HELP! I can not get into ketosis!
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themoralesfamily
Posts: 8 Member
Hi. I am am a 54 yr old woman needing to lose 30 to 40 lbs. I followed a strict keto diet for 40 days losing 9 lbs the first 2 weeks then plateauing. At day 40 I was advised to break the diet for one day then restart with Atkins, I am now on day 4 of Atkins. During these weeks I have tested my blood and have never gotten above .5. I am presently at .3. I have logged every bite entering my mouth. Myfitnesspal is set to 20 grams carbs, 100 gram fat and 80 gram protein (protein is the only category I occasionally go over, but not by much). My calories have been between 1200 and 1400. Does anyone have any idea why I can not get into ketosis? I am baffled and becoming frustrated. I did Atkins about 15 years ago and had no problem getting into ketosis.
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I have no idea. Asking the the Low Carb Group might get you some help. I do Keto, but have never had an issue getting into Ketosis. My first thought was what are you testing with because the urine strips are useless as they go bad very quickly. Since you use a blood test, which one by the way, you may want to check the expiry date on the strips it uses. That is my only suggestion.
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You don't need any special diet to lose fat, in fact those will usually cause you to gain the weight back if at some point you change your eating habits. Your initial loss was water.
Why not just eat\drink in a way that will be permanently sustainable? there is no magic to any of those special diets as they all work on a basis of a consistent weekly calorie deficit over time. Unless you do KETO for some health reason it isn't necessary for fat loss.
If you actually Like KETO and plan on eating that way permantly then it's fine.9 -
So look at this realistically: you say you want to lose 30-40lbs. A good weightloss goal would probably be around 1lbs per week.
You've lost 9lbs in 40 days, or roughly 9lbs in 6 weeks.
Your right on schedule!
More detailed: when you start a low carb diet your body doesn't burn fat like crazy. A lot of the initial loss was likely water because water binds to glycogen, and less carbs, less waterweight. As the weight has been stable then it's likely your body caught up. Like lose weight slowly as expected, but your body is holding onto a bit more water again at the same time. Hence the weight stays the same. It's quite likely you've now, after 6 weeks actually lost close to 9lbs of bodyfat. The stuff you want to lose, not water.7 -
Whether a person is in ketosis or not doesn't assure weight loss because it's calories that dictate actual weight loss. The initial phase of Atkins is basically a ketogenic diet so not sure why you were advised to change, that doesn't make any sense and your body certainly wouldn't know.5
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is there a reason why your goal is ketosis? Why not simply eat in a calorie deficit?4
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is there a reason why your goal is ketosis? Why not simply eat in a calorie deficit?
99% 0f people that try to circumvent CICO by using other means find that the alternatives don't work. Those alternatives MAY cause fatloss however it's always because of their roundabout way with CICO.
There is no backdoor entry into stored fat.8 -
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tomcustombuilder wrote: »is there a reason why your goal is ketosis? Why not simply eat in a calorie deficit?
99% 0f people that try to circumvent CICO by using other means find that the alternatives don't work. Those alternatives MAY cause fatloss however it's always because of their roundabout way with CICO.
There is no backdoor entry into stored fat.
How does any dietary intervention circumvent CICO? and what do you mean 99% fail when using other means, what are these other means?2 -
any diet with an actual name is other means whether it is KETO, Atkins or others. Most that do these think there is some magic to them. It's usually the "Carbs make you fat" group.neanderthin wrote: »tomcustombuilder wrote: »is there a reason why your goal is ketosis? Why not simply eat in a calorie deficit?
99% 0f people that try to circumvent CICO by using other means find that the alternatives don't work. Those alternatives MAY cause fatloss however it's always because of their roundabout way with CICO.
There is no backdoor entry into stored fat.
How does any dietary intervention circumvent CICO? and what do you mean 99% fail when using other means, what are these other means?
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I think you ate one of the only people I’ve met on here who does keto sustainably. It’s great to see it working so well but I think for quite a few people, they do it as a short term diet. They aren’t doing it for health but because it’s been pedalled as a quick fix, and of course the weight goes right back on as soon as they carb-out again. You’re proof it does work long term, but I think you might be in the minority!neanderthin wrote: »
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Um 🫣 “you are” not “you ate”. Oops.3
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Yes it does work long term. The key for anyone is find an eating style you enjoy, that makes you feel good and is reasonably healthy.claireychn074 wrote: »
I think you ate one of the only people I’ve met on here who does keto sustainably. It’s great to see it working so well but I think for quite a few people, they do it as a short term diet. They aren’t doing it for health but because it’s been pedalled as a quick fix, and of course the weight goes right back on as soon as they carb-out again. You’re proof it does work long term, but I think you might be in the minority!neanderthin wrote: »
You have the KETO people, vegetarians, vegans etc, etc. and us that just eat almost exclusively non highly processed foods but include meat, veggies and fruit.
Lol then you have the fast food crew....
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claireychn074 wrote: »
I think you ate one of the only people I’ve met on here who does keto sustainably. It’s great to see it working so well but I think for quite a few people, they do it as a short term diet. They aren’t doing it for health but because it’s been pedalled as a quick fix, and of course the weight goes right back on as soon as they carb-out again. You’re proof it does work long term, but I think you might be in the minority!neanderthin wrote: »
I also do Keto for health reasons outside of simple weight loss. I was always of the mind that all I need was a calorie deficit to lose weight, and that worked fine for me. However, it didn't deal with the other health issues. Keto did deal with them, and in going Keto I discovered it is also a way of eating that works really well for me in terms of satiety. I have been eating Keto for over a year now, and cannot imagine eating any other way. Sure there are events where I will treat myself to something carby, but I see that as a rare treat not something I eat all the time.3 -
tomcustombuilder wrote: »
any diet with an actual name is other means whether it is KETO, Atkins or others. Most that do these think there is some magic to them. It's usually the "Carbs make you fat" group.neanderthin wrote: »tomcustombuilder wrote: »is there a reason why your goal is ketosis? Why not simply eat in a calorie deficit?
99% 0f people that try to circumvent CICO by using other means find that the alternatives don't work. Those alternatives MAY cause fatloss however it's always because of their roundabout way with CICO.
There is no backdoor entry into stored fat.
How does any dietary intervention circumvent CICO? and what do you mean 99% fail when using other means, what are these other means?
Seriously? so if someone decides that what they're eating might not be a good idea and may be effecting their health and change their way of eating whether that be a vegetarian diet, vegan diet, med diet, dash diet that you think they think there's some magic to it and they're only kidding themselves thinking there's some kind of back door, what ever that means, or is your obvious fear of low carb and ketogenic diets made you that afraid of something that is more studied than any other diet on the planet, which there's thousands of studies and that ketosis been part of human existence for a few million years.1 -
neanderthin wrote: »tomcustombuilder wrote: »
any diet with an actual name is other means whether it is KETO, Atkins or others. Most that do these think there is some magic to them. It's usually the "Carbs make you fat" group.neanderthin wrote: »tomcustombuilder wrote: »is there a reason why your goal is ketosis? Why not simply eat in a calorie deficit?
99% 0f people that try to circumvent CICO by using other means find that the alternatives don't work. Those alternatives MAY cause fatloss however it's always because of their roundabout way with CICO.
There is no backdoor entry into stored fat.
How does any dietary intervention circumvent CICO? and what do you mean 99% fail when using other means, what are these other means?
Seriously? so if someone decides that what they're eating might not be a good idea and may be effecting their health and change their way of eating whether that be a vegetarian diet, vegan diet, med diet, dash diet that you think they think there's some magic to it and they're only kidding themselves thinking there's some kind of back door, what ever that means, or is your obvious fear of low carb and ketogenic diets made you that afraid of something that is more studied than any other diet on the planet, which there's thousands of studies which I could probably bet you've not looked at one, let alone try to understand something so basic and that has been part of human existence for a few million years.
LOL I'm not afraid of any diet however if you like KETO then do KETO but dont push it on everybody just because in your opinion it's superior...7 -
Op is asking advice to get into a state of ketosis.2
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I chose to attempt ketosis because: 1. I have had many children and ketosis based diets were the only weight loss program that ever got me back to my normal weight after childbirth. 2. I have a very busy schedule so easy to follow rules and foods, such as keto based diets, work well for me 3. For my entire life I've been basically low-fat, high-carb (rice, beans, fruit, and milk) lacto-vegetarian, not intentionally but because that's just what I enjoy. However, I felt after breast-feeding children for many years I needed pay attention to eating a more balanced diet. 4. Most of all, prior to my previous 40 day keto I was logging 1200 calories per day and walking a slow but consistent 17,000 - 20,000 steps 5 or 6 days a week for 3 months. All that time i may have lost 3 lbs total - which just defied science to me! How was that even possible? My husband blames hormones since I'm a 54 year old woman - maybe he's correct. So, I figured if calorie restriction and walking was not doing the trick, maybe ketosis would help. However, on the Keto/Atkins I have had ZERO energy and I have not walked in weeks, which is quite discouraging. I can feel my legs getting mushy!
Thank you all so much for taking the time to try to advise me, I really am at a point that I'm just so confused and frustrated.1 -
themoralesfamily wrote: »I chose to attempt ketosis because: 1. I have had many children and ketosis based diets were the only weight loss program that ever got me back to my normal weight after childbirth. 2. I have a very busy schedule so easy to follow rules and foods, such as keto based diets, work well for me 3. For my entire life I've been basically low-fat, high-carb (rice, beans, fruit, and milk) lacto-vegetarian, not intentionally but because that's just what I enjoy. However, I felt after breast-feeding children for many years I needed pay attention to eating a more balanced diet. 4. Most of all, prior to my previous 40 day keto I was logging 1200 calories per day and walking a slow but consistent 17,000 - 20,000 steps 5 or 6 days a week for 3 months. All that time i may have lost 3 lbs total - which just defied science to me! How was that even possible? My husband blames hormones since I'm a 54 year old woman - maybe he's correct. So, I figured if calorie restriction and walking was not doing the trick, maybe ketosis would help. However, on the Keto/Atkins I have had ZERO energy and I have not walked in weeks, which is quite discouraging. I can feel my legs getting mushy!
Thank you all so much for taking the time to try to advise me, I really am at a point that I'm just so confused and frustrated.
Yeah zero energy is basically because your not fully fat adapted, kind of like limbo where insulin is all over the map, been there done that. Hopefully your not consuming keto cheat treats and just sticking to old fashion whole foods, anyway that does pass and like most will then experience a full day of very high and steady energy that really doesn't fluctuate much and not to mention mental clarity. Also try increasing your fat a bit, it's a stable and efficient energy source that doesn't rely on insulin and for some reason the fat is bad mantra just keeps people from using it for it's intended purpose, energy.1 -
themoralesfamily wrote: »I chose to attempt ketosis because: 1. I have had many children and ketosis based diets were the only weight loss program that ever got me back to my normal weight after childbirth. 2. I have a very busy schedule so easy to follow rules and foods, such as keto based diets, work well for me 3. For my entire life I've been basically low-fat, high-carb (rice, beans, fruit, and milk) lacto-vegetarian, not intentionally but because that's just what I enjoy. However, I felt after breast-feeding children for many years I needed pay attention to eating a more balanced diet. 4. Most of all, prior to my previous 40 day keto I was logging 1200 calories per day and walking a slow but consistent 17,000 - 20,000 steps 5 or 6 days a week for 3 months. All that time i may have lost 3 lbs total - which just defied science to me! How was that even possible? My husband blames hormones since I'm a 54 year old woman - maybe he's correct. So, I figured if calorie restriction and walking was not doing the trick, maybe ketosis would help. However, on the Keto/Atkins I have had ZERO energy and I have not walked in weeks, which is quite discouraging. I can feel my legs getting mushy!
Thank you all so much for taking the time to try to advise me, I really am at a point that I'm just so confused and frustrated.
Skipping the keto portion of this discussion, 1200 calories a day is the rock bottom floor unless you’re disabled in a way that makes walking difficult or impossible, and/or you are unusually short.
You might be so tired that you’re just not moving much at all, which will impact weight loss. And (potentially) the stress you’re putting your body through might be causing water retention.
Try putting your details into this calculator and see if you can increase your calorie intake.
https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/
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claireychn074 wrote: »
I think you ate one of the only people I’ve met on here who does keto sustainably. It’s great to see it working so well but I think for quite a few people, they do it as a short term diet. They aren’t doing it for health but because it’s been pedalled as a quick fix, and of course the weight goes right back on as soon as they carb-out again. You’re proof it does work long term, but I think you might be in the minority!neanderthin wrote: »
Yeah, it's not used much as a dietary method really, about 5% of the US population apparently, so what's that, about 12 million people.
Generally there's one of two reasons someone tries this diet and one being health. The journey goes something like this. Your prediabetic, overweight or obese, higher blood pressure, the beginning of fatty liver, skin problems, IBS problems and joint pain every day of your life and you begin to believe, this is just the way it is, age kicks in and life happens and when you talk with your doctor it's like, here I have medication for that and oh, don't eat as much salt.
Then you decide to try and find a solution yourself and make changes that going on a diet, lose weight and hopefully feel better and while on this journey of discovery which is generally a year or more through trial and error you will eventually find yourself coming across reducing carbs as a solution which then generally lead to the ketogenic diet, which btw has resolved every one of my issues and the reason I stay on a ketogenic diet is because it's better than my IBS, skin and joint pain returning, it's kind of a no brainer, feel good or feel like shyte.
The other way people just stumble on to it because it's popular now and because it's a powerful biological intervention that can and does effect metabolism in ways people don't try to understand and who for the most part never get into actual nutritional ketosis for any length of time who for a number of reasons, then decide to quite. Ketosis is a metabolic state which is quite different than say, trying to be vegetarian or now going to try a Mediterranean diet. Being in ketosis, is a seperate science and a seperate metabolic state unto itself which most people don't understand. I'm still learning.
The ketogenic diet is the standard diet implemented around the world in lifestyle clinics for reducing most non communicable diseases, especially diabetes and has been for over a decade.
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