Ready to give up

(Alex Segrest) #1

I have been in ketosis (blood monitored) for 30 plus days. Initially I lost 7 pounds (first week), nothing since. I was restricting calories but recently stopped (went from 1000 calories a day to 1200-1500) now I am gaining weight. I am also doing IF (16/8) and have not cheated at all! I will keep going but it is a lot frustrating. I do have a friend who has been doing Keto for 6 months and just hit 28 pounds lost. This is NOT a fast weight loss diet. NOT complaining just sharing!

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #2

Big mistake. You don’t mention your age, weight, how much you want/need to lose, nor any health issues. So it’s difficult to say anything other than you lost 7 pounds of water the first week and restricting calories to 1000 per day for a month forced your metabolism to slow down in response. Now you’ve upped your calories and your metabolism is socking away everything over 1000 calories.

It will continue to do so for awhile. How long? You will find out soon enough. While that’s happening you need to figure out what your BMR and DREE really are (or should be for your age, size, weight and activity level). You can start here. Then, you need to increase your level of activity slowly but steadily to stop storing energy. In the meantime, you can expect to gain more weight until your metabolism ramps back up to 1500 calories and returns to using them again instead of socking them away.

Guess on my part. If you haven’t lost any weight on 1000 cal per day for 30 days, you are either bedridden or have significant insulin resistance.

Others with more specific advice will show up soon enough. Good luck.

And don’t compare yourself to anyone else. We’re all unique and have very specific issues to deal with.

#3

Only a month on it and recently you gained… You mean, in 1-2 weeks? That’s almost no time. You surely didn’t gain a significant, measurable amount eating this little in such a short time and a little weight gain may be simple bodyweight fluctuation too.
But 1000 kcal is awfully low for almost everyone so you probably slowed down your metabolism, it should quicken up again as it wasn’t a long time but if it’s not the first time, maybe it will be harder, I am not very knowledgeable at it, just heard about bad cases… I don’t even know your stats to say how little is your food - but even if I knew, there are individual factors.

#4

Eat to live or live to eat.

Intense sunshine and going for a walk will boost metabolism.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #5
(Bunny) #6

I remember losing ten pounds while fasting a long time but almost over night using a very accurate physicians mechanical scale it dropped quick by 10 (scared the sh#% out of me), so I called my doctors office and his nursing assistant tells me “yeah you lost a lot of water weight”…lol I’ll never forget that! :face_with_hand_over_mouth::upside_down_face::slight_smile::blush::laughing::rofl::joy:

Don’t play with a scale on a keto diet or while fasting…lesson learned!

Footnotes:

[1] “…Water makes up 60% of your body weight, and it’s one of the first things you lose. Fat mass doesn’t change overnight, but you can lose as much as five pounds of water in a day. Average 24-hour urine loss ranges from 800–2,000 milliliters of fluid or about 1.8– 4.4 pounds because water is heavy. …” …More

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #7

Have you any idea what is going on with your body composition? If you’ve increased your food intake from such a restricted level, one possibility is that you have added a bit of muscle and your bones have gotten a bit denser, which I suggest is a good thing. It is possible for the body to add lean mass and shed excess fat mass simultaneously. This makes the scale an unreliable guide to progress. How are your clothes fitting?

Bear in mind also that shedding fat is not a linear process, and there will be fluctuations in your weight in any case. Not only that, but the closer we get to a healthy body composition, the more slowly we lose fat. Someone with 200 pounds of fat to lose is going to experience a much faster rate of loss (at the beginning, anyway) than someone seeking to lose only 20.

(Alex Segrest) #8

Fair… I am 53 years old (female), EX marathon runner (injury), work 60 hours a week as a healthcare professional, own a ranch with 23 various ranch animals… I wake up at 4am and I do not stop moving until the sun is way gone for the day. Herein lies my frustration. I do have PCOS (insulin resistance) but usually dropping weight on conventional diets have worked. I really wanted to change my diet for good this time - I am also allergic to wheat and oat so Keto is perfect… except for the NOT losing weight and now (almost) gaining back the 7 I originally lost. How much do I want to lose… I NEED to lose 50 pounds but I would be happy with 30 for now. My expectations are not where they might have been 20 years ago. I just want to be able to throw an 80 pound bale of hay in the evening and not regret it the next day, I want to feel good on a 10 mile hike through the desert…
Historically I could not lose weight on more than 1200 calories a day. 1500 calories a day and I usually stay steady… anything more than 1500 and I gain. I just thought if I could reach ketosis and stay there - the weight would come off - ADD intermittent fasting (16/8) and I did expect results. NOW I just have to change my expectations and stick with it… and we will see where I am in another 30 days. Thank you for your works of encouragement!

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #9

@Alex_Segrest I just posted this video by Jason Fung on another post last night. You may find it helpful and inspiring to understand what’s going on and how to change course. Hope things work out well for you.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #10

A couple more things to look at are the exact amount of cabohydrate in your diet. If you are eating above 20 g/day, try to get your intake down. If you have verified that your intake is under 20 g/day, it is possible that you are so insulin-resistant that you need to lower your intake further.

Another thing to look at is the composition of your fat intake. If you are relying on commercial seed oils, it is possible that switching to butter, lard, or bacon grease for cooking with, and avocado, coconut, or olive oil for your mayonnaise and salad dressing, might help. Polyunsaturated fats, especially the ω-sixes, are inflammatory in the quantities normally recommended, and cuttting way back on your ω-6 intake might be highly beneficial.

Also, I was just reminded in another context that the Minnesota Starvation Study, back in the days of World War II, defined “starvation” as a diet of 1600 calories a day. It is also possible that you are simply not eating enough to persuade your body that it’s safe to part with your reserves.

I’m not saying that any of these is the solution to your problems, but perhaps it’s food for thought.

(Bob M) #11

I would try even – gasp! – increasing your calories to see what happens. Also, take some measurements too. If you’re that active, you might gain muscle mass and not lose scale weight.

(Bob M) #12

Having thought about this, if you really are working that much, which is a TON, maybe you shouldn’t be eating too few meals? Maybe you’re a person who would benefit from three meals a day?

I personally try to eat one or two meals a day, most days two, but then I sit on my butt all day long. When I do work around the house on the weekends (think going up and down the stairs a ton), I get way hungrier, and usually have an earlier first meal. Now, I usually don’t have three meals, but I have had them rarely on the weekends, and I only do this for 2 days a week, not 5-7 as you’re doing.

I know this is heresy/anathema to everything we’re taught, but I could see some people with active lives needing three meals a day.

#13

I have a story you may benefit from.

A decade ago a neighbour suggested that I try a vegetarian diet because I was highly depressed. I was already not eating dairy due to being allergic to it. I jumped in with both feet into eating only plants because I had nothing to lose. This was way before veganism was a thing or I even knew about it. I don’t recommend it now but the following may be useful in understanding how to loose weight fast.

So I basically switched out my meat protein with beans. I ended up eating 6 small meals a day of mixed vegetables(carrots/broccoli/cauliflower/bell peppers/mushrooms/asparagus), beans, teaspoon of real EVOO and teaspoon of pickling salt mixed into a large pot of 2hr+ lowest temperature cooked vegetables/canned beans in half cup of water. I remember humming while stirring these plants and how humming would change the texture of these plants towards making them edible. Very strange and supernatural effect of humming. Sometimes I would add sliced potatoes but never grains. I would eat a piece of fruit in the morning. This diet was ketogenic but highly catabolic. I ate a meal every 3 hours… so it kept my hunger at bay while my intramuscular/subcutaneous fat was quickly burnt as fuel. I felt fantastic for a short while until I had to snap out of it because my muscles were breaking down from the lack of calories and the hypocholesterolemic effect of the diet.

I’m pretty sure some or most of the carbs in these meals were fermented into either ketones or aldehydes while in the pyrex containers for 16+ hours because I never placed them in the fridge and because I felt highly ketogenic. I’ve thought about figuring out which microorganisms from these plants are fermenting the carbs into these highly ketogenic promoting molecules but I don’t know anyone in regards to figuring it out. I would like to figure it out because I do imagine a future where everyday foods can be made healthy and ketogenic. Except grains.

I believe the moral of the story in regards to rapid weight loss is to eat foods high in vitamins and minerals and low in calories to keep you feeling full until you’re at your desired weight.