Why is my husband not losing weight?

(AMANDA J MENDENHALL) #1

My husband and I started Keto on January 6th and I have lost 14 lbs. He eventually lost 4, but is not seeing any progress. We work out about 5 days a week and I am not sure that may have something to do with it. It is all cardio. My husband is also a type 2 diabetic and hasn’t taken meds for a few weeks because his levels have been great, but not seeing any weight loss? any recommendations?

(Rebecca ) #2

Welcome! It could be he has a lot of “inside healing” going on. This way of life is more about healing years of metabolic sickness and dieting damage. If he is feeling well and you mentioned his numbers are good then that is progress! I have also learned the scale isn’t very good at reflecting how things are going. Do his clothes fit any differently? “Working out” could also be causing his caloric needs to be higher, but he may not be getting enough…which is known as “Calories in calories out” …it doesn’t work. These are just some things I’ve learned along the way. I hope for the best for you both!

(Jane) #3

He is focusing on the wrong thing if he thinks getting off his diabetes meds is “no progress”!!

Patience is the key. What is his height and what was his starting weight?

And congrats on your 14-lb loss - awesome!

(Windmill Tilter) #4

Congrats to you guys for your progress! Pounds are nice, but getting off diabetes medication is an incredible victory. As your husbands metabolic syndrome improves, the fat loss will absolutely follow.

Is he eating to a calorie target or eating to satiety? What his current bodyfat % or current height/weight? Is the exercise new or a continuation of a longstanding regimen? Are you guys tracking macros/calories/food (not necessary but might give clues for troubleshooting purposes). Was he dieting via calorie restriction in the months leading up to starting keto?

I know thats a lot of questions! The more info available, the more helpful the answers from the community here are likely to be. There are lots of folks here that got off to a simalrly slow start for a variety of different reasons that are doing great!

(AMANDA J MENDENHALL) #5

He is 6’1 and 284 lbs. I agree and have told him sooo many times that being off meds is the best thing ever! He is just getting discouraged by not losing. I understand, but there is more to it than just losing weight. We are both tracking are carb manager. We are going to try a week of less exercise and see if that plays a part in it. Thank you all for all of your feedback.

(Richard Hanson) #6

… any recommendations?

January 6th was not long ago, but he could eat less, a lot less, depending on how much weight he has to loose. When I started this keto journey over two years ago, my doctor specified 1000 kcal a day. The rest of my energy came from stored fat. I had a lot of stored fat. One of the great things about keto is that having lower insulin levels allows easy access to all the energy stored as fat which means that you can eat a lot less food.

Keto for Life,
Richard

And … welcome to the forum :slight_smile:

(AMANDA J MENDENHALL) #7

I have noticed that he is eating way more meat than anything else. Could that play a part?

#8

Who knows? It’s complex, you could see from the other responses.
If I eat mostly meat, I inevitably lose (as far as I know, my experience is too tiny at this point but my calories significantly drops on carnivore and I always lose when I eat less than usual and never if I don’t) even though I have not so much to lose as meat satiates me very well but we aren’t all the same. Meat is good, I would focus on the rest, maybe he eat stuff not so good for him. Or what kind of meat, they aren’t the same, after all…
So many things could interfere but patience is needed for many of us and any progress is great even if it’s not the weight itself yet. There is a big chance sticking to keto, getting fat adapted will change things, even regarding fat loss.
So I would be patient but if fat-loss doesn’t happen, I would look at my diet and change something. I eat when I am hungry so I never lower the amount of food even if I am very sure I eat too many calories to lose. I rather stop eating food that doesn’t satiate me well (or at all or even make me hungry). But maybe some items interfere differently.
Many of us change our keto as time passes. I lowered my carbs (I usually avoid plants now), others stop eating dairy or sweeteners… But it was a really short time, don’t force changes yet if they are hard, get used to keto. It usually should be a lifestyle, not something that we abandon just because we don’t lose any fat in some months.

(Windmill Tilter) #9

Absolutely. There isn’t enough information for us to be helpful though. It sounds like you think he should exercise less and eat less meat. If you’re looking for theories to support that thesis we’ll need more to work with.

The one thing that strikes me as very odd is that he didn’t drop around 5% of his body weight in water. He should have dropped at least 10lbs coming from a standard American diet. Are there other health conditions that might explain that?

(AMANDA J MENDENHALL) #10

I agree! I thought he would atleast lose all of the water weight. Something isn’t adding up. I pack his lunch I know he doesnt cheat, just not sure what is going on.

(Bob M) #11

He also changed his medication at the same time. That is influential, too.

I also eat mainly meat, depending on the day. Today, my “lunch” will be roast beef and cheese and some jalapenos and mustard, with a lot of saturated fat (added). I may not eat “dinner”. Last week on Wednesday, I only ate one meal; we’ll see what happens this week.

But because jalapenos will cause me allergic symptoms, I try to eat them rarely. Yesterday, I ate basically no vegetables and only meat and eggs.

(Scott) #12

It is just over a month and there is likely no way he is fat adapted yet. Call the getting off meds a win and keep up the good work. As long as he is not cheating himself by snacking or carbing I say stay the course. This is a new way of eating and his body will need some time to adjust. In the beginning I think it is important to increase health fats to help his body get accustomed to being a fat burner. After fat adaption he can dial it back a bit if needed. He just needs more time but a good start.

(Katie) #13

A lot of people have already made good recommendations.

My recommendation is that you both take a weekly progress photo, preferably in the same clothes, as revealing of clothes as comfortable. This will help track body composition changes. Many people experience no weight loss, but notice improvements in body composition (loss of puffiness and bloat, loss of inches around the waist, changes in skin and overall demeanor, etc.). You both could also track weekly waist measurement to see if you lose inches.

(Hyperbole- best thing in the universe!) #14

I agree, it is important not to restrict calories at the begining, and body recomposition is real success that is harder to see. Take measurements, see how clothes fit. Rejoice in being able to reduce meds!

But it’s true. We all like to see the scale move. And especially at the beginning of the journey increasing calories might be the answer, crazy as it seems. Those last 5 or 10 may be killer regardless. But since you will look better with those last 5 and a keto body rather than those last 5 and a SAD (standard american diet) body, it’s easier to live with.

Stay the course and he will be okay. The fact that his non-scale numbers are better means he is on the right path for him. And congratulations to you too on your success!

(Vic) #15

What has helped me a lot in addition to less then 20 total carbs to start

Is the advice I saw on youtube, Eat when hungry Dont eat when not hungry ( I did need to be told this and I do ask myself this question before I reach for something to eat and sometimes the answer is no)

The next step was try and put sometime between meals and dont snack between, start 4 hours then 5, 6 then I went to 8

I didn’t rush myself just tried to be honest with myself and it feels natural

(Chris) #16

Human adult weight can fluxuate as much as 5 or 6 pounds a day. Make sure you’re watching the trend over time rather than trivial day to day changes.

It might also behoove him to start tracking what he’s eating. He very well could be snacking his way out of a deficit. Or conversely, perhaps he’s not eating enough, thinking he must restrict hard to lose fat, and his body is trying to hold onto the energy it has. Tough to say, everyone is different. We have to experiment to find causes much of the time.

#17

Well, I only lost 4 kilos in the first 2 months and I was happy with that. Thats 4 US lbs/month and I did zero exercise. You only started a month ago. Maybe you should stop comparing? Thats demoralising.
I would not worry about it. Becoming fat adapted is the goal and IMHO where the true weight (fat) loss happens.

#18

If he is eating reduced calories but exercising a lot, his body may be resistant to utilize stored fat because it thinks times are bad, better hold on to it. We all react differently, but for me, adding more fat to the very low carb diet got me started with a bang. I still have to eat more fat than I would naturally opt for - you are training your body to see fat as food instead of carbs. Once it does, it will happily start to use stored fat too. Also, having a spoonful of MCT oil in the morning was useful for me, It was an almost instant pick-me-up without eating anything.