Newbie here...it's been 2 weeks on Keto with NO weight lost

(Sharon) #1

The first few days of my diet I cheated! I realize now that sugar free doesn’t necessarily mean it is keto friendly. Now I’ve got my groove on and I am NOT losing weight! I am going back and forth to losing, then gaining all within 3 days time. Lose 1.6 then a day later gain .8 pounds then a day later gain .7. pounds then a day later lose 1.49 pounds over and over again. It is so frustrating!

My foods are keto friendly, such as eggs, bacon, avocado etc., etc. Is there a possibility eating too much calories more than you burn? My diet is about 20 net carbs a day or less. I have a sedentary lifestyle.

If anyone can shed some light on this it will be greatly appreciated by me.

Thank you! :slight_smile:

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #2

Women often find that it takes a month or so for their hormones to re-regulate themselves, before fat loss begins. Also, cutting calories causes the body to hang on to its fat stores (it’s a famine response). So be sure to eat enough to satisfy your hunger. As you go along, if you have lots of fat to shed, your appetite is likely to drop, and that’s fine, but don’t cut calories intentionally. And eat plenty of fat to replace the energy lost by not eating carbohydrate (however, don’t go overboard, since it takes less than half the amount of fat to yield the same amount of calories).

There are plenty of posts here by people who found that their fat loss didn’t start until they began eating more, not less. The reason is that when we eat enough food, our metabolism speeds up, especially our ability to metabolise fatty acids.

(Sharon) #3

Oh PaulL thank you so much for your reply! I didn’t know it could take up to a month.

I have a question about drinking Sparkling Ice water which only have 5 calories, no carbs, and it uses only a fraction of imitation of sugar which is sucralose. Could that also be hampering my weight loss as well?? That is the only thing that I ingest that has sugar in it.

Again…thank you so much for your reply. I wish you a great day!

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #4

It’s possible, but it depends. All of the non-sugar sweeteners seem to affect some people by causing an insulin response (they cannot legally be sold in the U.S. if they raise glucose, but the Food and Drug Administration does not care about insulin). But no sweetener affects everyone, and most people who react to one, don’t react to others. And most people don’t seem to be affected at all. So it’s hard to say.

In any case, if you think something is impeding your progress, then avoid it. If you really need sweetened water, you can buy plain Seltzer and flavour it with the non-sugar sweetener of your choice, and see if that makes a difference. If the sucralose is hampering your progress, one of the other sweeteners will probably be okay. But a note of caution: if you are a sugar/carb addict, you might find it just plain easier to avoid sweet tastes altogether.

(Sharon) #5

Thank you PaulL. I will take that into consideration.

#6

Also note that too much protein can raise blood sugar too. That is why the emphasis is on fat. You don’t have to obsess with it. Just don’t eat too much lean meat.

#7

Of course. Or eating at maintenance. I never managed to lose fat on keto except on my OMAD week… I just eat too much. Some people need some extra rules. But don’t worry about this yet as you can’t have any idea if just doing keto helps you at fat-loss.
Wait until you get fat adapted (my hunger changed a lot then) and some more weeks pass… 2 week is about nothing!

#8

Or too much fatty meat. Or other protein. I easily overdo protein with fatty meat. I easily overdid it on vegetarian keto… Though for most of us, high protein is quite fine. I personally can’t avoid it, I NEED my high protein to function okay and get satiated. Sometimes people limit their protein too much, that’s not good either. It’s rare to eat too much protein to the point that it would cause problems.
But in the end we should figure out what is best for us. Still good to know what is typically the case and what is a possible problem for some.

(Sharon) #9

I didn’t know that. Thank you dr_wtf for giving you input!

(Sharon) #10

Thank you so much, Shinita! On a given day I average about 24% proteins, 21% carbs, and 55% fat. Is that okay? I am eating a lot of fat, I think.

#11

It’s very individual what percentages are right but our needs (and ketosis carb limit) are in grams, specific percentages are for therapeutic keto.
I tend to overeat fat but my percentage doesn’t show that. Only the grams.

The carb percentage is usually lower than 10% on keto (or else it would give a very high carb intake or starvation. exceptions exist though).

(Sharon) #12

Hello Shinita! Thank you for your response and information. I did the percentages in macro calorie percentage. Not sure what that means…but I am trying to build my brain with Keto information. :slight_smile:

#13

Of course it’s macro calorie percentage, that’s how we use them.
But it’s not informative alone. Grams are better but our needs are still individual. Very different percentages can be okay. I don’t care about mine at all as percentages don’t matter, grams do. Though they have some correlation, of course. You want the fat to be the highest, usually by far. And the carbs kept minimal (or whatever works). And the right amount (range) of protein in grams.

(Rebecca ) #14

Welcome!
Are you weighing yourself daily? If so…try not to! The scale only tells a fraction of what’s going on. Just follow the advice here and take it take it day by day! Hang in there!

(Robin) #15

Paul is spot on. You can eat MORE than you used to. In fact, you may NEED to…. your body will sabotage you by holding on to calories if it thinks there is a famine. And if you are like many of us, you have gained and lost and gained and lost and starved yourself over the years. You need to let your body find its balance and start talking to you again.

And yes… patience. Pay much attention to your clothes rather the scale. And how you feel. It’s so simple, it’s ridiculous. Just stay under 20g carbs if you can.

And welcome.
You got This!

(Sharon) #16

Everyone is so kind and helpful~ Thank you all as I will keep this information since it is very helpful. :slight_smile:

I get VERY impatient. As you say that I shouldn’t weigh myself each day. It is hard not to. I didn’t know that I fluctuating in weight and that my clothes might be getting looser. I wear mostly dresses that are loose but I’ll try on some pants to see if there is any changes. I wont get discouraged and you all are cheering me on!

Thank you again everyone.

(Joey) #17

@SweetMeNot Sharon, welcome to the forum! It’s a great place to connect with others who have traveled a similar path, get links to (actual) science, and more. A wonderfully respectful community.

You’ve gotten solid replies above, so I won’t pile on, but simply want to note that these amounts of variation will never end. It’s simply water weight that fluctuates constantly. Literally … constantly.

Water is not fat. Water is not muscle. Or bone. Those are what you’re trying to change through better eating and regular exercise. As the hydrologists say, water will find its natural level.

If you try to weigh yourself this frequently and misinterpret H2O coming/going as whether or not your health is better or worse, you will go nuts. And that’s not good for one’s health. :wink:

You deserve better treatment from yourself :vulcan_salute:

#18

If you care about the scale so much, you shouldn’t weigh yourself often. I may do it every day, twice as it doesn’t bother me (and my weight is the same every morning anyway. that’s why I don’t weigh myself often. it’s boring). But my morning weight is abnormally fixed :slight_smile: (I suspect my scale is as stubborn as me). Most people have a measurable water weight fluctuation and some people have a HUGE one!
Trends are important, and anyway, we probably want to lose fat (I surely do), not weight. I rather use my just okay pants to see what happens (and I don’t expect the same feeling well-fasted and after a ton of water and a big meal ;)) That is what matters and the inaccuracy of scales are avoided.

If someone has more than a tiny fat to lose (and especially if they want to gain muscle too, I personally do, all what I can get, I want), patience is pretty important. And we should accept human body facts. Water weight changes are normal. Even if I don’t notice having them myself. I had that between ketosis and off ketosis but even that is in the past. But it’s me, others may be very much fat adapted and still have significant water weight fluctuations. Even staying on keto. It’s very normal and no need to worry about it. Especially a sudden weight gain can’t be fat as we just can’t gain 1-2kg fat in one day, no matter how much we eat :smiley: Just like we can’t lose much fat in a day unless if we are some extreme ultramarathoners or something so we exercise all day and barely eat. That may cause some impressive fat and muscle loss in a short time. We normal people just can’t change so much in 1-2 days. But we surely can change the contained water in our bodies. It doesn’t matter - unless we get dehydrated or swollen, that’s not healthy. But 1-2 kg water more? Pretty normal.

(MC) #19

Everyone’s bodies work differently, but if it helps, it takes me roughly a month for changes to happen to start losing weight. I think that’s just insulin lowering and the body getting used to these new ketone things to produce energy instead : )

The good advice I saw on here was: Keep calm, keto on.

Good luck!

(Eve) #20

@SweetMeNot. Hi, when l did the calculations of percent calories, rather than g weight, the carbs were around 5% only of total calories, protein about 25% and fat about 75%. Sometimes the protein is a bit more and thus fat a bit less, but the carbs are always a very low %.
As already mentioned, it is best to keep an eye on the grams of carbs, I.e under 20.