I started the Keto diet on 4/23/19. Initially I lost 6lbs the first week. And slowly lost about 2lbs a week there after. I did hit a bump in the road and threw myself out of ketosis. I had started eating those Atkins bars and didnt realize or know about maltilol. Once I became aware of this and stopped eating these things I got back into ketosis and lost 2 more lbs… but now its been 2 weeks and have gained 3 lbs but Im still in ketosis. ( I have the urine test strips)
Im staying at 20 net gram carbs a day… but most of my carbs are coming from my morning and afternoon coffee. I have 1 tbs of coffee creamer (5 grams) and about 4 tbs (2.4 grams) of heavy cream in each cup of coffee. So this is the majority of my carbs. Even though this is still under the 20 could this be the reason for my weight gain? The only other things i eat would be baked chicken, hamburger (no bun) with mustard, beef hot dogs with mustard, pork rinds… 1 tbsp of mct oil a day, keto drink mix with no carbs… 100 oz of water… i just dont know what i am doing wrong… do i need to cut out the coffee? I cant drink it black… its too gross…lol I tried stevia instead and I cant stand the taste of it…
New here and gaining weight
Welcome to the forum Mart =).
For some people, dairy is an issue, so they have been trying things like switching to ghee, or butter or coconut oil in their coffee. Personally I drink a tspn of vanilla flavoured MCT and unsweetened Silk Cashew “milk” (not milk, no dairy, only like 25 calories per cup and I use like 1 tbspn). The 20 grams of carbs is a good number, and lots of water, (which you are doing) and high protein and lots of healthy fats.
Ketosis is no guarantee of weight loss.
Ketosis is driven by carb restriction. Weight loss is driven by caloric restriction and is slow and non-linear. For many, ketosis just makes caloric restriction easier because hunger is no longer being driven by carbs and insulin.
Most short-term weight fluctuation is going to be a simple change in water retention and digestive tract contents, which can be large early on.
Urine test strips aren’t a useful tool for measuring nutritional ketosis. But if you stay under 20 net carbs per day, it’s pretty much a guarantee of ketosis.
Welcome Mart
First, you’re doing well, it’s not uncommon to gain one week and lose again the next. If I’m figuring correctly, you’ve lost about 16 pounds so far, and then 3 came back. There can be several reasons, try searching Post Induction Stall Syndrome (PISS) for more information.
A few things I would look at. First, what is in the creamer you’re using? Depending on the ingredients, this could have become an issue. Second, have you recently started or increased your exercise routine? Muscles swell during repair and can easily hold onto 3-6 pounds of water. And third, is it hot and muggy recently where you live? Living in humid conditions can cause your tissues to swell–I found this out when my father in law had a catheter issue in Florida.
More importantly, are you measuring and tracking your Non Scale Victories (NSV)? Looser clothing, more range of motion in your joints, clearer thinking, etc? You could be losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time, so don’t count only on your scale.
Most importantly, KCKO (Keep Calm and Keto On). This is a long-term change in your WoE, not a spring to a set goal. Better health will happen, weight loss is just the lagniappe (had to)
You have heavy cream, why are you using a creamer? Also, gotta bust balls a little, at that ratio can you even taste the coffee?
Another vote for dropping (or at least dropping back on) the cream and creamer. If you’re having coffee the way most folks do - sipping over several hours- you’re basically on a constant (though low-level) intake of carbs in the morning and afternoon. I don’t know if this would be enough to keep insulin from dropping but it’s worth a shot, especially since so many folks have trouble with dairy.
That’s the point… I don’t like the taste of coffee…lol I tried just using heavy cream and could still taste coffee. I’m thinking of just dropping the coffee and taking caffeine pills…
No dont sip it really, I only have 8oz in morning and 6oz in the evening… i sleep about 5 hours a day… i have a baby so cant really get any more sleep than that unfortunately…
Thank you I will look that up…
Actually my activity level has gone down some… so.maybe that could be it… i did measure myself in the beginning i will have to measure again and see if there is a difference, that is a good point.
It is hot here but not humid. But im also inside all day long and never go outside.
Ahh I didnt realize you had to count calories. I guess i need to research more. My brother in law told me i didnt need to count calories and just count carbs. I will start doing this and see where i am with that…
It’s not so much that you have to count calories, (and most keto folks don’t count calories); it’s more that after a while your hunger will regulate so that you don’t actually eat as much, which -along with the improved insulin response- will tend to make you lose weight. It feels quite different from deliberate calorie restriction, because you can usually eat to satiety and trust your hunger signals. So the calorie drop is usually a natural result of fat adaptation and not something you need to force.
Apologies if you have already thought this through: you’re having caffeine in the evening? Especially with a little one, I would avoid caffeine after noon or so. There’s a very wide range of caffeine metabolism among humans. Some people metabolize it fairly quickly, and for others it sticks around for a LONG time and can have a half life of 24 or 30 hours. But in any case it’s a stimulant and especially if you’re only sleeping five hours a night I would keep coffee only early in the day. You want those to be a good solid 5 hours!
I would use heavy whipping cream and vanilla extract on packet of stevia for 8oz cup. Great advice by the way
Yeah I completely understand… i have the afternoon one aroind 530pm and go to bed at 2am… only.rrason i do it is because im dragging… usually by midnight im dragging again…
Yeah i completely agree, i originally tried the cream and stevia but the stevia is really nasty to me… i think i probably need to just drop the coffee and find another source of caffeine?
The 2am bedtime is for work hours?
Lack of sleep will slow your weight loss efforts - it’s a major predictor of insulin resistance- so the better your sleep the more progress you’ll likely see. Sometimes there’s not much we can do about our sleep timing, but anything you can do to improve the quality - dark room, etc- would be great.
No i dont work, stay at home mom, me and hubby take sleeping shifts as baby wakes up several times a night still and that way we can each get a chunk of sleep instead of waking up every hour…
Ah, ok. I know there are lots of ways to do this but if there’s one that doesn’t have you going to bed at 2am, I would do it! Our deeper sleep cycles are usually concentrated earlier in the night, so even a broken up nine hours that starts much earlier is probably better than five hours that starts later. (Are you nursing? I don’t remember if caffeine goes in the milk…)
No not nursing… yeah im hoping babys sleep gets better soon, she is 7 months so it has got to end sooner or later…lol
So, why drink coffee at all? You can get a bit of caffeine from unsweetened hot chocolate (think Hershey’s 100% Dark) with a better taste if you don’t like coffee