Keto failure
jla5774
Posts: 16 Member
August 1, 2018 11:25AM
So I have been doing keto for about a month. I have stayed under 20 carbs a day and lost a few pounds the first week and a half. Since then NOTHING!! What am I doing wrong? My protein is around 20% and my fat intake high. Help me out?
So I have been doing keto for about a month. I have stayed under 20 carbs a day and lost a few pounds the first week and a half. Since then NOTHING!! What am I doing wrong? My protein is around 20% and my fat intake high. Help me out?
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Replies
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Have you been in a calorie deficit? No.9
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Are you tracking your calories? A weight loss is created by a calorie deficit.4
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Are counting your calorie intake too?3
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How are you measuring your calorie intake?3
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Yes. I'm at 1200 calories a day. Which is what I calculated for calorie deficiency.
I've read about how much success everyone has with keto so I am very frustrated at this point.1 -
Keto still works by creating a deficit.. CICO. Some people will naturally end up in a deficit with the restrictions of keto... some might still need to count calories and log meals.2
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Yes. I'm at 1200 calories a day. Which is what I calculated for calorie deficiency.
I've read about how much success everyone has with keto so I am very frustrated at this point.
But how are you measuring those calories? Food scale? Measuring cups? Eyeballing portions? If you aren't losing, you're likely eating more than you think.7 -
1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so, don't sweat it! Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making.
2. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.
3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.
4. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.
5. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.
6. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.
7. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.
8. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.
9. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.16 -
Scaling and measuring. Was doing weight watchers before this so used to tracking portions so I think I'm being pretty accurate there.0
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If you think you are accurate then you need to be patient. Weight loss takes time. How many pounds do you want to lose?0
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Can you open your food diary and maybe we can spot some issues.
Go to FOOD > settings, scroll down and click "Public."0 -
Thunk I've made my diary public now0
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I looked at three days and almost nothing shows that it's being weighed. Start weighing all of your food on a food scale.7
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Thunk I've made my diary public now
You need to start weighing more food, especially calorie-denser stuff like bacon, sausage, seeds, avocado, olives, and sour cream. All this stuff is in units like "patties" or ".5 avocado" or in tablespoons or cups.
I suspect you are accidentally eating more than you think you are. Since it looks like you're already weighing some of your meat, just begin weighing all your solid food when possible.6 -
I am weighing but not always finding it in that measurement on the list so entering it as the closest I could match.0
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Can you help me locate it better so I can log better?0
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I also saw an entry for sauteed squash but no oil was entered. Did you use spray oil?0
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Yes it was spray oil. I didnt cook it, it was at someone's home so I couldn't add extra fat or oil.0
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I'm currently weigh in around 200 and looking to lose at least 50-70 pounds (I'm 5' 2") do you feel 1200 calories is where I should be aiming?0
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Can you help me locate it better so I can log better?
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p16 -
Yes it was spray oil. I didnt cook it, it was at someone's home so I couldn't add extra fat or oil.
Spray oil will still have the same number of calories as regular oil. It's only advantage is that you typically use less of it. It is still 9cal/gram. I find that about 1 second of spray is about 1 gram.2 -
I'm currently weigh in around 200 and looking to lose at least 50-70 pounds (I'm 5' 2") do you feel 1200 calories is where I should be aiming?
How active is your job and how much activity do you get otherwise (intentional exercise, not things like grocery shopping, laundry, or housecleaning)?0 -
Figured it off of the keto calculator on rule.me0
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If you tighten up your logging and have a little patience, you will lose.
It doesn't all happen at one time, though. Just be patient, be honest, and keep going.
I'm not a fan of keto or 1200 calories, but it still should work if you are honest and as accurate as possible.6 -
Yes. I'm at 1200 calories a day. Which is what I calculated for calorie deficiency.
I've read about how much success everyone has with keto so I am very frustrated at this point.
While I agree that 1200 cal is probably too low, it doesn't look like you are actually hitting that most days anyhow. I saw many days closer to 1400-1600. On the days you logged 800-1000 is that what you actually ate, or did you not log everything?
Combine that with inaccurate entries on the calorie dense items and you are likely eating much more than you think.7 -
Yes it was spray oil. I didnt cook it, it was at someone's home so I couldn't add extra fat or oil.
Food for thought: Spray oil usually shows 0 calories on the can. Unfortunately the FDA allows manufacturers to list anything under 5 calories as 0. So it could be 4 calories per serving and still be listed as 0. Next, look at the serving size on spray oils... usually it's something like 1/10th of a second spray. Who does that? Nobody. I don't know about you but even if I have a good nonstick pan I want a little carmelization on sauteed veggies, so I will spray likely 2-3 seconds on the veggies with the spray oil. So that would be 4 x 10 = 40 per second of spray, x 2 for 2 seconds of spray.. now you're hitting up to 80 calories coming from a can that lists as 0 calories.
Any time I use spray oil and I am worried about being accurate I'll log at least a tsp of oil. As I said.. food for thought. I actually rarely use the spray oil because of this, I'd rather just add a tbsp of EVOO with my veggies and sautee them. Then I log 1 tbsp of EVOO (120 cals) and I know I'm much more accurate, tastes better as well.7 -
Can you help me locate it better so I can log better?
Unfortunately, the green check marks are used for both user-created entries and system entries. To find system entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and plug that into MFP.
For packaged foods, I verify the label against what I find in MFP.0 -
You've had good advice, and I agree with all of it.
If you are in a calorie deficit, you will be losing fat. The scale just is not reflecting that yet. It happens. It's annoying but it happens. The scale will reflect fat loss eventually. Ketosis is no guarantee of fat loss. Some find it easier to lose weight when very low carb but you can maintain or gain on it too. It's just a way to eat, like vegan or paleo.
Did you take any "before" pictures or measurements? Some find that tells a more accurate story than the scale. If you haven't done it yet, consider doing it soon.
I once dropped my carbs to way below my normal and increased protein. I was eating at a deficit but I gained close to 10 lbs in the first 3-4 weeks. In weeks 5-6 my scale dropped about 15 lbs. If you are eating at a deficit, the scale will eventually move. Hang in there.
Good luck.1
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