Keto Lifestyle but Can't Get Into Ketosis

2

Replies

  • bubus05
    bubus05 Posts: 121 Member
    edited February 2021
    I have been on keto for eleven months now and found the biggest difficulty was indeed to stay in calorie deficit. Sure in principle just by being in ketosis you should be burning fat at a higher rate even if you eat more than your calorie deficit limit but chances are you won't lose any weight, at best you will maintain what you have. Kind of makes sense, if your body burns x energy a day, eating x+y energy a day is not a good idea if one wants to lose weight. Sadly counting the calories is essential. For me keto-and I am a big fan- is not really about being in ketosis, lots of fat/protein help me to feel satisfied, to control my daily calorie intake better. I just dont feel that hungry in general by sticking to my keto diet, as a consequence I eat less. I even allow myself once a week to have a 'high carb day' with lots of chocolate and even pasta. The miracle of miracles sometimes I lose more weight after a 'high carb' day than a keto day. Mind you I do a weird mixture of keto/IF/fasting 36 hours combined with a weekly high carb. The thing I am focusing most is to stay whithin my calorie limit. My stats are -90 lbs in eleven months.
  • Rathiain
    Rathiain Posts: 24 Member
    peggy_polenta wrote: »
    I agree about not you shouldn't have posted on this forum as it may not be the place for you. i don't think you will get a lot of support here. maybe hop on some low carb or keto forum or look elsewhere for support.
    I reposted my original post in the Keto group, but got zero responses, and this thread has provided a lot of info, so while not specifically Keto-related, it has certainly been helpful regardless.

    Also congrats on your weight loss @peggy_polenta ! that's fantastic.

  • Rathiain
    Rathiain Posts: 24 Member
    bubus05 wrote: »
    I have been on keto for eleven months now and found the biggest difficulty was indeed to stay in calorie deficit. Sure in principle just by being in ketosis you should be burning fat at a higher rate even if you eat more than your calorie deficit limit but chances are you won't lose any weight, at best you will maintain what you have. Kind of makes sense, if your body burns x energy a day, eating x+y energy a day is not a good idea if one wants to lose weight. Sadly counting the calories is essential. For me keto-and I am a big fan- is not really about being in ketosis, lots of fat/protein help me to feel satisfied, to control my daily calorie intake better. I just don't feel that hungry in general by sticking to my keto diet, as a consequence I eat less. I even allow myself once a week to have a 'high carb day' with lots of chocolate and even pasta. The miracle of miracles sometimes I lose more weight after a 'high carb' day than a keto day. Mind you I do a weird mixture of keto/IF/fasting 36 hours combined with a weekly high carb. The thing I am focusing most is to stay within my calorie limit. My stats are -90 lbs in eleven months.
    Congrats on your achievement! I am quickly learning that by following Keto, it will effectively also aid in ensuring I remain within my caloric max simply by satiating my hunger.
  • Rathiain
    Rathiain Posts: 24 Member
    On a side note, I wish the person(s) disagreeing frequently in this thread would put in their comments. I would love the read their thoughts on this.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,422 MFP Moderator
    Rathiain wrote: »
    cmriverside wrote: »
    It's just forums. Don't get hung up on the disagrees.
    not hung up. just like to hear all sides and thoughts is all. It wasn't just mine that folks were disagreeing about. :) but no worries.

    I suspect they were just disagreeing with you doing Keto.
  • Rathiain
    Rathiain Posts: 24 Member
    @vanmep I am fairly sure that much of that was water weight. At 120 lbs overweight, 22 lbs in 3 weeks doesn't surprise me at all. I would expect that to reduce to 1 or 2 lbs a week after that.
  • Rathiain
    Rathiain Posts: 24 Member
    @kshama2001 I believe that, with all the various body types and metabolisms, we likely digest differently and our metabolisms react differently. When I was younger, I felt little to no effect from carbs such as rice, potatoes and beans, but I can no longer say the same. It may be because of my size, my age or my metabolism, but if I can change the latter, perhaps my tolerance for these carbs and others may improve. It's somewhat akin to being allergic to certain foods while other folks are not affected at all by that same food.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,919 Member
    edited February 2021
    Rathiain wrote: »
    Yes, I am aware of that L1zardQueen but my intent is to burn fat and lose the weight while boosting energy.
    You can do that with a regular calorie deficit. Keto is an PROGRAM CHOICE. It's NOT the only way to burn fat. And boosting energy comes with many variables. One of them is increasing testoterone levels and while that may happen with keto, it ALSO DOES WITH EXERCISE and adequate sleep.
    Perhaps posting here was a bad idea, since my questions are more related to Keto. Interestingly, when I have spoken with nutritionists, they balk at mention of calorie counting so determining a proper path can be difficult.
    What nutritionists are you speaking with? I've NEVER met one that stated calorie counting wasn't important. And a REGISTERED DIETICIAN would actually be a better choice to listen to since they actually have to get a degree, where a nutritionist can take an online course in a day and get certified without really even studying.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
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    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,919 Member
    Rathiain wrote: »
    @kshama2001 I believe that, with all the various body types and metabolisms, we likely digest differently and our metabolisms react differently. When I was younger, I felt little to no effect from carbs such as rice, potatoes and beans, but I can no longer say the same. It may be because of my size, my age or my metabolism, but if I can change the latter, perhaps my tolerance for these carbs and others may improve. It's somewhat akin to being allergic to certain foods while other folks are not affected at all by that same food.
    I can likely promise you the main effect you're dealing with carbs is mostly from NOT BURNING THEM OFF and consumption. It is so normal that when younger people tended to eat less because they were either caught up with friends, schooling, likely more physical activity, etc. Almost for just about everyone, that all stopped when they got out of school or college then took on the real world. It's NOT uncommon here in the USA. It's why 65% and more of all adults in the USA are overweight or obese. We're one of the fattest industrialized nations in the world with the best technology and access to gyms nonetheless. But we also have the largest portions served in restaurants, fast foods, sell in bulk foods, and easy accesss to all of these as well. What Americans lack is discipline when it comes to food consumption and calories, hence the issue with being overweight/obese.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png


  • Strudders67
    Strudders67 Posts: 989 Member
    edited February 2021
    Curiosity question. If the goal is to lose weight, would it not be better to NOT eat the exercise cals?

    Answering an earlier question you asked in response to my initial feedback -not usually.

    You may have noticed that the maximum setting is to lose 2lb a week. Even that's only recommended for people with a lot to lose so be aware that, at some point in the future, you should slow your rate down. There's a graphic, somewhere on this site, that indicates how much is 'reasonable' to lose per week, depending on how much you have left to lose. MFP calculates your maintenance cals at your current weight*, deducts a number (depending on what rate you selected to lose at (it deducts 500 cals for 1lb a week)) and comes up with the number that you should be eating. Depending on how much exercise you do, that additional deficit could be quite large. If you don't eat your exercise calories, you're effectively trying to lose faster than your chosen goal per week, potentially faster than the suggested max of 2lb per week.

    You've been given 1700 cals to eat. If you do an intensive workout and burn 300 cals that you don't eat back, you're actually only eating a net of 1400 cals a day. You run the risk of under-eating and depriving your body of necessary macros and nutrients. Also, you're less likely to stick to it long term and risk either finding yourself hungry, bingeing and wiping out a fair amount of your hard work or causing muscle damage.

    Far better to eat your exercise calories so that your weight loss is (or should be) at the rate that you selected. You're much more likely to continue along the path.

    *MFP doesn't auto-adjust, even if you regularly add your current weight to the Check-In screen. Every so often, perhaps every 10lb lost, go back to the Guided Set Up screen and re-click Save. It'll recalculate based on your current weight and will drop the number of cals you need.
  • Strudders67
    Strudders67 Posts: 989 Member
    edited February 2021
    To add to my above comments, read the answers to the "Is it safe to lose 2lb a week" post asked by Rocio12.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    Rathiain wrote: »
    Yes, I am aware of that L1zardQueen but my intent is to burn fat and lose the weight while boosting energy. Perhaps posting here was a bad idea, since my questions are more related to Keto. Interestingly, when I have spoken with nutritionists, they balk at mention of calorie counting so determining a proper path can be difficult.

    If you are in a caloric deficit you will burn fat
  • salleewins
    salleewins Posts: 2,308 Member
    edited February 2021
    Maybe post on Bulletproof. It may be on FB. I just started there. I am doing IF as close as I can get to it, with leaning towards Keto at least part of the day. Sometimes the scale does not go down, but I literally can look in the mirror and swear I see shrinking some days. I did measure yesterday and confirmed I have been losing in inches. Now I am more strict and eating relatively the same things each day. The weight is going down more quickly. Little to no exercise lately, but have plans to get back into it. I follow a low inflammatory regime most of the time and take many supplements, some support that. Nutrient dense, lots of water, potassium important, drink 1-2 Bulletproof coffees , lower sodium, greens, lean protein, grass fed protein powder, white rice, healthy fats, sweet potatoes. Organic grass fed chicken. I find a lot of ingredients in foods are corn, gluten, dairy, legumes, nightshades. For me this slows the process. I also follow Dr's Amy Myers approach as much as possible, a basic diet. I can branch out more on her program and probably will be ingesting more sodium when at goal weight. Maybe some of these things can help you. I do weigh and since most of the foods are the same lately it is getting effortless. I need that for now to get this done. 54 pounds down and 12-22 to go. Not sure where I am stopping. I am about 5'4" and try to eat at 1400 with little exercise. It is more like 1500 with exercise. It will probably decrease as I continue to lose. I am a bit older than you. Started at 201. Bulletproof website and Dave Aspry's book helpful. So far the urine stips seem to work in the am when I am fasting and only having the Bulletproof coffee with C8 oil and ghee and cinnamon. The rest of the day I don't bother checking and I tried that and wasn't in ketosis. I probably forgot something. Just ask.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    Rathiain wrote: »
    @kshama2001 I believe that, with all the various body types and metabolisms, we likely digest differently and our metabolisms react differently. When I was younger, I felt little to no effect from carbs such as rice, potatoes and beans, but I can no longer say the same. It may be because of my size, my age or my metabolism, but if I can change the latter, perhaps my tolerance for these carbs and others may improve. It's somewhat akin to being allergic to certain foods while other folks are not affected at all by that same food.

    Have you been tested for insulin resistance?
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    What nutritionists are you speaking with? I've NEVER met one that stated calorie counting wasn't important. And a REGISTERED DIETICIAN would actually be a better choice to listen to since they actually have to get a degree, where a nutritionist can take an online course in a day and get certified without really even studying.

    Qualifications/what nutritionist means varies by location, but more to the point many RDs seem to be down on calorie counting as not sustainable or bad for people prone to eating disorders. I disagree with them, but it's a thing--Abbey Sharp on YouTube (who is an actual RD) is an example.

    On the other hand, much as people slam doctors and what they have to say about dieting across the board, mine was really pro MFP as an approach.

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