I don’t obsess all day everyday. Why eat more to try to balance if you’re not hungry? It all balances eventually. Wish you well 
For “leaner” women who are not obese, keto is definitely not about the changes on the scale. It’s about body recomposition - and the body priorities the most life-threatening things to turn around first.
Things like visceral fat which many have by age 30 - it fills the abdominal cavity and wraps around organs. Also, a fatty or fatty-ish liver, which is sluggish and stressed. The body also prioritizes restoration of muscle tissue which is often lacking after years of high carb living.
And, a body of the same weight looks very different depending on it’s muscle/fat ratio - so use a measuring tape, not a scale, to confirm changes.
If you feel you are largely fat adapted you may do better with a little more carbs, depending on your hormonal profile.
These may also help:
As I am in the ‘discouragement phase’, I really needed this comment. Great to think of it this way. 
Unfortunately this phase doesn’t necessarily go away completely. Ha. I have days where I believe I am on the right track and Gung ho. I also have my days where I’ve stepped on the scale to find I am up. That can be very discouraging as I do not weigh that often. If I see this, I do my best to take my own advice and trudge on. This too shall pass!
Hi! I’m new to the forum and just saw your questions. Just wanted to see if anything changed for you at this time? I’ve been having the same problem but not sure if I should give it more time or keto is not for everyone.
Thanks!
I had a lot of trouble figuring out all the right amount of carbs… this might help you too.
Hang in there. We’re all different.
I believe our bodies prioritize what needs it will address based on a hierarchy that is largely unknown at this time.
Maybe you have a lot of healing and figuring out which foods best address your peculiar needs before the weight loss happens.
I have not lost weight yet but I have noticed other changes. My skin feels better and the inside of my mouth feels cleaner if that makes sense. It’s allergy season and I’m not nearly as stuffed up.
Take an inventory of the positive changes to help you stick to it.
Have a few berries and see if that makes you feel better.
Keto on!
Just an update… I posted in 2018 about the need for long term commitment and slow weight loss. Now, 2 years later, I am down 9 or 10 lbs. making my total weight loss over 70 lbs.
Almost 11 years and no looking back.
This is an old thread, but if it’s being revived, there are some comments necessary. The low carb limit stated in the OP is good. The protein level looks inadequate. It would be appropriate only if the OP weighed only 57 kg/125 lb. We recommend a protein intake of 1.0-1.5 g/kg of lean body mass/day. Some experts recommend up to 2.0 g/kg. This lack of protein is probably what was making the OP feel “very tired and . . . lethargic.”
So firstly, protein intake must be adequate. And since most meats are 25% protein, if you want 80 g of protein you need 320 g/11 oz. of meat.
Next, eat enough fat to satisfy your hunger. You should be eating enough to “kill” your appetite, as the OP puts it, for several hours between meals.
As readers probably know, the point of eating very little carbohydrate is to lower blood glucose and insulin (carbohydrates are merely long strings of glucose molecules, and high levels of insulin must be secreted to get all that glucose safely out of the blood). When we eat a low-carb diet, the protein we eat is handled without a major insulin response (as opposed to when we eat protein on a high-carb diet). And fat is in the diet to provide calories, because it provokes a minimal insulin response, just enough to ensure survival (without some insulin in the blood, we starve to death; we just don’t want excessively high insulin).
The first requirement for being able to shed excess stored fat is a low insulin level. But the body still won’t lose its extra fat if it thinks a famine is going on. Restricting calories is a signal of famine, so that is why we always recommend eating to satisfy our hunger. When we stop being hungry, we know we have eaten enough.