why is my weight going up?
untrachelable
Posts: 135 Member
I lost 9 lbs in my first two weeks on keto, and now after my third week, I am up 2 lbs. Was even better this third week at sticking to my macros than in my first two weeks and have been exercising a lot. Is this normal to experience? I have PCOS, so typically struggle a LOT to lose weight. My doctor said keto is the only diet that works well for people w PCOS and in the first two weeks, I thought that that was indeed the case. But now I'm worried that this diet isn't working for me like the others that I have tried... Has anyone else had this experience? What has your weight loss progress looked like on keto?
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I have to track my calories and do keto to lose any weight with pcos. Exercise can help me some too. But I cant just do keto since even on keto, my calories have to be a bit lower then a non-pcos person for my height and weight for me to lose weight.2
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Exercising can cause the scale to go up, especially for females.
Can still be losing inches even though the scale is going up.
I recommend taking measurements and daily to weekly progress pictures.
I don't trust scales! Especially for daily weighing, women's weight can fluctuate as much as 10-15 lbs day to day in some cases.
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Thank you for the advice! I will try tracking measurements and with photos. I am tracking my calories carefully but maybe I should be cutting even more. My RMR as determined from a dexa body scan is 1443, and I've been eating at 1500 plus strenuous exercise 6x a week. I was told by my nutritionist to not go under the RMR but maybe with PCOS, the dexa calculation of RMR is wrong and it's actually lower for me? Is there a more accurate way to determine your rmr than by body composition?0
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Hello! I have PCOS too. It suuuuucks! I don’t think you will find a calculator. What you will find is studies saying PCOS can cause a lower metabolism. MAYBE up to 400 less in certain people. But you don’t want to go under 1200 caps/day without supervision. Not sure if the affect of having a lower metabolism goes away once at a normal weight - fingers crossed! I won’t mind having more fat bombs lol
I agree you should measure. I would be surprised it your waist isn’t shrinking even if the scale doesn’t say it. Personally I have a pattern to weight loss. Two weeks I lose. Two weeks I don’t - the one before and during that time of the month. I usually ‘whoosh’ off after it is all over. I’d try for a couple months, I know it is hard to be patient, and see if you see a pattern too. Hormones like to play with the weight loss and with the mind — at least the like to play with mine
There are several types of PCOS. So what you experience may be different. When I slowed way down after being fully keto adapted about month 3/4 I added intermittent fasting to the mix. And it helped. I started slow, 12:12 for two weeks, 14:10 for two weeks, then 18:6, then 16:8, and finally 20:4. Though I may go back to 16:8. There is a whole other forum for IF people. So if that is something you want to do you should join. Not everyone there is keto. You don’t have to be to IF, but it is easier - not as hungry! Hope this helps!
Keep going! It is worth it!1 -
That's excellent advice and insight, thank you so much. I will stick with it and see if I find a pattern of weight loss in addition to adding the measuring. IF sounds so hard but maybe will help down the road. I like your practice of easing into it0
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So no one is going to talk about how this is pretty typical for nearly 100% of ketoers? No one is going to mention that the initial weight loss is mostly water, and the weight loss will slow or reverse a few weeks (to a month) in as the body adjust to the new normal level of carbohydrate intake?
There is a reason for the phrase "Keep Calm and Keto On." The original losses were mythical. These gains are equally mythical. No change in weight, measured in intervals less than a month, is indicative of anything meaningful (on its own). Either track daily, and use a trend-line, or track weekly and only compare numbers 4 or more weeks apart.
After this period of stall or regain, you will find that your weight will settle down into a "smoother" downward trend. There will still be plenty of random periods where you don't lose or you gain. I think on the chat I once showed a period of five weigh-ins or so, where the scale made it seem like I wasn't losing weight at all. But, you zoom out on the graph and you barely see that "stall" at all.
Found the data I was talking about above:
3/15/2014: 76.5 kg
3/21/2014: 77.3 kg (+ 0.8 kg) - 6 days
3/27/2014: 77.6 kg (+ 1.1 kg) - 12 days
4/02/2014: 76.8 kg (+ 0.3 kg) - 18 days
4/08/2014: 77.6 kg (+ 0.1 kg) - 24 days without a loss!
4/14/2014: 75.7 kg (- 0.8 kg) - 30 days
4/20/2014: 74.5 kg (- 2.1 kg) - 36 days
An average loss rate of 0.41 kg/week, or 0.9 lbs a week, over that whole period. But, for nearly a month, it looked like I hadn't lost anything. Not my fastest period of loss, but a fairly steady one. Over a year, my average was 0.42 kg a week, or 0.9 lbs a week, so this period was in line with my whole year. Zoom out, and it looks smooth and magical. On a daily basis, my weight was all over the place. I tracked macros and calories, but never restricted anything but carbs. I was very intentional about NOT changing things. I just ate to hunger and trusted in the process.
You will be fine. Just relax, keep your carbs low, and be patient. You were losing weight at the start. You are still losing weight. In time, you will not even notice this.8 -
I track calories and macros and I only check my weight loss monthly . Sure enough, my weight goes down every months.Be patient and stick with it. x3
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I track calories and macros and I only check my weight loss monthly . Sure enough, my weight goes down every months.Be patient and stick with it. x
I agree, if I ever bought a scale again, I might weigh myself every two weeks to once a month. I will never go back to daily weigh ins!1 -
I would have never known how drastically my body had been changing, if I didn't have my progress pictures. It changed everyday for about the first month and a half, then I thought it had slowed. Changed to weekly pictures, and the next week, my jaw hit the floor at how much I'd lost in a week.
I know if I owned a scale and weighed daily, I would be discouraged. That's why I don't own one.
I think we've had this conversation before, but is PCOS affected by liquid kelp (iodine for thyroid and metabolism support)?0 -
Thanks everyone, that's very helpful. Ill try not to let the PCOS panic hit in. @FIT_Goat tysm for sharing your stats and that insight, I'll try to keep calm and keto on smd hope for results in a month or so. @Emmapatterson1729 Ive never heard of liquid kelp before but I'll google it!1
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@untrachelable
It's a tricky supplement.
I use sea salt that is not iodized. And when I eat sushi or fish like salmon, I don't take it.
But I started taking it years ago, off and on, it does help metabolism by replacing bad iodine in thyroid with good clean iodine. It was recommended to me by a doctor for my adrenal disorder which affects thyroid health (I have a lot of hormone issues).
Also, if I exercise, I workout on an empty stomach and eat a large high protein meal after the workout.
This also significantly speeds up metabolism (kind of tricks the body). Eating after a workout, the body uses the food to replace energy lost during workout.
Just a couple of tricks I use. They work for me and others I've talked into giving them a try, LOL! 1 -
Oo thanks for the hot tips @Emmapatterson1729 I'm going to look into buying some. I've also been doing fasted cardio but havent followed w high protein meal, just a regular meal keto meal, so I will give that a shot too!1
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@So no one is going to talk about how this is pretty typical for nearly 100% of ketoers? No one is going to mention that the initial weight loss is mostly water, and the weight loss will slow or reverse a few weeks (to a month) in as the body adjust to the new normal level of carbohydrate intake?
There is a reason for the phrase "Keep Calm and Keto On." The original losses were mythical. These gains are equally mythical. No change in weight, measured in intervals less than a month, is indicative of anything meaningful (on its own). Either track daily, and use a trend-line, or track weekly and only compare numbers 4 or more weeks apart.
After this period of stall or regain, you will find that your weight will settle down into a "smoother" downward trend. There will still be plenty of random periods where you don't lose or you gain. I think on the chat I once showed a period of five weigh-ins or so, where the scale made it seem like I wasn't losing weight at all. But, you zoom out on the graph and you barely see that "stall" at all.
Found the data I was talking about above:
3/15/2014: 76.5 kg
3/21/2014: 77.3 kg (+ 0.8 kg) - 6 days
3/27/2014: 77.6 kg (+ 1.1 kg) - 12 days
4/02/2014: 76.8 kg (+ 0.3 kg) - 18 days
4/08/2014: 77.6 kg (+ 0.1 kg) - 24 days without a loss!
4/14/2014: 75.7 kg (- 0.8 kg) - 30 days
4/20/2014: 74.5 kg (- 2.1 kg) - 36 days
An average loss rate of 0.41 kg/week, or 0.9 lbs a week, over that whole period. But, for nearly a month, it looked like I hadn't lost anything. Not my fastest period of loss, but a fairly steady one. Over a year, my average was 0.42 kg a week, or 0.9 lbs a week, so this period was in line with my whole year. Zoom out, and it looks smooth and magical. On a daily basis, my weight was all over the place. I tracked macros and calories, but never restricted anything but carbs. I was very intentional about NOT changing things. I just ate to hunger and trusted in the process.
You will be fine. Just relax, keep your carbs low, and be patient. You were losing weight at the start. You are still losing weight. In time, you will not even notice this.
Thank you FIT_Goat!!!
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I'm a cyster, too, and like Goat said, it's pretty typical. In my experience, the scale is even more finicky for us.
I've had times where my weight would do this, even in the best of times:
Week 0: Down 5-6lbs
Week 1: Up 1-2lbs
Week 2: No change
Week 3: No change
Week 4: Down 5-6lbs
The key is to average it out over a longer period of time. Notice that even at the lowest number - down 5, up 2, for a net of 3 down - it's still a 3lb net loss over a month, which is pretty much right on target (and a hell of a lot better than a net gain), especially for a hard-losing cyster.3 -
Wow @Dragonwolf that's fantastic to know, thank you! Fingers crossed that I follow a similar pattern to you.0
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Perhaps you’re eating too much calories-1
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@Damienriven thanks, definitely could be true cause of a typical stall. Probably not in my case at least as my calories are set by my dietician. Or at least, I hope not, because if I cant trust my dietician to help me figure out my calorie count, then who can I trust o_O thankfully, I have since broken through my plateau though and am down another 3 lbs so I think maybe it was more what was described above by others about non-linearity of weight loss plus what @FIT_Goat and @Dragonwolf said about normal early keto stall and women's cycle influencing weight loss patterns0
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thanks, definitely could be true cause of a typical stall.
It's only been three weeks, total, with only one week of a "stall," and you're still down a net of 7 pounds in three weeks, or an average of 2.3lbs per week so far. It's way too soon to consider it a stall of any sort.1 -
Weight loss isn’t linear. You’ll notice fluctuations with your weight. Keep track of your measurements, eat at your caloric deficit and stick to the diet. You’ll see changes. Keto isn’t a magical diet that allows you to lose a massive amount of weight at once.1
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