I am after some advice please on overcoming the recent plateau I have run into after a very stable weight loss run of 3 lbs per week. I am now in my 11th week of Keto, in which I started off on 3 meals a day, reducing the amount of protein portions and then moving on to OMAD and quite a few fasts.
I guess my recent plateau followed a 3 day fast which didn’t show any or little weight loss followed after a few days by a 2 day fast with the same results. I have gone back to 3 meals a day and slightly increased my kcal intake to try to shake my plateau off.
I have been very strict with keto and keep logs of my meal intake and weight along the way.
I will try an add some details to assist and can add more if required.
Male
Height 5’6” (168cm)
Age 40
Starting weight 221 ibs
Current weight 184 ibs
Food
Main Proteins (OMAD about 160 grams, 2 meals about 100 – 130 grams)
Pork belly or Lamb ribs
Total carbs under 30 grams per day
Broccoli, Mong tout, Avocado, onions, salad, cucumber
Olives
Occasional cheese 30 grams max
Water Kefir (over fermented), Fermented Celery and Cucumber pickle, ACV, bone broth
1 x Coffee a day, Herbal teas, Sparkling water
I really wanted to make some more progress before Christmas as I planned a few days of feasting.
Lower carbs as much as you can. Your weight loss won’t stay linear. You’re only 11 weeks in and you’re losing at a great rate, faster than I did. Sorry about your holiday pressure but KETO isn’t a sprint. It’s a marathon. Usually we call a stall 6-8 weeks without changes over time. There’s stuff going on internally shifting and you will go through times where the scale doesn’t move much but maybe your clothes start fitting better. So pay attention to those things and how you feel. You must be very proud of your progress and I bet it’s also making you feel happier and more active with better stamina and energy. I’m sure people see that in you. Enjoy holidays but try to keep it KETO as much as you can. Don’t start eating treats a week before Christmas. That’s how I do it and I make some KETO treats for myself that others seem to enjoy too. And I only go off plan for a day. Keep your goals in mind through the holidays and enjoy a little if it’s not going to be a trigger for you to go on a four week period off KETO where you lose your progress.
Hi David thanks for the advice. I certainly can lower my carbs a bit, which won’t be an issue.
I have seen from other posts on this site that 20 grams seems to be the target. Is this net or total carbs?? I have only aimed for 30 total grams of carbs in the past.
Should I return back to OMAD and ride it out… Are there any recommendations on portions for fats and proteins servings? On OMAD I was 30 grams total carbs and about 160 grams of meat.
This is kind of a hot topic. There are people who track and people who don’t. Ultimately your goal should be instinctive eating. Not some weight portion. I’ve done both. I started with Lazy KETO, just keeping carbs low without tracking proteins and fats. I lost about 25 lbs from September through February. Then I started tracking and followed a calculation of macros. I lost another 35 lbs between February and today. About one month ago I decided to see if my body was retrained to eat what I need for maintenance. So I went from 205 lbs down to 144 lbs and have been maintaining that without counting anything. I don’t even count carbs anymore because I know how to choose and stay in ketosis I believe. Fasting has suddenly become easier for me. IF was always easy but now EF seems easier than I remember. Yesterday I was eating a 500g New York steak for supper… normally I would have pushed through and finished it because I tracked it and it met my macros. But yesterday I stopped probably 125g short of finishing it. It’s waiting for me in the refrigerator. So now I listen to my body, and don’t over or under feed it to meet a calculation. Because your body is much better at doing that than your iPhone. But tracking did have it’s positive uses while I did it, I learned a lot about my foods.
This! What you’re experiencing isn’t really a plateau. There are however some things worth considering. I’m not an expert on any of this obviously, this is just my two cents based on my experience this spring. Take it with a grain of salt.
@Mus, it sounds like we had a somewhat similar approach to weight loss, and similar results. I did 12 weeks of serial fasting where I did 84 hours of fasting, followed by 36 hours of feasting. Rinse and repeat for 3 months. I lost about 45 lbs over 12 weeks.
One thing to consider is that the human body is built to maintain equilibrium and it doesn’t appreciate dropping 40lbs that quickly. I’m increasingly convinced that “body set weight” theory is valid. Your body might start pushing back soon, and it will probably win a contest of wills (that was the case for me).
My 2 cents is that you should back off on the fasting for 2 weeks. Don’t try to lose any weight, if anything try to gain 1lb per week to be on the safe side. Be stricter than ever on tracking macros/calories, because if you’ve been doing a lot of fasting, you’ve been training your body to have a massive appetite during feasts. Your satiety signals have changed radically, and your body will be extremely efficient in converting calories to bodyfat because it’s trying to reestablish equilibrium and it’s packing the hormones to get the job done. After a 2 week hiatus from fasting, and eating at maintenance or slightly above, start back in with your regular program.
As an aside, there is a strong relationship between lean mass catabolism during extended fasting and bodyfat %. At 30% bodyfat, it’s mostly muscle, but now that your down in the low 20% bodyfat range, a higher proportion of each lb lost to fasting will be lean mass. You don’t want to do that, because it’s a pain in the ass (literally) to build it back up. When you resume weight loss, my recommendation would be to incorportate some resistance training, my favorite option is Body by Science. It’s a 20 minute workout that’s done once per week. It’s a very unpleasant 20 minutes, but it works. It’ll preserve lean mass with very little time investment. It worked for me.
Here is a really, really interesting study that’s worth reading. The full text is not behind a paywall; you can download it in the upper right hand corner of the page. When properly done, diet breaks are a really good idea for long term weight loss!
Absolutely true. The challenge is that when you throw a lot of extended fasting into the mix, satiety signals can change drastically (at least for me). On my feasting days I would happily eat 3000kcal to 3500kcals. It took several weeks after I stopped doing serial extended fasting for my satiety signals to return to baseline. Granted my case was a bit of an outlier, so I can’t really speak to how broadly applicable that is, but the OP’s rate of weight loss mirrors my own, which makes me think there could have been 20-30 days of fasting in the past 77 days (or maybe just really low calories IDK).
I’m not saying this is the case with the OP, just that it could be, and if so tracking can be helpful during the interim period. That said, I think getting to instinctive eating should absolutely be the end goal regardless of how you approach keto/weight loss.
Thanks Don I think I will try not to fast for 2 weeks and keep to 3 meals a day. Even coming off fast days I have been quite strict. Wow 3500 kcals that’s my week’s calories lol
You are not eating enough if this is your week’s calories.
Congratulations on your weight loss so far. I agree with all the advice you have been given above but would recommend that you do either 2 or 3 meals a day.
I do lunch at 1pm and then supper at 4:30 for an IF of 20:4 daily. I find I cannot eat enough doing OMAD. I do 20 grams or less of net carbs a day -some days I get like 5grams of carbs, as I try to get most of my calories from proteins and healthy fats, with very little vegetables. I eat around 1800 calories or so a day on my eating days. I also don’t use any sugar substitutes and am dairy free (except for butter) atm until November 30th at least. Best wishes in getting back to losing again, take care =).
Keep in mind I was only eating 12 days a month and my average calories on feasting days was more like 3000kcal. On a weekly basis I was getting more like 9000kcal. I don’t think 3500kcal per week is anywhere near enough.
My approach probably sounds nuts, but I actually did it to avoid daily calorie restriction. My big concern was metabolism. I was adequately interested in preserving my resting metabolic rate that I bought a $10k indirect calorimeter to track it on a daily basis. In the research I’ve done, long term calorie restriction can have long term impact on RMR. The magnitude of the impact is proportional to how drastic the restriction is and how long it persists. The serial fasting approach actually preserved and increased my metabolism which is nice.
If you’re primarily dropping weight relying on daily calorie restriction, my two cents is don’t do that. I’m totally nuts, but even I wouldn’t do it! Restricting to 3500kcal per week is enough to drop weight quickly, and also enough to invoke some unintended metabolic consequences that can bite you in the ass. There are dozens of folks on here who have lost 100lbs and gained it right back. You don’t want to be that guy!
You’ve accomplished a ton, and maintaining it should be your #1 priority. I think the best way to do that at the moment might be to take your foot off the gas pedal and move it on over to the breaks for a little while. Try to regain 2lbs over the next 2 weeks to reset your metabolism. Right now the claxons are ringing and the red lights are flashing with your metabolism. Your body has a 2 billion year headstart in dealing with starvation and regaining weight. That’s not a fight you want to pick!
Yikes. My #1 question would be “are you hungry, and how is your energy”. If your never hungry, and you’re energy level is consistently high, go on about your business (I’d still recommend a 2 week break).
If you’re not eating to satiety though, and you’re doing it day in and day out, it can lead down a road of weight regain that you don’t want to go down. It’s happened to me in the past, and I see it happen on this forum and others all the time.
I don’t usually comment on this sort of stuff, but from your rate of weight loss I assumed there was a serial fasting involved, and not many folks have experience with that.
As a rule of thumb, eat to satiety and let your body dictate the pace. Otherwise, if you’re going to do extended fasting with any frequency, the rule of thumb is that you need to feast in between. There are metabolic consequences to breaking either of these rules of thumb.
I’ve said my piece, so I’ll stop pestering you now.
Congrats on your accomplishments so far and I mean that that sincerely. It’s damn hard to do.
No I haven’t really been hungry eating that kind of diet on OMAD or tired. But I get hungry when I know I plan to eat… but I think I have conditioned my body to a fairly low kcal and that if I raise it up to much I might pile it on and not lose weight.
I have been keto for 11 months and run into to stall all the time. I never waver and will not for holidays either. Keep up what your doing it’s going to work out. You could do the lower carbs but sure sounds your doing right thing. I stalled for over two months but never give up and got good support from this fourm. Why go off for holidays? Your doing great. I’m making keto stuff and having my SIL make stuffing and yams for others that don’t care about keto,mine will be mashed cauliflower. Smoked Treager turkey. It’s unbelievable. “Trust” it WILL come off be patient. I’m a guy and lost patience on my stall but all these good people on the fourm give me great support. Couple small snacks and OMAD
There was no pressure on me to have a little binge at Christmas but I thought I would treat myself to 3 days of pigging out and having a few tipples (liquor to you guys lol). I know I have got good will power to hit it hard and get back in the game after. Thanks Gary
