Ketogenic diet.
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GaylePitt
Posts: 9 Member
I have been doing the keto diet for three weeks and have lost 11 lbs. But i have been at a standstill for one week. Anyone else have any advice to get back to losing? I do have the ketone strips and have not been in ketosis for that week. So i am going to cut out dairy to see if that helps.
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Replies
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I'm still a keto newbie so I don't know if I can help much but...
Are you in a calorie deficit?
I read somewhere that if you consume too many calories (regardless of keto ratios) you won't burn body fat because the body is getting its caloric requirement completely from food intake.
What are your macro ratios/percents?
I have no clue if cutting out dairy helps, although dairy products tend to be calorie dense so if they provide too much calories in your diet, preventing a deficit, that makes sense.1 -
Oh and sufficient water intake?
I found a good link that may help:
https://ketodietapp.com/Blog/post/2013/04/22/Not-Losing-Weight-on-Low-Carb-Ketogenic-Diet-Dont-Give-Up-and-Read-Further2 -
Are you keeping your electrolytes balanced? See this article: https://paleoleap.com/all-about-electrolytes/
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A couple of things that might help.
First, forget about the ketone strips. They measure excreted ketones and not whether you are in a state of nutritional ketosis. If you're in ketosis you're in ketosis, no matter what the strips say - and the way to enter and stay in ketosis is to limit your carbohydrate intake to no more than 20 grams of carbohydrate a day. While it is possible for a person to be in ketosis with more carbs than this each day - everyone is different, after all - if you are under 20 grams of carbs then you will enter ketosis, and if you stay under 20 grams after that you'll stay there.
Second, a ketogenic diet doesn't change the fundamentals of weight loss. If you eat more calories than you expend, you'll put on weight whether those extra calories are in the form of fat, protein, or carbohydrates, whether you're eating fast food or raw vegetables. To lose weight on a ketogenic diet you need to track your carbs and keep them low (under 20 grams a day ideally) AND track your calorie intake too. You'll still need to eat at a deficit to lose weight so make sure you aren't accidentally going over.
Third, a lot of that 11 pounds that you lost fast was likely water weight. That's not a bad thing nor a slight against you, but it does come off easy and fast at the start in a way that it doesn't always later on. Don't expect to lose 11 pounds every couple of weeks or you'll be disappointed. Remember that it likely didn't take three weeks to put on the weight that you want to lose, so it probably won't take three weeks to lose it again now.
Fourth, if you've only stalled for a week...relax! A ketogenic diet does not guarantee you to drop weight in a linear way. You'll have days where you'll put on weight and days or even weeks where you stall at a weight despite doing everything right. Accept this, and keep going. If you end up stalling for a month despite continuing with under 20 grams of carbohydrates a day and eating at a deficit then maybe there's something else up - but a week is no big deal in the greater scheme of things so just keep calm, give it time, and keep going.
Finally, as to dairy, there are people who stick to a ketogenic diet and that works fine for them all the time. There are others - including me - who love dairy and lose weight eating it daily. It's worth experimenting with what foods work for your body and testing on yourself which make you feel better, feel worse, feel happy, and feel blergh. There's nothing about dairy, though, that is fundamentally bad for a ketogenic diet (cheeses, for example, tend to be high in fat, low in carbohydrates or even carbohydrate-free, and filling) but trying different things will teach you how your body handles different foods so, sure, change it up a little and see what works for you.
Good luck - and feel free to add me as a friend if you're interested in seeing what sorts of things I'm eating on keto and how I'm keeping it under 20 grams of carbs a day. Always happy to support another keto eater!
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Feel free to join this amazing group...its where most of us keto'ers, low carbers, zero carbers etc. hang out ..awesome people with lots of info ...http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group
wishing you the best1 -
Reduce your calories. That's really the only way. Don't forget you dropped a lot of water that first week so any minor fluctuations can make it appear as that you gained or didn't lose depending on sodium and carb intake that day. Just make sure you're in a deficit because that's really the only thing that will cause you to lose weight beyond the 1-2 week initial water drop phase.2
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A couple of things that might help.
First, forget about the ketone strips. They measure excreted ketones and not whether you are in a state of nutritional ketosis. If you're in ketosis you're in ketosis, no matter what the strips say - and the way to enter and stay in ketosis is to limit your carbohydrate intake to no more than 20 grams of carbohydrate a day. While it is possible for a person to be in ketosis with more carbs than this each day - everyone is different, after all - if you are under 20 grams of carbs then you will enter ketosis, and if you stay under 20 grams after that you'll stay there.
Second, a ketogenic diet doesn't change the fundamentals of weight loss. If you eat more calories than you expend, you'll put on weight whether those extra calories are in the form of fat, protein, or carbohydrates, whether you're eating fast food or raw vegetables. To lose weight on a ketogenic diet you need to track your carbs and keep them low (under 20 grams a day ideally) AND track your calorie intake too. You'll still need to eat at a deficit to lose weight so make sure you aren't accidentally going over.
Third, a lot of that 11 pounds that you lost fast was likely water weight. That's not a bad thing nor a slight against you, but it does come off easy and fast at the start in a way that it doesn't always later on. Don't expect to lose 11 pounds every couple of weeks or you'll be disappointed. Remember that it likely didn't take three weeks to put on the weight that you want to lose, so it probably won't take three weeks to lose it again now.
Fourth, if you've only stalled for a week...relax! A ketogenic diet does not guarantee you to drop weight in a linear way. You'll have days where you'll put on weight and days or even weeks where you stall at a weight despite doing everything right. Accept this, and keep going. If you end up stalling for a month despite continuing with under 20 grams of carbohydrates a day and eating at a deficit then maybe there's something else up - but a week is no big deal in the greater scheme of things so just keep calm, give it time, and keep going.
Finally, as to dairy, there are people who stick to a ketogenic diet and that works fine for them all the time. There are others - including me - who love dairy and lose weight eating it daily. It's worth experimenting with what foods work for your body and testing on yourself which make you feel better, feel worse, feel happy, and feel blergh. There's nothing about dairy, though, that is fundamentally bad for a ketogenic diet (cheeses, for example, tend to be high in fat, low in carbohydrates or even carbohydrate-free, and filling) but trying different things will teach you how your body handles different foods so, sure, change it up a little and see what works for you.
Good luck - and feel free to add me as a friend if you're interested in seeing what sorts of things I'm eating on keto and how I'm keeping it under 20 grams of carbs a day. Always happy to support another keto eater!
Very solid advice... I definitely want to stress that weight loss is a non-linear process and things should be evaluated over a 3-4 or longer period before adjusting, especially as a women.4 -
Too much protein could be an issue. If you're at 65/30/5 try 70/25/5. MCT oil and omega supplements helped me keep losing fat while maintaining weight. I would monitor body composition as opposed to just total pounds lost. A side warning with omega supplements is if you begin to bruise for no reason it's ok. It happened to me at first then went away.1
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I have some questions as well. I only started 2 days ago and really am struggling with not going over protein significantly and eating enough fat. I've failed the lay 2 days. Today I'm doing much better so far. My question comes to calories... Mfp had me set at 1250 a day, but on this diet that doesn't go very far. Are the calorie deficits the same on both types of diets? I lost 99.5 pounds just using mfp in the past, but I'm bored with the same old "counting calories"... I wanted to try something new but I've read so many mixed things, I don't know what I'm doing.0
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milkyudders wrote: »I have some questions as well. I only started 2 days ago and really am struggling with not going over protein significantly and eating enough fat. I've failed the lay 2 days. Today I'm doing much better so far. My question comes to calories... Mfp had me set at 1250 a day, but on this diet that doesn't go very far. Are the calorie deficits the same on both types of diets? I lost 99.5 pounds just using mfp in the past, but I'm bored with the same old "counting calories"... I wanted to try something new but I've read so many mixed things, I don't know what I'm doing.
So for a 70/25/5 ratio you're at 97f 78p and 15c?1 -
milkyudders wrote: »I have some questions as well. I only started 2 days ago and really am struggling with not going over protein significantly and eating enough fat. I've failed the lay 2 days. Today I'm doing much better so far. My question comes to calories... Mfp had me set at 1250 a day, but on this diet that doesn't go very far. Are the calorie deficits the same on both types of diets? I lost 99.5 pounds just using mfp in the past, but I'm bored with the same old "counting calories"... I wanted to try something new but I've read so many mixed things, I don't know what I'm doing.
Since fats are higher in calories, it's not going to take you as far. Either way, you still have to address energy balance (so CICO). You don't have to count calories, but MFP is a tool to ensure you know how many calories you are consuming.
What was your average weight loss when just using MFP?1 -
Maybe your calories are way too low? Rather than be super aggressive with my weight loss, I work with about 1400 calories. I do a daily 4 X 350 calories split (45% protein, 40% fat and 15% carbs/sugar) and that seems to work pretty well for me (my snack is never 350 calories so I have room if I go over one meal - usually dinner). I never ever meet my protein / healthy fat goals but as long as I am getting about 20 grams of protein with each of 3 meals a day, I am happy with that. The body can't metabolize more than 20 grams of protein at one time -- I would just urinate it out. So unless I am eating turkey jerky every two hours and little else, IMO it would be hard to meet the protein goal. The trick for me was getting my sugar / carbs super low. I drink water and other noncaloric healthy drinks to replenish my electrolytes. Go slowly and take it each day as it comes. I have been consistent / compliant about 75% of the time doing this since about January on MFP and I have lost 23 lbs.1
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Maybe your calories are way too low? Rather than be super aggressive with my weight loss, I work with about 1400 calories. I do a daily 4 X 350 calories split (45% protein, 40% fat and 15% carbs/sugar) and that seems to work pretty well for me (my snack is never 350 calories so I have room if I go over one meal - usually dinner). I never ever meet my protein / healthy fat goals but as long as I am getting about 20 grams of protein with each of 3 meals a day, I am happy with that. The body can't metabolize more than 20 grams of protein at one time -- I would just urinate it out. So unless I am eating turkey jerky every two hours and little else, IMO it would be hard to meet the protein goal. The trick for me was getting my sugar / carbs super low. I drink water and other noncaloric healthy drinks to replenish my electrolytes. Go slowly and take it each day as it comes. I have been consistent / compliant about 75% of the time doing this since about January on MFP and I have lost 23 lbs.
That's false. You can certainly metabolize more than 20g of protein. Heck, it takes 30g of whey to get adequate leucine content to stimulate MPS (more for other sources).2 -
Definitely check out the low carbers daily forum that pp linked; I started keto 16 months ago and that group has been a fantastic resource and support! @dmkissane and @psuLemon gave good advice, too!1
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milkyudders wrote: »I have some questions as well. I only started 2 days ago and really am struggling with not going over protein significantly and eating enough fat. I've failed the lay 2 days. Today I'm doing much better so far. My question comes to calories... Mfp had me set at 1250 a day, but on this diet that doesn't go very far. Are the calorie deficits the same on both types of diets? I lost 99.5 pounds just using mfp in the past, but I'm bored with the same old "counting calories"... I wanted to try something new but I've read so many mixed things, I don't know what I'm doing.
Honestly on keto I find I naturally eat a lot lower calories because I'm not as hungry. Also sometimes I have days where I'm really hungry and I just eat more those days because I know other days come up where I can't even hit 1200 calories. I've been at this over a year and half though. I think it takes awhile to get fat adapted and when you do you just don't get very hungry. Also if I'm not hungry I don't eat extra fat just to keep a certain %. When I was losing I figured I already had the extra fat on board so to speak. The only thing I really watch is the number of carbs. I've never had an issue going over on protein myself. Sometimes it happens but I've never had bad results from it.2 -
I have been doing the keto diet for three weeks and have lost 11 lbs. But i have been at a standstill for one week. Anyone else have any advice to get back to losing? I do have the ketone strips and have not been in ketosis for that week. So i am going to cut out dairy to see if that helps.
I would guess it is just a blip. Weight loss is not linear so you'll probably start losing again but not as fast as the first week. Cutting carbs does decrease water retention so you probably lost a few pounds of water weight, but probably not 11lbs worth.
If you do not lose anymore in the next few weeks, then I'll stand corrected. My guess is that you will though. You are eating at a slight caloric deficit, right?milkyudders wrote: »I have some questions as well. I only started 2 days ago and really am struggling with not going over protein significantly and eating enough fat. I've failed the lay 2 days. Today I'm doing much better so far. My question comes to calories... Mfp had me set at 1250 a day, but on this diet that doesn't go very far. Are the calorie deficits the same on both types of diets? I lost 99.5 pounds just using mfp in the past, but I'm bored with the same old "counting calories"... I wanted to try something new but I've read so many mixed things, I don't know what I'm doing.
Wow. Congrats!
The calorie deficit is approximately the same. If you let your protein drift upwards, that will probably help with weight loss a small amount. In terms of excess protein preventing ketosis, which is beneficial for health issues mainly, and could possibly contribute to appetite suppression, you would have to eat upwards of 200g of protein per day. Not many people will eat enough protein to inhibit ketosis. If you are eating between 60 and 160g of protein then you probably have nothing to worry about. If you are under 60g, you may need more protein, and if you are over 150+g you may have ketosis reduced. Maybe.
But ketones are not needed for weight loss so high protein should not hurt.1 -
I have been doing the keto diet for three weeks and have lost 11 lbs. But i have been at a standstill for one week. Anyone else have any advice to get back to losing? I do have the ketone strips and have not been in ketosis for that week. So i am going to cut out dairy to see if that helps.
I would guess it is just a blip. Weight loss is not linear so you'll probably start losing again but not as fast as the first week. Cutting carbs does decrease water retention so you probably lost a few pounds of water weight, but probably not 11lbs worth. If you do not lose anymore in the next few weeks, then I'll stand corrected. My guess is that you will though. You are eating at a slight caloric deficit, right?milkyudders wrote: »I have some questions as well. I only started 2 days ago and really am struggling with not going over protein significantly and eating enough fat. I've failed the lay 2 days. Today I'm doing much better so far. My question comes to calories... Mfp had me set at 1250 a day, but on this diet that doesn't go very far. Are the calorie deficits the same on both types of diets? I lost 99.5 pounds just using mfp in the past, but I'm bored with the same old "counting calories"... I wanted to try something new but I've read so many mixed things, I don't know what I'm doing.
Wow. Congrats!
The calorie deficit is approximately the same. If you let your protein drift upwards, that will probably help with weight loss a small amount. In terms of excess protein preventing ketosis, which is beneficial for health issues mainly, and could possibly contribute to appetite suppression, you would have to eat upwards of 200g of protein per day. Not many people will eat enough protein to inhibit ketosis. If you are eating between 60 and 160g of protein then you probably have nothing to worry about. If you are under 60g, you may need more protein, and if you are over 150+g you may have ketosis reduced. Maybe.
But ketones are not needed for weight loss so high protein should not hurt.
It should also be noted that protein is a thermogenic, so it will provide a small metabolic advantage (compared to carbs and fats) and generally has the greatest impact on satiety. This is why I keep mine at 175g per day.1 -
I am now back to losing weight. Thank you all for your advice. I have cut out dairy and am staying in my 70/25/5 and am doing well. I guess dairy is not good for me. Again, thank you for all your advice!2
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Hello guys, I've recently started my journey into "Keto" but im not sure im doing it right, could someone give me some pointers and look at my food logs for the past 3 days and help me out a bit? I dont know if im setting myself up to die lol0
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I got to a place on keto where I stalled so I set up MFP to track calories. Since then the weight loss kicked in again and is going fine. You will stall or gain if you are taking in too many calories regardless of method so keep an eye on the totals and use a food weighing scale as well to be accurate.
Its working for me is all I can say.0
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