Week 6 zero inches and weight lose, only gain

[Faisca]

Hi all, I’m now 6 weeks into Keto, and not only am I not loosing weight (nothing, nada ), or shrinking in anyway, I’m actually gaining weight and inches.
I haven’t felt this uncomfortable, bloated, and totally disillusioned for years😪

I’ve followed everyone’s advice here from a previous post, ie cutting down on dairy, no dark chocolate, little to no nuts.

I IF, and am very experienced with fasting, I literally never eat before a 16-20 hour wet fast, never, ever.

I exercise 40-60 minutes, strength and weight 6 days a week (a huge cut back from my before training of 2-3 hours daily, with lots of cardio).
I track my food and macros, it’s never above 16 net grams a day with 20-24% protein and the rest fat. I’ve even increased my calories intake from around 800-1000, now up to 1400 calories a day. So the calories increased and the exercise decrease is on recommendations from you guys as well as other forums. I track everyday and am ways in a min of a slight calorie deficit if the exercise is added.

I’m reading and researching everything. Urine strips are purple indicating ketosis, but clearly without fat adaption. I was previously fat adapted for years, while eating carbs but fasting and exercising a lot. I know what it feels like, and this ain’t it. And in fact the transition into ketosis was non eventful with zero symptoms or benefits!

I know fat adaption takes time, but surely not to this extent, even if it was that I stayed the same weight for the last 6 weeks I’d be OK, as would be thinking the long haul, but gaining 2.5 - 3 kilos so far??!! And for the record it’s not muscle, I’m a personal trainer and I’ve seriously cut back on all my exercise.

I’m extremely demoralised, and feel like throwing in the towel as I feel so crap (not energy wise, again little difference there, if anything less energy).

I’m a non meat eater and have been for 36 years, I eat fish, allergic to seafood. I have been eating mainly dairy and fish on the Keto (full fat cheese, such as parmesan, mozzarella, halloumi, double cream, loads of eggs, sour cream), but never over 20 net grams of carbs or 1400 calories.

What am I doing wrong?
Should I totally cut dairy, altogether and do a pescarian/vegan (as in no dairy) version of keto?

I don’t want to give up, but I also don’t want to put on any more weight and inches it’s so depressing, I literally look pregnant! I really don’t know what else to do, has anyone else experienced this then the sudden mythological ‘whoosh’ of fat adaption?

I started at 64.5kg and now 67-68kg, with the hope of getting back to 58 kilos, my weight for 10 years!!
I’m 50 years old and in menopause, which is why I’ve tried to combat the hormonal aspect with the daily IF element.

Any advice, real advice, specific diets, shared experience would be most welcomed.
Incidentally, prior to returning to Keto (2nd time, first didn’t work but I I was over eating carbs at up to 50g a day net), I also tried weight watchers, slimming world, one meal a day, dry fasting, exercising on dry fasting and being generally hungry, and NOTHING worked.

I guess reading the millions of success stories, I hoped, believed and willed I would be one, clearly not!

Thank you!

[anon81060937]

Overeating blunts growth hormone release which subsequently blunts fat burning.

Anyone who says to increase calories doesn’t see that calories are recycled and they’re more efficiently recycled when we’re physically fit.

I would recommend increasing your sleep or forcing yourself to sleep until you feel balanced. I feel out of balance when I don’t get enough sleep.

[Faisca]

It was a lot of experienced members of this forum who suggested that I don’t count calories (which I do btw or at least record), who suggested my lack of any weight loss after almost a month on Keto, was down to not eating enough.

I consequently raised my calories by about 300 a day, but even then I rarely go above 1200, and a few times 1400 (from 800-1000 before and 2-3 hours of training before ).
I also train everyday, I’ve just cut out cardio recently as it was taking up too much of my time, as in 2 hours plus of jump rope a day. Being a personal trainer, it’s not unusual, and even advisable to shake up your fitness routine, cut, swap etc, at least every 6-8 weeks.

I was eating OMAD, when I started Keto on a 20 hour fast, after 3 weeks no results. Which is why I stopped that, just fast average 18 hours, and eat twice a day so hardly over eating.

Exercise 60mins a day strength and weights
Max 16 net carbs a day
Max (rarely) 1400 calories a day usually 1200
Correct % of fat and protein too, rarely deviating from that.

According to Fitness Pal, I’m always in quite a large calories deficit at the end of each day.

Since under eating and over exercising also didn’t work, eating the above also isn’t working.

I am also a clinical insomniac despite trying many things I rarely get more than 6 hours broken sleep a night. Unfortunately that is out of my hands, and has never prevented weight lose before.

So I’m at a total lose now as to what to do next…

[atomicspacebunny]

I really don’t like recommending any one person or diet but have you ever heard of Elle Ip? Her Husband was a personal trainer for many many years and knows some really deep secrets about the very things your struggling with…I’m still trying to figure it out without buying the expensive books…lol

In the pictures you see her pumping some iron but she only does that (exercises) once a week and does it at home?

[Faisca]

Thanks Bunny x

[Madeleine]

@Faisca
ugh - this must be so discouraging.
You feel committed to the non-meat part, right? I’m wondering if this is a nourishment or food sensitivity question. Plenty of people thrive on what you’re eating, but it might be that it’s not working for you at this particular stage of your life.
I was a vegetarian for years and can sympathize with the desire to avoid meat, BTW, and I hesitate to bring this up except that you’re struggling and the numbers just don’t make sense… FWIW I’m exactly your age and drop weight steadily as soon as I go to generous OMAD meals based around meat and eggs. If the non-meat eating is for ethical reasons and you want to look more closely at that, you can take a look at Diana Roger’s work.

[Faisca]

Thank you so much for your reply, to hear you’re the same age as me, and it’s working for you, is really comforting.

I haven’t eaten meat for 37 years, I was a vegan for around 7 years, then pure vegetarian, and recently pescarian (I can’t stand the smell or taste of meat), I’m dangerously allergic to seafood, but can eat fish.

I’m getting a bit desperate now, and wondered if I also should just totally cut dairy from my Keto to see if it works. Although it won’t be as appetising!

The thing is, I’d be willing to persevere, give it time to reach fat adaption is my weight had at least stayed the same, but to gain weight on Keto… Super depressing!

I’ll look up Diane Rodgers too, good luck with your journey, and thanks again!

[Athena61]

Hi Faisca. I’m reading of your struggles and frustration. I don’t think I can offer you any solid advice, but perhaps some hope that a keto woe can work for a post-menopausal woman. For reference I’m 58.5 years old, post-menopausal for about 5 years. If it makes any difference I am also on HRT. I am 5’7”, and on the low end of BMI metric.

I started down this road sometime last February after getting fed up with carrying extra weight in my midsection. On top of that I’d just returned from a holiday where I was also looking at a lot of bloat. I just wanted to drop 5 lbs, and I thought I’d be happy with that. I started with IF 16:8 and other than losing the water weight gain the scale didn’t really start to move until I dropped all the non keto foods and started tracking. I don’t have any restrictions to my diet now, and still stay around 25-30 carbs per day. I still do IF but only 5 days per week. I do HIIT 4 days per week, and walk my dog daily.

I’ve lost more than the 5 lbs and have been in some sort of maintenance mode, I guess. I usually consume about 1500 calories, or so, but looking at my tracking info for calories consumed is never a deciding factor on what or how much to eat. I only consider the amount of carbs consumed. I eat to satiation. I serve up a normal size portion but put down my fork when I’ve had enough. Perhaps that’s an area for you to explore: if you feel hungry frequently from the amount of food you are eating, or if the amount of food you are eating keeps you satisfied between meals.

I wish you luck. I feel this woe can be successful for you, your way just needs some fine tuning.

[Faisca]

Thank you very much. The thing is I switched to Keto from a low fat diet, where I’d eat no more than 800-1000 calories a day, while exercising back to back (and in a wet fast, sometimes dry) for 4 hours, 5 days a week. Please note my fasts were never bow 18 hours. I saw no results at all doing this for the last 2 years. I clearly starting to gain weight when entering the menopause 2 years ago, despite keeping up the above regime.

I now weigh 8 kilos more than I did 3 weeks after giving birth to my last child (number 6), 5 years ago!

I currently weigh 67 kilos, and am 5ft 5inchs, considering the amount of effort I put in and my activity level, my scale has only increased over the past 2 years.

So I Keto to shake up, and reprogram my metabolism, I’ve cut down exercise dramatically, increased my calories to average 1200 a day (never above 1400). I don’t feel hungry at all and fast as I’ve previously stated, daily.

When I do eat it’s following the diet doctor, and I could easily eat just OMAD, and only increased to 2 because of the previous advise from quite a few people saying I was exercising too much (normal for me), and eating too little.

Anyway, I’ll give it a few more weeks, and try cutting out dairy in the meantime to see if that shift helps!

I guess I’ll just have to experiment and see how I go, best of luck to you.

[Madeleine]

oh - I have one more idea. I know you’re no stranger to fitness, but Teresa Tapp has some workouts that focus specifically on hormonal management and might be worth looking into. They are not very well known, maybe because the exercises look fairly simple at first. I cycle through Bikram, kettlebells, even steel mace workouts, but Ttapp workouts are some of the toughest exercises I’ve ever done. The form - really hearing all the instructions and learning to put them to use - takes time but I’ve found it to be well worth it.
When I’m consistent with Ttapp, I get a nice hourglass - waist nipped in, chest lifted - pretty quickly. Somewhere on the forum I have a relatively recent photo.

[Faisca]

Ahh thank you, I’m a certified personal trainer which makes this all the more annoying! But I’ll definitely check her out, as my focus has always been Martial arts, Aerial and Cardio in excess!

I haven’t heard of her before so I’m going to check her out now!

An hour glass figure, as opposed to an expanding pear, is far more bag!

[Madeleine]

She’s got a LOT of videos. I would look at the Healthy Hormones Menopause Management or Ladybug. Ladybug (the standing portion) is my favorite of all of her workouts but if you want to try one, HHMM might be the best one for you right now. The office is also pretty great about giving advice if you can reach someone there in person.

[Faisca]

Wow, you’ve been soooo helpful, thank you so much!
I’ll definitely keep you updated x