In Ketosis but haven't lost a pound


#1

Help! We have been in Ketosis via dipstick (good sticks, hospital grade) for 2 1/2 weeks but haven’t lost any weight.


#2

Calories still matter. I can easily gain weight on ketosis if I eat all I want of my favorite high-fat foods.


(Sumishisu) #3

Much like @OgreZed said, keep an eye on your calories. While I haven’t even heard of ‘dipsticks’ you mentioned (would love to expand my repertoire:wink:), keep an eye out on the total calories. Maybe have some low carb veggies to make up the extra fibre to stay full instead?


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #4

Tell us a bit more about yourselves: age, weight, sex, height, what and how much you are eating—that sort of thing.

If you are close to a normal weight, for example, weight loss is far slower. Also, restricting your caloric intake can inhibit the body from metabolizing fat, even in ketosis. So as you can see, the more information you are willing to give us, the better we can help you.


#5

Thank you!
My husband is 48 years old, 6’1" and 220 lbs. He does HIIT one hour, 4x week. A Keto app suggested 2200 cals per day for him. He is logging all of his food and is following it very closely. Dipsticks are urinalysis test strips which show when you are in Ketosis (you pee on them). He is well hydrated and shows moderate to large ketones in his urine every day.

I am 53, not as active right now, I weigh 160 pounds and am nearly 5’9". I also have ketones in my urine but am not as good at logging my food. I don’t think I am overeating but should probably be careful since I am spending a lot of the day sitting at my desk and working. :frowning: I am trying to keep myself around 1200-1400 cals per day.


#6

Based on your heights it sounds like neither of you have too much to lose, so it might take longer to get the results you want.


#7

I wonder if the question isn’t to many calories but not enough ? Sometimes the body will hold on to fat if it thinks it is going into starvation mode. Personally the more meat and food I eat , the more weight I lose, I usually don’t lose if I’m not eating enough meat. This may sound counter intuitive but try eating more.


(Carolyn aka stokies) #8

Depending on your health status, somrhting to remember: weight loss is the side effect of your body healing itself. 2-3 weeks is just the beginning; your body has a lot of adjustments in this phase. Also, the scale is not always the best indicator of progress. It literally is just a measure of how much gravitational pull it takes at that moment in time to keep you from flying off the planet :wink:

Hang in there and don’t give up… I was slow to start, but I am nearly 80 pounds lighter a year later…


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #9

Your husband may be okay at 2200, but you are almost certainly not eating quite enough. As @Lbomb pointed out, if given not enough food, the body will shut things down, lower the metabolism, and hang on to fat, even in the absence of carbohydrate. Given enough, or more than enough, the body does the opposite. The point is that the body is used to coping with all sorts of conditions, and trying to out-think 2,000,000 years of evolution often ends badly.

Restricting carbohydrate is 90 percent of a ketogenic way of eating, but the other 10% can be troublesome. Don’t worry about protein and fat; eat enough to satisfy your hunger. So eat when hungry, stop when no longer hungry, and don’t eat again until hungry again. However much it feels like at first, don’t worry; as your insulin drops from the lack of carbohydrate, your hunger and satiety signals will become reliable guides again. And your adipose tissue is free to release fat to help satisfy you, in addition to your food. It is possible to eat a fair amount of fat and still be burning excess stored fat.

One last word. You didn’t say, and I hesitate to assume, but if you are a woman, your fat loss is going to be different from your husband’s, because everything’s more complicated for women (like you needed to be told this, LOL). But hang in there. You may soon be pleasantly surprised. Don’t worry if the scale doesn’t move, because the body often takes advantage of abundant food intake to put on muscle and improve bone density—they might confuse your scale, but you will know you are losing fat for sure if your measurements start to shrink.


(Carl Keller) #10

Calories do matter, but we shouldn’t count them. As long as you are restricting carbs, eating high fat and moderate protein to satiety, things will take care of themselves.

Keto is carb restriction, not calorie restriction.


(Empress of the Unexpected) #11

It depends on the frame. There is no way on the planet that I could eat 1400 calories a day unless I was binging on carbs. I am 5’4" and small boned, with a small appetite. Most days I hit 1100 calories.


#12

Hi everyone,
You are all so thoughtful with your responses. We appreciate the time you have taken to offer encouragement! We’ll keep going! And yes, we are probably being impatient. Sending a call out to Stokie, we especially enjoyed your humor :)! LOL

Thanks and have a great weekend! Nice to make the connections :smile:


(Myrna ) #13

Where do I tell you more about myself? Here? I didn’t see a place for a ‘profile’. So–here goes. I’m 70 years old, and have done every diet in the book during my life time. I’m not horribly overweight, I just need to lose 20 lbs. I’ve fought this 20 lbs my whole life. I’m on keto now. I usually have about 200 calories in nuts at 1:00, and then eat about 800 calories for dinner at 4:30-ish. I don’t eat again until the next day at 1:00. I have had some chocolate candies occasionally, that are sweetened with stevia, but no ice cream or pizza, which I constantly crave and could live on the rest of my life. I do have i drink each night (alcohol) , but no sugar–I make my own keto margarita with stevia and lime juice and diet tonic. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?


(Myrna ) #14

I am 70 years old, and have been trying to lose the same 20 lbs for 30 years. I work at keeping my calories under 1000, because, if I go over that, I don’t lose. The only way I have lost in the past, was hcg diet drops, but I don’t feel like that is safe, so am trying to find something else. I feel like I really only need to eat every other day, so that I can actually eat a normal meal. Could I have a slow metabolism? I just don’t use the calories–they get stored to fat. I’m 5’6" tall, and weigh 160. (Should probably weigh 140 something) But haven’t been there for 50 years! Really tired of going without ice cream and pizza! HELP!


#15

@AAAAAACK45 Myrna, can you start a new thread to get some suggestions?
Nuts can be high in carbs, and your main job in adjusting to keto right now is to keep your carbs below 20g per day. After a few days you should find that your hunger regulates, and eventually cravings will subside.
But you’ll get more ideas and links to helpful threads if you start a new thread.


(Myrna ) #16

Thanks for your answer. I am not very adept at forums and such things online. I’m not sure how to start an new thread. I saw some things there, and I replied to it. But I don’t know how to start a new thread.


(Marius the butter craving dude) #17

Sometimes when I eat 3000 calories only from butter and lard for 2 days I loose weight. If I eat normal calories just meat no extra fat I may gain 1 kg.
Caloric restriction is something that I recommend to be done mildly on keto, and only for the last say 10 kg; restrict to say 200 to max 300 calories in minus than your normal; but this means eat proper amount of fat since it gives long term satiety. Also caloric restriction means less nutrients thus hunger may be a signal that the body needs a specific nutrient; if you eat some organ meat on a mild caloric restriction keto diet you should not feel the hunger from classic CICO diets.


#18

Go to the home page and click on “new topic” and go from there. @Polly1 actually started a thread to give you more guidance depending on what device you’re using :slight_smile: so you might see that one as well.