Need advice; stalled after a month

#1

Hello. First of all, this seems like a great group, happy to find it!

I started Keto in April 2020. Before starting, I was roughly 6’0 188lbs. 43 years old, 15.4% body fat (according to my scale which is probably not that accurate from an absolute standpoint but useful for trending).

I lost 10lbs in the first month but haven’t lost any significant weight for the last month or so. I have refined my diet along the way, slowly reducing/removing things that could be slowing progress like alcohol, sugar alcohols, nuts, dairy, mct and most other oils, etc however I can’t seem to really get going.

I’m consuming roughly 1650 calories a day, roughly 25-30 carbs per day, and also working out for 45-60 minutes a day (average of 550 calories burned) and getting roughly 7-8 hours of sleep per night without too much stress. My fasting glucose runs in the 80-95mg/dl range and my ketones have been running in the .9-1.8mmol/l range. 2 months in, i’m running at 178lb and 14.8% body fat, but these numbers haven’t really changed for almost a month.

Generally I am not feeling hungry at any point. I was also skipping breakfast but decided to put that back in to see if it would help rebuild momentum. Lastly, despite trying every solution online, I can’t figure out how to regain “regularity” on this diet. Unless I use M-O-M, I really don’t have any movements, though there is no discomfort. Even the short stints using MCT oil, sugar alcohols, etc did little to make an impact. I take roughly 300mg of magnesium and drink roughly 80-100 ounces of water each day.

Any recommendations for strategies to address the weight plateau?

Thanks in advance!

Brian

(bulkbiker) #2

You’re not eating enough so your body thinks it’s starving and will hang on to every pound.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #3

Get the carbs below 20 net grams per day. As per @MarkGossage you’re not eating enough, especially not enough fats, particularly saturated fats. Let’s do some math:

19%20PM

Let’s add some energy expenditure, say your moderate daily exercise regimen:

31%20PM

6’0", 178lbs and 15% BF is pretty good. I wouldn’t be surprised if your metabolism agrees. Keto is a metabolic normalization process and your normal may not be exactly what you thought or hoped it would be. If you continue with your current energy deficit, I suspect you will start losing lean mass.

Don’t get fooled. Calories in/out is not the important thing. They’re just a measure. The important thing is keeping carbs sub-20 grams per day or less to stay in ketosis consistently, eating enough protein to maintain lean mass and enough fat, especially saturated, to keep your energy balance up.

#4

Thanks Mark!

#5

Great stuff, thank you. Will make some tweaks and report back. Thanks!

#6

Any update on your progress? I’m curious to see if eating more helped :grin:

#7

Thanks for the advice, just want to report back. 2.5 months since my post and i’m still going strong. I’ve upped my calories to roughly 2300 per day and continue to exercise. I think my body basically hit an equilibrium at my current weight of 176lb, 14.7% body fat. I’m feeling pretty good Only thing i’m trying to improve is that some of the incremental strength/energy that I felt at the beginning of the diet has seemed to subside a little bit, open to ideas with that. Other than that, things are feeling pretty good right now.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #8

Sounds as though you are doing well. Thanks for checking back in, and keep on ketoing on! :bacon: