I'm not stalling...I haven't even budged to start with (Haven't lost either pounds or inches!)

(Kristin ) #63

HIIT is intense… maybe add more fat on days your work out? If you’re hungry- you need to add fat!

#imnotanexpert

#64

Amazing list! Thanks so much. Copying and pasting and implementing as much as I can!

#65

Thought I’d update you all.

It’s been 75 days since I started keto, and I started at 144 pounds (with a target weight of 130) and I’ve so far lost only 2 pounds. Two inches lost, one from waist, one from hips. All other measurements remain the same. These “losses” are very discouraging and feel like they’re not even real, since I feel if I eat a big meal I’ll just put them back, so I don’t even know if they’re fat loss or what.

Hunger is not as bad as before, but always present, no matter how increase my fat intake. Eating to satiety doesn’t seem to be something I can do, as I’m hungry again an hour later, which makes fasting very difficult. But I still do IF or 16/8 now for five days a week. Still, these are my results so far.

As for exercise, I have only been doing only 30 minute yoga routines every other day as an old neck injury has cropped up on me and I’m unable to do anything more strenuous.

Still in “Keto Purgatory” it seems, and I’m wondering when and if I’ll ever budge out of it.

#66

Back up the two pounds and inches, while doing absolutely nothing different.

Also is it normal to have higher blood glucose after exercising?

(Andrew) #67

Mine is always lower. Cortisol prolly bumping it up. Good question.

#68

My usual fasting blood glucose is somewhere between 75 and 90. Today I only had coffee with HWC, and exercised for half an hour and only tested my BG afterward. It was 112.

(Mel Soule) #69

Would be good to know your fasting insulin level. Maybe next time you do labs ask your doc.

(Andrew) #70

Try coffee with just ghee or butter and see what happens. Or maybe you need the 40% HWC not the half and half stuff they try and peddle us. This is where the BG meter is great. You can figure out what works for you specifically.

#71

I will, thank you.

#72

I do use only 40% HWC, never even tried the half and half.

But this perpetual stall is really getting me down. I’m at exactly the weight I started with as if I’m doing a maintenance, no matter how much I fast or increase fat and cut carbs to almost nil. And I haven’t lost any inches. The fat I accumulated in 2017, especially around my middle, seems like it’s there to stay.

But since hunger is also not being suppressed like I hoped to, I want to know in detail what everyone means when you say “eat fat to satiety”. How do I exactly do that?

#74

What if eating fat to satiety takes me way over my calorie allowance? Wouldn’t that hinder fat loss even more?

(Adam Kirby) #76

Potentially, and that’s why eating fat to satiety is more a good maintenance strategy than stall breaker.

#77

“Calories don’t matter” has been mentioned yes, repeatedly. But when I don’t pay attention to calories, I put on weight so fast, it’s not funny. When I do, and eat according to the calorie recommendations of MFP for a 1 pound weight loss per week, I maintain. The worst part of my experience with keto so far is that the hunger isn’t suppressed like I always hear it is. Very frustrating, especially since I’m not cheating at all, not even taking substitute sweeteners or eating any hidden carbs or overdoing protein.

For instance, yesterday calories eaten 1330, with 120 grams of fat, 50 of protein and 9 grams net carbs, and I woke up with an extra pound compared to the day before, surpassing even my starting weight. I also don’t notice any change in my clothes (still the same tightness since I refused to get bigger clothes when I put on weight) and measurements are now exactly the same as before keto. Oh, and FBG was 80 this morning, but I was starving and a coffee with one tbs of butter and two of HWC barely put a dent in my hunger. It’s REALLY hard to keep my IF regimen of 16/8 because of that.

#78

Oh, another question. I was advised to do a fat assisted fast. So how much fat, in BPC or maybe even straight butter or MCT oil, can I take during this fast? I understand it won’t have an insulin response and contribute to satiety. But how much is too much and won’t be considered fasting anymore?

(Todd Allen) #79

I can’t say how normal it is, but it often happens to me. I think exercise can stimulate stress hormones which raise blood sugar. I doubt there is any harm in it, especially if blood sugar comes back down fairly quickly after exercising.

#80

I’m actually monitoring a strange occurrence in my FBG now. When I first started testing it every day, I was on the ketogenic diet for a month and a half and it was invariably in the mid seventies. Now for around a week now it’s always in the mid nineties. Also my weight is still the same as well as my shape, but I feel bloated again, though there’s been no increase in carbs, and I have been drinking ketoaide daily and using MCT and butter in my coffee instead of HWC…and the hunger that had abated a bit, is back with a vengeance so I’m always thinking of food like I was when I was carb dominant.

Any ideas what’s happening?

(Todd Allen) #81

Bloating might be slowed bowel movements. There is a thread about it so it’s at least somewhat common. Some find that by reducing or eliminating a particular food such as eggs or dairy the problem clears up. I had it myself but never found a food trigger. Mine cleared up when I started using a standing desk and spent less time sitting.

Elevated blood sugar for a week could be due to a low level cold or sickness or something else putting you under significant stress. I’d also try to make sure it isn’t the meter, for example if you changed to a new can of test strips you might test one against control solution.

#82

I might have been having low level cold, since every night I had a stuffy nose and low grade headache. I at first thought it electrolyte imbalance and increased my ketoaide intake. But it didn’t resolve without taking a cold med. Could those cause an increase in FBS, you think?

Also I have a BIG question, for a friend of mine. I don’t know if I should start a thread just for her or what. But I’ll start here, and hope you guys can tell me what’s appropriate.

My friend is 5’2" and around 250 pounds. She has knee and ankle joint chronic pain that followed repeated falls and twists, has poor sleep, mild depression and low energy. As far as she tells me she’s not diabetic, though I don’t believe she’s had a test for years, but I guess she is very insulin resistant, since she is overweight and gaining more weight progressively (added 40 pounds in the last four years) and can’t lose weight with the usual “diets” and is of course living on the assumption that the way to go is calorie restriction and that fat is the enemy.

BUT she has a unique reason to think that, since she’s had a few incidents of feeling sick, almost to the point of feeling she’d faint after she ate a heavily fatty meal (of course it was also laden with carbs…she cited a certain meal of pigeon stuffed with rice then fried!)

When I told her about the ketogenic diet, and how much it has helped people in her situation lose weight and correct their metabolic derangements and with it so many of her chronic complaints, she was enthusiastic, since she loves protein and fats and doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth, but when she again reminded me of what happens to her with fatty meals, I am now wondering what that could have been and if she might have a chronic condition that would make keto wrong for her?

What do you guys suggest she do? Have tests done before embarking on keto? And what would those be?

(Todd Allen) #83

Yes, colds can increase blood sugar.

It sounds like your friend may have health issues which could complicate adopting a keto diet. Perhaps transitioning gradually will be a better approach for her. Start cutting back on sugars and starches and increasing the amount of the keto friendly foods she already eats. That should minimize the amount of gut upset as she adapts to the new way of eating.

#84

Thanks for your answer. I relayed it to her and she’s going to do a whole panel of tests then give keto a try. I guess we’ll never know how she reacts until she does. Also, her current WOE is clearly doing her serious harm, and the usual “diets” have made everything worse, with a serving of despair, self-loathing and deprivation on the side. I do believe she is in a perfect position to fully benefit from the keto diet, so here’s hoping she begins and sticks to it.

About me…I finally got a blood ketone meter (Keto Mojo) and my fasting blood ketone is 1.4, while the ketostix show low to very low ketones. The weird thing is now my blood glucose after it was consistently in the mid seventies is now always in the mid nineties. And I’m STILL not budging in any way.

It seems as if 144 is a perversely magic number nothing I do budges. I even stopped fluctuating down the two pounds anymore and am stuck right there in size and weight. The hunger is a little better, but not so much I can last longer than 16 hours of fasting. And duing that time I’m ALWAYS thinking of food. Does the hunger go away if I fast longer?

So my question is, AM I fat adapted? Or just in ketosis but only burdning dietary fat? I recently read a blog Tuit Nutrition and she said one can be fat adapted without being in ketosis, but I seem to be the other way around.

So my question now is, since I was never overweight, and am now still considered to be in normal weight range, and I notice all the weight loss and EF successes happen with those who have quite a bit to lose, is there any adjustments to the keto diet that I can do to lose the extra fat that I don’t consider normal? Is raising my carbs a bit and lowering my fats advisable, since I have not burned body fat in three months AT ALL?

I’m really feeling so stuck and confused about it all, from my raised blood sugar to my stubborn hunger to my unbudging fat, and wondered if there are maybe different strategies for females who start keto while slightly above ideal weight and fat percentage and in their perimenopause???

Any new insights massively welcome!