Keto Question about Weight Loss

1ragmar
1ragmar Posts: 9 Member
edited November 14 in Health and Weight Loss
Ok I've been monitoring my calories for the last 10 days with the Keto diet. Keeping it under 1500calories
Also my macros are always in check 70/20/5
Drink atleast 3000ml of water day
Question is I've only lost 1.7lbs in 10 days.
Why is my weight loss so slow

Advice?
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Replies

  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    edited January 2017
    moved to other thread
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    1ragmar wrote: »
    Ok I've been monitoring my calories for the last 10 days with the Keto diet. Keeping it under 1500calories
    Also my macros are always in check 70/20/5
    Drink atleast 3000ml of water day
    Question is I've only lost 1.7lbs in 10 days.
    Why is my weight loss so slow

    Advice?

    Only???
  • Icrizz
    Icrizz Posts: 69 Member
    First, I feel like you must know that unless you're planning on being keto for a super long time (years) then you might want to drop it. I had an appointment with a nutrionist not too long ago and unless you do the diet long term, you only lose water weight. Keto diets cause your body to release water from your muscles, making it look like you lost weight. (Your small weight loss just means there's not a lot of water in your muscles rn.)

    Please don't give me any crap for this. This is just what my nutritionist told me.
  • vdgardner3151
    vdgardner3151 Posts: 2 Member
    I have the eating healthy and focusing on quality of clean food rather than quantity, but I have no desire to exercise at all. I live a rather idle life because I work fro home. I wish I had a workout partner.
  • LisaEatSleepRun
    LisaEatSleepRun Posts: 159 Member
    1ragmar wrote: »
    Ok I've been monitoring my calories for the last 10 days with the Keto diet. Keeping it under 1500calories
    Also my macros are always in check 70/20/5
    Drink atleast 3000ml of water day
    Question is I've only lost 1.7lbs in 10 days.
    Why is my weight loss so slow

    Advice?

    1.7lbs is substantial weight loss in 10 days regardless of diet. While a firm believer in CICO, weight loss is not a smooth and linear process, most of the battle is consistency. If you keep your macros and calories in check and preferably move more, you will lose weight! Also, you will likely lose more initially if you have a significant amount to lose. For me, as I get closer to goal weight, loss is slower. Stick to your plan and results will come, good luck!
  • briannadunn
    briannadunn Posts: 841 Member
    For certain people eating carbrohydrates wreaks havoc on their system, others can have carbs all day and lose a ton of weight..I have a fatty liver so my body doesn't do well with Carbs. My body rejects food. I have to basically live off of veges, fruit, and meat to lose anything.
  • fultimers
    fultimers Posts: 153 Member
    Are you tracking your carbs? Many keto plans suggest no more than 20 net carbs. Eating fruit could put you well over that in a hurry.
  • alienws1998
    alienws1998 Posts: 88 Member

    Your Nutritionist is wrong. You will lose weight doing keto, low carb, High carb and every other combination in between. The common denominator with ALL diets is they all work as long as you are in a calorie deficit.

    Let's test this theory. I'm 6 ft tall, I'm male I weight 152.2 pounds of this morning. I'm a network administrator who doesn't go to the gym or work out at all. So how many calories do I burn in a single day? To have a deficit I should use more than I consume, so how many do I burn & how many should I consume?
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member

    Your Nutritionist is wrong. You will lose weight doing keto, low carb, High carb and every other combination in between. The common denominator with ALL diets is they all work as long as you are in a calorie deficit.

    Let's test this theory. I'm 6 ft tall, I'm male I weight 152.2 pounds of this morning. I'm a network administrator who doesn't go to the gym or work out at all. So how many calories do I burn in a single day? To have a deficit I should use more than I consume, so how many do I burn & how many should I consume?

    You would estimate your expenditure and track intake and adjust based on changes in bodyweight. Eventually you would narrow down what your energy needs are.

    There's no way she can answer that question based on the information you wrote.
  • Ssundy1
    Ssundy1 Posts: 1 Member
    Anecdotal evidence seem to suggest that men are more successful on a ketogenic diet then women. It also seem to take women longer to get into ketosis. Keto diet is not for everyone. Phinney and Volek are probably the pre-eminent authorities on nutritional ketosis. I'd get both their books on "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance." Dr. Jason Fung also has a practice that focuses on nutritional ketosis and can speaks on his experience treating both men and women. They all have numerous talks on youtube.com (Low Carb Down Under and elseware). Dig in. This is cutting edge science and there is not "one size fits all."
  • alienws1998
    alienws1998 Posts: 88 Member
    There's no way she can answer that question based on the information you wrote.[/quote]


    :) That is exactly my point. Its very difficult to determine calorie consumption. Too many factors go into that equation, everything from resting heart rate to the temperature, to the size of your bladder, the location of your bathroom, etc etc. So the concept of "just have a calorie deficit" while in theory isn't bad, its just impractical for most people. Carb levels are much easier to calculate, also many people (including myself) on the lchf diets abstain from most corn syrup, refined sugars, and processed grains. If I remember correctly wasn't corn syrup designed to make livestock fat? Wasn't that the point? Why would you assume that by consuming it you wouldn't also get fat?
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    edited January 2017
    Icrizz wrote: »
    First, I feel like you must know that unless you're planning on being keto for a super long time (years) then you might want to drop it. I had an appointment with a nutrionist not too long ago and unless you do the diet long term, you only lose water weight. Keto diets cause your body to release water from your muscles, making it look like you lost weight. (Your small weight loss just means there's not a lot of water in your muscles rn.)

    Please don't give me any crap for this. This is just what my nutritionist told me.

    I agree that doing keto is really only a good idea if you plan on sticking with some sort of LCHF diet, but not always keto. The reaon for this is because I believe it is best to start as you mean to go on. If you plan on eating a higher carb diet agai, it is probably best to learn how to lowe and moderate that way. Then, if you discover things need to chamge in a lower carb dircetion, it is then that you switch to LCHF permanently or at least for quite some time.

    One does not ONLy lose water weight on a ketogenic diet. They will probably lose an extra pound or two of water but the rest is fat. I did not lose 40 lbs of water in 2015. ;)
  • alienws1998
    alienws1998 Posts: 88 Member
    So we can't accurately predict how many calories burnt but know we must be under it? That's absurb. As I pointed out, its incredibly difficult to measure calories used so how would a person consume less than they burn when you don't know how much you burn? Also with calorie deficit you can consume too few and trigger your bodies storage systems actually causing weight gain even with a calorie deficit. And yes there are certain foods that can cause greater weight gain than others regardless of the caloric levels due to the nature of the food itself. Corn syrup is one of those products, it was designed to put on weight on live stock. We discovered later that it makes a cheap sweetener and it began to be used for that purpose, but that doesn't change its original purpose or how its designed.
  • alienws1998
    alienws1998 Posts: 88 Member
    "Your body is equipped with its own starvation defense mechanism, which has evolved over millions of years to protect you during times when food was scarce -- a problem most people don't have today. When you take in too few calories to support activity and normal physiological functioning, your body adapts by reducing the amount of energy it uses to accomplish tasks. Your body may also turn to lean muscle mass for energy in order to conserve its valuable fat stores, just in case it doesn't receive more food anytime soon."


    http://www.livestrong.com/article/264810-weight-loss-starvation-mode/

    Argue with them
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    edited January 2017
    "Your body is equipped with its own starvation defense mechanism, which has evolved over millions of years to protect you during times when food was scarce -- a problem most people don't have today. When you take in too few calories to support activity and normal physiological functioning, your body adapts by reducing the amount of energy it uses to accomplish tasks. Your body may also turn to lean muscle mass for energy in order to conserve its valuable fat stores, just in case it doesn't receive more food anytime soon."


    http://www.livestrong.com/article/264810-weight-loss-starvation-mode/

    Argue with them

    That article further proves my point. It says right in the beginning that if you eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight.

    Nothing in the article says that you can gain weight eating fewer calories than you burn.

    i disagree with some of this article but not all of it.
  • alienws1998
    alienws1998 Posts: 88 Member
    "Your body may also turn to lean muscle mass for energy in order to conserve its valuable fat Stores"

    Reread the article, that's the second time I've quoted that
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    Just to be clear here your direct claim was that you can gain weight in a caloric deficit.

    This is false, and your link doesn't support your claim.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    "Your body may also turn to lean muscle mass for energy in order to conserve its valuable fat Stores"

    Reread the article, that's the second time I've quoted that

    This is partially correct although it's not in order to preserve fat stores.

    There's a limit to how much fat can be oxidized based on how much fat someone has.

    And so if you create too large of an energy deficit or you're insufficient with dietary protein then yes you will lose skeletal muscle.

    But your original claim is that you can gain weight in a deficit due to starvation mode which is false.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    So we can't accurately predict how many calories burnt but know we must be under it? That's absurb.

    It would be absurd. However, that's why no one said it.
    As I pointed out, its incredibly difficult to measure calories used so how would a person consume less than they burn when you don't know how much you burn?

    You don't need to know how much you burn exactly to be under what you burn. A few ways:

    Write down/log what you regularly eat. If you've been maintaining, this is likely maintenance. Reduce calories from that and maybe add some activity. Track results.

    Use a calculator and be honest about activity. If you have a high fat percentage, try the calculator based on fat percentage and try a few estimates to see the difference. Pick a number 500-1000 below the number you get depending on how much you have to lose (or 10-20% less if you are closer to goal). Track results.

    Use MFP. Add back in some amount for exercise (I'd reduce the amounts for exercise MFP gives to start), track results.

    These are more consistent and reliable ways to make sure you are in a calorie deficit than just eating a certain percentage of carbs. I certainly could be in a calorie surplus and gain eating low carb if I didn't otherwise pay attention to what I ate.
    Also with calorie deficit you can consume too few and trigger your bodies storage systems actually causing weight gain even with a calorie deficit.

    No, this doesn't happen. Not good to eat too few, but you will see that you are either because you know what you are eating or because you lose too quickly vs. your reasonable goal.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    "Your body may also turn to lean muscle mass for energy in order to conserve its valuable fat Stores"

    In a ketogenic diet, and during starvation, lean muscle mass is fastest in the first few days while getting into ketosis. As I understand it, the body seems to be used to burning glucose and it will use protein (muscles if there is not enough dietary protein) to create glucose. Eventually the body starts using fat for its primary fuel and protein is conserved. The body has switched to using stored energy, aka fat, as its main fuel source. After a few weeks of ketosis, the body will be fat adapted and need a few days to switch back to glucose burning if the diet is switched back to a higher carb diet.

    This is true of starvation too. The body does not go to muscle protein for fuel before fat. Protein is the last to go. If this wasn't true, people would lose muscle and not be able to move their overweight bodies when searching for food. ;)
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Icrizz wrote: »
    First, I feel like you must know that unless you're planning on being keto for a super long time (years) then you might want to drop it. I had an appointment with a nutrionist not too long ago and unless you do the diet long term, you only lose water weight. Keto diets cause your body to release water from your muscles, making it look like you lost weight. (Your small weight loss just means there's not a lot of water in your muscles rn.)

    Please don't give me any crap for this. This is just what my nutritionist told me.

    Your Nutritionist is wrong. You will lose weight doing keto, low carb, High carb and every other combination in between. The common denominator with ALL diets is they all work as long as you are in a calorie deficit.

    Anyway, this is correct.

    OP, 10 days is nothing and 1.7 lb is a quite good rate of loss for 10 days. It's true that people sometimes drop more at first, especially with low carb, due to water weight loss, but if that didn't happen to you it's no reason to be bothered. Sounds like you are doing just fine.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    fultimers wrote: »
    Are you tracking your carbs? Many keto plans suggest no more than 20 net carbs. Eating fruit could put you well over that in a hurry.

    Still, this would not affect weight loss as long as she's in a calorie deficit.
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    Okay GottaBurnThemAll so you are accepting my challenge then?

    No. Because scales weights fluctuate for many reasons that don't mean fat gain and your weight could be up from activity or water weight. It would have nothing to do with "starvation mode".
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    I'm sick of this argument, bottom line not one of you have managed to tell me precisely how many calories I burn in a day. I've had the question up for a while now and still not one single answer. But you all seem convinced that my results don't seem to matter and that its strictly calorie deficit so fine. Here's the bet, I will not consume any more calories for the rest of the day leaving my intake at less than 200 calories for the day. That's a definite deficit right? If I weigh more tomorrow than I do today (which I will I was a combat medic and have a pretty good grasp on human biology) then you have to swear that you'll never use the community forums again, ever. Agreed?

    You won't burn the exact same number of calories every single day anyway. Maybe tomorrow you will fidget a lot more than you did today. Or you get tired from chasing your tail, so you nap longer today. It's an inexact science.
    Counting carbs is going to be pointless if you are consuming too many calories. Additionally, what you eat today isn't going to have a direct impact on the scale tomorrow. The body is just not that efficient that my work today gives results tomorrow. There are way too many confounding variables. The point is that despite all of the little factors which influence the results, persistence with caloric deficit (a reasonable caloric deficit, or we end up talking about increasing health risks from malnourishment) will lead to weight loss. I'm not sure what exactly it is that you are arguing about. If you want an approximation of how many calories you burn in a day, take your own data (calories consumed in addition to weight lost) and you can get a pretty good estimate, but that's all one can really do.
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
    edited January 2017
    :) That is exactly my point. Its very difficult to determine calorie consumption. Too many factors go into that equation, everything from resting heart rate to the temperature, to the size of your bladder, the location of your bathroom, etc etc. So the concept of "just have a calorie deficit" while in theory isn't bad, its just impractical for most people. Carb levels are much easier to calculate, also many people (including myself) on the lchf diets abstain from most corn syrup, refined sugars, and processed grains. If I remember correctly wasn't corn syrup designed to make livestock fat? Wasn't that the point? Why would you assume that by consuming it you wouldn't also get fat?

    Eating one food will not make you fat, eating an excess of calories (to which that one food may contribute), will cause weight gain over time. Foods with refined sugar or corn syrup may also have a lot of fat and be calorie dense while not being very satiating, contributing to a calorie excess which causes weight gain.

    I think everyone's different. I do moderate everything and lost over 115 pounds and have kept it off for about 2.5 years now. So have quite a few people on here. Other folks have lost with low carb, Keto or something similar.

    The important thing is to find a WOE that works for the person in the long term and causes a calorie deficit. Some people have great success with LCHF, some don't. Some people have great success with an opposite diet, some don't.

    Regardless of the way of eating, no one loses weight without a calorie deficit. Just like eating one food or ingredient on its own will not cause weight gain. There's always a combination of factors, including our behaviors around food that create a caloric deficit or excess, leading to weight-loss or weight gain. No food or diet defies the laws of thermodynamics.
This discussion has been closed.