Newbie with expert-level issues!

(Jackie Blue) #1

I’ve been completely keto for 5 wks now. It’s not hard for me, I’ve got 3 (out of 5) kids who had life-threatening food allergies to the entire top 8 food allergens combined: eliminating carbs was a breeze.

Hubby and I went keto together and went through keto flu together. Afterward, I was in ketosis right away, lost 5lbs of water weight and was very excited to see results. hubby took a little longer to get into ketosis, but also lost a few lbs of water weight right away.

The next week when we weighed, I had gained 4 lbs back and he lost a cpl more. Over this past 4 weeks, I have traded the same 2-3 lbs up and down, but not lost an additional ounce on the scale. Hubby continues to lose steadily. He does have more to lose than me (about 50 for him, 20ish for me), but I do not understand what is going on with me.

I was in solid ketosis for the first 4 weeks. While I haven’t lost weight on the scale, my energy, mood and stamina have been significantly improved and my aggressive arthritis has been noticeably less painful. I did skip my menstrual cycle since starting, but that’s not a complaint.

I’ve not even considered cheating, am always under my carb macro allotment and just go over protein and fat if I go over anything. I haven’t had any alcohol, and I get moderate exercise and really never sit still. I was in ketosis the whole time I drank Powerade Zero with erythritol, so I don’t think that’s a problem - and I always scan with the app and check labels for hidden carbs, but mostly I eat homemade foods from keto cookbooks and avoid unhealthy foods (except this incredibly easy fat bomb mousse made from mixing heavy whipping cream with sugar free pudding - YUM!)

My clothes aren’t fitting any looser and nobody has said I look like I’m losing. Hoping to ramp up my progress, I started trying to fast between meals. That’s when I started slipping out of ketosis. Now I am not in ketosis first thing in the morning when I get up, before eating. Not in ketosis 6 hrs after fasting, before dinner. Barely in ketosis by bedtime, after eating dinner a few hours before. Doesn’t seem to matter if I eat frequent snacks now or try to stretch my hunger out between meals: no ketosis for me.

Today I feel the arthritis creeping back in and I haven’t been able to verify real ketosis for 3 days. I’m looking for good sources of expert advice. Any Audible books or podcasts or advice I can get here would be greatly appreciated. I’m very frustrated! I know I don’t have as much to lose as hubby, but I already would have lost at least 15-20 lbs by now if I’d done Weight Watchers instead. I don’t mind not losing weight right off the bat as much, but I’m super discouraged to think I might have somehow lost the anti-inflammatory benefits I was enjoying!

My biggest question is: if I could get into ketosis originally on a certain diet, is that a guarantee I can keep eating that way the entire time I do this diet and it shouldn’t prevent ketosis? (in particular, I am wondering about the 2 things I have heard can stall ppl: dairy and the sugar replacements/erythritol).

My other question is: Can my cycles be causing this? Can being pre-menstrual affect ketosis? How about being perimenopausal? ( I was regular before, but I’m told I’m at the right age for things to start getting unpredictable).

Thanks in advance for any tips, pointers, references or experience !

(Ellie) #2

How are you measuring being in ketosis?
If it is pee-sticks, don’t worry about the number appearing to drop, that just means you are wasting fewer ketones and using more!
Being pre-menstrual and perimenopausal absolutely affect weight loss, and water retention. Fat gain, and fat loss, are entirely hormonally driven and your hormones flux significantly during both those times. Oestrogen is the biggest culprit!
What macros are you aiming for? If could be you are restricting and not eating enough and driving your metabolism down. Can you tell us a normal day’s food?
Be patient and KCKO!

#3

Sadly, a lot of what you describe gets played out over and over on these boards (and elsewhere across the internet). It boils down to the differences between the male and female bodies (muscle mass, insulin resistance, body fat:muscle ratios), and of course HORMONES.

Measuring ketones is pointless, in my opinion. Too unreliable and variable readings, due to limitations of the test meters/strips. Basically, if you are eating so few carbs that your body isn’t using them for fuel, then you are in ketosis. The only thing that might block that is if you are eating absurd amounts of protein, but I doubt you are.

If you want to tweak with dairy and sweeteners, then go for it. Easy enough to exclude them for a bit to see what happens.

Keep going. Don’t give up. This too shall pass. Eventually. If you stick with it for long enough. And even if it doesn’t, you’ll have quite a few other non-scale victories to hang on the mantel.

(Wendy) #4

First question is how are you measuring your ketones? If it’s with pee strips it may not be reliably showing you your levels. If you are becoming fat adapted you will waste fewer ketones and thus they won’t be in your pee.
Second is fasting is so good for ketosis and weight loss. Mainly it causes you to not produce insulin for that period of time and then your body is able to burn fat instead of storing it.
I’d recommend Jason Fung’s books Obesity Code and Diabesity Code if you haven’t read or listened to them. (They’re both on Audio. I just picked up the second one which may still be on sale at Audio.com for $6.95.)
I think a lot of my success has come from intermittent fasting. I’ve not measured my ketones ever, but I’ve still managed to lose 65 pounds in about 8 months. I’m also 53 and post menapause.
Since you are not seeing the results that you were, maybe try cutting out the diet pudding. I eat a little bit of strawberries with either heavy whipping cream or Fage unsweetened full fat yogurt, for a sweet treat. I really have avoided artifical sweeteners as much as I can. Having them only occasionally as a treat.
Dairy can be a problem for some as well so all we can tell you is try dropping it and see. I personally noticed better results when I used fewer sweeteners.
All the best to you!

#5

I’ve noticed a considerable lack of replies from the male audience of this forum. (I wonder why?)
Just thought I’d pop in for good measure. :grin:

@JackieBlue thank you for bringing these questions to the forum, instead of just getting discouraged and maybe quitting. If anybody can help you, I’m certain this forum can, or at least point you in the right direction.

KCKO

(Jackie Blue) #6

Thanks for the reply, Darren!
I’m no quitter! I am starting at the very beginning and slogging my way through every video and customer question and manufacturer answer on the Keto blood
Meter, then moving on to the podcasts attached to this forum. I will end up a foremost expert on all things Ketosis, if I have to, to make this work!

I already learned some things more experienced ppl had wrong or did not know:

-Morning ketone readings will always be lowest, not highest.

-Highest ketone readings will be before dinner, esp if you’ve been fasting.

-Rubbing alcohol on your lancet device or finger will give inaccurately high ketone readings. Let it dry completely before blood testing.

-Even if you don’t have diabetes, you should use the glucose strips to test your blood sugar after eating anything you might be suspicious about. If your blood sugar spikes, it is something that makes your body react with a glucose burst that could be blocking your ketone production and delaying Ketosis for you.

For my situation, I think maybe I am utilizing my ketones better than I thought! I have been using the urine strips as I didn’t have any more blood strips.

I just tested my blood this AM, when ketones are lowest, and got 0.7.
I am going to test again before dinner and it should be better than that, so I guess I can assume I have been in Ketosis for the past 3 days, after all and am just not spilling enough ketones to show up in my urine now.

(Laurie) #7

I don’t know what to say, @JackieBlue, other than good luck and don’t give up!

(Bob M) #8

I gave up on the urinalysis ketone strips years ago. They stopped working for me. I only use blood or breath. They do have error in them, so there are times when they can’t be trusted, either, but they’re much more accurate.

It’s too bad women don’t wear belts, as that is one of the best devices to gauge weight loss. I can’t tell you how many times I did not lose weight on the scale and had to adjust my belt.

Not all men lose at the rate your husband is losing, especially over time. I had DEXA (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry) scans done over the course of a year. I gained 3.3 pounds of muscle and lost 5.4 pounds of fat, for a scale loss of about 2 pounds. In a year.

DEXA
DEXA.JPG691×281 43 KB

The people who lose a lot of weight quickly tend to be very overweight and possibly less metabolically messed up. Think about losing 10 pounds per month, that’s 35,000 calories*/month or about 1,200 calories per day every day. That’s a lot of calories if your basal metabolic rate is just over that.

  • this uses 3,500 calories/pound, which is likely bogus, but it’s all we have.
#9

My personal/anecdotal information for you!

Female, 38, 5’7", starting weight 267, goal weight 167.

  • First 3 months, every cycle I gain weight or do not lose any weight. Those lovely hormones! Charting this shows that I get about 2.5 weeks worth of keto happiness and 1.5 weeks of hormones per month.

  • In my first couple of weeks my weight loss stopped and I started to gain weight steadily for 8-10 days…the fix was I purchased some Sport Salts and within 2 days my weight started to decline and I was good to go since. The Sport Salts was a game changer.

  • Another factor for me was my iron levels, I have always been anemic but never really think about it too much, adding an iron supplement helped a ton with weight loss, mood and energy

  • Adding supplements in general really helped me and my male diet partner. When I stop taking the supplements or forget to take them - I notice a difference physically and on the scale if I do not get those needs from my food.

Supplements currently taking: MagSRT, Sport Salts, Iron

Here is the Sport Salts I mentioned… https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N1P1ODD/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Additional info for cycles:

Ive had 4 cycles during keto way of eating, the experience has been pretty weird.

1st Cycle - Heavier and more painful than before keto diet.
2nd Cycle - A tiny bit better than 1st but still “different”
3rd Cycle - No cramps, much lighter, almost no cravings, mood improved over previous 2
4th Cycle - Weight loss is not affected, water weight is minimal, much better experience than first 3