Slow Losers Unite!
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All of your stories and observations have been really insightful and reassuring! I wonder, for those who've been at this long enough to see patterns in their "stagnation-then-whoosh" fat loss process, what patterns do you see?
Here's to another day of on-plan eating & self-care, no matter what the scale says!
My stagnant is 6 weeks at exactly the same weight and my "woosh" is usually about 500g :P1 -
I usually whoosh to a new low about twice monthly. Otherwise it's bouncing around it, bouncing around it.1
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This thread made me look at my reports to see when I last whooshed and if there was a pattern I could detect from my diary. Basically, I saw that I had a whoosh when I ate MORE calories, but fewer carbs. I just set my macros for those variables to see if that speeds up the timing of the "whooshes"... will let you know if my n=1 experiment works for me.
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Here is my avatar pic, you can see how long it took me to lose 11 kg (=25lbs or so)... I was 57 and post menopausal. I have kept it off for 2 years, and eat lchf now to keep feeling good.
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Whelp, I just got a bit of reduction on the scale after three+ weeks of dancing around the same 1-3 lbs. Seeing your chart, @camtosh, is a great reminder of the nonlinear way a lot of us lose weight. I'm glad to see a little movement into a new low--gives me reassurance that I'm heading in the right direction, ultimately.
Individual factors like age, starting weight, other health & hormonal issues, etc. must also play a part in how we lose, whichever nutritional approach we're using. I'm still very happy about the many health benefits I'm enjoying from eating LCHF (keto for now) and trust that so long as I remain faithful to my nutritional plan, I'll keep enjoying fatloss--albeit slowly!
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Made it to goal - 15lbs down for the year as of today...now I just need to keep it off for the next 2 weeks!8
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I struggle with slow losses. For more than 2 years, I never lost as quickly as CICO would indicate.
Jan. 2014 - I started getting serious about weight loss at 201 lbs. This was actually a bit lower than what the scale normally showed. Truly, I was probably closer to 205 lbs. Perhaps I was just dehydrated at the time. Based on my best estimate of body fat (using the scale bio-electric impedance), and a calculation for a healthy body fat, I came up with a goal and then rounded that off to the nearest 5 lbs. Goal weight was set at 150 lbs.
End of Feb. 2016 - Switched to low carb. 178 lbs. at the time. So basically had lost so super slow that most people would have given up. Had some true plateaus / whooshes along the way. Once again, I think most people would have given up when they stopped losing despite knowing they were eating at a calorie deficit. My appetite is tremendous, so it was incredibly difficult to eat so little and still lose so slowly. By this time, I had tried a lot of different things and nothing seemed to work. My BG's were still difficult to control (type 1 diabetic, also a type 2 diabetic at the time), so I figured I would switch to low carb for BG control. I didn't expect to lose weight any faster because everyone says weight loss is all about CICO, not macro breakdown.
Dec. 2016 (now) - My initial goal was 150 lbs., and I've been sticking in the mid-150's for a few months now. Since going low carb, I've lost a lot more quickly... and CICO actually matches up. It isn't anywhere near what I see others able to lose. But it is still a huge improvement. It wasn't an improvement even expected, since the true reason to switch to low carb was for better BG control. Recently getting stuck has had a lot to do with CICO (finally that works) and a true challenge sticking with low calories. I graduated with my MBA in Oct. and figured I would have more time to exercise after graduating (worked FT throughout that degree as well), but have not exercised as much as I wanted because I'm more sensitive to the cold as I get older and thinner.
I've had a few high carb cheat days since, and now that I'm fat adapted, I've become super sensitive to carbs. I still crave all the delicious high carb foods (donuts, cookies, pizza, brownies, etc.) and enjoy how good they taste when I do a cheat day, but BG's become stubbornly high and I feel terrible after eating them. Last carb cheat day was at the end of Oct. and electrolytes didn't get back in check for almost 2 weeks. Decided I can't do that even every few months. If I ever go back to carbs, it has to be ramped up very slowly.
At this point, my fat % is not where I calculated when I started in Jan. 2014. So I've lost a bit of muscle along with the fat. Still, most of my loss has been fat. On Dec. 26, I have a BodPod test lined up to get a more accurate body fat number. I'm expecting it to be somewhere around 11-14%, but will have to see. I haven't figured out what number will make me choose to switch to maintenance. I'll need to figure that out.5 -
tcunbeliever wrote: »Made it to goal - 15lbs down for the year as of today...now I just need to keep it off for the next 2 weeks!
Congrats!2 -
I read somewhere the last time I did keto that there's a 'golden spot' pertaining to low carbing. Like the first time you do it, you lose fairly quickly and easily. I remember regularly losing from morning to night, which was unheard of to me! Imagine weighing less at night than in the morning...those were the days. Then most of us fall and gain it all back. Remembering how easily we lost we try again, only to find its not as sweet as it was. Making it harder to stay consistent. What was my point?
Oh right, well I think my body puts up a fight and hangs on to its energy reserves, knowing things will go back to normal (carbs, sugar, bingeing) soon enough. Which is why I lose slowly. Or maybe I have insulin resistance? *shrugs* That and I refuse to cut my calories too low. Heck if I can lose a pound a week eating anywhere from 1400-2000, I'm good. I love food. It's delicious.
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SuperCarLori wrote: »I love food. It's delicious.
Isn't it, though? SO grateful that the foods available to me on keto are so fantastic--and that I know how to cook (and enjoy it!).
I've been fortunate that somehow my desire for all my high-carb faves has seriously abated. Like, I walk past free, easily-accessible, nobody-would-know-I-ate-it sugary, savory carbage almost daily. I've been offered it directly. Hell, I even baked and cooked the stuff in my own kitchen when I was cooking Thanksgiving for the homeless women's shelter.
Not a bite. My biggest carb risk I've taken to date? 11 grams of Fuji apple slices. I wanted to see if it did anything to my scale or to my appetite. Nope. But that apple was the sweetest I can recall! And once I finally figure out how to select a primary care doc and get my blood tests done, I'll decide if I want to include moderate amounts of berries and other fruits. I have PCOS, that I know, but I have no idea if I have metabolic syndrome, high triglycerides, etc. So I keep pretty close to 20 g net carbs until I have a better sense of my own health.
I love hearing from all of you--thanks for sharing so openly about your experiences, everyone!4 -
midwesterner85 wrote: »At this point, my fat % is not where I calculated when I started in Jan. 2014. So I've lost a bit of muscle along with the fat. Still, most of my loss has been fat. On Dec. 26, I have a BodPod test lined up to get a more accurate body fat number. I'm expecting it to be somewhere around 11-14%, but will have to see. I haven't figured out what number will make me choose to switch to maintenance. I'll need to figure that out.
Hearing your self-observation and careful consideration about measurements and maintenance is really helpful, @midwesterner85. What a great gift to give yourself, that BodPod test! How have you been tracking your bodyfat % thus far? I suppose we can all expect some muscle loss if we have a lot of fat to lose. I do want to do my best to spare my lean muscle mass, but I've only been able to approximate it using suggested calculations rather than any proper assessment.1 -
midwesterner85 wrote: »At this point, my fat % is not where I calculated when I started in Jan. 2014. So I've lost a bit of muscle along with the fat. Still, most of my loss has been fat. On Dec. 26, I have a BodPod test lined up to get a more accurate body fat number. I'm expecting it to be somewhere around 11-14%, but will have to see. I haven't figured out what number will make me choose to switch to maintenance. I'll need to figure that out.
Hearing your self-observation and careful consideration about measurements and maintenance is really helpful, @midwesterner85. What a great gift to give yourself, that BodPod test! How have you been tracking your bodyfat % thus far? I suppose we can all expect some muscle loss if we have a lot of fat to lose. I do want to do my best to spare my lean muscle mass, but I've only been able to approximate it using suggested calculations rather than any proper assessment.
At first, I measured body fat % using the scale with bio-electric impedance technology through 2 foot contacts. That scale stopped working after awhile, and I got a new scale with 2 foot contacts and 2 hand contacts. In theory, this should be more accurate. When I switched, it was noticeably lower to start with than the other just before it broke.
I have an annual wellness screening offered by my employer. The nurses use a bio-electric impedance body fat tester for that (2 contact points, hands). It is always lower than my current scale using 4 contact points.
I've invested in some cheap calipers, which I rarely use. When I do, they come out lower than my scale, but higher than the hand-held. Some of the calculators I've used, with different methods, come out higher than the calipers, but lower than the scale.
Starting method - scale that was definitely estimating high.
Current most common method - scale.
Ranked, from highest to lowest result:
-Scale - 4 contact points (highest)
-various calculators based on height / weight / gender
-calipers
-Hand-held BEI device (lowest)3 -
December 2014, I started at 240 and it took me a year to lose about 20 pounds. I was exercising 5 days a week and trying to find a food plan that worked for me. I started keto/low carb October 2015, cut the exercise to 3 days (to include strength training with a trainer) and since then have lost another 26. My losses are excruciatingly slow...averaging 2 pounds a MONTH! I still need to lose another 30 pounds so maybe I can get there by next Christmas.
I am trying to keep calm, but I really need to find that "golden place" where I can lose consistently. I have been bouncing between 194-196 for several months now, and am really at a loss of what to do to shake things up as I seem to have exhausted everything in my bag of tricks to include more/less calories, fats, carbs, and IF.1 -
tcunbeliever wrote: »Made it to goal - 15lbs down for the year as of today...now I just need to keep it off for the next 2 weeks!
Just over a 1 lb. a month, at goal, here's to you.
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I never thought it was slow but averaged about 5.25 pounds per month for 12 months. There were many times it seemed to drag on and on. I guess because it did.
A big shout out to @lovesretirement. I wish I had a weight loss secret to pass along but I think you've already found THE great one already which is Don't Quit.6 -
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EbonyDahlia wrote: »SuperCarLori wrote: »I started on June 1st and have lost approximately one pound a week. I ain't complaining, it's almost thirty pounds down and I the time went by anyway. I have had some bumps and glitches with carb days, and I still at least maintained. Fast isn't better according to many studies I've read. Don't ask me to source, go do your own research.
Sorry if I sound snippy. I'm feeling snippy.
Looking at my graph, I've lost 6kg (12 lbs) in 12 months. With no carb "glitches". Keto the whole time. I'm also feeling snippy.
@EbonyDahlia How many calories are you eating per day? It sounds as if you're eating just slightly under maintenance sometimes and maybe over on other days??2 -
Well, if it were truly only about calories... but...1
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Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »Well, if it were truly only about calories... but...
If she doesn't have any health issues to contend with... then yeah it pretty much is.3 -
Christine_72 wrote: »EbonyDahlia wrote: »SuperCarLori wrote: »I started on June 1st and have lost approximately one pound a week. I ain't complaining, it's almost thirty pounds down and I the time went by anyway. I have had some bumps and glitches with carb days, and I still at least maintained. Fast isn't better according to many studies I've read. Don't ask me to source, go do your own research.
Sorry if I sound snippy. I'm feeling snippy.
Looking at my graph, I've lost 6kg (12 lbs) in 12 months. With no carb "glitches". Keto the whole time. I'm also feeling snippy.
@EbonyDahlia How many calories are you eating per day? It sounds as if you're eating just slightly under maintenance sometimes and maybe over on other days??
Nope, I'm eating at a good deficit. After 25 years of CICO and 4 years on keto I'm spot on with the calorie counting. I'm always 100 to 200 under my target each day, other than maybe once a month where I'll eat a bit more (have a 2000 calorie day - but always keto). I've tried more calories, less calories, calorie cycling (1200 some days and 1500 on others) but none of it makes a difference. At 1200 calories I am more hungry but I do not lose more weight.2
