Help Please

#1

My name is Lyvone, I am a 39 year old male and when I started Keto I was 323lbs. I have been diligent but I am struggling with seeing the results. After 5 weeks of no cheating I am down only 12lbs. I have heard stories of people dropping a lot of weight quicker and feeling better, but for some reason it is not working for me.

I am not diabetic, my cholesterol is good, my blood pressure is great (thank you good genes). I understand that is a life change and not just a fad or a temporary solution but it is frustrating to stay on this when you step on a scale and see no results or minimal results each week. I weigh myself once a week so I do not get obsessive about it. This week I have dropped 2 lbs, last week nothing.

I keep track of my food logs on fitday. I am always between 18g-22g of carbs a day. My calorie count for my size is I am allowed almost 2900 calories and instead I am coming in between 1500-1900. My fat is usually between 90g - 120g, my protein seems a little high right now but I am trying a meal plan from i breathe im hungry and I’ve been using recipes from Maria Emmerich. I have also adopted an exercise plan that I have been following for 2 weeks a mix of light cardio with weights and walking the track.

Is there something I am missing? Am I doing something wrong? Is anyone else going through this?

Thank you for any responses.

#2

Yup, me… here’s my thread about the same thing a few days ago. But I’d be thrilled with 12 pounds weight lost!

(Andrew) #3

Actually that sounds great. It’ll just keep coming off.

What’s your BG (blood glucose)? If you eat too much protein your sugar/insulin will be high and slow you down. This slows me down too.

Still you are doing fine.

#4

@Lyvone sounds like you’re definitely in the process - remember that a lot is going on under the surface. Getting to the point of “fat adaptation” takes some people a few weeks, others a few months or more. After the initial water weight loss, before we’re fat-adapted there may be little to NO weight loss, there might even some be weight gain.

Your early goal is to fat adapt and fix your damaged metabolism - even though you’re not diabetic you may certainly be pre-diabetic with impaired glucose tolerance (many people have no symptoms) - it’s very common.

Also, the body tends to burn most recently gained fat first - and fat cells go through a water replacement phase (several weeks long) before shrinking, and the body has its own way of going about it, sometimes it focuses on one area or type of fat, other times, other areas or types. So, it’s very important to keep up your salt/electrolytes to help this along regardless of what the scale says.

Also, there can internal fat within the body cavity and on/around organs that is less obvious than belly fat but which is getting metabolically transformed.

And last but not least - if you’ve suffered any muscle loss (which is a fact of ageing on the standard american diet, and starts around age 35), the body will prioritize topping up your lean mass as it also burns fat.

Be kind to yourself and learn to trust the process. People tend to do better without paying attentions to the weight scale more than a couple times a year. Because the lean body repairs, gut repairs, and metabolic healing all are part of the long term ketogenic success of fat loss.

Also, once you’re feeling really “fat-adapted” and your appetite starts dropping off because the fat intake is so satisfying (which may take a long time for some folks, depending on how metabolically deranged the physiology is related to leptin/ghrelin factors), you’ll find that it gets very easy to only eat one big meal a day and “fast” the rest of the time (called intermittent fasting) - and IF creates yet another great metabolic boost. Important to keep the primal randomness of it though - for example, IF for 4-5 days, then 3-2 days of “feasting” with more meals on purpose.

Hope some of that helps!!!

(Ken) #5

Your rate of fat loss is normal. Fitday, like other calculators, only provide an estimate. If you’re eating when not hungry, you’re still consuming too many calories. Either adjust your caloric totals down at your meals, or simply wait until hungry to eat. Either way, don’t eat if not hungry.

Habitual eating is tough to break, but once overcome things get very easy.

#6

If you want to see a dramatic change then try fasting for four days, nothing but water and salt.

There is a section for fasting, lots of good experiences in there.

#7

How tall are you?

Are you monitoring your state of ketosis with urine strips or a blood meter?

Are you monitoring your blood glucose?

It seems like your caloric intake is potentially in a good range, all the calculators work towards a maximum of 1.5 to 2 pounds of weight loss per week.

It is good that you are up and moving about, walk and walk more.

Same goes for water, when in doubt add more water into your consumption and add more fat into your macros.

(Darlene Horsley) #8

That just made so much more sense to me. I think my analysis has been causing paralysis. LOL

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #9

Two pounds a week is a really great rate of loss. Although the idea of faster weight loss sounds wonderful, you don’t want to lose at too fast a rate, because that can cause problems. Keep your protein moderate, limit your carbohydrate, and eat fat to satiety, and you’ll be fine. Dr. Phinney, in several of his lectures, states that when people who seem to be stuck ask him what to do, he always tells them: (1) eat fewer carbs, and if you still seem to be stuck, (2) eat more fat. Under no circumstances, he says, should you increase your carbohydrate intake.

Welcome to the forums, good luck, keep calm, and keto on, brother! :bacon:

#10

I wanted to say thank you for all the replies.

Susan: I am glad I am not alone however I hope it gets easier for you.

Fatpants : I haven’t checked my blood glucose since I started the diet but I have always been around 5 but I will check it out to see if its spiking due to much protein. Thank you I never would have thought of that.

SlowburnMary: I want to thank you for your very detailed response it gave me a lot to think about. It is easy to forget that there is a lot going on under the surface that I cant see. I just have to keep being diligent and giving it more time. You are right I would be better off by not checking the scale. I have noticed that my appetite has dropped off and my meals are easily a third of what they use to be. And I am no where as hungry as I use to be. I have tried fasting and missing one meal and found it very easy. Basically I would not eat anything after 7pm until 12pm the next day and found it easy. I was doing that twice a week but I haven’t kept it up.

Ken: I have snacked a couple of times when I haven’t been hungry just to try to up my fat content. I am going to try to make an effort to curb this and try to listen to my body. It just goes against conventional thought that you can eat so little and your not starving yourself.

Keigan: I will check out that section thank you. I don’t think I am ready to try fasting for four days but that is something I can work up too. And I am 6’ tall. I live in a remote community and they cant keep the strips in stock. Since I am not diabetic I haven’t been checking my blood glucose but my fiancee is so I will start checking. I don’t know if I can drink any more water. I’m up to 4 water jugs a day and I don’t think I’ve peed so much in my life.

Paul: Thank you for welcoming me to the forums and I haven’t heard of Dr. Phinney but I will be checking them out. The problem I am finding in eating more fat is it seems to up my protein level. Some days it seems that my grams of protein are almost the same as my grams of fat. Which causes me to snack more to try to get my fat % up.

(Sophie) #11

I’m going to suggest that you start taking your measurements on a regular basis. This was something that I failed to do in the beginning. I’m betting good money that you are probably losing inches and don’t even realize it. There is more to Keto than what the scales say!

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #12

Two points to remember: firstly, fat contains around 9 calories to the gram; protein around 4. If you are measuring percentages of your intake, it’s percentages of calories consumed, not weight of food. That’s not always clear, so I thought I’d mention it.

Second, there are ways of increasing fat without increasing protein. For example, cook with butter, tallow, or lard; don’t drain all the fat off your bacon and try drinking the bacon juice (I love it, but I’m weird, lol!); put butter on your meat (get your mind out of the gutter, young man :rofl:). Sauté your kale and your collard greens in pork fat. Get fatty pieces of meat, and chicken with the skin on. Put heavy cream in your coffee, use high-fat salad dressings (if you make your own, they will taste better and you can make sure they are carb-free). If you snack on cheese, make sure it’s fat-rich and try putting butter on the slices; this is your opportunity to eat double-cream Brie and bleu cheese. Learn to make liver—properly cooked, it’s actually delicious. Make cheese sauce for your cauliflower and broccoli.

You get the idea. But above all, Keep Calm, and Keto On. :bacon:

#13

You’re very welcome @Lyvone !

Sounds like you’re quite fat-adapted now - that’s really wonderful that you’re nowhere near as hungry as you used to be. That means your hormonal metabolism is healing!!! It’s so amazing! This will naturally expedite your progress in transforming fat into energy you can use for health & happiness.

Increasing fat can be as easy as what Paul suggested (a spoonful of bacon fat or chomping a bite out of a bar of butter). One way I really enjoy is to half a half an avocado with the pit out, then fill that hole with good raw organic olive oil or some warmed bacon fat or butter, with sea salt all over the top. Nom noms nomms yummy.

I’m so glad LCHF/Keto is a tasty way of eating. There are so many great cookbooks and youtube cooking channels out there! Lately I’ve been really enjoying making some keto baked goods - next up is Coconut Bread or Black Soybean bread…

(Ron Mc Curley) #14

That’s some great advice, Thank you

#15

Paul: Thank you for trying to clear up the calories between fat vs protein. Finding the perfect ratio seems tough. You are right there are ways to up my fat content and I have started to use bacon fat and butter more then I use too. Tonight I am having a butter basted wagyu steak. I keep thinking my arteries are going to harden from me just looking at this food forget about eating it. I am snacking on cheeses, salami and pepperoni sticks. I am struggling with the cream and cheese sauces though. Sometimes with the sauces its almost like it’s to much fat. Especially if its left overs and your nuking it in the microwave and all you can see is congealed fat.

SlowburnMary: I purposly skipped my weigh in day this week. I am going to give it a couple of weeks before I jump back on. I think I am going to try the avocado and olive oil. It’s funny though I have never been a huge eat fat person so it is a bit of a struggle to keep my head wrapped around that this is how I am suppose to eat. With some of the dishes we’ve cooked I’ve looked at it and thought hmm… doesn’t look that appetizing but it certainly has tasted good.

For baking we haven’t tried much. We did a egg based biscuit which was good, I couldn’t believe that the texture came out so perfectly, and we cooked some cheese balls which ended up coming out like a dinner biscuit. Please let me know how the coconut bread comes out.