Having a hard time.

KLELifts

Trying to convince myself that I can still lose weight while eating carbs and sugar.
I cut basically both out for 2 weeks and lost 8 lbs. Now I’ve been at the same weight for another 2 weeks since adding them back in

It’s been very discouraging to be at a deficit for two weeks and seeing no movement in the scale. I know I might be recomping a bit but I’d hope that I’d start to see progress in my weight too.

I know being keto/sugar free for me long term is unattainable. But it’s hard to not be extreme and to do that because I’m not seeing any weight loss.

Any advice?

claireychn074

Eat sugar. Eat carbs. They are not the devil.
(I lost weight eating both and maintain eating both.)

When your body digests carbs it uses a lot of water and it holds it for a while. So the initial 8 you lost was mostly water weight with some fat / possibly muscle depending on your calorie deficit. As soon as you reintroduce carbs your body goes “oh hey - carbs! I need water to digest” and your weight can go up or stay the same. Notice I said weight and not fat

Keep going, track everything in 4-6 weeks if you are in a deficit you will see a whoosh on the scales.

Just to repeat - sugar is not the devil. Carbs are not the devil. And two weeks is too early to judge anything (did you put all your weight on in two weeks?)

nicsflyingcircus

Your body is likely just adjusting. Probably at least half the weight you lost the first two weeks was water from the low-carb. So long as you're sticking to your deficit, you just need to give it time and be patient. You've lost 8lbs in 4 weeks, that's 2lbs/week.

KLELifts

claireychn074 wrote: »

Eat sugar. Eat carbs. They are not the devil.
(I lost weight eating both and maintain eating both.)

When your body digests carbs it uses a lot of water and it holds it for a while. So the initial 8 you lost was mostly water weight with some fat / possibly muscle depending on your calorie deficit. As soon as you reintroduce carbs your body goes “oh hey - carbs! I need water to digest” and your weight can go up or stay the same. Notice I said weight and not fat

Keep going, track everything in 4-6 weeks if you are in a deficit you will see a whoosh on the scales.

Just to repeat - sugar is not the devil. Carbs are not the devil. And two weeks is too early to judge anything (did you put all your weight on in two weeks?)

Thank you so much for saying all this! I’ve been trying to tell myself the same thing but my mind was saying otherwise 🫠😭
I definitely didn’t put on all the weight I want to lose in two weeks lol.

yirara

Yeah, water. Sorry you likely didn't lose 8lbs, but on the other hand your weight likely also didn't stall. Give it time. Water weight weirdness is totally a thing. Plus playing with big changes in diet can introduce the possibility that you pooped less. And also poop in your intestines has weight.

claireychn074

KLELifts wrote: »

claireychn074 wrote: »

Eat sugar. Eat carbs. They are not the devil.
(I lost weight eating both and maintain eating both.)

When your body digests carbs it uses a lot of water and it holds it for a while. So the initial 8 you lost was mostly water weight with some fat / possibly muscle depending on your calorie deficit. As soon as you reintroduce carbs your body goes “oh hey - carbs! I need water to digest” and your weight can go up or stay the same. Notice I said weight and not fat

Keep going, track everything in 4-6 weeks if you are in a deficit you will see a whoosh on the scales.

Just to repeat - sugar is not the devil. Carbs are not the devil. And two weeks is too early to judge anything (did you put all your weight on in two weeks?)

Thank you so much for saying all this! I’ve been trying to tell myself the same thing but my mind was saying otherwise 🫠😭
I definitely didn’t put on all the weight I want to lose in two weeks lol.

It’s difficult when you see stuff all over the internet saying you have to go low carb / starve yourself / cut out evil food groups. But just take a deep breath and hold your nerve.

What works for weight loss is a calorie deficit. That is the case for keto, carnivore, vegetarian, high carb (me), low fat - they will all work as long as you’re in a calorie deficit.

Honestly the best thing you can do for longevity and success is eat the foods you like. If you lose weight in keto but then go back up when you eat “normally” you’re setting yourself up for yo yo dieting.

If after 6 weeks your weight has not budged, then it’s time to reassess your logging (are you recording every single morsel you eat accurately etc) and consider your calorie deficit. There are some brilliant people on here so if you want help working out how much you should lose each week, or want recipes around food you enjoy, or just want the success stories - just shout. A lot of us are really happy to help, as we were all there once.

One final thought: if you set up a slow rate of loss and lose half a pound a week, in one year you’ll have lost 26 pounds - not that far off two stone (if you need to lose that much of course). Or you could be the same weight in one year and feeling crap because you’ve punished your poor body by yo yo dieting. Choose the happy way!

AnnPT77

Agree with what they said about water retention, and the relationship between water retention and carbs. Wait it out. Great advice from @claireychn074 just above, too.

Mostly I'm replying to say that I'm another who lost weight fine (50ish pounds in just under a year) eating around 150g or so of carbs daily, and nearly always exceeding MFP's default sugar goal (mostly inherent sugars in fruit and such, not mostly added sugars - but some ). That was while severely hypothyroid (medicated), menopausal, and pretty old (59-60 then), all things that "people say" make weight loss extra super-special difficult and turn eating carbs/sugar from dangerous into the worst possible kind of evil.

SMH: "People" will say anything to get clicks and eyeballs, and other people will believe them and spread the nonsense.

One of my favorite moments was when an acquaintance insisted to me that there was "no way to lose weight without eating low carb", because over the Winter she had "read all the books, and they all said so". What had I done over the Winter? Lost most of that 50 pounds by that point, while eating carbs aplenty . . . and she'd known me the whole time, even eaten meals (that had carbs!) with me. Had she lost an ounce? Nope. But she'd read the books!

If it matters, I've maintained a healthy weight for 8 years since then, still eating pretty much the same way . . . except at a somewhat higher calorie level (because maintaining, not losing), and with more like 250g carbs daily, plus a bit more added sugar these days because I can fit the occasional treat in those higher calories a little more frequently than I could while losing. (That kind of underscores Claireychn074's point about eating the food you like, I think!)

It can work. You can do it. Hang in there.

Wishing you success!

KLELifts

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Agree with what they said about water retention, and the relationship between water retention and carbs. Wait it out. Great advice from @claireychn074 just above, too.

Mostly I'm replying to say that I'm another who lost weight fine (50ish pounds in just under a year) eating around 150g or so of carbs daily, and nearly always exceeding MFP's default sugar goal (mostly inherent sugars in fruit and such, not mostly added sugars - but some ). That was while severely hypothyroid (medicated), menopausal, and pretty old (59-60 then), all things that "people say" make weight loss extra super-special difficult and turn eating carbs/sugar from dangerous into the worst possible kind of evil.

SMH: "People" will say anything to get clicks and eyeballs, and other people will believe them and spread the nonsense.

One of my favorite moments was when an acquaintance insisted to me that there was "no way to lose weight without eating low carb", because over the Winter she had "read all the books, and they all said so". What had I done over the Winter? Lost most of that 50 pounds by that point, while eating carbs aplenty . . . and she'd known me the whole time, even eaten meals (that had carbs!) with me. Had she lost an ounce? Nope. But she'd read the books!

If it matters, I've maintained a healthy weight for 8 years since then, still eating pretty much the same way . . . except at a somewhat higher calorie level (because maintaining, not losing), and with more like 250g carbs daily, plus a bit more added sugar these days because I can fit the occasional treat in those higher calories a little more frequently than I could while losing. (That kind of underscores Claireychn074's point about eating the food you like, I think!)

It can work. You can do it. Hang in there.

Wishing you success!

Thank you both for your thorough responses!! I was definitely starting to “fear” carb and sugar foods and was dreading the upcoming holidays because of it. So I know that something was wrong because I was starting to think disordered.

As far as calories, I honestly could actually use some help with that.
I’ve been feeling extremely burnt out and beat up lately.
I do 3 full body workouts a week, 2-3 days of 10-20 min core workouts, and I have 3 little kids I’m constantly chasing after lol.
All calculators say that 1480ish is my goal for a 1 lb/week weight loss.

Does this sound accurate?
I’d like to also mention that I just recently started weight lifting at this intensity so I don’t know if that affects anything.

KLELifts

Oh I should probably mention my stats too.

I’m 5”1, 25 years old, currently 128 lbs and my goal is 115.

AnnPT77

Just starting weight lifting could have two effects that are relevant here: One would be water retention masking fat loss on the body weight scale, the other would be that some people find certain types of exercise especially fatiguing, and lifting can be one of those.

Even with the probable water weight in the picture, as was pointed out you've seemingly lost up to as much as an average of 2 pounds a week. That would be super-fast loss for someone of 128 pounds aiming for 115. Super-fast loss can definitely make a person feel burnt out and beat up.

Even a pound a week is fairly aggressive at 128, IMO, honestly. Especially for someone with a busy, stressful life whose current weight shouldn't be a significant health risk, I'd suggest something like 0.5% of current weight per week as a loss rate. That would be 0.64 pounds a week, so somewhere between half and 3/4 of a pound.

If 1480ish is estimated to give you a pound a week, that implies maintenance of 1980ish. Hitting right on an estimated 0.64 pounds per week, the calorie goal would be more like 1660. Would that help?

But that's just an estimate based on a statistically average person, right? You may not be statistically average. Most people are close, a few a bit farther off (high or low), and a rare few are surprisingly above or below average in calorie needs. (I maintain on 25-30% more calories than MFP and my good brand/model fitness tracker estimate, for example.)

We're assuming part of your 8-pound loss was water weight, so we don't have exact figures. But if you lost 2 pounds of fat a week eating around 1480, that would imply your maintenance calories could be more like 2480. That's possible, but it's hard to tell: Not enough solid data because of major changes in your eating style and exercise types/level.

For sure, if you're feeling burnt out and beat up since cutting to this calorie level, and there's no other obvious reason for it, that's a danger sign. Even if you've only lost a pound (or less) of fat per week, please note that any calorie deficit is a physical stress, and new exercise is also a physical stress. You have a busy life, which implies pre-existing stress. That's stacking stress upon stress, and that's maybe too much to take on all at once?

At this point, I'd maybe suggest you start eating at some higher calorie level for 4-6 weeks (whole menstrual cycle if you have those, to compare body weight at the same relative point in at least 2 different cycles), and keep your eating style/exercise activity reasonably consistent over that whole time period, too. Whether you lose, maintain or even gain a small amount over that time, that would give you a much better reading on your actual calorie needs. Then you can dial in a sensible loss rate with more confidence in the numbers.

The personal arithmetic (vs. just calculator estimate) is pretty important . . . very important for people who turn out to be statistically unusual. I lost too fast by accident at first, because of the under-estimates of my calorie needs. I felt great, energetic, not hungry for a while . . . until I hit a wall, very suddently felt weak and fatigued. It took multiple weeks to recover normal energy and strength. No one needs that!