I have lost 75 pounds on low carb but not Keto, now switched to Keto and either not losing or gaining

(Jeannine Gannon) #1

So I am 5’2 and started my weight loss journey about a year and a half ago. I’ve lost 70 pounds by eating low carb, gluten free, clean but not high fat. I’d been stuck around same weight gaining every weekend that I “cheated” and then trying to lose that during the weekend.

I decided to try Keto because had done high fat diets like Atkins many years before and it had worked. Have read and heard a lot of good things about Keto so started 3 weeks ago. I was already doing bullet coffee every morning and skipping breakfast (for about 5 months now)and I was already doing IF longer (not eating until 6 beside bullet coffee in morning) once or twice a week. But since I started Keto I either don’t lose anything or gain what I lost a few days prior. So basically not doing any better after 3 weeks.

I count and weigh everything and sticking to my macros. I’m trying not to have too many calories but I’m obviously eating more calories than with my prior diet. I use the ketone urine test strips and they constantly show that I’m in ketosis. Really frustrating because I feel I’m doing everything right but not losing any weight. Could calories be the problem? Did my body get so used to eating lower calories and now can’t handle the increase?

The app that I use recommends 48g of protein which is hard for me to do, I usually exceed that but always under 70g. I am always under 20g of net carbs, usually closer to 10. For fat it recommend 110g but I’m usually lower. Percentage wise I’m always in the 75-80% fat, 15-20% protein and 5% carbs.

Any recommendations before I quit and go back to what I was doing before.

(Raj Seth) #2

COULD - yes
Indeed, calories could be the problem. But not in the way that you think. You could have wrecked your metabolism with that CRaP (calorie restriction as primary) method of weight loss. Now that you are finally giving your body the energy that it needs, it could be happily doing all the things it’s been meaning to but didn’t have the energy for. You’ve lost 70#s already - body is likely not focusing on weight loss. Probably all good stuff happening. Take measurements of everything- neck, arms, bust, waist, hips, legs. See how your non stretchy clothes fit. Shoes too. You may see changes happening there

Do NOT count calories. Just feed the body mostly fats, dont poison it with carbs, and let the body determine how much energy it needs - ie eat when hungry - eat fatty foods to satiety - dont eat when not hungry. In our Hubris, we believe that we can outthink a body that has evolved and survived for a few million years - we CAN NOT.
Your body will give you the signals when it needs energy, and when it has enough. Yes. Really. Its a process. KCKO.

Caveat - all that said - for some (very few) satiety signalling does not work/ They may need to decide how much to eat by keeping track of counting calories. I’m not one of them - but they are on here, and they may share what they do.

(TJ Borden) #3

Everything @Rajseth just said.

The only thing I’ll add/differ, is so far most everyone I’ve seen on the forum that has issues with their satiety signal, use a lot of artificial sweeteners. Usually via diet soda.

If you haven’t already, cut that out for a while and add it back in if you choose to later. For me, after a couple of months without, I lost the taste for it and haven’t looked back.

(Jeannine Gannon) #4

I don’t drink any diet sodas, only add stevia or monk fruit sweetener to my coffee, that’s it

(Jeannine Gannon) #5

Thanks!

(Karen) #6

I play a game. I read a post, and it it sounds like yours, I predict the poster is female. Score if I’m right. And I’m always right. Sigh, I feel your pain. Listen to this episode.

K

(Raj Seth) #7

TJ - in my self centered myopia, I did not put that together - maybe so. I guess I am double lucky that I can eat to satiety and guzzle diet soda and continue to do well on keto.

:+1: :pray: :+1:

Not gonna complain I could complain, but who’s gonna listen!:joy:

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #8

Yes, but Raj, complaining is so much fun! :grinning:

@Jeannine_Gannon It’s possible that you are having an idiosyncratic reaction to the stevia. Practically everyone has an insulin reaction to one or another of the artificial sweeteners. You could try cutting out the stevia or switching to another sweetener for a while. If you were not using the stevia during your LCHF phase, then it could well be the problem; otherwise, it’s not so likely, but still worth doing the experiment. Also, look at the ingredients to make sure that there isn’t sugar of some sort blended with the stevia. The Truvia brand, for example, has one blend with erythritol and another with maltodextrin and another with sucrose. And you have to check the ingredients list because they are allowed to pick a serving size that lets them say there are 0g of sugar per serving.

You might also be the victim of hidden carbs or sugars in something else you’re eating. It might pay to look at everything you eat that has an ingredients list, just to be sure. Something that used to be safe might have been reformulated, perhaps?

Good luck, and keep us posted, please!

(Jeannine Gannon) #9

I only use one packet in morning and been using it for 2 years. I will try switching it but find it hard to believe that could be the cause for me gaining weight. Have gained over 3 pounds this week alone

(Jeannine Gannon) #10

I continue to gain weight every day, I’m really close to giving up. Worked really hard to lose weight and hard to see go back up. Any help would be greatly appreciated

#11

Skimmed above, so I may have missed this: how have your measurements changed over the last three weeks?

(Jeannine Gannon) #12

Honestly I haven’t measured myself but clothes don’t feel any different. I’ve gained over 4 pounds now

#13

ugh, I’m sorry. It’s pretty typical for women to experience recomposition when a change of eating works well for them, even with no exercise (though I think it’s probably more likely with exercise). How are you feeling?

(Jeannine Gannon) #14

I am exercising as well. I feel good except very frustrated. Changed to Keto because thought it would help lose what I have remaining and because I thought it would be better for me overall long term, but at this rate I’ll gain 10 pounds in the next 2 weeks

#15

With exercise, it’s even more likely than you’re looking at recomposition rather than fat gain. The scale is kind of useless in this regard; do you have some other reason to think that you’re gaining fat? I would go by clothes/measurements/mirror and how you feel rather than the scale.

(Jay AM) #16

Like mentioned above, this right here is your problem. When you eat at a calorie deficit for so long and cause damage to your BMR, and then start intaking more calories, you gain weight. Just throw your scale out because it’s not telling you anything useful. You didn’t gain 4 lbs of gasp fat since switching to keto. But, your body is trying to fix the damage you’ve already done. Stop calorie restricting. Seriously. You’re not doing a single good thing for yourself by treating your body that way. Especially exercising, you need more nutrition, not less. I’m not sure of your weight but, the numbers below should work out better.

1350kcal Daily Calorie Intake (this is not a limit, it’s a soft goal and going over with fat is fine.)
20g Carbs (6%, 80 kcal) (this is a limit, count in net carbs)
66g Protein (20%, 264 kcal) (this is a soft goal/limit. It’s okay to go over or under sometimes)
112g Fat (74%, 1006 kcal) (this is a goal, not a limit. Eat fat to feel full always. Going over is perfectly fine all the time.)

(Jeannine Gannon) #17

Thank you for feedback. I am telling myself exactly what you said, but hard to walk away from scale. I was 207 pounds when I started the journey and got down to 135, now I am around 139. My goal is 125 or so and to be leaner.

Right now my targets are very close to what you laid out, but I am going over the 1350 calories some days of the week. Usually the days I work out. I find it difficult to stay in the 1300 range when hitting the fat goals.

(Jeannine Gannon) #18

Will try to take measurements tonight. With clothes I haven’t noticed much difference either way.

#19

Hi Jeannine, I’ve been on keto about the same amount of time as you, it seems. I lost weight at a steady clip for the first 10 days or so, but since then my total weight hasn’t moved much at all. My clothes fit about the same, maybe very slightly looser but I could be imagining it. But I have a Fitbit scale which gives me a body fat %. Now, I know I shouldn’t be weighing myself daily, and I also know there are flaws in measuring fat by impedance (sp?), but I wanted to build an semi-accurate trend-line that I could use to troubleshoot anything that happens over the next few months, and here’s what I see when I look at my fat and lean mass charts. I expect my trend won’t always be this favorable, but for now it’s helping me stay on course.

Just saying that total weight can be misleading. And if you’ve already been losing weight prior to this, you probably wouldn’t have that initial dip that I did, as it was largely due to water weight for me.

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(Jeannine Gannon) #20

Thank you. My scale also measures body fat % but I’ve never trusted it much, regardless, that’s not changing much either. I continue to not lose or I gain, I’m still about 4 lbs over. Not sure how much time I’m supposed to give this before realizing that it may not work for me and my body. At some point I should start losing some weight or fat.