Two months in - Not losing weight

(Anne Marie) #21

First, I do eat to satiety. I didn’t even look at macros until the 2nd or 3rd week in. And even then I was shocked to see that to lose weight the calculators said I needed to eat fewer than 16 Carbs & about 1300 calories. While everyone else talks fat bombs & MCT oil to lose weight, I’m busting my fat macro every day just looking at recipes.

Here’s what I typically eat right now:

I make a KETO frappucino for breakfast. Almond milk, chia seeds, coffee, cocoa, collagen, MCT oil, vanilla, & Swerve.

My frappucino keeps me satisfied for hours… sometimes until dinner.

I’m not a breakfast person, so that’s why I prefer a frap over some sort of meal. I did try to eat breakfasty meals in the beginning, but it hasn’t made a difference on the scale. And I really hate eggs…I will cook and bake with them, but can’t eat them outright without gagging.

I have a salad for dinner. Romaine, salad dressing (try to use as little as possible), pepperoni, almonds.

If I need a snack, I grab some cheese and/or nuts. I keep almonds with me in case I’m out, can’t eat and I don’t want to be tempted. Example, on Sundays after church we go to Sam’s. Since it’s about 2:30-3 pm when we get done, my kids get pizza. I snack on almonds on the long drive home IF I need to. I’m less and less tempted to make a poor food choice now, so I don’t always need a snack.

I’ve made lots of different types of KETO meals (and desserts because we had two birthdays in our house since doing KETO) from the two cookbooks I bought plus other recipes I download. I tried a fat bomb. It was good, but I think it made me hungry.

I’m eating better, yes.
But I’m not losing weight.

I sometimes feel that salad is counterproductive. But yet it’s the easiest thing I can do when I’m exhausted… which is always. And heavier, fatter foods seem like too much. I’m just not into food that much anyways.

(Karim Wassef) #22

You did a 21 day water fast and didn’t lose weight?

Can you share your current and target weights? Height?

#23

Sounds like you’re not getting enough protein or enough calories in general. Are you getting enough iron? That could explain why you’re so exhausted all the time.

(Anne Marie) #24

No. I lost about 25 lbs on the fast. Regained some water weight afterwards. Settled around 18 lbs of weight loss.

I started KETO after the fast. And I haven’t been able to lose weight on KETO.

(Anne Marie) #25

I’ve struggled with low iron for a long time. I felt great after an iron infusion, but it’s not available to me where I live. Supplements don’t work for me because it has to be a certain type of iron.

(Cindy) #26

So you lost 18 lbs in 3 weeks of fasting, but then expected to immediately lose more weight on keto?

Probably NOT going to happen. 6 lbs/week is a lot of weight to lose, so by your body’s standards, you’re done losing weight for a while. A healthy, sustainable weight loss is 1-2 lbs/week, so if you can stay the same weight for the next 9-18 weeks, you’re right on track with the weight loss.

That mind sound harsh, but so many people coming to this forum need to re-evaluate their expectations. Keto is NOT a “melt away the weight” diet…it’s meant to be a long-term, sustainable WOE that helps to regulate your hormones and, in that process, also regulates your weight.

Also, if you were doing that fast while still being a carb-burner, it would have been a stressor on your body…as in, a very calorie-restrictive diet. You need to give your body time to convert to fat-burning and to adjust to the fact that energy is readily available. As it is right now, your body is still probably in the “conserve all resources because we were starving for 3 weeks” mode.

(Anne Marie) #27

I’d like to lose about 50-60 lbs.

If it were just me, I wouldn’t be in the kitchen. But I have a family and a husband.

(Anne Marie) #28

So, something new happened last night. I was playing The Division 2 for several hours (it’s what we decided to do for date night since we don’t go out to eat like we used to) and I started feeling nauseous. I figured the game made me dizzy since it’s been about a year since I’ve gamed with my husband.

Because of that, I went to bed a little earlier.

About 2am I woke up in excruciating pain. It was a familiar pain, but one that I had not felt in decades. It was gallbladder pain! But I don’t have one. Mine was removed in 1986 when I was 13 (and weighed only 110lbs).

The attacks subsided around 4 am, but now I REALLY don’t feel like eating. I didn’t eat anything different yesterday except that I didn’t put almonds in my salad.

Ugh. I think it’s time to go see my doctor.

(Anne Marie) #29

What you’ve said makes sense.

Once my fast weight stabilized, I didn’t expect to lose massively all at once on KETO, but I did expect to see even a little like a half lb per week. But I understand what you’re saying.

So, 9 to 18 weeks maintenance starting now? Or starting when my fast weight stabilized?

(Cindy) #30

No one can really answer that. :wink: Weight loss is highly variable depending on age, height, metabolic conditions, exercise, stress, etc. Essentially, you just have to KCKO. Stick to low carbs, but also, FEED yourself. The human body really isn’t meant to go long periods on reduced calories. Well, actually, in a way, it is because it’s very good at adapting and surviving. But if you want to lose more weight, you first need to be in a period of “feasting” so that your body recognizes that energy is readily available. As long as that feasting is low on carbs, you’ll begin burning fat.

(Karim Wassef) #31
(Karim Wassef) #32

You need bile to digest fat and the gall bladder concentrates bile so you can do this.

If you’re water fasting, then you’re fat adapted … you can fast more to continue your weight loss and then use bile salts and ACV to help you digest fats from food when you do eat.

I fast 3 days a week. Some people do 2 a week.

Keto really achieves two goals - keeps insulin low and makes you fat adapted. If you water fast, your body knows how to do this. Now you just need to keep carbs low so your insulin stays low and you can keep burning your body fat for fuel. You will just need to ramp up external fats slower and with bile salt supplements.

(Anne Marie) #33

Sounds good. Thank you.

(Anne Marie) #34

Thanks for the info. I knew I could do KETO without a gallbladder, but I didn’t know about bile salts. I did read about ACV, but it gives me immense heartburn no matter how diluted.

#35

Not having a gall bladder is a pretty big detail that makes this rather outside the ‘norm’, I think. Different stuff to address, but at least now you’re pointed in the right direction.

(Anne Marie) #36

It didn’t affect me on Atkins. But I was also pregnant and younger when I did Atkins.

(mole person) #37

If you did a three week fast then you are fat adapted. Jason Fung gets his patients fat adapted with fasting. It’s literally the fastest way to get there as you have no carbs or proteins coming in to burn for energy and you insulin is as low as it can possibly get. Your body has no choice but to burn body fat for fuel.

That won’t prevent you metabolism from slowing somewhat though, and on a three week fast that may have happened. Probably the best thing for you is to eat keto but don’t count calories at least for a while. Eat to satiety. Let your body have all the fuel it wants for a while, but with very few carbs.

(Karim Wassef) #38

Atkins is focused on digesting protein. Keto needs low insulin which is low carb moderate protein high fat.

For the high fat to be your energy source, and with you coming off a long water fast, you probably had little to no bile. Did you suffer with digestive issues due to consuming high fats earlier?

For ACV, I tend to add it to something creamy and with stevia. So, coconut cream or heavy cream… I also make hot raw cacao with salt+MCT and pour it over ACV, cream, ice and stevia.

Very cold has a taste-inhibiting effect that makes it easier to take.

(Anne Marie) #39

I’ve never had digestive issues while consuming fats. I’ve always been a cheese-aholic. Love bacon. Never avoided anything because of my lack of a gallbladder.

What you say about not having bile after 3 weeks of fasting makes sense. But I’m two months beyond the fast already. And I’ve been consuming plenty of fat. So, I could understand if I had experienced an issue or attack more immediately upon consuming fats.

I’ll try your ACV advice & see if that helps.

Thanks.

(Anne Marie) #40

So, I lost 3 lbs following the pain attack overnight Thursday/Friday. I forced myself to make a KETO frappucino about noon on Friday. I probably came close to an 18 hr IF at that point…all because I was still nauseous from the attack and absolutely nothing sounded appetizing. I feared I would be ill if I actually ate anything. After the frappucino, I didn’t eat again until 10am Saturday…so another unintentional IF. Then in the late afternoon, I had salad, bacon, cheddar, & a small peanut butter cheesecake fat bomb. I had a few walnuts, too, while my bacon was cooking. That attack really took my appetite and the nausea (and headache) kept me down all day Friday. I kept hydrated though.