Little to no weight loss

(Stacey Weatherholt) #1

I am a 40 year old female 5’9 inches. I started on Keto after trying several other diet plans. I work out 3 to 4 days a week with a pretty intense crossfit style regimen. After losing intial 4 pounds of mostly water weight, my weight is stuck at 180. I am also hungry all the time. I have been using keto strips to verify that I am in ketosis and I have been so for over 4 weeks now. I am not sure what I am doing wrong.
Any ideas?

(E.O.) #2

I’ve heard several different sources at various Keto seminars say that if you take a look at your macros and are eating within them, but are not taking off the weight you need to take off, take a look at other life style factors. These include such things as sleep quantity and quality, supplementation (are you getting all the nutrition you need?), stress and things to reduce stress levels, etc. It can be normal, however, when you are just starting out (for some people) not to see any significant weight loss–just inches/fat lost and muscle gain. I’ve never lost weight doing low carb or keto until I also did IF.

(Jennifer ) #3

Hello! Sounds like you and I are incredibly close in size and weight, meaning that neither of us truly have that much to lose. It’s slow going for me as well, but I started at 250, currently sitting at 175 at 5’10. You work out, so your body fat comp is probably even lower than mine. And I only have about 20-30 left to lose…you may have even less than that.

Your body is probably quite happy to hold onto the fat you have, so youre gonna have to pull out some extra tricks to get it to relinquish it’s rainy day fund. Fasting will probably be key for this, extended in particular. Believe it or not, fasting will help the hunger.

However, sounds like you may not be fat adapted yet if you’re still hungry all the time. Wait the hunger out, and just eat when you’re hungry. The hunger ding-ding-ditch cycle WILL stop, I promise. If it doesn’t, up your fat intake or wiggle your macros around a little.

But seriously - try the fasting. I’m an athlete (just not the kind that works out regularly LOL) and my fasted workouts have been some of the most productive.

(Stacey Weatherholt) #4

I generally do not eat prior to my work outs and some days I dont eat my first meal until well into the afternoon. Do I need to fast for days at a time?

(Jay AM) #5

People don’t generally suggest fasting until you are fat adapted which takes 6-8 weeks on average but can take longer. It’s individual. Keto strips aren’t useful for telling you whether or not you’re in ketosis. All they tell you is that you are wasting ketones. You don’t want to waste ketones, you want to be efficiently using them. They were made for diabetics with high blood sugar to test for ketoacidosis and, the people they were made for definitely aren’t in ketosis. At some point they will start showing trace or none and that’s probably around the time you can say you are fat adapted.

Have you been keto for 4 weeks straight then? I can probably guess the problem but, please share any food logs and macros (in grams and not percents if available) as well as calorie intake.

(Jennifer ) #6

You may. When you don’t have much to lose, it’s not just a math equation of calories in and out. You have to get your insulin low enough to access more of the fat. Fasting, particularly extended, is one of the best ways to lower it. Exercise is another, but you already do that and clear that hasn’t been enough.

Basically, the longer you fast, the longer your insulin remains unstimulated. When insulin pulses, your stored energy gets locked away, and you use your eaten food for energy instead.

A lot of us break our stalls with fasting. Even 48 hours might give you the kick start you need.

But yeah, as Jay said, if you’re truly not fat adapted yet, fasting will be really difficult.

(Candy Lind) #7

What are your macros? How many calories? When did you start?

(Stacey Weatherholt) #8

Total calories 2200
Fat 199
Protein 98
Carbs 25
That is the plan. I have a hard time coming anywhere near that calorie intake and. I am usually around 1600 calories. 123 g fat. 90 protein and 20 or less carbs
I started 5 weeks ago.

(Candy Lind) #9

You’re probably not eating enough for that activity level, and your metabolic rate is suffering because of it. Before you’re fat-adapted, it’s usually recommended that you back off some on workouts to give your body an easier time of adjusting. You might try that - maybe just 2 times a week. Are you having difficulty with your workouts? Are you working out fasted or fed?

I think maybe your protein level is too high; I’m only eating 50-70g/day and I weigh 230 with LBM of 150. I’m not certain where you got that figure. I’m guessing you are somewhere in the 160-170 LBM range, and at the recommended 1 gram per kg body weight, that would put you around 68 grams. That much extra protein might be your problem.

In general, I believe you are at a weight where you’ll have to keep your body guessing in order to not slow down your metabolism. @Jennafurry is right, if you’re hungry you need to eat. And maybe slow down or stop the workouts, or substitute slow-rep weight training for the HIIT until you are fat-adapted. Do your best to get some more fat in, and go easy on the protein. Do you keep fat bombs around? They are a really easy way to get some more fat in.

(Stacey Weatherholt) #10

Not having issues with my workout. My performance is about the same. The macros came from an keto app that I downloaded. I was thinking that perhaps my protein was too high. I will watch that closer. Thanks for the input

#11

My opinion – workout intensity and weight loss fight each other. Workouts involve recovery, post-exercise inflammation, and increased hunger – all these frustrate weight loss.

My opinion – if you stop working out and stop eating, you will absolutely get to your target weight. If you work out lightly and eat lightly, you will absolutely get to your target weight, just slower.

My opinion – get your weight where you want it to be and then pick your exercise intensity back up.

Did I mention this is my opinion? I’m trying this to break a 5 month stall. I’ll report how it goes.