Ketosis & Fat Fast aren't working. At all.

paperazzi
paperazzi Posts: 6 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Can someone please give me some feedback here? I am celiac so am used to not eating a ton of carbs already. I have gained about thirty pounds in the past fifteen years - eight of those in the past six eight months with no change in diet. I've tried a ketogenic diet in the past for a month but the weight loss was negligible so I gave up. I would like to lose twenty of those so have done a Fat Fast to kickstart my metabolism for the past six days. Other than the initial water loss in the beginning (2.4lbs) there has been no movement on the scale in a week. I'm in ketosis (testing with the sticks), have been tracking all my macros and am at a loss and very discouraged. My calories aren't abnormally low and I'm only slightly hungry. What is going on? Shouldn't I see SOME weight loss since I'm on day 7 now?
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Replies

  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    Absolutely impossible to give you any solid help without your height, weight, sex, age, activity level, and daily calories eaten (average.) My only suggestion without that info is to be patient. 2.4 pounds in 6 days is progress.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    Closed diary. How many calories per day, how many grams of fat and carbohydrate ??
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited May 2016
    Patience my friend! And quick starting metabolism, it a myth. Can not do anything to kick or jump start your metabolism to loose weight. If you want to increase your current metabolism, this comes from building lean muscle through exercise.

    You will not necessarily see weight loss in the form of fat loss this quickly. You did however see the evident water weight loss from less carbs consumed. Completely normal.

    If after 3 weeks of this no weight loss you need to reassess the calories consumed and not just low carbs consumed.. Got to make sure you weigh all foods on a food scale. It really is important to follow this part of the process.

    You can low carb all day every day and every week, but if your calories are not in a "deficit" to loose weight, guess what? You will not loose weight.
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    paperazzi wrote: »
    Can someone please give me some feedback here? I am celiac so am used to not eating a ton of carbs already. I have gained about thirty pounds in the past fifteen years - eight of those in the past six eight months with no change in diet. I've tried a ketogenic diet in the past for a month but the weight loss was negligible so I gave up. I would like to lose twenty of those so have done a Fat Fast to kickstart my metabolism for the past six days. Other than the initial water loss in the beginning (2.4lbs) there has been no movement on the scale in a week. I'm in ketosis (testing with the sticks), have been tracking all my macros and am at a loss and very discouraged. My calories aren't abnormally low and I'm only slightly hungry. What is going on? Shouldn't I see SOME weight loss since I'm on day 7 now?

    Your metabolism doesn't need to be kickstarted. Nor will special diets or foods actually do that, because if your metabolism really needed a kickstart (indicating it had stopped working) you'd have far bigger issues than trying to shed a few pounds. ;)
  • kimdawnhayden
    kimdawnhayden Posts: 298 Member
    Cutting out carbs completely is not going to help you lose weight if you are eating too many calories. I did the Paleo thing several years ago and gained weight because I ate all the Protein and Fat I wanted. I actually tried it a few times and would lose tremendous amounts of hair from it. Couldn't prove it, but I think it was related. I was tired all the time. I eat carbs now and feel better. I've lost weight eating carbs at every meal, just being in a deficit. You can eat potatoes, gluten free oats, and rice right as a celiac? I just think the low carb/no carb thing didn't work for me. Everyone is different though.
  • colors_fade
    colors_fade Posts: 464 Member
    snickerscharlie wrote: »
    Your metabolism doesn't need to be kickstarted. Nor will special diets or foods actually do that, because if your metabolism really needed a kickstart (indicating it had stopped working) you'd have far bigger issues than trying to shed a few pounds. ;)

    This

  • paperazzi
    paperazzi Posts: 6 Member
    Thanks, folks, for your responses. I didn't realize my diary settings were set to private. They're public now. Height 5'4", weight my whole life (naturally) was 110 lbs. Suddenly blasted up to 136lbs in my early 40's, no change in diet. I managed to get myself down to 128lbs through regular intermittent fasting until eight months or so ago when the weight suddenly blasted upwards, again, with no change in diet. I used to feel great doing the intermittent fasting but now it really makes me ill, don't know why, so I can't do it anymore. All my macros over the past two weeks have been logged here. Maybe I'm being impatient but everything I've read about a Fat Fast indicates steady weight loss. It's disheartening, especially when I can still eat 3000 calories a day of anything I want and STAY at this weight! Very weird. But I don't want to stay at this weight, it's too much for my little frame.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    Okay, I have to ask. What is a Fat Fast?
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,860 Member
    How do you know there's no change to your diet? It is very easy to increase the amount of cooking oil you use one tiny drop at a time. You're measuring everything in spoons and cups now anyway, thus there's no way of knowing whether your diet always stayed the same. More realistically it did not, otherwise you'd not have gained weight.

    Basically you currently are not logging properly as you're not weighing your food. Spoons and cups are notoriously unreliable as I stated above. And what's the definition of a half avocado? If yours was larger then you had much more calories. If you filled your spoon or cup to the rim or over you're most likely overeating, your one spoon of olive oil that you log at 40kcal could easily be 60 or more calories depending on how big your spoon is and how full it is.

    But on the plus side: you are losing weight. With that bit to lose you should not be losing more than 1/2 pound, maybe 1lbs max per week anyway. Thus slow down, weight and measure your food and adjust your expectations. I'm sure your weight loss will work out.
  • dragon_girl26
    dragon_girl26 Posts: 2,187 Member
    edited May 2016
    paperazzi wrote: »
    Thanks, folks, for your responses. I didn't realize my diary settings were set to private. They're public now. Height 5'4", weight my whole life (naturally) was 110 lbs. Suddenly blasted up to 136lbs in my early 40's, no change in diet. I managed to get myself down to 128lbs through regular intermittent fasting until eight months or so ago when the weight suddenly blasted upwards, again, with no change in diet. I used to feel great doing the intermittent fasting but now it really makes me ill, don't know why, so I can't do it anymore. All my macros over the past two weeks have been logged here. Maybe I'm being impatient but everything I've read about a Fat Fast indicates steady weight loss. It's disheartening, especially when I can still eat 3000 calories a day of anything I want and STAY at this weight! Very weird. But I don't want to stay at this weight, it's too much for my little frame.

    Wow, now you have me curious... 5"4', 136lbs, and your maintenance calories are 3000?? Are you a really highly active person or something? That just sounds really high to me. For reference, I'm 35 years old, 5'6", 163lbs, and with 5-6 days a week of exercise my TDEE is 2500. Do you usually eat 3000?


    ETA: I plugged the stats you've given into the Scooby's Workshop calculator (found here: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/).
    I even selected the max activity level of 7-21 hrs/wk of strenuous exercise, and it gave me a TDEE figure of 2349...
    In short, it sounds like you've most likely been overeating, OP.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    paperazzi wrote: »
    Thanks, folks, for your responses. I didn't realize my diary settings were set to private. They're public now. Height 5'4", weight my whole life (naturally) was 110 lbs. Suddenly blasted up to 136lbs in my early 40's, no change in diet. I managed to get myself down to 128lbs through regular intermittent fasting until eight months or so ago when the weight suddenly blasted upwards, again, with no change in diet. I used to feel great doing the intermittent fasting but now it really makes me ill, don't know why, so I can't do it anymore. All my macros over the past two weeks have been logged here. Maybe I'm being impatient but everything I've read about a Fat Fast indicates steady weight loss. It's disheartening, especially when I can still eat 3000 calories a day of anything I want and STAY at this weight! Very weird. But I don't want to stay at this weight, it's too much for my little frame.

    I think we've found the problem. 3000 Calories is almost definitely (not knowing activity level) far too much for you to lose weight. If you're actually maintaining at 3000, drop down to 2500-2750 for a few weeks.

  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
    jemhh wrote: »
    Okay, I have to ask. What is a Fat Fast?

    It's a technique from Atkins to get over a plateau. 1000 calories, 90% of those from fat.
  • chocolate_owl
    chocolate_owl Posts: 1,695 Member
    First, yes, you're being impatient. It took me a month to lose a lb. Then 3 more dropped right off, but between my workout routine, sodium intake, and wonky TOM cycles, all sorts of things were masking my weight loss.

    There are no weight measurements in your diary. Unless you're weighing things, you don't know how much you're really eating. Avocado in particular is very calorie-dense, and yours could be much larger than what the entry in the database was based off of.

    At 5'4", you really should be aiming for more than 1100 calories a day. You're not going to get proper nutrition on such a low number. You keep blowing by it though, which indicates you don't think it's enough either. Set a more realistic calorie goal and have more patience. Also, your protein goal is INSANELY low. Like, nowhere near the minimums for any diet ever kind of low. You can eat a lot more than that and remain in ketosis. If this has to do with the Fat Fast thing... Stop doing that. You need more protein.

    Also, you're 48... You're a little young, but menopause? Your body could be undergoing some pretty drastic hormonal changes right now, which may be why your weight has been fluctuating so dramatically as of late.
  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
    @paperazzi - it looks like you're not using a food scale when you log. Try that first, and see what happens.
  • Serah87
    Serah87 Posts: 5,481 Member
    OP looking at your diary, you are not weighing your food, most likely you are eating more then you think!!
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,342 Member
    I didn't see your gender, but if you're female and age 48, there is a lot going on with you hormonally - and it's a pretty unstable time for women's bodies.

    Also, have you been tested for thyroid issues? Also really common for middle aged women - and an under active thyroid could be affecting you.

    The biggest problems are 3000 calories a day lolnotlikely...and your lack of accurate tracking...and seven days.
  • californiagirl2012
    californiagirl2012 Posts: 2,625 Member
    Focus on the food scale instead of the body weight scale. It will work even if you never stepped on the scale again. I don't care what your food allergy is, depriving yourself will never work. It's why we all yo-yo'd all the years on all those freakin fad diets.

    So what, eat the carbs your body can take, plenty of gluten free options available. It doesn't matter what, focus on protein and veggies and fill in the daily caloire gap with healthy carb/fat. It's the total calories consistently over time that cause fat loss. 40/20/40 protein/fat/carb is a great place to start, then tweak according to how you feel from there.

    Just ditch the rules and keep it simple. It will work if you make it work and stop making it complicated. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen if you are consistent with calories.

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