Is keto causing my midsection to get thick, what the?!?

#1

Anybody else experience this? I’ve been doing pretty strict keto for roughly a year and a half now. I’m a 43 yr old woman, nutrition consultant, very fit, very lean, so did not do this for any kind of quote/unquote “weight loss” benefits. I have always been a snacker. Grazing all the time all my life. But it’s often a pain in the ass to feel absolutely famished every couple hours and get my hangry on. Not cool. Wanted to gain control of my hunger more than anything, and so far it’s been VERY successful. Yay!

HOWEVER…
Lately I am noticing a distinct thickening of my midsection. Not bloating (trust me, I know what that feels like). I’m getting that body-builder’s “trunk”. Some may not care about it, and that’s cool, but I hate that look on me. I want my nice narrow feminine teeny-bikini waist back. My lower ahem pubic bump barely has it’s own profile from the side anymore. This totally sucks. I feel like a tree. I haven’t altered my workouts in any particular way or any other lifestyle choices significantly so I’m totally stumped. As a nutrition consultant and a person who is typically very in touch with her body, I feel like I should know what’s going on.
Could the high fat diet for an extended period of time somehow be causing visceral fat gain or abdominal/gut inflamation in some way?

#2

Curious and following.

(Stacy Blanchard) #3

I think it is highly likely that you are eating something that is not being used well by your body. You may be eating too much dairy and maybe should not have any. You may have problems with certain nuts. Your hormones may be off and need to be tested. Our bodies are highly complicated and I don’t think there is one answer. By strict keto do you mean what is allowed or are you always choosing the best option based on nutrition. Maybe my question seem too obvious based on your profession. I just thought I would point out those in case you had not thought of them.

#4

Appreciate your input! Sometimes it’s the littlest thing overlooked, right?

But no, I’ve investigated all those points. Dairy isn’t my friend exactly so I do avoid that already. I feel great and feel strong, so inflammation from disagreeable food is likely not the culprit. I am super lean pretty much all over and abs are still very well defined. But it’s as if I’ve been doing heavy core training and am building mass in my lower belly. ie) last year this time I would have considered entering a fitness model comp or doing a swimwear shoot…v-shaped torso with a super flat tummy. Now? No chance. Abdominal physique has changed.

Just searching for anyone else that, same as me, started keto wicked fit for other reasons than weight loss and who might be experiencing the same result/problem. Would love to cross-reference some habits and hopefully figure it out… cuz I’m really close to ditching keto, chalking it up as an experiment, and going back to looking awesome.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #5

On the face of it, from what we do know of the science, it seems unlikely. In fact, a low-carbohydrate diet sets the body up for metabolizing visceral fat, and low insulin also lowers inflammation in a couple of different ways.

One of the things that I found started thickening my middle was snacking, especially snacks that included stevia and erythritol. Funnily enough, cutting out the stevia altogether seems to have helped.

#6

Hmm, thanks for that suggestion…might be something to keep an eye on, but snacking isn’t a big habit any longer. I"ll try eliminating the stevia and erythritol altogether and see what happens. Too bad it might take weeks to see a prominent change though :frowning:

(Stacy Blanchard) #7

Have you ever listened to Leann Vogle? She addresses some very unique situations with keto that are specific to women. It might be worth a listen. She has a theory about carb cycling that might be suited to at least some women’s issues. good luck

#8

You mentioned you’re 43, and depending on your hormonal profile/biological age, could you have begun the climacteric journey? Typically once the hormonal shifting starts to happens (after the first missed cycle) and cortisol levels raise, a woman can super quickly put on some 5-10 pounds of fat and water in the belly area within months! Happened to me at age 50, but I’ve read of women that it’s happened to much earlier in life, late 30s to mid 40s. I was accustomed to being relatively fit and lean-ish when this happened, and the speed at which the belly fat appeared was pretty dramatic. Apparently the ‘fat pad’ has heart health benefits for coping with The Change - as the most lean women have more heart disease during the midlife hormonal changes - but that’s all in the context of a SAD way of eating as far as those studies go.

I’m slowly but surely recomposing the belly fat with the help of keto and dry Ginger capsules suppmentation and recently also Metabosol (a Dr. Eades formula for metabolic boosting with Carnitine, Hydroxycitric Acid, Chromium, Aspartic Acid, Biotin, and Garcenia) it’s really sloooooow though. The belly fat cells slowly switch out fat for water over many months before they release the water and shrink. The changes I’m having are mostly the outer sides, with the central area have gotten more round and squishy with water as it goes through its processes.

I have shrunk a few inches total in my uppermost and lowermost belly, which has been confirmation that I’m not imagining the sense that keto is helping me recompose, even though my thick midsection’s fat/water cycling is taking its time.

#9

No missed cycle but inevitably coming sooner or later. This is soley internal… not a fat pad or subcutaneous in any way. I quite literally have ZERO body fat in the tummy area. Very stumped.

#10

No, but I’ll definitely check it out. :+1:

(Empress of the Unexpected) #11

I have that problem but don’t want my hormones tested as I don’t want to go on supplemental hormones.

#12

Nope, my midsection is smaller than it’s ever been in my entire adult life. Keto rules!

(Empress of the Unexpected) #13

Lucky you!!! I have to do 200 crunches tomorrow!

#14

Ah…hmm, well, perhaps your abs are restoring muscle mass? Or, you’ve got some kind of inflammation process going on from new sensitivity to some substance? I know that as females pass 40ish we start to get more apple-shaped due to the body not adding fat to hips/thighs but to the abdominal region.

If you’re really lean already and getting your fat from external sources rather than your own body fat, ie, having had a long period of feasting on LCHF while lean - maybe it could be you’re exhibiting a new level of robustness in your body shape, like is seen in some adults well nourished traditional cultures? Could it be all your abdominal muscles have thickened???

#15

I’m always fascinated by the clear differences that different exercise types have on the physique. Comparing swimmers with gymnasts, with lifters, etc.
Have always thought that if I was going to enter into some kind of sustained body re-shaping programme, it would be after looking at the different results, and choosing by the body type. At the moment, my tastes go towards swimmers, dancers or kettle bell users (the lean long muscled ones, not the power lifting stocky ones). The key appeal is the fluidity and lean strength.

Anyway, that was a bit off topic. Sorry.

Have you considered that there might be a slow buildup of constipation which could be affecting your shape?

(Ellie) #16

I had something similar a few years ago. Like you it wasn’t additional fat, but it seemed more internal.
It turned out that I had a fairly large ovarian cyst which they had to remove -it was 20cm long and 15cm across. You wouldn’t have thought it was possible to be that big looking from the outside but there it was.
It had been growing steadily for years so wasn’t caused by the low carb diet that I had been on to lose weight, in fact It is possible that the low carb diet slowed the growth.

(Stacy Blanchard) #17

Why would testing mean you have to go on supplements? I am not talking about hormones that are mostly thought of for older women. Once I know which ones are struggling, I plan to find out what foods can better support them.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #18

That makes sense. Will ask my doctor about testing. Thanks for that suggestion.

(Stacy Blanchard) #19

I don’t know if a general practitioner would do a comprehensive test but it is worth asking. I lucked out and found a Keto naturopath. Good luck.