I started the atkins diet in January 2017. I lost 28 lbs. in 5 months. I wanted to speed things up and switched to the keto diet. At this point, 1 year and 4 months later, my total weight loss is 27 lbs. I’ve had no loss on keto. I am 53 years old and am 5’ 5" and not active. I’ve never experienced increased energy on the keto plan. I’m a little bitter about that.
I keep my carbs under 20 a day. I usually have 3.5 slices of bacon and a kale shake (dr. Berg’s) with 1/2 tbsp. peanut butter for breakfast, 2 oz. cheese for lunch and a keto dinner of bacon-wrapped meatloaf for example. I probably have around 1500 calories a day.
I am not diabetic and have good health. I want to lose 20 more pounds.
I tell everyone about the keto diet and believe it is the right way for me, but then, when others see I am not losing the weight, they think think this diet doesn’t work. I am also very frustrated and think I’ve wasted so much time and money on this plan and that I should go back to calorie counting.
I'm a bad example for keto diets
Are you paying attention to how much fat your getting verses how much protein? Also if I was in your position, possibly try cutting out the peanut butter, I was stalling with having a few tablespoons a day, cut it out and got things rolling again.
Thank you for your response. I am not paying attention to the fat vs. protein. I only pay attention to carbs. I usually don’t like eating meat, except bacon, so I didn’t think I could overdo it. I really don’t know how to calculate my needs. I do track everything in myfitnesspal.
Go here and put your information in and it will give you your macro amount recommendations.
I suspect that you might have too high of protein intake with not enough fat consumption. This tells the body that although it can’t get glucose from carbs for fuel, it can convert protein into glucose and doesn’t have to utilize fat cells for fuel. This process will keep you from getting into ketosis and ultimately becoming fat adapted where your body will begin to burn that weight off.
If you are coming from another diet where you were restricting calories (something you shouldn’t be doing on keto) you have probably lowered your Metabolic Rate that tells the body you are starving it and that it needs to store all the glucose it can for fuel later, thus no weight loss.
I am 6ft and about 240 lbs (110kg) and consume 2300 to 2600 calorie’s daily, to give you some comparison.
Don’t be afraid to ask anything. There are a lot of good people here that love helping others.
You might read these, they are very informative.
Thank you for replying Ron. I’m going to cut back on protein and read the attached articles.
I would think hard about 3 things:
- Get active if you can - this will really move the needle if you can get some strength training in. I know, not dietary advice but, for the last few pounds, it may be necessary.
- Think about never drinking any calories of any type (other than fat in your coffee - okay for maintenance when you are looking for extra fat, not so good for weight loss). Shakes do not hit your system the same way eating peanut butter alone and chewing on kale alone does. Making a shake is just another form of processing your food. Try dropping peanut butter and sauté your kale instead (arugula sautéed in ghee with salt and pepper tastes much better!).
- Move away from 3 meals a day. Try just 2 meals and you’ll see results because your insulin will be much lower for more of the day. If you really want to move things along - throw in a day or two of fasting per week.
Thank you all for replying. I have cut down on cheese and have cut out the peanut butter (my favorite) and started doing a 3-mile walk. I am happy that I don’t have to worry about getting enough protein. I didn’t realize we need so little. After one day, I lost one pound. I hope things get moving now.
Try reading through the stall threads and make little changes. It could be any number of things affecting you. Try taking dairy out. Or up your water. Or get rid of nuts. Or stop sweeteners. Etc. Sometimes it’s a little thing
Yesterday i had 3 pieces of bacon, one protein shake (dr. Berg’s) and a low carb zucchini and walnut salad (diet doctor recipe). I then had 2 fat bombs. That equals 30 grams of carbs, 82 grams of fat, 39 grams of protein and 11 grams of fiber. Total calories were 982, which I realize were too low, but i was satisfied. One more thing, I use Mio to flavor my water.
That’s way too low protein! I would work on upping it, eat real foods not just protein shakes. Cut out all nuts for now. Focus on other healthy fats.
I do not know how much protein I need, but I have finally moved the scale. I am down 2 lbs. in four days. I didn’t have cheese or peanut butter in those 4 days and I increased my fat. I feel like the shake I drink is very high quality and is convenient, so I hope to continue those.