Stupid scale! Need advice, stupid rant

newbies
bodycomposition
(Crabrangoons) #1

I just don’t get it! So I train quite hard in the gym and count every last calorie and macro that touches my mouth. I was eating a low carb low fat diet to lose my last little bits of fat. I use to be three hundred pounds. I got all the way down to 178 using this diet and ran marathons and all sorts. But hit a point where I couldn’t lose any weight. I just want to get my six pack back from my college baseball days ! Which was only two years ago. but now I weigh 175 here’s the thing I weighed 172 when I got done losing all that water weight with Keto… I am eating the same amount of calories… I’ve had eating disorders lots of them and know that I shouldn’t care about the scale… especially because my gym has one of the hand held machines that tell you your body fat and I went from like 11 percent all the way to 8 or 9 percent body fat. I get that they aren’t the most accurate but I’m feeling frustrated because I’ve been on Keto for about a month and am in a deep state of ketosis. If I’m building muscle it’s hard to see because I feel like my stomach is bigger maybe I’m bloated I don’t know I’m also 6 foot… I have gotten into body building and decided I want to cut down before I bulk up. I guess I just need support or any advice on maybe why I’m bloated. I know I can reduce my calories but I am one of the unlucky ones that is never full on Keto.

Sorry for the crazy rant I’m just feeling frustrated on why if I’m not really lifting more weight yet. And my body fat is going down why am I gaining weight and not looking the way I want. I will say though mentally I feel fuckingsharp excuse the language but I do feel good on that end and i wake up a lot easier. But my sleep is crazy bad and energy is all over the place some days it’s great others not so much I’m just not sure what’s going on haha.

(icky) #2

You need to calm down. You’ve got so many issues going on at once.

If you’ve had eating disorders and been obese and been calorie restricting and on keto only for a month (so not fully fat adapted yet) and doing gym/ weightlifting then this is soooo much going on at once.

(Ellie) #3

Hi,
You’ve lost a huge amount of weight in a short amount of time and, as you said in your previous post, not in a healthy way with very severe calorie restriction and excessive exercise.
One of the main benefits of keto is to help you body heal through a rebalancing of hormone driven functions and allows you metabolism to return to a more normal level. There is no doubt in my mind that you have seriously lowered it in the last year.
You are now pretty lean and probably need to be patient with keto to help your body and recomposition will follow.
One question though - in your post you mention low carb and low fat - is this what you are still doing?
If so, I would strongly recommend following keto as it is meant to be to give you body a fighting chance. 20g carbs or less. protein at around 0.8g/kg body weight, and fat to satiety. If you are hungry, eat more fat. Don’t worry about calories.
Once your body starts to return to a more normal state your appetite will dictate the amount of fat you need to reach satiety.

As someone who has also previously suffered with ED and almost an addiction to losing weight followed by self sabotage and lose of control, keto done properly is the only thing I’ve found that stops those feelings.

Edit to add: I know you said that you are doing keto, so I hope you don’t mind me doublechecking that you don’t mean low carb and low fat - it is common that newbies still struggle with shaking off the low fat calorie counting dogma.

(Bunny) #4

Looks normal!

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Do you have any fat to lose?

Looking to lose muscle mass?

(Crabrangoons) #5

Yeah I’m doing strict Keto my goals are 100 to 120 grams protein 20 net carbs and then I have 170 - 200 g of fat more than anything I’ve been just trying to focus on percentages rather then calories but like I said when I see the scale move up it makes me want to restrict calories and I’ve been doing that I feel like for so long I just need a break but I am so close to looking aesthetically good in my eyes. But I’m coming to realize when will it be enough. Just feeling defeated.

(Hank) #6

IMO you are eating way too many carbs.

(Auden) #7

No, he is not eating too many carbs. 20 g NET is fine

(Crabrangoons) #8

Haha part of my eating disorders is even though I’ve lost three percent body fat I still feel like I need to look better. My strength is returning from the original drop

(icky) #9

Why “way too many” ??

20 g net carbs is the general recommendation here to be in Ketosis for sure

Many even eat more

(icky) #10

I think you need to calmly work out what you are doing.

The mental aspects of your eating disorders is something you need to deal with.

Keto can help you live healthier in general.

You need to assess your weightloss goals and work out whether they are healthy or whether they are driven by your eating disorders.

You need to do this stuff slowly and calmly!!

(Crabrangoons) #11

the carbs I eat are lots of spinach. One avocado a day to get my potassium. Then I either throw in broccoli asparagus or Brussel sprouts. I also eat macadamias nuts to get some fat in. Then I have some cheese. But only one serving at most a day Past that I don’t have any other carbs I like my veggies and so far my energy isn’t to bad my mental state feels good

(Crabrangoons) #12

I’m trying to gain muscle mass I just wanted to have my six pack back and slowly climb up rather then bulk up and have a belly again to have to cut down again

(Crabrangoons) #13

I know you’re right. And to be honest I’ve improved tremendously! And should be happy like I said I think for so lon the scale has ran the show and I got addicted to seeing a number go down instead of getting healthier

(icky) #14

Yeah : )

So, time to assess your situation and your goals calmly.

You’re at 175 now and 8-9 % body fat, which is a very healthy BMI.

Try and enjoy that, despite old thinking habits from your eating disorders.

Is Keto helping you with your eating disorders, btw? (Feeling full, not bingeing, etc?)

It sounds like if you stay at 175 and build some muscle, then you are doing very well.

While you are still fat-adapting, you may not have quite as much energy for exercise as usual, so you may need to be patient there, until you have fully fat-adapted.

Can you try and state some healthy goals / plans for how you can move on from here?

(Hank) #15

Well, I used to eat 25g total carbs and not lose weight at 320 pounds.

When I went to 0-10g (10g would occur about once a week) and bumped my fat to 80% my mental state improved significantly and the pounds began melting away at an average rate of about 2 per week.

For what it is worth I don’t believe in “net carbs”. Just because you are consuming fiber it doesn’t reduce the amount of carbs you are eating.

Anyway, good luck.

(icky) #16

Well, that is not the general view.

Yes, some things work differently for different individuals.

The OP is at a healthy body weight with 8 - 9 % body fat.

And has eating disorders.

So I think you need to be careful with that kind of advice.

(Hank) #17

Sorry. I missed the healthy body weight, 8-9% body fat, and eating disorders.

Wasn’t paying attention.

(Crabrangoons) #18

To be honest I’ve eaten every day! Which is exciting because I’m use to not eating four days out of the week! But feeling full kinda not really but to be honest I don’t really ever feel full. But I do feel more satisfied with the food I’m eating. I miss some things for sure but overall the food I eat is tastier and not so limited like it was on my last diet.

My goals are really to get my six pack and get stronger. I want to be able to lift like I use to but I did a lot of damage to my body so I know that’ll take time.

But I’ll keep it to a few goals…
1 mental clearing. I have had a terrible time remembering so much of my life and I’ve already notice Keto has helped tremendously with my thoughts and remembering.

  1. I want my six pack back. Sounds stupid but hey it’s what I really want

  2. I want to be able to lift more. My ultimate goal is to be in the 1000 pound club again. (Bench squat deadlift) add them all up

(LeeAnn Brooks) #19

your body needs time to repair the damage you’ve done through your HCLF diets. Be sure not to restrict on Keto, especially during the adaptation phase. After that it might be okay to dip down a bit, but I’d still recommend against it. I think fasting is far healthier and better for weight loss than calorie restrictions on a daily basis.

Anyway, the bloating thing is a common issue. It’s not going to last forever though. I find it comes and goes for me. I’m pretty convinced mine is due to electrolyte imbalance. As soon as I get sodium, it seems to go away. Funny because I’m all my HCLF days, sodium would cause bloating. Now it fixes it.

(icky) #20

Cool - these sound like good, healthy goals.

There’s lots of weightlifters here, who will be happy to support you, I’m sure!

You can follow @Brenda and @SlowBurnMary for a start! :blush:

Plenty of others here too, but as I am not into weights, these are the only 2 folks I can remember off the top of my head.

Also, lots of people here are recovering from eating disorders or food addictions and calorie restricted diets, so you will also find a lot of smart, wise, kind, patient information and support for that too.

Take your time and feel free to start your own “accountability” thread so we can all cheer on your progress and keep you calm when you get frustrated or impatient :smile: