HELP Gaining weight šŸ˜„


#7

Are you sure thats keto? It sounds like keto because these are low carb foods, but these actually have more carbs than keto allows when eaten in large quantities. I also hear a lot here about giving up sweets. I know that I stagnate when I even use artificial sweeteners! A sweet taste in the mouth will trigger insulin secretion in some if not many, so I had to even give up my beloved diet coke.
Maybe- just maybe- you have been staying so slim because you were younger, and when menopause hits- our metabolism really does change. Possibly check to see if you are even in ketosis with the food choices you have made? Too many nuts, too much cream, not to mention real chocolate even if it is 95% contains sugar ( I had heard of people here eating 1 square but not 2-3) and top it with cookies made with MORE nuts and chocolate, this sounds like a recipe made for disaster. I honestly dont think you are in ketosis anymore eating like this. Too little fats too. And maybe because you feel physical pain, you feel miserable and are self soothing with sweet or carby foods?


(Allie) #8

Thatā€™s an awful lot of carbs lovely, way too many for staying in ketosis, and if you have issues with inflammation it would be a good idea to lose the almonds as theyā€™re very inflammatory.


(Charms) #9

Okā€¦ Iā€™ve tried dropping nuts but Iā€™ll have to try harder. This was just an example Of foods, yes itā€™s more low carb I suppose but itā€™s been perfectly fine for years and now itā€™s not, and thatā€™s so frustrating. I will have to change something.
Cheers


(Allie) #10

Our bodies are constantly changing, especially us women with the hormonal ups and downs, so we have to be alert and change things as needed. Maybe do some research on anti-inflammatory foods so you know what things in your diet need to go, and see how you get on from there?


(Charms) #11

Yes youā€™re right itā€™s more low carb. What is so frustrating that itā€™s been working just fine and now it isnā€™t :slightly_frowning_face:. I think Iā€™ll have to do carb counting and also cut out some inflammatory foods.
Thank youā€¦ think I need a kick in the pants to get me to fix this mess.
Cheers


#12

Even if carnivore is not sustainable, try it (maybe you will be more successful now, people change, I experienced that) and add vegetables when it gets too hard. Forget about the nuts at least.
I did vegetarian keto with lots of oily seeds and various vegetables (higher-carb like carrots too), fruits and chocolate every day but it is too much carbs for many people. Without the amounts and not having an idea about your personal ketosis carb limit, I donā€™t know if your food is too carby but it easily can be. Many nuts are too carby in bigger amounts, walnut cookies, yogurt, berriesā€¦ Carbs may add up.
3 squares of 95% chocolate isnā€™t much carbs alone but with all the othersā€¦ And even if you are in ketosis, lowering your carb intake may be useful, it surely was for me!
Carbs are tricky, I would easily go over 20g net carbs on carnivore if I wasnā€™t carefulā€¦ It was way worse with plants, of course especially because I loved vegetables. And some people need a low total carbs too while your nuts and vegetables contain a lot of fiber, some people have problems with sweeteners no matter what kindā€¦


(Mary) #13

Oooh yes, the ā€œchanging bodyā€ syndromeā€¦ When I was younger, going low carb would give me a lovely 9 or 10 lb drop in the first couple of weeks, every time. I could count on it like clock work. Then I hit menopause. No loss in 2 weeks. Nothing :anguished:

There really is nothing for it other than to do what others have suggested and change it up. Good luck to you!


#14

medications? are you on any crazy meds you havenā€™t been on before?
meds can truly screw us up. Just asking.


#15

You need to start tracking your intake, I donā€™t think youā€™re aware of what youā€™re eating. From your sample (to me) thereā€™s absolutely no surprise why youā€™re gaining weight. You seem VERY heavy on nuts which is kryptonite for the majority of people, chocolate should very much be a once in a while thing, and greek yogurt has no place for many. Set up an acct at cronometer and track everything, Iā€™ll bet what little money is in my pocket your consumption is WAY off from what you think it is!


(Hyperbole- best thing in the universe!) #16

Yeahā€¦ Iā€™m 44 and though I donā€™t think I count as peri menopausal yet, there are changes. My periods are shorter (woot woot!) as is my patience. My rule is berries OR nuts OR wine. Not all three. I experimented with carnivore too. Iā€™m not doing carnivore now, but I donā€™t see vegetables as an everyday food anymore. I do love my cabbage and leeks, but other than that I see veggies as a way to eat in company without having to explain myself too much.

Iā€™d track for a few days to see what you are really eating. Many people do well under 50 total carbs. I suspect you are in that camp, but going over a bit. Most people do well with under 20 total carbs. With ā€œthe changeā€ you might have to go to under 20 till you get through.

Iā€™d also recommend judging where you should be by height to waist ratio rather than weight. It might at least reassure you that you are healthy while you work towards looking how you want to look. Not that that is nothing. But it helps me to have that elusive patience to know at least I am healthy, even if the trunk has more junk than I am happy with.


(Bunny) #17

Hope this is not too technical:

Maybe consider applying the ā€œInsulin Indexā€ and thinking in terms of ā€œInsulin Loadā€œ (beyond counting carbs?) with the Ketogenic Diet for burning body fat?

We all know how the pancreas has glucagon (a cells: also found in the stomach lining) and insulin (b cell) cells/islets but what I never hear anyone talk about or even mention is how the pancreas also has Somatostatin cells/islets (f cells; aka: d-cell enteroendocrine cell that produces somatostatin and is found in the pancreatic islets, stomach, and small intestines) and not just secreted by the pituitary gland which control and regulate both insulin and glucagon secretions:

[1] ā€ā€¦The somatostatin concentration increased in fundic and antral mucosa after 24 h and reached its highest value after 96 h of fasting. The number of specific somatostatin binding sites with high and low affinity decreased with the duration of fasting. ā€¦ā€ ā€¦More

[2] Somatostatin response to glucose before and after prolonged fasting in lean and obese non-diabetic subjects

Not sure if there is such a thing as a Somatostatin Diet but if there was it would include fasting as part of its paradigm?

Whatā€™s the food insulin load?

The food insulin load tells you how much insulin is secreted after eating a certain amount of a particular food. What are the units for the insulin load? 1 point on the insulin load is equivalent to the amount of insulin secreted from eating 1 gram of glucose. So an insulin load of 10, say, is equivalent to the amount of insulin secreted from 10 g of glucose.

If you dig around our food search engine, youā€™ll see that two foods may have a similar insulin index but vastly different insulin loads ā€“ how can this be?

This is because we eat some foods in small quantities and other foods in large ones, and the insulin load reflects this. For example, garlic powder has a Poor insulin index score of 59%, as do potatoes with a score of 56%. However, the insulin load from a typical 2.5 g serving of garlic powder is extremely low at 1. Contrast that with a typical cup (or 150 g) serving of potatoes which carries a relatively large insulin load of 21. The insulin load thus ensures youā€™re correctly choosing foods even after taking into account the quantities in which youā€™re likely to eat them.

The dietary insulin load is also great to compare how much each food in your diet contributes to your total dietary insulin load. The insulin load for a food is obtained by combining the insulin index of that food with how much was eaten and how often. The formula is:

[insulin index of food / 239 kcals] X [kcals per serving(s) you ate] X [servings per day] X 0.6

You could see, for example, that bread contributes to 40% of your dietary insulin load, fruit 24% and spices like garlic powder 3%. Knowing the total calories in your diet, we can work out the insulin load of your diet per calorie eaten. For health and longevity, staying on the lower side of the latter is better. But donā€™t worry, Nutrita Pro calculates all of this for you to make it crystal clear how your diet is performing in terms of insulin burden.

How to use the insulin index?

Nutritaā€™s insulin index is a great way to minimize your lifetime exposure to unnecessarily high levels of insulin. Donā€™t think this means insulin is a bad guy ā€“ it isnā€™t. Itā€™s a life-giving hormone, a master regulator of how your body partitions energy. However, itā€™s powerful and should be called upon infrequently and sparingly, meaning you shouldnā€™t be snacking.

The insulin index allows you to choose foods that will cause you to secrete physiological (i.e. healthy, normal) levels of insulin. This helps keep hyperinsulinemia at bay. By using the insulin index, itā€™ll become clear to you which of the three macronutrients (carbs, protein and fat) cause you to secrete more insulin:

  • Carb rich foods are the most insulinogenic ā€“ think sugary or starchy foods like bananas or potatoes, respectively
  • Protein rich foods are the second most insulinogenic ā€“ think chicken and cod fish
  • Fats like butter or fatty foods like bacon are the least insulinogenic

The insulin index can help you avoid foods that cause hyperinsulinemia ā€“ which is super important. But you can get even more out of it by combining it with our Nutrient density score. Why is that? ā€¦ā€ ā€¦More

Footnotes:

[1] ā€œā€¦The hypothalamus is a region of the brain that regulates secretion of hormones from the pituitary gland located below it. ā€¦ In addition, somatostatin is produced in the pancreas and inhibits the secretion of other pancreatic hormones such as insulin and glucagon. ā€¦ā€ ā€¦More

[2] ā€œā€¦But the Yale researchers found that when mice fasted for 24 hours, the hypothalamus region of the brain, which controls body temperature and hunger, showed an increase in uncoupling protein activity as well as in the type 2 deiodinase enzyme that helps manufacture the thyroids active triiodothyronine hormone in theā€¦ā€ ā€¦More


(Charms) #18

Oh wow, thank you this is all very interesting (Iā€™ll need to read a few times to properly digest!). Both my parents are type 2 diabetic so I probably have the potential to over produce insulin. This was my reason for going low carb at the start but I think with hormonal changes things have changed and I now need to make a big shift food wise to work this out.
Thank you again :+1:t2:


(Charms) #19

Iā€™m probably still considered in the healthy weight range for my higher (just) with a relatively small waist size. The thing is my body feels like itā€™s falling apart so something isnā€™t right. The extra weight has got to be a sign thereā€™s something a miss. I think youā€™re right Iā€™m getting much closer to menopause (although dr testing said wasnā€™t anywhere near last it was checked :woman_shrugging:ā€¦ but I think it was a fairly crude test ) and this is making me not able to eat this same level of carbs. Iā€™m determined to sort this out and I think nuts are the number one thing to go plus Iā€™m going to try to reduce the veg. Another area is frequency of eatingā€¦ I have to be strong :muscle:
Thanks for your input :blush:


(Charms) #20

Thanks for the input. Iā€™ve been going along maintaining relatively easily with this food sample which is the infuriating thing but itā€™s now not working. I will do as you suggest and start tracking and make some significant modifications. Cheers


(Charms) #21

No ā€¦no meds, although this last week Iā€™m on ibuprofen (not sugar coated) for intense hip pain. I am taking the odd supplement like curcumin, fish oil, vit K2 and D, DIM and glucosamine. (All for joint pain for hormones)
I think it must be hormonal, causing a shift in my carb tolerance plus over doing the nuts.
Thanks :blush:


(Charms) #22

I hear you!!! So frustrating :confounded:. Back to the drawing board of counting carbs and being more disciplined!!! Thank you :blush:
Cheers


(Trudy) #23

No solutions but menopause is whipping my butt! Good luck. I had some weight gain which has been reversed for the time being by increasing low carb vegetable intake. My body responses are changing so much, I wish menopause was discussed more, Iā€™ve been taken unawares :frowning:


(Ron) #24

Something else to consider - worrying about it causes STRESS that can increase the problems even more (like a snowball rolling downhill getting bigger as it goes). Also if the stress level is higher you might not be sleeping as good as you were before which is another potential contributing factor. I went through this a while back and the only way I could overcome it was to do as suggested earlier and go back to basics as if you are just starting keto. That helped me get back on track. Just a suggestion. :thinking::slightly_smiling_face:


#25

intense hip pain? Might be good to get a diagnosis from a doctor too - maybe even a specialist.


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #26

Just watched an interesting LCDU video on the subject of the fatty acid composition of the diet. It might be well to look at the sources of your fats, as well as everything else.