Stall is one thing, but gaining?

(Meara McLaughlin) #1

I have 120 pounds to lose. I started Keto on Sept 22, 17 (about 5 weeks ago). After two weeks where I lost 20 pounds (mostly water, I know) I have stalled out completely and I am even gaining some.

I track everything I eat (LoseIt App), I have kept at 1400 calories or less and 71% Good Fats and 25% protein with less than 40 Carbs per day. I am never hungry and sometime have to force myself to eat. I have tried intermittant fasting where I go twelve hours or more with no food just water.

I know that some things are improving. My blood pressure has dropped enough that I am told not to take my BP medicine anymore. I seem to be sleeping better and have seriously reduced the number and intensity of hot flashes.

But now at three weeks of perfect behavior, I am losing heart on the weight loss front. This forum is helping to keep me calm about a stall without weight gain, but I have gained 8 pounds back and I REALLY have been good.

I am in second from the highest Keto zone on my pee strip consistently.

Ideas?

(Allie) #2

Those macros wouldn’t have worked for me when I was first starting out - too much protein, too many carbs, not enough fat. If they’re not working for you either, then adjust - drop carbs to below 20g, protein to around 65 - 70g, and up the fat. And you might want to stop restricting calories as your body needs nutrition to do what you want it to do - it won’t lose the bits you want to lose if it’s not getting the nutrition it needs for basic day to day functioning.

This all said, ups and downs are a normal part of fat-loss, especially with women as our hormones are up and down all month.

(Allan L) #3

The Keto diet is less than 20 grams of carbs a day. When I first started I had to keep this to almost zero, only getting carbs from fatty food, not eating any carb food. This helped kick in the weight loss.

Are you doing intermittent fasting? How many times a day are you eating? Are you snacking? zero snacking and eating in a 6 hour window per day will also help.

Try adjust your protein, lower it.

I had to only eat fat that came with healthy protein, not adding in fat like MCT / Coconut oil to coffee etc. This allowed my body to tap into its internal fat stores.

Have you measured your body? I lost loads around my mid section but nothing on the scales for 1 month. My clothes started to fall off but the scales still read zero loss.

Its all an experiment.

(KCKO, KCFO) #4

Don’t be worried about the calories. Up your fat intake, you want your body to move from sugar burning to fat burning. Ketosis is not the goal, burning that fat off your body is what you want. Don’t be concerned about what the ketostix shows.