Hello, I just started this about a week ago and already I am 3.3 (on a blood checker). I am starving all the time but hitting my macros and recommended calories. Probably a little over on most days. I have gained weight and I am terribly bloated. I am a stress eater so I don’t know if that is making me still feel hunger, but I went low carb to reduce cravings.
I am 33, 5’3 and 125lbs, hoping to go back to 115lbs, where I felt most comfortable with myself.
I eat usually coconut oil in coffee, then light cardio for 30 mins on ellipitical, then lunch is veggies and eggs or chicken (with skin) and cheese for extra fat. Dinner is salad and meat and veggies cooked in ghee. I snack on cheese and seaweed. I even made some fat bombs out of cocoa, almond butter (or powdered peanut butter with coconut oil) and coconut oil and swyrve (i know, bad fake sugar, but its limited) and I drink unsweetened almond milk with spirulina powder for electrolytes and digestive enzymes.
I dont feel any different. No “flu” and just heavy from all the fat. I was before a rice and fruit and oatmeal girl. High carb, low fat and mod protein.
So I am wondering if I am doing this wrong? Or if it will level out.
Thanks 
Elle
New to Keto, no weight loss, high blood ketones
I think it will level out - a week is too short to get over the shock of the change (in your head and body).
One thing you might do is only eat 3 times a day - no snacking.
Snacks are little insulin spiking hunger driving goblins - make sure your meals are bigger and let your insulin sit low for longer.
Thank you so much RobC
I checked them at 5am (curious about this dawn effect thing I have been reading about) and I was at 0.9. So now I am worried I am too low. No snacking it is. I suppose I should keep an accountability as well. I had a huge amount of veggies last night, and 1 mini carrot, which I should have skipped! Haha. I am really hoping I can figure this out. As I am doing this with 2 other people and they are not having issues, they have “lost their appetite and have the flu”, and muscle cramps (I got 1 night of leg cramps then upped my sodium and its gone) I am very concerned I am immune to keto. Or that my light cardio is ruining it. They are losing weight already and I am gaining. What is wrong with me?
0.9 is fine - it shows you are producing ketones - that is all you want this early on.
Body weight in the first weeks is working itself out and is mostly water weight.
You’ll see many stories about loosing 8 pounds in the first week and then nothing for 4 weeks.
Shock of the new diet can do that or - add a pound or two.
In fact, you are so close to your goal weight that you find that your body disagrees and thinks (if you eat truly keto to satiety) that your weight should be 120 or 125.
But, you want to worry about that later.
Stress levels, sleep problems, caffeine/alcohol, etc. can all make the body want to hold on to more fat.
Let your fat-adaptation happen, so you know your body can burn it’s own fat as fuel - get these and anything you think is stressful dialed in and then - see where you are.
If at 115 - done.
If at a higher weight, then you look at other tools to get to where you want to go (tools that will work after being fat-adapted).
Slowed bowel movements and even constipation are fairly common when people are adapting to keto. Perhaps this is the cause of your bloating and lack of weight loss? There are many contradictory suggestions of what to do about it such as increasing or decreasing fiber. But I think most everyone agrees that maintaining sufficient intake of water and electrolytes is helpful.
Thank you. I guess I’m just impatient for fat adapting. I do see a lot of people losing 5 lbs in the first week and I gain. Not fair. Calories I guess. And I read salt water helps so I might try that. Laxatives don’t do much.
Hi and welcome. I was vegetarian before I started and I had some tummy issues after quitting the half pint of yogurt I was eating daily. Buying a simple probiotic tablet helped me a lot. I hardly take it at all now and things are regular and my tummy is in better shape than it was before starting.
The fast initial weight loss is often due to peeing more. It like bloating is a temporary thing. Fat loss takes time, especially if you aren’t starving yourself. But it’s better to give it time as once fat adapted hunger lessens as the body shifts to running on excess body fat and weight loss which is actually fat loss comes much easier.
Forgot to mention previously that some also find artificial sweeteners cause bloating.
A couple things.
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What you lose in the first week is pretty much irrelevant as most of the weight you lose is simply water weight. Would you feel ok if you lost 5 pounds the first week and then a total of 6 pounds in the first 3 weeks?
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You are also a female (I am presuming) and the nature of your hormones and the way your body works means things work differently. Mark Miller and Karen Mangiacotti of the Keto Families podcast have talked about this kind of thing. He dropped weight right away and she wanted to kill him LOL. He is over there dropping 2-3 pounds a week and she is eating the same things and initially gained weight and it took her a couple months (IIRC) before she started losing the weight. Not having the same initial results as others have had is not an indication that this won’t work for you in the long run.
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You assume that the difference is calories but the whole calories in, calories out thing was busted a long time ago. My BMR is just under 2000 calories yet I typically eat between 1800-2300 calories per day and I am still steadily losing weight with zero exercise simply sticking to keto.
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You are looking at how much people are losing in the beginning and in general but not putting it in context with what stage they are in compared to what stage you are in, I have lost more than what you weigh total in 10 months. Does that mean that your body is going to shed weight at the same rate mine is when you are only 9% heavier than what you want your weight to be while my body, even after losing 136 pounds in 10 months, is still nearly 20% higher than I would like to get too?
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Your body may actually like you better at 125 than it does at 115 and if that is so, will fight to keep you at that weight by adjusting your metabolism.
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If you want to try and add to things, add in Intermittent Fasting. It has worked great for a lot of us and it works great with keto. Actually, I started as LCHP then added in IF and it was learning about the health benefits of IF that I learned how well it matches up with how keto works and switched to that. For me it is fasting 20 hours each day and eat in the same 4 hour window, drinking water in between and occasionally black coffee.
Don’t give up, I never got the “flu” either but I truly believe that is because adding in the 20:4 IF with LCHP for a month before going keto let my body start making the switch to fat adaptation easier because of how long it was going without food.
Thank you everyone. People are so supportive here. Anyone I’ve talked to who is not on keto just thinks I’m dumb.
What’s wrong with you? Eat a cookie. You don’t need to lose weight.
It’s not just about weight. I have a bad relationship with food. Keto should help me obsess less. People don’t get that.
I still feel 5 months pregnant but at least last night and this morning I’m not starving.
I know I don’t have a lot of weight to lose but a few years ago I was 100 lbs. So it’s a lot to me. And I’m pretty sure it has to do with my stress binge restrict exercise cycles. IF scares me as I’ve tried it and it leads to me eating entire jars of peanut butter… I like the idea of eating to satiety, I just don’t know how to do that yet. Being hungrymakes me eat too much. Being full makes me crave food. I won’t give up. I hope keto helps.
It’ll even out, just make sure you add extra fats to food whenever you can so you make your body realize it has tons of fuel…if it just cranks out more ketones.
The first week~ I tried keto i felt “fatter” and “overfull” but meanwhile my weight was dropping. It’s definitely better to eat a good amount at mealtimes and then no snacks. I started off loading up fried eggs, bacon or sausage, cheese on it, and some celery for breakfast. Now I feel “full” with just a black coffee+tablespoon of coconut oil. Lunches always had a bunch of spinach, a nice oil and vinegar salad with feta cheese and mushrooms and some sort of broiled\fried fatty meat (pork or beef usually). Sometimes I wrap the meat in bacon. Then dinner very similar, salad + meat, often switching salad for butter fried asparagus with salt.
I’m officially on week 3 now and went from 294 to 275 and all my old clothes are fitting again (1 belt notch today too). It gets easier and gets better. Everyone is different and although keto can be “stronger” for some people I don’t think its possible for anyone to be immune to it, just hang in there and watch out for hidden carbs!
Welcome! You started a week ago? That is not a very long time at all. You have to wait for your body to fix things inside and you are at a weight many of us dream of btw, so losing a few more pounds will be a harder road.
I’m no expert (five weeks myself) but many people say you should probably hold off excerise in the very beginning if possible to avoid stressing your body. I hope you reach your goal. 
You guys are so motivating. Thank you. I know it hasn’t been long but I wanted to be one of those who lost weight right away. Oh well. True if it’s all water weight I am more interested in losing fat and I guess I can wait a week or 2
Mild doses of magnesium citrate may help in that department. Just DON’T drink the whole nother at once. Start small.
I have taken magnesium 500 mg tablets for years now, if I miss a couple days I can’t go. I think it’s the hypothyroidism, just slows everything down.
Try doing ur cardio fasted before u eat anything, ull b wetter than november when u get off that ellipitical and it feels great afterwards.
welcome, lucy! you should not feel hungry on this diet. i wouldn’t worry about going over your recommended daily macro amounts, at least not this early on, especially if you’re still feeling hungry after hitting them. just keep your carbs under 20g net daily, eat a good amount of protein, and eat more fat if needed until you’re full. it’s your friend now, don’t be scared of it 
I do my cardio in the morning after coffee and coconut oil. Not quite a fast. I guess I could save the oil coffee for after exercising. I am finally noticing the appetite suppressing effects, but that maybe just be delayed gastric emptying. Still get cravings