Everyonelies wrote: »

2t9nty wrote: »

I wonder if you don't need to increase your protein macro? I don't lift, but I have higher protein than most and lower fat. I find this works very well for me.

My original protein goal at 1400cals was 89g, I upped it to 105 and try to reach 115-120g daily...

FWIW, I try to get a gram of protein for every pound of lean body mass.

I know you have been battling the home scale for a while and it isn't playing fair with you. Do you have any chance of visiting a Dexafit (www.dexafit.com) type facility to do an RMR test? That would take pretty much all the guessing out of it. Some people have extremely slow metabolisms and it will be harder to lose weight. That report would not only tell you that but give you your actual BMR and TDEE along with your Fat/Sugar burn percents keto wise. Really worth the money and with a groupon often under 80 bucks. I know my current TDEE with my workouts is 2,600 calories a day and I eat 2,350 for a 250 calorie deficit. As such I lose around 2 pounds a month. Here is one of my old RMR test as an example: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021879/uploads/editor/t0/3obv3yrhsne8.png

A Dexascan would be a nice extra as well. If you already have a high amount of lean mass/bmc there could be minimal fat overall to lose. Quick example: Say a person is 225 pounds but 185 of it is lean mass/bmc that only leaves maybe 40 pounds of fat (17% body fat). Essential fat would be 10-13% for a female. That would leave next to nothing to lose.

Lots of good data out there to help.

That is great news. If you have access to a .edu account its even 25% cheaper than the $79. It could be worth following their facebook page as well for your local place. A lot of times they offer 2 for 1 as flash sales at Dexafit. That would let you get both your RMR and Dexascan done for cheap and have some real data to plot out how to lose the weight. Also, call them. They may cut you an even better deal if you agree to do both scans. Happy to help in any way.

I was wondering if your workout was new too? That can cause water retention.

I had a fairly heavy workout routine a few years back. I had to stop due to an injury, and within 2-3 weeks I lost 10 lbs. Whoosh. Just water retention in the glycogen or something.

Could you be getting more calories than you think? Fats are hard to eyeball imo.

I tend to lose well if I alter my carbs for a few days, up or down. I have no idea why it helps.

Also, and this is just me, I seem to be able to lose better the lower carb I am. I am slowly losing on a carnivore diet, and my calories are usually bear 2000. Its slow but it's still happening; at higher carb levels, I would have a different t result. Ymmv. I dont think this would happen for most.

And also... scales lie. if you ste eating at a deficit, you are losing. Hang in there.

Everyonelies wrote: »

nvmomketo wrote: »

I was wondering if your workout was new too? That can cause water retention.

I had a fairly heavy workout routine a few years back. I had to stop due to an injury, and within 2-3 weeks I lost 10 lbs. Whoosh. Just water retention in the glycogen or something.

Could you be getting more calories than you think? Fats are hard to eyeball imo.

I tend to lose well if I alter my carbs for a few days, up or down. I have no idea why it helps.

Also, and this is just me, I seem to be able to lose better the lower carb I am. I am slowly losing on a carnivore diet, and my calories are usually bear 2000. Its slow but it's still happening; at higher carb levels, I would have a different t result. Ymmv. I dont think this would happen for most.

And also... scales lie. if you ste eating at a deficit, you are losing. Hang in there.

@nvmomketo - Well, I started lifting more often as of the end of January, I do more weigh/add different exercises on a weekly basis...but it has been the same few pounds up and down.

I did have a week where I only worked out about 2 days, that following Monday I was down to 169...which has been my lowest since starting Keto...but the following week I was back up to 171 or so...

I do weight and measure everything, even if I dont added to my diary-this is mostly my instant coffee and my sugar-free sweetener, which has 0 everything...

A few months ago I had used the keto calculator based on my activity level, and it had me up my calories to close to 1600...I didnt change them in my MFP, but I would eat the extra calories when I would be extra hungry, which has been mostly every day after the gym...

I really do not want to lower my calories to 1200, I used to do 1200 pre-keto, but I would eat back half of what I burned... I wouldnt do that with Keto, and since I AM hungry after the gym, I do not want to feel hungry...

most of my days, my carbs are between 10-15g net... I start to panick if it gets close to 20g- "what if I eat 21g and all the work I have done in the past 6 months is ruined and I am kicked out of ketosis??" lol

I have also been super stressed the past few weeks...super, super stressed...and my hair started really falling out mid Jan...getting better though...

There is a lot going on...and I am trying not to focus on the scale, but it's hard...my clothes fit a bit bigger, but I feel stuck right now...maybe one day I will weigh myself and I will have a 5lb whoosh...maybe I wont but my jeans will be 2 sizes smaller...maybe...

mostly rambling now...way too in my head...but thanks for the advice...you are always one of the good ones

It looks like the answer is that the scale is lying: your clothes fit bigger. If your clothes fit bigger, you have lost fat!

My guess is that you are at a good calorie intake but exercise stress (good) and life stress (not so good- hugs) are causing water retention. Your clothes are getting looser. You are getting smaller. Keep doing what is working.

Some points that may help you out (I've been doing this for quite awhile now and have kept my fat off and gained lot's of muscle mass)

- Scales lie. I have three scales; digital smart scales (they are especially inaccurate), old school analog scales. They are never 100% accurate. Your doctors old balance weight scale is more accurate by far actually.

-Sweeteners can affect your blood sugar/insulin. We aren't all the same. Only keeping close track of blood sugar/ketones will tell you for sure how they specifically affect you. Don't go by what you read or hear on the internet. Only go by what 100% is proven to work or not work for YOU.

-If you are doing true Keto and you expect to lose fat (I say fat because if you are eating adequate amounts of protein and working out you can gain muscle while losing fat so weight can fluctuate-100% proven reality, again don't go by what you hear others saying on this forum, whom are against keto, that say you can't gain muscle while losing fat) then you HAVE to get yourself a ketone blood monitor. This is the only 100% way to KNOW you are truly in full ketosis at all times; hence burning fat. If you think you are eating few enough carbs to be in ketosis, the fact is you really may not be. Again, we are all different. One guy/girl may need to eat under 30 grams/carbs a day to get his/her metabolism to convert to full ketosis, while another guy/girl may need to consistently be under 15 grams/carbs per day to get into that same full ketosis state. This is proven scientific information, not an opinion. And this has proven to be very, very eye opening to me over the past year and a half. I have done so many experiments with my body, eating habits, carb intake, macro ratios, fasting, etc to find out what works for me the best. Personally I found a formula that works unbelievably well for myself after a lot of playing around with macro's, weight lifting, timed eating etc. Still have not found any combination that comes close to losing fat as fast and as consistent as what I do. I mentor a group of people through my physician whom have all lost incredible amounts of fat. Most of them while also gaining muscle mass. But it is very important to understand that one person can be very different than the next person. This forum is FULL of folks that are against keto/low carb etc and only chose to push the caloric deficit model. Yes that works of course we all know that. But that is just ONE part of a combination of formulas that will dictate how much and the rate of fat loss YOUR body will undergo. Be scientific about what you do. Document everything.

- Dexa scans can be great. I do them and have been doing them for quite awhile now. BUT they have one very big down fall and that's water in your body. They look at water like they look at muscle mass. And as we all know the amount of water your body is holding at any given time of any given day can vary a lot. I even played around with my own Dexa scans drinking different amounts of water on the same days of the scans. A HUGE difference in the readings occurs. So saying that, yes they can be a good tool in the tool box but don't rely on them to be giving you 100% answers. If you can consume the same amount of water daily and at the same times (write it all down) that you do your Dexa scans then you can get a "better" idea of where you are at with body fat % but keep in mind even different foods contain different amounts of water in them, you will sweat different amounts from day to day, your body will retain different amounts of water from day to day etc... Drink lots of water and consume lots of pink salt. If I drop the amount of water and salt I take in then my fat loss also drops.

-If you find you are stalling look at your notes carefully. Look at your carb (all macros really) intake. Has the ratio's changed lately from what you were eating for macro ratio's previously? Macro ratio's is a MAJOR factor in ketosis and rate of fat loss and muscle gain. You said you are working out. This alone will affect your weight loss greatly if you are taking in adequate amounts of protein. And again, we are all different with protein intake for what our muscles need. (you could spend days reading up on amino's and how they feed your muscles and how that all can be affected by different catalysts in our bodies etc but that's a whole other can of worms to get into) Yes you can read on the internet till your eyes fall out about theories, formulas etc about how much protein you should take in and how many carbs, fats etc.. But the reality is you have to figure out what works the most efficiently and effectively for YOUR metabolism. Start with a basic .7gr/protein per lb of body weight then track very carefully and see where your at. The type of weight lifting you do also has a big part in muscle growth rate so read up on that. Measure carefully.. it can often tell you more accurately than a scale if you are losing fat while gaining muscle. All this can be frustrating and seem complicated at times but if you are dedicated to get yourself healthier then IMO it is very worth while figuring out how YOUR metabolism works at it's most efficient rate.

-If you are keen on going by scale weight you should have a noticeable amount of fat to lose because as you get to the point of having the majority amount of fat lost then it will be much harder to notice weight loss as your fat is almost gone and muscle development is most likely occurring. (Remember water weight in your body fluctuates a lot from day to day so as you lose most of the fat and you get leaner that weight fluctuation can often make people think they are at a stall when in fact it is more about their body adapting to their new BMI, metabolic rate etc..
So if you are at that point where you still have lot's of fat to lose and rely a lot on the scale readings then DO NOT weigh yourself every day. Weigh yourself every 8 to 10 days to get the more accurate #'s of where you really are at. And while doing all this stuff make sure you document everything from macros, time and how often you consumed food, ketone blood #'s at different times of the day, work outs, caloric intake, water and salt intake, sleep habits etc.. These are all factors in a big formula that come into play. You may find after extensive time and documentation that you find certain factors need to be certain ways in order to get your metabolism to operate at it's most efficient capacity.

-Do a full medical exam with blood, urine screening. Find out if you are pre diabetic, or diabetic and/or if you have other medical concerns that could be affecting your metabolism etc.
When doing keto and/or any fat loss program you should always let your doctor know and have tests done along the way. I would never keep doing what I am doing if I didn't know my body was responding to it in positive ways with my health. Just cause we look better on the outside while losing fat doesn't always mean we are getting better on the insides of our bodies. Only way to prove that is happening is with blood/urine tests through your doctor and a lab.

-This is the internet. We are all giving you our opinions. Even if people on forums supply you with links to science/research etc, know that all those things still affect different people in different ways depending on lot's of different variables going on inside YOUR OWN body. Do things scientifically, document everything and do it all under supervision of your doctor or specialist. If you do those things I would put a good wager that you will be successful in your goals of getting healthier.