Trying to be patient

#1

Hi, all! I’m currently in week 10 of keto and am a little frustrated because I’m only down 12 pounds so far. Started at 220.4 and was 208 this morning (which I’ve been for the last few days). My goal weight is 140. I don’t think I’m fat adapted yet because I’ve tried to do IF a couple of days here and there and get pretty hungry.

I’m kind of lazy keto and wondering if I should track more? I do track some days, but not so much on others. I get stuck when I have something that I have no idea about on the nutritional information like when I cook dinner. It just seems incredibly tedious! I don’t like cooking any way, but have been cooking since I started keto, but when it comes to trying to figure out what to put in the the app I just don’t know what to put!

Today I had a a starbucks americano with HWC and sugar free cinnamon dolce. I had a few pieces of cacao butter and half of a Quest bar for breakfast, 3 sausage links and cream cheese for lunch and for dinner I’ll probably have either cubed steak or chicken livers dipped in egg and coated with pork rinds and mashed cauliflower with cheese and sauteed mushrooms. I drink about 70 ounces or so of water per day.

Yesterday, I made an omelette with ham, mushroom, cheese and sour cream for breakfast after I worked out. For lunch I had half of a Quest bar and some pieces of cacao butter. For dinner was cubed steak, mushrooms, mashed cauliflower. I’m kind of a habit eater because I don’t like to think about what I’m having all the time. It just absolutely wears me out.

Not sure what I’m doing wrong. I would so much appreciate any advice or words of wisdom. What can I do differently? Or do I just need to be patient?

#2

12 pounds in 10 weeks is not bad.
That is over a pound a week.
Many people consider it as the ideal weight loss rate.

Look at it this way,
How long did it take to put on all that weight? Years?
You can’t expect to lose it in a few weeks.
You got to have realistic expectations.

Instead of being concerned of not loosing enough, you should celebrate why you have achived.

Someone once told me once,
Imagine all that pounds as a pound of butter and imagined it around your waist. Does it still look little?

Keep calm and keto on. :slight_smile:

(Donna ) #3

You are doing great!! How about searching YouTube videos for Keto meal ideas? There’s plenty of YouTube channels where people post videos of how to cook Keto meals. Maybe it will give you some ideas on meals to add to your rotation.

Personally, I’d drop the Quest bar as it is frankenfood (highly processed) and you’d do better with some real food. How about deviled eggs or a cold cut wrapped around a cheese stick and dipped in mayo and/or mustard?

#4

You are not doing anything wrong. You have lost 12 pounds in 10 weeks! That Is more than a pound a week, and more than many others. You are female - we generally just do not lose as fast as many men - if that is what you were expecting.

Take a deep breath, if you wish try some different things, but most importantly enjoy the ride or you will just drive yourself crazy.

#5

I know you’re totally right about the Quest bars! I try not have them too often because of the processed aspect. I’m such a convenience eater person, which I know is an achilles heel. I’m not going to buy any more. I need to plan better for foods that are easy while I’m out and about.

#6

Thanks, Alexia! I think I just look at other people’s results and don’t feel like I’m losing quite as quickly as others and makes me wonder if I should/could be doing better in my habits. :slight_smile:

(Chris W) #7

My take is simple,
If you expect results but don’t put in the work to make sure the results are what you expect than you may not get what you expect. I tracked diligently the first 2 months, it was not all that hard, I used a spreadsheet, a dry erase board and my head. I grew the habit as you like, I can now pretty much know down to one or two macros what my intake is, I will admit not always though. Most people use apps, I have no interest in it, I tried a couple and they seem far harder than just simple math.

Tedious not really sure, “hey google how many carbs are in 2 eggs” try it.

On that same token many of us view this WOE as a lifestyle and not predetermined plan for getting from A to B. I would say that 1 pound is pretty good, women seem to be steady at loss, I started strong and have gone to a trickle until I really shook things up.

I would say you are not really doing any thing wrong, could you do it better sure you already know that. It sounds like you are eating well, and if you are not hungry, loosing weight and feel better what else can you ask for ?
You could do things like fasting but its my experience that fasting in of itself does not yield a lot of loss. The time past it seems to result in better loss to me. You may or may not be fat adapted yet, I would wait until you are sure. Try increasing fat for a couple days then fast, this has worked very well for me.

(Chris W) #8

And with out question the best purchase I have made since being keto is a google home “speaker” so I don’t have to use my phone. I cannot help with amazon or apple, I have personally chosen google to rule the world, but I think they can do the same as well as cortana.

(Steve) #9

If you really don’t like cooking, look for recipes that makes lots of portions (such as casseroles). That bacon cheeseburger casserole posted over in the recipes forum here is certainly a winner!! :slight_smile: (lots of good recipes over there).
Then you get lots of stews, soups, chili, etc - lots of slow-cooker meals that you can put into the slow cooker when you leave in the morning and come home to a hot meal. :slight_smile: May take the edge off a little, so you’re not looking at prepping a meal if you’re fatigued when you get home.

#10

Thanks, Steve! I’ve been thinking of making some casseroles to have easy things to eat without really having to cook every single day. I made egg salad last night and brought some to have for lunch today with crumbled bacon.

(Jay AM) #11

This is not a lunch. This is a snack. When you eat, eat like you mean it. Plenty of us don’t count consistently beyond adding up carbs. In my mind, obsessive counting is what dieters do. It is perfectly fine to not like cooking, it’s perfectly fine to eat the same foods. Cook up three meats each week like bacon, ground beef, and shredded chicken for example. Then add them to everything and then add fat with them. It might take an hour to cook them all. You can do ham roll ups with cream cheese and chicken dipped in ranch, chicken with guacamole, cheese, and butter, ground beef over broccoli with butter and HWC. Then, add flavor with spices and seasonings. A dash of smoked paprika, curry powder, southwest chipotle, lemon pepper. Heat and eat or eat cold. If you are hungry after a meal you need more fat at your meals. Freeze things, put things in the fridge, go shopping the next week. As for your scale, just put it away for a while. It’s not giving you any information you can actually take action on, is it? No. It tells you whether your entire body went up or down. It doesn’t tell you why or in what. This isn’t useful information.

(Melissa R. Knive) #12

Bullet “Coffee” (actually a caffeine-free chicory drink) and olives have been my saving grace - I get this amazing cultured butter with cardamom, cinnamon, & honey. While not totally Keto, probably, because of the honey, it helped me get used to not just grabbing a box of pasta. Now I’m almost completely off of it and just have my lemon water with some Anderson’s ConcenTrace Ionic Minerals (I hope naming brands is ok) to help with my carb addiction. Tonight, I had bacon & zucchini with lots of spice & it’s totally amazing!

#13

Thanks, Jay! That’s very good advice. I think I am more of a snacker than eating a lot. I like the advice of doing a few meats and having them ready to put with or add to other more simple things to prepare. Thanks for the advice. I’m going to put some of these into action this week!

(Jay AM) #14

The problem with snacking is it keeps insulin consistently raised. With insulin in the way, we don’t utilize ketones well if at all.

#15

Not so much that I snack throughout the day, but what I eat is probably more snack sized for the most part or consists of more snacky type foods. Salami slices with cheese, salami and a few macadamia nuts, some sausage and cheese. Those are fairly typical lunches for me. I need to try to break out and get some more variety in there and have it resemble an actual meal maybe. :slight_smile:

(Rob) #16

@veryvette,

I’m a few weeks newer to keto than you are … but here are my thoughts. First off, if it helps at all, I’m losing slower than you are. I’ve filed fat loss away under the “that will come at some point”. As others have pointed out, a pound a week isn’t bad.

I’ve quoted part of @In2steam s post as I happen to be in the “measuring” camp. I started out somewhat lazy … simply measuring carbs … but even that was eye opening. Carbs are sneaky things … they’re in a lot of places you may not suspect. My favorite example is 13 grams of carbs in one cup of 2% milk. I thought milk was “safe” from a keto perspective. Finding that information is fairly easy if you have some kind of internet connection and/or a smart phone. It can be a little tedious at first but it gets easy.

My point is … and there are no doubt those who will disagree … but you really don’t KNOW how much of anything you’re taking in until you measure it. I’ve read where a lot of experienced keto’ers no longer track macros … but I suspect they did at one time and now have a mental index of the carbs, fat, protein (and calories if they care) of what they’re eating. Their “intuition” has a concrete frame of reference.

In my case, I know for certain (or as certain as I’m capable of being) how many carbs I’ve consumed in a given day … as well as fat, protein, and calories. Sometimes I wonder if my scale is broken or stuck (I weigh once a week). I know for a fact that I have done my part. I don’t have to wonder if somehow I’m taking in … for example … more carbs than I think i am.

I saw a quote once from a quality assurance expert who stated something to the effect of “You don’t get what you expect … you get what you measure”. (emphasis mine). I think there’s more than a grain of truth in that.

I wish you well and look forward to reading of your progress in the future!

Just the two cents worth of a fellow newb sitting up in the cheap seats of life.

(Jay AM) #17

You’re not wrong. Most of us have at least tracked carbs and, I still check packages of new foods. But you come to learn the foods you like to eat and go from there.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #18

You are so right about the milk. I wasn’t eating any grains and couldn’t figure out why I was gaining weight. I was a milkaholic, to the tune of six to eight glasses a day. Cut that out and lost 6 pounds on Keto in three weeks. Before Keto never really associated milk with carbs. Thank God that cheese is allowed!

(Chris W) #19

I agree completely.
Its both telling and maybe a little bit sad on my part that I know exactly the amount of carbs in a salmon patty, or 2 sticks of cheese, or 3 sausges. I did a recent BMR rate increase for some extended hours I have been putting in at work. I quite literally said well I need one 8oz block of cheese and cup of HWC to do that amount of fat extra. It was like I practiced it or something, my daughter thought I was nuts who over heard me talking to myself. In of itself the talking to myself part she is used to but listening to what i was saying just about floored her. She knows how much fat is in a cup of HWC too, because of the dudes… It all rubs off.

The only thing is that I am more lazy about it now than when I started, but I am using almost all the same foods so its completely second nature as I stated above.