Advice needed please! Hit a wall and feeling demotivated:(

amylg88

Hello all,

Firstly thank you for taking the time to read this post, I appreciate any advice given!

For context, I’m female, 36 years old, height is 5.2” and I have PCOS. My starting weight on 15th July 24 was 218lbs, my lowest weight was recorded at the start of this month at 176lbs and my current weight as of this morning is 181lbs. I have been doing Keto with the very rare “day off” plus one week in November for vacation and approx 5 days during Christmas. Aside from that I have been fully Keto and am also avoiding UPF as best as I can. My physical activity levels had been low until I joined a gym on 17th Jan 25, I have been consistently going 3 times a week doing strength training with a focus on compound exercises and progressive overload. I log daily and my calorie goal is set to 1500, sometimes I do go over, up to 1800 and sometimes I am below, around 1200 but in general I am consistent. I focus on protein, fats and stick to 20-30g of carbs.

My problem is that up until the start of December 24, I had been losing weight quite consistently and hit 182lbs. Since then I feel as though I’ve really hit a wall, and now I’m not only not losing but I seem to be gaining the same few pounds over and over again - particularly over the last month, with the exception of somehow dropping to 176lbs. I feel as though I am being consistent but I’m just not getting anywhere and it’s becoming highly demotivating. This isn’t my first time losing weight, I always seem to hit the same number and can never get past it so I’m hoping people might have some helpful advice!

Much appreciated!

claireychn074

Calling @neanderthin for advice on keto.

I’m just going to ask why you’ve chosen keto; it’s a lifestyle which works brilliantly for people with various conditions (epilepsy, some food intolerances etc) but it only works the same in weight-loss terms as any other eating style - ie calories in and calories out.

If you plan on returning to eating carbs once you’ve lost weight, it might not be the right lifestyle for you. Others will have technical advice to help you, but considering whether keto is your life choice or just a temp decision to lose weight is a good start for people to offer help on here.

amylg88

Thanks for replying!

I decided on Keto due to the benefits it has for PCOS and also for anti-inflammation, as I have some minor spinal issues as well as joint pain in my hands and knees (gone now). I have also previously been on Keto some years ago and had success with it for weight loss and felt the best I had ever felt, though unfortunately at the time I hadn’t changed my mindset around food and eventually fell back into old ways. This time I am committed to Keto as a lifestyle and have carried out a lot of work in educating myself around food and healing my relationship with it, particularly UPF foods! My commitment to Keto and health is still there and I don’t have any doubts in myself that I’m going to continue the journey, I just seem to be really struggling at the moment with where I’m going wrong or what I can do to break through this wall!

neanderthin

First of all congratulations losing almost 40 lbs. Your main reason for trying this diet is by far the most important reason people seek out this diet and that is for health reason, which was my reasoning as well and your joint pain resonates with me which like you is completely gone. Anyway my point is that health by far outweighs any other factors with body composition a distant secondary concern.

Reasons people stall on a ketogenic diet are many and since everyone is different, have different metabolisms, health issues, possible medications it's difficult to directly be definitive why you might be in a stall, but I'll try to voice a few of my opinions and some science of why that might be.

First of all you might just be eating too much. Considering you've lost 40 lbs your caloric needs have gone down and also taking into consideration that the counting of calories, which you are doing, on a percentage basis are very much under reported and it's not in small amounts and can easily be in the hundreds of calories, so that might be one factor. The macro that is generally the culprit in this scenario is fat. For example 100g's of walnuts only have about 6 or 7g's of carbs but they also deliver around 700 calories and snacking is problematic in a ketogenic diet considering the etymology of the keto diet to begin with which is to eat until your stuffed and can't possibly eat another bite which should hold you over until your next meal and 2 meals being what most would consider evidence of that etymology.

Hidden carbs is another factor. I'm saying this directly to you considering your emphasis on UPF's and your week in November where you came off the diet and the week of Christmas which I suspect lasted through to the new year. The most utilized ketogenic diet is based on animal protein and their fats and although people can go on a plant based ketogenic diet, it's very rare and extremely difficult. Anyway, say that the ketogenic diet is by definition a whole food diet, there are no UPF's except maybe some canned veg or fruit and a few other things but my point is to be successful on the ketogenic diet we really need this to be emphasized and try to stay away from any processed foods which are where your going to find these hidden carbs.

Keto treats are something fairly new and with the agra industrial complex seeing were a fast buck can be made these are now everywhere. some actually are good but so many have more carbs than any "treat" should have and some with the magical 20g's thinking people would find these acceptable levels thinking they'll just eat less veg material later, sneaky buggers.

The obvious one in my opinion is your newly dedication becoming more active joining a gym 1 month ago engaing in progressive weight resistance training. I'll also mention because your new at this, that body composition I mentioned earlier could be a factor considering newbie gains in muscle mass can happen while still burning fat and I suggest you contemplate over the last month how your cloths fit which should indicate if that might be a factor as well. Also since you were pretty sedentary to begin this new exercise regime will have put a lot of stress on your body that translates into a new frontier of inflammatory hormones like cortisol, adrenaline aka epinephrine, norepinephrine and the body tends to retain more sodium, which in turn causes the body to hold onto more water. This is a survival mechanism that the body uses during times of stress to help ensure it has enough resources to function, so over the last month water retention can hide fat loss. Unfortunately people have been told that salt is bad and one of the shortcoming of people switching to the keto diet is not getting enough salt in their diet, so I suggest you look at that and of course drinking a lot of water is also recommended.

Quality of sleep can and does effect not only our ability to burn fat but also effects our microbiome which again helps us burn fat properly and efficiently. It helps regulate hormones, like cortisol, energy levels and also puts us in the right frame of mind to start the day.

these are just the ones I can think of right now but I'm sure many here will be offering their advice for what works for them. Just stick with it, you can overcome any pitfalls I'm sure.

thanks for the callout @claireychn074

DiscusTank5

Keto can be a great choice for many, though it wasn't for me. I also have PCOS and did full bore keto in 2017. My bad cholesterol numbers increased by 30 that year. A few years later (2023), I spent a year as a vegetarian and my cholesterol numbers dropped by 24. Conclusion: animal fat affects MY cholesterol numbers, even though that isn't supposed to be the case for the majority.

I've also dealt with a colon cancer diagnosis and surgery since Dec. 2023. In recovery, it was impossible to stay vegetarian since my body could not process most vegetables or raw fruits very well -- for months.

I eat chicken regularly now, beef rarely, pork never, especially the ultra -processed bacon and pepperoni products. It will be interesting to see where my cholesterol numbers land at the end of this year.

Good luck to you. Experimenting with different eating plans and tweaking as you go may help you find*your* best fit.

jjocajo

My husband is a trainer and he recommended checking your metabolic rate. (I can have this done at my gym) To see what your calorie burn is every day. And then to add some metabolic burn exercises. Like uphill on the treadmill or kettle ball lifts

amylg88

Thank you so much! Definitely some things to think about there - I’ll try reviewing my calorie goal and see if reducing it just slightly, or being more thorough in sticking to the goal helps at all! I try to avoid “Keto” snacks as I find it leads me to wanting more treats and junk, the main “snacks” I eat are salted nuts which I am going to try to cut back on as they’re one of the main culprits of me going over my calorie goal! I’ll keep an eye on things with the gym too and how things are fitting, in general I feel a lot better so I’m hoping perseverance will pay off! ☺️

neanderthin

DiscusTank5 wrote: »

Keto can be a great choice for many, though it wasn't for me. I also have PCOS and did full bore keto in 2017. My bad cholesterol numbers increased by 30 that year. A few years later (2023), I spent a year as a vegetarian and my cholesterol numbers dropped by 24. Conclusion: animal fat affects MY cholesterol numbers, even though that isn't supposed to be the case for the majority.

I've also dealt with a colon cancer diagnosis and surgery since Dec. 2023. In recovery, it was impossible to stay vegetarian since my body could not process most vegetables or raw fruits very well -- for months.

I eat chicken regularly now, beef rarely, pork never, especially the ultra -processed bacon and pepperoni products. It will be interesting to see where my cholesterol numbers land at the end of this year.

Good luck to you. Experimenting with different eating plans and tweaking as you go may help you find*your* best fit.

Inflammation is the 900 lb gorilla when it comes to heart disease, not cholesterol, and that myth has been busted for quite a while. If your worried about heart disease ask your doctor to have a CAC (Coronary Artery Calcium) score done, this will tell you your potential risk, no guessing involved.

yirara

jjocajo wrote: »

My husband is a trainer and he recommended checking your metabolic rate. (I can have this done at my gym) To see what your calorie burn is every day. And then to add some metabolic burn exercises. Like uphill on the treadmill or kettle ball lifts

no need for that, and it's not easy to do those kind of tests properly. TO just needs to log their food for 4-6 weeks and then knows how much food they need to lose weight.

pinkste78

Is it your period? Sometimes your period can cause you to gain a few pounds of water weight...

PAV8888

I would not worry about the uptick when you went off keto in December, this was not real fat. Was weight but not fat. This will continue to happen whenever you go off and back on keto and it is not a bug. It is a "feature" that should be ignored.

Good to hear about the gym.

But I'm also shocked that 182 to 176 is not considered a major loss by you. Alternatively of you consider 181 your current weight what was the equivalent on December? It wasn't 182 which sounds to me like your low in December

You really need to start working on the concept of weight level and what is progress. Weight trend app and looking at comparing weight at same points of menstrual cycles if having such.

You've been losing more than 7 lbs a month by the sounds of it between July and December. So more then 800 Cal effective deficit per day.

Won't continue at same rate forever.

Which is where lifestyle and doing things you see yourself doing moving forward come in

Ideally you're pretty much living life normally with the extra kicker of a deficit and weight loss thrown in as opposed to making choices you wouldn't make solely for the benefit of weight loss.

Give your new exercise regime some time to settle down. Don't explicitly reduce calories but do double down on making sure you're recording things correctly. And look at apps like happy scale, Libra or trendweight.com or creating your own 10 day or so exponentially weighted average in a spreadsheet in order to better figure out your weight level changes.

Slower movement in the right direction, doing all the stuff you will be doing for the next 5 years at maintenance, is still movement in the right direction. Pushing things to despair and giving up when not rewarded because you're hanging in there by your fingernails and nothing works no matter how hard you try = not long term sustainable = not what you want if you want to go past the cycles of loss and regain 🤷‍♂️

The energizer bunny has to keep on going! 😛

amylg88

pinkste78 wrote: »

Is it your period? Sometimes your period can cause you to gain a few pounds of water weight...

I have considered this as its been over 2 months now since my last period and I am definitely feeling bloated! With having PCOS I have always had very irregular periods and have gone months without one, but before January I had 3 regularly - and now none so it could be this impacting things too!

amylg88

PAV8888 wrote: »

I would not worry about the uptick when you went off keto in December, this was not real fat. Was weight but not fat. This will continue to happen whenever you go off and back on keto and it is not a bug. It is a "feature" that should be ignored.

Good to hear about the gym.

But I'm also shocked that 182 to 176 is not considered a major loss by you. Alternatively of you consider 181 your current weight what was the equivalent on December? It wasn't 182 which sounds to me like your low in December

You really need to start working on the concept of weight level and what is progress. Weight trend app and looking at comparing weight at same points of menstrual cycles if having such.

You've been losing more than 7 lbs a month by the sounds of it between July and December. So more then 800 Cal effective deficit per day.

Won't continue at same rate forever.

Which is where lifestyle and doing things you see yourself doing moving forward come in

Ideally you're pretty much living life normally with the extra kicker of a deficit and weight loss thrown in as opposed to making choices you wouldn't make solely for the benefit of weight loss.

Give your new exercise regime some time to settle down. Don't explicitly reduce calories but do double down on making sure you're recording things correctly. And look at apps like happy scale, Libra or trendweight.com or creating your own 10 day or so exponentially weighted average in a spreadsheet in order to better figure out your weight level changes.

Slower movement in the right direction, doing all the stuff you will be doing for the next 5 years at maintenance, is still movement in the right direction. Pushing things to despair and giving up when not rewarded because you're hanging in there by your fingernails and nothing works no matter how hard you try = not long term sustainable = not what you want if you want to go past the cycles of loss and regain 🤷‍♂️

The energizer bunny has to keep on going! 😛

I definitely think 182 to 176 was a great loss, but it only lasted around 2-3 days then back up and I have no idea why! My current weight as of this morning is 179lbs which is the same as what I was at the very end of December / start of Jan!

I'm currently at 1500 calories which I find to be sufficient, or at least I never feel hungry! I got this number from TDEE calculator's suggestion which was actually1,431 for "cutting".

I love the suggestion of measuring an average and will take a look at the suggested sites, thank you!

elisa123gal

Maybe shake things up and try something different? I have been trying to lose weight by eating 15 grams of net carbs a day and going grain and sugar free. I'm still as chubby as ever. .. Maybe it is because I was encouraged to eat full fat foods on this way of eating. This is simply not working for me. It sure does for some other people, just not me.
I've decided to stick with the grain and sugar free aspect.. but going back to my "go to, always has worked". eating plan. Not all diet strategies work across the board.. you have to find what works and continue on.

csplatt

elisa123gal wrote: »

Maybe shake things up and try something different? I have been trying to lose weight by eating 15 grams of net carbs a day and going grain and sugar free. I'm still as chubby as ever. .. Maybe it is because I was encouraged to eat full fat foods on this way of eating. This is simply not working for me. It sure does for some other people, just not me.
I've decided to stick with the grain and sugar free aspect.. but going back to my "go to, always has worked". eating plan. Not all diet strategies work across the board.. you have to find what works and continue on.

I know this is not the theme of the original post, but @elisa123gal do you also track calories when you track carbs and eliminate sugar? Just curious.

totameafox

The body does what the body does. Sometime you have to trust the process.

The first two weeks I lost 10 pounds. No idea why. I didn't have a 17,500 calorie deficit two weeks in a row. The next week I lost 2 pounds. Very reasonable. Then 0.4 pounds... i didn't very drastically from the week before.

then I GAINED 1.4lbs. While I'm not super strict in logging. I usually eat under the suggested goal so i have room to play. I didn't overeat enough to gain 1.4lbs.

the over the next couple of days I dropped 4 pounds. 2 lbs over night. Likely because I was just drinking soda and not constantly sipping water all day. I bounced back up the next day and only ended up losing 2.6 pounds for week 6.

I gained a pound on week 6. day 1. I am now the same weight as I was on sunday and there is only 2 more days to go. fluctuations are scary. But if you are eating at a caloric deficit then you will see the results in the long run. You just have to keep on keeping on.