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Loosing my way LCHF/Keto

HSSS said:
I’m on a lot of Facebook pages for low carb and keto. I see this all the time, especially in the early weeks.

First water retention and hormones can be a factor. As said above you won’t gain that much fat in your sleep. Time of month (mid cycle for some not just the end).

Weighing in the same clothes, naked is best, after the same body functions before eating and drinking removes some variables.

Not drinking enough fluids might be an issue. Make sure you maintain electrolytes with a bit of salt though.

200 calories is not enough as a regular thing. It needs to be higher. A lot higher. Intermittent Fasting isn’t about low calories it’s about smaller eating windows.

Also - and I’m not sure of the science but anecdotally it seems to fit - when you start low carb you fat cells lose their fat. Initially this gets replaced by fluid and then some time (weeks) later that too gets released and you see the weight loss. Also known as the whoosh. It’s also been explained as your body taking time to heal before it kicks in. Probably more scientific to say it’s becoming fat adapted.

Definitely measure and photo. So many people report size changes before weight changes.

Lastly the weight isn’t actually the priority, blood levels of glucose and insulin are. Get those right and the rest WILL follow as will overall health benefits.
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Thank you. I do always weigh first thing, almost naked as every little helps
I think you and Jim are both right in that I'm actually not eating enough. I'm going to up my food a bit over 2 meals rather than one and see what happens.
 
AngiH said:
Thank you. I do always weigh first thing, almost naked as every little helps
I think you and Jim are both right in that I'm actually not eating enough. I'm going to up my food a bit over 2 meals rather than one and see what happens.
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That could be a great idea.. also if you have time try weighing yourself every hour for one day and you'll be amazed how much it goes up and down. I had a 4 pound difference depending on drinks, trips to the loo, food etc etc.. that led me to always weigh first thing in the morning after pee and naked before doing anything else. TMI oh hell who cares..
 
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bulkbiker said:
That could be a great idea.. also if you have time try weighting yourself every hour for one day and you'll be amazed how much it goes up and down. I had a 4 pound difference depending on drinks, trips to the loo, food etc etc.. that led me to always weigh first thing in the morning after pee and naked before doing anything else. TMI oh hell who cares..
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I will do.. Yes who cares if TMI we are all in this together
 
AngiH said:
This although somewhat mind boggling does make sense. When I started I was eating 3 well balanced meals a day. Once the hunger stopped I skipped breakfast..and now most days lunch too. I'm only eating in the evening generally, and maybe just maybe the low calorie is stalling me. I may go back to at least 2 meals a day and see what happens. If no luck, then I'll try the lower protein route. Thank you Jim, your a great help.
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Yes, kinda. Calorie restriction won’t do you any favours long term. You should ideally still strive get your required energy each day, but in smaller windows. Eat to satiety in as few sittings as you’re comfortable with. This way your body has extended periods where elevated insulin isn’t sloshing about. OMAD (one meal a day) is fine so long as it’s a very hearty meal and you’re not snacking in between. Snacking really can be deleterious to your mission objective, as you’re forcing an insulin response for very little caloric gain.

EDIT: actually I should expand on that. As you evidently have excess stored fat that you’d like to trim off, you really don’t have to meet any specific minimum calorie targets at all, because as you continue to become a better fat burner, your body will become super adept at switching between ingested calories and stored calories. You’ll hardly ever feel hungry so long as you have plenty of fat that your body can draw from. Sorry if all these mentions of fat seem offensive but obviously I’m talking purely in biological terms. Throughout all of this you must make sure that you are getting enough protein, and enough micronutrients (vitamins and minerals). Your body is smart, and if you give it all the right tools it will look after itself :)
 
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bulkbiker said:
also if you have time try weighting yourself every hour for one day and you'll be amazed how much it goes up and down.
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Depending on your scales ... I tried weighing myself with and without holding a liter of milk. I'd have expected my weight to increase by 1kg, but not so. That's why I use mine as a rule of thumb.
 
briped said:
Depending on your scales ... I tried weighing myself with and without holding a liter of milk. I'd have expected my weight to increase by 1kg, but not so. That's why I use mine as a rule of thumb.
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Agreed. And also best to use the same scales each time if possible. (I used the doctors surgery each month and they recorded it for me.)
 
AngiH said:
Hi all, yesterday some on you lovely people replied to my post in the "what was your fasting bg" as although my levels are coming down into the 5's, my weight had stalled. Well this morning I weighed myself and I've gained 2.5lb. I'm actually devastated as I've been so good.
I really don't know where I'm going wrong. I generally fast most days for 16/8 without even trying. I have little to no appetite, and a strange metallic taste...so although I don't test I'm sure I must be in ketosis? My general day is scrambled eggs with butter before work at 2pm. Then evening meal normally involves steak mince or chicken, as a DD meal or salad with oily tuna and cheese. Followed by sf jelly and cream.
Yesterday I only had 200 cals and 8grams of carbs....
I was going shopping this morning with some next vouchers I had, and thought I'd buy a nice summer outfit in a smaller size to motivate me (not that I needed motivation)...and now I'm feeling like why bother.
I know my main issue is keeping the T2 diagnosis away but I have 2 stone to loose as well. Sorry for long ramble, just don't know what to do now
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Hi. I don’t know how long you've been at it but when I first started LCHF and exercising I didn’t lose a single pound for the first two months. Then I lost like five pounds then nothing for the next six weeks. It was really frustrating, especially hearing how the weight was "dropping off" everyone else.

Unfortunately me being a middle-aged woman who's been in perimenopause for five years could be part of the problem. Hormones can make weight loss tricky.

This article explains the "whoosh" effect - when and why weight loss comes in bursts.

https://lowcarbkitchen.us/the-whoos...and-losing-weight-dont-happen-simultaneously/
 
neithskye said:
Hi. I don’t know how long you've been at it but when I first started LCHF and exercising I didn’t lose a single pound for the first two months. Then I lost like five pounds then nothing for the next six weeks. It was really frustrating, especially hearing how the weight was "dropping off" everyone else.

Unfortunately me being a middle-aged woman who's been in perimenopause for five years could be part of the problem. Hormones can make weight loss tricky.

This article explains the "whoosh" effect - when and why weight loss comes in bursts.

https://lowcarbkitchen.us/the-whoos...and-losing-weight-dont-happen-simultaneously/
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Hi, it's only my 3rd week. I too won't be far off that dreaded big M... I'm 50 next year, so maybe that is making it harder. It's just so annoying, I used to hit weight watchers and still eat the bad stuff but loose weight. Now I'm being good and it's stuck... I will not be defeated though. Thank you.
 
AngiH said:
Hi, it's only my 3rd week. I too won't be far off that dreaded big M... I'm 50 next year, so maybe that is making it harder. It's just so annoying, I used to hit weight watchers and still eat the bad stuff but loose weight. Now I'm being good and it's stuck... I will not be defeated though. Thank you.
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Yeah but you are also having loads of other benefits like lower blood glucose and BP so it's not only weight loss...?
 
Jim Lahey said:
Yeah and then you got prediabetes :shifty:

I jest.
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You jest, but you are probably very right I'm not giving in... I've just had a lovely cooked breakfast of bacon, egg, tomato and high meat sausages. That has bumped the calories a bit.
 
I stalled in weight loss also, but drank half a cup of double cream before bed one night and I swear the next day I'd lost weight my clothes fitted better , its just crazy. I want to lose lots of weight but my sugar is more important i need that right down and hope like its said that the weight loss will follow . I'm at the doctors Wednesday for bloods done and will get weighed so I will report back if I have lost much , I know I've already lost over a stone but i don't weigh myself at home i wait to let the nurse do that .
 
I used to fast every Monday - I could have put on 3 or 4 lb when I woke up on Tuesday - I think it was my body preparing for having to trek for as long as it took to find food, so storing water. It is an obvious survival ploy, if you think about it. Then I ate on Tuesday morning I would be off to the loo several times before mid day - the 'found the mammoth response', obviously.
Your super low calorie consumption could well be slowing down your metabolism so making it harder to lower weight.
Humans are programmed to resist famine, and I have fond that eating twice a day, early and late, controls my blood glucose best, even though I don't lose weight on it - you are not particularly overweight and - I would really advise against low calorie diets - I have been put on so many over the last 40 years or so that as soon as I go over 12 hours without eating I start to shut down, it is what my body has learned to do.
 
Resurgam said:
I used to fast every Monday - I could have put on 3 or 4 lb when I woke up on Tuesday - I think it was my body preparing for having to trek for as long as it took to find food, so storing water. It is an obvious survival ploy, if you think about it. Then I ate on Tuesday morning I would be off to the loo several times before mid day - the 'found the mammoth response', obviously.
Your super low calorie consumption could well be slowing down your metabolism so making it harder to lower weight.
Humans are programmed to resist famine, and I have fond that eating twice a day, early and late, controls my blood glucose best, even though I don't lose weight on it - you are not particularly overweight and - I would really advise against low calorie diets - I have been put on so many over the last 40 years or so that as soon as I go over 12 hours without eating I start to shut down, it is what my body has learned to do.
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Thank you for this, you have hit a point about the fasting. I'm generally fasting every day until at least 2pm..but yesterday I noticed my eyelids were really puffy. Today hubby said to me I look puffy/bloated rather than heavy from weight if that makes sense. He means it in a positive way as he knows how hard I'm trying. But this has made me think maybe the fasting is making me hold the water.
This has really helped me along with everyone else about too few calories.
Thank you thank you.
 
I used to have a couple of shopping lists which I used alternately with all the low carb foods I usually bought - and the amounts I could eat to reach a daily carb count of no more than 50 gm per day. That was before diagnosis, but I felt so much better when I was allowed to stick to it. Decades later, which I was diagnosed I was amused (in a way) to discover that my BG levels were normal eating no more than 50 gm of carbs a day.
It is a simple matter to calculate the carbs in a pack of - say - tomatoes, divide by the number of them, and you know the carb count. I don't bother to calculate anything but the carbs - they are, after all the most relevant foods to control.
 
AngiH said:
I know my main issue is keeping the T2 diagnosis away but I have 2 stone to loose as well. Sorry for long ramble, just don't know what to do now
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There is one thing that you must do and that's DO NOT GIVE IN, keep reminding yourself that there are things that affect your day to day weight.

I've been battling a weight problem for nearly ten years and the only consolation I have is that I'm doing the right things in eating sensibly (like a sparrow LOL). I know that it isn't just calories in and calories out. It's much more complicated, especially if you're watching carb intake as well.

In my case, and I weigh every day, I can see my weight change by kilograms, on a daily basis. I weigh in kilograms purely because psychologically 1 kg seems not as bad as 2.2 lbs. Water retention is the worst thing, every litre weighs one kilogram. Then there is intestinal transit time, one may not be constipated but if there is anything slowing up intestinal transit time then that may also affect weight. I know that red meat and chicken will slow my transit time dramatically.

On top of that there is insulin resistance, insulin levels, cortisol levels, estrogen levels, gut bacteria diversity, genetics (ankyrin-B, the obesity gene).

Keep doing what you're doing, keep a food diary which is handy when you talk to GPs or DNs. Weigh things.
 
Thank you all. It must be water retention, as today I am back to normal. It could be the fasting, as I made sure I had 2 good meals yesterday.
Panic over. Thank you all, I don't know where I'd be without knowing I have a friendly group to turn too.
I will not give up... I am just looking into buying a good treadmill too for those extra steps.
 
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