What am I doing wrong (keto, exercising, not losing weight)

I was diagnosed prediabetic just under two months ago.

I am working on macros of 5% carbs, 20% protein, 75% fat. I weigh and log EVERYTHING that passes my lips (much to the amusement of my colleagues when I insist on putting my own milk in when they make a cup of tea.) my calorie goal is 1500 a day

I am exercising regularly, at least 4 times a week minimum. Each session is around 45 minutes. Heart raising stuff like swimming, aerobics and some yoga. Last week I burnt just under 4000 calories, this week it’s around 3000 currently.

I weigh, measure and take pictures every Saturday. I do jump on the scales the odd time throughout the week for peace of mind but only log weekly.

Sorry boys...... period arrived on Sunday and has now finished (added that in just in case it makes any difference whatsoever.)

I use ketostix sporadically which put me in the 1.5- 4 category.

Last Saturday I had not lost any weight at all. This morning I am still showing the same weight. I have lost 10lbs overall since I started (I completely embraced a carbolicious week in New York) and that has been through two ‘golden weeks’ of around 4lbs weight loss and then the odd lb another week. Those two good weeks were when I converted to LCHF in the first week and the week after NYC.


I am thoroughly at a loss as to where I’m going wrong! I have my next blood test in a month and I am going to be devastated if all this hard work isn’t showing an effect on my HbA1c level.

helensaramay said:

I will start with the caveat that I don't know that much about this.
However, it doesn't stop me adding my own couple of pence

One thing that strikes me with your description is the exercise you are doing is likely to be pushing your heart rate significantly.
Unexpectedly (or at least it was unexpected for me), the best heart rate for fat burning is only 50 - 69% of your maximum heart rate. If your exercise at a high heart rate you are building up stamina, endurance, etc, (which is good) and burning more calories but not burning fat as efficiently.
At least that is my understanding of the theory.

My other thought is around the diabetes side.
Are you measuring your BG?
Many people on this forum strongly recommend doing so (although some doctors do not encourage it) to find out which carby foods spike your BG ... and, hence, to avoid.
It is good to reduce your carb intake but it is even better to reduce the carbs that you know are causing your BG to rise.
The other advantage of measuring at home is your hB1AC is less of a surprise because you know if your fasting and post-meal BG has been lowered.

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I haven’t measure blood glucose yet. I am overweight by about 3 stone so I presumed that any exercise in general would lead to weight loss as I’ve done a complete 180 from doing nothing to becoming very active..

Robbity said:

How low carb are you going, and how long have you actually been eating purely at a ketogenic level - even if you're eating about 20g carbs a day, you body needs sone time to adapt to using stored/body fat. But if you're not losing weight, try eating less fat - you need to be eating at a level where your use that body fat instead of (completely) relying on what you eat.

Robbity

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19g of carbs for around 4 weeks solidly now, the other weeks have been interrupted by me getting used to carb content of things and burgers in NYC

Are you suggesting that I lower my calorie intake even further to eat less fat?

bulkbiker said:

Hi @smc85

Do you know your actual carb consumption ? I'm guessing you do?
Most keto sites recommend less than 20g per day and don't use percentages.
Also I'm slightly worried by your 1500 calories and the amount of exercise you are doing which means you are in a caloric deficit before becoming properly fat adapted which may mean you are not accessing your stores of body fat and maybe slowing your BMR which won't help either.

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19g of carbs. Should increase my calorie intake in your opinion? To what? Im presuming I should then maintain no more than 20g of carbs a day whilst keeping the high fat moderate protein ration?

bulkbiker said:

Personally I would increase my protein and fat and keep the carbs where you are (or reduce a bit more if you feel you can) and maybe even cut down on the exercise a bit especially cardio.
I know that women often have a harder time because of more complex hormonal issues.
I would also suggest you join www.ketogenicforums.com if you want some more info as there is a huge body of keto eaters who have experienced just about everything out there.

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Thank you

There is no Spoon said:

Some times the simplest answer is the correct one.
You might not be losing weight because you are exercising and replacing fat tissue with muscle which weighs more than fat.

Everybody love The Rock, he's 2m tall average weight should be 88kg he weighs 120kg
That's pure muscle girls.

Do you think you have lost weight? Are your clothes baggier? What do you see when you look in the mirror is it a slimmer version of you?
My advice is trust the mirror.

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I measure too for this very reason! Oddly enough just looking in the mirror doesn’t seem to help me- I certainly didnt seem to notice the weight piling on!


The measurements have also stalled and there doesn’t appear to be any noticeable difference in the comparison photographs either.....

ickihun said:

I only lost once reduced or stopped nuts, cheese, cream and butter.
Ok I stopped once halloween jellies broke my low carb routine but no loss unless lower fat, for me.

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If I’m keeping carbs at no more than 20g and then reducing the amount of fat, how do I keep the protein at the right amount? I’ve read a lot about protein being too high and gluconeogenesis....

ickihun said:

Have you got ANY kidney disease? Only if you do does high protein cause an illness/deteriation.
High protein is fine as long as no sugar attached or hidden carbs (husk, breadcrumbs etc..) Eat protein to repair muscles and strengthen ligaments too with the correct stretches.
Drink plenty of plain water. Muscles are like tree branches, they can be thick and strong or thin and weak.
I'm hugely muscular but fat on top. In my 20s I was heavy set muscular and very very strong but far far less fat attached. I ate low fat but high protein. Hugely active.
Family financial economy has changed my diet but I'm working on it.
My heart is good and my kidneys, eyes and gallbladder. With carb and medication induced fatty liver which varies in degrees but not cirrhosised.
My nerve in my back is causing chaos with my walking thou. Partial immobility gets me down. I'm praying only temporary even though symptoms for more than 2yrs.
Protein is used for energy in replacement of too few carbs. You must get the balance right.
If 20g carbs then low protein but no energy. If 100g carbs and high protein then less chance of gluconeogenesis. Calories are only relevant to fat consumption... to lose weight. In heavily obese people like me.

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No, no kidney disease thankfully

AloeSvea said:

Yes, as above - muscle weighs! And you must be gaining muscle with all that exercise!

I measure myself principally by waist to height ratio, not the scales, as that is where it is at with my HBA1c, association at any rate. Women, even with the female complement of hormones! (making us more complicated on keto? Really? Goodness) come in different shapes and sizes and some women are more muscley, especially with the extra whack of free ranging tetosterone that some women with insulin/glucose dysregulation have, and my guess is that might be you on the athletic side? considering your anti prediabetes routine!

And yeah, as above - really get to know your body and blood glucose levels. Eat and exercise to a blood glucose meter, I would suggest keeping an anti-prediabetes journal, and note your food and body and BG patterns. And keep a track of your body fat levels via your waist size. There is a great self testing website and ratio-dial at health-calc.com

https://www.health-calc.com/body-composition/waist-to-height-ratio

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Thank you, I’ll check it out

Oldvatr said:

Jason Fung did a good series of blogs that may help to explain that exercise is not too efficient at weight and bgl reduction. It is good to keep fit, and agile, but in terms of using up the calories etc it takes a lot to shift a little. I remember some gov adverts to reduce sugar which showed how many miles a choc bar needed to cancel its effect. It is more than just a run round the block.
https://idmprogram.com/myth-exercise-exercise-part-1/

The other problem about exercise is that fat turns into muscle which weighs more but is denser, so you may look better but weigh more. One problem that a keto diet can introduce is that when bgl goes very low and the fat intake is low. then the body starts scavenging the muscles for converting into energy. So on a keto diet we are advised to increase fat and water + salt intake to compensate (hence LCHF) anf that was where Atkins went wrong initially, His initial diet plan was low fat high protein. and has now been revised to increase fat and fluid intake in Atkins#2 which is what is on their website.

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Thanks, I’ll take a look at the link you’ve posted