I did keto in my teens with great success (it was Atkin’s then, but still- 20 gems carbs). Fast forward to now- 55, post menopausal, post wls, postfix w/lipedema. I noticed once I stopped losing from the wls that I did not gain or lose no matter what I ate. I wasn’t thrilled, but my weight was stable for 10+ years at 270. Then a new gastroenterologist insisted that I try creon because i malabsorb fat and she was positive that it would “fix” my IBS-D. In less than a month I gained 50 lbs (when I started gaining I spoke to the doc, who insisted it was temporary and to keep taking the med) without any change in fat malabsorption. I stopped when I had gained 50 lbs. I decided 6 months ago to try and lose the 50 lbs and started doing keto again. I have been compliant but despite keeping carbs at 20 or less I’m not in ketosis and I gain and lose the same 15-20 lbs over and over. I could accept that, but I read posts by so many saying their GERD is gone, they have tons of energy, they feel so much better- I haven’t gotten any of these benefits. I just have to work hard to stay under 20 carbs and wonder what is wrong with me. And before you ask, I use monkfruit sweetener and hwc in my coffee, I don’t like diet drinks, I don’t make fat bombs or keto desserts or breads or even fathead dough. I eat salads with home made ranch dressing or oil and vinegar, vegetables with butter and ground beef, steak, chicken, pork loin or similar meats or eggs with cheese, meat, and/or veggies, omelet style. Because I have such a hard time getting into and staying in ketosis, I stick to as low carbs as possible. For me a treat is a half cup of cottage cheese (which is rare, because it can put me over 20 gems of carbs). I log my meals and my calories and nutrition were calculated using the calculator from ruled.me with a 15% deficit. And I’ve used both a breath ketone detector and the urine strips- both rarely show I’m in ketosis. I’m on the verge of giving up because if I don’t lose weight I’d at least like to feel better, and I just don’t. Am I doing something wrong? What can I try before accepting defeat?
Not losing. Very discouraged
Ditch the monkfruit. And what kind of oils are you using? Seed oils can be inflammatory.
…also if you are recently off the medication that caused your body to increase weight so rapidly, it might take some time for your body to undo the damage so give it some time. It took me over a year being off SSRIs before I could start dropping the 120 pounds I put on while on them and it wasn’t for lack of trying.
Don’t accept defeat! I am 50 and a very slow loser (I know should be happy that I have lost about 19 lbs in 5 months but it’s hard to hear that others are losing or losing so much faster.)
It sounds like you’re doing everything right. I can say that it’s only been this week that I seem to be able to get off of PPIs/antacids. I tried earlier in the process but had rebound heartburn something terrible.
I see that @Jennibc just wrote. She’s had amazing success. I love my sweeteners twice a day. May just have to ditch them as she says!
Good luck to you. I hope you don’t give up.
Yeah, sweeteners are funny. Some people have no problem. Other people, it stops them dead in their tracks. I think that before anyone throws in the towel, they should try making that tweak first.
Also, 19 pounds in five months isn’t bad that means that in a year you can lose 45 pounds. That year is going to pass either way, wouldn’t it be better to be 45 pounds less when it does? That has been about my rate of loss on keto as well. In two year, 90 and so on. I know it’s frustrating when we have a lot to lose and seems like there is no light at the end of the tunnel, but I promise, it will get there, you just need to keep going, keep the faith.
Monkfruit is natural and does not cause inflammation. Please give me a reason to ditch it, as I don’t like stevia. Not being bitchy, but I researched sweeteners and the only two keto approved are monkfruit and stevia- and it takes me less than a pinch of monkfruit sweetener for me coffee to sweeten it. Stevia takes much more and has a bitter aftertaste. Also, I have been off cream 4 YEARS. Only the keto is of 6 months duration
Sugar is natural too. Different people respond to different things, well, differently. I am sorry you are struggling. My half sister couldn’t lose on keto either UNTIL she gave up the monkfruit sweetener. I have no idea why it affected her the way that it did, but it did. If you don’t want to try that, then don’t, it was just a suggestion.
If it stayed off I’d be happy. But I am literally at the same weight as 6 months ago.
I’ve never heard that all sweeteners were bad unless you are diabetic or insulin resistant (im neither). Guess I’ll have to do even more research.
Nice to hear that it took someone else 5 months to get rid of GERD but again, it’s been 6 months. And if anything it seems worse. I used to be able to skip a few days between doses. Now it’s pretty much daily. 
So frustrating. 
Oh, and I use avocado oil. Before that it was evoo even tho I hated the taste. I usually use butter or beef/bacon fat to cook with.
okay, so next thing to look at is how many grams of protein are you eating a day and how frequently. Protein increases insulin, not to the degree of carbohydrate, but it does. One of the things that I was doing that was making it take longer than it should have was I was eating small meals throughout the day. Cutting back to two larger meals a day with a roughly five hour break in between, took me from light nutritional ketosis to optimal ketosis during my twice a day readings since making that change a couple of weeks back and has increased my rate of loss slightly.
You say you are not insulin resistant, I am assuming that means you have done a fasting insulin test and you have been assured your numbers are normal? But what if your body has an exaggerated response to insulin? I don’t know that answer to that.
Have you read the book “The Obesity Code”? He’s got some interesting insights worth considering. If not it’s been out for a while so perhaps your library has a copy.
I’m 64 year old female with 35 pounds to lose. Been faithfully following keto since January 20. Have only lost 3 pounds but have gone down at least 1 pant size. But the scale hasn’t budged in 30 days. I’m so frustrated. .trying to lose weight for a trip in June. Wonder if I should try a different program. Ugh!
A pant size in a month is great! Wonder about a different measure of success, not a different program.
I’m pleases with the inches but I’m just so puzzled about the scale not moving. Can you consume too much fat? I have 2 cups of coffee with heavy cream and coconuthe oil every morning. I’m not usually hungry so I don’t think I’m over eating at all. Only eat grass fed beef, org. Chicken fresh low carb veggies sour cream…cream cheese etc. Should I cut back on too much fat?
At some point, from what I have read, once you are fat adapted, you want your body to be at a calorie deficit so you use your body fat as fat vs. fat coming from what you consume. But you don’t want to get to that deficit too early or your body will compensate by lowering it’s metabolic rate.
Hello and welcome Liane.
While monk fruit does not cause an increase in blood glucose levels, there are conflicting reports about whether or not it increases insulin levels. A stable level of insulin is necessary to lose weight. In the case of stevia which also doesn’t raise blood glucose, it does raise insulin even higher than table sugar. You also have to be careful about additives in monk fruit. They can contain dextrose and those definitely affect insulin levels.
I think in the case of sweeteners, it’s probably best to err on the side of caution and when there’s no good science to rely on, it might be a good idea to listen to anecdotal evidence like this:
I loathe the idea of bitter coffee but I loathe the idea of being stuck at overweight even more.
I’ve done multiple fasting glucose tolerance tests. Always stayed at 79 through each blood draw. Now that they use the A1c I haven’t had to do one in 3 years. My A1c is 5.8. Like I said, my carbs/protein/fat ratios and calories come from the ruled.me calculator using a15% deficit. I generally stayed just under because I’m not hungry and never saw the point of eating to meet a goal. I might just give up and try a plant based diet. Keto aggravates my IBS because of the fat content. I’m not a huge bread/pasta/sweet eater so it would be veggies and whole grains. If I felt good I’d keep on keeping on, but I’m not feeling any different except for the frustration. I do have lipedema, which makes my body not respond well to dieting. And before you ask, yes, I do take supplements. I am required to take vitamins D, A and iron and I take B vitamins for my anxiety, B 12 for energy, vitamin C, and fish oil. I have been drinking my coffee with only hwc. I drink a lot less of it now (and I drank it when I first got up only, so not much anyway- I just enjoyed it). Thanks for the input.
Liane, there are other health reasons for sticking to a ketogenic diet, but if you’ve only been looking at weight loss, then you might be expecting results that aren’t (yet) realistic.
Any this is all before you’ve chosen a plant-based diet? Because going totally plant-based is probably going to make all these underlying problems worse if you can’t get all of that already through your food.
If you’ve been doing this (strictly) for 6 months, I would lower your fat. If you’re fat adapted then your body should be feeding off your stored fat. I didnt lose any weight at all until I lowered my fat and upped my protein (I work out a ton, hence the protein)