Keto, IF, Weight Gain

jasminemack1985
jasminemack1985 Posts: 5 Member
edited November 27 in Motivation and Support
Hello everyone! I am very new to this ketogenic diet game. I've intermittent fasted before in the past, but I didn't realize that carbs and sugar (fruit) were a problem, so my weight plateaus at those times make sense. However, I've started this meal plain 11 days ago, and yesterday (the 10th day) when I weighed myself, I had lost 11 pounds. When I weighed in today, I was back up a pound! I can't figure out why, can someone help me please? I doubt it's muscle because I'm a lazy sack and I haven't exercised in a VERY long time. I get that the first 10 pounds were probably all water, but I still don't get why I GAINED weight.

I've been eating between 560 - 950 calories per day. My goal is 1582 (epic fail), but I can't seem to eat that much in a 4 hour feeding window. I haven't had any sugar and very few carbs (under 20 grams) since I started this thing. I've basically been living off of almonds, eggs, bacon, sausage and cheese (I know, I need to eat some greens, lol. I'll get there!).

Over the past two days, I've walked more, but not enough to call it "exercise..." My walks are like 10-20 minutes at a normal (strolling) pace. My body looks exactly the same... so I don't think I lost inches... but then to be fair, I haven't actually measured myself. Anyway, with that calorie deficit and no sugar, weight gain can't be normal, right?

Thanks all. Sorry for the novel.
Jasmine

Replies

  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    Eating that low cal is not a good idea for more than a few days. If the way you are eating is causing you to undereat, it might not be the right plan for you.

    Having said that, if you aren't using a food scale, you may be eating more cals than you think.

    Anyway, it's not physically possible that you lost 11 lbs of fat in 11 days, much of it was water weight, so the gain is just more water weight fluctuations. You should be looking at trends over weeks, not days, as your weight will fluctuate up and down all the time.
  • losergood2011
    losergood2011 Posts: 172 Member
    So how do you feel? that is very low on calories - but - I get it this time of year it can be hard to eat in the heat. With your goal 1500 though 900 is too little.

    ask yourself -
    am I getting enough water to flush out the junk?
    how are your macros? Are you really keto? or does it just look like it
    Make sure you log every bite weigh at the same time and log water
    Look for trends - how is your sodium?

    keep in mind not eating enough can cause you to stall - you have lost a lot of water and need to eat 1500 at least for a few days - you might be surprised. Just make sure you eat keto - stop IF for a week and drink water.

    then look back and see how you are doing
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Are you weighing your food?
  • jasminemack1985
    jasminemack1985 Posts: 5 Member
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    If you can lose water weight, why can't you gain water weight?

    Because I'm not taking in anymore water than I have been, so I did't consider that. Thanks for your comment(?).
  • jasminemack1985
    jasminemack1985 Posts: 5 Member
    kimny72 wrote: »
    Eating that low cal is not a good idea for more than a few days. If the way you are eating is causing you to undereat, it might not be the right plan for you.

    Having said that, if you aren't using a food scale, you may be eating more cals than you think.

    Anyway, it's not physically possible that you lost 11 lbs of fat in 11 days, much of it was water weight, so the gain is just more water weight fluctuations. You should be looking at trends over weeks, not days, as your weight will fluctuate up and down all the time.

    Thank you! I actually don't own a scale. I'll get on that ASAP. Thanks for the tip about checking weight weekly. I'll see what happens this time next week. :-)
  • jasminemack1985
    jasminemack1985 Posts: 5 Member
    losergood2011 wrote: »
    So how do you feel? that is very low on calories - but - I get it this time of year it can be hard to eat in the heat. With your goal 1500 though 900 is too little.

    ask yourself -
    am I getting enough water to flush out the junk?
    how are your macros? Are you really keto? or does it just look like it
    Make sure you log every bite weigh at the same time and log water
    Look for trends - how is your sodium?

    keep in mind not eating enough can cause you to stall - you have lost a lot of water and need to eat 1500 at least for a few days - you might be surprised. Just make sure you eat keto - stop IF for a week and drink water.

    then look back and see how you are doing

    Thanks for your help! Come to think of it, I wasn't drinking a lot of water. I try to drink a gallon per day, but I'm just never that thirsty, so it's rough. I feel fine, but I don't know the macros and stuff of my meals. I'll try to figure that out. With the cheese, sausage and bacon, I'd assumed that I had enough sodium... maybe even too much. Either way, you and Kimny72 have given me a lot to think about, so thank you! :-)
  • jasminemack1985
    jasminemack1985 Posts: 5 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    Are you weighing your food?

    Nope, sure wasn't. I will start though thanks to that suggestion from you all! Thanks!
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    jasminemack1985 wrote: »
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    Are you weighing your food?

    Nope, sure wasn't. I will start though thanks to that suggestion from you all! Thanks!

    One ounce of cheese is pitifully small :disappointed: You might be surprised that your calorie intake isn't quite as low as you thought once you start weighing everything. (I certainly hope so! The calories you listed are far too low.)

    Now that the initial water weight whoosh is gone, you need to prepare yourself for the reality that you won't lose weight every single day, or even every single week necessarily. Weight loss is not linear, and many factors can result in a 'gain' on the scale from one day to the next.
  • lsutigerscage
    lsutigerscage Posts: 26 Member
    Also, please keep in mind that us females have hormonal changes, and that will effect our weight at different times during the month. Weighing everyday will allow you to see the overall trend, but it will never be a straight line. There will always be ups and downs. As long as the overall trend is a decrease in extra weight, then you will be doing good! Good luck! :)
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    pinuplove wrote: »
    One ounce of cheese is pitifully small :disappointed: You might be surprised that your calorie intake isn't quite as low as you thought once you start weighing everything. (I certainly hope so! The calories you listed are far too low.)

    There are few things in life as depressing as the first time you actually weigh a "serving" of peanut butter on a food scale. :cry:
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    pinuplove wrote: »
    One ounce of cheese is pitifully small :disappointed: You might be surprised that your calorie intake isn't quite as low as you thought once you start weighing everything. (I certainly hope so! The calories you listed are far too low.)

    There are few things in life as depressing as the first time you actually weigh a "serving" of peanut butter on a food scale. :cry:

    Indeed. I feel like I lost my innocence that day! :lol:
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