Less weightloss than expected 1st month

#1

Hi Everyone,

I was recommended to post here by another user. I’m 1 month into keto (95% compliant) and have dropped from 228 to 220. Given the 1st month stories I see, I was hoping for more.

I’ve been trying to fast on week days and just eat one meal/day that’s about 8-900 calories. An example:

3 oz cheddar cheese
2 pieces fat bomb
6 oz ground chuck
3 oz avocado
1/2 snack size bag of pork rinds for a snack

That puts me around 71/24/5% F/P/C with 13g carbs

Non-fast days:

3 eggs and 2 oz avocado

4 oz gr chuck and 3 oz swiss cheese

Crockpot pizza (mozzarella, pepperoni, mushrooms)

Thats 1500 cal, 68/26/6, 16g carb (if fiber is subtracted)

I’m in the process of reading through the forum, but does anyone have initial suggestions?

Edit: I realize this is not sustainable in the long term. Once I hit my goal of 200 pounds, I plan to transition to a more sustainable diet with a higher count.

(James storie) #2

I think you are restricting too much in the begining. You may be seeing slow results, but you are probably slowing the whole fat adaptation process. Your body is still trying to hold on to everything it can. I don’t believe anyone should start the keto WOE fasting. Once you are fully fat adapted you will IF without any effort. You will simply forget to eat because you aren’t hungry. Your body will tap into its fat stores at will without alerting you to hunger. My recommendation to anyone who is new is to keep it simple, eat as much as you want to be satisfied. Just keep total carbs under 20 grams, protein levels for your lean body mass, and eat fat until you are full! If you do this without worrying about progress, your body will not be deprived in the least and it will make the switch faster. Once that happens, you can tweak it here and there to suit your needs, but forced restriction isn’t helpful. Those of us that fast do it because it is easy for us. It’s not always easy, but when you are fully fat adapted, hunger is not an issue. Most of the trouble I have when fasting has to do with my head! Just keep it simple and keto on!

#3

Thanks for the advice. The fasting has not been easy, so I’ll take your suggestions.

Ata a passing glance, did my food choices look ok?

(John) #4

Agree, in the beginning keep below 20g carbs and eat keto until you’re full. This diet can be stressful on the body in the beginning, no need to make it worse.

#5

Your food choices look fine. But what do you mean 95% compliant? Be careful of carb creep. The most important thing is to keep your carb count at 20 (some people can do a bit higher). Remember fat is your friend, bacon is awesome, and carbs are evil. :smile:

I agree that you’re restricting too soon. The 1500 calorie days are probably fine (increase your fat) depending on male/female and weight.

For example, I’m a 5’6 female at 225 pounds and I eat ~1,650 calories on nonfasting days. On days that I intermittent fast, I still try to get my calories at close to that as I can. Always over 1,000 calories though. I’m usually in the zone of 1,200 to 1,700.

While we all expect a major drop that first month (mostly water weight), losing weight slowly is the best way to go. I lose ~7 pounds a month now. This month I might be slightly less than that. (Started Jan this year.)

Good luck!

(James storie) #6

I agree with @Kyz, your food choices do look fine. And the 95% is worry some. In the begining keto is all or nothing. After you are fat adapted, you can easily slip back into ketosis if you eat too many carbs or protein. And yes BACON is your friend!

#7

The 95% reflected about 2 days when i had some carbs for social/environmental reasons. Thanks for the advice and great job on your progress!

(Dustin Cade) #8

the first part of my new Keto reality was spent eating as much fat, probably not as careful with my protein at first, just to help get through those first couple weeks of carb elimination… though i felt there was a natural decline in need for excess protein as I became fat adapted and got into full Ketosis… eating becomes intuitive and you can tell what you need to eat by how you feel, or if you really need to eat at all… when i first started listening to the podcast for 2KDs and they were talking about fasting and going days w/out eating I didn’t believe that would be me… the beginning seems so awesome but daunting at the same time, relearning to eat and what healthy food really is… just KCKO and you’ll get through it and see all the amazing results as so many of us here on the forum…

(paul ) #9

8 pounds first month with a total of 28 to lose for ideal weight? I would say thats pretty good results!
I been on keto for 5 months. My avg is about 10 a month And I am 100% compliant. I dont see 10 carbs a day. SO you should be very happy with 8 first month. My first month I lost 2 pounds. Once I got fat adapted I started to cruise. So I think you will be fine and get to your goal healthy and quick. I every day 24hours. EF once a month for 48+ before I cave in. The key is not to go crazy coming off EF. I just go right back on to my regular food. Give my liver and digestion a nice rest.
HAVE FUN!

#10

Oops I totally missed the 28 pounds to lose part. I would say 8 pounds was fantastic then.

#11

What does an average day of eating look like for you, if you don’t mind sharing? It seems like I’m finding carbs in everything, even 4-5 grams in vegetables.

(8 year Ketogenic Veteran) #12

AGREE!!![quote=“jamestorie, post:2, topic:12409”]
forced restriction isn’t helpful.
[/quote]

THIS THIS THIS

(Michael Wallace Ellwood) #13

In some ways, the most useful thing I did was to learn to skip breakfast (or perhaps that would be better put as learning how to delay breakfast for as long as possible, like 3pm in the afternoon, for example).

And then to try to get some physical activity (for me, walking, cycling, occasionally swimming) in during that semi-fasting period, so I at least had the feeling I was burning up some body fat.

For me this was a big thing mentally, and to some extent physically because even until comparatively recently, I was a big believer in starting my day with a good breakfast. I have now learned that it’s not essential and that significantly delaying breakfast won’t kill me, and in fact seems to help me lose weight.

(Kat Lewis) #14

I have a hard time understanding all the different figures. Im new to keto. For example,today I fasted from 10pm to 2pm the next day. I had about 3ounces of hard cheddar,2 xlarge eggs,1tbsp of chia and flax,and 2 strips of turkey bacon . Im trying to stay under a gross of 10 carbs daily. And 900-1200 calories. I have no thyroid and am full menopausal so my bmr is low. Im 196 lbs at 5’6". Ive not lost any weight yet. Ive been working on this for two weeks. Oh,I also drink 1/2 to a full gallon if water daily. How do I know what Im doing wrong?

(Ken A Lawley) #15

Hi Kat - unsure if my experience helps but I’m 4 weeks in. At 2 weeks I had lost about 8-10 lbs which I imagined to be water loss as my body realized it didn’t need to hold onto so much water if I wasn’t going to feed it glucose. Since then the past 2 weeks have been a slow steady grind with modest losses of 1-2 lbs/week. The daily weighing can be a form of self-torture as one day I’m up, the next I’m down, but the longer view has me in the direction I want.
One thing I do to confirm something is happening correctly is I use the Ketostix to check to see if Ketosis is happening. Mornings give a low reading, evenings a high one.
There’s so many variables that it’s hard to know much for sure. I do know I feel so much better, sharper and energetic that I’m wondering how well this works as a lifestyle choice.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #16

The important thing when starting a ketogenic diet is to eat as much fat as it takes to satisfy your hunger, while restricting carbohydrate as much as possible and keeping protein moderate. If we restrict calories, our body will respond by shutting down non-essential processes and by lowering the basal metabolic rate. This is not helpful for losing weight.

If, on the other hand, we eat fat to satiety, the body will naturally curb our eating at an energy intake level that lets it accomplish all the healing it needs to do, while also metabolizing its stored fat in addition to the fat we are eating. The key is to let the body make the decision. Most people find that they quite naturally stop eating at a level of calories that may or may not be what they were eating before keto. But it will be the optimal rate for the body’s return to metabolic health.