Not losing weight

(Sinenhlanhla) #1

I have been in keto for 11 weeks but my scale is not moving. I think I am adapted because I’m no longer feeling hunger pangs despite the quantity of food. I eat breakfast and a second meal which is usually dinner. I have been stuck on my weight gaining a kg sometimes for over 6 weeks. I have lost a few centimetres. I have also been persevering in the hope that my scale will move soon. I’m losing hope hence my post here. My macros are usually 10-15% carbs. 70% fat and 20% protein. I track them with my fitness pal and Fatsecret apps. my meals look like this:

breakfast: 3 bacon rashers. eggs fried in coconut oil or butter. Sometimes a pork sausage. always avocado. tomato and sometimes 30g of cheese.

Dinner: protein such as mince, chicken or beef. then I’ll have broccoli fried rice in butter, boiled or fried cabbage and spinach. Sometimes I’ll have pumkin especially when I was still hungry.

snack: peanuts. Sometimes pumkin seeds. I stopped eating Greek yoghurt because I had no self control. Sometimes I’ll have some oppo ice cream as it is designed for this lifestyle.

I eat enough because I’m breastfeeding. So I do not deprive myself of nutrients when I do eat. I also do some strength training and netball once a week. I’m training to get my muscles strong since having a baby, the intention is not to use it as a weight loss tool because I believe food should be enough to help in this regard.

please tell me what am I doing wrong? any help welcone

(Dany Bolduc) #2

I think i can relate to that. Very early on i’ve lost some weight, but have been at a stall for many weeks.

I just made the concious decision to KCKO and here’s why:

  • no more inflamation pain
  • dropped 2 BP meds
  • sleep better
  • more alert/mental clarity
  • more energy, no more mid-pm snooze

These are my non-scale victories that keep me well motivated to KCKO.

Do you have any NSV ?

That being said, when you say 10-15% carbs. Assuming you consume around 2000 calories per day, that woild amount to 50-75 gr.
I beleive you might wanna try lowering that to 20 gr for a couple weeks and see if that moves the needle.

Also you should not discount the fact that uou lost inches. That still means fat loss…and muscle gain.

Breastfeeding might also be a fsctor. Your body might resist weight loss to preserve the reserves to support BF.

Keto is more of a lifestyle than a weight loss program.
It comes with a LOT of great benefits, one of which happens to be weight loss…if you have some to lose…your body will know when snd how it’s best to lose it

Good luck and KCKO

(Sheri Knauer) #4

Don’t go by what the scale says. Go by how you feel and how your clothes are fitting. Taking measurements is a much better indicator of fat loss. Since you are strength training, you may be gaining more muscle while losing fat so that will not reflect on the scale but would with how your clothes fit. Peanuts can be inflammatory so you may want to have macadamia nuts, almonds, walnuts, or pecans instead. As for the macros, if you are tracking, go by grams, not the percentage, as the percentage can change based on the number of calories you consume so you may be, on some days, consuming more than the recommended 20 grams or less of carbs per day. Go back over your data in my fitness pal to check on the number of grams of carbs you have been consuming. Im not familiar with Oppo ice cream so i don’t know if there are any ingredients in it to be wary of.
Sometimes our bodies want to go through some internal healing before dropping weight. Sometimes our bodies want to initially drop some weight, then decide to focus on other metabolic issues to “fix”. If you are feeling better eating this way, then I don’t see the issue just because the scale is telling you a number you don’t like. Stick with it and you will see weight loss as well as other awesome stuff. Just make sure you are maintaining a higher caloric intake while breastfeeding, even though your hunger may be decreasing.

(Sinenhlanhla) #5

You make excellent points. thank you! What is NSV? My total food intake is about 1300 calories in the my fitness pal app and 1800 in the Fat secret. I consume about 1200-1300 to my satisfaction.

(Sinenhlanhla) #7

Good points! I gave the rest of my nuts away today. I think I need to buy macademian instead, you are correct. I just checked and it ranges between 26-36grams total carbs. That sounds like a lot compared to the percentage… My daily intake in total calories is between 1300-1600. My idea was to correct my ratios and adapt to the lifestyle before restricting calories, i am generally satisfied with this calory intake level.

the brocolli rice is basically florets in a blender and then fried in butter.

(Dany Bolduc) #8

Non-Scale Victories. I choose to focus and be motivated by these rather than the scale.

I’m really no expert, but to me these caloric intake seem low for a breast-feeding mom.
How many of these calories come from carbs according to the apps ?

(Sinenhlanhla) #9

Got you! Thank you. My NSV I can feel my muscles are getting stronger. I’m less tired and can generally do more walking and excercise without being burnt out. The only illness I have is asthma andit also feels better managed.

ps: thank you so much for responding

(Sinenhlanhla) #10

So are you suggesting I increase my calorie intake? if so would that be more fats or more carbs? It does sound low,but I felt satisfied and thought not to rock the boat. The carbs are between 26-36grams. Before this I didn’t think it was that low. to be honest

(Sinenhlanhla) #11

Thank you! great points. I will attempt increasing my calorie intake to compensate for breast feeding.

I didn’t know about the peanuts being inflammatory (thank you)

As for grams I will go back and check. I think I have been consuming too many grams as when I checkedbit ranged between 26-36 grams at some points it’s up to 40grams! I didn’t know thank you.

thanks for the response, really appreciate it

(Dany Bolduc) #12

You are correct in that you still need to dial-in on the macro ratio. But on Keto (or ever really) you should NOT restrict calories. This will invariably lead to your metabolism slowing down, which leads to weight gain, which pushes you to lower calories… the downwards spiral of calorie in calorie out diet

(Sinenhlanhla) #14

Got you! As I buy more Greek yogurt. :grin: I had to remove some of my favs in the name of calorie restriction. thanks!

(Sinenhlanhla) #15

I usually use the sticks which have been giving me excellent readings so far. I will get the meter too. I’m currently in the UK and hope they are available. but I’ll go to Amazon first as you suggest.

(Christina Cundiff) #16

Hi! I’m breast-feeding also! I’ve been keto for almost 6 months now and the way that I feel is so good that I focus on that rather than the scale because the scale number is always sort of defeating for me. Also the hormones needed to breast-feed do seem to prevent us from losing weight (my baby is 21 months and I have lost 13 pounds of my pregnancy weight and I have been trying to lose weight ever since the day she was born LOL) . I have also had to be very conscious of my mineral balance and my calorie intake ( making sure that I eat enough food because I was in such a calorie restrictive mindset before and that was only hurting me) . My clothes are all very, very, very loose (and I have a waist again) but according to the scale I’ve only lost 10 pounds since starting keto whereas my husband has lost nearly 40 pounds in the same amount of time. So, I think I’m kind of in the same place you are, and I’ve had to really focus on my non-scale victories rather than that silly number. Good luck and count on me for support! I’m right there with you !

(Dany Bolduc) #17

I would definitely try to stick to 20 gr carbs for a couple weeks and at least make up the difference in fat.
I say at least because

  • Some women are fine at 1300 cal, others consume a lot more
  • consuming more might upregulate your metabolism and/or provide more to support breast-feeding
(Sinenhlanhla) #18

oh yay! Thanks for the response mommy. How much more do you add to your calories to compensate (if that’s the right word) or support the BF?

(Sinenhlanhla) #19

I think this suggestion is practical I will definitely try it. I didn’t even realise that my carb intake was so high. I will certainly be tweaking this week and the next and will keep you updated! Again thank you for taking time to respond and advice

(Sheri Knauer) #20

IF you really enjoy the greek yogurt, I suggest you buy the one with the least amount of sugar (in the US we have Oikos zero, which is the lowest sugar but it is also 0 fat) and buy the plain version. Then to increase the amount of fat, add in some HWC and maybe some crushed macadamia nuts and/or some of those liquid stevia drops that have flavorings like vanilla or toffee. http://sweetleaf.com/stevia-products/sweet-drops/

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #21

Breastfeeding women should be getting 500 cals. extra for the baby’s needs. Google it, tons of hits.

Megan Ramos has a Fasting Talk podcast about women breastfeeding in the first 12 months should not be doing any fasting. If your baby is under a year old, you might want to add in the third meal.

Just curious, why one calorie goal on MFP and another on the other site? Logging on MFP, keeps me plenty busy, can’t image doing it in two places.

I think it is great you are getting yourself back in shape so quickly. Going to need that strength training with a growing baby to carry around :slight_smile:

(Sinenhlanhla) #22

The logging into two places started when Keto came into South Africa as ‘Banting’ introduced by Tim Noakes. Everyone suggested FS and so I downloaded it, it actually taught me about macros which I appreciate. I prefer MFP now that I know more, and it’s encouraging.

This is my last born of 3 and with my first I gained so much weight and was sluggish. My self esteem was below zero. I vowed to myself to always make an effort and Keto is delicious and easy cause you eat and get filled so it has certainly fixed my relationship with food.

With that said I want nothing to harm my baby (he is 4.5 months) So if there is a need for me to add 500 more calories then I am willing to do so. And will do So using the increase of fats. I feel great generally and was selfishly hoping to lose a bit of weight to keep motivated. BUT after reading every comment and looking at the bigger picture, some things are more important than others.

(Kathy L) #23

That sounds good!!