New, Gaining on Keto? One week in

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(Bill Pratt) #1

Hey everyone. One week into Keto. (8 days actually) … Lol. I feel amazing. Doing this with my wife. We are late 40’s. Weight has fluctuated from 180 to 225 last 20 years. We read the book “Keto Zone”. Decided to go ALL IN! I was going to stay off the scale but couldn’t resist after 5 days in. I started at 201. After 4 days I was 194.4. My following 3 weights:
194.7
195.5
197.4 (today).
Not sure if going up like this is normal?
My macros are average on Fitness pal:
10% carb
10% protien
80% fat

Actual numbers from yesterday :
79g protein
15 (net) carbs
210g fat
Been doing Mct oil, real Ketones powder, virgin olive oil, avacado, spinach with chicken, coconut oils, low carb veggies ect.
Lots of water. About a gallon a day.
Measured Ketones since day 3 and has been between 1.5 and 4.0 on the urine strips.
Any suggestions? (maybe throw the scale away? Kind of frustrating this morning to be honest. Not giving up though. Was definitely “upset” enough to start looking on internet and found this forum so I signed up.) Thanks in advance.
Bill

(John) #2

Only count weekly weigh ins. First few weeks are choppy. Commit to 6 weeks minimum and then compare.

(Carl Keller) #3

Hello and welcome Bill.

Your body is still trying to figure things out. It will eventually learn to process fat for fuel if you keep doing what you are doing. Weight can fluctuate 1-3 pounds on any given day due to water loss or gain so the scale isn’t really a good indicator of progress at this point.

A gallon of water seems like a lot. I think it would be safe to back down to 2-3 quarts per day. Just make sure you are getting plenty of salt (2+ teaspoons per day). With all that water you are drinking, you are constantly losing salt when you urinate. Plus eating ketogenically means we don’t retain salt very well. Carbs help us retain salt and in a carb restricted diet, the sodium leaves us much quicker.

Weight gain is usually measured over long amounts of time… months, years, even decades. So it’s not fair to measure our losses in days or even weeks. Give it time and be patient.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #4

My suggestion would be to dump the ketone powder. The goal is to get your body to make them, supplementing them doesn’t help weight loss.

(Bill Pratt) #5

Thanks everyone. I will reduce water intake. And I will stop the Ketones powder. (It was a suggestion from someone for “Keto Flu” but that has gone away.) Himalayan pink salt helped with that and broth. Wasn’t too bad.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #6

My scale is a lying liar that lies. The other day, I stepped on it before entering the shower, and it showed a fourteen-pound weight gain over the previous day. I knew what to do about that! I stepped into the shower, and afterward weighed myself again. Sure enough, in those eight minutes in the shower I had washed off nearly twelve pounds of dirt and grease!

(L. C.) #7

Are you sure about that? The only time my urine strip show that I am in ketosis is when I take exogenous supplements. I am 45/female. Fatty liver and frustrated… (As pathetic as that sounds it made me laugh. This will be my new go-to
“About Me” paragraph for a dating site.)

(Running from stupidity) #8

Yup.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #9

Surely your body is using the ketones it’s producing and that’s why you get no reading when testing. It only tests the urine for ketones your body isn’t using. I don’t test and never have but if you stay true to <20 carbs daily you will get into ketosis. You just have to trust it. And the adjustment period to becoming fat adapted is different for everyone. Sometimes people are adapting after a few days and some take weeks.

(Scott) #10

One week is not enough time. Just stay on plan and give it months not weeks. Yes you should start losing weight but you will have up days to. It took me about three month to settle in to where I felt like I was fat adapted. Me, I weigh every day and my scale has logged my weight and body fat % for the last two and a half years. I find it interesting to observe trends over weeks months or years. To me it is just more data points but I also don’t obsess over day to day fluctuations.

(mole person) #11

If you’re only getting a ketone reading when you use exogenous ketones than you aren’t actually in ketosis. Exegenous ketones don’t put you in ketosis and they do nothing for weight loss. The whole point of a ketogenic diet is that WHEN your body burns fat it makes ketones as a byproduct. If the ketones that are making your urine strip light up aren’t made in your liver when it’s metabolizing fat then they won’t have anything to do with weight loss either.

Are you eating only 20 grams of carbs a day?

(mole person) #12

One common area of confusion that can lead new people to not losing weight is the belief that one has to eat to ones fat macro. The only time a person needs to eat their whole fat macro is when they are trying to maintain their weight.

Here is the best way to approach your macros. First find out what they are in grams for a person of your size. What you are really after is the amount of protein that you need. This is the only macro that should be seen as a target.

20 net grams of carbs is a maximum.

Your protein macro is a target that you are trying to hit reasonably closely. But you don’t even need to over-fuss about that. If you are a short one day and high the next it’s fine. Just shoot for the general area.

The fat macro is there for your bodies energy needs. At first, when a lot of people start a ketogenic diet they are starving and need all those fat calories to help satiate them. But as their body gets better at metabolizing fat it no longer cares if a good chunk of their fat comes from their body instead of their plate. So again, the fat macro should be seen as a maximum. Only eat that much if you are hungry for it.

At one week in though you are really at the early stages. So eat all that fat if you are hungry and just wait out the process which can take up to 6 weeks. BUT if you are just eating and drinking fat because you think you are supposed to then don’t. That’s just a confusion that really stalls a lot of people early on because they are just forcing in fat calories that they aren’t even hungry for because they think that’s the diet.

(Bill Pratt) #13

Makes a lot of sense. Thank you for that.

(L. C.) #14

Thank you. I aim for 20 net carbs- not working out for me, apparently. I was 148 lbs. when I attempted, or thought I started KETO. I am now 153-156 lbs. I do a 50 min cardio at least 2, (3) x/week. Calories under 1500 ish. 16/8 i.f.

I have fatty liver, cirrhosis and early menopause. I know that sounds horrible, but I’m actually in decent health otherwise. LOL, I know that sounds horrible but I really do feel pretty good. It baffles me that I have my alcoholic cirrhosis under control and (seemingly) barely there, however I can’t do anything about this fairly sudden, stubborn weight gain? My average, “effortless” weight was max 134 lbs. At just over 5’6". For the last 12 years.

(Heather Meyer) #15

Judas Priest!! What is this madness!
Guessing you need to go to confessional if your washing off that much dirt!!

(James) #16

you could of course use any salt - it’s all just sodium chloride!

(Margie Wilhjelm) #17

I was wondering if my liver problems was causing my weight gain and stall. I was doing keto for about 8 months in 2016. I lost 30 lbs and my liver was improving. Unfortunately ,fell off keto life and I started back on my keto journey Dec 2018 and have gained a lb or two back and forth. I’ve been suffering with keto flu for the past several days so I’m in ketosis according to the urine strips. I’m pushing on because I know once adapted my liver will be thanking me … I know the weight will eventually fall off and I remember how great I will feel. :hugs::hugs::hugs:

(mole person) #18

Menopause is a bitch, it’s what led me down this keto rabbit hole too. I suddenly found myself gaining weight quickly and unable to shake it. Keto led me to lose all of my extra fat.

From the sound of it you aren’t very metabolically deranged. If you drop your carbs to less than 20 grams you should see some excellent results quickly.

(Margie Wilhjelm) #19

Yes, I dropped almost 3lbs overnight. Keto flu is gone and I feel so much better today. I must be over the hump as long as I keep the veggie carbs down. I’m also in menopause and currently taking estrogen for.

#20

wow! thank you!