Why didn't Keto work for me?

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Replies

  • emdeesea
    emdeesea Posts: 1,823 Member
    So you say you weighed and measured everything and you still did not lose.

    Something isn't right here.

    Did you do it every day. Every single day? And you logged absolutely everything, every bite, sip, snack, taste, etc.?

    I want to be clear - do you have a food scale?

    And for exactly how long did you do this - did the weighing everything every day?

    If you did this every single day for 6-8 weeks and had no loss, then you might want to see a doctor.

    But Occams Razor and all - I think something I mentioned above is missing or off. The simplest answer is usually the correct one.
  • sceleratis
    sceleratis Posts: 89 Member
    I did keto for a year and lost 60+ pounds before stopping to run a bulk. I'm now back on keto so I can cut some additional body fat. If you weren't losing on keto, you were simply eating too much. I'm sorry, but there's no other way around it. Keto isn't for everyone and some people experience adverse side effects from the diet, but a lack of weight loss is NOT one of them. Considering your height and weight, you should have seen the pounds melting off if you were truly eating 1370 a day.
  • DebSozo
    DebSozo Posts: 2,578 Member
    LazSommer wrote: »
    Your calorie goal was enough to put you at a deficit - you were eating more than 1300 calories. At your height and weight the lbs would melt off at 1300 calories. You need to weigh your food and be honest with yourself.

    Why does everyone insist I'm lying about things I say? I repeat once again...I WEIGHED AND MEASURED EVERYTHING! Thanks.

    The recommendation to up your calorie expenditure by a couple hundred calories a day is good advice. Every little bit helps. Also if you kept the 4 pounds off then at least that wasn't a total waste.

    You mentioned the website recommended 1370. Did MFP say to set your daily calories at that for 1 pound a week loss? You could set it for 0.5 pounds a week if you don't want to feel so hungry and stressed.

    I do believe stress impacts weight loss. (At least it does in my case.) Exercise can be a good stress reliever also. Hang in there!
    :)

  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    @sweetbug0130 , when did you do keto? I tried looking in your diary to find what you logged when you were doing it. I looked at the first of each month back to July 2015 and couldn't find anything. If you can let us see what you were logging we may be able to help.
  • AnabolicMind2011
    AnabolicMind2011 Posts: 211 Member
    DebSozo wrote: »
    LazSommer wrote: »
    Your calorie goal was enough to put you at a deficit - you were eating more than 1300 calories. At your height and weight the lbs would melt off at 1300 calories. You need to weigh your food and be honest with yourself.

    Why does everyone insist I'm lying about things I say? I repeat once again...I WEIGHED AND MEASURED EVERYTHING! Thanks.

    The recommendation to up your calorie expenditure by a couple hundred calories a day is good advice. Every little bit helps. Also if you kept the 4 pounds off then at least that wasn't a total waste.

    You mentioned the website recommended 1370. Did MFP say to set your daily calories at that for 1 pound a week loss? You could set it for 0.5 pounds a week if you don't want to feel so hungry and stressed.

    I do believe stress impacts weight loss. (At least it does in my case.) Exercise can be a good stress reliever also. Hang in there!
    :)

    This op says she was not losing at 1300 calories, why would eating more calories cause her to lose weight?
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Out of curiosity, were you following a plan? Or did you just lower your carbs to some allotment you devised?
    Looking back a few weeks, it looks like your lower carb days were about 150grams? I didn't see many keto days, maybe TWO at about keto levels. And those included meals with 40 grams of carbs. How low were your carbs then and what were you eating when you were keto? For how long were you keto? Did you test?

    IFF you decide to try keto again, consider joining one of the low carb groups here and, if you haven't, please do your research.

    This is good advice and good questions.

    OP, I tried to look at your diary, since often people have trouble picking the right entries -- MFP can be confusing at first -- and that leads to inaccurate logging. I was not successful, as I couldn't figure out when you were doing keto. What I did see was lots of unlogged days, and a lot of changing strategy--there were shockingly low calories in August for a while (and entries that weren't weighed, but apparently estimated based on serving sizes on packages). Then there were high calories on some days (goal calories, not logged), and days when only a large breakfast was logged (were you IFing?), and then some days that were around 1450 calories as a goal (reasonable) but not fully logged, and nothing that seemed specifically keto.

    Keto is one strategy that will work and often (not always) is a good fit for people who struggle with hunger or are insulin resistant.

    At your height and weight and age you definitely should be losing easily at 1370 (or even the 14-something). The 800 and 600 goals I saw will mess you up and are obviously not healthy. You don't seem to have logged consistently, unless I didn't look back far enough -- I'd be happy to give pointers on picking entries if you do have some consistently-logged days. My recommendation is to log consistently for 3-4 weeks, using keto if you like or just a lower carb macro or whatever macros you prefer, it really doesn't matter. The key is to log as perfectly as possible. Then see what your results are. If not losing on 1370, go to the doctor and have some tests and bring the log. You might also ask to be referred to a dietitian.
  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
    DebSozo wrote: »
    LazSommer wrote: »
    Your calorie goal was enough to put you at a deficit - you were eating more than 1300 calories. At your height and weight the lbs would melt off at 1300 calories. You need to weigh your food and be honest with yourself.

    Why does everyone insist I'm lying about things I say? I repeat once again...I WEIGHED AND MEASURED EVERYTHING! Thanks.

    The recommendation to up your calorie expenditure by a couple hundred calories a day is good advice. Every little bit helps. Also if you kept the 4 pounds off then at least that wasn't a total waste.

    You mentioned the website recommended 1370. Did MFP say to set your daily calories at that for 1 pound a week loss? You could set it for 0.5 pounds a week if you don't want to feel so hungry and stressed.

    I do believe stress impacts weight loss. (At least it does in my case.) Exercise can be a good stress reliever also. Hang in there!
    :)

    This op says she was not losing at 1300 calories, why would eating more calories cause her to lose weight?

    Reduction in corisol levels and lowered water retention? Just guessing this was the intent.

  • foen_i
    foen_i Posts: 27 Member
    edited September 2016
    I ll refrain from reiterating the deficit argument. I believe that is clear by now.

    I do not think anyone here is saying you are LYING. But something when wrong. I do not believe you r doing photosynthesis ;)

    My bet would be that you forgot little things like the sunflower oil for your pan (2spns which really is not much is 100+cal) and/or overestimated your exercise burn. The latter is very common especially among beginners since they often feel like they are doing more work then they actually do due to not being used to it. Light effort exercises become rigorous etc. Breaks of a couple of minutes between exercises are counted in the exercise time.
    That is what I witnessed among a couple of my friends who encountered the same plateau you did.

    Once you realize: If you do not lose, YOU do sth wrong. And adjust accordingly -imo upping exercise is preferable to starving ones body - you will eventually succeed.

    Every method works for everybody. If not you do sth wrong. In the end it is just a matter of picking the preferred method.
  • DebSozo
    DebSozo Posts: 2,578 Member
    DebSozo wrote: »
    LazSommer wrote: »
    Your calorie goal was enough to put you at a deficit - you were eating more than 1300 calories. At your height and weight the lbs would melt off at 1300 calories. You need to weigh your food and be honest with yourself.

    Why does everyone insist I'm lying about things I say? I repeat once again...I WEIGHED AND MEASURED EVERYTHING! Thanks.

    The recommendation to up your calorie expenditure by a couple hundred calories a day is good advice. Every little bit helps. Also if you kept the 4 pounds off then at least that wasn't a total waste.

    You mentioned the website recommended 1370. Did MFP say to set your daily calories at that for 1 pound a week loss? You could set it for 0.5 pounds a week if you don't want to feel so hungry and stressed.

    I do believe stress impacts weight loss. (At least it does in my case.) Exercise can be a good stress reliever also. Hang in there!
    :)

    This op says she was not losing at 1300 calories, why would eating more calories cause her to lose weight?

    You can cry woo-poo on this if you want. But I have heard and read where various coaches and trainers say not to go too low and strict on calories. So it might be better to up the calories a bit and add exercise instead of cutting even more. OP said she doesn't want to go below 1300.

    http://www.coachcalorie.com/not-eating-enough-calories-to-lose-weight/
  • DebSozo
    DebSozo Posts: 2,578 Member
    edited September 2016
    DebSozo wrote: »
    DebSozo wrote: »
    LazSommer wrote: »
    Your calorie goal was enough to put you at a deficit - you were eating more than 1300 calories. At your height and weight the lbs would melt off at 1300 calories. You need to weigh your food and be honest with yourself.

    Why does everyone insist I'm lying about things I say? I repeat once again...I WEIGHED AND MEASURED EVERYTHING! Thanks.

    The recommendation to up your calorie expenditure by a couple hundred calories a day is good advice. Every little bit helps. Also if you kept the 4 pounds off then at least that wasn't a total waste.

    You mentioned the website recommended 1370. Did MFP say to set your daily calories at that for 1 pound a week loss? You could set it for 0.5 pounds a week if you don't want to feel so hungry and stressed.

    I do believe stress impacts weight loss. (At least it does in my case.) Exercise can be a good stress reliever also. Hang in there!
    :)

    This op says she was not losing at 1300 calories, why would eating more calories cause her to lose weight?

    You can cry woo-poo on this if you want. But I have heard and read where various coaches and trainers say not to go too low and strict on calories. So it might be better to up the calories a bit and add exercise instead of cutting even more. OP said she doesn't want to go below 1300.

    http://www.coachcalorie.com/not-eating-enough-calories-to-lose-weight/

    You don't want to go too low but nutritional advice from coaches and trainers isn't particularly valuable. They are still nutritional laity unless they have the proper background, which most of them do not.

    I realize this but if they work with a lot of people and see this phenomenon frequently, then it is something to consider.

    Increase slowly-- maybe 50 calories a day.
    http://www.builtdaily.com/how-to-get-over-your-fear-of-eating-more-calories/

    I stalled out at 1200 calories a couple years ago on another weight loss program and couldn't lose weight. It was miserable. I've gradually upped to about 1750-1800 calories daily maintenance in a reverse diet to be able to maintain at a higher and happier. I don't want to go too low and risk a lower maintenance level!

    Everyone is different.
  • sweetbug0130
    sweetbug0130 Posts: 125 Member
    LazSommer wrote: »
    LazSommer wrote: »
    Your calorie goal was enough to put you at a deficit - you were eating more than 1300 calories. At your height and weight the lbs would melt off at 1300 calories. You need to weigh your food and be honest with yourself.

    Why does everyone insist I'm lying about things I say? I repeat once again...I WEIGHED AND MEASURED EVERYTHING! Thanks.

    Because the only weight you lost was the water weight that comes with cutting carbs. You are not an anomaly, your body is not special. It is not producing energy out of nothing, so if it does not need to take energy from your fat stores, you are giving it enough to use from food.

    Let me repeat. Your body is like all other bodies. It cannot create energy out of thin air. If it does not need to pull extra energy from your fat, it is getting enough from food. This means no deficit. 1300 is a large deficit at your weight, I'm guessing 2lbs a week is your goal. Your BMR and/or TDEE is not 1000 calories off someone else with the same stats.

    Ok. Thanks.
  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
    edited September 2016
    DebSozo wrote: »
    DebSozo wrote: »
    DebSozo wrote: »
    LazSommer wrote: »
    Your calorie goal was enough to put you at a deficit - you were eating more than 1300 calories. At your height and weight the lbs would melt off at 1300 calories. You need to weigh your food and be honest with yourself.

    Why does everyone insist I'm lying about things I say? I repeat once again...I WEIGHED AND MEASURED EVERYTHING! Thanks.

    The recommendation to up your calorie expenditure by a couple hundred calories a day is good advice. Every little bit helps. Also if you kept the 4 pounds off then at least that wasn't a total waste.

    You mentioned the website recommended 1370. Did MFP say to set your daily calories at that for 1 pound a week loss? You could set it for 0.5 pounds a week if you don't want to feel so hungry and stressed.

    I do believe stress impacts weight loss. (At least it does in my case.) Exercise can be a good stress reliever also. Hang in there!
    :)

    This op says she was not losing at 1300 calories, why would eating more calories cause her to lose weight?

    You can cry woo-poo on this if you want. But I have heard and read where various coaches and trainers say not to go too low and strict on calories. So it might be better to up the calories a bit and add exercise instead of cutting even more. OP said she doesn't want to go below 1300.

    http://www.coachcalorie.com/not-eating-enough-calories-to-lose-weight/

    You don't want to go too low but nutritional advice from coaches and trainers isn't particularly valuable. They are still nutritional laity unless they have the proper background, which most of them do not.

    I realize this but if they work with a lot of people and see this phenomenon frequently, then it is something to consider.

    There are a lot of reasons why people stall at lower calories and cortisol is one of the prime issues. Also, what often happens is that when people eat too low they eat and don't record, or under record, due to guilt over not being able to stick to their strict diet and feeling that this is a failure. So what you say is true, it is something to consider but not necessarily for reasons some might be led to believe.
  • sweetbug0130
    sweetbug0130 Posts: 125 Member
    Out of curiosity, were you following a plan? Or did you just lower your carbs to some allotment you devised?
    Looking back a few weeks, it looks like your lower carb days were about 150grams? I didn't see many keto days, maybe TWO at about keto levels. And those included meals with 40 grams of carbs. How low were your carbs then and what were you eating when you were keto? For how long were you keto? Did you test?

    IFF you decide to try keto again, consider joining one of the low carb groups here and, if you haven't, please do your research.

    I did keto in the past. I did it for 10 weeks and did test weekly. I was in ketosis.
  • DebSozo
    DebSozo Posts: 2,578 Member
    DebSozo wrote: »
    DebSozo wrote: »
    DebSozo wrote: »
    LazSommer wrote: »
    Your calorie goal was enough to put you at a deficit - you were eating more than 1300 calories. At your height and weight the lbs would melt off at 1300 calories. You need to weigh your food and be honest with yourself.

    Why does everyone insist I'm lying about things I say? I repeat once again...I WEIGHED AND MEASURED EVERYTHING! Thanks.

    The recommendation to up your calorie expenditure by a couple hundred calories a day is good advice. Every little bit helps. Also if you kept the 4 pounds off then at least that wasn't a total waste.

    You mentioned the website recommended 1370. Did MFP say to set your daily calories at that for 1 pound a week loss? You could set it for 0.5 pounds a week if you don't want to feel so hungry and stressed.

    I do believe stress impacts weight loss. (At least it does in my case.) Exercise can be a good stress reliever also. Hang in there!
    :)

    This op says she was not losing at 1300 calories, why would eating more calories cause her to lose weight?

    You can cry woo-poo on this if you want. But I have heard and read where various coaches and trainers say not to go too low and strict on calories. So it might be better to up the calories a bit and add exercise instead of cutting even more. OP said she doesn't want to go below 1300.

    http://www.coachcalorie.com/not-eating-enough-calories-to-lose-weight/

    You don't want to go too low but nutritional advice from coaches and trainers isn't particularly valuable. They are still nutritional laity unless they have the proper background, which most of them do not.

    I realize this but if they work with a lot of people and see this phenomenon frequently, then it is something to consider.

    There are a lot of reasons why people stall at lower calories and cortisol is one of the prime issues. Also, what often happens is that when people eat too low they eat and don't record, or under record, due to guilt over not being able to stick to their strict diet and feeling that this is a failure. So what you say is true, it is something to consider but not necessarily for reasons some might be led to believe.

    I agree that stress and cortisol are contibutors. That is what started me gaining initially.
  • sweetbug0130
    sweetbug0130 Posts: 125 Member
    DebSozo wrote: »
    LazSommer wrote: »
    Your calorie goal was enough to put you at a deficit - you were eating more than 1300 calories. At your height and weight the lbs would melt off at 1300 calories. You need to weigh your food and be honest with yourself.

    Why does everyone insist I'm lying about things I say? I repeat once again...I WEIGHED AND MEASURED EVERYTHING! Thanks.

    The recommendation to up your calorie expenditure by a couple hundred calories a day is good advice. Every little bit helps. Also if you kept the 4 pounds off then at least that wasn't a total waste.

    You mentioned the website recommended 1370. Did MFP say to set your daily calories at that for 1 pound a week loss? You could set it for 0.5 pounds a week if you don't want to feel so hungry and stressed.

    I do believe stress impacts weight loss. (At least it does in my case.) Exercise can be a good stress reliever also. Hang in there!
    :)

    Thank you so much. It was set at a 2 lbs loss per week.
  • sweetbug0130
    sweetbug0130 Posts: 125 Member
    jemhh wrote: »
    @sweetbug0130 , when did you do keto? I tried looking in your diary to find what you logged when you were doing it. I looked at the first of each month back to July 2015 and couldn't find anything. If you can let us see what you were logging we may be able to help.

    Months back. Sorry. got a new mfp
  • amerag
    amerag Posts: 3 Member
    @sweetbug0130 hi girl ~ I actually feel your frustration. I tired keto. and it didn't work for me as well. why? because I don't commit to it 100 %, I eat extra "healthy" carbs and that leads me to bloat like a Macys thanksgiving balloon which adds more frustration . I cheat myself on the weekends and end up gaining the same pounds lost... so I know what I am doing wrong ~ I am standing in my own way.

    I do like that people on here are trying to help~ That is very thoughtful because everyone is busy so that makes me feel confident if I come here asking for tips in the future .

    I am 5 foot nothing, and need to lose 50...I will restart the keto again with determination to overcome this dang obstacle.

    Hang in there missy and don't give up...everyday is a chance for us to do something fabulous towards a healthy body. Be more stubborn than the number on the scale. good luck!
  • CasperNaegle
    CasperNaegle Posts: 936 Member
    So the bottom line is even if you cut carbs out you have to be in a calorie deficit. Sorry but that is the honest truth.
  • sweetbug0130
    sweetbug0130 Posts: 125 Member
    amerag wrote: »
    @sweetbug0130 hi girl ~ I actually feel your frustration. I tired keto. and it didn't work for me as well. why? because I don't commit to it 100 %, I eat extra "healthy" carbs and that leads me to bloat like a Macys thanksgiving balloon which adds more frustration . I cheat myself on the weekends and end up gaining the same pounds lost... so I know what I am doing wrong ~ I am standing in my own way.

    I do like that people on here are trying to help~ That is very thoughtful because everyone is busy so that makes me feel confident if I come here asking for tips in the future .

    I am 5 foot nothing, and need to lose 50...I will restart the keto again with determination to overcome this dang obstacle.

    Hang in there missy and don't give up...everyday is a chance for us to do something fabulous towards a healthy body. Be more stubborn than the number on the scale. good luck!

    I thank you for being encouraging. In do appreciate everyone's comments but when I keep saying I did count and measure, and they keep saying i didn't, it's frustrating.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    I felt like I tweaked low carb every way possible and I didn't lose. I lost the initial 4 lbs of water weight but stopped. Anyone have any advice? Don't say a calorie deficit is guaranteed to lose... I'm aware. Please and thank you.

    Because you ate too much. Perhaps it's just not sustainable for you.

    Any diet will work as long as you eat at a calorie deficit, and no diet work if you don't.

    Find a way of eating that works for you, eat at a calorie deficit and you will lose weight. Guaranteed every time.
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    amerag wrote: »
    @sweetbug0130 hi girl ~ I actually feel your frustration. I tired keto. and it didn't work for me as well. why? because I don't commit to it 100 %, I eat extra "healthy" carbs and that leads me to bloat like a Macys thanksgiving balloon which adds more frustration . I cheat myself on the weekends and end up gaining the same pounds lost... so I know what I am doing wrong ~ I am standing in my own way.

    I do like that people on here are trying to help~ That is very thoughtful because everyone is busy so that makes me feel confident if I come here asking for tips in the future .

    I am 5 foot nothing, and need to lose 50...I will restart the keto again with determination to overcome this dang obstacle.

    Hang in there missy and don't give up...everyday is a chance for us to do something fabulous towards a healthy body. Be more stubborn than the number on the scale. good luck!

    I thank you for being encouraging. In do appreciate everyone's comments but when I keep saying I did count and measure, and they keep saying i didn't, it's frustrating.

    There's a difference being weighing and measuring and doing so properly. I think that's the point that people are trying to make here.

    Bottom line, if you were weighing and measuring properly and maintained an appropriate calorie deficit you would have lost weight on a keto diet. Or any other diet for that matter. :)
  • emdeesea
    emdeesea Posts: 1,823 Member
    Just a quick and easy suggestion. You don't have to be in keto or any other "diet" to lose weight.

    I haven't watched anything - ANYTHING - other than calories. I did pay attention to protein but even then that's on and off. And I was successful and lost 60 pounds.

    What is going to lead to your success is COUNTING everything accurately. And by accurately I mean get a food scale. Weigh solids with the scale and measure liquids with a measuring cup.

    I mean if you WANT to do keto great but it's not necessary. NONE of any diet is NECESSARY. The only thing that is necessary is eating less than you need to maintain your current weight.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    Bearbo27 wrote: »
    How much weight did you have to lose? What are your stats? What answers are you looking for then if you don't want to hear a thing about calorie deficit?

    I have about 80 to lose atleast. I'm 5'2" 266 lbs. The reason I don't want to hear about a calorie deficit is bc I know that part and did eat at a calorie deficit, lost four pounds the first week and didn't lose anything else over two months.

    The first 4 pounds were likely water due to a decrease in carbs.

    No you didn't eat at a calorie deficit because, otherwise, you would have lost weight.
  • DebSozo
    DebSozo Posts: 2,578 Member
    amerag wrote: »
    @sweetbug0130 hi girl ~ I actually feel your frustration. I tired keto. and it didn't work for me as well. why? because I don't commit to it 100 %, I eat extra "healthy" carbs and that leads me to bloat like a Macys thanksgiving balloon which adds more frustration . I cheat myself on the weekends and end up gaining the same pounds lost... so I know what I am doing wrong ~ I am standing in my own way.

    I do like that people on here are trying to help~ That is very thoughtful because everyone is busy so that makes me feel confident if I come here asking for tips in the future .

    I am 5 foot nothing, and need to lose 50...I will restart the keto again with determination to overcome this dang obstacle.

    Hang in there missy and don't give up...everyday is a chance for us to do something fabulous towards a healthy body. Be more stubborn than the number on the scale. good luck!

    I thank you for being encouraging. In do appreciate everyone's comments but when I keep saying I did count and measure, and they keep saying i didn't, it's frustrating.

    I got accused of the same thing when I plateaued at 1200 calories. I should have been losing but wasn't. AND I was angry that I could eat a lot more before I started dieting and maintained previously so it was hard to hit a plateau. I lost 10 pounds initially the first 4 months and then hit a plateau that went on and on.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    Machka9 wrote: »
    Bearbo27 wrote: »
    How much weight did you have to lose? What are your stats? What answers are you looking for then if you don't want to hear a thing about calorie deficit?

    I have about 80 to lose atleast. I'm 5'2" 266 lbs. The reason I don't want to hear about a calorie deficit is bc I know that part and did eat at a calorie deficit, lost four pounds the first week and didn't lose anything else over two months.

    If you didn't lose anything in two months, you weren't eating at a deficit. Sorry.

    So 1370 isn't a deficit!?!?!? If not then I give up and will remain at my weight. I will not starve myself.

    Sweetbug, I encourage you to take a step back and really analyze this. That you did were not losing weight is clear evidence that you were not eating at a calorie deficit. Had you been doing so you would have lost weight.

    1. Did you weigh all solids and measure all liquids and log every single thing you ate every single day?
    2. Did you have any cheat days, or days where you went over, that you did not log your food?
    3. Did you ensure you were using accurate food entries?
    4. Where did you get those exercise burns from? I can assure you you are not burning 300-500 calories for weight lifting. In fact, weight lifting is part of your activity level and should be counted as zero. Only steady state cardio calories are counted for exercise.

    Those are just some things to think about.
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