As the title says I’m not sure I can call what is going on a stall but I am a bit disappointed at how things are going.
I started Keto 5 1/2 weeks ago having never heard of it before, it’s been a steep learning curve and I’m sure I’m not getting everything right but I have lost 12lbs in that time and about 1/2 inch off my belly, thighs and chest. However I still don’t SEE a difference in my appearance and desperately want things to happens quicker. I know, I know it took years to go on but I keep hearing of others losing 40 lbs in a month and feel I’m not doing as well as I should be. I’m in ketosis according to pee strips and breath test, I’m dealing with the change in eating habits fine and don’t really crave the carbs or sugar, I feel fine too - no lethargy or keto flu, no great hunger pangs. Just want more and quicker - am I being impatient ?
P.S. I don’t do IF and only eat 2 meals a day ( breakfast and dinner ) sometimes a small keto snack ( 20g nuts or fat bomb ) other than that I haven’t fell off the wagon once since starting.
Stall or just asking too much?
It all depends on the intersection of your genetics, any complicating conditions you may have, your age, gender, how much above your ideal weight, your exercise or lack thereof.
12 pounds in 5.5 weeks is over 2 pounds per week average. Sounds like you are right on track.
You could try adding in some exercises if you want something more visible. I started doing sit-ups (among other things) and the added toning of my abs makes me look and feel thinner.
I started with doing like 10 reps lying in bed, just raising my head and shoulders enough to see my heels. Not very much, I will grant you, but it was more than I was doing and I felt it. I am now up to 35 reps of genuine sit-ups lying on the floor, and I always feel like I am slim and toned afterwards even though I am actually not - have a long way to go.
Nobody loses 40 pounds in the first month. The folks with huge weight losses have a lot to lose. Look at it as a percentage of your body weight.
You’re losing two pounds a week and are complaining? You’ll just have to console yourself with restored metabolic health, lower blood pressure, healthy arteries, reversed diabetes, better energy, and that sort of thing, sorry! 
Seriously, don’t worry about it. It sounds as though you don’t have that much to lose, and weight loss is always slower, the closer we get to a healthy weight. Those stories of enormous, rapid losses are from guys (not women, so much, because hormones) who had a couple of hundred pounds to lose, and even they slowed down, eventually.
Besides, at only 5-1/2 weeks in, you are still just a beginner. Give yourself more time, keep the carbohydrate under 20 g/day, get enough to eat, and keep calm. It’ll happen!
You’ve lost 12 pounds in 5 weeks? Here’s my chart from this year (gaps because the scale sucks):
Now, I’ve been doing this for 5 years. But please don’t complain about losing 2.5+ pounds/week.
Thanks for your replies, I know many will be saying “stop bleating” but want it all yesterday - can’t help it especially with what I see when I look in the mirror or use a tape measure. The exercise is an issue while not on my backside all day I don’t really do any focused exercise, I hate the gym but could get out and walk more. No reason not to as I have no health issues apart from being too heavy and getting breathless easily.
As for not much to lose, not sure about that - I’m 5 11 and weighed 260 lbs, now 248 lbs would like to get down to 195 lbs so a way to go yet but thanks for your comments.
Something else to bear in mind is that weight loss is non-linear. Your weight may fluctuate for a while, and then you may suddenly find yourself weighing 20 lbs. less. We call that a “whoosh.” Just be sure to eat enough to satisfy your hunger between meals; deliberately restricting calories can mess you up, but letting your body tell you when to stop eating ensures that it’s getting enough to be comfortable burning off the excess stored fat.
Right there with you, friend. I’ve lost a good bit (I am in my 4th month now) but it’s really just reminded me of how far I still have to go.
I DO see a difference in the mirror, and not all of it good. It’s like I am shrinking but still trapped inside a fat body. I am down two pants sizes and about 5 inches on my waist, and have out-shrunk my most worn belts. But, as I move down to smaller clothing, I no longer get that rush from noticing how loose my pants feel and how I am on the smallest notch of my belt.
There is a lot of a mental game to this. We have to teach ourselves to be patient and let the body change over time.
I have also lost a bit more than 2 pounds per week average, though not linearly, but the rate has slowed recently. My plan is to just keep on doing what I am doing and letting the calendar be my friend.
1lb a week average here. It’s hard. I’m not gaining though and in an average of 74 weeks, I’ll be at the high end of “normal” BMI. 
I do have a tendency to look at this weight loss thing in a linear fashion - freaked last week when I went up 4lbs but 3 days later was back down again, so will have to learn not to get so uptight about such things. Have heard about that “whoosh” moment and that’s what I’m hunting - I want a whoosh moment.
Now you have worried me again - in your 4th month and lost 5 inches from your waist, I’m in month 2 and only lost 1/2 inch from my waist. I’m now stamping my feet and crying why, why, why.
Just kidding, but you are doing better by tape than me - doh.
In addition to changing my diet, I also started walking again (up from barely being able to complete 1/2 mile to doing 3 miles at about an 18-minute per mile pace) and working out (some body-weight, some actual weightlifting).*
I started off worse off than you (320 pounds) and in miserable shape - totally sedentary. So I had further to go. I am down from about a 53" waist to a 48" waist (measured today in fact). I still need to lose about 100 more pounds to get to where I would like to be. I started with a 2-year timeline, hoping to lose an average of a pound a week, which would be 104 pounds in 2 years. I am ahead of that so far but it may still average out that way in the long run.
This isn’t a competition with other people. It’s about improving yourself or at least feeling better. I may NEVER achieve my goal weight. If I can get down to 220 and just maintain it (better than 320) that would be a huge victory for me.
And I have had weeks where I stalled and even gained some, especially in the first 6 weeks. I am in a semi stall right now for the past couple of weeks - same two pounds up and down. I am just keeping with the program and working on maintaining good habits. Technically I have lost 1 pound per week for the past two, based on my weigh-in days, but it’s certainly not “whooshing” these days.
*Note - you don’t have to exercise to lose weight. I am doing it because it makes me feel better to be able to do more physically active things without being so tired all of the time.
Yeah I hear ya. I wish there was a go faster button.
I have noticed if I eat too much food overall I will stop losing weight. They say “eat to satiety” but after decades of S.A.D I wasn’t use to stopping when full. Eat until packed. Eat until plate is empty. Bad habits.
At other times I’ve gone the other way and only had 1200-1300Cals a day, again bad old habits - that stops weight loss, body thinks it’s starving - slows the metabolism down and stops throwing all that precious fat away …
Then there have been days of too much protein …
Belt sizes were going down, notch after notch but the scales remained static for a while.
Plus I had a fatty liver so it had to get priority. Fat in and around organs needs to be dealt with before your bodies worries about cosmetics.
Hang in there. Use an app like cronometer or something to measure exactly what you are eating, maybe carbs are sneaking in somehow, or excess protein or just excess food …
I do use myfitnesspal to track my macros and calories and seem to be pretty consistent with things - can’t always be spot on but as an average I get close on all counts. My net carbs are set to 23 and most days I’m under that.
I’d venture to say if someone lost 40 pounds in one month, they most likely lost an entire leg or two. 
Ten pounds is probably the higher end of a one month loss for men and women have a much tougher time due to hormones.
There’s likely plenty of good things going on that you won’t notice by stepping on the scale. Keto is also about healing the body. Perhaps you’ve noticed more consistent energy, clearing thinking and reduced inflammation? Those things right there are worth the price of admission (to me anyway).
Some ideas to help increase weight loss:
- Consider a 6 hour eating window, like from lunch time until dinner. The other 18 hours your insulin levels remain low and you stay in fat burning mode for longer. Anytime you eat, it spikes insulin and fat burning goes on a pause
- Cut out snacking. Same thing about spiking insulin and pausing fat burning
- Not sure how much fat you are eating per day but you can try to decrease how much fat you eat. If you are fat adapted, then you won’t be hungry by reducing eaten fat. If you are fat adapated, your body will use body fat for energy in the absence of fat in your stomach.
Hope this helps.
Ha ha, apology accepted.
I’m loving the extra energy and mental acuity people at work (and home) poop out, I keep going. Even the dog can’t keep up, poor little fellow he needs to go keto as well.
And overting diabetes and retaining my eye sight is also good.
I’m just sorry I didn’t do this 20 years ago!
Steve and Alex,
We didn’t have all this new science 20 years ago.
I did low carb via Atkins around 2000 and did well but didn’t have the support from others like this forum. I also did low carb on and off for years but again failed because I didn’t have the knowledge as to why I needed to do this WOE. Not to mention the Big Food and Big Pharm countermeasures.
Indeed even now it can be difficult.
In April I decided enough was enough at 255.4 pounds and only being 5-foot-7 it was the time to quit trying and just get it done. I went on low carb but again ignorantly kept eating fruit and not paying attention to timing of meals and snacking on sugar-free mints and small Slim Jim’s. I tried to keep under 40 net carbs. It was hard.
I lost 21 pounds in 4 months — nice success but I hit a month-long plateau or stall. But then in midAugust my cardiologist suggested I look into “ketogenic” eating and do some research as to why. (I read Dr. Fung’s books.)
Bingo! Since then and observing lazy Keto along with IF and EF, I have lost another 34 pounds, hitting 200.0 this week. I resolve to be at 198 for Christmas.
And my pants size went from a tight 46 to a comfortable 40. I’ve been finding belts in my closet I haven’t worn in 20 years.
After reading so many posts on this forum about slow success, stalls and frustrations I have come to my own conclusion is that too many people still eat too many total carbs and simply too much food in general all day. They think Keto is a ticket to pig out on fat and other low carb stuff. They are ignoring the continual insulin spikes that any kind of eating spurs.
Intermittent fasting 18+ and better yet 36+ will bust most any stall. Get yourself fat adapted and then look into fasting as fast as you can if you want to really bust some stalls.
Guess I’m going to get some reprisals now but that’s how I see it from my experience — but thats really all the advice we sheep can offer, our experience.
Does your insulin spike if you just eat fat, plain cream cheese though?
Thanks
Linh
1lb per week. 20 total carbs. 2 to 3 meals a day - no snacks, 1200 to 1600 calories a day. Am I doing it wrong? 
BMI, SCHME-M-I. I would have to lose another 25 lbs to be at the high end of “normal”. Ain’t happening for me any time soon.