Anyone experience weight gain at the start of keto?

themeaningofthemorning
themeaningofthemorning Posts: 320 Member
edited November 17 in Health and Weight Loss
Disclaimer:
1. I was told to eat low carb by my doctor as I have PCOS, which at its core is an insulin resistance issue.
2. I weigh and measure everything I eat.
3. I'm not new to this ballgame. Before I was an idiot and decided to become vegan, which exacerbated my PCOS and caused major anemia which inhibited my workouts, I had lost 50 lbs. I'm now at a net loss of 40 lbs.
4. My diary will show that since I came back to MFP about 10 days ago, I've had some moderately low cal days, one high day, and some very low days (around 1230-1250 cals). This works for me and my PCOS-affected metabolism.
5. Like I said, I was told to cut carbs by my DOCTOR, so I don't want to hear about how you don't agree with keto, your personal brand of dieting, etc. This thread has a specific title directed at a very specific group of people. Knowing how this forum can be, I am making clear from the get go that I'm not interested in a debate or seeing broscience in this thread.

That said!

People who are doing keto: did you experience any initial weight gain/water retention?

To be fair, I just started strength training again and am def experiencing some intense DOMS, so I know I'm probably swollen and retaining water. But I'm so frustrated to see that the scale has actually told me I've gained 2 lbs! My calories have been fairly low, considering I work an active job and have been going to the gym daily, strength one day and cardio the next, so I feel like even if I'm retaining some water from my strength training, it should've balanced out from some fat loss and not resulted in a 2 lb gain.

I'm wondering if maybe I'm not drinking enough water! How much do you guys generally drink on keto?

Just wanting to know if anyone experienced this in the first couple weeks :)

Replies

  • isulo_kura
    isulo_kura Posts: 818 Member
    themeaningofthemorning wrote: »
    This thread has a specific title directed at a very specific group of people. Knowing how this forum can be, I am making clear from the get go that I'm not interested in a debate or seeing broscience in this thread.)

    Wow attacking people before they've replied now that's a new concept.

    Anyway looking at your diary you are eating far more food than you think. How big is half an avocado how much does it weigh? Things like that can add a lot more calories. You're also using generic entries and using cups when things need to be weighed. Tighten up your logging is the first thing you need to do
  • themeaningofthemorning
    themeaningofthemorning Posts: 320 Member
    Not really an attack, just a statement regarding what is and is not helpful in this thread, and a fair one, considering what you'll find in other threads.

    Regarding the logging - a good point, but I generally "overlog". As in, if I don't feel like weighing something or don't have a scale with me, I will log a quarter of an avocado as a half. I def should be weighing, but I can't imagine that, considering how much I compensate for NOT weighing by exaggerating my intake, I'm actually eating enough to throw myself into a surplus. I used MFP before as a total noob and didn't weigh a thing and lost 20 lbs before I started weighing anything...
  • pollypocket1021
    pollypocket1021 Posts: 533 Member
    I wouldn't stress about 2lbs, as water weight can be far more than that, especially as a menstruating female.

    Sounds like you know what you're doing WRT the PCOS. Give it some time and it will sort itself.
  • themeaningofthemorning
    themeaningofthemorning Posts: 320 Member
    True... Weirdly enough I was told to use my birth control to skip periods as much as possible to help get my iron back to where it should be, but my spironolactone (for the PCOS) caused me to get my period ANYWAY this week. So I definitely could be having some major hormonal water retention. Didn't even think of that!

    Regardless, I'll try to be stricter about weighing my food this week and see what happens.
  • LiftAndBalance
    LiftAndBalance Posts: 960 Member
    themeaningofthemorning wrote: »
    True... Weirdly enough I was told to use my birth control to skip periods as much as possible to help get my iron back to where it should be, but my spironolactone (for the PCOS) caused me to get my period ANYWAY this week. So I definitely could be having some major hormonal water retention. Didn't even think of that!

    Water retention is also a common side effect of hormonal birth control. (And you don't menstruate in the actual sense of the word when you take hormonal contraceptives as they repress your cycle. This also means that hormonal water retention doesn't follow the same patterns as in a natural cycle—if you're unlucky it can just start at any time and stay.)
  • themeaningofthemorning
    themeaningofthemorning Posts: 320 Member
    I know it's not a real period. I do tend to retain water when I'm having a withdraw bleed, though. :(
  • themeaningofthemorning
    themeaningofthemorning Posts: 320 Member
    However I've only been on spironolactone for about 2 months, and it's definitely going to consistently change how my body reacts to birth control until it gets a grip on my androgens. Meaning I'm probably going to have a whole lot of weird water issues for a while. Damn, didn't even think of that. How annoying. Maybe I'll just throw away the scale for now.
  • LiftAndBalance
    LiftAndBalance Posts: 960 Member
    themeaningofthemorning wrote: »
    I know it's not a real period. I do tend to retain water when I'm having a withdraw bleed, though. :(

    Ah, that sucks. (But glad that your doctor (or you yourself) obviously educated you on hormonal birth control, it drives me nuts how often women have no idea what's going on so it's almost a reflex to point these things out.)

    If the weight actually doesn't come off (beyond water retention), being stricter with your logging and actually weighing all (or at least all calorie dense) foods would be the most obvious solution.
  • Kitnthecat
    Kitnthecat Posts: 2,075 Member
    Have you checked out this group on MFP: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group. There is also a keto group, however many keto or LCHF people are at the low carber daily forum, and they have a lot of information to share, as well as being very supportive.
  • quintoespada
    quintoespada Posts: 58 Member
    edited April 2015
    (note: i'm transgender, my body is biologically female, i have to record everything as if i'm biologically male because i'm prescribed depo testosterone.)

    OP, i've got pcos, too. i was diagnosed when i was 18. i also suffer from BED, and my highest weight recorded was 265 lbs.

    tuesday, i weighed in at 175 lbs.

    after a major binge wednesday and a little caloric and carb overage today, i'm sitting at 180-181 lbs., and i know it's because of water weight from the sodium and carbs. usually, i have to limit my carb intake anywhere from 30-45g per day because of PCOS, so you can imagine what kinds of havoc that binge wreaked on my system!

    although i'm not on the atkins diet and i teeter between vegan and paleo because of my cravings, the one thing i didn't do and won't do, however, is give up - i never will. i expect at some point for this water weight to drop off again, even if it's going to be stubborn about it. it usually does, whether i flatline for a week or two or not.

    don't give up hope, yeah? you'll be okay. sometimes insulin resistance from pcos does weird stuff to our bodies because of our hormone levels. experiment and see what works for you. that's really all you can do!
  • themeaningofthemorning
    themeaningofthemorning Posts: 320 Member
    LiftAndBalance wrote: »
    themeaningofthemorning wrote: »
    I know it's not a real period. I do tend to retain water when I'm having a withdraw bleed, though. :(

    Ah, that sucks. (But glad that your doctor (or you yourself) obviously educated you on hormonal birth control, it drives me nuts how often women have no idea what's going on so it's almost a reflex to point these things out.)

    If the weight actually doesn't come off (beyond water retention), being stricter with your logging and actually weighing all (or at least all calorie dense) foods would be the most obvious solution.

    Omg totally and I don't fault you for mentioning that at all. Honestly, the only reason I know about it at all is because of the PCOS. I had to educate myself if I wanted to get anywhere. It's a shame that most of us don't have the knowledge. We just pop a pill and don't really care about what it's doing or what is going on with our bodies.
  • themeaningofthemorning
    themeaningofthemorning Posts: 320 Member
    Kitnthecat wrote: »
    Have you checked out this group on MFP: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group. There is also a keto group, however many keto or LCHF people are at the low carber daily forum, and they have a lot of information to share, as well as being very supportive.

    Thank you!
  • themeaningofthemorning
    themeaningofthemorning Posts: 320 Member
    quintoespada wrote: »
    (note: i'm transgender, my body is biologically female, i have to record everything as if i'm biologically male because i'm prescribed depo testosterone.)

    OP, i've got pcos, too. i was diagnosed when i was 18. i also suffer from BED, and my highest weight recorded was 265 lbs.

    tuesday, i weighed in at 175 lbs.

    after a major binge wednesday and a little caloric and carb overage today, i'm sitting at 180-181 lbs., and i know it's because of water weight from the sodium and carbs. usually, i have to limit my carb intake anywhere from 30-45g per day because of PCOS, so you can imagine what kinds of havoc that binge wreaked on my system!

    although i'm not on the atkins diet and i teeter between vegan and paleo because of my cravings, the one thing i didn't do and won't do, however, is give up - i never will. i expect at some point for this water weight to drop off again, even if it's going to be stubborn about it. it usually does, whether i flatline for a week or two or not.

    don't give up hope, yeah? you'll be okay. sometimes insulin resistance from pcos does weird stuff to our bodies because of our hormone levels. experiment and see what works for you. that's really all you can do!

    Thanks so much for this! I especially appreciate hearing from someone with PCOS! While I've obviously been struggling with this syndrome for a while, I didn't have many ~worrying~ symptoms until after my year as a vegan (probably all the carbs I ate), so I was only recently diagnosed. Meaning I'm super new to the idea of paying attention to when things might hormonal or when I'm actually doing something wrong. And I'm new to what happens when you limit carbs, because I've never really done it before.

    Before the diagnosis, I was kind of hard on myself when it came to weight loss. I lost 50 lbs using a mean inner voice and being unforgiving. I'm learning to be nicer to myself, and on the same token I appreciate the tone of your response :) I won't give up!!!!!
  • themeaningofthemorning
    themeaningofthemorning Posts: 320 Member
    Btw, kudos for your success!!!!
  • Kitnthecat
    Kitnthecat Posts: 2,075 Member
    You're welcome. BTW, there are folks with PCOS at the low carb group too.

    As for the water, I think most of us drink a lot of water, and you may be thirstier than normal for a while. I aim for .5 oz of water for every pound of my body weight.

    I think for me, I lost a lot of water weight initially, then weight loss slowed a bit. Whenever my carb intake increases, that's when I start to retain again and the weight loss stops.
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