I am a diabetic and use insulin, I began this diet on March 13th, soon after my 64th birthday. I weighed 234 pounds at start and am 5’3" tall. I lost 13 pounds in the first 4 weeks, I am assuming that was water weight, I am dedicated to this diet, I have had no bread, no pasta, no rice, etc., I have not cheated on this diet, I find my appetite has for the most part dwindled. I use the MyFitnessPal app to track all my information, trying to maintain, 5% carbs, 20% protein and 75% fats. In the beginning I think I was taking in too much protein, now I am really good with the macros but just not losing, actually this week I have gained about 4 pounds. I just visited my endocrinologist and he has decreased the 2.25 units of insulin that my pump automatically gives me to 2.00 and has given me permission to lower it more in the next three months as needed as my blood sugar is really, really good with this diet and improving daily. My daily consumption of insulin, including what I bolus myself with for meals has gone from about 120 units per day to 48 units per day, so greatly decreased!
My A1C went from 7.1 to 6.3 and I am hoping in the next three months to do that again, my endo has indicated we may be able to go off the insulin if I keep up the good work. I am doing no exercise at the present time due to what I have read but wanting to start swimming and water aerobics soon. So that is my story, I am thrilled with the blood sugar numbers and A1c numbers, that in itself is wonderful, but I WANT TO LOSE the weight too. I have tried a couple of days of fasting and not eating until dinnertime and I also am not being able to get my Ketone test strips into the Large Category, I am hanging out between small and moderate. I know this was a lot of information, but what can I do that I haven’t done, or what am I not doing that I need to do??? Again, weight loss is important to me too.
Newby - help me figure out what I am doing wrong?
Are you taking physical measurements? That’s a better guide than the scale as often keto changes body composition so even without a loss on the scale, the body is often smaller due to increased muscle. It’s body fat that you want to lose, not weight as such, and there are better ways of measuring this that the scale.
Congrats on your 13 lbs loss and the fabulous stats on the insulin and blood sugar, that’s really great success!
Don’t get too bogged down by the urine strips, they are notoriously inadequate. If you have a blood glucose meter, you may want to investigate if you can get blood ketone strips for it.
I have no advice re. the weight, other than that women’s body react differently than men’s to this way of eating (it is not a diet!) and losing 13 lbs from mid-march till now, is about what I hope to have lost by the time I am a month and a half in.I am 58 y/o and I have lost 10 lbs in the first 4 weeks since April 1, so hope fully right on that track. I’d rather lose slow (gain a few, lose a few more, gain a few etc.).
Good point! Yes to the physical measurements - 1 clothing size down - Thank you shortstuff!
Congrats to you fiddlebanshee! Thank you, hadn’t thought to see if there were Ketone strips for my blood glucose meter! Will have to check that out!
If you lost a lot of water weight at first it is likely the 4 pounds you regained is also water. Water comes and goes much faster than fat and makes it hard to see slow steady fat loss. And the fat loss will become easier/faster as you drop the insulin. Keep a close eye on your blood sugar and be thrilled about the lowered insulin progress. Not being diabetic is going to buy you years of time to achieve your body goals.
Thank you brownfat, I will keep a close eye on my sugar levels, I will keep weaning myself off the insulin as my numbers decrease.
The big thing is to understand that this is an adaptive process and that it takes time. You’re doing fine. Progress is better measured by months rather than days or weeks. This illustrates the problem with all the fads out there, it has created unrealistic expectations in people. IMO, slower is better, it makes the changes more likely to be permanent. You just have to accept this and be patient.
As others have said - disregard the pee strips. They’re only measuring your wasted ketones, not even the ones you’re using. So what if you’re body is chowing down on ketones particularly well one day and you only have small amounts being wasted? You’re still solidly in ketosis, and doing quite well. But your pee strip would show very small amounts of ketones. Pee strips are more of a pregnancy test situation…they can give you a “yes” or a “no”, but not “how much”.
Megan Ramos has said - women lose inches when the pounds won’t budge. Men lose pounds when the inches won’t budge. I’d suggest, as others have, to start measuring and take the scale with a grain of salt.
April 29
As others have said - disregard the pee strips. There only measuring your wasted ketones, not even the ones you’re using. So what if you’re body is chowing down on ketones particularly well one day and you only have small amounts being wasted? You’re still solidly in ketosis, and doing quite well. But your pee strip would show very small amounts of ketones. Pee strips are more of a pregnancy test situation…they can give you a “yes” or a “no”, but not “how much”.
Megan Ramos has said - women lose inches when the pounds won’t budge. Men lose pounds when the inches won’t budge. I’d suggest, as others have, to start measuring and take the scale with a grain of salt.
Keep in mind too that when tracking your food, you should be tracking by grams, not percentages. If you are getting 5% of your daily food intake from carbs, that percentage in grams would be different if it is based off of, say 1400 calories or 2200 calories. Make sure your carb GRAMS stay under 20 grams per day.
I’m a newbie as well and my understanding is that there can be a lot of healing going on in the body without changes you can visually see but you know those changes are happening by your blood work and that you are losing inches. Also how do you feel? Has your mood, mental clarity and energy levels improved? Go by those criteria as well when evaluating how effective this has been for you. Hang in there! The weight will drop off!
Thank you for the positive post! I appreciate everyone and the good advice!