Increasing calories

(Rocky B) #1

Yes, I know, calories, like Voldemort, are not to be spoken. But it is hard to discuss metabolism without referring to them as a basis for the conversation.

I have recently upped my caloric intake in an attempt to boost my metabolic rate from the lethargic level I’ve experienced for years due to the CICO meme. And with that increase has come 6 pounds very rapidly. I know it’s fat, not fluid as I have to take a daily diuretic and I can see and measure it around my neck which has always been a good indicator for me.

My macros are dialed in at 75f/22p/3c with minor fluctuations depending on the day.
I had lost 25 pounds and 2 inches while eating around 1800 to 2000 kcals a day even before reaching ketosis. I’m 68, 6’, 275 pounds with 38% BF. I do 16/8 IF most days, 18/6 sometimes. According to the Cronometer calculator my BMR is 2033 kcal with an additional 407 kcal for sedentary activity, total 2440. I began eating 2300 to 2450 kcals just a week ago and gained the 6 pounds which seems like a lot to me in such a short time.

My question is, do I stay the course or retreat a little on the calories? It is very difficult to see hard fought pounds return and my belt tighten a little. Will the upward trend taper off with a return to loosing the fat with time?

Thanks for any input. You people are the best!

#2

I was able to increase my BMR by using a 5:2 feasting/fasting regimen. It took about 3 months to stoke it higher, but I know it’s working now because my midsection started trimming down about 1/2" a week, and my body temperature at night has increased significantly – I have to sleep with no shirt and no blanket because I’m so warm at night. (Yay brown fat!)

I fast from zero to 800 calories on Monday and Thursday, and then try to eat well above 2K on the other days. My thinking behind non-consecutive day fasting is I want my body to have longer stretches of high calories vs short periods of fasting so that the fasting days don’t push my BMR back down. Seems to be working! Also fasting 2 days in a row is HARD. :slight_smile:

(less is more, more or less) #3

Dr. Westman says “calories count,” but not as the CICO model suggests. There is an upper limit to how much we should eat, even when we carefully follow LCHF/Keto regimen. It may be a good time to try stopping shorter at meal time than you have been. (Yes, I have no idea how much your eating.) “Reducing calories,” here, is code for eating less. He also argues against adding fat for fat’s sake.

(Ron) #4

Due to your lowered metabolism rate from the CICO deficit eating you have been doing for so long, it is going to be inevitable to gain weight when increasing caloric intake (this is the cause for the failure of the CICO diet method not being sustainable) but is necessary to raise the level your metabolism is operating at. This is going to benefit in the long run and those hard earned lost pounds will be found with many friends and won’t be nearly as hard to get as before. Stay the course and trust the process!:+1:

(Alec) #5

I am not sure it is possible to gain 6lbs of bodyfat in a week on 2450 cals a day. I would guess you do have some retained water in there somewhere.

I am with @mtncntrykid, I would continue your plan and see what happens. If you gain another 6lbs next week, I would love to know what you’re eating!! :joy:. These things do take time… remember that this repair job is for life, so give it the time it deserves.

(Rocky B) #6

I have been adding fat for fat’s sake to meet my macro and up my calories and to help feel satiated. Mostly butter, avocado, coconut oil and evoo all in addition to my usual bacon and rib eye steaks. I don’t handle dairy well other than butter. I could add more protein but that invites GNG.

I haven’t listened to Dr. Westman other than one 2KD podcast which I didn’t glean much info from. I’ll check youtube for other presentations.

(Katie) #7

If you can, it might be worth it to hire a keto coach to help you reverse diet (this means to increase your calories responsibly and healthfully). I recommend Crystal Love (femaleketogenicathlete.com 3) or Robert Sykes (ketosavage.com 3).

(less is more, more or less) #8

I am a patient of his, since June 2017. This was one of his direct suggestions but he’s repeated this in other contexts.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #9

Don’t eat if you’re not hungry, but you should be eating enough to go several hours between meals. Try to minimize the times per day that you eat, so as to allow your insulin level to be low for as much of the day as possible.

Personally, I found my satiety signalling kicking in during the third or fourth week, which greatly decreased the amount of food I was eating. But until that happened, I kept eating the same quantity of food as I had been eating as a carb-burner. I wasn’t weighing myself at the time, so I can’t say whether I gained or lost, but I can say that by eating to satiety I was down 60 pounds after six months. If you don’t find your satiety signaling kicking in, you may have to consciously limit your calories.

#10

After a youth and young adulthood spent flailing around, I’ve become an expert in what works for me from a psychological perspective.

Daily fluctuations don’t bother me, but I do not like to see my scale weight or body fat trend up. It may have no impact on my physiology but it doesn’t work for me psychologically. I will not allow my weight to rise above 10 lbs without taking action. Usually that’s in the form of fasting. YMMV.

(Chris W) #11

I also don’t believe that you could have gained 6 pounds of fat in a week by upping your intake level. That is something on the order of 25000 calories for 6 pounds of fat. You increased your intake 25% for around a week that is only about 5000 calories in a week assuming low to high by your figures. So assuming you stored everything you brought in that might be 1.5 pounds in pure fat.

I did a lot of BMR increasing in the last few months, those were successful after I was at my maintain macros for many months, not several days, and well into fat adaption. A couple other things is that before I did this I exercised daily and very intentionally to work my slow twitch muscles and I rarely fasted but I had done it EF a few times over 36 hours. I ate until I was full, I never really restricted, and I almost always ate extra fat to the point that I desired it. My satiety took many weeks to start to work and on occasion just fails, but that seems to follow my hunger not working correctly either.

Outside of the normal eating routine if you are truly trying to increase your BMR or from my viewpoint normalize it you may have to consider timing as playing into your intake. I was 18:6 as well, when I started the routine I went from about 2900 to 3900 calories two to three days a week. So I was a little higher than 25% increase, mainly because it made my measuring easier. For best results I would eat my highest protein meal first(noon), wait at least an hour and then ingest my boosting shake which was mostly fat. The timing is the key, if you try and stuff it all in when you ingest the protein it seems to delay the actual boosting effects and I would imagine you run the risk of storing the fat depending upon your IR level. I know at least hour worked ok for me, the best results were when the rest of my day was centered around fat an not protein so much at later meals. I also used SCT’s and MCT’s instead of animal fat since they act quicker and tend to be turned into ketones. Later on I switched shift I was working and had to eat much earlier in the day, so when I would eat breakfast, I would follow it with a boost shake around 10-20 minutes later, and often had a higher protein lunch, and a more fat center dinner. This did not work as well the results were not as good, I never felt as good this way. I would also tell you what you are ingesting is also important, as much as I love steak, it does very often slow weight loss/fat loss for me mainly because I tend to eat too much of it before satiety kicks in. My best results often were when I was regularly eating salmon the day before or day of my boost.

So depending upon how far along you are on your journey I think that also will make a big impact, if you are newly or not yet fat adapted it will be a little tougher to just increase and hold. If you are increasing your protein with the fat level by maintain % 's you may also not be getting desirable results. How you feel if that is more important that weight loss then I would stay the course for another week. You will have to figure out what works for you as I did.

(Rocky B) #12

Interesting. Thanks for the input.