Hi everyone. I’m brand new here, looking for a little feedback/validation/support. I’m about halfway through my 3rd week of keto. I’m female, 31, 5’9", started at 320 lbs. In all of my keto research I’ve heard over and over how most people, especially very heavy people, when starting keto show huge losses on the scales during the first couple of weeks that is primarily water weight, which then tapers off to lower rates of actual fat loss. This has not been my experience! In 3.5 weeks I’ve “only” lost 7 lbs. Now, I am excited about ANY loss, especially after my previous experience of counting just calories where I was lucky to lose a pound a month. And overall I am enjoying eating this way. But I’m a bit confused/concerned, and wondering if this means I am still working on losing the water weight? Or did I go straight to fat loss? (seems unlikely). I am tracking everything and counting calories, carbs, fat, and protein 5 days a week and then just carbs on the weekends. After the first week and a half or so I have maintained at least a 15% calorie deficit, sometimes closer to 20%, on the days I count calories. One thing I will add is that I decided starting out I do 25-30 g as my net carb limit for the first month, then drop it to 20-25 for 2 weeks, then hard <20 from there. Most days I am right at 25. I was eating 300+ carbs a day before, so that is a pretty significant difference right there! Would 5-10 g really make that much difference?
No big "water" loss in the first 3.5 weeks?
When I first started years ago, I had this problem. I had to go zero carb for a week, and I felt “a” whoosh it was maybe 5 pounds. I think everyone is different, I think all I ate that week was salmon, butter and olive oil which I love, and was expensive. I also had bullet proof coffee ( just butter coconut oil and coffee no cream.).
I found about a year later that a small fast helped me too, but only after I was “Fat adapted”.
I’ve had a roller coaster of years of keto on and off because of things out of my control. Now I understand the science and community support really helps. 2ketodudes really pushed me over, I am eternally thankful.
I will also add it is a lifestyle, no quick easy scheme, look at it as a war not a battle, it is a game of inches. But I agree it can be frustrating to see others lose so much and get disappointed. Many folks even when fasting (like ron-coleman) showed no loses for days, while eating nothing. Then one day drops a couple pounds.
Hang in there and KCKO.
Lucas
Everybody seems to have their own keto story on how they get to their goal. I think it is beneficial to hear them all so you don’t feel like your the one unique person it the group because we really all are to a certain extent in this journey.
I was 265 in Dec of 2016
I had some Atkins success years ago so I knew the base premise worked. Although this is different.
I went 0 carb for 3 weeks. Lost no weight the first month at all.
You will get a whoosh as Enigmae says and its awesome! Once fat adapted I started IF then eventually EF for 3 days.
It really is a process but worth it. Stay the course, set goals, and don’t fall off the wagon because getting back on for me was not worth the taste. I started to lose weight slow at first. 60 pounds later and 5 pant sizes, I realized that the vanity motivation turned into a huge health benefit which is now the reason I do it. All the things you read about here, BP, sugar levels, TG levels all are worth the " no white castle hamburgers and hot fudge sundaes.
To say its a war is very accurate! When I was a 44 pants I put on (or tried) to put on 34’s. Very depressing!!! Today alittle snug but no too shabby. So go get clothes you wanna be in by Christmas and try them on!!! YOU GOT THIS!
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
SUN TZU
It is pretty common to lose water weight (however much) and then stall out for a few months as your body gets used to using and making ketones.
Generally the scale wont move but you may find your clothes fit looser, face looks thinner, etc.
How much water weight you carry depends on the person, so I wouldnt worry about it.
For my dad he lost 10 pounds, stalled out for 3 months (but also people commented he was looking thinner etc) and then he said he thought he was becoming fat adapted because he wasn’t as hungry anymore and started losing weight again.
Point being is as long as you stick to the basics, get plenty of sleep, stick below 20g of carbs per day, 1-1.5g of protein per kg of lean body mass, fat to satiety and are not restricting fat or calories the only thing left to do is KCKO!
In other words likely you are doing everything right, you jusy need the missing element of time
Exactly how it happened for me. Stalled for over 3 months, but jeans were getting looser. Then I did a bit of a spontaneous fast and boom! >12lbs in four days. And it’s been a consistent ~2lbs per week since then.
(I should add here) I’ve been keto since around Nov '16 and was stalled ~March to June this year. I think fat adaption for me was a loooong time coming as since the stall break, I now have practically no hunger and easily skip meals, sometimes for days.
KCKO!
So should I be eating more fat/calories? There is so much conflicting information about keto out there! I’ve heard from other sources that with keto for weight loss it is still really important to have a calorie deficit, so I have been trying to eat as few calories as possible. Most days this isn’t a problem and I come in under all of my macros without major hunger. Today for some reason I’m starving, but I’m afraid to eat the ounce of pecans I keep in my purse for emergencies because then I’ll have to eat less at dinner to come in at or under my fat and calorie goals. I’ve only had 5 g of carbs so far today so carbs are not an issue. There have been other days like this, where I struggle to be satisfied with the amount of fat and calories the calculator says I should have. The first week I let myself eat extra, but since then I’ve been trying to just suck it up and deal with being hungry unless I start to feel weak. Is this wrong? Should I be going over my fat and calories if that’s what I need to feel satisfied some days?
Calculators don’t know jack, to be honest, and for someone with insulin resistance (which I believe it’s 75% of people who are obese have some form of it) calorie restriction does NOT work. The only thing that will happen is that it will stress your body out, your metabolism will slow, and you’ll be miserable.
<20g of carbs a day
1-1.5g of protein per kg of lean body mass
Fat to satiety. That means if you’re hungry: eat. Do not starve yourself, don’t count calories if counting them makes you feel guilty when you go “over”. Your body knows how much food it needs, and you are using fat for energy on keto. So you need to feed it. It sounds the complete opposite of what you’re normally heard, but it is true, and many here can testify that this does work and you will feel full enough to self regulate.
The issue with having high resting insulin is that if you are over a certain amount you physically cannot access body fat. So restricting calories doesn’t lead to losing fat, it leads to you being damn hungry.
Don’t count calories, because a calorie calculator will never be able to tell you how much you need on any given day. You do not fill up your car with the same amount of gas every day, do you? No! It depends entirely on how much you drove, how fast, and where. Same thing with your body. You know when you need to refuel (and by how much) via your fuel gauge. Same thing with hunger signalling.
So:
Fat to satiety. Eat as much fat as you need to stay full between meals (snacking is not ideal, if necessary snack on the fattiest thing you can get your hands on), calories don’t “matter” in that you should be going off of hunger signals, not an arbitrary number.
I have not tracked a single calorie in about 5 or so months, but I still consistently lose because I 1) eat when I’m hungry 2) don’t when I’m not 3) keep carbs and protein in line
Sorry if this comes off a bit scatterbrained, I’m in the middle of packing for ketofest, but hopefully this helps.
In short, NO do not calorie restrict. If you are hungry EAT. Any “extra” calories should come from fat, as this is what you’re using for energy (protein for maintaining muscle, carb to give a little leeway on what you can eat). Do not fat restrict either, your fat amount should be flexible and should vary depending on how hungry you are day to day. Some days you’ll eat a little and be fine, other days you’ll eat quite a bit more than usual - that’s fine, and normal. Don’t starve yourself, don’t restrict, listen to what your body is telling you.
This was a first ever event put on by the 2 keto dudes in @carl hometown of New London CT. They brought in a bunch of keynote speakers, several vendors and turned the town keto for a weekend. Several hundred veteran to rookie keonians we’re in attendance. Stay tuned for ketofest 2018.