High fats low carb - not losing weight

sam_ibrahim13
sam_ibrahim13 Posts: 7 Member
edited November 15 in Health and Weight Loss
So I'm a lb shy of being a healthy weight in terms of BMI. I want to lose another 14lb. I haven't lost in two weeks, as per title I'm following a high fat low carb diet recently. I've not lost a lb, I've started exercising (once a week at body combat) I'm fairly active in the day as I'm a mum to two little people! Not sure where I'm going wrong, do I need to exercise more? I went for the high fat low carb route as lots of the food I already eat so it just logging it all, eating I'd say 1500 cal a day
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Replies

  • ladyreva78
    ladyreva78 Posts: 4,080 Member
    How are you measuring your intake (i.e. how do you know you're eat it roughly 1500 cals/day)?
    How are you measuring your exercising burn?

    Also keep in mind that the closer to your goal you are, the harder it will be to shift that weight. The body can be contrary that way.
  • jajohnso77
    jajohnso77 Posts: 28 Member
    edited January 2017
    You need to know what your exact macro needs for the day are going to be. Then you need to measure, weigh, input everything into MFP. It's VERY easy to take in 40g a carb a day and get your body into a state of not losing weight. In Phase 3 and 4 of Atkins this would be On Going Weight Loss or Maintenance and you don't lose much at all since you've basically hit your goal weight and you're trying to stay there. You need to make sure 110% that you're not going over 20-25g of net carb per day. If you've been 2 weeks on a keto diet, staying on macros, staying active, staying under your calorie limit and staying under 25g of carbs a day and you're at a wall, maybe try a fat fast or a broth day to help shake things up a bit. Doing a one day broth fast helped me break through a wall I had a few days ago. Good luck!

    edit - meant to add to DRINK YOUR WATER!! Half of your weight in oz every day or as close as you can. Weight 160 pounds? Drink 80oz of water. This is vital to the weight loss process when you're doing LCHF.
  • jajohnso77
    jajohnso77 Posts: 28 Member
    No. Macro splits make no difference to fat loss. It may knock someone out of ketosis if that's what they are doing but that increase would be glycogen and related water, not fat.

    Sorry, I'm not familiar with the term macro split - is that the ratio of proteins / carbs / fats that you set to determine what type of calories you intake?
  • dragon_girl26
    dragon_girl26 Posts: 2,187 Member
    In addition to what everyone else said about calories (you need to be very accurate about that at this point), you should also take a look at the recently bumped thread about weight loss not being linear. I'm using my phone or I'd post the link. Basically, the idea is that weight loss is not linear, meaning it is highly unlikely that you will lose weight each week like clockwork, especially as you get closer to your goal. 2 or 3 week stalls are very normal. That is not a plateau It's just your body readjusting. If it's been more than 4 weeks, then you need to re-evaluate what you're doing.
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    jajohnso77 wrote: »
    Yes. How you divide your macros up. The only important thing for weight loss is total number of calories. Your way of eating, whether, keto, Atkins, LCHF, vegan, vegetarian whatever is purely personal choice. Carbs don't stop you losing weight and all fasting does is potentially reduce your overall average calories for a week and is therefore totally unnecessary.

    Cool. Then I think we agree to disagree. While yes, calories are the same in terms of energy, I think the body processes the type of calorie very differently. Currently I'm at 1680 calories a day with Fat 60%, Protein 35%, Carbs 5%. If I changed that to Carbs 60%, Protein 35%, Fat 5% then I would continue to accumulate fat in my fat cells. I've never seen a study that shows me that carb intake from a LFHC diet helps triglycerides breakdown and release fatty acids back in to the blood stream overall reducing the amount of fat stored in my fat cells. That's my belief in how I lose weight because I've seen the results. There are days when I go over my calorie count and I still lose weight on the scale the next morning and that can't be possible if calorie deficits are the only way to lose weight.

    I guess what works for you, works for and works for me, works for me.

    Cheers!

    Not really.... in order to lose weight a person needs to be in a calorie deficit, period. Eating a certain way, like LCHF may result in some more rapid short term water weight loss, but over time this evens out. Some people have a medical reason to restrict carbs, and some folks find it easier to achieve a deficit eating this way because they are satiated, but from a purely fat loss perspective, there is no advantage to a LC diet.

    Also, are you saying that you would store fat even if you kept your calories constant (i.e. a deficit) just by changing your macro split?

    I'm not going to argue the question of calories for fat loss, overall. However, it is correct that higher carb intake = higher conversion to fat. The method to weight loss ends up being different because then later on, fat is consumed. Glycogen also plays a role in this energy balance, but those who eat lots of carbs do store lots of fat. Even in a deficit, this is true. The difference is that then you have to tap into glycogen and fat when exercising. In the end, a deficit would still lead to fat loss under the high carb diet. But the mechanism is still different.

    If you don't believe me, try testing your BG and then eating a bunch of carbs. Continue testing your BG every 15-30 min. for the next 5 hours without exercise. You will see BG rise from the carb consumption and then fall again... with no exercise. GASP! How could that have happened and where did that glucose go?! The answer is that it went to glycogen and fat.

    OP, you might be experiencing water weight fluctuations or you might be losing too slowly to notice. 2 weeks isn't really enough time to see a difference. How often are you weighing? If your scale says the exact same thing every time, it is probably broken. You should expect to see some fluctuations, even if eating exactly at maintenance, due to normal water weight changes throughout the day. Assuming you are seeing normal fluctuations, but not satisfied that the ups and downs indicate a real loss, then give it some more time.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    At the present your calorie deficit is probably in the .5-1 pound per week goal range? Meaning slight shifts in your weight could easily be masked by water weight.
    Thanks for your responses, I am logging everything "accurately" I.e weighing and measuring but sometimes I eat 1400 sometimes 1500, so on average I'd say 1500. I'll keep going and try to find more time to exercise. Thanks everyone

  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    Back on track for the OP - were you previously losing weight and that has suddenly stalled in the last couple of weeks? You mentioned wanting to lose another 14 lbs, that indicates that you have recently lost weight. You said you are accurately tracking calories, weighing all your solid foods, and logging consistently? You also said that you were eating this way anyway, now you are just starting to log it. Were you not logging before? Did you change your exercise recently?

    Even aside from the answers you might provide to those questions - two weeks isn't very long and weight loss isn't a steady linear downward trend. There are a lot of factors which can cause things to stall for a period of time, hormonal changes, stress, where you are in your cycle, etc. I would probably keep doing what you're doing and give it a few more weeks, if you still don't see any changes (up or down) then take a closer look at your calories and your logging.

  • RoosterDJC
    RoosterDJC Posts: 93 Member
    This is what makes eating and fitness frustrating. There are so many views, studies and varied results that focusing on any one diet is always in question. The most basic formula of calorie deficit = weight loss can't even be agreed upon...
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