Please look at my food diary!
EryOaker
Posts: 434 Member
Ok folks. I started off good with an 8 pound and 3 inch loss right out the gate. Since then, about 5-6 weeks, I've hit a wall. I'd dropped another .5 pound a few weeks ago and though I'd finally past the hump... just to gain three pounds shortly thereafter. I've started tracking again, because I erroneously thought I'd had this down, and I'm still not past my wall. Can you please look at my food diary and let me know what you think? By the way, I don't eat breakfast because I don't have the time nor the hunger for it. So I just drink some coffee with heavy cream. I'd make keto coffee but it's a hassle in the morning. If that is my misstep, please tell me!!! Oh and if you see "cookies" in my diary, they are Keto friendly made with pecans and almonds and coconut. 4 carbs each.
Thanks!
Thanks!
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Replies
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Can't see your diary1
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Open your diary and make your diary public so that we can take a look.1
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Oops! Sorry! Fixed it!0
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I looked through the most recent week in your diary. Overall,y our carb level looks good, but for your body it might be just dipping your toes into nutritional ketosis. There are some days where your protein is lower than it should be and on those days your fat is higher than it should be, but then there are days where they are about equal. How tall are you anyway? Do you exercise regularly, if at all? And what kind of exercise do you do? It seems that something everyone who tries LCHF has to figure out for themselves is what works for THEIR BODY because everyone's body is different and they don't always respond the same way while following this WOE.
For example: when I was in the weight-loss portion of my journey, I noticed that if I regularly ate 40g/carbs total per day, my weight-loss all but slowed to a crawl. At 50g/carbs total per day, I was effectively knocked out of Ketosis so for me at that point ANY further weight loss progress completely stalled out. Once I realized that I did my best to eat 40g/carbs per day or less. There are some people whose bodies tolerate a much higher carb limit per day. Mine isn't one of them. Your body may not be one of them either.
Prior to starting Keto were you pre-diabetic, insulin resistant or diagnosed as a Type 2 Diabetic?
There are other factors that may be effecting your weight-loss efforts too (and these have and still do effect mine):
(1) How much salt I've gotten;
(2) How much exercise I did the day before;
(3) How much water my body is retaining in connection with Nos. (1) and (2) above;
(4) Hormones (is is that time of the month?);
(5) How much stress I'm experiencing from things work, family, unexpected life happenings, etc.
I totally get how what we perceive as a lack of progress can be frustrating as hell. Are you taking pictures? Are you taking measurements? Often when the scale is not moving down in numbers, you will find that you will see progress in losing inches where taking measurements is concerned. Do you measure and weigh out your food or just eyeball it? I ask because some of the entries in your diary are pretty vague and generic. Your stall could be due to any number of combinations of the above various factors and possibly a few others I'm probably forgetting. For what it's worth, during the weight-loss portion of my journal it was not uncommon for my weight to fluctuate 6-8 pounds every single week though I was very strict Keto with myself. Now that I'm in maintenance, my weight still tends to fluctuate 3-4 pounds every week. (shrug) Does it bother me to see the number on the scale go up for no reason? Oh, you betcha! BUT....with tracking, tracking, and more tracking you'll discover your body's patterns so now I just kind of shrug, keep calm and keto on.1 -
Alright, first thing I notice is your diary is practically full of generic this or one slice of that. Half an avocado, 4 slices of bacon etc. Nothing is in grams. Your idea of a small avocado or a slice of bacon could vastly differ. You could be underestimating your calories by 100 or 500 - who knows. That would be enough to stop you losing weight.
Grab some food scales, and try for a week or so weighing your food and tracking accurately. Even the cream. Everything.2 -
How have your measurements been with the 3 pound gain? I'm assuming you are measuring since you said you lost 3 inches...if you gained without getting bigger, then I wouldn't change anything and just give it time for the scale to catch up with the measuring tape. Also, take pictures. Sometimes even when my measurements aren't changing and the scale is going up I can see that things are changing in a good way, like a flatter belly...if at all possible try tracking body fat, it's a better indicator of health than the scale.
Your diary looks good to me, there are a few days/meals that are missing, so that's an easy start - track everything, don't miss any days or meals. Some days you are eating your exercise calories, you could try cutting those out.
Keep in mind that early 8 pound loss is mostly water, not actual fat, it takes longer to metabolize the actual fat. Keep in mind that exercise will make you retain water in your muscles as part of the build/repair process, I'm always up a pound or two the day after weightlifting. Water fluctuations are frustrating, but not the same as gaining fat.0 -
I looked through the most recent week in your diary. Overall,y our carb level looks good, but for your body it might be just dipping your toes into nutritional ketosis. There are some days where your protein is lower than it should be and on those days your fat is higher than it should be, but then there are days where they are about equal. How tall are you anyway? Do you exercise regularly, if at all? And what kind of exercise do you do? It seems that something everyone who tries LCHF has to figure out for themselves is what works for THEIR BODY because everyone's body is different and they don't always respond the same way while following this WOE.
For example: when I was in the weight-loss portion of my journey, I noticed that if I regularly ate 40g/carbs total per day, my weight-loss all but slowed to a crawl. At 50g/carbs total per day, I was effectively knocked out of Ketosis so for me at that point ANY further weight loss progress completely stalled out. Once I realized that I did my best to eat 40g/carbs per day or less. There are some people whose bodies tolerate a much higher carb limit per day. Mine isn't one of them. Your body may not be one of them either.
Prior to starting Keto were you pre-diabetic, insulin resistant or diagnosed as a Type 2 Diabetic?
There are other factors that may be effecting your weight-loss efforts too (and these have and still do effect mine):
(1) How much salt I've gotten;
(2) How much exercise I did the day before;
(3) How much water my body is retaining in connection with Nos. (1) and (2) above;
(4) Hormones (is is that time of the month?);
(5) How much stress I'm experiencing from things work, family, unexpected life happenings, etc.
I totally get how what we perceive as a lack of progress can be frustrating as hell. Are you taking pictures? Are you taking measurements? Often when the scale is not moving down in numbers, you will find that you will see progress in losing inches where taking measurements is concerned. Do you measure and weigh out your food or just eyeball it? I ask because some of the entries in your diary are pretty vague and generic. Your stall could be due to any number of combinations of the above various factors and possibly a few others I'm probably forgetting. For what it's worth, during the weight-loss portion of my journal it was not uncommon for my weight to fluctuate 6-8 pounds every single week though I was very strict Keto with myself. Now that I'm in maintenance, my weight still tends to fluctuate 3-4 pounds every week. (shrug) Does it bother me to see the number on the scale go up for no reason? Oh, you betcha! BUT....with tracking, tracking, and more tracking you'll discover your body's patterns so now I just kind of shrug, keep calm and keto on.
Ok.... before I post my stats I want to just say that I am doing this woe for a medical reason. I have NAFLD and every ounce of fat I have is in my middle/torso. My arms and legs are sticks! Visceral fat, NAFLD, and a basic apple shape runs in my family. I am by no means fat and I realize that many would just roll their eyes at me trying to lose weight. But the way I look at it, if all my weight is in my stomach/torso/organs and I lose weight, then I'm going to be hopefully reducing the fat deposits in and around my organs.... which is my goal. I don't have much to lose and I recognize that. My goal is NOT to look sickly thin. My goal is to reverse my fatty liver.
I am 5'4", currently 130 pounds.
I started at 138 pounds.
I measure my middle at my belly button (biggest point). Started at 36 inch and now I'm fluctuating around 33-34 inches. My weight had been fluctuating between 129-133 pounds for the past few weeks as well. The scale and the measurements haven't changed in the past 4-5 weeks. I went down to 129.7 once and then immediately shot back up to 133. Now I'm hovering at 130.
My middle is shaped like an apple, not an hour glass. So I don't have a waist/hip ratio.... it is literally less than a half inch difference. I'm straight up and down on the sides. (Hello fat deposits!)
I have ordered new batteries for my scale as it died on me. I'm measuring with cups/spoons where I can, and eye balling.
I have two small kids and I don't get to work out regularly. We go on walks, but I can't really get much in because we walk at kid pace. I wear a Fitbit and try to get 8K steps in a day. 10K is really Hard for me to get but I try when I can.0 -
Ok.... before I post my stats I want to just say that I am doing this woe for a medical reason. I have NAFLD and every ounce of fat I have is in my middle/torso. My arms and legs are sticks! Visceral fat, NAFLD, and a basic apple shape runs in my family. I am by no means fat and I realize that many would just roll their eyes at me trying to lose weight. But the way I look at it, if all my weight is in my stomach/torso/organs and I lose weight, then I'm going to be hopefully reducing the fat deposits in and around my organs.... which is my goal. I don't have much to lose and I recognize that. My goal is NOT to look sickly thin. My goal is to reverse my fatty liver.
I am 5'4", currently 130 pounds.
I started at 138 pounds.
I measure my middle at my belly button (biggest point). Started at 36 inch and now I'm fluctuating around 33-34 inches. My weight had been fluctuating between 129-133 pounds for the past few weeks as well. The scale and the measurements haven't changed in the past 4-5 weeks. I went down to 129.7 once and then immediately shot back up to 133. Now I'm hovering at 130.
My middle is shaped like an apple, not an hour glass. So I don't have a waist/hip ratio.... it is literally less than a half inch difference. I'm straight up and down on the sides. (Hello fat deposits!)
I have ordered new batteries for my scale as it died on me. I'm measuring with cups/spoons where I can, and eye balling.
I have two small kids and I don't get to work out regularly. We go on walks, but I can't really get much in because we walk at kid pace. I wear a Fitbit and try to get 8K steps in a day. 10K is really Hard for me to get but I try when I can.
I am familiar with NAFLD only because a good friend of mine was unfortunately recently diagnosed with it. He too, will shortly be going Keto to focus on reversing that issue with much encouragement from me (can you hear me cheering/applauding in the background?! lol). I turned to Keto myself for medical and health reasons of my own too...I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic a few years ago, have peripheral neuropathy in my feet, had quite a bit of knee pain, had daily headaches from my blood sugar being either too high or too low, have carpal tunnel and pain from that. Keto has been a lifesaver for me and has either completely eliminated the aforementioned or allows me to reasonably control the pain associated with them. So I do 100% understand where you are coming from. NAFLD is some serious *kitten* and often this diagnosis precedes being diagnosed as a full blown T2 Diabetic. Kudos to you for taking some positive action to reverse it and improve your health!!
I'm glad to hear that you do some exercise, walking, kid chasing, etc. I'm a big fan of walking because I very much enjoy it (walking along with Keto helped me successfully eliminated 167 pounds)! Your setting of 1700 calories per day seems high to me for a person of your height. I do see that you don't always eat that amount of calories every day but have you used some good LCHF or Keto calculators to help you figure out what your daily calorie intake and macro percentages should be? Do you know what you currently have your macro %'s set at for Fat/Protein/Carbs? My apologies, I don't have links to the better LCHF / Keto calculators handy for you. Perhaps some of the other members would be so kind as to post those for you in this discussion.
You may need to play around a bit with you macro %'s to find that "sweet spot" that works for your body. For example: when I first started Keto, my macros were set at:
65% Fat
20% Protein
15% Carbs
After about 4-6 months, I wasn't happy with my progress (weight-loss was slowing and I was growing impatient) so I tweaked them to:
70% Fat
15% Protein
15% Carbs
A pattern emerged for me. Roughly every 4-6 months thereafter, a change in macro %'s seemed to be neccessary. Next came:
75% Fat
15% Protein
10% Carbs
And then finally:
80% Fat
10% Protein
10% Carbs
I am now in maintenance and, yep, you guessed it, my macro's have likewise changed to better suit/fit maintenance. They are currently at:
65% Fat
25% Protein
10% Carbs
One last thought I have to offer you is this: have you considered getting a body fat test? Getting one may enable you to see your progress in a way that you are unable to right now. DEXA scans are the most accurate, but they are also expensive. I like http://www.bodyfattest.com/ but they may not offer these in your neck of the woods. So that's just a thought. I cannot see any reason for your stall. Perhaps another member will be able to offer more insight than I. It may just be that your body is taking a break and while you see no outward progress, it is busy fixing and healing things inside you. As you know, weight-loss is not linear so while you may not see any outward signs of progress, vital and much needed improvements and repairs are most likely still taking place inside your already damaged body. That's all I've got right now. Do hang in there and know that you are not alone.2 -
OH, I KNEW there was something else I wanted to say..have you considered doing a fat fast to break your stall? I did 2-3 during my roughly 2 years worth of weight-loss and each time, doing a fat fas helped me break through what I perceived to be as a plateau at that time. I've also heard things about egg fasts though I've never done one of those myself, so more food for thought for you (pun intended).
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OH, I KNEW there was something else I wanted to say..have you considered doing a fat fast to break your stall? I did 2-3 during my roughly 2 years worth of weight-loss and each time, doing a fat fas helped me break through what I perceived to be as a plateau at that time. I've also heard things about egg fasts though I've never done one of those myself, so more food for thought for you (pun intended).
I've never heard of a fat fast. I'll have to google it. Thanks for the tips and info!
I will have to check my settings in mfp for calories and macros. I didn't think my cals were set to 1700, I thought it was at 1350ish. I may be wrong.0 -
I'm glad to hear that you do some exercise, walking, kid chasing, etc. I'm a big fan of walking because I very much enjoy it (walking along with Keto helped me successfully eliminated 167 pounds)! Your setting of 1700 calories per day seems high to me for a person of your height.
Goodness me 167lbs - that is crazy!! Well done @ladipoet0 -
the_new_mark_2017 wrote: »
I'm glad to hear that you do some exercise, walking, kid chasing, etc. I'm a big fan of walking because I very much enjoy it (walking along with Keto helped me successfully eliminated 167 pounds)! Your setting of 1700 calories per day seems high to me for a person of your height.
Goodness me 167lbs - that is crazy!! Well done @ladipoet
Thanks for the kudos @the_new_mark_2017 ....it is definitely crazy...crazy good!!
There are some before after pics up on my profile along with the whole story if you are interested. 1
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