Someone help my sanity

(Laura Herron) #1

I know there are tons of posts on this but please bare with me.
Did Keto last year, lost 60 lbs almost effortlessly. It was my dream come true. Felt great had it all down. Lost track, then the Holidays hit…you know the story.

Started back strong beginning of the year…and…nothing! I have stopped taking vitamins I thought were causing the stall, changed my birth control back to what I was using, tracked ever bite, and still nothing.

The only other changes from this year to last are that I quit smoking, but I’m using a vape. And I am using Ultima for electrolytes. I need some help my wedding is in 95 days and I don’t know what else to try.

A yone else have this issue? Anything I’m missing?

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #2
(Carl Keller) #3

Hello and welcome Laura.

It’s seems our bodies are perfectly ok with transitioning to a fat burning state the first time… but it becomes harder and harder to convice our bodies that it’s necessary the second or third time. While that doesn’t mean it’s impossible, it does mean we might need to be a little more strict than the first time around.

https://proteinpower.com/drmike/2009/01/16/why-is-low-carb-harder-the-second-time-around/

(Khara) #4

Welcome Laura! Sorry for your frustration. I’ve been there. You said you are tracking everything.
-Are you at about 20g carbs or lower?
-Are you eating to satiety and not calorie restricting?
-What is in the Ultima? (Any artificial sweeteners that could be raising glucose and insulin?)
-Are you checking for either urine or blood ketones?

(Andi loves space, bacon and fasting. ) #5

sorry you are struggling. Maybe a couple of 24 hour fasts to try to mix things up and surprise your body?

(Khara) #6

And if full 24 hour fasts are too much maybe try intermittent fasting, a shorter eating window, just 1-2 meals per day, as long as the meals are adequate and don’t leave you feeling hungry.

(Little Miss Scare-All) #7

Just wanted to say sorry youre feeling poopish. I’d love to help you with your sanity, but that’d be like the blind leading the blind :dizzy_face:

#8

How much did you gain back? If you’re only 10-15 pounds from your goal then it will be a bit harder to lose.

(Mark Rhodes) #9

Look to dairy, cheese and nuts. Eliminate them for 30 days. This is often a source of frustration for my wife. Maria Emmerich wrote a whole book about this called the Keto Cleanse.

(Laura Herron) #10

Extremely helpful article. Thank you!

(Laura Herron) #11

I use urine strips for testing. I will go from high levels to…nothing. I just finished a 19 hour fast. Wasn’t planning on it just listened to my body. I eat to satiety, always under 20 carbs.
Ultima is a sugar free electrolyte supplement. Sweetened with stevia extract.
I have cut out almond flour, no “sweet” treats of the Keto variety. My fiance thinks it’s stress.

(Laura Herron) #12

I gained back about 20 but could afford to lose another 40-60lbs easily.

(Andi loves space, bacon and fasting. ) #13

This may be your problem. Try Brenda Zorn’s keto - aid instead and read this:

(Laura Herron) #14

Sigh. I rely so much on dairy I worry I would have to quit the diet entirely.

(Door Girl) #15

This could easily be the culprit. I gained 30 pounds due to stress a couple years ago.

Anything you can do about your stressors? For the wedding, you will have to at some point decide that you have made all of the important decisions and then roll with it. That time can come after the wedding, during the wedding, that morning, or some point before. It is up to you. :slight_smile:

I have found that acknowledging that stress is demonstrably harmful to my health has led me to better keep it in check. I basically ask myself if X is really worth stressing over. When the answer is yes, that thing gets prioritized #1 like the structure fire it is. If no, I try decide if it is important or not, and so long as it matters figure out a way to take a next step to solve the issue. I’m not allowed to ride myself on things where I’m taking constructive action. :slight_smile: Or if I’m otherwise fighting a structure fire to the best of my abilities.

(Mark Rhodes) #16

I think then you have one 30 elimination diet to try. If removing dairy works then you can decide how much you are willing to live with. My wife stalled for a long time. We almost hired Maria Emmerich living only a couple hours away. We met with her at a book signing and she said she was too expensive, that we should try her Keto Cleanse book first. If that didn’t work then she would take us as clients.

It worked. However my wife goes back and forth with dairy but with predictable results. As long as you know why decisions are easier.

#17

Perhaps just give it two weeks without dairy? It’s only a couple of weeks & if you do start to lose you’ll know it’s something you could at least limit.

(Running from stupidity) #18

Well, a possibility, given all other factors can’t be controlled for.

But yes, it certainly can’t hurt, even in terms of finding out how strong you are mentally.

#19

Laura, I am am suffering the same issue as you!

I started the ketogenic way of eating Feb 2018 and had great results. I was fat adapted and was full of energy, required less sleep and could fast.

Just like you life happened. I cheated a little here and there, by the time the holidays hit, I cheated more and cheated my way out of fat adaption. Coupled with that, I injured myself back in November and had to give up my favorite form of exercise and I did not replace it with anything else.

After gaining back 13 pounds of the 17 I lost, I finally decided that I need to take control of my eating. For the past month I have been very careful with what I eat, I track with Carb Manager and I use a blood monitor.

My ketones typically register between 0.8 and 2.2 and my glucose is consistently under 100 - 2 hours after eating.

However, my weight is not budging! It is so frustrating!

I decided to do a 5 day egg fast last week and I lost 1 pound. My body simply refuses to give up the weight. I am not very overweight, would like to lose 20 pounds in total and have my clothes fit better.

Like you, I consume dairy, occasionally eat nuts, rarely consume artificial sweeteners. I do drink alcohol (whisky on the rocks or red wine) and gave it up during my egg fast and have now decided to consume alcohol on weekends only.

I am beyond baffled! It feels like my body is fighting me and wont give up the weight. It is frustrating and and discouraging.

I did notice a link CarlKeller posted which is very informative. Maybe we just need to be more patient - but it is hard when I am not seeing results. You are not alone

#20

Well, your body is fighting you. All it wants is homeostasis, and it would be perfectly happy to just stay at a stable weight. If you go off keto, or any diet, really, your body will do its very best to get back to the starting weight, and then fight to stay there if you try lowering it again.

If you want things to happen quickly again, you’ll have to find a way to surprise your body. I don’t know how, every body is different, but there are things like fasting in all its variations, vegan keto, feast/fast cycling, very restrictive keto, carnivore, etc…

I have currently reached a sort if plateau, likely my current set weight. It’s 20 lbs above where I wish to be, but I am doing something new in addition to keto (working out) , so I’ll just give my body time to figure out what it wants to do. I’m in no hurry though, I’m doing lazy keto for metabolic health. Weight loss is just a bonus to me.