Hello,
I feel I need help. I’ve been doing Keto since the day after Christmas, so we are looking at a month now. I’m a 44 Y.O. woman, 5’8" and right now at 146. I was 158 when I started, but I consider at least of 3-4 of those pounds Christmas “fluff”, lol. After the first week in January I have stalled. I move between 147 and 145 and cannot see any sustainable weight loss. I track my macros VERY carefully. I do not have carb creep. When I started, I kept my total calories to around 1200, which I have since decided is too low. I am currently at 1602, with 91 P, 25 Net Carbs and 116 F. I usually eat right up to my macro levels. I do not eat excess cheese or nuts. Very little compared to most probably. I feel that I am pretty active, I Olympic lift 5 days a week ( usually 1.5 hours worth including a little cardio warmup and stretching) I just started forcing myself into 2 rest days (with just a little bit of cardio, like 15-20 minutes) because I keep reading not to exercise too much. I am a personal trainer, but some days I teach in the high school. On those days, I walk more to make up for sitting still during class. I’m at a loss. I don’t understand why I can’t lose any weight. My husband is doing Keto too, and he is still losing 3# a week, granted he has more to lose. I have been fasting with eating my first meal after my workout. On days that I don’t teach in the HS, my fast is easily 15 hours. Post lifting, I do eat a breakfast with some BP coffee, I feel I need more food after I lift than just BPC. However on days that I teach, it’s probably more like 12 hours of fasting, and I have little control over what time I eat lunch, so I have a longer eating window throughout the day usually. Aside from eating more fat, which scares me, I don’t know what other changes I can do to help. Any women out there in my age range with the same about of lifting found success? I don’t know if it is my age, sex or activity that is killing me here. Any feedback is appreciated!
Lady who lifts a lot, stalled and not sure if I'm eating enough
Be patient. Even if eight of the pounds were glycogen/water, you’d still have a one pound fat loss per week. Very reasonable, it would roughly be a 500 Cal per day deficit.
I understand that, but I have not lost anything in 3 weeks. I lose a pound, then gain it back.
I am a personal trainer too. Take another day off a,week and make sure you get good quality sleep.
Here is your biggest problem. Fat is your friend, not something to fear. To me it sounds like you might not be fat adapted yet. You just started end of last month, it can take several weeks or even a couple of months for some to reach a fat adapted state. Also you have little to loss at your height and weight, so it will be slower. You think an average of 1 lb a week is not good, but you need to trend your weight, weight loss is not linear. Your body is probably trying to heal something that is not working properly currently. You might need to eat more on your heaviest workout days as well. Get your metabolism in gear.
Have you used a good calculator like this one?
https://ketogains.com/wp-content/cache/page_enhanced/ketogains.com//ketogains-calculator//_index.html_gzip
Sorting all this out does take some time and patience that is why we keep saying KCKO. Even in maintanence, there is a ton to learn and put into practice.
All the best in your Journey.
Your body is adapting. It can take up to a few months to get fat adapted. In the meantime you may be losing inches (measure key circumferences) or just waiting for your organs to adapt to burning fat and using ketones. I plateaued for 4 weeks after the initial water loss and started losing consistently (if lumpily). Keto is not a short term diet. If you want that, just restrict calories… but expect the yo yo 
There’s a reason everyone says KCKO. Given that you also have less to lose than many could also make losing slower. You may be at one of your body’s set points which will take patience to break through (and probably IF and maybe EF). There are many reasons for stalling early but it is very common and not a problem (unless you make it one).
Thanks Cary. I am getting good sleep, thankfully. Hard to fall asleep most nights, but I go to bed with enough time to get 8 hours most nights. I can try an extra rest day, hard to wrap the head around that, but willing to try for sure!
I’m trying to eat more fat starting today. I have used many calculators, and kind of averaged what they say. I think it is so hard to put a label on how active you are. When I use this calculator, it actually puts my calories at 1400ish, which I think is too low. I wouldn’t be surprised if my body is “healing” because even though I have always watched very carefully what I eat and tracked macro’s, I’m sure I have always been undereating, which I know causes metabolic damage.
I’m curious why you’re using weight as your guide? Are you aiming for some particular weight class in your training (or competitions)? Or is it about getting to a certain size/look? If the latter, why use pounds instead of inches, which are actually more relevant to your goals?
If you have trouble falling asleep, you maybe too wound up. Try Natrol fast dissolve melatonin 1mg. Gentle natural substance. On the day off you can get a long walk in, just not too fast. When I take a
day or 2 off, I come back stronger.
via
Newton Mail
That’s a very valid question. I am measuring and have lost with the tape measure. I guess I’m just stuck on the fact that the scale should budge, even when I know it may not. It’s not for competition, I think that in my mind I thinking that if I lost 10 pounds my body would look like I think it should. I definitely have fat to lose, and I am keeping an eye on my measurements.
I will risk being unpopular and suggest you’re not losing weight because you don’t need to. At your height and weight you’re at the lower end of what’s “normal” for your size (I understand weight is irrelevant but just using it as a basic guide, you’re on the small side.) With your level of activity you’re most likely pretty lean too. So why are your trying to force your body to go to a lower weight? If you get there it’s most likely not going to stay that way without you making it your full time job. And you will probably experience even more problems sleeping, amongst other things. Just a thought. Sometimes we want things out of our bodies that are more than it can give us.
Heidi, lost inches means you are definitely not stalled! (we need another word for this, but “stall” is not the one 
)
If you were looking for a lower number because you were hoping to lose inches and you have in fact lost inches, then… well, you’re getting exactly what you were hoping for, right?
[All that said, I think that Erin has some valid points that would be worth a careful read.]
Erin, I do know I’m at the low end, last time I had my body fat tested it was 23%, probably about a year ago, and at 150-152 #. I’'m strong , and would rather be strong than “skinny”, but I would like my body to show more of my muscle tone than it does. I feel like my muscles are hidden by my fat layer, which aggravates me because I work hard at it! I would like my body to look more representative of the time I put into the gym. That said, you have valid points 
Perhaps if I just stay the course, I will continue to lose some inches and reach that goal.
Keto evolves as an experience as you stick with it, it’s not static. Hang in there & see what happens over time. One month on Keto is super early days.
@Heidibmc I didn’t mean to sound like I was criticizing you at all, I completely understand where you’re coming from. I am in school for personal training and i imagine there is a lot of pressure to look the part, so to speak. I’ve been through a lot over the past few years and struggled with anorexia and got a very low body fat percentage (6%) which I didn’t know was dangerous at the time. I’ve since gone through recovery and gaining weight intentionally was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I’m sure you’re knowledgeable about the risks of insufficient body fat levels in women. So if you’re looking to lean out, you know that going below 20% can start to affect hormonal health. And when you push your body to a level that is hormonally compromising it may work for a short period of time but it will always find a way to fight back. Women are supposed to have that “fat layer” and it takes a great deal of effort to get the “ripped” look we’re told we should emulate. So know that in order to pursue aesthetic goals you may compromise your general health. And it can be easy to go down the rabbit hole of disordered eating and obsession. If you make small adjustments and stay the course with keto you may indeed see continued leaning out. But don’t risk your mental and physical well being for a few body fat percentage points 
You might find this an interesting listen. As far as body fat goes, Maffetone suggests 30% as a minimum for health for women.
http://www.enduranceplanet.com/dr-phil-maffetone-the-eight-steps-to-mastering-maf-healthy-body-fat-ranges-and-how-athletes-can-decrease-health-risks/
@Emacfarland I didn’t take it as criticism, no worries! I understand completely what you are saying. I have spent my entire adult life trying to get to that “ripped” sweet spot. The mindset that we women have ingrained works against most of what we try and accomplish. In my 30’s, I was 138ish and thought I was so fat. This was prior to Crossfit and OLY training. I gained weight from that point which made me stronger, but also bigger. I look back at pictures of myself from then, and I was very skinny, but skinny fat. 20% bodyfat would probably thrill me at this point, but I already spend a LOT of time in the gym, I don’t want to make it my full time job, as you said. Yesterday I ate only 10 total carbs (3 net) and more fat, keeping my protein level the same. I dropped today, but just finished the worst workout ever. I had nothing in the tank. I’m sure it was lack of carbs. I really just want to lean out, I don’t care what the number on the scale says. It’s just that my brain correlates leaning out with loss of mass, which of course my educated self knows doesn’t need to happen. I ate a little spinach with my bacon, avacado and BPC post workout and had a little more fat with it. I’m going to continue to try little steps up in the fat and see what happens. My goal over these three days was to keep carbs ultra low, but if I have another crappy workout tomorrow, I’m going back to my 25 net carbs. Fat layer be damned!
I will definitely take a listen, but I can say that I would be most unhappy at 30%. Instead of eating to lean out at this point, I would myself be having to put on fat. 
Workout wise if your goal is leaning out I’d focus more on cardio and less heavy lifting. Unfortunately if you want to reduce your overall size you would have to sacrifice some LBM. This has been my experience though of course everyone is different. To reduce both over size (weight) and decrease body fat longer cardio sessions coupled with some high intensity work plus higher rep, lower weight strength training sessions seems to be very effective. And with less intense weight lifting you could probably feel better at the lower carb level, but maybe up protein a bit.