No weight loss 14 days

#1

Been 20g carbs for last 2 weeks
Mostly chicken, bacon, eggs, nuts, heavy cream and cheese based
A bit of 90% dark chocolate here and there
I do like diet sodas though I am wondering if this is the cause- maybe one per day sometimes none.
Also in the morning 2 sweeteners in my morning coffee but just one per day
Apart from that I’m 1500-1600 calories per day
Just give it more time ? Or start to tweak?
Sugar cravings are at a minimal now, feeling better, no afternoon dip so I know this is god for me
I just want to see a little bit of encouragement on my weight. Got 16 pounds to loose so not a massive amount
Thank you

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #2

Welcome to the Forum :smiley:
Several things here you may like to consider.
Double check everything, I certainly made mistakes in the beginning. Some carbs are hidden and you can’t assume anything.
The diet soda is definitely best avoided. And drop the sweeteners IMO, if you need to ween off Stevia is about the best.
Lean chicken is OK but fatty beef would be better. No need to count calories, I lost weight on 5000 a day. You may need to eat more.
You will lose that 16lbs and it’s probably a small adjustment, 2 weeks is not long and you may not be fat adapted yet. It will work though. Don’t give up because when you start shedding fat it flies off!

#3

There is a quite small chance that 1500 kcal is too much for you so let’s think about other possibilities…
14 days is little, it’s not so hard to “stall” for this “long”. I had a time when I was very sure I was losing fat as I surely had a deficit and I always lose fat then. True, I can’t know my CI let alone my CO but I could have an educated guess and I was sure. I only had 11 days when the scale showed the same weight every day. And then it went down. But many people says they have a much longer no weight-loss time sometimes for some reason. Some still loses fat just not weight in total, others probably don’t but if they do things right, it will happen eventually. The body may have some other priorities and a slow fat-loss isn’t hard to mask, even the scales aren’t that very accurate! But it’s easy to hold back a bit more water or something.
16 pounds is a little weight to lose anyway so it may be quite slow so easier to mask… I had 30-40 to lose when I had this 11 day “stall”. (I call it a stall if it’s a few weeks at least).

Some people say sweetener and dairy interferes with their fat-loss, IDK how that works but it seems that’s a thing. It’s only calories for me, even carbs don’t seem to matter at all (I just almost always inevitably overeat and am hungrier if I eat more carbs. and I can’t fit the carb macros anyway, the fat is problematic enough, I must eat as lean as possible to get any chance for fat-loss) but we are all different. Some people allegedly should eat more to lose… I almost envy them, food cost is important for me but fat can be very cheap and I love fatty food. I have fat fast days when I can, those are convenient and helpful in many ways. If I just can skip lunch :smiley: Oh yes, some people fast to trigger fat-loss but I wouldn’t do it without being very fine with fasting for other reasons, personally.

It doesn’t seem you definitely need tweaking at this point, I would be a bit more patient before thinking about it! Unless you find some potentially helpful and easy tweaking, I always try to eat as little sweetener as comfortably possible but it took many years for me to be fine with zero on most days. I never noticed sweeteners had any effect on my fat-loss but as I wrote, some people did. I just like to avoid them as they aren’t food but it’s just me.

Good luck, I wish you results soon!

(Bean) #4

I went months without losing, but the tape measure gave different results.

Dairy can cause stalls for some people.

(Robin) #5

What @beannoise said.
And a mere 16 pounds will likely be slower.
You’ll get there.

#6

Thank you, I am sticking to it.
My diet before was about 90% sugar based- a proper sugar addict here! :raising_hand_woman:
You just read so much about an initial water loss of 3-8 pounds but nothing here as of yet
I feel less bloated so far

#7

I am trying to go as basic and unprocessed as possible to avoid hidden- meat with eggs or cheese. If doing a sauce I will make it myself- I did this the other night and made a keto cheese sauce which was actually really good.
I’m not big on red meat but do have a steak here and there
I also think with the nuts I might be eating a lot more than a ‘portion’ so I am going to go easy with the nuts this week as that might be stalling things

#8

You seem to keep your carbs nicely low :slight_smile: If you track properly, you spot hidden carbs anyway but it’s good to know where they may hiding.
One can eat plenty of nuts without consuming much carbs, not all are the same carb wise (and I wasn’t into cashew). I ate lots of peanuts, that is still carby and it still wasn’t a problem, I got the bigger part of my carbs from vegs, the other, smaller part came from various food groups.

(KM) #9

Nuts can also be a sneaky source of carbs, especially because a defined serving of nuts is a really small amount. So the jar might say it’s got nine carbs per serving, but who ever eats a quarter cup of cashews. That’s like, 10.:rofl:

There’s a fine balance. If you are eating a lot of fat / a lot of calories (good), but you’re not in ketosis and you’re often burning carbohydrate or stored glycogen (not so good), that fat may still be accumulating rather than being burned. Exercise and especially weight training May significantly change the body’s needs and metabolic function, but if you’re a ketogenic couch potato like me, it’s important to stay in ketosis most of the time.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #10

Be careful with the nuts, since they can easily add up to more carbs than we think! I wouldn’t worry about the diet sweeteners just yet. Probably over time, you’ll want to do away with them, but if they are helping you adapt, why not? And for all the potential problems, they are still better than sugar!

Two points about losing fat: First, if you are a woman, you might have to go through a month or two of hormonal re-regulation before seeing significant fat loss.

Second, if we don’t eat enough, our body works hard to hang on to all its reserves. Short rations (as opposed to outright fasting) are the signal there’s a famine going on. Therefore, the body is more likely to shed excess fat when we eat to satisfy our hunger. In fact, many forum members found that their fat loss didn’t begin until they started eating more, believe it or not.

Another point is not to worry too much about what the scale does. Keep track of the fit of your clothing; it’s a better indicator of progress. It is actually possible to put on lean mass (muscle, etc.) on a ketogenic diet, especially if we hadn’t been getting enough protein before. But lean tissue is denser, and so putting on lean mass doesn’t interfere with losing inches of fat. And trust me, it’s fat you want to lose, not muscle.

#11

No nuts this week so far
Not tackled the diet sodas as of yet!
One thing at a time…
Also no dark chocolate as 2 squares for me can sometimes turn into 4 then 6
Hoping to see some results in next week or 2
Thanks for the advice

(Brian) #12

Not a lot I could add, lots of good advice above.

I do best on beef, and I want it fatty. 80/20 is about as lean as I want it. I find that I get an energy boost from beef that I do not get with poultry, pork, or fish. I have to be a bit careful about eating too much beef late in the day because if I do that, I’ll be awake when it’s time to go to bed and ready to do stuff.

I have not counted calories since starting keto, I just don’t. Carbs, yeah. Calories, no. And Paul is right about some having success when eating MORE, it seems counterintuitive. Speaking for myself, if I want to eat more with weight loss in mind, I’ll eat a second hamburger patty. I have no idea how many calories, or even ratios, but I know how I’ll feel if I eat it and I know what the scale will do.

I have a routine when I’m performing. (Keyboard player in a jazz band.) Before gigs, I’ll eat 1 pound of beef and 3 or 4 eggs. Beef is normally hamburger patties with sunny side up eggs on them. I’ll add a little mustard, usually a slice of real cheese, but very clean. That will give me energy for the next 8 hours or more and that will often be the only meal of the day, and I’m not hungry. I’m alert, full of energy, and on my game. I like the way that feels. Funny thing is, if someone wants to feed me some sugar of some kind (and people LOVE to want to poke junk food into me at events), that whole euphoria comes crashing down and I fall into a black hole of trying to keep enough sugar coming to feel OK but I will never get back to that original high of just runnin’ on beef with any sugar intake at all. It is amazing the social pressure that’s out there to eat, not for nutrition, not for hunger, but just to share in someone else’s experience.

(KM) #13

It is. Food, and alcohol. Either. “You must partake with me to feel the love”, or “You must mirror my behavior, or I might feel bad about myself”. Exhausting!

(Jane) #14

I am usually good about deflecting social pressure except for one time, early on in my journey so paranoid about going off plan.

I was in Belgium on a business trip and they served only deli sandwiches for lunch during a long meeting. My choices were: don’t eat, eat the meat out of the sandwich or eat the sandwich. Fortunately the sandwiches were “mini” sized - maybe 4” long.

I tried not to eat as my colleagues were milling around, eating standing up so not as obvious as sitting at a table with nothing in front of me. But the plant manager noticed and urged me to eat. Twice. The second time I was concerned I would offend and being in someone else’s country I did not want to leave a negate impression. Plus my reputation as an engineer - didn’t want to be remembered that way since it was my first meeting at this site.

So, I caved and made a 4” sandwich last the whole lunch break. The sky fall, the world didn’t stop spinning and nothing negative happened. And I left the site with a good impression, so a win all around.

#15

Ouch. Hopefully you aren’t like my SO and I… We are STARVING like crazy if we eat a little meal! If we don’t have a lot of okay food, we fast. I totally understand your thinking, you did well IMO, I just would have eaten many sandwiches (and keep starving afterwards) if I had one.

Actually, this helps a lot when there isn’t a huge pressure. I know I would suffer if I ate a little and I am a hedonist so I just fast (unless I get optimistic but then I easily end up with a carby day, not like it’s necessarily bad but probably doesn’t worth it).

Drinking is where I never feel any pressure. I HATE and gets mad if anyone wants/tries to FORCE me to drink (okay, it’s true for food too but I am a bit more tolerant as hospitality is huge in my country especially if one is family) so I couldn’t care less about their feelings and expectations and potentially give them a short lecture. I dare anyone to force me into consuming obvious toxins :rofl: It won’t happen. (I drink by myself, toxin or not but it’s my decision and my 12ml strong spirit a few times a year… Or 1dl beer occasionally. Or 20ml sweet wine but that was ages ago… I am not proud that I drink like this in the country 1st in alcoholism but as a health-conscious one, I am quite glad :wink: And I find my moderation super funny. Anyway, one less thing to be addicted to, that’s nice. I prefer to be addicted to vital things like water and very healthy things like eggs :heart_eyes: It’s bad enough I drink coffee nearly every day. Unacceptable and I will change it.)

It’s my body and my consumption, it’s my business how I eat. And to some extent, my family’s, I should eat healthy to be healthy and be around for a looong time. If someone likes me, they don’t want me to eat in a way that is bad for me. It’s simple like that.

(Brian) #16

That one is a little easier. You can put ice water or seltzer water or club soda in a (wine?) glass and carry that around with you, sip on it occasionally if you want to. Nobody has to know what’s in the glass.

Maybe I’m not the socialite that some are, I don’t often get into situations where they want me to drink alcohol. I’m much more likely to be offered soda, fruit punch, lemonade, or something that’s 50% sugar. UUGGHH!!!

#17

I deleted the first version but didn’t manage to be concise the second time either, I give up.

But I slightly want them to know… Why would I want to hide I drink water? It’s a perfect drink… I would get nothing from it BUT according to my principles and personality, it would harm me to hide my eating and drinking habits. Each to their own, I guess, I have zero problem if people get creative when it’s better for them (and it’s really their business), I just don’t see the point. Others have nothing to do with it and I couldn’t care less if they have a problem (except it’s a bit funny if they have… oh a nice argument would be great sometimes. too bad I don’t know people and my few family members are tolerant. okay, I like that they are. my SO’s Mom always eats meat but she cooked vegetarian food for us when we visited in our vegetarian years :slight_smile: how considerate, much more than what I expect).

I hope there are some people like me, just with more social life out there who put people with wrong behaviour in their place. People should experience others eating the way they want, no matter what others expect from them. And the same for drinking. People should learn they shouldn’t tell others how to eat, well they can give advice to some extent… I consider it very wrong that many people feel they should hide their own eating/drinking habits out of fear or something. So in a social pressure situation (that I never have), I would feel huge compulsion to be maybe a tad more extreme than normal and definitely not hiding anything.

But I never feel pressure. (It’s a bit sad, it feels good to go against other people’s wishes when I know I am right… Oh well.) Except maybe when it comes to my SO’s Mom’s baked goods but I love them anyway so there is no conflict. And she never would force me, I just want to be nice to her and I really appreciate her (and her baking. mine can’t compare but I seriously limit myself when it comes to carbs, it’s not easy). It’s not easy for me to go against my own strong desires. So I am my own opponent, other’s opinion barely ever matters when it comes to what I consume. It’s my body, of course I should make all these decisions. I want others to understand this and if confrontation helps with their understanding, so be it, I can be generous to put some effort into it to make other people’s understanding and attitude better.

(Brian) #18

It’s not so much that you’re hiding anything. But people are less likely to be pushing a drink at you when you already have one either in front of you on the table or in your hand. They don’t need to know what it is. It doesn’t matter what it is to most people. “I already have a drink, thank you.” Probably don’t even need to say it as it’s obvious. That was pretty much my point.

Might be similar with food. If you have a plate of “something”, people are less inclined to push food at you. It may be a tiny plate with a few select pieces of meat or cheese, but if you actually have it in front of you, you are “eating”. If you have nothing in front of you, others around you are much more likely to push. It’s not so much a matter of what.

In this day and age, it’s a little easier to get away with “my doctor said I can’t eat…x” and have it pretty much unquestioned as well.

I guess it does depend a bit on the setting. Corporate hob-knob things are quite different than family get-togethers.

Anyway…

#19

Oh, sorry, I get it! It surely can get annoying after a while.
But actually, if they see me drink water, they can see I do have a drink… Oh well. I never ever were in such social situation ever. When people walked around, everyone just ate and drink whatever they wanted. Offering booze is more like greeting someone who came to visit especially if it’s some holiday or big event (not everyone does it, obviously), pálinka is very much the norm… Home-made if possible so definitely higher than 40% alcohol (not like that matters much, I just have less if it’s strong though it’s harder to drink at some point but if a drink is sweet, even 80% may be easy. I have a tiny experience, not much but definitely met stronger spirits)…

It depends. If it’s an event where everyone shows off their cooking/baking skills, they may want you to eat theirs and say your opinion (praises)…

Yeah I am not the type who would admit a weakness like not having great health and needing a doctor… :upside_down_face: Or that I would ever listen to a doctor’s dietary advice… But it’s just me, of course. It can help a ton if someone is different in some points. People may go against your wishes (rude) but if it’s a doctor dictated health thing, that is more respected. Not by all, of course, really pushy people can dismiss anything especially if it’s a rare occasion.

(Brian) #20

Yup, the situation and the relationships to the people around you make a lot of difference.

Anyway… we do the best we can. :slight_smile: