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Help, advice, something!!! New to Keto and am gaining weight

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tlblanksfit
tlblanksfit Posts: 1,573 Member
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Hello Low Carb Family,

I am in need of some advice or reassurance. I started the keto diet on Monday 18 April 2016. Tuesday my weight was the same; Wednesday - Friday I had a 0.6 loss each day, but I started gaining after that. Saturday I had a 0.8 gain, Sunday I had a full pound gain, and this morning I woke up to a 0.6 gain; a total gain of 2.4 pounds in 3 days.

As far as I can tell I am doing things right. I tested my blood ketones on Wednesday and it read 3.2. I tested them again last night and it read 2.6 so I believe I am in the fat burning mode.

I know this is the first week and am wondering if this is something anyone else has experienced or if there is something I should be adjusting to get back to losing.

I did notice on the days that i gained, that I did not eat breakfast so I am made sure I ate something this morning.

Please feel free to check out my food logs and offer any advice you can.

I am not looking for a quick fix and I know Keto is not that. I am aiming for a lifestyle here and just want to make sure I am starting it off right.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give,

-Tracey
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Replies

  • KatinaZ25
    KatinaZ25 Posts: 1 Member
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    Hi Tracey,

    I am going through the same thing. I've also been working out (although today I'm not because my knee is really in pain). I'm also getting really frustrated because I feel like I'm not being successful and I'm logging things.

    I'll be following this post to see what advice you get.

    Thanks!

    Kathy
  • Sunny_Bunny_
    Sunny_Bunny_ Posts: 7,140 Member
    edited April 2016
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    Are you working out in some way? Is it new?
    I haven't looked at your diary yet so I don't have advice there. I can tell you that I don't believe not eating breakfast had anything to do with it. So just handle that however you want. If you're not a breakfast person, there's no reason to purposely eat at that time.
    Do you have any metabolic disfunction or chronic health issues to consider?
    Where are you in your monthly cycle?
    There's no way you've gained over 2 pounds of fat in 3 days so you can certainly put that concern to rest. Water and gut contents will be the explanation I imagine.
  • Sunny_Bunny_
    Sunny_Bunny_ Posts: 7,140 Member
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    I don't really see anything that jumps out at me in your diary. Though I would get rid of the American cheese since it's mostly vegetable oil, which is highly inflammatory. Actually the couple dinners at restaurants probable exposed you to vegetable oil too.
    I see butter in your diary too, is that actual real butter made from cream or a margarine? I'm just asking because every now and then someone uses margarine and calls it butter because well, we all did at one point in time right? I know several people that literally have no idea they aren't the same thing.
  • Panda_Poptarts
    Panda_Poptarts Posts: 971 Member
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    @kpk54 Great point on the cabbage. Milliliters and grams have a 1:1 conversion, so 1mL cabbage = 1g cabbage. Both are accurate weight entries.
  • Panda_Poptarts
    Panda_Poptarts Posts: 971 Member
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    @tlblanks2015 There are many factors to take into consideration, both with losing and gaining weight. You surely didn't gain a pound overnight. There are other factors, like water weight due to inflammation, either of the muscles or something else, or water weight due to fluctuating hormones. It is normal to fluctuate several pounds in one day. It's likely that you haven't actually lost any weight on LCHF yet, which is also okay.

    Stay the course. It WILL balance out!

    I went nearly 8 weeks without a pound lost, but continued to lose inches. I suddenly, rapidly, lost the 6lb of water weight that had been masking my scale progress. It's more or less stayed off, although I gained 10lb on my period, which is now creeping back down. I'm currently +1 from my lowest recorded weight. The important bit is that progress moves in a downward trend.

    The only thing I would change is ensuring that all diary entries are entered in weight. Chicken legs may vary significantly in weight, for example. As long as you're honest with yourself, you will make positive progress. Hang in there! :mrgreen:


  • KarlaYP
    KarlaYP Posts: 4,439 Member
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    Our bodies go through a lot of healing after sticking to it. The healing can cause water retention that shows as increases on the scale. This will pass with time, but, depending on your health, you may have more unexplained increases in the future. My body has done so much healing over the past year, and I learned to accept these increases, because I've found that I come out better on the other side! Also, if you are exercising, expect the scale to continue the rollercoaster ride, the water retention in sore muscles can show increases on the scale. Just know this isn't a gain of fat, and will eventually drop again!

    Don't forget to measure yourself, and take pictures, so you have other forms of measurement besides the scale. For instance, I was up 4 pounds on the scale, but dropped another clothing size this past week! When I measured myself I found I had dropped another 1/2 inch in my waist! These measures will keep you motivated, when the scale doesn't!

    I agree with the above advice on watching closely on your food logging. What I have done with a chicken leg is weigh it before eating, then weigh the bones afterwards, and subtract the difference. That way you're more accurately recording the amounts eaten. Definitely watch the foods already in the MFP database, because many are inaccurate! Using "USDA" before logging each entry can help with accuracy!
  • tlblanksfit
    tlblanksfit Posts: 1,573 Member
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    I have worked out everyday but one. The morning after that day was my first gain so I figured it was because I didn't work out. I worked out the days following and still gained. I am just trying to figure it out.
  • tlblanksfit
    tlblanksfit Posts: 1,573 Member
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    Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »
    I don't really see anything that jumps out at me in your diary. Though I would get rid of the American cheese since it's mostly vegetable oil, which is highly inflammatory. Actually the couple dinners at restaurants probable exposed you to vegetable oil too.
    I see butter in your diary too, is that actual real butter made from cream or a margarine? I'm just asking because every now and then someone uses margarine and calls it butter because well, we all did at one point in time right? I know several people that literally have no idea they aren't the same thing.

    I only use Kerry Gold butter.
  • tlblanksfit
    tlblanksfit Posts: 1,573 Member
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    Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »
    Are you working out in some way? Is it new?
    I haven't looked at your diary yet so I don't have advice there. I can tell you that I don't believe not eating breakfast had anything to do with it. So just handle that however you want. If you're not a breakfast person, there's no reason to purposely eat at that time.
    Do you have any metabolic disfunction or chronic health issues to consider?
    Where are you in your monthly cycle?
    There's no way you've gained over 2 pounds of fat in 3 days so you can certainly put that concern to rest. Water and gut contents will be the explanation I imagine.

    Thanks for the reply Sunny_Bunny,

    I don't have any health issues. I am ending my cycle, and I thought that would affect, but the three days I lost, was the beginning and heaviest days. The gains are coming towards the end. The first gain day my body fat went up 0.2 and has remained there.
  • tlblanksfit
    tlblanksfit Posts: 1,573 Member
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    kpk54 wrote: »
    I suggest tightening up on your food entries. Just a couple things I noticed in your diary: the cabbage entry is in milliliters which to my thinking, milliliter is a liquid measurement. I may learn something new with posting this but I believe cabbage (as a solid versus liquid) should be in either ounces or grams. Unless it is pureed? You have entries for chicken legs/wings and I believe a turkey leg. Your entry indicates these are "medium" or something to that nature. I have seen some huge differences in size of chickens and turkeys and this usually creates differences in sizes of chicken/turkey legs. Ounces or grams would be a more reliable measure. Last but not least, is your cauliflower (casserole, I think it was) entry of 1 serving. Is this a recipe you built and measured so you know what was in it by proportion thus what a "serving" is, or is it an entry from the database? If the latter, how would you know the "serving" size?

    All said FWIW and YMMV (for what it is worth and your mileage may vary) meal timing so far as weight loss, does not matter (as indicated above). Additionally you may be eating more than your think. Tighten up the entries and process with weighing and measuring things. Also be aware that MANY database entries in MFP are incredibly incorrect.

    IMO, calories still matter in HF/LC for weight loss. I have lost all my excess weigh (60+ pounds) with 40c/30f/30p but also counting calories. I switched my macros to 10c/70f/20p on April 3 (so am new to HF/LC also) to monitor the effect of high HF/LC on another health concern. Though I initially lost a few pounds (and am surprised you haven't if your macros and calories are accurate in your food diary) the losses stopped in the last 2 weeks which is fine since I was/am at goal weight range. Most importantly: it is my opinion: it is extremely EASY to go well over desired calories when eating HF/LC. At least that is my short term experience. Nearly everything is intentionally a loaded with fats. Butter on veggies (yum), fatty cuts of meat (yum), Heavy whipping cream in coffee (yum). Full fat salad dressings (yum).

    Which brings me to my last point: your diary entries for "fat bombs". I love, make and eat them too when I need to increase my fat consumption percentage for the day. I see a few "fat bomb" entries in your food diary. Hopefully these are "fat bombs" you are making/measuring yourself. I love my "fat bombs" made with coconut oil/butter and/or cream cheese but to have a "fat bomb" that is only only "74 calories" is definitely possible but just a "smidge". TINY, little, fat packed, delicious bites.

    Others feel free to correct me on my continued focus on calories. I think calories are important for weight loss. HF/LC definitely works for weight loss. Macro percentages are personal preference for desired WOE AND (in my case) eradicating/minimizing another health concerns. Calorie intake does matter.

    Yes, I know. Strong 1st post to this group. ;)

    ETA: clarity

    Hi kpk54,

    Thanks for your reply,

    I wanted to put grams, but they didn't have grams as an option so I used the milliliters because they were the same when I went to convert the grams to milliliters.

    I inputted the cauliflower casserole recipe in myself and measured it to 4 servings.

    I have been weighing about 95% of my meals to the gram and am entering them where available. I used the milliliter option for items that didn't have grams.

    I did make my own fat bombs from recipes I found online.

    I agree with you on the calories. I have just reduced my calories from 1400 to 1350.
  • tlblanksfit
    tlblanksfit Posts: 1,573 Member
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    Thanks every for the replies and advice,

    I am definitely going to stick to the plan. I will be sure to log everything as exact as I can. I am just on my second week and am sure my body is adjusting and trying to figure out what is going on, so I am just going to continue and see how it goes.
  • Sunny_Bunny_
    Sunny_Bunny_ Posts: 7,140 Member
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    tlblanks2015 wrote: »
    Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »
    Are you working out in some way? Is it new?
    I haven't looked at your diary yet so I don't have advice there. I can tell you that I don't believe not eating breakfast had anything to do with it. So just handle that however you want. If you're not a breakfast person, there's no reason to purposely eat at that time.
    Do you have any metabolic disfunction or chronic health issues to consider?
    Where are you in your monthly cycle?
    There's no way you've gained over 2 pounds of fat in 3 days so you can certainly put that concern to rest. Water and gut contents will be the explanation I imagine.

    Thanks for the reply Sunny_Bunny,

    I don't have any health issues. I am ending my cycle, and I thought that would affect, but the three days I lost, was the beginning and heaviest days. The gains are coming towards the end. The first gain day my body fat went up 0.2 and has remained there.

    My gains always seem to come afterward too.
    The body fat measures on those scales is crazy inaccurate! I use one of that kind too and what I do it record weight, body fat, skeletal muscle every day about the same time (upon waking and before eating) and then I do the math to get the average.
    For weight I use a phone app called Happy Scale for IOS, Android has a similar one too called Libra. You enter your weight daily and it shows you your average weight.
    Here's a screen capture of mine.
    On the very left is my daily scale weight and the larger blue number is my average.
    The daily weight can vary a lot. Even the average weight goes up sometimes.
    On this, I actually hit my all time lowest average weight right in the middle of TOM and then started trending an increase immediately afterward. This pretty much happens every month, except I usually just maintain during TOM. I got a surprise in showing that loss this time. That wasn't typical.
    p5ils1xrc18g.png

    I definitely think taking measurements and pictures like others said is a great idea. That got me through about 6 months where I only lost about 5 or 6 pounds the entire time and I didn't think I was really making progress. But my photos really looked different! I was shocked to see how much smaller I actually was on one set of photos with only a 4 pound difference that took me 5 months to get!
    It's absolutely not uncommon to get smaller while the scale is playing games.
  • RalfLott
    RalfLott Posts: 5,036 Member
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    Karlottap wrote: »
    Definitely watch the foods already in the MFP database, because many are inaccurate! Using "USDA" before logging each entry can help with accuracy!

    A great tip! Thanks.
  • Dragonwolf
    Dragonwolf Posts: 5,600 Member
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    tlblanks2015 wrote: »
    I have worked out everyday but one. The morning after that day was my first gain so I figured it was because I didn't work out. I worked out the days following and still gained. I am just trying to figure it out.

    The body heals when resting. It's why delayed onset muscle soreness sets in in the days after a workout.

    The gain did not come from not working out. I also don't think it's from the amount of calories you're eating. Unless you're on the bottom end of 5 feet, that's not too much, and might even be too little if you're exercising.

    Have a look at the Launch Pad, particularly the article about the scale. It will provide some insight for you.

    @kpk54 While you have a lot of good points, it's actually harder than most people think to overeat calories on LCHF, as long as they listen to their hunger cues. I definitely recommend tracking for a while, to see how your hunger cues line up, but generally speaking, most people find they have more trouble eating enough food, because of the satiating effect of the fat/protein combo. It sounds counterintuitive, but it's true.
  • tlblanksfit
    tlblanksfit Posts: 1,573 Member
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    Sunny_Bunny,

    I will definitely try out the app you recommended.
  • TexasJohnnyBravo
    TexasJohnnyBravo Posts: 25 Member
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    I was stuck at 262lbs for about 2 weeks. It was frustrating but I was also taking my body measurements. I saw a drop in those so I knew the weight had to be water weight. There is alot of really good advice in the posts above mine. Find what works for you and tweak it to your taste. Keep up the good work!
  • ettaterrell
    ettaterrell Posts: 887 Member
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    If working out is new its water gain from that and will go away in a few days... You can almost bet if you have a sore muscle you will have water gain
  • Sunny_Bunny_
    Sunny_Bunny_ Posts: 7,140 Member
    edited April 2016
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    I just thought I would share with you that I've done yard work the past 2 days and I can feel it in body today! The scale is reflecting the inflammation just as I expected it would. I am up about 2.5 pounds today, which kicked my average weight up 0.2.
    It's just part of the normal healing process which is also true of other healing the body may be doing. Sometimes we experience long stretches of no loss that makes no sense, but I bet there are all sorts of healing processes going on during those times. It's worth waiting it out.
    My daughter had very uncontrolled Type 1 Diabetes and had dropped down to under 100 pounds. On her 5'5" frame, she looked terribly sick. She started Keto in late January at 125lbs, and has put on 35 pounds since then. But, she brought her A1c down from >14 to 7 in that time and has reversed insulin resistance and lowered insulin usage from over 120 units a day to about 35. She's not overeating because she has felt very satisfied by the high fat food. There's simply no way she's eaten enough extra calories to gain that much that fast. Her body has tons of healing to do. I believe that regardless of calories, if we eat the right foods, our bodies will do whatever it needs to do to get healthy. If losing weight fits into that plan, then great! If gaining weight is necessary to get healthy, that's ok too.

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