Keto for the 3rd time, no weight loss - help!

(Gina) #1

Hello to all! I am newbie to this site but not new to keto. I have first completed a 6+ months keto diet 5 years ago where I’ve dropped from the 230’s to 175 lbs in this time period. I am a 5’ 10’ female, I was in my mid-thirties then; obviously, the time has passed as now I am almost 40.
Unfortunately, as I’ve treated ketosis as a diet, and not a lifestyle, I have gained it back - but I was able to lose ~30 lbs again when I put my mind to it.
Then I fell off the track and now here I am again, near 240 lbs :frowning:
This time I know that I HAVE to get this done right - or I will remain like this forever. :-o

I have been more determined than ever before, I’ve even kept to under 25 grams of total carbs (yes I track religiously) for over a month and I’ve lost only 1 lb. I am not counting calories for now but when I try, it always seems to be 2000-ish - with my height and weight this should be ideal. All I am eating is eggs, cheese (1-2 oz a day at most), sardines, tuna, or other fishes, meat, a small amount of green leafy vegetables, and a protein powder drink mixed from essentially carb-free protein powder, home-brewed coffee, heavy whipping cream, and stevia. Every day, no cheating.

Maybe a stupid question but is it possible that my metabolism is “broken” for good after on-and-off ketoing over the past years? I don’t have thyroid problems. I am also not exercising right now because I know it always stalls my weight loss due to water weight gain so I wanted to see some weight loss first before I’d begin - I, however, walk around 3 miles every day, rain or shine.

I am really hoping to learn more from you all - I can’t understand how my body won’t release any weight despite lowering my insulin levels so much. If anyone has insight, tips, or experience, please send it my way!!!

Thanks!!!

#2

Things could be different this time for so many reasons, but the first thing I would do is find a marker that’s more useful and accurate than the scale. Have you taken measurements and photos?

(Liz ) #3

Hello! First, I’m so glad you are going to give this lifestyle another chance! I don’t believe your metabolism is broken, I think Keto will still work for you.

I only lost 2 pounds my first month but since then have dropped 2-6 pounds a month with great variations up and down daily, I also track very carefully. It’s a slow process but I think I am healing along the way and you probably are too. Don’t forget to track metrics other than weight, like measurements!

It also took me probably a month and a half to become fully fat adapted so it may yet be early days for you.

The three dietary things that stand out to me as possible issues that are preventing you from dropping weight are:

  1. dairy. Dairy stalls some folks out

  2. protein powder. Another issue for some folks especially if it contains whey

  3. stevia. some sweeteners can spike insulin in some people.

Good luck! Keep Calm and Keto On

(Mike) #4

Have you measured your insulin levels? If so what are the numbers?

Also could there be carbs or an insulin response sneaking into the protein powder or a reaction to the Stevia?

I have seen multiple reports of Stevia causing an insulin response.

I’m a keto newb but I feel for you,

(Ernest) #5

How about looking back at the food you were eating the first keto go around and going back to that?
I’d drop the protein powder and replace it with real food.
How many meals are you having in a typical day?

(Jacob Wagner) #6

You shuld not expect any weight loss form ketosis for the first 2 months while you body is adapting. Weight loss (or sometiems gain) can happen in this time, but not predictably.

Be carefull with the protein powder. You didn’t post your total protein, but if its gets too high it can put a strain on your kidneys. Don’t stress too much, but this is something I have had issues with so it sticks out to me.

I have never heard of problems from going on and off keto. However, the mere accumilation of non-keto years could result in an increase of your baseline insulin, which will make it slower and more difficult (not imposible) to get into ketosis, stay in ketosis, become keto adapted, and loose weight compared to your previous attempts.

–Jacob

(Crippie) #7

There can be other con-founders. Perhaps you are more stressed this time. Perhaps you arn’t sleeping as well. It is all one big health picture.

Id say just keep calm and keto on. Don’t worry about the scale too much and focus more on how you feel. Just focus on feeling better, when you feel better everything else starts to fall into place, you become less stressed, you sleep better, and everything just keeps rolling. Remember the saying its not just about ketoing on, you need to keep calm and keto on.

(Gina) #8

Madeleine, thank you! No, I haven’t taken any because I feel horrified about looking at myself. I know it’s pathetic but I just couldn’t stomach it :frowning: I do not feel any difference in how my clothes feel, either :confused: It just seems as though nothing is happening. Granted, my skin and hair look better, and my cravings have disappeared, sort of, I’m not hungry at all, and I sleep better. I just don’t look any different weight-wise. :confused:

(Gina) #9

Liz, thank you!! It is very encouraging to see that I’m not all alone with this extremely slow weight loss. It doesn’t seem to make sense when one has so much to lose :confused:
I know I should measure myself - call me childish but I haven’t started yet. This way I am imagining that my inches are dropping, even if my weight is not. I am scared that I will quit if my measurements are not changing either! I do not really see whether my clothes fit better. I don’t think so :confused:

I have been thinking about dairy too and just about to ditch the cheese. I have a problem with the heavy cream - it makes me feel fuller and it tastes good with my protein powder. I know I ought to switch that to real food but this protein drink probably helped me to stick to it so easily the past month. Again, I fear that I will quit without something I enjoy, however stupid that is. I figured I’ll use this and slowly decrease the amount each day, and I am putting in less heavy cream each day, I am just not ready to go cold turkey yet.

Another reason why I am using the protein is because in the past when I did keto I have lost a LOT of hair :frowning: I don’t want that to repeat again. I’ve come to the conclusion that I underate protein and I was shedding insanely for the duration of my keto diets. This time i am not losing any and it honestly looks great! So I was thinking the extra protein helped with that…

I didn’t realize that stevia can be problematic! That I can easily forego starting now! We’ll see, let’s hope it’s the culprit, or at least ditching it will jump start the process.

Thank you again!!

(Gina) #10

Probably it’s presumptuous on my end to assume that my insulin levels have dropped. No, I haven’t actually measured it, I am just going by the symptoms. I have lost all my carb cravings, I am never hungry, I sleep great, I don’t get headaches, shakiness etc that I used to before when I ate carbs. I feel great and balanced, no emotional outbursts related to not getting my usual carbs :slight_smile: especially around certain time of the month! It just seems better, but you’re correct, it’s just an assumption.

My protein powder has 1 gram carbs / serving in it and no sugar, which I am calculating into my daily total carbs, but I had no idea that stevia can cause problems. I’m getting rid of that right now.

Thank you!! Newbie or not, great insight!

(Gina) #11

Ernest,
The problem is that the first two times I have shed literally 50% of my hair while on keto! So I am pretty sure that I didn’t eat enough protein then. So I added the protein powder and now I don’t have any problems, in fact my hair looks great and growing faster the past weeks, noticeably I mean! zero shedding. So I am very happy about this - maybe it’s too much protein that I’m getting now and I have to find the middle path - it’s worth going back to the drawing board for, thank you!!

Most days I have 2 meals, sometimes 3. I eat my first around 6 am and I am not usually hungry till 2 pm, which is when sometimes I eat some oily fish and some green leafy veg, no dressing. Most days I just wait till 5 pm when I have my dinner - nothing after that till 9-9.30 pm when I go to bed.

Thank you!!

(Gina) #12

Jacob,
Thank you, I guess I was hoping to see the same result what I’ve experienced before. My very first time I’ve lost 10 lbs in 7 days and I know some of it was water - I’ve expected to shed some water this time too, though! Since I’ve been eating a lot of carbs all summer long, sadly :frowning:

I have been reading dr. Jack Kruse’s recommendations about breaking leptin resistance, where he recommends 50-75 grams of protein for breakfast. I am eating around 55 grams for breakfast, and my total is under 100 grams per day, or 100 at most. Like I mentioned before, I have lost so much hair the last two times I’ve done keto that I didn’t want to face this problem again, and upon researching the issue a bit, I thought that I may have under-eaten protein those times. I wanted to avoid it but perhaps it’s too much this time around? :smiley: It’s really confusing sometimes :frowning:

Baseline increase of insulin sounds very probable - I am assuming this based on where I’ve gained my fat back. It’s almost entirely on my abdomen :confused: whereas before it was spread a bit all over the place. I think this is related to high insulin, so I was hoping to see fast results after switching to such low carb intake again, but I guess you are right, my body may be just taking its time to adapt, and it may need longer time this time around to lower my insulin levels.

I will definitely hang in here, I feel good otherwise so I know it’s the right path!!

Thanks for your great thoughts!

(Gina) #13

Thank you! I think my stress levels are better this time around as my kids have gotten older and so much easier! but I’ve gone back to college which can be stressful at times. I know that the scale means nothing, it could be water retention that masks fat loss, etc. I guess I still thought I’d be losing some by now considering how high my weight has gotten. I read about people’s struggles who have their last 5-15 lbs to lose and I totally understand how hard it is to get rid of those final pounds - and you’d think that when you have 60+ to lose it would at least start out faster. I’m not going to give up - I just don’t understand and I really want to do it right this time…I guess 1 lb is better than nothing! I am just afraid that I’ll be 50 by the time I reach my ideal weight at this rate :frowning: I want to get this under control before menopause begins!!
Thank you!!

(Mark) #14

There’s a good chance you are getting too much Protein which can
convert to sugar and totally mess you up. .75 grams/day per KG LBM is all you need according
to Dr. Ron Rosedale. Increase fat to compensate. :slight_smile:

(Gina) #15

Thank you! I have lowered my protein intake to 70-80 grams over the past week. I have also started to use a blood sugar meter and consistently measured in the mid-80s which only increases to 95-98 at most after a meal, then begins to decrease, so I think my blood glucose doesn’t really spike, I’ve tested after protein drink, stevia, and pretty much each meal separately :slight_smile:

Is there such a thing as too much fat? I am very very reluctant to decrease my calories but another week passed with no result really and I just don’t think this is right. I mean, I could easily lose 60+ lbs so something should be moving now, right? Because at this rate I am not a slow loser but at a complete standstill.

I have started to take my measurements today, and I hope I will see some change at least in that, otherwise I really don’t know what else I could do.

(Mark) #16

I am 176lbs and my Protein requirement is only 44 grams/day. I don’t know what your LBM (lean body mass) is, but 70-80 may
still be high. You can measure with one of the body fat scales that shows your percentage of body fat. It’s certainly possible to get too much fat

which would push calories way high. The older you get, the harder it gets - in my case for sure!!! :slight_smile:

(Gina) #17

I have a scale that measures body fat but I honestly can’t rely on it whatsoever. It can go from 33 to 49% of body fat within a matter of hours depending on how hydrated I am. And when I’ve lost 30+ lbs and tons of inches, it consistently showed me having 14% more body fat, which obviously couldn’t have been true as I’ve lost about 4 sizes. I’ve kept it for weight check purposes but I am starting to wonder if it’s broken altogether??? :slight_smile:

In the past when I’ve kept my protein intake lower, I have lost a ton of hair. It has taken years to recover and growing like crazy and looking good again. I have a hard time to believe that I have to choose between having hair or losing weight. I am only 38…

I think I’m already eating way too much fat as is. It has prevented me from going through keto flu and my mood remained fine, unlike in the past, but I guess I have to start to measure those too.

(Mark) #18

As far as the scale goes, i use a small spray bottle of water and spray the metal contacts on
both sides before I step on bare-footed. This way the “hydration” is always constant on my feet!
You get more consistent readings for sure!!