Hi all, Newby here. Some background so you know what I’m on about. 76-year-old male. Extremely overweight. A month or so back I hit 96KG. Time for action. Started with a 72-hour water only fast. Next 2 days only boiled eggs. Dropped 5KG in this time. Oh, consumed lots of water. Felt good. For the past 10 days have stuck pretty strictly to Keto, and OMPD. Sometimes a few walnuts in the afternoon. Only drinking water & black coffee. A few days ago, was down to 88KG. The last few days did not drop any weight at all. I realize an 8KG drop in a little over 2 weeks is reasonably good. But have to say I am somewhat disappointed in negative result over the past couple of days. Is this normal ? All comments and suggestions gratefully welcomed. Thanks… Mal.
Keto not working?
Hello Mal, welcome to the Forum.
Please don’t be despondent, this will work. You may just need to make a few adjustments.
I started at 94kg (much like you) then I joined here and very sioon I was down to 72kg and have stayed there for 2 years.
First of all try to unlearn everything you knew about food. Much of it is wrong!
Don’t eat less, eat more! … I know, it sounds wrong but when you eat less your body thinks your starving so stores fat. When you eat more (low or no carb) your body will know to burn fat.
We are mostly in either fat burning or a fat storing mode.
Search Dr Ken Berry, he will tell you to eat until stuffed.
The black coffee is OK IMO but don’t go too crazy on the nuts. You can eat all the eggs, bacon and steak you want. Plus low carb veg.
Also you can expect fat loss to be inconsistent, good weeks and less good weeks but stick to your guns and don’t cheat with carbs.
Your belt is sometimes a better guide than the scales. Mal this works but in the beginning there’s a little to learn, it becomes 2nd nature after a while.
I strongly recommend this forum plus Doctors you can find on youtube, people like Dr Berry, Dr Chaffee, Dr Baker and many others.
Enjoy your study Mal and enjoy the journey
Yes, it’s normal. A few days are nothing. Once (okay, I was losing fat slowly as I can’t ever do it quickly) the scale showed the same weight for 11 days but then I got the drop. It’s even more likely after you lost weight impossibly (under normal circumstances) quickly like your 8kg in 2 weeks. Maybe you lost much water and some came back or who knows what. If you lose nothing for weeks, that’s a different story but a few days? It means nothing, our bodyweight often fluctuates WAY more than the possible fat-loss in a mere days so it easily masks the important changes.
Thanks for that. I’ll be keeping at it no problem. I don’t find the OMAD an issue & also enjoying the Keto meals. I know about not weighing every day. That just causes negativity. I’ve just finished a medium size pork chop & whole medium size avocado for dinner.
Stomach feels relatively full. Not looking for a snack or anything else before going to bed in about 90 minutes or so. Thanks again.
My opinion is that you are doing extremely well. It is normal to have pauses in weight loss (it is never linear).
It is important to remember that in order to keep the weight off, you will have to eat approximately the same as you do to lose it. Therefore it’s important to make your eating style sustainable.
And, part of that is to remind yourself how good you feel! We call these things, non-weight loss victories. They are so important and so plentiful.
Short term changes in weight are almost entirely due to water retention vs excretion. Fat burn-related changes take far longer to kick in.
You’ve gotten great advice above. But ultimately, gravity is what produces weight. Instead focus on your well-being and long term health. And if you’re building muscle through strength exercise, remember that muscle weighs more than fat. So, another reason to use the belt loops instead of the bathroom scale to check on progress.
Sounds like you’re doing awesome. Keep at it!
Stick with it! The weight will come down. It just doesn’t necessarily drop off in linear fashion. It’s normal for it to come down in “steps”. Down nicely, then a plateau. Down again, then a plateau, etc.
Already mentioned is the belt and how that fits. Sometimes people will go by a favorite pair of pants or a favorite shirt and use that as a gauge. Sometimes people will get out the tape measure and start tracing measurements in lots of places.
While some do like to weigh every day, some suggest only doing that maybe once a week. Don’t know about you but my weight can vary 3 or 4 pounds over a 24 hour period depending upon a lot of variables. Probably mostly water weight, but the number from day to day has a lot of noise in it, uplifting when the number is lower but depressing when the number is up. It’s too easy to get lost in the noise.
Best of luck!
That’s exactly why I like weighing every day. What if I manage to get the higher number after a week? I see the trend better with everyday weighing. Not like I do that anymore, I know I see exactly the same number every morning for years (except very occasionally), basically no matter what (it’s almost scary, sometimes I think my scale is the stubborn one, not just my body)… It’s quite individual but in my opinion, daily or weekly weighting is unnecessary (except if one just must see the actual number, I get that, I got curious and weighed twice a day sometimes. I know the evening one is even less informative but I wanted to see it. not like my scale is anywhere near accurate), I will notice if my pants get tighter or looser and that’s what counts (my belly fat loss is my number one goal regarding fat-loss and it doesn’t go well even if I lose a lot - but some changes do happen there)…
Either way, some patience is needed for almost everyone. And knowing that the weight itself is less important though weight-loss and fat-loss has a close correlation except for the ones who very easily gain and lose a lot of water. But the trend is there even then. Too many people talk about muscles but it’s quite rare to gain muscle as rapidly as losing fat if one doesn’t do the latter extremely slowly. It can help in the long run though And anyway, muscles are pretty and useful.
Some great points above.
A good indication to health is simply how you feel! Being unwell makes you feel horrible, even when it creeps up unaware.
When I started to recover and the ketones kicked in I felt amazing, euphoric even. I’m hoping that happens to you too Mal
That’s a LOT of weight! Nothing to be discouraged about. Please don’t do starvation eating, that will backfire if you keep doing it.
When you eat WAY below your maintenance calories, your body will adapt to that to keep you alive, that’s when your thyroid function down regulates so you burn less, that’s the calorie trap.
Being heavy, you have a high TDEE, when we’re bigger, even though think it’s fact, it very literally takes more fuel to keep us going, captialize on that! Eat to lose, but don’t eat to crash.
It may work as the body still needs a lot of energy to function (it’s individual, of course, some bodies are more sparing, IDK how that works) - but it spares the amount needed to function WELL. So I don’t even care if it works as it’s very unhealthy with multiple dangers and problems afterwards. Metabolism slowing (and it doesn’t always just quicken back up), muscle loss, possibly lack of essential nutrients…
It’s better to do IF and EF if one tends to eat too much otherwise. But many doesn’t need that on keto (or IF happens automatically. it did for me even on high-carb even though I massively overate back then).
And the occasional low-cal day is fine too if it fits the one in question… But as it was said, a big body usually has a decent energy need, no need to go super low. Some accidentally do it on keto, that’s not good either. I accidentally overeat myself and stay fat so that is a possibility too though. Not too much, not too little, good food! The latter (and maybe the right timing) may ensure the first two, that’s nice.
Hunger signs aren’t always to be trusted. Starvation is bad even if we feel always satiated, even full.
Not the vaguest idea how much a medium sized pork chop but sounds little for OMAD. I only saw the thing in photos, we have pork loin slabs, never any bone on it. And no idea about the fattiness either, pork loin here almost has the whole spectrum in fattiness (it’s usually leanish with a decent fat layer but not always. if it’s the usual, I need a significant amount of extra fat despite eating high protein. and my energy need isn’t high).
Honestly, 8 kg in a month (at age 76!!!) is awesome! I’m 60/f and just restarted keto after … well, a massive stumble, let’s say. Over a month of very careful eating and logging I lost a grand total of 2 whole lbs., wheee!!! (Exhausting considering I need to drop another 30). And I’m experienced! I’ve done this before (haven’t needed to lose this much since 2016 but, whatever).
You have to trust the science. Usually weight loss isn’t a steady downward slope, it’s far more step-wise. You lose, you hold at that weight for a bit then you lose a bit more, or sometimes even bounce up briefly or hold and then have a bigger drop. For this reason alone I only weigh myself every two weeks, I become obsessed with the scale.
It generally takes about six weeks to be fully into ketosis, you have to give this WOE time to work. Keep an eye on your calories and macros, maybe try to increase your activitya little and be patient. Your weight didn’t creep up overnight, you certainly can’t expect it to go away overnight. Besides, at our age, extended rapid weight loss isn’t a great idea.
Hang in there.
Hi Harriet. Thanks for that.
Sticking strictly to what I mentioned in my first posts. Have added broccoli, zucchini, cauliflower plus getting plenty of avocado. Have included chia seeds, flax seeds into the diet. Unfortunately I can’t get psyllium husk where I am. Weight loss has plateaued
. No loss for a week & only ½ kg in the past week. But, mentally I’m feeling great. Attitude & positivity have increased way beyond what I expected. Sleeping much better. Waking up feeling refreshed. That’s a change.
Yep, I’ll hang in there.
Cheers… Mal.
I call that a win! I wish I could wake up refreshed. Sleeping is very satiating but “tiring” too, for me. IDK why. So I am a tad envious! Good sleep is precious! I do sleep enough and well enough, I am just a morning zombie… Sigh.
Greetings, Mal! Reducing 8 kg in two weeks is already a very good result, especially taking into account the initial weight and adherence to strict dietary regimes. Stopping weight for a few days is an absolutely normal situation, the body can balance, adapting to changes.To support the body and improve metabolism, you can add simple exercises without additional equipment. Here is a selection of basic callisthenics exercises for beginners that can be done at home: https://betterme.world/articles/calisthenics-workout-plan-for-beginners/ Keep going, there will definitely be progress!
My son’s significant other isn’t following the ketogenic diet but my son has his personal trainer certification, is very knowledgeable about diet and nutrition, plus they are extremely active people. This girl has been stuck on a plateau for more than six months, fighting to lose that last 20+/- since November or so. Plateaus exist, you acknowledge them but that doesn’t change the fact they are beyond frustrating.