• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Keto diet - need advice please

Atad heavy

Well-Known Member
Messages
405
Location
Cambridge
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I am trying to follow a keto diet but I'm gaining weight, can anyone advise me where I am going wrong please. I take medication so must eat breakfast & cannot fast. The following list is what I have had today :-

Breakfast Greek full fat yoghurt with flaxseed & walnuts
2 mugs of green tea & 2 coffees with double cream (no sugar)
Lunch. 2 boiled eggs
Nature valley protein bar

Afternoon. Green tea x 2
Dinner. Tandoori salmon with salad & cucumber sauce

A lot of the recipes that I have tried contain cheese - could this be the problem ? any advice would be greatly appreciated
 
Are you recording quantities?
The yoghurt, flaxseed and walnuts could be quite a few carbs depending on how much?
The protein bar is almost 10g of carbs alone.. if you are aiming for fewer than 20g to get into ketosis then that may be a no-no.
Also looks like you are calorie restricting as well? That may not be a good strategy.
 
Please follow my posts, I am doing low carb but not exactly Keto as I am still learning it. You can see what I eat, but note, I am undiagnosed diabetic and I am not on any medication.

At the moment, I'm also fasting
 
Are you recording quantities?
The yoghurt, flaxseed and walnuts could be quite a few carbs depending on how much?
The protein bar is almost 10g of carbs alone.. if you are aiming for fewer than 20g to get into ketosis then that may be a no-no.
Also looks like you are calorie restricting as well? That may not be a good strategy.
Thankyou for replying, I haven't been recording quantities but they are as follows:-
2 x desert spoons of yogurt
1 x desert spoon of flaxseed
2 -3 walnut halves
2 desert spoons of double cream in each coffee
Tandoori salmon as per recipe.
I don't look at calories only carb content - is that where I am going wrong?
 
Please follow my posts, I am doing low carb but not exactly Keto as I am still learning it. You can see what I eat, but note, I am undiagnosed diabetic and I am not on any medication.

At the moment, I'm also fasting
Hi,
Do you have any symptoms of diabetes like thirst, weeing loads, hunger, tiredness etc?
Could the hospital have mixed up your HbA1c results 105 is very high indeed.
Did you have any finger prick tests over 8 for example?
Hope you get this sorted.
Take care
 
Hi,
Do you have any symptoms of diabetes like thirst, weeing loads, hunger, tiredness etc?
Could the hospital have mixed up your HbA1c results 105 is very high indeed.
Did you have any finger prick tests over 8 for example?
Hope you get this sorted.
Take care
Hi. I have non of these symptoms, when in hospital, I did have these symptoms.

My finger pricks are around 4.2 mmol - 4.8mmol fasted, the results are in my signature.
 
Thankyou for replying, I haven't been recording quantities but they are as follows:-
2 x desert spoons of yogurt
1 x desert spoon of flaxseed
2 -3 walnut halves
2 desert spoons of double cream in each coffee
Tandoori salmon as per recipe.
I don't look at calories only carb content - is that where I am going wrong?
Well.. food looks ok but I wonder if you are under eating a bit which may cause a bit of slowing of the basal metabolic rate. This sometimes happens when we restrict calories.However you say you are gaining weight while trying keto but how much are we talking about? Possibly more importantly how were you eating beforehand?
 
Well.. food looks ok but I wonder if you are under eating a bit which may cause a bit of slowing of the basal metabolic rate. This sometimes happens when we restrict calories.However you say you are gaining weight while trying keto but how much are we talking about? Possibly more importantly how were you eating beforehand?

I have gained about 1.5 kilos since February, my weight has plateaued since December but it is worrying seeing it creep up again. I need to lose another 2 stone to be back to a healthy weight. We were away on holiday in April & it was very difficult to low carb as we were not self catering. I also made the mistake of opting for diabetic menu on the flights in future I will simple eat what's ok from the normal menu.
Before I started the keto recipes I was eating a lot of mushroom & spinach omelettes basically trying to avoid too many carbs.
Can you tell me please - how do I up my calorie intake without adding too many carbs
 
I have gained about 1.5 kilos since February, my weight has plateaued since December but it is worrying seeing it creep up again. I need to lose another 2 stone to be back to a healthy weight. We were away on holiday in April & it was very difficult to low carb as we were not self catering. I also made the mistake of opting for diabetic menu on the flights in future I will simple eat what's ok from the normal menu.
Before I started the keto recipes I was eating a lot of mushroom & spinach omelettes basically trying to avoid too many carbs.
Can you tell me please - how do I up my calorie intake without adding too many carbs
The simplest way would be to add more eggs , meats, fish and some fats to your meals. Maybe keep a detailed diary for a week or so recording and weighing everything to get a baseline. Then you can really analyse what is happening. To be honest though my weight can vary by 1.5kg in a couple of days depending on food transit, hydration etc so I wouldn't worry too much about it. Your meals look ok.. the only other thing is maybe try reducing your eating window a bit so skip one of the meals but eat larger meals when yo do eat. I gave up morning eating and now never eat before 1 pm and finish before 8 pm so have a 17-7 regime for meals (fast for 17 hours including sleeping eat during a 7 hour max window). Obviously that will need to fit into your lifestyle so maybe morning and lunchtime and skip dinner..
 
The simplest way would be to add more eggs , meats, fish and some fats to your meals. Maybe keep a detailed diary for a week or so recording and weighing everything to get a baseline. Then you can really analyse what is happening. To be honest though my weight can vary by 1.5kg in a couple of days depending on food transit, hydration etc so I wouldn't worry too much about it. Your meals look ok.. the only other thing is maybe try reducing your eating window a bit so skip one of the meals but eat larger meals when yo do eat. I gave up morning eating and now never eat before 1 pm and finish before 8 pm so have a 17-7 regime for meals (fast for 17 hours including sleeping eat during a 7 hour max window). Obviously that will need to fit into your lifestyle so maybe morning and lunchtime and skip dinner..[/QUOTE

Thankyou bulkbiker that's really helpful information. As I take medication in the morning I need to eat breakfast so I am going to try upping my food intake at breakfast, missing out lunch then eating main meal at 7pm. That would give me a 14 hour overnight fast & 10 hour fast during the day. Does it sound like a good plan to you ?
 
How long have you been keto/low carb? Do you always eat the same foods? Sometimes just a change helps. Are you well hydrated? When I was losing weight anytime I didn’t drink enough water then weight loss stalled. I’d also agree it really doesn’t sound like much food. Are you (or were you) hungry when switching to keto?

Have you had things like thyroid and ferretin checked? Both of these can make weight loss difficult if low.

Have you checked measurements? Sometimes these tell a different story to the scales.
 
How long have you been keto/low carb? Do you always eat the same foods? Sometimes just a change helps. Are you well hydrated? When I was losing weight anytime I didn’t drink enough water then weight loss stalled. I’d also agree it really doesn’t sound like much food. Are you (or were you) hungry when switching to keto?

Have you had things like thyroid and ferretin checked? Both of these can make weight loss difficult if low.

Have you checked measurements? Sometimes these tell a different story to the scales.

I have only been eating keto for 2 weeks & have stuck with only 4 - 5 recipes but I have printed more recipes as they are all so good. I don't feel hungry after main dinner but I am when it gets near to lunchtime. My fluid intake excluding coffees is roughly 4 mugs of green tea & 3 - 4 glasses of water. I don't think that I am passing anywhere near the fluids I take in.
I haven't had any tests for thyroid or ferretin in fact I haven't seen my GP, it was the diabetic nurse that diagnosed me type 2
My measurements don't look any different but that's a very good point as I intend to make a note of them & check more regularly.
 
Back
Top