Questions after 10 days on Keto

Asphere79

Hi All! I am at the end of my phd program and while in grad school I packed on 100 lbs! I decided to try Keto so that I could lose it. I immedietly went into ketosis the following day and got the "keto flu" 2 days later (though very mild). After that I felt great. I added 4-5 days of cardio (a mix of brisk walking and low impact jogging) and 3 days of strength training. I try to keep my calories around 1800 but I am never starving (I eat when I get hungry and record everything).

In the first 5 days I lost alot of water weight - about 10 lbs but after than I stopped. I don't mean that my weight loss slowed down (I expected that) but it just totally stopped. I have been bouncing around the same decimal point for 4 days now.

This worries me somewhat because about 6 years ago I gained 80 lbs and dropped it fairly conventionally (low fat/high carbs) and as a big fellow I saw that my weight came off fairly quickly (4-5lbs per week for the first 30-40 lbs). I didn't hit any plateaus until I got near my target weight.

If I look at the current last 5 days I have only lost 0.6 lbs. Is this normal after the water weight drop? Is my body adjusting by replacing fat with water weight and eventually I will "whoosh" as I have heard it called? Or do you suspect that something is wrong with my diet plan? Thanks in advance for any info and advice.

tanigrrrrr

Hi There,

Im no expert but having a quick look at your food diary you seem to be bouncing between late 20's to early 40's for grams of carbs per day.
Carb sensitivity varies for each person, try dropping and keeping your carbs under 20g per day and see how it effects your loss.

Also - excersise believe it or not may be hindering your weight loss.. Try stepping back the excersise for a week along with your carbs.

Good luck and keep going!

kiramaniac

1 - Tortillas. Notorious for impact people. Go a week without these and see if you see an improvement.
2 - Fat. I looked at the last 6 days of your diary. Several days your fat was in the low 50's. Gotta boost this up.
3 - Watch the protein. Too much protein will convert to glucose in your body - it's the same as eating too many carbs.
4 - Water. One of the days I looked at was really low on water consumption. I find the days I drink low will always result in me having a weight gain (and low for me is 9 cups of water). I target at least 12. 15 is a really good day.
5 - Dude. Reduced fat cheese? We are going to have to pull your keto membership card. Need to dump that and return to the world of full fat goodness.

But first and foremost, those wraps. I googled them, and their numbers do not match what your diary has. And their numbers also do not "add up". Something is off here. Fat * 9 + Protein * 4 + Carbs * 4 should come up with Calories, and these do not add up. I also do not get how you can have flour and flour as your first two ingredients, and somehow net that out. I think they are playing games here.

Are you measuring for ketosis using ketostix? If not, it might be good to try just to monitor to ensure you don't have something bad that throws you out.

Good luck!

2bmeagain12

^^^THIS^^^

aonegirlarmy

I am by no means an experts and am a newbie myself, but yes to everything kiramaniac said.

I have been doing this for about a month and lost 3lbs in the first week. Then nothing. AT ALL. Literally this week is when stuff has finally started to move a bit and not just fluctuate between the same few lbs.

I was weirded out by the fat intake at first, but I changed my cheeses to full fat goodness and my inches started to go down. Make cheese chips!

Edit: I can't spell.

desiv2

You already have all you need in the above posts, but I just wanted to add that weighing daily isn't a good measure. I can weight everyday in a week and be up or the same, then suddenly one day it all just leaves in a woosh. I was told this was normal for keto diets.

Also low fat and reduced fat cheeses or dressings are a no no for sure, but if you are worried about calories then I wanted to add that when you eat higher fat you can (or at least this is what I noticed) eat less and feel fuller.


As for the wraps, try using large lettuce leaves instead. They work just as well.


Ketostix are worth the investment, I don't use them often at all. Maybe once a week, just to make sure. I might use one after a day of higher carbs or after eating something that I was concerned about kicking me out. That way you can learn how much and how far you can go before your body stops ketosis.

Good luck, and add me if you like! I'm a newbie too, have been at it for a few weeks now.

ze_hombre

In addition to the great info from others, read up on P.I.S.S. (Post Induction Stall Syndrome). It happened to me when I first started keto. Basically your body sheds a bunch of water weight when first going into ketosis, and then after a few weeks its starts to level itself back out by adding some of the water back. Even though the scale isn't moving, you are burning fat and replacing the weight with water. desiv2 mentioned the whoosh, I have seen them be as much as 4+ pounds.

kiramaniac

You already have all you need in the above posts, but I just wanted to add that weighing daily isn't a good measure. I can weight everyday in a week and be up or the same, then suddenly one day it all just leaves in a woosh. I was told this was normal for keto diets.

Ha! I think I weigh in a minimum of 8 times during the day, before I go to bed, when I get up, in the middle of the night when I have to go to the bathroom!

My husband tends to have the "whoosh", I actually have tended to have regular .2-.5 losses most days of the week. So I think this is another area we are different. But for me, I find the weigh in ritual helps me keep my (obsessive) focus on my keto lifestyle. It's definitely not for everyone though :-)

desiv2

Ah, well I stand corrected.

witchy_wife

Ah, well I stand corrected.

I think the daily weighing thing is just entirely personal choice. Weight can fluctuate on a day by day bases (and various times in the day). Sometimes someone will see a move upwards and panic which can end in them feeling its pointless and giving in. If you can ignore the little ups and downs and focus on the general trend (downwards!) then weighing daily is fine. But it can play games with your head if you aren't used to it.

366to266

Ah, well I stand corrected.

I think the daily weighing thing is just entirely personal choice. Weight can fluctuate on a day by day bases (and various times in the day). Sometimes someone will see a move upwards and panic which can end in them feeling its pointless and giving in. If you can ignore the little ups and downs and focus on the general trend (downwards!) then weighing daily is fine. But it can play games with your head if you aren't used to it.

^^^ this

kiramaniac

I feel I learn a lot from daily weigh ins. For instance, I know that the days that I only drink 8-9 glasses of water, that I have a weight gain the following day of .5-1 pound. And the days I've had my biggest losses have occurred when I drink 15-16 glasses of water. I know this because of weighing daily. If you only weigh in weekly, you miss those opportunities to learn about what might contribute to success and what might be holding you back.

That said - when I did have a 2 week stall 3 months ago, I agree, that they also drove me crazy.

witchy_wife

I feel I learn a lot from daily weigh ins. For instance, I know that the days that I only drink 8-9 glasses of water, that I have a weight gain the following day of .5-1 pound. And the days I've had my biggest losses have occurred when I drink 15-16 glasses of water. I know this because of weighing daily. If you only weigh in weekly, you miss those opportunities to learn about what might contribute to success and what might be holding you back.

That said - when I did have a 2 week stall 3 months ago, I agree, that they also drove me crazy.

It definitey helps you see how what you eat effects your body

Asphere79

Thanks for all of the responses!

The reduced fat stuff was left over from before I started Keto. They have since been replaced with the full fat stuff.

I have been using ketostix since day one and I have been in ketosis since day 2.

Even though I wasn't recording my water on myfitnesspal it turned out it was low. I now fill up my 32 oz nalgene bottle 5 times per day and have blown past that stall. From what I understand, any weightloss diet should include more that 8 cups per day because the liver needs water to metabolize fat. If you were just maintaining 8 cups would be all you need. Does that sound right?

As for the wraps - I have one per day and I haven't been kicked out of keto yet. Here is what the package says:

Cal 71 Carbs 17 Fiber 12 Protein 8 Fat 2

From what I understand there is two different nutrition labels floating around - one is an old one that has been discontinued and this one is the current one. So the calories should be 4*5 (net carbs) + 4*8 (protein) + 9*2 (fat) = 70. That is pretty close.

Asphere79

Hi There,

Im no expert but having a quick look at your food diary you seem to be bouncing between late 20's to early 40's for grams of carbs per day.
Carb sensitivity varies for each person, try dropping and keeping your carbs under 20g per day and see how it effects your loss.

Also - excersise believe it or not may be hindering your weight loss.. Try stepping back the excersise for a week along with your carbs.

Good luck and keep going!

I don't believe my net carbs (Carbs - Fiber) were ever that high. At first I was between 20-30 but often I fall under 20 sometimes on accident. I am going to add some strawberries to ensure that I at least get 20g.

Asphere79

You already have all you need in the above posts, but I just wanted to add that weighing daily isn't a good measure. I can weight everyday in a week and be up or the same, then suddenly one day it all just leaves in a woosh. I was told this was normal for keto diets.

Ha! I think I weigh in a minimum of 8 times during the day, before I go to bed, when I get up, in the middle of the night when I have to go to the bathroom!

My husband tends to have the "whoosh", I actually have tended to have regular .2-.5 losses most days of the week. So I think this is another area we are different. But for me, I find the weigh in ritual helps me keep my (obsessive) focus on my keto lifestyle. It's definitely not for everyone though :-)

I am like that too. I think it is interesting seeing the fluctuations in weight throughout the day.