Started keto in October ‘21 lost about 120# it’s been good to me.
Current stats 209 - 6’ getting pretty lean.
34 years old
Run 2 miles per day 300 active calories burned - 6 days per week
Lift weights for 20-30min after running 4 days per week
Total calorie burn between active and resting is 2800 - 3000 calories per day (apple watch)
Blood keystones in morning upon waking 1.7 - 2.1 (use a blood meter)
Blood keystones before dinner 3 - 4 typically
Total calories per day around 1400 - 1700
Typical day I consume lunch (around 0-5 carbs) - example chicken Cesar, no croutons, half avacado
Snack (4 carbs) - nut bar
Protein shake 24g protein 1 carb
Dinner (5 carbs or less) chicken breast w tomatoes and motz cheese. Or eggs with ground sausage and bell peppers, perhaps a cup of broccoli.
Gummies before bed to sleep (10 carbs)
1-2 shots of alcohol per night
I seem to be stalled on weight loss - I am putting on muscle from lifting - it’s noticeable.
Is it possible my muscle gain is causing the scale to play tricks and not go down? Suggestions on loosing weight? Looking to drop anther 15-20#
I am 6 foot and now weigh 193, my question is are you really eating enough calories? Our bodies will fight to keep the weight on and it will even put fat on your body if you aren’t eating enough. Our bodies are programmed to survive regardless of the amount of food we give it. It will slow down your metabolism to prevent too much fat loss. I am 75 and have been as heavy as 290, and over the last 12 years have had many battles with yo yo weight gains and losses. My answer this time has turned out to be fasting and moderately low carb eating. I fast on average 19 hours each day, I do my activities while I am fasting, I eat until I am satisfied, no calorie counting and no counting carbs for me. The other thing to know is this you have to keep your metabolism balanced, meaning, eating enough food, being active enough but not over doing it, sleeping enough, keeping your mental and physical stress levels down. There is so much that can throw your metabolism out of balance and cause you to not lose weight and even gain weight while overdoing your exercise and not eating enough.
PaulL
(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?)
#3
Muscle has weight, so it’s probably the muscle gain that is registering on your scale, don’t you think? Fat is less dense than muscle, so if you lose an equivalent mass of fat to the mass of the muscle you are gaining, you would be getting thinner, regardless of what the number on the scale is doing. Is this perhaps the case? Also consider whether the scale number is really that important, if you are getting thinner and stronger.
You’ve also lost 120 lbs./54.5 kg of fat. How much more do you need to lose? Only another 10 lbs./5.45 kg, am I right? As I’m fond of pointing out, the first 50 kg come off a lot faster than the last 5. So keep calm and keto on.
After losing that much weight, your body needs a break to adapt itself. You should be happy for the stall, even a small gain. Your skin will tighten, the remaining fat will firm up or be replaced with muscle, your entire system needs to adjust. I lost 120 pounds so far, and I always allowed stalls. The result is a good metabolism, no bags of empty skin, and a new weight point set.
Also, be aware that the less you have to lose, the longer it takes to come off. Take my advice and be patient, if you force your body into deprivation now, you will regret it big time. You will slow down your metabolism and teach your body to hold on to all fat it can again.
Take a break, allow your body to adjust. I don’t mean take a break from Keto, just from pushing for weight loss.
Like @velvet says… stalls can be a much needed break.
I think of them as time for my body to find it’s balance again. Stalls happen. Sometimes frequently.
They don’t mean failure, they mean, “Hey, Look at me, maintaining!!!”
There are no tricks, if you’re gaining muscle the scale is going to reflect that. That’s why you need to take measurements. The scale is only good for watching the trend line, the scale weight by itself doesn’t dictate your progress.
Welcome to the forum Taylor. First, I want to congratulate you on your refocus on your health.
I am also 6 feet tall, and got down to 175 lbs. I am now 178. I want more muscle though. I do have a couple of suggestions. I do not see a breakfast on your daily routine. I use breakfast as a way to get my energy for the day, and a way to get some daily MCTs in. They seem to provide me a good morning energy source which makes me feel energetic and willing to go without caffeine. Caffeine tends to increase cortisol, which can block fat burning. I use goat yogurt or a whole raw A2 milk to make my own yogurt to which I add berries. Goat yogurt will typically have about twice the MCTs as cow dairy. MCTs have been shown to help fat loss. I believe this is probably mostly because they tend to keep the mitochondria more fat adapted, and willing to burn fat. I also only eat a meal twice per day, so in this sense, lunch and dinner is fine - but I prefer breakfast and dinner.
Personally, I feel your total calories are far too low. The reason is you want to consume your daily bmr + what your body needs to exercise to prevent it from going into “life saving mode.” When you consume too few calories for long periods of time like this, your body will lower its BMR in order to prevent you from losing too much weight ie dying. A main way it does this is by producing reverse T3 or reverse thyroid. Reverse T3 prevents your normal T3 from working by blocking the same receptors T3 uses. This has the effect of lessening your thyroid levels even though you may have the same amount of T3. People who did the Biggest Loser pretty much all lowered their BMR and most gained considerable weight back. Even 3 or 4 years later their BMR was still 300 to 400 calories lower. So don’t cut the calories. Indeed, I tried not to, and still lost the fat. I even incorporated a fat bomb. I really amped up my protein, and supplemented with protein smoothies for an extra 30 to 50 gr of protein per day. So how do you eat the same calories and still lose the weight? By doing keto. You replace the carb calories with calories from protein and fat. Without all the carbs, you will become insulin sensitive, and usually will not store the fat. This is why the past overemphasis on calorie dieting is I believe misplaced. I didn’t even want to cut my calories. I ate full meals of protein and cruciferous vegetables or salads with my homemade MCT dressing.
I also did things to try to make more metabolically active brown fat. BTW, I agree with Paul, that your gain in muscle could be reflecting as a weight loss stall. This happened to me. I initially lost about 13 pounds on keto, but then my weight loss stopped. I was working out 3 times/wk, and was like you gaining a little muscle. My strength definitely improved - a lot. This is what I wanted. We have since gotten a scale that computes fat percentage and BMR, but at the time, I actually saw my weight start to go back up a few pounds. If I had our BMR scale, I wouldn’t have worried about it. However, my waist went from a 40 to a 36 - for a person my size, this usually converts to at least a 24 pound fat loss - but the scale only showed an 11 pound weight loss. When I quit keto, I also stopped working out, and my weight then just fell off to 175 or another 9 pounds and I even got into size 34s.
I do not do carnivore keto. I feel that fiber helps me lose weight. When doing keto I still eat small amounts of fruit ie berries, and get more soluble fiber from cruciferous vegetables and the plant protein smoothie I make with a whole avocado. A healthy gut microbiome will turn most of that soluble fiber into short chain fatty acids - mostly butyrate - which has a positive effect on fat burning.
Rather than doing the gummies before bed, try taking 1-3 mg of melatonin about an hour before bed. Alcohol before bed will stop fat loss. Esp beer. One beer has the glycemic effect of a bolus of sugar. The alcohol in wine will also stop fat loss. Alcohol is metabolized on the same pathway as fructose, which is just converted into fat by the liver. So, if you want to lose the fat, you really should stop the alcohol - sorry.
Do not worry about your ketone levels as long as you have some. Eating too much extra fat, just means you have to burn off more rather than burning what you have stored…
You are undereating for the amount of exercise you are doing. Your body will adapt to the fewer calories you are giving it and down-regulate your metabolism. You do not want this, as it can take a long time to fix. I like you, exercise a lot. So I increase my calories and lost weight. On heavy exercise days, I would also increase my carb intake to over 100+ grams. Yes, I was still losing weight. This undereating will affect your sleep as well. I bet you are also waking up during the night more than once to urinate. Have some carbs about an hour before bed. Try a piece of sourdough bread with cheese. Do not worry about being kicked out of ketosis; you will survive. Your numbers suggest you are a very good responder to keto. Losing the alcohol will also help you sleep. Melatonin production decreases as we age, but supplementing with it is okay short term and cycle it, maybe 1 week straight.
Thanks again for the advice I will take the calories up! Personally melatonin does nothing for me - I’ve tried taking it for days in larger qty than 3mg with no luck. Insomnia seems to be a family curse and many take sleeping pills for it - I’ve been able to avoid those.
The muscle gain makes sense - I used to body build in my early 20s and I still feel like I put muscle on easily.
I’ll work on more calories without a ton more carbs, and cutting the alcohol some!
Velvet - I was fortunate to not have an loose skin. I started nearly two years ago so it’s been a journey. I think 1.5 years to loose the majority of the weight. I took lots of vitamins along the way - including vitamin e, fish oil, and collagen. I think these all helped my elasticity.
