Newbie looking for some Keto help

newbies
mct
ketones
exogenous
#1

Hi. I am a 48 year-old disabled man who can’t move around as much I wish. I was at 320 (yipes) and now hover between 298-301. I cannot move past that no matter how hard I try. I am doing keto diet and I do not cheat. Carbs are under 20, a lot of MCT oil, fats, moderate protein and even exogenous ketones. The highest I have ever been is 1.1 though I am usually around .4-.8 (blood testing). That is AFTER mct oil and exogenous ketones. Don’t know what I am doing wrong. Is there any advice you can give me to get farther into ketosis? I have a suspicion that I am metabolically resistant. I used to be normal weight and then I ballooned once I hit my thirties. Thank you in advance for any advice you can give me.

(Tom Seest) #2

How long have you been eating Keto? How often do you eat throughout the day? How is your sleep? On any meds? Are you dong any fasting?

(Brian) #3

I’m sure others will correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m not sure being “deeper” into ketosis translates into more fat burning. At least I don’t think it’s a linear kind of thing where you would burn twice the fat at a 2.0 than you would at a 1.0.

#4

Keto for four months. I eat ofter (though I forget to much of the time). Sleep is disturbed due to my bone disease. Yes, on many meds including pain meds and interferon injections. No fasting.

#5

Brian - That would be awesome if it’s true. I don’t care about ketone levels as much as I am concerned with the complete stoppage of my weight loss.

(Ken) #6

You’re having problems because you’re focusing on the wrong thing. It is not a matter of being “deeper” into ketosis. You’re either producing ketones or not, high levels can certainly indicate you’re eating excess calories.

The real issue is being in Lipolysis, the state of burning fat for energy, of which ketosis plays a fairly minor role. It is following a fat based nutritional pattern that resets your metabolism and enables you to lose body fat. Now, you’re obese due to leptin resistance. It is the leptin response that make you feel sated. By eating fat instead of carbs you’ll be able to reduce and eventually eliminate that resistance, while losing fat along the way.

If you’re eating while not feeling hungry, so as to get ketone readings up, there’s your major problem.

#7

If the objective is weight lose, consuming exogenous ketones are a waste of money. Ketones aren’t the goal, they’re the evidence. Endogenous ketones (created by your body) are the byproduct of your body using fatty acids for fuel.

Don’t chase high ketone numbers. You can be in ketosis and not lose weight. And higher numbers don’t correlate to pounds lost. That’s what the experts say, and that’s been my personal experience as well.

If your metabolism is severely dysfunctional, eating keto may not be enough. You may want to try some intermittent or extended fasting.

Lastly, check to see if any of the medications you’re taking can cause weight gain.

(Allie) #8

This is correct. You’re in or you’re not. If your body is producing ketones, you’re in ketosis - keto-adaptation is something else that comes with time.

(Allan L) #9

Hi,

Ketone levels are not linked to weight loss. You’d only need to measure ketones for weight loss for 1 reason, monitoring if your carbs are low enough and not eating to much protein. Taking exogenous ketones could be masking problems in your diet. You are totally wasting your money, its like getting a taxi to the end of a marathon and spraying yourself with sweat! If your body needs ketones for energy it will signal the liver to burn fat to produce them, but taking them exogenous, well, speaks for itself.

  • Have you used a macro calculator to work out your protein levels? https://www.ruled.me/keto-calculator/. Remember that as you lose weight your macros change.
  • Are you using on online tool to monitor your food and watch out for hidden carbs? https://www.fatsecret.co.uk/
  • Are you looking at NET carbs or TOTAL carbs? I personally had to keep my total carbs below 20g per day initially and then moved to NET carbs. https://www.webmd.com/women/features/net-carb-debate#1
  • Taking large volumes of fat orally will not lead to weight loss. Youtube Dr Stephen Phinney and spend some time watching his work.
  • Are you using restricted eating windows like intermittent fasting?
  • Are you restricting your calories? Calorie restriction will lead to a lower metabolism and finally a weight loss stall.

Good luck,

Allan

(Allan L) #10

Do some research on intermittent fasting, in summary, only eating twice a day in a 6 hr eating window and fast for 18 hrs, never snack. This helps drive down insulin and release body fat.

#11

I actually do not eat a lot. Since I am in a wheelchair, I don’t move much. My calories are more than likely under 1700 a day.

#12

That, of course, should have read “often.” I will certainly give intemittent fasting a go. Does that also include liquids like coffee and water or are those okay?

(Daniel Crispin) #13

For fasting, if I were you I would start by only eating when I am hungry, and drinking a lot of water.

When you do get hungry, try drinking water and see if it goes away. If it doesn’t have a light meal.

At 300 pounds, you really don’t need any food. You have enough stored energy to last months, especially if your metabolic rate is low because you can’t move around much. Even at 1700 calories, you are probably at a maintenance level, this is why you are not loosing weight.

Once you are comfortable with only eating when you are really hungry, you can try to go for increasingly longer periods between meals. 12 hours is very easy to do, after you wake up, don’t eat breakfast and try to hold on until the after noon or evening. Then 24 hours is not that hard either. Past 24 hours requires more effort because you might get really hungry, that depends from one person to the next but being in Ketosis should make it a lot easier.

About 8 years ago I was at your weight, 300 pounds. When I saw that on the scale it gave me a mental kick in the butt and I went on a very severe diet, doing what I just explained to you. The difference is that I did not know about Ketosis, so it was a little bit more difficult. Still, within about 6 months I lost 80 pounds. I drank a lot of water and my meals consisted mostly of single items with low calories (fruit cups, yogurt cups, a single fruit like a banana, etc). Once you understand the fat burning process, I was actually hurting my weight loss by consuming carbs… still, the weight went off gradually and I stabilized at 210 for 8 years.

Mid september I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. I went on a mediterean diet to cut off all sugar from my diet. Then went into a Keto diet. Since I started keto I lost 10 pounds and am about 10 pounds away from my doctors’s target weight (and 20 away from my personnal target weight). I am not on a severe diet but I do fast part of the day, this is when the body can burn stored fat instead of consumed fat.

Wish you well on your weight loss, keep us posted on your progress. I also encourage you to join the accountability section. I don’t know about you but I am very competitive and I look forward to posting my progress once a week.

(Allan L) #14

Coffee, tea, herbal tea, water etc are all good during your 18hr fasting window. Coffee actually helps subdue hunger pains. For best results black coffee with no sweetener but I do know some people still have BPC / cream in their coffee. The idea is to not stimulate insulin production and consuming any food,even fat, will produce some insulin.

#15

So add mct oil to coffee or not? I am confused.

#16

Won’t this just put me in starvation mode and ruin my metabolism even more?

(Allan L) #17

Personally, from my experience, removing ALL added fat like MCT / Coconut oil in coffee was the only way to start losing weight. If you are overweight and have lots of fat stores (Like I was) you should let your metabolism burn you body fat rather than orally consumed fat like MCT.

MCT is a fat, adding it to coffee is not a true fast (Many people do with success, I don’t, its your choice). I would suggest for a week or two remove this from your diet and see if you get better results.

(Allan L) #18

No, because your metabolism will be burning your body fat, therefore no starvation.

#19

Cool. Thanks. I will try omitting it.

(Lisa Stevens) #20

Drop the exogenous ketones too. They can make you gain weight. They’re meant for performance athletes.

I found this article that goes into some detail.