Ready to give up - please help if you’ve been keto for awhile

#22

Hang in there, Kelly! It will get better.

(Kelly Steiger) #23

Are you sure? I haven’t found anyone else on here that’s been keto this long with no weightloss at all. It would be one thing if I felt good and had some energy, but feeling sick, exhausted and not being able to work full time and seeing no change physically is very demoralizing.

(Edith) #24

There was a 2 Keto Dudes Podcast with a couple talking about kids and keto and I remember them mentioning that the wife had actually gained weight the first six weeks before she started losing. If I can find which podcast it was, I will post the link.

Edit: I believe this is the episode

#25

Hi Kelly, some things to check on:

  • Are you truly following a keto plan, and not “cheating” on carbs? Sometimes we eat things that we think are OK and it turns out to be very carby.

  • Are you making sure you are getting enough electrolytes? That is sodium, potassium, and magnesium. You might need more than you think you do.

  • Are you drinking enough water? Keto makes you pee a lot so you need to replace your water.

  • Are you eating enough fat? You should be eating far more grams of fat than protein, and certainly carbs.

As @VirginiaEdie said, some people take much longer to get into ketosis. However, if you are doing all of these things and still are having symptoms, then maybe you have something else going on and you should check w/ your doctor and get some labwork done.

(Judi Campion) #26

I went 4 months with no losses. I finally got fed up and decided I needed to tighten up my keto and decrease the wine. A glass a day is now one glass on the weekend. I decreased the amount of dairy I use. But the big change was doing a 72 hour water, tea and coffee fast. I had a great eating day and then did a 42 hour fast. The result is my previously low ketones sky rocketed. I’m now averaging 2,0-3.0.
It’s worth it to really look at what you’re doing and figure out if there’s a food or habit that’s getting in the way.

(Taleisha Collins) #27

I know that most shy away from discussing this with their doctors, but – it might be advisable if you continue to have a lack of energy. Doctor’s do learn about the Banting Diet (upon which much of Keto is based), that was established in the 1800’s. When I mentioned to my doctor I was doing Keto, he was totally okay with it, and actually happy to know that I was cutting carbs and processed foods. He did some baseline tests, and made many of the same suggestions that I see on these boards. He said that we will test again in 6 months to see the progress.
I think doctors are scared to suggest Keto - there is so much pressure to stick to status quo, and just like anyone, they have “stuff” they have to look after beyond their job. But many, if YOU bring it up to them will be supportive.
Best of luck to you!

(Daphne Pitts) #28

I am new to this forum but did keto from January through April including IF with a 42 hour fasting window protocol. I lost only 6 lbs and that was during the first 3 weeks. Stalled after that no matter what I did. Had to reduce my fasting windows because 2 months in, I began having a lot of cardiac arrhythmias…Gave up in October. The sad thing is…although I did not lose any more weight, once I gave up…I gained 12 lbs :disappointed::disappointed::disappointed:

Plan to just give my metabolism a rest from everything…just eat sensibly until January and get back on the keto wagon again. (I did miss my fruit horribly though…)

(Edith) #29

I have a theory about what happened to you:

I think for women in particular keto can cause nutrient deficiencies. When we eat keto which is high fat, the fat does not really contain any vitamins and minerals. Add in intermittent fasting and our vitamin and mineral intake drops even more. I say for women, in particular, because since we need less calories than men, in general, that means we get fewer calories to get all the nutrients we need. Add high fat, and that gives us about 500 or so calories to get all our vitamin and minerals. Unless everything we eat is as nutritious as possible, I think it leaves us open to vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

I ran into the same problem. I’m sticking with keto, but I upped my calories and I am eating a lot more vegetables. Everything I eat now has to give me some kind of nutrients. I am feeling better, sleeping better, and I’m hoping my hair gets thicker. (I lost a fair bit of it.) I’m probably on the cusp of keto at this point. I do test my blood ketones every once in a while in the morning. They range around 0.2 to 0.3 so I’m still burning some fat.

I have gained a few pounds. I’m now working on getting those pounds off without sacrificing my nutrition.