Plateau after 8 weeks Keto

keto
newbies
fasting
plateau
(Emily Broussard) #1

Hi everyone! So I’m a 22 y/o female. 5 foot 5 inches. I started Keto on February 1st. My starting weight was 182.7. I lost the first 11 pounds within the first couple weeks. However, I’ve been stuck at 161-164 for about 3 weeks now. I fast for at least 16 hours each day. I’m consistently pretty strict, and I work out at least 3 days a week. Consistently eat 1-2 meals per day. Anyone else have this issue with plateauing after 7-9 weeks? Any ideas to get through it? TIA!

#2

20lbs in two months is quick weight-loss, averaging to about two pounds a week. I wouldn’t say you’re in a stall, even tho it’s been three weeks without total weight loss. Eventually as you approach your ideal weight, the speed at which you lose will slow down. Also, it’s possible to lose fat while you gain muscle or bone density, which means total weight will remain largely the same; this is why it’s suggested to go mainly by either a tape measure or by how your clothes feel.

Feel free to post what you eat on a typical day, in case there might be a problem there, but my advice is not to worry yet.

(Emily Broussard) #3

I haven’t lost any inches in the past 3 weeks either. However, I only measure waist, hips, and thighs. I could possibly be losing inches in other places I suppose!
I never have breakfast. I do drink one cup of coffee a day with one tablespoon of half & half. I use the carb manager app and my macros are 13g carbs, 83g fat, 67g protein, with 1070 total calories.
For lunch I usually have snack type foods. A small amount of nuts or chicaronnes. For dinner I often eat a salad with romaine lettuce, avocado, cheese, bacon, and blue cheese or homemade ranch dressing. I never reach my calorie limit and I’ve never gone over my macros

#4

This does strike me as a problem. For your height, you’re under-eating. Doing this habitually could lead to metabolic slowdown, where your body will hold onto its fat out of fear of starvation. I’m 5’6’’ and eat close to 2000 a day.

(Ashley) #5

1070 sounds like your under-eating to me.

(Emily Broussard) #6

I had a feeling that was an issue, but I am scared to eat more in fear that I will gain weight

(Ashley) #7

Throw fear out the window. Eat protein, eat fat to satiety. Don’t go over 20g carbs (some count it as 20g net carbs). Drink water when thirsty! Have enough salt and electrolytes. Rinse a repeat!

(Emily Broussard) #8

So what you’re saying is to break through my plateau, eat more? haha! So counterintuitive!!!

(Carl Keller) #9

Hi Emily.

It doesn’t sound like you are eating much to be honest. In order to lose weight we need to avoid patterns and we need to convince our bodies that famine is not a threat. Constantly eating low amounts of food could lead to adjustments by our metabolism to prevent weight loss.

GIven that, how are your energy levels? Are you often hungry?

(Ashley) #10

It works though! Also keep an eye of your eating a lot of dairy or artificial sweeteners, some people can handle them, some can’t!

(Emily Broussard) #11

It depends on the day. Some days I’m totally starving, others I don’t feel the need to eat at all. My energy levels are pretty good. My energy is better on days I work out. Lately though I am starving lol

(Emily Broussard) #12

I was eating so much cheese! I cut that back a lot. We will see if that helps!

(Carl Keller) #13

Your body is telling you something. The key to healthy weight loss is understanding your hunger and making the appropriate response. My advice is to eat when hungry and stop when you are not. Keep your carbs low and let the macros fall where they fall.

(Emily Broussard) #14

Okay! I will try that. I just like having a structured plan ya know? I hate making my own decisions lol

#15

Lol. Lots of people are like this.
Don’t let your brain make the decision, it’s been programmed to eat at certain times, that fat is bad (good fat is just that - good), that restricting calories = weight loss, all of which mess things up.
Let your body tell you what it needs. If its telling it’s not been fed enough (you’re hungry) then feed it. If its saying it’s been fed enough (you’re not hungry) listen and don’t eat.
It takes some getting used to but I’m finding it works!
Keeping your body fed means metabolism stays up, so your more likely to lose weight, as long as carbs are low.

And welcome to the forums :smiley::raising_hand_woman:‍♀

(Emily Broussard) #16

Thank you so much!! It’ll take some work lol but I really do want to eventually just learn to listen to my body and not have to track every single thing every day. Fingers crossed!!! :slight_smile:

#17

I have been really hungry the last week, and I have eaten more than I should a few times, just to finish what was on my plate. I went up in weight as expected, but during the weekend it fell again, and below my lowest of the week before. I was even snacking on low carb protein bars when the weight went down. It might also be that my body needed to make sure that I had not reached that weight by starvation before it was ready to lose more.