Should I stop exercising?

(Erin ) #1

After being pregnant and having my son, 4 months later I’m back at it. I blasted through THE WORST keto flu ever for an entire week and made it out the other side.
I’ve never done weight training and cardio on keto before because I felt like it would make me stall. It’s been almost 4 weeks when I started and literally NOTHING has happened.

I’ve been lightly jogging a mile around 4-5 times a week and doing the TRX (suspensión bands) or weight lifting (basically a bootCamp for arms) for a few weeks.

Ketone meter showing .06 and scale with measurements showing an actual increase is body fat % and BMI and no change to muscle mass. Weight just goes down 1lb and then back up. What is going on. Should I just stop exercising completely for a week or so to see if I start moving?

When I first started keto a few years ago it was falling off, no exercise at all. But I really want to build my muscle back up since I lost a lot during the pregnancy.

4 weeks in I should have had something happen by now!

(Joey) #2

@StarRRT Congratulations on your new family addition! :baby:

Should you stop exercising? Well, perhaps whenever it’s time to eat? :wink:

But seriously, no, of course you should not stop exercising - but this would be a good time to reflect on what kind of exercise is prudent and efficient. Especially with those newly-minted demands of motherhood.

I would suggest that you don’t waste your precious time doing hours of cardio as the research is now pretty clear and compelling that you can spend a fraction of the time by applying HIIT training methods and get all the same health benefits, if not more. Easier on your joints over the long term, too!

But most importantly, for now make sure you enjoy motherhood and take good care of yourself in all the ways that life has to offer. Enjoy!

(Erin ) #3

Thanks :slightly_smiling_face:

Well it’s only really 15 min of cardio. I only jog one mile around my neighborhood.
I love HIIT. I just feel like something weird happens with my body when I do anything high intensity. I don’t get it.

Why would my BF and BMI be up after almost a month of keto and exercise??? Seems really strange to me unless my body is just holding on to the fat I’m eating and not burning it. Weird right???

(Bob M) #4

How do you know your body fat is up?

When I was recovering from shoulder surgery (think very poor sleep for months), I freaked out because the scale kept going up. That’s when I decided to get DEXA (dual energy Xray absorptiometry) scans done.

What I realized was that the scale was going up because my muscle mass was going up. At the end of a year between DEXA scans, I had gained about 4 pounds of muscle, lost about 6 pounds of fat, for a total scale weight loss of 2 pounds. To me, 2 pounds is not possible to view by the scale, as I can lose 5+ pounds in a day if I fast.

Something similar could be happening to you.

(Joey) #5

As @ctviggen notes above, using weight as a proxy for body fat is an poor metric, especially since you’re working out regularly (which promotes muscle growth) and still going through residual post-partum hormonal changes (which as you know can tug all the “normal” metabolic forces in directions you’re not used to experiencing).

So, in short, no, I’m not hearing anything terribly “weird” quite yet. :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

Question: Are you keeping track of a few key body measurements?

When you say your BMI is up, that relies solely on two figures: weight (how much the earth’s gravity is pulling on you) and height (which presumably at your age is stll a constant). So, yes, muscle growth can increase your BMI… which would be a pretty good thing, not a bad thing, assuming the measured weight gain isn’t just normal scale inaccuracy + diurnal fluctuations.

If you’re not doing so already, I would suggest that you begin taking a few key measurements with a sewing/tape measure. E.g., waist, thigh, bust, bicep.

After you do, don’t get worked up over such things. Changes will happen v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. Just stash those measurements away for 6-12 months from now… and THEN you can decide whether it’s weird… or just the beginning of some great things that are already under way.

(Erin ) #6

Well the scale supposedly measures the body fat, muscle, bone and BMI

The numbers are the exact same for my muscle % according to the scale. I would be VERY happy if I gained muscle Bc that’s what I’m trying to do.

The only number that’s changed is the body fat which went up and the BMI which went up. That’s why it’s weird.

Ofcourse I know that muscle weighs more than fat and I know the scale is a liar. But are the measurements lies too??? Even if they were off, if I were gaiining muscle the muscle % number would increase and the body fat % number would decrease if I were loosing fat…even if the numbers weren’t entirely accurate they would still be going in the correct direction.

this is why I am confused.

After 4 weeks it seems like my body isn’t burning the fat I’m consuming since it’s BF% up, and I guess I haven’t gained any muscle yet.

:woman_shrugging:

(Erin ) #7

Also, when I’ve done keto in the past it was never slowly…it was MUCH quicker than this. At least 2-3lbs a week. So by now I should have lost at least 5-8lbs and at least saw some sort of drop in my BF%

(Joey) #8

The other times you stuck to a keto menu, had you just had a baby? :breast_feeding:

(Diana) #9

Don’t worry about small fluctuations in body fat % from the scale. I use a similar s scale Fitbit and have noticed over the past year that at specific times of the month the body fat % will increase by .5-1% I assume due to hormones etc. I at first was worried as well and researched it and it was confirmed that the % can fluctuate based on that as well as water status in the body. When you’re dehydrated vs over hydrated both will lead to fluctuations. Also body waste, if you haven’t gone to the bathroom will impact it. The scale sends a small pulse through the body so water status, food in your stomach etc all impact it.

(Katie) #10

Congratulations on your new son!

My suggestion is to stop tracking your weight, and start tracking your body composition changes. Do this by taking a weekly progress photo, waist measurement, and/or noticing your clothes fitting differently.

Unless you have an obvious issue (terrible hormonal regulation, injury, etc.), I do not think that someone would be better off by not exercising. That is not to say that you have to kill yourself in the gym every day.