New Here, Doing something wrong?

(Laura) #1

Hi all! I’m so happy I found this form! I’ve been loving this new lifestyle change as I don’t feel as hungry (this coming from someone who used to binge), I don’t feel tempted to cheat, and I feel energetic. All of these great things that leave me not wanting to give up. However, my main reason for starting…to lose weight…has kind of been a dud. I lost an initial 10 pounds (started on January 20th) which I’m so thankful for, but I’ve been up and down from 208-211 the past three weeks. I weigh in only once a week…hopefully can bring that down to once a month at some point, but right now I’m trying to test out what works and what doesn’t for me.

A little more info about me…I’m 5’2, started at 217 pounds, now fluctuating between 208-211. My lowest since starting was 207. I have always been overweight my whole life…but never this high. I’ve done fad diets before, even gone as far as restricting myself to 500 calories a day or fasting at one point in my life where I dropped a lot of weight(obviously just to gain it back)…I never quite found a good stable way of being healthy and losing weight. I was thankful for finding this way of life because it allows me to still have most of the things I enjoy and I don’t feel that I am depriving myself. My only concern is that I can easily get attached to counting calories and such obsessively…but with keto, as long as I’m doing it a healthy way, I’ll take that over binging like I have been. Sometimes I worry I screwed up my metabolism or thyroid by dropping up and down like this my whole life.

So right now, I’ve been eating around 1300-1400 calories a day. Some have said you don’t have to track calories, some said make sure you don’t eat too little or too much…so I just track. I stay under 30 carbs a day…that’s usually between 20-25 grams. I was doing net carbs at first, now I have switched that over to total carbs in hopes of moving the scale more. I eat around 65-75 grams of protein a day, and around 110-120 grams of fat per day. I’m starting to wonder now, if I should lower that. I have not been exercising, just started yesterday in fact. I plan to follow the couch to 3k running/walking plan since it has always been a goal of mine to be able to run a mile. I also plan on going to spin class 3 days a week, and doing weight lifting to help my flabby arms and rolls lol. So my exercise routine is good in theory…I just have to get on that schedule. Maybe that’s my problem…

A typical day of eating for me consists of Breakfast around 10am which is just a bulletproof coffee. I put heavy whipping cream, coconut oil, and butter. I don’t eat anything else for breakfast.

Lunch is around 12:30, I usually have a turkey club sans bread, and a salad with some broccoli, mixed greens, a little bit of cheese…I do use ranch dressing.

I don’t normally need a snack, but if I do, I just have these little sausage link things by a company called duke’s.

Dinner is usually some kind of meat bowl with veggies. Usually chicken or beef. If I’m feeling/or needing more fat, I’ll have some zucchini with a cheese sauce I make just out of cheddar and HWC. On a friday night, I’ll usually make fathead pizza and have half of that, consider it my cheat meal, but I won’t eat as much during the day to allow for the added calories from the almond flour . On tuesday’s, I go to a trivia night, and usually either have a cobb salad or burger without the bun. Sundays I will try IF by not eating most of the day, and fitting in my macros just in a few hours in the late afternoon.

After dinner I always have a bit of a sweet tooth…this may be another part of my problem but I hope not lol. I make a little mousse for dessert. This consists of 1/4 cup of HWC, a tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder, and I was putting in a tbsp of peanut butter, but have since switched to almond butter after reading that PB might be stalling me…(so sad). I whip this up…don’t add any extra added sugar or anything like that. This sounds gross, but sometimes I add flax/chia seeds to it just to help with going to the bathroom if that’s a problem that day. (sorry tmi) I don’t do this every night. If my protein is low for the day, instead sometimes i have half a quest bar and warm it up a little in the microwave for my dessert. I don’t do a dessert every day though, that’s just if I’m still feeling hungry. I for the most part do not eat any time after 7pm

I also have learned apparently that chewing gum is a no-no. Something I do daily, so I’ll be quitting this today (just read that last night), but not sure if that’s enough to stall me like I have been.

I HAVE done measurements also, and the only place I’ve lost anything has been in my boobs. -_-.

I do feel that it’s important to note that I carry a lot of my weight in my gut…like in the sense it looks like I’m pregnant. Big and round. Some days this does feel less bloated, but most days it still feels like there’s no difference. My stomach does feel a little more squishy than hard like it used to though. i don’t know if that’s progress.

I appreciate any input you all may have. I’m determined to make this work for me since this is the first diet I see really being a lifestyle change and for the long haul and not just to lose weight. My next step I think is going to be to cut out the BPC which I’ve also read can stall, and then will also have me not eating from around 6:30pm-12 the next day so I can get some IF in there to help. My only concern with that is then my calorie intake being too low since I’m missing out on the calories and fat from the BPC. Its hard to squeeze that all in during lunch and dinner.

I think it’s also important to say I TRACK EVERYTHING. I know exactly what my calorie intake/protein/fat/carb intake is each day. I drink a decent amount of water too…but probably could use some more I’m sure.

Thanks again!

#2

Unless the gum is totally unsweetened, it’s got something in there to give it flavor and that could very well be keeping insulin high enough to impede weight loss.

Otherwise it sounds like you’ve been doing a lot of the right things, but I don’t see anything about actually tracking blood ketones. So very many people have thought they were in ketosis because of the way they were eating only to find out that they weren’t.

Knowing if your blood ketones are above 0.5 mmol is important because if they aren’t, your body isn’t really accessing bodyfat the way it should, so weight loss will be minimal, if any. But if you can’t test for whatever reason, then there are certainly steps you can take.

My main concern is that if there are hidden carbs that are providing too much glucose and interfering with ketosis or sweeteners that are keeping insulin too high and encouraging fat storage, that you might’ve dropped your BMR already and reducing calories and fat even further will just result in more frustration or it could be the point where you finally cross that line.

In other words, if you are in ketosis, then eliminating your BPC and reducing fat calories would be a good test, but if you aren’t in ketosis and still not losing with 1,400 calories per day, then you’re more likely to trigger a metabolic slowdown.

Eliminating the gum and implementing the IF schedule is probably the next best step to take and see how it works for a couple of weeks, but if you feel like you need more food when you do eat in the evening, don’t just push through it and listen to your body because I think the key is getting insulin down while providing enough fat for ketogenesis and the substrates needed for hormones. In other words, you may need to shift the calories and fat you were getting from BPC into your IF eating window.

(Laura) #3

That’s awesome advice. Thank you! I actually tested with the strips, but have heard those aren’t reliable. Do you have a product you’d recommend to do the blood test for ketones? I would like to invest in one :slight_smile: It could very well be that I’m not in ketosis.

I’m going to cut the gum, BPC, and do IF for now, see how that works out.

(Cathy Schroder) #4

I use an Optium Neo blood glucose/ketone monitor. I believe they are available in America as well Australia. I like it because you can easily export your glucose readings to a chart.

(Laura) #5

Thanks. I’ll look into that!

(Omar Newsome) #6

It sounds like you’re doing everything right. I hate to say but you may need to be patient. KCKO (keep calm and keto on). There is another thread where a lady was stalled for 9 weeks before the scale finally moved almost 4 pounds. Like you she was on the right track and was considering more drastic measures to try to force the weight loss along. I really must say that you should keep pushing forward doing all the right things.

If you don’t listen to the 2 keto dudes podcast (founders of this site) you should. There was a great episode called “Femail” (the first one they did) where they had ladies who are long term keto’ers who pointed out a really interesting fact. Sometimes women’s weight loss may be slower than mens’ due to hormone regulation. Sometimes ladies have to spend time realigning your hormones before the fat loss effect kicks in. What I would hate to see is you ridiculously restrict yourself, get discouraged and give up! You really are doing great regardless of what the scale says. You have a plan, you’re disciplined and consistent! You really are winning and soon enough the scale will realize that and get on board!

ETA: here is the thread from the lady who stalled for 9 weeks!
https://www.ketogenicforums.com/t/10-loss-stall-female/4923/20

(Laura) #7

Thank you that’s really encouraging! I will have to take a listen to that podcast! Thanks for your response :slight_smile:

(Laura) #8

Also, is under 30 carbs too many grams of carbs? Should I be staying under 20?

#9

As a general rule, if someone is not making progress in keto, the advice is to lower carbs, so in many cases under 20 would be better.

(Richard Morris) #10

I would try to aim for lower carbs. A BPC in the morning for me kept me full till dinner time. We are all unique … but you might want to reassess the club sandwich … “Am I eating because I am hungry or do I just think this is lunch time?” And know that meal times are just a recent marketing trick. Before the first world war breakfast was something only working class people about to do a long shift in a labor intensive job ate, and it was usually gruel.

Also the dessert is likely keto - but great but a 1/4 cup is a generous amount of cream when whipped up. Are you still hungry, or do you just want something sweet to finish off the day? If the latter - and that was me when I started - you can try smaller portions with very small spoons and linger over the spoonful. I use teaspoons that are 1/4th of a tsp. Eventually the longer I went the less I craved sweet and the more sweet less-sweetened food tasted. You might find that in the end you are satisfied with just a square of sugar free chocolate.

In general the problem with a weight loss stall is not specifically that you are eating too many calories (unless you have become totally disassociated from your satiation reflex), but you are using too little of the calories you have available. Unfortunately our conscious control over our calorie expenditure (doing some exercise) is a tiny fraction of our actual use of energy and comes with a nasty shock … exercise stimulates hunger, and not satiating hunger reduces energy consumption. The amount of energy we burn is indirectly linked to our bodies sense of abundance … so when we limit intake of calories expecting that will increase burning … the opposite happens. Our bodies shut down non essential consumption, and we burn less energy.

The key is to make sure to give your insulin no excuse to rise. So limit carbs and protein. This releases your fat cells to supply energy. If your circulation is abundantly supplied with energy from body fat, you body gets the green light to start doing all the optional uses of energy it has furloughed, and you’ll find that you just aren’t hungry as much. You might find after a few weeks that you aren’t hungry at breakfast … which is a good place to skip the breakfast BPC and see at what point in the day you become hungry and then eat.

You’ll get there. We all have a unique path and no one else’s path will necessarily work for you.

(Laura) #11

I do basically eat the dessert cause I just like something sweet at the end of the day. Maybe by habit. So slowly limiting that is a great idea. Thank you for the input.

I have actually skipped the normal BPC today just to test out how hungry I feel. So far, I’m doing fine without it. Energy is still there…which is something I was worried about because I’m NOT a morning person lol. I do feel that I have not been that hungry lately and get full a lot quicker, which is great progress for me considering I had a bad habit of binge eating in the past. In that sense, although the scale isn’t really moving the way I’d like it to, that’s a little victory on it’s own. :slight_smile:

Being that I have had problems with eating way too much or way too little in the past…never that happy medium… I’ve been tracking calories to make sure I’m at the right amount each day. (I used the keto calculator to come up with this amount) So I think my calorie intake is okay?

As someone state above…something that I hadn’t thought about is hormones. My hormones have always been friggen whacky haha.

#12

Hiya

I am sorry you are getting frustrated. It happens for a lot of people so you really are not alone. I have a long history of weight loss and have also had weight loss surgery. I would have frequent stalls. In fact that was totally the pattern I would follow - a drop then a long maintenance period. These would go on for months. Looking at the big picture helped me a lot and thinking where I would likely be a year from now if I just keep plodding on. The year just gone went fast enough so I always thought - you will be here this time next year before you know it and if you just stick with it, there will be a change for the better.

Firstly though, you should not sniff at what you have achieved already. You have been keto now for about 7 weeks and lost 10lbs. That is over a lb a week. Another trick - it helps to work out the average loss every now and then. I don’t know anyone who loses in a linear fashion and we tend to forget the good weeks and focus on the ‘bad’. It is better to rework the losses into an average.

What other factors are at play?
You mention that you carry your weight disproportionately around your middle? That smacks of pre diabetes to me. Have you been checked? Do you know what your blood sugars are like?
What else plays a part? Do you have any health issues that you know of? Have you been tested recently? I am wondering about things like thyroid.
Stress?
Sleep?
Mental health issues?
How is your home life, work life, relationships? Do you get out much for fun and relax. These all can have a huge impact on weight loss.

It is tempting to look solely at what you eat as the main (if not only) factor in weight loss but it is far from it.

I don;t know how old you are but age could slow weight loss down. You also ave being a woman against you in this area I am afraid. We always tend to find it harder to lose weight, especially to start with. We are very complex beings and there is a whole shed load of potential imbalance to get sorted before the weight decides to come off. Look at this period (however long it takes) as the time your body is taking to heal. Do you really expect it to start shedding weight when it feels like crap? It might prefer to hold on to everything for all it’s worth for now thank you very much. Be kind to yourself.

I do however have a few suggestions you could try re food but really what you are doing is pretty damn good and it IS still very early days.

I also have a sweet tooth and I also fall into the pattern of wanting something sweet after a meal all too easily. It can be broken with relative ease though. I can now drop the habit within days. Yes OK so those days are a bit dicey with me wanting to eat all the sweet stuff but I just clear house and get by without. Then the cravings lift and it is blissful because it makes me feel great to have regained that control. You might then find you just go without as much as possible or maybe look forward to some weekend treats.

Dairy - now I love the stuff but I did discover that I am sensitive to lactose. I can tolerate a relatively small amount but need to keep to less than 1% max. This means no more cream which is awful but I am getting used to it. The only way to tell whether this is an issue for you or not is to exclude it completely for a few weeks and then test it. I also find that I tend to eat a lot of it if it is around - cheese, etc. whether I am hungry or not so basically this comes under the overeating heading. For me. Not saying this will apply to you. If you do discover a sensitivity this will impact weight loss in itself.

Nuts - same sort of issues as dairy. But the main thing for me is overeating which is all too easily done with nuts especially nut flours. Anything made with nut flours means that you eat a lot in one sitting. That is not to say don’t do it, just be aware and maybe limit how often and how much for now. Remember that weight loss and maintenance are a different ball game.

Carbs are always the thing to drill down on but it sounds like you are doing that. I am not worried about your fat level. It is important that you eat to satiety but it may be that those signals have not dialled back in properly yet. They will though but it does take time.

I agree re checking ketones if you can afford the kit. Blood is expensive to test but the kits can be cheap in the first place. The breath meter (Ketonix) is expensive in the first place but then free to test. It is not essential to test but certainly useful.

I would definitely look to testing your thyroid and other things too, depending what tests you have had already.

I hope there is some useful stuff in there. I went on a bit of a ramble!

I think you are doing really well and have made a flying start. xxx

Oh and the other thing is to measure your progress in other ways. I did a post on this over on the Newbies area.

(Laura) #13

Thanks for your response! I have not been tested for pre-diabetes or thyroid issues recently, but come to think of it, I was tested when I was a teenager for thyroid problems because I was also then having problems losing weight, and that was when I had cheerleading/gymnastics every day of the week. It did come back without a problem then, but that reminds me that this has been a constant struggle.

I am now 30, so things have obviously changed. I actually have made an appointment for a full physical because it has been a long time since I’ve had one. I’m hoping that provides me with some answers. I don’t know anything about blood sugars to be honest…is there a way to monitor that at home? Does the ketone blood test kit do that? I have purchased one…it’s on its way. Yay!

Stress level is okay, sleep has actually improved since I started keto. I did oversleep before. Mental health…I’ve dealt with depression on and off my whole life, but have lately been feeling pretty good. I think a big part of that is taking control of my health and taking care of myself for once. I do have a good social life with friends/love my job/and am very blessed with a great family. Funny how even with all those things, depression can still creep in from time to time. That actually was what led to the binge eating I believe. I was feeling alone (single at 30 -_-) and sitting home on weekends snacking and watching netflix was just like my go to whenever I was bummed out…which was often the last two years. As I said though, just taking care of my body has helped me become more motivated and energetic and now I actually do get out and about more often. So bonus.

I am 30, so I can look at a french fry and gain a pound at this point lol. And I do think hormonal issues may come in to play. I did stop my BC about a year ago and I had some weight gain then. I don’t know if that’s useful to startup in order to balance things out. I know that helps some people, but I don’t know if there’s a more natural way of doing that.

Testing cutting dairy is probably a good idea…so difficult lol, but probably very smart for me. Nuts, I’m pretty good about other than that teaspoon of almond butter at night for that sweet spot, I don’t really eat too many nuts.

It’s good to have a woman’s perspective! I appreciate you answering.

#14

Most do, yes. You will need to get different strips but the good thing is they are usually way cheaper! Check with the device you have to see but I expect you can test and it would be a great idea to track for a while as it is so very important.

Thyroid - do get your Free T3 and Free T4 tested. They often just test TSH but that is a bit pants, especially in isolation. If hypo comes up they will then test for antibodies to see if it is Hashis (most common form). They may of course do this from the outset which is even better,

I understand completely about depression as I have struggled with it most of my life. There is good news though - keto will almost certainly help. A LOT.

A general feeling of well being is not to be underestimated when it comes to weight loss. Give it time. You might want to check this guy out. He speaks a lot of sense and is an entertaining speaker. Stephen Ilardi.

https://youtu.be/7HDFEbsGRlA

I think you would enjoy this one too on Stress. Again a great speaker.

Not sure what you mean by this?

Testing dairy - I say one thing at a time. Just keep on going for now and work on all these other areas and get some tests done. It may not feel like it but it really is still early days. Just get fat adapted and really full on keto. Then we can start fine-tuning. If you need to. You may not of course and things will just suddenly start moving again. It happens most of the time that way.

You are most welcome. I am always around to help and you can tag me @Daisy any time you want to make sure I see you. xxx

PS You might like to come join a badass group of women at KickarseKetoBitches too. We mostly mess about really. The real important stuff goes on here but there is some great camradery to be had with an all female crew so come find me on FB if you want to join in.

(Omar Newsome) #15

@Daisy thank you so much for coming through and dropping serious knowledge! We men folk are truly the idiots ladies think we are if we think we can speak intelligently on a woman’s physiology!

(Laura) #16

Thanks I’ll have to join! By BC I meant birth control.

(Laura) #17

Haha not idiots. All responses were so helpful!! :slight_smile:

(Laura) #18

I also have to check out that video!!

#19

Lol. Actually I think all you men did a great job.

BC - of course! I do have acronym blindness but that also has not been in my vocabulary for a long time!

(Andrea Johns) #20

Thank you so much for this post. You’ve given me some things to consider regarding my own stall. I’m new here so am trying to digest all the info. I really appreciate the supportive atmosphere here…and I am learning a lot.