Nothing is working

(Lynn Bidigare) #1

Guys!
I have not lost a pound after a full week. Still going to the gym for cardio. Been very diligent. What is up?
Lynn

(Ethan) #2

What are you eating? What do your macros for fat, carbs, and protein look like? If you can provide information about your metabolic state and body composition, it also helps. One week is not much time–especially for women. You could be seeing results in fat loss, but gaining bone density.

(Allie) #3

One week is no time at all. Focus on getting your macros right and allow your body time to adapt.

(Dan Dan) #4

Please give an example of daily meals/snacks and time including body composition and goals

#5

My crystal ball says… “consult the magic eight ball”.

(Allan L) #6

LOL! I also typed a reply referring to a crystal ball, but then changed my mind… :slight_smile:

(Brian ) #7

Lynn, just remember this is a marathon not a sprint. Don’t worry about the scale, trust the process. Hormones and fluid shifts happen. Make sure you aren’t eating hidden carbs or restricting your caloric intake too much. Also stay up on fluids. The other things to look at closely are stress level and sleep—these have a huge impact on our success. Hang in there, it is a common complaint especially for people who ate well before starting Low Carb.

#8

There is tremendous support in this forum, just give us some background.

(Lynn Bidigare) #9

I am 60, 190, 5’5’. Moderate activity. Gym 3 times a week for cardio and walk all day in job. Have a fit bit that measures about 75% fat, 19%, protein and average about 10% carbs. My scale says 45% body fat. Could it be too much dairy? I generally have a salad with olive oil and a protein, avocado or cheese. Thanks to all of you for your reply!

(Ethan) #10

It could be. But have you measured that you are in ketosis?

(Sheri Knauer) #11

Eating ketogenic is, for most people, a life long and learning process. You will read the saying, “Keep Calm and Keto On” a lot and that is sage advice. Being only a week in is not very long. Stay the course, ask questions here, research all you can on keto, listen to the Dudes podcast (a TON of great info there) and don’t give up. Be on the lookout for other things that keto can help, not just weight loss. I bet in 6 months from now you will see some incredible differences in how you look and feel!

(Lynn Bidigare) #12

My ketostix fall in the moderate range. Right in the middle. Is that what you mean?

(Ethan) #13

Interesting. They are highly inaccurate, so I am not sure what to make of that. Blood BHB level are much more accurate.

(Consensus is Politics) #14

Although they aren’t accurate, they can show you as having ketones in your urine. What that means in the strictest sense is… you have ketones in your urine. :cowboy_hat_face:

But that’s a good sign. It means at some point very recently you are producing ketones. Which means you are using fat (from somewhere) to produce them (unless I remember this wrong, I’m pretty sure it’s fat that gets converted to ketones for use as energy. Someone back me up or correct me please).

When I use those things, they let me know a few things. I’ll see the ketones level increase as I fast, and decrease as I exercise. But it’s not the urine ketones that count. It’s the blood ketones. So a blood ketone meter or a breathalyzer is what you need. The breathalyzer can be found for as little as around $15 or so. The cheaper the better for ketones from what I hear. It’s the same breathalyzer used for checking alcohol. Same meter reading too. Ketones will show up as alcohol. So be wary of random stops, and let them know you are ketogenic, which skews the meters. If it saves you a ticket, ask for blood test. I think ketones dont skew that one :face_with_monocle:

Back to what you asked about now. More importantly than exercise, what times are you eating. And I mean every little snack or sweetened drink. Artificial sweeteners included. If your eating/drinking sweet drinks is larger than a six hour window, that might be the problem. There are a lot of people out there still saying “Five small meals a day spread out is better than the bigger meals”. That’s not true. The smller your eating window is, the more weight you can lose. And if you aren’t eating more than 20 grams of carbs a day with a shortened window, you will lose weight. Don’t even need to count up the calories. When I lost my 40 pounds in two weeks, it was zero carbs, one meal a day, and about 3,000 calories. Oh yeah, no exercise. I was completely sedentary. A couch potato :potato:.

(Andrew) #15

Be sure and measure yourself. I put on lean body mass for the first month (I am insulon resistant). But I had to buy smaller pants after the first month too. Your cells just may have been starved and now they can repair now that they have ketones.

#16

Hi Lynn,
I am also 60. I would make the friendly suggestion that you might try pulling back on dairy items and re-introduce them one at a time. I had to do that and surprisingly found I can have all the heavy cream I want but if I have more than 1 egg a day at this point I have problems. For you it could be some other food, dairy or not.
I don’t know how long you’ve been on your plan, nor how long you’ve been going to the gym but the exercise may be too much for you right now. I’ve made that mistake in the past. I found some supporting information on too much exercise and while I’m walking quite a bit I’m introducing other intentional exercise very slowly. As I progress with Keto, I have more energy, I move, stretch and lift more.
Last, it seemed to be forever before I really got into Ketosis. What I did to get over that bump was several days of no carbs, lots and lots of fat and kept the protein on the low side.
Best wishes to you!

(Joan) #17

I’m 57 and was doing the same thing working out and walking on the job every day. Did that for years and never lost an ounce or gained any muscle, I really wanted defined muscles so I kept increasing my weights, nothing changed. Turns out it was just too much for me. I’ve quit those workouts but ride my bicycle or walk. My body just does not want to give up the weight, I’m losing so slowly. Seems like I will lose 2 lbs stall for a week or so, it’s so frustrating especially when I see people posting that they lost 30 lbs in 3 weeks. wtf! HOW!!
For me I know my body/hormones are so stressed, I’m concentrating on things like sleeping at night, “normal” night sleep was 5-6 hours of broken up sleep. I’m finally sleeping 8 hours.
I have had several people notice a weight loss, so maybe I’m changing more than I think. I definitely feel so much better!

(Lynn Bidigare) #18

Joan. Thanks for responding. I have been in deep education and realized I am eating too many calories. I gave up breakfast and now have a bulletproof coffee instead. I still have slight headaches after two weeks but the dizziness is gone almost. Today the scale dropped for the first time! Just a pound but I will take it.

(Karen Parrott) #19

My 2cents: Drop your fat a bit, knowing that your body fat will get used, which is the goal. I can maintain easy on 70% fat, but to lose weight, I have to drop my fat to 62-66%. I make up the rest with protein (which does NOT effect my glucose or ketones).

Everyone is different.

Once you get used to what works, then fasting is a great tool. I ate in the low 70% fat and gained 8-10 pounds over a year. After losing 70 lbs, this was totally disappointing. Slight adjusting so my biochemistry could just access its own energy in the sub cutaneous muffin top AND time restricted eating were both keys, in combination.

Good luck. I’m 5’1", age 51, maintaining 70+ pounds off for 6 years. Prior, 40 years of yo-yo dieting, binge eating, and almost diagnosed type 2 D. Menopause 4+ years. Let us know how you are doing.

(Lynn Bidigare) #20

Thank you Karen! I just spent an hour on the app to calculate grams of food…learning that I need to record, measure and observe. Why can’t I get rid if this nagging frontal headache? Congrats on your success…that is encouraging :grinning: