I’m 47, male, 283 lbs, high blood pressure, and diabetes 2.
I started last week :no bread, grains, root vegetables, I had lost 9 pounds that first week.
Now in stuck for 4 days. My body fat is going up, and I’m hungry all the time - I miss the side dishes of potatoes and rice, and the odd sandwich when I was hungry.
Perhaps I need encouragement, perhaps it’s not for me.
Any opinions welcome!
John
9lbs is probably mostly water weight. It takes a bit for your body to adjust. Keep on the path! I lost 40lbs in 4 months just by eating Keto it had ups and downs. 4 days no weight loss is not a stall! I’ve been 4+ months with no weight loss! That’s when your stalling! Give your body some time! It’ll take time!
You’re experiencing, what I like to call, delayed carb withdrawal. Your mind will find any excuse to have those potatoes, rice and sandwich but you honestly haven’t given it long enough time to say it’s not for you meaning many folks get discouraged after the initial water loss and then slow fat losses. It helps to take note of non-scale victories (NSV) like sleeping better, having more energy, not feeling so sluggish, etc. If you do a search of NSV’s you’ll see that while this way of eating has the added benefit of weightloss (everyone at their own rate) many people are using it to control and correct diabetes, inflammation, and a slew of other issues.
Common advice is don’t let the scale dictate your happiness. You didn’t get where you are in a few weeks and you won’t get out of it that quickly either.
That’s great! I have neuropathy in my feet and I’ve been able to get new sneakers and wear more than the ONE pair of shoes for the past year I was stuck with.
Be sure to eat enough. Skimping on calories can slow your metabolism, even on a ketogenic diet, which is why we advise eating to satiety. Eventually the distinction will become clear to you, between real hunger and just craving carbs.
Hi John!
Some great words of encouragement above. Keep the faith, homie. Keep doing what you’re doing. The abastaining during this period will reap wonderful benefits for you, and some of us fall into it with less cravings than others.
I had cravings, but kept the bigger picture in mind. It’s hard for me to tell myself “no”, and I had to make the choice that however angry I felt over not having the carbs, I would have to suck it up and deal with it until it stops. If it meant I was so cranky and angry that I needed to go to bed at 7pm, then so be it: tomorrow would be another day.
Take 1 day at a time. If you do your best for each day, it’s like a little happy emotion insurance policy for the following day.
You must not be hungry. If you are hungry, eat something, but make sure it is fatty ie resist the carbs, eat fat instead. When I first started, I cooked up a load of bacon and then put it in the fridge: when I was hungry I just ate some cold bacon either as is, or with some cream cheese.
Don’t try to undereat. This is not a calorie controlled diet, you need to relearn and then trust your hunger signals.
Over time (4-8 weeks) your cravings will decrease, and you may find that your overall hunger goes down as well.
Stick with it. We know this works, you just have to get over the first few weeks. Stay in there!
Baby steps padawan- you’re brand spanking new at this and probably still breaking your carb addiction. Keto is a long game not a short one. Having said that- you’re already seeing improvement in your arthritis which is pretty fantastic!
Try to reframe your goals to fat adaptation and health, not weight loss. Dig in for the long haul and watch for non scale victories- they’ll likely come faster and harder than the weight loss. The weight loss will happen, when it’s good and ready. First your body has a lot of healing and adjusting to do, so be patient with it while it mends.
Keep us posted on your progress!
Hi John,
Keep at it, I’ve been Keto for about 15 months now, lost a lot of weight in first few months, slowed down, then stalled for months. Then I lost more again and now stalled again. It’s all part and parcel.
But you need to give it time.
As per being hungry, as what other people have said, you might not be eating enough fat/protein.
If you miss rice, make caulilflower rice, its simple (can even buy it premade at supermarkets these days). I add lots of butter to it.
Find a Keto friendly go to.
My favourite snack is Pork Crackle / Pork rind. Some people find cheese is satisfying for them.
Definitely hang in there. If you’re hungry, you may not be eating enough and you may not be eating enough fat. Also, if you usually eat at the same time(s) every day, you’ll feel “hungry” just because that’s what time it is.
Perhaps this is not for me. I haven’t lost anything in a week, but I have gained something: a higher body fat index and a slight bump in blood pressure.
I must be doing something wrong 
The only thing that you are definitely doing wrong is not understanding that there is an adaptation phase to this diet. If you have been keeping your carbs below 20 net grams, your protein at a moderate, body-size-appropriate amount in grams, and filling the rest of your calories to satiety with fat than you are doing the rest fine. But to satiety matters too. If you are hungry then you aren’t doing that part right either.
Give your body the time it needs to switch its metabolism to fat burning and forget about the weight for the next six weeks. If you stop before then, you simply haven’t actually tried this diet at all.
Do you know that you’re well into ketosis? Are you counting every carb gram?
How do you know your body fat is going up?
If you are hungry, you need to eat protein and healthy fat as a few people have said above. Do you have any sort of ketone meter?
I had type 2 diabetes, now in remission completely, but I relied on a keto meter for readings initially…did my blood ketone measure at the same time as my blood glucose. Kept things pretty simple.
Its not complicated. But you do need to eat enough not to be hungry. If you are hungry, you are not eating enough.