As you can see from the chart, I see very little to no progress on lbs for the last 6 weeks. I am strictly following Keto and consistently have low glucose <90 mostly and often <80 through the day. I noticed a drop in my waist size in the initial 2-3 weeks but don’t see anymore improvement there as well for the last 5 weeks.
I read a lot of topics on this. As far as I can tell, I am following all the guidelines properly.
Is this a stall? How should I troubleshoot this?
First of all, give it more time. After my initial fat loss, there was some body recomposition over the following twelve months. My weight was stable over that period, but pants I got for Christmas one year that were a bit too small fit just fine twelve months later. The lack of change in my weight means that I must have been adding a bit of lean mass while shedding additional fat mass. So watch the fit of your clothing, not just the scale, for signs of progress. Surely it’s fat you want to lose, not lean tissue.
Secondly, fat loss slows as the body approaches what it considers a healthy weigh and body composition. As I am fond of saying, the first 100 lbs. come of much more quickly than the last 10.
Lastly, don’t cut calories. That signals the body that there is a famine going on, and that it needs to hang on to all its resources. Eat abundantly, and the body will feel safer letting go of any extra stored fat.
If you will do a forum search on “stall” you will come up with probably hundreds of threads where people ask this same question and receive this same answer.
You lost 10 pounds in 5 weeks, ie 2 pounds per week. It would be difficult to sustain that rate. Especially as you close in on your ‘ideal’ weight. What’s important is the overall trend over time. I suggest you only weigh yourself once per week instead of daily. Lots of stuff happens when you start keto and it takes time. Often other stuff takes precedence and weight stabilizes for a while. Years/decades eating SAD damaged your metabolism. The only questions are how much and how long will it take to fix? Be patient. Keto is not magic nor miraculous. Stay in ketosis consistently and good things will happen.
If you’re really concerned, shake things up a bit. Maybe try OMAD a few days a week. Higher protein, lower fat. Drop fat bombs, oil consumption, etc. Switch to lower fat meats (eg, ham instead of pepperoni).
A fat or egg “fast”.
A PSMF (low calorie, higher protein meal(s) for a day or more).
You can go the other way, too: three meals a day one day. Then a lower amount of meals.
Check to see if what you’re eating has possible detriments. Eg, some people have issues or overeat with dairy. I overeat nuts and bacon, so I avoid them.
Try to move your last meal earlier if it’s close to sleep. (Sadly, I can’t do this.)
Those kind of things.
Ah, ok.
Hang in there. You didn’t put it all on overnight and it’s not going to come off overnight, either. But if you stick to keto it will STAY off.
Think about all the times you indulged and overate and DIDN’T gain weight. Well, it works the other way also. Sometimes you can be doing everything right and your weight stays the same. We just notice it more when weighing every day, looking for results.
Did you weigh yourself every day while adding fat to your body?
There are a lot of processes going on. Your skin, hair, internal health, joints ,muscles, etc. are all getting repaired, from staying off the carbs and eating clean. The weight loss is never linear, it’s more like a set of steps as you heal.
I have a theory about these stalls and set backs. You know how you have a set-point weight you can maintain without much hassle? Mine was always 180 pounds. So that was my goal when I began keto a year ago at 218 pounds. And sure enough, at 180, I stalled out, even though I was continuing keto. Then in a couple months, I started losing again. I have stalled a few times along the way to my current 162. I think our bodies may need to stop and recalibrate, and trust that we are ok… we are not going to starve ourselves. Years of yo-yo dieting with extremes highs and lows have taught my body to prepare for another starvation diet. Heck, if I were my body, I wouldn’t trust me either!
But whatever the actual cause… there are stalls and ups and downs along the way. I now think of them like stopping to catch my breath on a long hike. Plus, it let’s me chill out and enjoy the journey more.
Thanks for all the replies.
I am trying to incorporate IF whenever I am not hungry and can easily do it. I am not forcing it as I am confused by the guidelines of “Make sure you dont cut calories and eat too little” vs " Do IF".
so planning to take cue from my body and if I can do IF without forcing or being miserable going to try that.
IF means you eater fewer, but larger meals. Just giving your body more time to metabolize. It may just happen naturally. I don’t get hungry now till 1 or 2 pm.
There’s no need to fast, if you don’t enjoy it. As Prof. Bikman says, a ketogenic diet is metabolically very similar to fasting, except without the hunger.
I didn’t start IF or longer fasts for 1.5 years, but I also had never heard of fasting until then.
I also can’t eat in the morning, unless I have to, such as during vacations when we go eat breakfast.
This does happen to quite a few people, though.
