First,
Please get a Keto-Mojo and test your morning glucose and ketones every day.
Before eating, after you wake up. This tells you what is going on inside. For example, if I don’t get enough sleep or too much stress, my morning glucose numbers are higher.
Second you want to focus LESS on the scale, and more on the internal improvements. Knowing your glucose is trending down is great. Sometimes, as you may have fatty liver, you might experience a few day BUMP in glucose in the AM, followed by a woosh of weight loss. I am not 100% certain, but I consider this the liver healing, and clearing out “old/hard stored glucose”.
Also, you will find that # of carbs can be meaningless. The goal is ultimately to NOT produce insulin. Producing Insulin STOPS your access to your fat cells for fuel for anywhere from 2- 24hrs!!! (thin/healthy people can access fat burning in 2hrs or maybe even less).
So, if you have only 5g of carbs, but it TRIGGERS an insulin response. You will get kicked out of ketosis. And it could be for days! A common mistake is the artificial sweeteners, especially in the beginning. Your body MAY produce insulin expecting that its the real deal. And that ZAPS you of your energy, and then you REALLY NEED a fix of sugar, because you don’t have access to your body fat. It’s a nasty cycle.
Also, do NOT cut your calories lower than your need, your body will lower your BMR as a result. For some reason, the ladies think less is better. You want to manage your metabolism HIGHER not lower. Dr. Fung talks about this.
Finally, since eating leads to Insulin releases, that’s where Intermittent Fasting can really shine. The fewer meals/snacks, they fewer insulin hits. The longer you can access you ketones. The higher your numbers will be (at least in the beginning).
Oh, and for exercise, I recommend nothing harder than walking in the beginning.
If you had to choose between more and better sleep or exercise. Take the sleep. EVERY TIME. I lost the majority of my weight NEVER going to the gym, or going and walking, or walking laps in a pool. But I had 3 hernias, so it was mostly off limits to me.
The weight still came off fine.
I know people who work out hard, spike their cortisol, and trigger hunger. Not worth it.
And do I believe testing your morning numbers is important?
CRITICAL. That plus a food diary has let me help so many people so quickly.
Especially when you find that “Red Dye #5” was blocking someones ketosis,
or BPC using powdered mix stopped their weight loss.
Also, with the meter, you can test what these foods do to you! I found that Coke Zero jacked my glucose levels up (first up, then down hard). Basically, my body thought it had sugar, and gave me a dose of insulin to counter it. Then I end up hangry/cranky/wanting to eat something… Because I no longer have access to my stored fat…
Good Luck!