I'm stuck! Please advise

#1

Hi everyone -
I’ve been doing keto for about 15 weeks now. 12lb. of weight loss and great benefits initially.
My weight loss has been stalled for a few weeks though, and I’m struggling with a return of appetite - I feel very weak and hungry the last few weeks. (To be fair I am 5"4 and 120lbs woman so probably not a lot of weight to worry about at this point.)
I’m also freaking out because I feel like I’m eating too much protein and that is messing me up (average 92g/day), but I can’t figure out a way to eat the perfect amount of protein and be under 30 carbs!!! I mean, if I’m eating lots of veg (no protein) then I’m eating too many carbs. And also, I’ve been learning lately that consuming too much dietary fat prevents your body from burning fat, so I can’t have too much of that either! So frustrated. I kind of want to abandon the whole thing, but I’m terrified of gaining back the 12 lbs. I really don’t want it back…

Please help.

(Alec) #2

P-bux
This is wrong. Eat fat to lose fat. This is a clear keto principle.

Getting below 20g carbs is certainly possible, and some find it easy. It sounds to me that you are fixed on eating veg. You don’t have to. Veg has less of the good stuff (vits and mins) than meat and fat does. Don’t get stuck on the CW. Limit your veg intake to lower your carbs.

BTW, congrats on your weight loss so far. Your protein intake looks slightly over, but don’t worry too much about that. Focus on lowering carbs and increasing fat. If in doubt, eat more fat.

#3

Thank you kindly for your help. I was originally doing 20g of net carbs daily and upped it to 30 because I started not feeling well. Upping it seemed to really help. But maybe I need to lower it again and eat more fat.

(Alec) #4

I think you were suffering from keto flu. Adding carbs might lead to a lessening of the symptoms, but it won’t help in getting you fat adapted.

My advice is to reduce your carbs again, just live through the not feeling well (this is your body complaining to you that you’ve turned off its normal carb supply), and you will develop the required fat adaption.

Given your already low weight, I assume you are doing this for the general health benefits? Or weight maintenance? Do you want to lose more weight? Once you are at your target weight you can afford to be a little more relaxed carb wise.

(LeeAnn Brooks) #5

At your height and body weight, you aren’t going to take off a ton of weight off fast. The closer your body gets to its ideal weight, the slower it loses. You can’t have too much more weight to lose. Take it slow, get to understand the WOE and let the last few pounds come off gradually.

But it’s a safe bet you will gain back the 12 pounds you’ve lost if you quit. This isn’t meant to be a diet, so going back to your old ways will surely add the pounds back on. The good news is once you become adapted, this WOE is far more sustainable than any low fat diet.

(Jo) #6

So here’s the conundrum. You can’t cut all three macros at the same time, without cutting your calories to starvation levels - that is why you get hungry.

Don’t be afraid of the fat. It is not hindering you, and accept that you’ll hit a plateau if you are this close to your goal. Some people stay on the plateau for months, but are still eating the KETO WOE and are having tremendous health benefits.

I think you have to cut back on the protein and up the fat - avocados are your friend and so is fatty meat, olive oil, avocado oil, etc. Keep the carbs under 20 gr if you can - which means eating salads mainly. I have no problem keeping carbs under 20 gr by eating 2-3 cups of salad greens, half a cup of cooked asparagus, a quarter of a bell pepper, some tomatoes (about 4 or 5 cherry tomatoes) and celery. Broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts are all good.

So the rule of thumb is to eat no more than the 20 grams of carbs, eat no more than the minimum protein, and eat fat until you are no longer hungry.

(Ron) #7

I might suspect that you are not fat adapted and have been bouncing in and out of ketosis. This is why you are feeling weak and experiencing hunger. The initial 12 lb loss was water weight and possibly a little weight as you can still lose if you are under eating as it sounds you are.
I would suggest to go back to the beginning, eat to your macro’s (that are set at the maintain levels) and be strict about your carb consumption. Eat fat! as others have said, you got bad advise about fat and the keto diet. The advice you got about dietary fat is advice given to a high carb low fat diet plan.
We’ll help you get it right.:wink:

#8

Suggest you also add sodium to get through keto flu. Drink chicken broth from boullion cubes.

(Troy Anthony) #9

I don’t understand being afraid of veggies. Eating a huge spinach salad with other veggies covered in cheese of choice and some oil and nuts has never knocked me out of ketosis. I know everyone is different so measure and experiment. Eating too much protein is going to knock you out of ketosis as well, and in my experience much easier to do due to the calorie density. Just make sure if you are trying to limit protein (which I would suggest as I am 6’ 175 lb weight lifting male and eat around 95g a day with success), you incorporate a lot of fat with your nutrient dense, high fiber, low calorie carb sources. For example… I make a 500 calorie smoothie that incorporates a bunch of micro nutrient rich things like kale, spinach, ginger, celery, cucumber, sometimes even a few berries! But it also has full fat coconut milk, avocado, nut butter, nuts, seeds, some sort of cold pressed oil… it varies but I am getting like 80% of the calories from this smoothie from fat and still getting other nutrients. We are all different but this works for me and allows me to get some calories without a ton of protein, then I get down on fatty meats at other meals. I do a lot of fasted workouts and having this and maybe some eggs post workout as my first meal has been prime!

#10

Here’s an article I just read about foods that are keto friendly, but can cause our weight loss to stall.

Also, Dr. Eric Berg, recommends not counting leafy greens with your carb count.

But, as other’s have stated, you need to experiment and see what works for your body.

Are you overconsuming fat on Keto? - Dr. Eric Westman
(Robert C) #11

You may want to change your protein intake per:


(44 grams per day - less to lose weight)

#12

Hi RobC - the protein question is confusing. I have used 3 keto macro calculators (ruled.me, ketoconnect & Perfectketo) and they have suggested respectively 72.6g, 73g and 70g of protein/day. Nowhere near as low as 44g/day, which is the RDA…
(They also recommend different calorie intakes - from 1400 to 1800! That’s a big variation! I know that I can eat 1800-2,000 calories in a day and still feel hungry. )
What would you suggest? Thank you.

#13

The article on foods that stall weightloss mentions the issue of too much dietary fat preventing fat loss from the body. I’ve been confused and worried about that, and have cut my fat as a result. But now people are telling me to increase fat (which I will try)… so much conflicting info. :frowning:

(Robert C) #14

Please keep in mind, I am not a doctor, so my suggestion should be taken that way. I suggest you think on Dr. Fung’s advice. He is essentially saying that most advice (and calculators) are recommending the higher amounts for you (more than 70 grams/day) which is “pro growth” and not helping you lose weight (not helping your body break down skin, connective tissue etc. to fit the new size of your body without the fat).

Also, keep in mind that when a calculator shows you need (for example) 1500 calories per day - if you get that from your diet, you will (if you have been keto for a while) neither gain nor lose weight. If, according to Dr. Phinney, you instead are on a well-formulated keto diet and cut your fat - making it a 1200 calorie day from your diet - your body will happily supply the extra calories it needs from your stored body fat. But, many here think (per Dr. Fung) that you simply cannot do that forever as your body will slow down and plan to live on 1200 per day. Instead, you might try some fasting regime or go a bit slower on the weight loss (3 weeks at 1500 calories and 1 week at 1200).

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #15

The science is pretty clear: cutting calories puts the body in famine mode, causing it to reduce its metabolic rate to compensate, and to hang on to stored fat for as long as possible. Increasing calories ends the famine, and the body responds by increasing the metabolic rate and burning off excess fat—providing, of course, that you don’t tell it to keep on hanging onto the fat by giving it carbohydrate.

Of the three macronutrients, carbohydrate stimulates insulin production the most, protein at about half the rate (but we have to have protein), and fat hardly at all. So if you want to give your body adequate energy, give it lots of fat. Eat fat at every meal until you are no longer hungry. It doesn’t take that much—fat has over twice the calories that the other two have—and you won’t be signaling your body to hang on to its fat store. It will burn both the fat you eat and the extra fat in your adipose tissue.

(Terence Dean) #16

On the Jenny Craig diet which is calorie controlled, the lowest diet plan they would let me do was 1500 calories a day for a male. That was pretty vicious and I was hungry all the time, but I did lose weight the fastest on that plan but couldn’t handle it in the end and went back to around 2000 cal. So the advice seems to be anything below 1500 cals is not good for you.

One major difference I’ve found with Keto is that I’m not starving at all, ok I might think I’m hungry when I shouldn’t be but most of that is a mind thing. A few minutes later I’m not even thinking about food whereas on the JC diet I was day-dreaming about KFC all the time.

I’m not counting calories on Keto just tracking my weight which tells me everything I need to know, I weigh myself every day, usually at the same time which is in the morning, I’m eating 3 meals a day, dropped bread and pasta completely which were a huge part of my diet, and just follow the basics of Keto. Nearly six weeks in and I’m averaging weight loss of 1.54 kg a week or 0.22 kg a day. For me that is perfect because I know that this rate is sustainable.

I do a 20 minute walk twice a day, try to make sure I do that before breakfast and dinner, now and again I miss one but its not a big deal. I’m not into exercise for sport but just general well being.

(Alec) #17

Darren
Sorry, the lady who’s article you linked to (7 foods…) is clueless about keto. No idea. I would tread very carefully with any advice in there.
Cheers
Alec

(Ron) #18

This is my problem! I am not hungry at all but still find myself thinking about food all the time. What am I going to make tonight, what side dishes so I hit my ratio’s, what time should I eat, etc? It is constantly on my mind and I don’t even want to eat!!!:crazy_face::exploding_head:

(Alec) #19

P-Bux
Eat fat to satiety. This could mean you eat 1600 calories or 2600 or more… it doesn’t matter, the rule is eat fat to satiety.

pls forget about calories, you should just ignore them and pretend they don’t exist. Just follow the process (the keto process does not mention calories).
Cheers
Alec

(Ken) #20

Don’t worry, a little self experimentation is in order. You have to remember a significant number of people here are noobs, (have not achieved Maintenance) and who started with significant degrees of metabolic derangement, and are now very happy with their results. That tends to produce passionate views about methodology, and I went through the same phase as well, nearly 20 years ago.

From your description and duration of lipolysis, you probably don’t have a significant degree of Derangement. And yes, despite what noobs say, high levels of fat, as well as excessive calories can prevent additional fat loss. (Once hormonal normalization is achieved) It’s hard to regain fat, I’ve occasionally tried and been unsuccessful off and on for 15 years.

You’re right to challenge the dogma. I suggest you cut fat to 60%, and make sure you don’t eat unless you’re hungry.