Please, penny for your thoughts

weightloss
(Justine Bishop) #1

Here’s the issue: I feel I’m losing weight slowly on keto, unlike previous times I’ve done it.

It’s always worked very fast. I’ve usually lost nearly 10 lbs in the first couple weeks. Water weight is a big part of it, of course, but the point is that that’s been my experience. This time, it’s taken me three weeks to lose 3lbs. I don’t know if I somehow skipped the water loss, or what. Technically, it’s a normal weight loss trajectory. It’s just different.

I’m a 5’2" 35 yr old female. I’ve also wondered if I’ve just entered enough into my thirties that I’m now simply losing way slower than I did, even a year and a half ago (which was the last time I implemented keto).

I consume between 1100 and 1200 calories a day (remember I’m short, please) and my macros are always on point. I track all of it meticulously. I don’t do formal exercise, but keep my NEAT up by getting a minimum of 12,000 steps a day. I also do ashtanga yoga a couple times a week and dance a couple times a week. I’m consuming the same kinds of food that I have in the past, with the exception of these low carb high fiber muffin things I discovered.

So my theories are:

  1. I’m a short woman now in my mid thirties, so it just sucks now to lose weight.
  2. The muffins are evil.
  3. We’re in a matrix, and I’m being effed with.
  4. My memory is wrong.

Please give me your thoughts. Also, the last time I tried reaching out in this forum, I felt not particularly welcome. If you don’t have an answer, that’s okay! You can just not say anything. And I ask respectfully to assume my competence, rather than incompetence. Thank you!

Jordan C.

#2

Just a few thoughts, I surely won’t solve your problems just like that.

The water loss is actually can be skipped, I lost my water weight changes at some point but I did on/off keto (still low-carb when off) for years for it.

Our energy need is quite individual, 1100-1200 kcal still sounds awfully low. I surely would try to eat more than that. (I am 5’4" and I would starve with 1300-1500, of course it’s me and you and you.) Eating too little can be a problem and it’s quite little food for almost everyone. Of course, if you know that you actually have a very slow metabolism and not even due to quick diets in the past, that’s different but I would be very careful with so low-cal diets. Especially that you are active.
Multiple signs hints that you may have a slowed down metabolism. Maybe not, I can’t possibly know but quick fat-loss for a short woman on keto, that sounds crash dieting.
Calories matter a lot, sure, I know very well that eating much makes sure I won’t lose fat but eating very little can be a problem too.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #3

Still might not be enough calories. Are you restricting yourself to this amount, or eating to satiety? If the former, that might have something to do with your slow progress. Plenty of people find that increasing their calories actually allows them to lose fat more easily.

What’s a NEAT?

Don’t forget that the exercise helps increase your need for energy, so you might want to eat a bit more to compensate. You want to eat enough to stay out of “famine” mode, and give your body the assurance that it’s not going to starve if it sheds some of its excess store of fat.

Lastly, keto is often more difficult the second or third time around. That is why we always advise treating this way of eating as a permanent lifestyle change, not as a temporary weight-loss diet that can be abandoned whenever. If you stopped showering, would you be surprised if you got dirty again? Well, keto is the same way. If we want the benefits, we have to keep doing it.

(Justine Bishop) #4

Neat stands for non exercise activity thermogenesis. It’s just all the activity throughout the day–walking, cooking, cleaning, brushing your teeth, etc.

It sounds like everyone thinks I should up my calories. I’ll give it a try. It’s just that my bmr is 1230, and since I don’t do a bunch of cardio or lift weights, I maybe burn 1500-1600 a day. But I’ll give it a try and see if it helps! Thank you for your thoughts, folks.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #5

I read a study a few months ago in which the researchers measured caloric intake and metabolic expenditure for a group of people eating ad libitum. The researchers were intrigued that, while they did not observe much of a correlation between appetite and expenditure in any given 24-hour period, nevertheless the match over seven or eight days was quite precise. (Unfortunately, I seem to have lost the link; it was a fascinating study.) So it seems that trusting our body is actually a sensible strategy, after all.

(Marianne) #6

Thirty-five is young - IMO. You didn’t say how much you want to lose, however, it seems the more you have, the faster and more consistently it comes off. Although I’ve eaten clean keto/zc for over three years, these last 15 lbs. are a bear and don’t seem to be budging.

As mentioned, I’d encourage you to give up the calorie counting. Plan two or three ample meals a day and stick to that with no snacking. If you find you are satisfied before finishing any given meal, wrap it up to have at the next one. If you eat to a calorie deficit, you may be inadvertently training your metabolism to slow. I am someone who has never enjoyed exercise (even walking), and never did it all the while on keto. In spite of that, I still lost a good amount of weight and have kept it off.

Your body is still transitioning to fat burning. Listen to the signals you are getting while eating and feed it sufficiently and consistently. I believe it will tell you what you need and you can adjust your program accordingly. That is the beauty of keto - there are no “rules” to do it perfectly. Each of us adjusts our program as we go along, learn new things here and elsewhere and discover what works and what doesn’t.

I am really sorry that that was your experience. Hopefully this time around, you will feel encouraged and supported! Best to you. Hope to see you around!

#7

First thing for me would be the cals being so low, if you’ve been doing that for a long time, you’ve almost guaranteed that you put yourself in the calorie trap. My wife is also 5’2", and 39, she’s eating double what you do, and she’s an office worker who I doubt gets more than probably around 6-7k steps at best. Works out lightly at home a couple of times a week, you’re getting double the steps, dancing a couple of times a week which burns huge amounts of cals…and eating half.

So in reality, you beat your metabolism into the ground. Depending on how much fat you want to lose, I’d strongly consider (especially going into the winter months when you can hide it) if you should switch gears into a reverse diet to fix your metabolism. Do you have the ability to do resistance training? Best way to accomplish that. Without it, it’s hard to keep raising the cals and have it work.

(Justine Bishop) #8

@gingersmommy Thanks for your response. I’m on my last 20, and I think I’m pretty much in the same boat, other than the fact that I did get there, but gained those last 20 back during a stressful year. Don’t know if that makes it even harder?

(Central Florida Bob ) #9

I read a study like this in the 1980s and it really stuck with me. They got a group of graduate students to live on a special liquid diet - something like simulated chocolate milkshakes - that were provided free for the duration of the study. After a couple of weeks of tracking how much each student drank, the experimental group had the calories in their drinks cut by a third or half, but were re-doctored to be as similar in texture and taste as could be done. Within two days they had increased the amount they drank to equalize calories.

An add-on experiment re-investigated the time lag between cutting the calories and the increase in consumption and the mean was around two days.

Not to ignore the OP. My wife is 4’10 and just short of twice your age (69). She has faced this, too, but does better living on keto than anything else. She doesn’t talk about feeling she’s at an ideal weight (and I have the sense to not ask) but is clearly happy with it and effortlessly maintaining.

It seems to me that the majority of people here have been on many different versions of diets all their lives and have lived through their body adapting to the changes over and over again. It’s certainly true for me. Some of us are probably a bit gun shy about cutting calories and slowing down our metabolisms.

(Edith) #10

I would go with #2.