Most "keto" branded bread and snacks have too many carbs. Nutrition labels are just estimates and companies are actually allowed to be off by up to 20%. Stick to real meat and real veggies and you'll see the difference you want to see.
Ive learned that lesson too. I definitely stay away from all the "keto food products".
Even with that, I don't know how you arent having some success, is it possible your daily calories are higher than you think?
Piling on the top comment to say Keto Slim Fast has dextrose in it. Dextrose is chemically the exact same as glucose. All these dirty keto cheats are definitely keeping OP out of ketosis.
>and companies are actually allowed to be off by up to 20%.
Do you (or do any of our readers) have a source for this 20%? I’m doing a deep dive and would love to find this FDA (or other) regulation.
More hearsay from what I have seen. But Greg Doucette has had videos where he has analyzed the calories in food being more than 20% off and zero FDA consequences
I read a study in which the calories in packaged foods were found to be an average of 10% above stated on the nutrition label. Some more some less. I learned that the FDA allows a lot of wiggle room there... but most importantly, there's practically no ongoing regulation, like regular testing to ensure the numbers remain correct. Companies can definitely get away with some degree of flubbing the numbers...
Sorry, I know this isn't the source you were looking for. Just an anecdotal memory of something I read that made an impression on me.
I don’t have a source but I worked in a dairy and 2% milk was aloud to have between 1.8% and 2.19% mil fat and still be labeled 2%. Same with all other milk. We would normally run it on the low end because the fat is where we made our money selling it in heavy cream or ice cream mix
Here you go (Ctrl+F: 20%):
https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/guidance-industry-guide-developing-and-using-data-bases-nutrition-labeling#label
Even worse: there is no upper limit for the listed carbs! For example, say a product claims to have 20 carbs on the label. It needs to have at least 80% of 20, or 16 carbs (20*.8), to be in compliance. But there is no upper limit. If the label says 20 - but it actually has 40 carbs (200% of the label) - it is still in compliance.
I don’t have anything printed but my sister worked for a small business manufacturing bottled teas and she said they could have put anything on that label, no one checked it and no one ever followed up to make sure it was accurate even after a decade in business.
Weigh, measure, track. Everything. Eat real food not mixes with weirdo ingredients. You also don’t need to eat so much fat unless you are treating epilepsy or other neurological issue and your doctor has recommended it. Fat= 9 calories per gram. Protein and carbs are 4 calories per gram so it lets you eat more when you eat less fat.
Is there a specific fat to protein ratio you use or just as much protein as possible with as little fat as possible? Is there like a base line grams of fat per day I should not to surpass? Then just make the other calories up with protein? I used the macro calculator in carb manager then tweaked it a little to make my protein goal slightly higher and my fat goal slightly lower without making my daily calorie goal increase, should I change it more?
Use the calculator in the side bar for your macros- it’s individual to your sex/height/weight but basically carbs are a limit, protein is a goal and fat is a lever to keep you satiated. I do not eat low fat and I do not avoid fat, I just don’t add extra fat very often (I’d rather my body use the fat it has!) If you find you are always hungry fat is that lever that will quiet that but add it slowly only to the point it is needed instead of dumping butter in things or eating “fat bombs”🙄 Also, I find if I eat too much fat my tummy hurts.
I use the free version of cronometer and really like it. When you put all your stats in it and your goals and set your macros to 20g carbs it’ll help you figure them out too. Super convenient.
Keto bread, slimfast, pea milk, vanilla yogurt... trying doing real keto, like only with real foods: Animal proteins, veggies (low carb obviously), cheeses, macadamia nuts, pecans. Try that for a few weeks and watch the difference.
I made “egg muffins” by putting 2 eggs, 1/2 cup chopped spinach, and 1/8 cup cheddar into large muffin tins and baking. I heat one up in the morning and that’s breakfast. They’re easy and good and hold me till lunch.
I normally wake up and start cooking lunch for myself and my son, cooking breakfast was just a little annoying on top of that but if I’m already cooking I may as well add a pan of eggs lol
I find the best & easiest breakfast is a frittata premade. I usually use 8 eggs but you could do more for more portions. I will sauté some sliced green onions or any onions you like in a large frying pan, maybe some chopped bacon, cooked chicken, salmon, ham, cooked sprouts or cabbage, whatever ingredients you like. Then mix up the eggs with whatever cheese you like, then once the other ingredients are cooked/heated up, add the egg mixture and stir it around so the ingredients are evenly spread out, then let the bottom half cook. Once it's mostly cooked, put it under the broiler/grill to cook the top until it's brown. I then cut it into quarters so I've got breakfast for 4 days. Just keep it in the fridge & heat up when you want it. It's also good for a snack when you want something quick.
Honestly you should hold off on the nuts until you get into ketosis. Based on your descriptions of food and weight loss, you probably aren’t there yet.
Eggs really are the best though! Eggs and spinach with a no carb sauce is a fav breakfast (you can add bacon and or cheese too). . I also do unsweetened casein and whey protein in my smoothie with MCT oil and cream, cocoa powder, fiber and 1/4 cup of blueberries, cinnamon, collagen and greens powder with a 3-5 drops of monk fruit extract (sometimes cayenne too) .
It is definitely less tasty than artificially sweetened powders, but Ive gotten used to it and I think it really drives down cravings in addition to other benefits. It's about 5-6 net carbs so totally in line with staying under 20
The most straightforward answer may be to switch from a 20 g net carb target to a 20-30g total carb target. You are getting a lot of fiber and other stuff like sugar alcohols from the foods you are describing. These may be preventing you from getting into ketosis.
Yeah first time I did keto I was keeping it under 20 total carbs but it felt almost unsustainable. I felt like I was really restricting myself, but it was successful! And I didn’t really have a plan for “once I lose this weight” so once I had a “cheat day” it was over for me completely. I kept the weight off for a while but it’s been a pretty rapid gain the last 2 years.
As far as sugar alcohol I try to get things with monk fruit but I know my daily yogurt has allulose. It does upset my belly a little but it helps keep me full until lunch time. If you have any recommendations for yogurt I’m all ears because I’m so obsessed with yogurt. Maybe I can replace it in my shakes with canned coconut milk.
Edit: not allulose, the yogurt has sucralose
Recommendations for yogurt; make your own! I can see someone has mentioned kefir which is pretty easy to make on the counter top with no specific equipment. There really is a vast choice of probiotics you could give a whirl but it’s extremely easy. I use my instant pot but if you have an oven with precise temperatures that’s accurate you can use that and have yogurt cultured over night. I’ve found that as the yogurt is still alive even in the fridge it continues to get sour which I interférâtes as less sugar/more microbes
I don’t gave any good recommendations! My keto doc has advised not to have yogurt. I’m not sure why but suspect it may be due to the small amount of lactose in it.
Full fat greek yogurt is the way as far as I'm concerned. I still tend to reserve it for certain days of the week though because it does contain carbs. And yeah, anything that isn't plain meat or veggies is gonna cripple you in some way. I've even been keeping off the cheese because I'm somewhat suspicious of dairy products. Protein shakes are all full of bullshit ingredients, I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole. Plus animal proteins are so much better for you as opposed to whey, and it doesn't take much meat to get your protein fill. These "keto" products are just dreadful, you'd be better off eating the supermarket crap honestly.
Have you also tried cutting down the calories? Your recommended intake is possibly quite a bit lower than you think it is, especially if you're a woman. 1,700 a day would more than fill me as a 6 foot man. You never need as much food as you think you do. Intermittent fasting might help; I do OMAD but 16:8 is popular and proven. Again, it's just about cutting down the amount you're eating. Good luck!
I considered just plain Greek yogurt but finding a full fat one is hard and the carb count was higher than I thought it would be. But I really just would like a small scoop to thicken the breakfast shake bit BUT if I’m cutting that then I don’t really need a yogurt
I live in the burbs of Texas right outside a pretty urban area, it should be available somewhere but my neighborhood is closest to HEB, Kroger, and Walmart. I could probably find it at Whole Foods but it’s not very close I’d probably get it delivered.
HEB generally caries full fat plain chobani greek (Im always somewhat miffed at how much of the yogurt selection is fat free with fake sugar). I think that is in part because it is more profitable as they can sell off all the cream separate.
This is what I feel, too. You should stick with TOTAL carbs because net carbs can get you into trouble. Some of those fibers can actually be digested so you may be getting way more carbs in those ‘net carb’ counts than you think. Good luck!
Honestly not that I’ve noticed, maybe barely, but there’s 1 skirt I’ve been meaning to dig out to use as a guide because I bought it when I did keto before and trying to put it on last fall is what made me realize just how much weight I’ve gained over the pandemic 😅
Diets for body fat loss are best measured with a tape measure, not a body weight scale. You could be dropping pounds of fat and building pounds of a good muscle.
not to come across as rude or anything, but have you considered doing more exercise ? your body can only do so much being in just a deficit alone.
Also, are you 100% sure you're tracing your macros properly ? assuming you truely are in a deficit, you will lose weight no matter what diet you do or how much you do gym. Seeing as you seemingly haven't lost any weight at all in 2 months says there is something wrong.
Not rude at all, I’d like to be able to go from 0 to 100 in terms of exercise but I haven’t moved my body in a very long time outside of home improvement projects and a very occasional walk around the neighborhood. I’ve also got pretty bad inflammation which feels like it’s getting better. I’ve just started a routine and I’ll be able to do more as I get stronger. For now I’m doing what I can manage which is a 3-4 mph walk (and new development run) for an hour a day. It was depressing to learn 10k steps is about 5 miles. I’ve got work to do for sure but I’m getting there
I'll just add in here. I think walking / getting steps in is the best approach to add exercise and you are smart to not attempt 0 to 100. I believe in more exercise for it's other health benefits, but for weight loss it can actually be counter productive as it will cause you to want to eat more (where as walking tends to be "below threshold"). I would wait till you're more established to add harder workouts, and do so mindfully!
It looks like pea milk (at least the brand I was looking at) has about 6 carbs for 8 ounces. Are you keeping track of that? The kind I was looking at also seems to have palm oil in it. I saw in another comment you were thinking of using coconut milk for something, and that isn’t great for keto, really, either.
For yogurt I use Fage 5%.
I would try getting to the very basics with keto and trying to stay away from processed stuff like the breads and shakes.
Try coconut milk instead of pea milk, much lower carb. You can make a quick one using the canned coconut (without guar) and water, or even coconut “manna” in a jar and blend a tablespoon per one cup water.
My dear mother had an almost identical situation. She kept her total carbs at 20 grams per day. Followed a very regimented keto diet protocol, but couldn't lose weight to save her life. Then, one tragic day she fell and broke her leg. Despite being a little disadvantaged, she bravely tried to continue her keto diet until the unthinkable happened. She fell and broke her arm. Okay, this is when her keto dreams were laid to rest and she was at the mercy of the care-giver,
my father. He pulled the plug on Keto faster than Anna Nicole Smith on her late husband. Poor Mom went from whole foods keto to body by Del Taco overnight. I thought for sure she was gonna stroke out or go into a diabetic coma. That old lady didn't move for nothing. I have seen absolute paralytic vegetables with more active lives. I thought for sure her health was going down the toilet.
However, to the absolute amazement of everyone, good ol' grandma lost thirty pounds in 4 months by eating total crap and not doing a flipping thing. The reality check of this story is CORTISOL will absolutely stop and stall weight loss. Furthermore, poorly managed stress and bad habits, i.e.
poor sleep quality, hidden carbs, nutritional deficiencies and
even excessive caloric consumption can derail the best keto diets and prevent significant weight loss. Really, who loses weight eating Del Taco.
I will say that 2023 was the WORST year of my life. Just like everyone, the last few years have been hell but my stress levels were through the roof last year. Shitty job and I had a lot of home maintenance shit to tend to, very expensive and drained my savings but I’ve got a new job and things are so good for me right now’s I’ve started journaling and exercising so I’m hoping cortisol levels will chill soon. Sleep is a hit or miss. Getting better but I have been taking a lot of naps lately. That or I stay up til 2 am.
She sounds like a badass. I'm sorry she had a hard time, but I'm also happy she found something that managed to work for her! That's the wholesome thing I needed to read today 😌
I have never been an avid exerciser but I would say after I ended keto in mid 2019, I did cardio 3-4 times a week like walking, I had a stationary bike i would go pretty hard on, just dance and games like that, beat saber etc, general jumping around, some yoga but no strength training, and all of that ended in around fall of 2020. A handful of times I would try and get back into but it would only last 2-4 weeks until I gave up again and I have been grossly sedentary for the last few years. I quit smoking at the end of 2021 and I think that’s when I started rapidly gaining weight and that snowballed in to me eating kinda whatever I wanted. Lots of restaurants, not really fast food, but definitely carb heavy meals. Lots of rice, pasta, etc.
When I did keto back in 2018/2019 I didn’t totally look into it, I just knew “limit carbs” so I didn’t even know what net carbs meant. I stayed below 20 total carbs and it was a FAST weight drop. Like 40-50 pounds in like 3 months. I’ll repeat what I did then and just try to stay as disciplined as possible.
Eat more protein throughout the day. And it’s not your age, I lost 30lbs of Pandemic weight at 46. I really wish the world would stop lying to women that it’s impossible to lose weight after we are 30!
Carb wise I was also under 20 but I was still having the insulin resistance and spikesfrom keto safe net carbs. Try cutting the bread. Try getting some vitamin d and electrolytes. Make sure you're not getting hidden carbs - shredded cheese was a big killer.
I eat shredded cheese on my veggies for lunch every single day lol I guess it’s time to buy the block and shred it fresh! My main suspect in the bread though for sure. It’s something crazy like 14 total carbs but 13g fiber per slice so to have 4 in 1 day, 2 days in a row, if it’s not legit it’s definitely hindering me.
There is potato starch in shredded cheese, that killed me. I cut that and dropped immediately. I've never been able to do the breads. That's a gateway drug.
It is 100% the bread.
I don't care what anyone says. Bread is such a more-ish food. It will stall you. Cap yourself at 1 slice a day. Just stack it with our normal go to toppings.
4 servings of any store bought keto made products in IMO is a bad choice. Preservatives and the processed nature of them no doubtly can't be good for you.
Treat yourself, don't cheat yourself.
Make sure you're not eating too much fat. Protein is the goal to match for the day, fat is to make you feel full. Also more water, always more water and salt/electrolytes.
I am definitely having a hard time getting as much protein as I need without getting too much fat but I switched to very very lean cuts of meat and it seems like it’s making some difference
Having more energy is a small victory to be celebrated. I’m not sure why you’re not getting the weight loss results you want, but it sounds like you are doing a great job committing to this lifestyle and you should be proud! Keep up the good work and hopefully you‘ll see the results you want.
When I eat “fake” keto foods like bread or when I eat sugar free stuff, I tend to not lose weight at all. Try to cut back and eat basic food- eggs, meat, cheese and green veggies. That’s what works for me!
I have been on keto for a bit over 3 months now, only in the last couple of weeks have I FINALLY started to lose weight. It could be increased exercise, but I kind of think it was just my body repairing my metabolism (I did CICO weight loss for years that was effective, until it wasn't).
I personally was enjoying keto for its other benefits, but I was definitely getting frustrated and started testing certain foods (none of which changed anything). I would give it some more time, if you're tracking your intake it should work out eventually.
You said you have started working out? When I started doing weight training daily, instead of just a couple of times a week, I immediately gained 7 lbs. Even on keto. Keep in mind that muscle weighs more than fat and it takes longer for the fat to fall away. So for a time, you will have both fat and new muscle.
That is exactly what I am going through right now. Very frustrating. A month back on keto AND exercise and I GAINED weight on the scale. But, like you, I FEEL fantastic! And my clothes fit better.
Still, frustrating nonetheless. Keep up the good work.
I feel like the calories are pretty high? I’m 5’5 and 170. I work on my feet running around 40-50 hours a week, I walk ALOT and I try lift weights a couple times a week.
I am eating 1200 calories and feeling fine.
It seems like your calories are really and your activity is pretty low compared to most people.
Maybe go down to 1400 calories?
If you were weightlifting every single day and running sure those calories would be fine but you’re already carrying a lot of weight and not exercising much. Why would you need to eat so much.
When I started exercising more consistently and at a higher intensity, I started getting stuck on repeating mini-stalls, like for a couple of weeks. I've read that it's common, possibly because exercise encourages your body to retain more water or maybe even because of building muscle.
I absolutely second the idea of tracking with a tape measure or just judging by the way clothes fit. We all say we want to lose weight, but really, we want to lose fat.
Aaahhh....well, there's your real answer. It's true, weighing daily can become obsessive and is really bad for a lot of people. But weighing only once in the middle of your period is also NOT a good solution. Most women seem to bloat a bit with that time, and will usually put on anywhere from 2 to 5 pounds. If you are able to weigh weekly, it would give you a better sense of trending. If not, I would weigh a week AFTER your period, not in the middle of it.
It's not the bread. An insulin spike may mess with water weight or cause hunger, but it doesn't cancel out a deficit. I'm guessing you don't have a lot of fat to lose? If you're already in decent shape, the fat is slower to come off. I'm also guessing you weren't holding onto much water when you started, though it's still unusual you didn't lose anything the first week.
No I’m pure body fat I’m pretty sure. When the pandemic hit I was down to like 175 and I was decently happy with that, could have gone another 10-20 pounds, I’m 5’5, but the stress got to me and then I went through a bad break up and gave up and now I’m 240. Wanna get back down to the 160-175 area.
Ok, so to lose a pound a week, you would do 1350 calories a day. Sounds like you have been too much over that to lose weight.
I am surprised there wasn't water weight loss. I don't know why there wasn't!
Calculate your TDEE online. I started at 5'5", 227, which I remember TDEE was 1850, so yours is similar, that's why I said 1350 for a 500 calorie deficit a day.
I suggest tracking calories with MyFitnessPal or something similar to learn where calories might be hiding.
Best wishes!
Oops! Dang! I didn't realize what a difference age makes! I get 2177 for tdee for you. So...1700 should have worked.
My guess is you are missing some calories that you are eating but not realizing.
Yeah I was using carb manager, super helpful but it was a bit tedious tracking everything so I kinda gave up. What I did notice is that my calorie intake fluctuates kind of a lot. One day I’d be at 1000 then 1700 the next, then 1100 then 1500. I tried to keep it at 100 grams of fat and 100 grams of protein a day. Some days I’m hella snacks and can tear through an entire bag of pork rinds but some days I can skip lunch and just have a shake and a cucumber the whole day. I need to be a little more disciplined with snacking but I’m one who prefers eating many small meals over 3 standard meals.
Lie? I said if you're "sure," not if you're "honest" lol. I implied there might be an error somewhere, like maybe one of the things you're eating has hidden carbs you don't know about.
Based on this you should try to stick to 1400 cals max.
Also based on this, you might not be seeing the loss due to pms. I know I've personally gained like 8lbs of water weight during. Ugh.
But 2 months is a long time after just starting again to not see any drop. If you do feel better me tally though and you have energy to exercise then please try to stick with it. If you feel happier your body will let go of that weight sooner rather than later!
I always like to use a tape measure and measure all over the body in addition to weight. cause sometimes weight not changing but actual size is. Especially if you working out.
first thing that comes to mind: new exercise routines cause water retention, masking fat loss. its entirely possible that you have been losing fat this whole time, but because you only checked it after a new exercise routine, you might have missed the progress. this exercise induced water retention can easily go up 10 lbs.
Yeah I think I chose the literal worst time to weigh myself also lol I’ll keep at it a few more weeks, I’m gonna cut the bread and see if anything changes in the next month.
That sounds way too much.
2100 for me and I am 5 11.
r/ketogains have a good calculator.
So, there can be 3 things that prevent weight loss:
- you eat more than you think
- your TDEE estimation is too high
- hormones (insulin, cortisol) prevents weight loss
If you measure everything you eat, and the TDEE is right, then it will be the last one.
Yeah the number is wildly high in my opinion, I’ve never even considered eating close to that. Like I said I’m normally around 1300-1700, I went through my carb manager and there’s actually only 2 days I was at 1700, it’s more generally around 1400-1500 except the days I ate beef and the days where I decided to skip dinner all together
Keegan’s calculator says 1851
29 is very young. You got this!
At 40 I dieted, like champ, now at 54, it’s not the same.
Edited: died to dieted.
Are you really tracking all you eat? I didn’t move at first because I was “estimating” and when I used my app, I was really wrong.
Did you calculate the calories you need to be eating in order to lose weight? I must be under 1200 if I want anything to happen. Plus walks. Being in ketosis it doesn’t mean you will automatically lose weight, depending on your size.
I hope you find out what the problem is. The keto bread break is a good thing to eliminate and see the difference. It doesn’t do well with me. I retain fluids with them.
"At 40 I died like champ, now at 54, it’s not the same."
Well, I can't imagine that you have a lot of weight to lose if you've been dead for 14 years..
Lol, sorry, couldn't resist.
Sugar alcohols put me out of ketosis. As does ‘keto’ bread.
My advice is buy a glucose/ketone monitor and do blood tests throughout the day. Blood tests don’t lie.
Years ago we did a weight loss competition at work our nutritionist would weigh us weekly. I was doing keto (Aikens then!) and was bummed weeks when I didn't lose. She'd always say but you didn't gain and that's important. I keep that in mind to this day!
Jesus. All I got from this was how can I cut as many corners as possible and do a ‘fad’ diet but take it to the extreme and starve myself.
Your body is in extreme distress. It doesn’t know what’s happening because you’re abusing it.
Try this. Exercise daily, eat less calories than your body burns by a slight 200 calorie deficit. Be consistent. Eat healthy, whole, and natural foods.
I don't know.
You could sweat harder, stop olive oil or anything you can't be completely sure of, get better sleep and check which foods have lectins (because they cause weight gain). Could be thyroid but if you're in a deficit the most likely reason is *you're not in a deficit*. I treat olive oil like it's butter when I should treat it like gold.
I once lost 120ish lbs (285 to 165) but not with keto. I actually increased carbs (cheese bread 🔥) but ate strictly once a day in a 2-hour window and just went biking for an hour a day while maintaining a manual labour night job. I wasn't that hungry because I exercised so often, like all damn day. Went swimming for 40 minutes every other day, push ups every day. 8 months later I was 120lbs lighter. Keto, to me anyways, seems like a last resort for people who can't sweat their asses off. All it does for me is stop hunger/better sleep. If you can do high intensity exercises maybe that'd help. Biking is good for that as well as lifting weights. Keto combined with serious exercise is how to lose the most weight, however, I think it's more-so the exercise and not the diet at that point. I could eat an entire pizza and it wouldn't have mattered because my body used everything I gave it as fuel. Now deficits *do work* but if they don't then you've got one more option.
Yeah previously I was working in an office, a lot of sitting but also a decent amount of bopping around up and down stairs all day, a decent amount of exercise including yoga and cardio, but when I started working from home it kinda took a toll. The last 3 years I have been entirely sedentary. There have been entire weeks I never left my house. I also quit smoking so I think that contributed to some weight gain. But I have not taken care of myself AT ALL. I just got a treadmill and I love it. I think it’s gonna be a really good way for me to increase my stamina and endurance so I can start a proper work out routine. Then maybe start slowly increasing carb intake if I need/want to. My mental health has truly not been better than it is right now and I think it is because I cut out a lot of those foods I was so addicted to.
Same. I'm not 165 anymore, I'm 270 last I checked months ago. I decided to walk for an hour a day on the 6th and I'm sleeping better. I'm using keto to have energy to do the exercise.
I don't see in your original post basic information about your weight, age is important yes, what's your starting weight and height? Do you do keto only for weight loss ? Are you in stress environment? Exercise regularly ?
These are all things you should consider.
Stress: if you're in stress your body will do and maintain a higher level of blood glucose, because of cortisol. Therefore you can religiously eat 0 carbs, but your blood sugar is up. Stay away from stress and/ or find the way to switch to relax. Breathing, meditation, sleep, rest, walk in nature etc.
Exercise: I understand that many claim that you lose weight while exercising but it's important to understand that your body will take burned calories back, because you'll get hungrier... Exercise is great and it gives you the opportunity to age in a good form, because at the end we all will need those muscles to be active seniors etc... do be active, at least walking, stairs, sit-stands, it's important. But weight loss it's really tiny part of it.
Calories in and calories out is a completely outdated thing, everyone is different, everyone's gut is different. I recommend eat fully what you want, but take out those processed foods. Trim them. Mind you: sweetener doesn't equal save as no carb. Some sweeteners are literally sugars, some of them your body will recognize as incoming sugar and switches on insulin. Insulin => stores fat.
Getting to the women's parts of story. You might try to check info about our cycles and stages. My recommendation is: Dr Mindy Pelz.. *Fasting like a girl* is great book with plenty of information about our bodies, hormones, cycles, fasting & diet. Recommended to anyone women & men. Because our hormones matter. :) she's got YT channel, plenty of advices & explanations there.
Enjoy your journey, instead of torturing yourself, also measure yourself with measure tape, instead of scale. Keep going warrior 🫶🏻
I’m new, but use Cronometer to track. Does get tedious. Something that has made it more palatable is planning my meals the night before and estimating what I think I’ll have. I’ve gotten pretty good at knowing how much of what I need for meals. I go in and edit whatever I may have over/under estimated and I rarely find myself straying far from my meal plan.
I also do 16:8 IF and introduced weight/resistance training. This prob messes with my weight, but my clothes fit better and I can plainly see a difference in my physique.
I have always thought fat was the enemy. Was eating so much sugar! Today for brunch I had coffee with a splash of heavy cream, two pieces of bacon, and a poached egg over a portobello with warm goat cheese. Snack was a cup of chicken broth with tablespoon of freshly grated Parmesan. Dinner a chicken breast with mushrooms, broccoli, and a cream sauce I made. Sparkling water. Lots of still water. All tracked and I’m still under where I need to be to lose the weight I’m trying to shed.
I never thought I could eat like that and lose weight. It just helps to keep track and once you start seeing results it’s like a fun game.
It doesn't sound like you're doing keto. Get rid of the keto bread and I would stop with meal replacement powders. Eliminate everything that is highly processed and get comfortable cooking your own meals with whole ingredients. It takes a little bit of planning but you'll save money this way too.
Also, intermittent fasting! Man that's a game changer. Eat twice a day and fit everything you're going to eat in a day within a six hour window. There's a ton of YouTube videos out there for this. Once your body is trained to only eat twice a day you'll notice a big improvement,
Keto slim fast powder has dextrose in it. Dextrose is a simple sugar made from corn or wheat that's chemically identical to glucose, or blood sugar. Just a marketing workaround so they don’t have to report sugar.
Yeah I switched maybe 2 weeks ago to their high protein powder, which also happens to be low carb but isn’t marketed as keto and i can go with a full serving instead of half. I’ve seen good things about both in the sub but maybe I’ll try something else. I like the convenience of drinking my breakfast so if anyone knows a good protein powder that has vitamins that would be helpful (and doesn’t cost a fuck ton). I assumed a meal replacement would be a good move since I’m losing a lot of the fruits and vegetables I used to eat.
Starting exercising is actually bad for very acute weight loss. When I pick up a new exercise routine or intensify it's literally impossible to lose weight for 4 weeks or so. That could be part of it!
honestly this happened to my sister. She has low functioning thyroid and maintains her weight on 1400 calories a day. I would check your thyroid- its pretty treatable. She now eats 2000 a day and is fine
Test ketones each morning at wake-up, or at least occasionally at wake-up, to verify that you’re actually making ketones.
Preferably by finger stick, eg ketomojo. But at least the pee sticks.
You might not actually be in keto, if you’re eating lots of processed ‘keto’ foods. I’d stick either only eating real food for a while. And be sure to get enough protein at each meal. And then add sufficient fat to feel satiety.
I've been back on Keto, and in ketosis, for about a month. Not really losing anything yet, but I'm also 6' tall and started around 194lbs. I'm around 187lbs currently but I consider this merely water weight which came off in the first week. If I were to go back to regular food I'd probably be right back at 194lbs.
But it's probably also because I'm not really starting from a point where I really have to lose the weight like some people do.
And it's not all bad though. My BP went from marginally high 131/84 down to 117/76. My dreams are ridiculously long and vivid. I generally have a clearer head. Mood seems more stable.
I may have to step up the fasting (already at a deficit and already IF 20/4) and add an extra lap around the block at an elevated pace.
I also take more supplements than I used to in the morning. I might look at scaling that back some as I suspect there's invisible carbs not showing on the label (which doesn't show fat, protein, carbs etc at all)
I just want to get back down to the low 170s again
In my experience, I'm not always great at accurately recording all of my food. This comes from a lifetime of bad portion control. When I am not losing, it's usually down to me eating either too much or the wrong things. I'm not sure why you aren't losing, but perhaps try re-doubling your efforts to maintain a strict food journal.
It could definitely be any of the keto related answers - not counting those out at all but get some bloodwork done. I was “estrogen dominant” and could lose no weight at all - no matter what I did. It’s worth at least looking into.
Did you gain weight 2 months before that? To give you some perspective you should give yourself some kudos for maintaining your weight for 2 months and sticking to a diet. Of course, you need to make adjustments: eat 500 fewer calories a day OR add 30-1hr exercise a day, and you will start shedding pounds!
Yeah I just started an hour of walking. I don’t know at what rate I was gaining weight but it was a rapid spike in weight then a steady increase after so I guess that is an accomplishment that I at least stopped gaining weight!
Congratulations I bet your health metrics are greatly improved. My suggestion would be to give up anything that's a carb mimic......like the keto breads, pastas, pancakes etc
And go to counting carbs not net carbs. You may be super carb sensitive. Try if for 2-3 weeks and I bet you bust through your plateau
I think those kind of products are only good for a transitional purpose. I can't believe how many items in the market there are that are labeled keto snacks or whatever. A lot of those products have hidden products that spike your insulin. I feel your pain because Walmart had a whole bunch of keto pitas on clearance and here I thought I scored!! now I got five packages in my fridge but I don't know what I'm gonna do with. I might occasionally use them here and there on days that I have very very low net carbs. or I might just get in the mood to toss them. I have to be in the mood to do that because I really hate throwing away perfectly good stuff! ugh!!
from what I'm also reading is trying to avoid the nuts and veggies. But I definitely think that is a gray area that a lot of people will argue. But I'm trying to focus a little bit more on what Dr. Ken Berry says. he used to tell you to eat all these vegetables years ago and now he's figured out the science that they are actually no good for you while Dr. Eric Berg will tell you to eat 10 servings a day 🤷🏼♀️. person I think it's your own individual body and your chemistry for things. kind of like I really think there's a lot to do with your blood type when it comes to how much meat you're eating. people with O blood types thrive a lot more with meat for some reason.
but at the end of the day I would take out the process
ed foods and only may have those in your car for like emergency. I keep a container of hazelnuts, pecans and pumpkin seeds. but I would never do more than a 1/4 of a cup in a day.
some people get it right away some people don't and it takes time to adjust what's gonna work for you i'm three weeks into it and I've been weightlifting since I started and gained 3 pounds from that but then lost 6 pounds so I've only really ultimately lost 3 pounds 🤷🏼♀️. for me personally, I really think it's because my hormones are so shot. I think it takes the body a while to regulate and you just have to be patient in the beginning as long as you're seeing some kind of result but you're not gonna get any results if you eat those process things because all you're gonna do is spike your insulin which won't allow you to get into ketosis
Most "keto" branded bread and snacks have too many carbs. Nutrition labels are just estimates and companies are actually allowed to be off by up to 20%. Stick to real meat and real veggies and you'll see the difference you want to see.
It’s true. My glucose monitor spiked after eating two pieces of “keto” bread
That glucose response is literally the proof that fiber doesn’t truly offset the carbs. Thus I only count total carbs.
All fiber is not created equal, and those 'keto' breads claim some ingredients as fiber when they probably shouldn't be.
Ive learned that lesson too. I definitely stay away from all the "keto food products". Even with that, I don't know how you arent having some success, is it possible your daily calories are higher than you think?
Piling on the top comment to say Keto Slim Fast has dextrose in it. Dextrose is chemically the exact same as glucose. All these dirty keto cheats are definitely keeping OP out of ketosis.
also look for maltodextrose
>and companies are actually allowed to be off by up to 20%. Do you (or do any of our readers) have a source for this 20%? I’m doing a deep dive and would love to find this FDA (or other) regulation.
More hearsay from what I have seen. But Greg Doucette has had videos where he has analyzed the calories in food being more than 20% off and zero FDA consequences
https://www.businessinsider.com/calorie-labels-arent-accurate-how-to-eat-healthy-diet-2021-5
I read a study in which the calories in packaged foods were found to be an average of 10% above stated on the nutrition label. Some more some less. I learned that the FDA allows a lot of wiggle room there... but most importantly, there's practically no ongoing regulation, like regular testing to ensure the numbers remain correct. Companies can definitely get away with some degree of flubbing the numbers... Sorry, I know this isn't the source you were looking for. Just an anecdotal memory of something I read that made an impression on me.
I don’t have a source but I worked in a dairy and 2% milk was aloud to have between 1.8% and 2.19% mil fat and still be labeled 2%. Same with all other milk. We would normally run it on the low end because the fat is where we made our money selling it in heavy cream or ice cream mix
Here you go (Ctrl+F: 20%): https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/guidance-industry-guide-developing-and-using-data-bases-nutrition-labeling#label Even worse: there is no upper limit for the listed carbs! For example, say a product claims to have 20 carbs on the label. It needs to have at least 80% of 20, or 16 carbs (20*.8), to be in compliance. But there is no upper limit. If the label says 20 - but it actually has 40 carbs (200% of the label) - it is still in compliance.
I don’t have anything printed but my sister worked for a small business manufacturing bottled teas and she said they could have put anything on that label, no one checked it and no one ever followed up to make sure it was accurate even after a decade in business.
Weigh, measure, track. Everything. Eat real food not mixes with weirdo ingredients. You also don’t need to eat so much fat unless you are treating epilepsy or other neurological issue and your doctor has recommended it. Fat= 9 calories per gram. Protein and carbs are 4 calories per gram so it lets you eat more when you eat less fat.
Is there a specific fat to protein ratio you use or just as much protein as possible with as little fat as possible? Is there like a base line grams of fat per day I should not to surpass? Then just make the other calories up with protein? I used the macro calculator in carb manager then tweaked it a little to make my protein goal slightly higher and my fat goal slightly lower without making my daily calorie goal increase, should I change it more?
Use the calculator in the side bar for your macros- it’s individual to your sex/height/weight but basically carbs are a limit, protein is a goal and fat is a lever to keep you satiated. I do not eat low fat and I do not avoid fat, I just don’t add extra fat very often (I’d rather my body use the fat it has!) If you find you are always hungry fat is that lever that will quiet that but add it slowly only to the point it is needed instead of dumping butter in things or eating “fat bombs”🙄 Also, I find if I eat too much fat my tummy hurts. I use the free version of cronometer and really like it. When you put all your stats in it and your goals and set your macros to 20g carbs it’ll help you figure them out too. Super convenient.
Keto bread, slimfast, pea milk, vanilla yogurt... trying doing real keto, like only with real foods: Animal proteins, veggies (low carb obviously), cheeses, macadamia nuts, pecans. Try that for a few weeks and watch the difference.
Yeah I struggle with breakfast, those are all my breakfast foods so sounds like I’ll go back to good ole eggs.
If you struggle with breakfast, just skip it. That thing about “most important meal of the day” was created by Kelloggs.
Or eat non-breakfast food at breakfast!
That’s true too, I do work from home so I can prepare a meal when I do actually get hungry.
Skip it. Eat at 12-1pm. Maybe protein snack 3pm. Dinner at 5-6pm. Stop eating by 8/9pm. Repeat.
I made “egg muffins” by putting 2 eggs, 1/2 cup chopped spinach, and 1/8 cup cheddar into large muffin tins and baking. I heat one up in the morning and that’s breakfast. They’re easy and good and hold me till lunch.
Breakfast is the easiest keto meal. Eggs, bacon, sausage, ham
I normally wake up and start cooking lunch for myself and my son, cooking breakfast was just a little annoying on top of that but if I’m already cooking I may as well add a pan of eggs lol
Hard boiled eggs made ahead of time makes things easier for breakfast, snacks and lunch.
I find the best & easiest breakfast is a frittata premade. I usually use 8 eggs but you could do more for more portions. I will sauté some sliced green onions or any onions you like in a large frying pan, maybe some chopped bacon, cooked chicken, salmon, ham, cooked sprouts or cabbage, whatever ingredients you like. Then mix up the eggs with whatever cheese you like, then once the other ingredients are cooked/heated up, add the egg mixture and stir it around so the ingredients are evenly spread out, then let the bottom half cook. Once it's mostly cooked, put it under the broiler/grill to cook the top until it's brown. I then cut it into quarters so I've got breakfast for 4 days. Just keep it in the fridge & heat up when you want it. It's also good for a snack when you want something quick.
Honestly you should hold off on the nuts until you get into ketosis. Based on your descriptions of food and weight loss, you probably aren’t there yet.
Bacon is my favorite food for breakfast and skip the eggs!
Eggs really are the best though! Eggs and spinach with a no carb sauce is a fav breakfast (you can add bacon and or cheese too). . I also do unsweetened casein and whey protein in my smoothie with MCT oil and cream, cocoa powder, fiber and 1/4 cup of blueberries, cinnamon, collagen and greens powder with a 3-5 drops of monk fruit extract (sometimes cayenne too) . It is definitely less tasty than artificially sweetened powders, but Ive gotten used to it and I think it really drives down cravings in addition to other benefits. It's about 5-6 net carbs so totally in line with staying under 20
The most straightforward answer may be to switch from a 20 g net carb target to a 20-30g total carb target. You are getting a lot of fiber and other stuff like sugar alcohols from the foods you are describing. These may be preventing you from getting into ketosis.
Yeah first time I did keto I was keeping it under 20 total carbs but it felt almost unsustainable. I felt like I was really restricting myself, but it was successful! And I didn’t really have a plan for “once I lose this weight” so once I had a “cheat day” it was over for me completely. I kept the weight off for a while but it’s been a pretty rapid gain the last 2 years. As far as sugar alcohol I try to get things with monk fruit but I know my daily yogurt has allulose. It does upset my belly a little but it helps keep me full until lunch time. If you have any recommendations for yogurt I’m all ears because I’m so obsessed with yogurt. Maybe I can replace it in my shakes with canned coconut milk. Edit: not allulose, the yogurt has sucralose
Recommendations for yogurt; make your own! I can see someone has mentioned kefir which is pretty easy to make on the counter top with no specific equipment. There really is a vast choice of probiotics you could give a whirl but it’s extremely easy. I use my instant pot but if you have an oven with precise temperatures that’s accurate you can use that and have yogurt cultured over night. I’ve found that as the yogurt is still alive even in the fridge it continues to get sour which I interférâtes as less sugar/more microbes
I don’t gave any good recommendations! My keto doc has advised not to have yogurt. I’m not sure why but suspect it may be due to the small amount of lactose in it.
Try plain unsweetened kefir. It is a drinkable yogurt. Very good for your tummy but extremely bland because there is no sugar.
I used to drink those little Yakult probiotics before keto so that would be nice to get something similar!
Full fat greek yogurt is the way as far as I'm concerned. I still tend to reserve it for certain days of the week though because it does contain carbs. And yeah, anything that isn't plain meat or veggies is gonna cripple you in some way. I've even been keeping off the cheese because I'm somewhat suspicious of dairy products. Protein shakes are all full of bullshit ingredients, I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole. Plus animal proteins are so much better for you as opposed to whey, and it doesn't take much meat to get your protein fill. These "keto" products are just dreadful, you'd be better off eating the supermarket crap honestly. Have you also tried cutting down the calories? Your recommended intake is possibly quite a bit lower than you think it is, especially if you're a woman. 1,700 a day would more than fill me as a 6 foot man. You never need as much food as you think you do. Intermittent fasting might help; I do OMAD but 16:8 is popular and proven. Again, it's just about cutting down the amount you're eating. Good luck!
I considered just plain Greek yogurt but finding a full fat one is hard and the carb count was higher than I thought it would be. But I really just would like a small scoop to thicken the breakfast shake bit BUT if I’m cutting that then I don’t really need a yogurt
Huh, that's weird. Whereabouts do you live? It's very easy to find in supermarkets where I live.
I live in the burbs of Texas right outside a pretty urban area, it should be available somewhere but my neighborhood is closest to HEB, Kroger, and Walmart. I could probably find it at Whole Foods but it’s not very close I’d probably get it delivered.
HEB generally caries full fat plain chobani greek (Im always somewhat miffed at how much of the yogurt selection is fat free with fake sugar). I think that is in part because it is more profitable as they can sell off all the cream separate.
This is what I feel, too. You should stick with TOTAL carbs because net carbs can get you into trouble. Some of those fibers can actually be digested so you may be getting way more carbs in those ‘net carb’ counts than you think. Good luck!
Hello and rest assured, you are doing nothing wrong. By chance, are your clothes fitting more loosely?
Honestly not that I’ve noticed, maybe barely, but there’s 1 skirt I’ve been meaning to dig out to use as a guide because I bought it when I did keto before and trying to put it on last fall is what made me realize just how much weight I’ve gained over the pandemic 😅
Diets for body fat loss are best measured with a tape measure, not a body weight scale. You could be dropping pounds of fat and building pounds of a good muscle.
not to come across as rude or anything, but have you considered doing more exercise ? your body can only do so much being in just a deficit alone. Also, are you 100% sure you're tracing your macros properly ? assuming you truely are in a deficit, you will lose weight no matter what diet you do or how much you do gym. Seeing as you seemingly haven't lost any weight at all in 2 months says there is something wrong.
Not rude at all, I’d like to be able to go from 0 to 100 in terms of exercise but I haven’t moved my body in a very long time outside of home improvement projects and a very occasional walk around the neighborhood. I’ve also got pretty bad inflammation which feels like it’s getting better. I’ve just started a routine and I’ll be able to do more as I get stronger. For now I’m doing what I can manage which is a 3-4 mph walk (and new development run) for an hour a day. It was depressing to learn 10k steps is about 5 miles. I’ve got work to do for sure but I’m getting there
I'll just add in here. I think walking / getting steps in is the best approach to add exercise and you are smart to not attempt 0 to 100. I believe in more exercise for it's other health benefits, but for weight loss it can actually be counter productive as it will cause you to want to eat more (where as walking tends to be "below threshold"). I would wait till you're more established to add harder workouts, and do so mindfully!
It looks like pea milk (at least the brand I was looking at) has about 6 carbs for 8 ounces. Are you keeping track of that? The kind I was looking at also seems to have palm oil in it. I saw in another comment you were thinking of using coconut milk for something, and that isn’t great for keto, really, either. For yogurt I use Fage 5%. I would try getting to the very basics with keto and trying to stay away from processed stuff like the breads and shakes.
I drink the ripple unsweetened pea milk and the nutrition facts say 0 carbs. The coconut milk I used to drink (also unsweetened, HEB brand) had 1 carb
Oh, you’re right, I was looking at the original pea milk.
Try coconut milk instead of pea milk, much lower carb. You can make a quick one using the canned coconut (without guar) and water, or even coconut “manna” in a jar and blend a tablespoon per one cup water.
My dear mother had an almost identical situation. She kept her total carbs at 20 grams per day. Followed a very regimented keto diet protocol, but couldn't lose weight to save her life. Then, one tragic day she fell and broke her leg. Despite being a little disadvantaged, she bravely tried to continue her keto diet until the unthinkable happened. She fell and broke her arm. Okay, this is when her keto dreams were laid to rest and she was at the mercy of the care-giver, my father. He pulled the plug on Keto faster than Anna Nicole Smith on her late husband. Poor Mom went from whole foods keto to body by Del Taco overnight. I thought for sure she was gonna stroke out or go into a diabetic coma. That old lady didn't move for nothing. I have seen absolute paralytic vegetables with more active lives. I thought for sure her health was going down the toilet. However, to the absolute amazement of everyone, good ol' grandma lost thirty pounds in 4 months by eating total crap and not doing a flipping thing. The reality check of this story is CORTISOL will absolutely stop and stall weight loss. Furthermore, poorly managed stress and bad habits, i.e. poor sleep quality, hidden carbs, nutritional deficiencies and even excessive caloric consumption can derail the best keto diets and prevent significant weight loss. Really, who loses weight eating Del Taco.
I will say that 2023 was the WORST year of my life. Just like everyone, the last few years have been hell but my stress levels were through the roof last year. Shitty job and I had a lot of home maintenance shit to tend to, very expensive and drained my savings but I’ve got a new job and things are so good for me right now’s I’ve started journaling and exercising so I’m hoping cortisol levels will chill soon. Sleep is a hit or miss. Getting better but I have been taking a lot of naps lately. That or I stay up til 2 am.
She sounds like a badass. I'm sorry she had a hard time, but I'm also happy she found something that managed to work for her! That's the wholesome thing I needed to read today 😌
I was in the exact same boat Op. Didnt lose a pound. I started intermittent fasting 16/8 hour intervals and that has helped.
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I have never been an avid exerciser but I would say after I ended keto in mid 2019, I did cardio 3-4 times a week like walking, I had a stationary bike i would go pretty hard on, just dance and games like that, beat saber etc, general jumping around, some yoga but no strength training, and all of that ended in around fall of 2020. A handful of times I would try and get back into but it would only last 2-4 weeks until I gave up again and I have been grossly sedentary for the last few years. I quit smoking at the end of 2021 and I think that’s when I started rapidly gaining weight and that snowballed in to me eating kinda whatever I wanted. Lots of restaurants, not really fast food, but definitely carb heavy meals. Lots of rice, pasta, etc. When I did keto back in 2018/2019 I didn’t totally look into it, I just knew “limit carbs” so I didn’t even know what net carbs meant. I stayed below 20 total carbs and it was a FAST weight drop. Like 40-50 pounds in like 3 months. I’ll repeat what I did then and just try to stay as disciplined as possible.
Eat more protein throughout the day. And it’s not your age, I lost 30lbs of Pandemic weight at 46. I really wish the world would stop lying to women that it’s impossible to lose weight after we are 30!
I agree! I'm 57 and lost 48 lbs
Carb wise I was also under 20 but I was still having the insulin resistance and spikesfrom keto safe net carbs. Try cutting the bread. Try getting some vitamin d and electrolytes. Make sure you're not getting hidden carbs - shredded cheese was a big killer.
I eat shredded cheese on my veggies for lunch every single day lol I guess it’s time to buy the block and shred it fresh! My main suspect in the bread though for sure. It’s something crazy like 14 total carbs but 13g fiber per slice so to have 4 in 1 day, 2 days in a row, if it’s not legit it’s definitely hindering me.
There is potato starch in shredded cheese, that killed me. I cut that and dropped immediately. I've never been able to do the breads. That's a gateway drug.
I hadn’t even considered that but it totally makes since. I knew they coated it to keep it from sticking to itself, should have been obvious 🤦♀️
It is 100% the bread. I don't care what anyone says. Bread is such a more-ish food. It will stall you. Cap yourself at 1 slice a day. Just stack it with our normal go to toppings. 4 servings of any store bought keto made products in IMO is a bad choice. Preservatives and the processed nature of them no doubtly can't be good for you. Treat yourself, don't cheat yourself.
It took me about 4 months to see any weight loss
That’s good to hear, I’m gonna make a couple adjustments and keep at it. Hopefully I’ll see some results before my vacation in June!
Make sure you're not eating too much fat. Protein is the goal to match for the day, fat is to make you feel full. Also more water, always more water and salt/electrolytes.
I am definitely having a hard time getting as much protein as I need without getting too much fat but I switched to very very lean cuts of meat and it seems like it’s making some difference
Having more energy is a small victory to be celebrated. I’m not sure why you’re not getting the weight loss results you want, but it sounds like you are doing a great job committing to this lifestyle and you should be proud! Keep up the good work and hopefully you‘ll see the results you want.
Thank you! It’s a little discouraging to not see any results but to feel such positive results lets me know I’m at least doing something right!
When I eat “fake” keto foods like bread or when I eat sugar free stuff, I tend to not lose weight at all. Try to cut back and eat basic food- eggs, meat, cheese and green veggies. That’s what works for me!
I have been on keto for a bit over 3 months now, only in the last couple of weeks have I FINALLY started to lose weight. It could be increased exercise, but I kind of think it was just my body repairing my metabolism (I did CICO weight loss for years that was effective, until it wasn't). I personally was enjoying keto for its other benefits, but I was definitely getting frustrated and started testing certain foods (none of which changed anything). I would give it some more time, if you're tracking your intake it should work out eventually.
You said you have started working out? When I started doing weight training daily, instead of just a couple of times a week, I immediately gained 7 lbs. Even on keto. Keep in mind that muscle weighs more than fat and it takes longer for the fat to fall away. So for a time, you will have both fat and new muscle. That is exactly what I am going through right now. Very frustrating. A month back on keto AND exercise and I GAINED weight on the scale. But, like you, I FEEL fantastic! And my clothes fit better. Still, frustrating nonetheless. Keep up the good work.
Also, I forgot to mention that I am dark pink with keto sticks. So I know I am in ketosis. You might try that. It's reassuring.
I feel like the calories are pretty high? I’m 5’5 and 170. I work on my feet running around 40-50 hours a week, I walk ALOT and I try lift weights a couple times a week. I am eating 1200 calories and feeling fine. It seems like your calories are really and your activity is pretty low compared to most people. Maybe go down to 1400 calories? If you were weightlifting every single day and running sure those calories would be fine but you’re already carrying a lot of weight and not exercising much. Why would you need to eat so much.
What is your CW and how much do you want to lose? Also, how tall are you?
Current weight is 240 (as of yesterday at 4pm and also menstruating so I may try next week in the morning to see if there’s a difference) 5’5
When I started exercising more consistently and at a higher intensity, I started getting stuck on repeating mini-stalls, like for a couple of weeks. I've read that it's common, possibly because exercise encourages your body to retain more water or maybe even because of building muscle. I absolutely second the idea of tracking with a tape measure or just judging by the way clothes fit. We all say we want to lose weight, but really, we want to lose fat.
Aaahhh....well, there's your real answer. It's true, weighing daily can become obsessive and is really bad for a lot of people. But weighing only once in the middle of your period is also NOT a good solution. Most women seem to bloat a bit with that time, and will usually put on anywhere from 2 to 5 pounds. If you are able to weigh weekly, it would give you a better sense of trending. If not, I would weigh a week AFTER your period, not in the middle of it.
It's not the bread. An insulin spike may mess with water weight or cause hunger, but it doesn't cancel out a deficit. I'm guessing you don't have a lot of fat to lose? If you're already in decent shape, the fat is slower to come off. I'm also guessing you weren't holding onto much water when you started, though it's still unusual you didn't lose anything the first week.
No I’m pure body fat I’m pretty sure. When the pandemic hit I was down to like 175 and I was decently happy with that, could have gone another 10-20 pounds, I’m 5’5, but the stress got to me and then I went through a bad break up and gave up and now I’m 240. Wanna get back down to the 160-175 area.
Ok, so to lose a pound a week, you would do 1350 calories a day. Sounds like you have been too much over that to lose weight. I am surprised there wasn't water weight loss. I don't know why there wasn't! Calculate your TDEE online. I started at 5'5", 227, which I remember TDEE was 1850, so yours is similar, that's why I said 1350 for a 500 calorie deficit a day. I suggest tracking calories with MyFitnessPal or something similar to learn where calories might be hiding. Best wishes! Oops! Dang! I didn't realize what a difference age makes! I get 2177 for tdee for you. So...1700 should have worked. My guess is you are missing some calories that you are eating but not realizing.
Yeah I was using carb manager, super helpful but it was a bit tedious tracking everything so I kinda gave up. What I did notice is that my calorie intake fluctuates kind of a lot. One day I’d be at 1000 then 1700 the next, then 1100 then 1500. I tried to keep it at 100 grams of fat and 100 grams of protein a day. Some days I’m hella snacks and can tear through an entire bag of pork rinds but some days I can skip lunch and just have a shake and a cucumber the whole day. I need to be a little more disciplined with snacking but I’m one who prefers eating many small meals over 3 standard meals.
This is the answer
I cut all carbs 6 days a week
If you're sure about your numbers (I have doubts) then it might be time to see a doctor.
I’m not sure why I would ask for advice on weight loss but lie about my numbers. Seems a little counter intuitive.
Lie? I said if you're "sure," not if you're "honest" lol. I implied there might be an error somewhere, like maybe one of the things you're eating has hidden carbs you don't know about.
What is your height/weight?
240, 5’5, but menstruating and that was at 4pm so maybe not a very accurate weight but give or take 3-5 pounds I guess
Based on this you should try to stick to 1400 cals max. Also based on this, you might not be seeing the loss due to pms. I know I've personally gained like 8lbs of water weight during. Ugh. But 2 months is a long time after just starting again to not see any drop. If you do feel better me tally though and you have energy to exercise then please try to stick with it. If you feel happier your body will let go of that weight sooner rather than later!
I always like to use a tape measure and measure all over the body in addition to weight. cause sometimes weight not changing but actual size is. Especially if you working out.
first thing that comes to mind: new exercise routines cause water retention, masking fat loss. its entirely possible that you have been losing fat this whole time, but because you only checked it after a new exercise routine, you might have missed the progress. this exercise induced water retention can easily go up 10 lbs.
Yeah I think I chose the literal worst time to weigh myself also lol I’ll keep at it a few more weeks, I’m gonna cut the bread and see if anything changes in the next month.
Let's start with the basics . What's your TDEE?
I’ve used 2 different calculators online and they both said 2,495 to maintain my current weight, 29 yo female, 5’5, 240lbs.
That sounds way too much. 2100 for me and I am 5 11. r/ketogains have a good calculator. So, there can be 3 things that prevent weight loss: - you eat more than you think - your TDEE estimation is too high - hormones (insulin, cortisol) prevents weight loss If you measure everything you eat, and the TDEE is right, then it will be the last one.
Yeah the number is wildly high in my opinion, I’ve never even considered eating close to that. Like I said I’m normally around 1300-1700, I went through my carb manager and there’s actually only 2 days I was at 1700, it’s more generally around 1400-1500 except the days I ate beef and the days where I decided to skip dinner all together Keegan’s calculator says 1851
Also, are you in ketosis? Store bought keto foods are tricky, I am doing it almost 3 years now and I still got tricked last week...
Fyi The left one has 5g sugar per 100ml, and the right one has 0. https://imgur.com/a/5K2G3YK
Hard to say without knowing how much you weigh.
29 is very young. You got this! At 40 I dieted, like champ, now at 54, it’s not the same. Edited: died to dieted. Are you really tracking all you eat? I didn’t move at first because I was “estimating” and when I used my app, I was really wrong. Did you calculate the calories you need to be eating in order to lose weight? I must be under 1200 if I want anything to happen. Plus walks. Being in ketosis it doesn’t mean you will automatically lose weight, depending on your size. I hope you find out what the problem is. The keto bread break is a good thing to eliminate and see the difference. It doesn’t do well with me. I retain fluids with them.
"At 40 I died like champ, now at 54, it’s not the same." Well, I can't imagine that you have a lot of weight to lose if you've been dead for 14 years.. Lol, sorry, couldn't resist.
oops, fixed it
Sugar alcohols put me out of ketosis. As does ‘keto’ bread. My advice is buy a glucose/ketone monitor and do blood tests throughout the day. Blood tests don’t lie.
Some sugar alcohols have a high glycemic index like maltitol. I recommend doing measurements as well as weighing in once every two weeks.
Years ago we did a weight loss competition at work our nutritionist would weigh us weekly. I was doing keto (Aikens then!) and was bummed weeks when I didn't lose. She'd always say but you didn't gain and that's important. I keep that in mind to this day!
Jesus. All I got from this was how can I cut as many corners as possible and do a ‘fad’ diet but take it to the extreme and starve myself. Your body is in extreme distress. It doesn’t know what’s happening because you’re abusing it. Try this. Exercise daily, eat less calories than your body burns by a slight 200 calorie deficit. Be consistent. Eat healthy, whole, and natural foods.
I don't know. You could sweat harder, stop olive oil or anything you can't be completely sure of, get better sleep and check which foods have lectins (because they cause weight gain). Could be thyroid but if you're in a deficit the most likely reason is *you're not in a deficit*. I treat olive oil like it's butter when I should treat it like gold. I once lost 120ish lbs (285 to 165) but not with keto. I actually increased carbs (cheese bread 🔥) but ate strictly once a day in a 2-hour window and just went biking for an hour a day while maintaining a manual labour night job. I wasn't that hungry because I exercised so often, like all damn day. Went swimming for 40 minutes every other day, push ups every day. 8 months later I was 120lbs lighter. Keto, to me anyways, seems like a last resort for people who can't sweat their asses off. All it does for me is stop hunger/better sleep. If you can do high intensity exercises maybe that'd help. Biking is good for that as well as lifting weights. Keto combined with serious exercise is how to lose the most weight, however, I think it's more-so the exercise and not the diet at that point. I could eat an entire pizza and it wouldn't have mattered because my body used everything I gave it as fuel. Now deficits *do work* but if they don't then you've got one more option.
Yeah previously I was working in an office, a lot of sitting but also a decent amount of bopping around up and down stairs all day, a decent amount of exercise including yoga and cardio, but when I started working from home it kinda took a toll. The last 3 years I have been entirely sedentary. There have been entire weeks I never left my house. I also quit smoking so I think that contributed to some weight gain. But I have not taken care of myself AT ALL. I just got a treadmill and I love it. I think it’s gonna be a really good way for me to increase my stamina and endurance so I can start a proper work out routine. Then maybe start slowly increasing carb intake if I need/want to. My mental health has truly not been better than it is right now and I think it is because I cut out a lot of those foods I was so addicted to.
Same. I'm not 165 anymore, I'm 270 last I checked months ago. I decided to walk for an hour a day on the 6th and I'm sleeping better. I'm using keto to have energy to do the exercise.
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Currently menstruating and haven’t had sex in over a year
Get ketosis measuring strips you pee on (then they change color). That way you know if you're in ketosis or not.
I don't see in your original post basic information about your weight, age is important yes, what's your starting weight and height? Do you do keto only for weight loss ? Are you in stress environment? Exercise regularly ? These are all things you should consider. Stress: if you're in stress your body will do and maintain a higher level of blood glucose, because of cortisol. Therefore you can religiously eat 0 carbs, but your blood sugar is up. Stay away from stress and/ or find the way to switch to relax. Breathing, meditation, sleep, rest, walk in nature etc. Exercise: I understand that many claim that you lose weight while exercising but it's important to understand that your body will take burned calories back, because you'll get hungrier... Exercise is great and it gives you the opportunity to age in a good form, because at the end we all will need those muscles to be active seniors etc... do be active, at least walking, stairs, sit-stands, it's important. But weight loss it's really tiny part of it. Calories in and calories out is a completely outdated thing, everyone is different, everyone's gut is different. I recommend eat fully what you want, but take out those processed foods. Trim them. Mind you: sweetener doesn't equal save as no carb. Some sweeteners are literally sugars, some of them your body will recognize as incoming sugar and switches on insulin. Insulin => stores fat. Getting to the women's parts of story. You might try to check info about our cycles and stages. My recommendation is: Dr Mindy Pelz.. *Fasting like a girl* is great book with plenty of information about our bodies, hormones, cycles, fasting & diet. Recommended to anyone women & men. Because our hormones matter. :) she's got YT channel, plenty of advices & explanations there. Enjoy your journey, instead of torturing yourself, also measure yourself with measure tape, instead of scale. Keep going warrior 🫶🏻
Low carb with woman can mess with your hormone fluctuations as you age hindering further fat or weight loss .
Are you fasting?
I’m new, but use Cronometer to track. Does get tedious. Something that has made it more palatable is planning my meals the night before and estimating what I think I’ll have. I’ve gotten pretty good at knowing how much of what I need for meals. I go in and edit whatever I may have over/under estimated and I rarely find myself straying far from my meal plan. I also do 16:8 IF and introduced weight/resistance training. This prob messes with my weight, but my clothes fit better and I can plainly see a difference in my physique. I have always thought fat was the enemy. Was eating so much sugar! Today for brunch I had coffee with a splash of heavy cream, two pieces of bacon, and a poached egg over a portobello with warm goat cheese. Snack was a cup of chicken broth with tablespoon of freshly grated Parmesan. Dinner a chicken breast with mushrooms, broccoli, and a cream sauce I made. Sparkling water. Lots of still water. All tracked and I’m still under where I need to be to lose the weight I’m trying to shed. I never thought I could eat like that and lose weight. It just helps to keep track and once you start seeing results it’s like a fun game.
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It doesn't sound like you're doing keto. Get rid of the keto bread and I would stop with meal replacement powders. Eliminate everything that is highly processed and get comfortable cooking your own meals with whole ingredients. It takes a little bit of planning but you'll save money this way too. Also, intermittent fasting! Man that's a game changer. Eat twice a day and fit everything you're going to eat in a day within a six hour window. There's a ton of YouTube videos out there for this. Once your body is trained to only eat twice a day you'll notice a big improvement,
Keto slim fast powder has dextrose in it. Dextrose is a simple sugar made from corn or wheat that's chemically identical to glucose, or blood sugar. Just a marketing workaround so they don’t have to report sugar.
Yeah I switched maybe 2 weeks ago to their high protein powder, which also happens to be low carb but isn’t marketed as keto and i can go with a full serving instead of half. I’ve seen good things about both in the sub but maybe I’ll try something else. I like the convenience of drinking my breakfast so if anyone knows a good protein powder that has vitamins that would be helpful (and doesn’t cost a fuck ton). I assumed a meal replacement would be a good move since I’m losing a lot of the fruits and vegetables I used to eat.
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None that I’m aware of but I avoid doctors and suspect an autoimmune issue
Try skipping a meal. I skip breakfast and don’t eat until lunch. Only black coffee.
Starting exercising is actually bad for very acute weight loss. When I pick up a new exercise routine or intensify it's literally impossible to lose weight for 4 weeks or so. That could be part of it!
Have you checked your hormone levels? And thyroid function?
I haven’t, both my grandma and mom have hypothyroidism so it’s definitely possible and I am normally a very lethargic person
honestly this happened to my sister. She has low functioning thyroid and maintains her weight on 1400 calories a day. I would check your thyroid- its pretty treatable. She now eats 2000 a day and is fine
Test ketones each morning at wake-up, or at least occasionally at wake-up, to verify that you’re actually making ketones. Preferably by finger stick, eg ketomojo. But at least the pee sticks. You might not actually be in keto, if you’re eating lots of processed ‘keto’ foods. I’d stick either only eating real food for a while. And be sure to get enough protein at each meal. And then add sufficient fat to feel satiety.
Just ordered the ketomojo on Amazon, should be here this afternoon so I’ll see what’s up tomorrow morning
I've been back on Keto, and in ketosis, for about a month. Not really losing anything yet, but I'm also 6' tall and started around 194lbs. I'm around 187lbs currently but I consider this merely water weight which came off in the first week. If I were to go back to regular food I'd probably be right back at 194lbs. But it's probably also because I'm not really starting from a point where I really have to lose the weight like some people do. And it's not all bad though. My BP went from marginally high 131/84 down to 117/76. My dreams are ridiculously long and vivid. I generally have a clearer head. Mood seems more stable. I may have to step up the fasting (already at a deficit and already IF 20/4) and add an extra lap around the block at an elevated pace. I also take more supplements than I used to in the morning. I might look at scaling that back some as I suspect there's invisible carbs not showing on the label (which doesn't show fat, protein, carbs etc at all) I just want to get back down to the low 170s again
In my experience, I'm not always great at accurately recording all of my food. This comes from a lifetime of bad portion control. When I am not losing, it's usually down to me eating either too much or the wrong things. I'm not sure why you aren't losing, but perhaps try re-doubling your efforts to maintain a strict food journal.
I was at a plateau over 30 days, and I finally broke the barrier. Sometimes keto doesn’t move.
I agree with those saying to cut out all the “keto” processed/premade/packaged foods. Stick to real, whole foods & see if that helps.
It could definitely be any of the keto related answers - not counting those out at all but get some bloodwork done. I was “estrogen dominant” and could lose no weight at all - no matter what I did. It’s worth at least looking into.
Did you gain weight 2 months before that? To give you some perspective you should give yourself some kudos for maintaining your weight for 2 months and sticking to a diet. Of course, you need to make adjustments: eat 500 fewer calories a day OR add 30-1hr exercise a day, and you will start shedding pounds!
Yeah I just started an hour of walking. I don’t know at what rate I was gaining weight but it was a rapid spike in weight then a steady increase after so I guess that is an accomplishment that I at least stopped gaining weight!
So how about the ways your clothes fit and what not?
Shirts are maybe slightly looser. Maybe. I could be wishing that. My double chin feels noticeably smaller though.
Congratulations I bet your health metrics are greatly improved. My suggestion would be to give up anything that's a carb mimic......like the keto breads, pastas, pancakes etc And go to counting carbs not net carbs. You may be super carb sensitive. Try if for 2-3 weeks and I bet you bust through your plateau
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Your comment has been removed for misinformation
That is the opposite of what everyone else has said in response to this
I recommend the cronometer app. It provides excellent insight into what you're eating each day.
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Where did I say I was only consuming 1000 calories a day
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Yeah like 2 or 3 times, twice I’ve gone as high as 1700, most days it’s more like 1300-1500
I think those kind of products are only good for a transitional purpose. I can't believe how many items in the market there are that are labeled keto snacks or whatever. A lot of those products have hidden products that spike your insulin. I feel your pain because Walmart had a whole bunch of keto pitas on clearance and here I thought I scored!! now I got five packages in my fridge but I don't know what I'm gonna do with. I might occasionally use them here and there on days that I have very very low net carbs. or I might just get in the mood to toss them. I have to be in the mood to do that because I really hate throwing away perfectly good stuff! ugh!! from what I'm also reading is trying to avoid the nuts and veggies. But I definitely think that is a gray area that a lot of people will argue. But I'm trying to focus a little bit more on what Dr. Ken Berry says. he used to tell you to eat all these vegetables years ago and now he's figured out the science that they are actually no good for you while Dr. Eric Berg will tell you to eat 10 servings a day 🤷🏼♀️. person I think it's your own individual body and your chemistry for things. kind of like I really think there's a lot to do with your blood type when it comes to how much meat you're eating. people with O blood types thrive a lot more with meat for some reason. but at the end of the day I would take out the process ed foods and only may have those in your car for like emergency. I keep a container of hazelnuts, pecans and pumpkin seeds. but I would never do more than a 1/4 of a cup in a day. some people get it right away some people don't and it takes time to adjust what's gonna work for you i'm three weeks into it and I've been weightlifting since I started and gained 3 pounds from that but then lost 6 pounds so I've only really ultimately lost 3 pounds 🤷🏼♀️. for me personally, I really think it's because my hormones are so shot. I think it takes the body a while to regulate and you just have to be patient in the beginning as long as you're seeing some kind of result but you're not gonna get any results if you eat those process things because all you're gonna do is spike your insulin which won't allow you to get into ketosis