Need help from some 'oldtimers' out there

(Coralie Hilton) #1

Started nearly 3 months ago and now I really feel like I need a bit more structured guidance from peeps hwo actually KNOW what they are doing.

I have scoured the threads already in search of a previous query like this that got answered but…

I have literally yo-yo’d with weight loss Down 7 pounds the first week and swung up and down ever since. Literally every week, guys - if I went down the week before I go up the next weelk and vice versa.

Yes, I guess I want someone to ‘fix’ this for me.

I lost nearly 4 stone (english) 8 years ago doing what was basically Keto (Idiot Proof Diet - Knight and Thomas). But this time I feel like even though I am way more clued in and doing this for more than weight loss that I am really missing something somewhere that maybe I was just ‘doing’ last time .

Ready to tear my own hair out… oddly though, not tempted to quit keto, happy to keep on. But I have at least 5 stone to lose, not to mention a set of knees&hips to save!

What info would you need from me in order for me to work out best how to steer my diet?

(bulkbiker) #2

HI and welcome fellow Brit… so what are you actually eating?
Carbs below 20g per day?
Everything else to satiety?

(Coralie Hilton) #3

Hi and thanks for replying, fellow Brit!!

Only have 2 minutes to write as I have to get my daughter up form her nap… I’ll type fast…

I eat less that 20g carbs in a day… leafy greens, meat, fats… some cheese, not a lot… some nuts, not a lot, avocado,

with more time I could write you out my meals since the 7th of January !!

My go-to foods are now ‘fatty’ so I would say I was adapted… but I dont know.

I just don;t know!

(bulkbiker) #4

Sounds like you might not be eating enough? Are you restricting calories? Eating multiple times a day… snacking?

(Carl Keller) #5

Hi Coralie and welcome.

I am wondering how the food you have been eating affects your hunger? Do you find yourself hungry often and still craving carbs? Are you able to make it from meal to meal easily? Are you snacking? Do you use artificial sweeteners? Is there a lot of stress in your life? Are you on any medications? Have you noticed any improvements to your general health like reduced inflammation, better demeanor, looser clothing, more energy etc?

The answers to these questions might help folks offer suggestions.

(Coralie Hilton) #6

Hi Mark,
I would say I eat enough calories.

I eat 3 meals a day unless I’m not hungry

I do snack, some days…it’s either pork scratchings (good ones!) or kabanos/cheese/salad or something similar

Hi Carl, will answer you fully in just a moment.

(Coralie Hilton) #7

Hi Carl…

Thanks for replying!

I’m not often hungry now… I was before I started keto - wasn’t ever not hungry. Started taking Milk Thistle for liver function. Maybe should stop that now?

I do not crave carbs at all now. I will occasionally look at something someone else is eating and think ‘yeah, I used to really like that’ but I never think ‘yeah, gonna eat that!!’

I really easily make from meal to meal… I am a natural IF most days

I do snack sometimes but then I have a 2 year old daughter. But I don’t snack like I used to pre-keto.

Then it was morning coffee with something sweet and carby (cake etc) arvo coffee with same cravings for biscuits. late night in front of the telly with crisps and wine etc.

I don’t really feel those cravings at those times anymore… and if I do I have a couple of almonds and a black decaff coffee.

I do have sweeteners. I use a stevia variety (truvia)that i checked out for hidden carbs, only have a couple of those a day. some days.

No medications but I do take supplements… psyllium husk, CoQ10, vit C, B complex, mulit vit, magnesium, milk thistle, turmeric.

As for general health…No inch loss (dammit!), no happier (too frustrated!) no more energy than normal.

(Coralie Hilton) #8

I have had vodka and slimline tonic a few times this last month, but not every day.

Plus this last 8 days I have had diarrhea… every single day, some days all day!

Sorry if too much info!

(Carl Keller) #9

That means something good is happening. When we eat a diet high in processed foods and especially sugar, it makes us hungry all the time. Getting our hunger to behave properly is an important step for healthy weight loss… and making the correct response to that hunger often determines what the scale is going to do for us.

Some things you might consider or try:

Reduce the amount of dairy and/or nuts you are eating since these are very easy to eat in excess of intention.

Reduce your eating window and see how your hunger responds. You might be surprised to see that you can eat dinner and then nothing all the way to lunch time the next day, without real hunger. It’s arguable that no animal on this planet that eats nutrient dense foods, needs three or even two meals per day to thrive (if said animal has access to an ample supply of food).

Reduce or avoid artificial sweetners because while they may not cause a spike in blood glucose levels, they usually cause an insulin spike. The longer and more often we keep insulin at rest, the better it will act when it goes to do its job and the more opportunity we will have to burn body fat. Artificial sweeteners can also trick our bodies into wanting to eat when we aren’t really hungry.

Avoid snacking. Eating more protein and fat at meal time is far better than eating small amounts every few hours and constantly calling on insulin.

Avoid stress. Raising cortisol levels can undo our best efforts to lose weight. You can do everything perfectly, but if cortisol is active, weight loss will be extremely difficult.

(Coralie Hilton) #10

Hi Carl, thanks for detailed reply. I really really appreciate it!

Agree totally on the hunger issue… Total game changer for me! Going from always hungry to ‘meh, I could eat’… and not wanting to eat all the rubbish I was eating before. And portion sizes are sooooo much smaller now!

Not that I was into junk food or that sort of thing, just biscuits, cake (gluten free though, so even worse than ‘normal’ versions) crisps, wine (lots of wine!)

We eat really well, mostly organic, lots of veggies and meat.

Thanks for suggestions… Will try cutting out all dairy and nuts. I wasn’t eating very much of either, though more of the cheese perhaps. Got a scare in my first week or two with cashews and haven’t really dared much since! Had no idea they were so high carb… no wonder I was finding them a nice ‘sweet’ treat!

The sweeteners too can go - again had no idea that they affected insulin levels… I thought that the stevia ones I was having were ok… stevia, erythritol… no maltodextrin or aspartame etc

Ok, so no snacking. Dang it… I just discovered pork scratchings without additives, too!

And I’ll have to start meditating too, to get my stress levels down… you can so do that with a two year old can’t you :smile:

Righto, off to get my head around all this.

Have a great night nd thanks again
Coralie

#11

Today is my birthday and at 69 I bet I qualify as an “oldtimer” for sure.

Losing weight, being it on keto or otherwise, is not an easy deal. Ignore everyone’s opinion that losing is easy. It’s not. Heed the advice but ignore the opinions.

And especially when you’ve been at this a long time. Now, it can be less painful and depriving on keto, but it is not magic. Stick with it, like you stuck with high carbs most of your life.

I do a lot of Extended Fasting – 2, 3, 4 and 5 days. Always lose a bunch but gain some back. The key it to have a net loss at the end of a month. For example, I’ve lost 70 pounds since last April 8 (SW 255) but since early February I’ve stalled despite fasting and have been gaining and losing the same 5 pounds (CW 185-190). I’m still trying to figure what has gone wrong – no matter how experienced I am.

I had suspected it was too many higher carb meals when coming off long fasts. But now I suspect artificial sweetners and nuts. Those are my next elimination elements.

You really just need to keep experimenting and don’t put a date on your final goal. I put a 1-year goal of 75 pounds (GW 180) on April 8 but it looks like I am going to “fail” because of tonight’s birthday meal and then vacation coming up from April 1-15 when my wife and I drive out West from Baton Rouge to L.A.

Perseverance is the definition of KCKO.

(Alec) #12

This signals you had a lot of healing to do. Keto works by healing first, then when you get healthy the weight loss happens. You don’t lose weight to get healthy. You get healthy to lose weight.

So stay patient and stay keto. It will happen.

(mole person) #13

Nuts and some cheeses stall me out completely and can even make me gain. They might as well be potato chips and cookies for the way they affect my brain. If they are in the house, no matter what limits I put on myself for how much I can eat in a day before I must stop, I’ll just keep going back again and again until they are all gone.

(Carl Keller) #14

You’re very welcome Coralie. I hope I said something that might help. :slight_smile:

I love scratchings too! My compromise with not snacking is having the scratchings just before I eat my meal. It’s an appetizer, not a snack. :slight_smile:

And I also have to admit that I do use stevia in my morning coffee and still had good weight loss results… but that’s the only time I use sweeteners and it’s only a few grams.

(mole person) #15

We call them pork rinds here. I only eat one meal a day but I’ll put them in as a yummy, crunchy dippable side dish sometimes. Mmmmmmm…pork rinds…:drooling_face:

(bulkbiker) #16

Which are your pork scratchings… always on the lookout for the bestest…?

(Coralie Hilton) #17

I guess ‘oldtimer’ was the wrong way to put it!! I was going for something the opposite of Newbie!! 69 isn;t old at all. Unless you are a teenager, maybe…

Thank you so much for replying… I hear you on the gaining/losing the same few pounds… It’s so frustrating. More so becaue I did all this 8 years ago and all I do now is second guess my memories. I dont really know how I was doing in the first 4 months of that 8 years ago because I didn;t have scales then… But I’d lost 17 pounds in those 4 months, when I did finally find some scale that worked! which I was thrilled about… But I don;t know is if that came off at 1 a week or at the end or what!

Super frustrating. It’s bent my head basically every week since January trying to work out what why when where I’m derailing…I do much much better with ‘a plan’!

And I also had a time limit in mind…By June this year to have lost at least 3 stone :rofl::rofl:… and to be basically where I wanna be by November in time for my daughters’ 3rd birthday… Doesn’t seem feasible to me now…

The short time is mainly because 9 months in 8 years ago I started to get really dizzy and faint a lot and my partner suggested changing diet completely … I went on to do food combining (Hays Diet) which was OK, but I really regret not sticking with the Keto. Not seeing if I could go onto the next step and reintroduce fruits and carbs (good carbs) and seeing where that would take me.

Oh, well, onwards and upwards!!

Well, that I got in spades!

(Coralie Hilton) #18

From amazon Awfully Posh do a scratching which is just salt and pork rind!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Awfully-Posh-Anglesea-Salt-Crackling/dp/B00L1JOASM/ref=sr_1_2_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1553007779&sr=8-2&keywords=awfully+posh+sea+salt+24

And from ebay Black Country Snacks do 13 flavours… I get the black pepper ones.

Happy snacking!

(bulkbiker) #19

Have had the Awfully Posh (waitrose sell them too) but those Black Country look great… off to ebay we trot…

(Coralie Hilton) #20

I seem able (just now) to keep those in moderation but I’m thinking they may well be my stallers too… so gonna go a week without (bites knuckles) and see how it goes!

Watched a short video on youtube and this lady (doing keto) says black pepper and avacado can do it too!! Bit shocked to say the least… but I guess we are all unique beings and gotta find our own way through this!