Tips for getting past a plateau


(Robert C) #12

If, when changing things up, you took on the concept “eat when hungry” - there is a little more to that.
You should be eating enough at a meal (that you are eating when you are hungry) to easily get you to the next meal.
“eat when hungry” doesn’t help you if it is many snacks/small meals that leave you hungry again in a short time. You can have some of those foods - just not at every meal and try to get to 2 meals a day.

If drinking alcohol is happening - probably best to make those two meals breakfast and lunch to avoid it completely (if weight loss is your goal).


(mole person) #13

There is a lot of excellent advice in this thread, the only thing I’d add to it is to drop the MCT oil. Drinking fat is generally unhelpful when people are stalled.


(Robert C) #14

Definitely! Some extra cheese sprinkled on your eggs is a much better tasting way to get that morning fat (if you tolerate dairy).


(Maria Ortiz) #15

I don’t know what’s in this “keto cake” but I’d drop it real quick. I’ve been doing keto for almost a decade and I have never believed that desserts have a place in this way of eating. To me, it defeats the purpose of killing those nagging cravings for sweets. Yeah you may have lost weight eating that initially, but you will eventually stall. The closer you get to your ideal weight the more difficult it is to lose, so some temporary sacrifice may need to come into play here if you truly want further weight loss. Also, I ALWAYS stall when I have heavy cream in my diet, it never fails, but that’s just me. Salami is a bit processed and is likely hiding sugars and/or starches in the form of 'dextrose" and ‘maltodextein’. I would suggest you first cut out the cake and give your body up to 2 weeks to respond correctly. If you hit a stall again down the road, then you know what to eliminate next. Eating as simple, whole, and clean as possible produces the best results.


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #16

You’re getting some good advice here. Let me just add that since your goal is to lose about thirty pounds, they are not going to come off as fast as they will for someone who needs to lose 130 or 230 pounds. Those rapid-loss stories are all from people who had a lot to lose, and even they found the last thirty coming off at a much slower rate. The body is very conservatie and doesn’t take major risks.

So continue eating keto, try some of the suggestions people have posted, and be sure you are eating enough, but not too much. You can do that by waiting to eat until you are hungry, stopping eating when you stop being hungry, and not eating again until hungry again. In other words eat to need, not to the clock. If you do this you are likely to find that the urge to snack will go away—and if it doesn’t, eat more at the next meal. You are very likely to find that eating this way will naturally satisfy your hunger to the point that you might even find yourself down to two meals, or even one, a day, without even trying to make it happen.

As far as satisfying hunger is concerned, one last note: fat is the safest source of calories with which to replace the carbohydrate you are no longer eating. The reason is that its effect on your insulin level is so small as to be negligible. But some people find that they are more satisfied by protein than by fat, so you might need to experiment to find the proportion of fat to protein that satisfies your hunger best. Trust your body to guide you.


#17

I love this.


#18

I’ll echo what others have said about eliminating the sneaky-carb items (sweets, almonds, etc.), and add a little about my most recent experience. I was about a month or so in with this 5 pound bounce - where my weight would “bounce” between 192 and 197. I went entirely carnivore, and OMAD for a couple of days - and dropped to 190. It felt as though my insides shifted overnight, and suddenly my upper body felt slimmer. Felt pretty incredible.

I use steak/beef or eggs as my main protein most of the time, and use melty butter as a dipping sauce. MIght have a bit of cheese also. Coffee with HWC, unsweetened iced tea, water, or Keto-ade are my drinks.

I’m not saying this is absolutely the way to go, but it is an option that seems to work pretty well for a few us who’ve discussed it on other threads.
I have an addiction to macadamia nuts and pecans, so, had to cut those bad boys out temporarily.


(Christopher Kornelsen) #19

Ya I have a decent amount of will power I can power through extreme decisions. I did 2 months pretty whole food clean then kinda went to a mode to find a sustainable way to live. Now that I know that there us alot of yummy good tasting things I can make I have more will to go back to strict to get to my goals. But yes I believe daily induligance isnt a good thing at all. Thanks for the advice :slight_smile:


#20

Hey. I am a 6’5 dude who once weighed somewhere around 285, could have been more. I had two plateaus one at around 20 lbs initial loss then another around 40 lbs loss since I began my journey of weight loss.

Things that were contributing to my first plateau (when I cut them out I resumed loss):

  1. All dairy products
  2. all artificial sweeteners
  3. nuts (peanuts almonds etc.) they are VERY carby and hard to actually restrict
  4. any “keto” or sugar alcohol or otherwise “low carb” treats. Just don’t eat them anymore, they are not good.
  5. any cheating whatsoever (obviously)
  6. limit drinking to spirits or dry red wine and not more than once a week imho

Think Ted Naiman: avoid the trifecta of exogenous oils, sugar, and flour (even if “almond flour”) even if you can say it’s keto – almond flour, coconut oil, stevia or whatever…

Before I cut those things out I lost about 20 lbs on standard low carb diet, which was great but those things have to go. Dairy holds most people up… just look around the forum here for dairy posts.

After about 40 lbs I got stuck again. Things that helped me break plateau after being stuck for close to year at a second weight loss plateau:

  1. Extended fasting 36/48 hours twice or three times a week (this does the trick almost immediately)-- this was my first approach and it worked very well. But then I shifted to carnivory and I feel same benefits with dependable weight loss.

  2. Carnivore diet (no dairy, no veggies) meat and water basically.

now down almost 60lbs and still losing on Carnivorous diet, still eliminating dairy and no vegetables. Good luck!

PS. I disagree with people here who say “go ahead and have a diet soda” or “keto treat”-- just understand that doing that will set you back. Until you are at ideal range just don’t have any of the set back items. No one is perfect, but as a matter or principal it doesn’t make sense to justify consuming poisonous diet soda.


Alcohol, is it the final stumbling block?
(Christopher Kornelsen) #21

Yes I tried eat when hungry but I find when I do 2 meals and 8 hour window it doesnt matter I usually get hungry during the 16 hours. So either I simply eat or I stick to the IF. Maybe that will change the more I get adapted? I feel 3 months is a long time to not be adapted hH


#22

I agree whole heartedly. I did BP Coffee for a while. This is a hold up for sure. It doesn’t help at all, even if you don’t gain you won’t lose.


(Christopher Kornelsen) #23

My concern last month was sustainability. I am not the type of person that can just eat for nutrients. I love food I love taste I live one life why would I subject myself to limiting my range kd taste and joy and pleasure when I dont have to? So I experimented and found out there is alot of tasty stuff. But I will definktly try your advice out to get my body to the weight it’s supposed to be then go into maintenance mode:) thank you


#24

I’d encourage you to read Dr. Fung’s fasting book. IF is not very effective for your goals. It has to be more than 24 hours for fasting to really be effective.


(Robert C) #25

If your issue is insulin resistance, you are obese and suffering from pretty severe health problems (as Dr. Fung’s patients tend to be) then EF might be the only thing that is effective to reverse that in a reasonable amount of time.

If your issue is simply a love of food and you can’t knock off the snacking - then IF (at 2 meals a day - no snacking) might be very effective (and EF might be overkill - simply leading to compliance issues.


(Full Metal KETO AF) #26

@MTullius I respect your diligence in finding your stall issues and getting through them.

But you have to remember that what works for you may not be necessary for everyone. There are many paths leading to the same place. I have modified my eating habits, mixing it up all the time and avoiding a groove where I eat the same stuff everyday. I lost 10 lbs in 4 days eating nothing but BPC with Butter and MCT oil, I even drank shot glasses sometimes, ate pure pork fat lightly fried and nibbled on butter. Anywhere from 800-1100 calories of fat daily during the Fat Fast. Some days I eat only animal products.

I broke a two month stall doing this. I regained all the weight in a week but a few days later started loosing again with my normal eating. I make a pizza now and then or a quick keto bun if I want it. That was all in July and now I have dropped all ten pounds again. I am eating lots of cheese, ground meat and eggs right now and not much vegetables because of oral surgery, and I loose weight almost daily now eating sometimes 4-5 oz. of cheese a day. I do many things contrary to your way of eating and I am getting quite lean doing it.

I have lost over 50 lbs in less than one year, 25% of my weight starting out. I am loosing the last bit of extra fat now and could be considered in maintenance but I don’t see it that way because I am working on body composition now and not weight loss. I gave up Cream in coffee but still use butter, cheese and sour cream. I am 60 and I have had massive improvements in my health issues. And IF has been very effective for reaching my goals, I haven’t skipped a day of eating the whole year of ketogenic eating. 18/6 is working great for me. I do follow some of Dr. Fung’s advice and use an early eating window, breakfast and a mid afternoon smaller second meal to keep insulin as low as I can while sleeping. I don’t usually eat after 3pm.

:cowboy_hat_face:


(Christopher Kornelsen) #27

I maybe was obese but nkt anymore. And by no means am I addicted any longer I simply love tasty foods that wint ever end. Haha


#28

Correct. The vast majority of people with serious weight to lose at the very least have insulin resistance. You don’t have to be particularly sick, just insulin resistant, to benefit from EF for improving resistance and for weight loss. If weight loss is a goal then EF is a powerful tool. If you can’t comply with a moderate EF regime, it obviously won’t work for you.


#29

Great to see a different perspective. You have to figure out what works for you. If David’s approach works for you that’s great. It didn’t for me, but once you work through various stages we all want health and healthy body fat percentage at the end of the day. There are a lot of people who have found that what I did worked for them. (I followed in the footsteps of lots of experimenters like Kirk Wolak @CaptainKirk who shared tons of info in here and IDM forum). Read Kirk’s @CaptainKirk posts about plateaus. I suppose it depends on body type and context.


(George) #30

I find that keeping my food simple, eating 1x/day, and weekly fasts of 48-60 hours is what keeps my weight moving along. 297 in January 219 today.

I don’t really snack, nor do I have anything baked, or fat bombs, or stuff like that. Just meat, eggs, cheese, avocados, green olives, some leafy greens here and there, and zero carb condiments.


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #31

Another thing that helps resolve insulin resistance is exercise. Exercise also promotes mitochondrial health, which boosts the metabolism. It won’t cause you to lose fat, but it can help keep it off. It also builds muscles and strengthens bones.