So I know that I need to make sure the carbs are limited I don’t have any cheat days or consume too many sweeteners and eat enough calories excetera excetera however I check my blood levels on a daily basis and they are between 5.5 to 3.1 MMOLS. Therefore I know that my body is in ketosis however I have gained 5lbs. This is over 4 months but what confuses me the most is that I feel great and my body feels lighter for example before going on this keto diet I was like an inflated football and now my body feels like a deflated football if that makes sense weird analogy I know but I still gained 5 lbs and not really losing weight and what about the exercise should I or should I not be doing this?!! I have trawled through the internet to find answers to these questions to no avail any assistance would be gratefully received😊
In Keto for 4 months & Weight Gain
You will have to post a lot more info to get any specific advice: how long have you been eating keto, what are you eating, how much, when? Height, weight, age, sex, goals? Any specific nutritional/health issues? I presume you’re female, if not my apologies, but Azra looks like a female name. If so, there are also women-specific things that happen as well, dependent on age and related hormone issues. I will bow to the forum ladies to advise about them.
Just being in ketosis does not magically cause weight or fat loss. You still have to maintain a calorie deficit, although with keto that deficit doesn’t have to be much, a couple hundred calories is usually sufficient. Also, keto enables you to do it without feeling hungry and/or deprived. Although many folks start to lose weight immediately, some don’t. It depends on too many factors to hazard an opinion yet specific to your situation until you provide more relevant details. Generally, a whole lot of other stuff happens initially before the weight/fat loss commences. So maybe your body/metabolism is still dealing with those things.
My stomach has flattened out a lot, and my arms and shoulders look like someone who only has 10%body fat…but haven’t lost that much weight. I know I’ve gained muscle mass, so that accounts for virtually all that. Bodies are weird on keto. The scales really don’t matter if you look and feel better.
All of a sudden, the scales will catch up.
Thank you for your quick response Michael I am 41 years old and correct female I have been on a keto diet since March 2019 consuming an average of 1200 calories a day I weigh 200 pounds and 5ft 5… diet mainly high fat and occasional protein chicken fish non starchy vegetables drink sugar-free sodas. Certainly do not feel hungry you are absolutely right!
I really value the information that you have given that “being in ketosis does not necessarily mean that I will magically lose weight” which was my main assumption
Tony… thank you so much a 75% of my mind was thinking what’s the point of doing keto I might as well go back to calorie control with all the food groups included but the comment “the scales will catch up” has given me a glimmer of hope and I’ll keep trying:persevere:
I can’t really say much more at this point, but just from what you’ve said, I would guess that you’re not eating enough overall, and maybe too much fat and not enough protein. When you restrict calories severely your metabolism slows down to use less energy and conserve what fat stores you already have. Maybe you are or aren’t restricting calories severely: do you have any idea what your RMR (resting metabolism rate) or DEE (daily energy expenditure) are? There are online resources to help determine both to at least ‘ball park’ numbers. They’re important, because if you restrict calories too much you won’t lose weight or only very slowly and with difficulty. You want to eat about 200 total calories less than your average DEE.
Also, when you’re trying to lose weight/fat, you want to eat less fat and force your metabolism to burn the fat already stored on your body instead. If your metabolism has slowed due to calorie restriction, or you’re eating enough fat to meet your energy requirements, this becomes problematic as well.
Thank you for this information I will need to go and do some research on this resting metabolic rate and the other scientific term I will look to increase my calorie intake slightly as well see if that makes a difference much appreciated😁
You gave me similar advice regarding eating more calories, and it worked for me. Weight did take a dip, so can heartedly agree with this.
Let me just make one further comment. It took many years and many things happened to your body and metabolism to get where you are. Being in ketosis consistently will result in helping to restore better health. One of those healthy benefits is that keto tends to ‘normalize’ your weight to your height and body structure. In other words if you’re over weight you will gradually lose, if underweight gradually gain towards that ‘ideal’ weight. That’s assuming you neither over eat nor under eat on keto - both are possible! However, it takes time. The results of years of eating SAD can’t be undone overnight. For many it takes months, even years to regain the health they had when young. But it will happen if you stay the course. Best wishes. 
Awesome advice! 
Personal Note:
I can basically eat anything I want, if I wanted too, I just eat when I’m hungry, never starve my self (lesson learned), eat smaller portions, if I want to lose more weight, I just keep glycogen stores depleted long enough after a little weight lifting or exercise. Other methods I experimented with are, apple cider vinegar with raw lemon juice and ginger (drink before I eat), resistant starch; potato’s re-boiled and cooled several times seems to burn that extra fat that just won’t budge! Flabby loose skin? Cut back on the protein and cycle it? So easy a cave man can do it! (these methods do not not mean it will work for everyone and probably won’t work if done incorrectly)
Two schools of thought on caloric restriction:
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The metabolism speeds up eventually? (the human body will try to maintain the metabolism according to the way you eat long-term)
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Fasting & Feasting? (…in other words expand your eating windows farther apart e.g. breakfast, lunch and dinner are social eating events, not personal or natural biological circadian like clocks)
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Maybe Three (eat when you are hungry just don’t eat junk food including grains or you will blow up like a Capon {castrated rooster} eventually?)
Have you tried to drop the sugar free soda to see if it is causing you an issue? Some people can’t lose with alternative sweeteners, causes to much of an insulin reaction.
Welcome to the forum, Azra.
I have found out recently I had to eliminate all artificial sweeteners… it was an adjustment but it was stalling me.
Also, many people find (including me) that if I am not losing for a week or two, doing a 48 hour or longer fast can help get you back into losing mode.
Okay so I can work out on keto! Its all very technical… I thought potatoes were out of bounds but I certainly look forward to tasting some of those again!
Thank you for your words of advice very useful!
So I won’t give up just yet then:wink: I need to approach it as a way of eating long term … I do feel younger or more sprightly so look beyond the weight loss… Thank you so much for this!
That’s my Achilles Heel 
Does it really make such a difference? I’ll try cutting that down, Thank you!
Thank you Susan… I have two teaspoons of erithoryl mixed with Stevia a day. I assumed that having blood levels within keto range mine average 4.1 MMOLS would result in being in ketosis without fasting but that’s not necessarily true is it? Will a 48hr fast not put me into ketoacidosis? 
Dr. Fung has a lot of great answers about fasting, he is like the world’s expert on it.
I am doing OMAD (one meal a day) so eat once then no eating until the next supper. I want to do a 72 hour fast soon. My goal is to do a 48 hour one once a week, and a 72 hour one once a month(when a bunch in the forum does together on the 3rd Thursday of the month -some go longer then the 72 hours).
Sorry, but I can not let this go without comment. Unless you haven’t told us you are Type I Diabetic, you are at ZERO risk of ketoacidosis. Repeat: ZERO! Also, STOP obsessing about ketone numbers. You are in ketosis. That’s all. That’s good. At this stage of the exercise the numbers you get on your blood tests are next to meaningless. Your liver is overproducing ketones which are just floating around unused in your blood steadily disintegrating into CO2 and acetone. Maybe once in a while you feel ‘hot’ because acetoacetate is dumping heat into your blood as it breaks down. When synthesis of ketones by your liver starts getting more in synch with utilization by cells and organs, the blood ketone numbers will go down. Remember, you’re eating ‘mainly high fat’ and that’s inflating the ketone numbers.
It would literally cause me to gain, it can for some of us cause cravings and mess with satiety signals too. You will know for sure though if it’s a problem or not for you if you remove it for a trial period