Keto weight loss plateau - advice needed!
danguiney78
Posts: 3 Member
Hi - I'm down 63 lbs in four months doing keto but have hit a plateau in the last three weeks. How to break through a plateau? I'd love your ideas and help everyone!
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Replies
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The short answer... You're going to have to eat less and/or exercise more.7
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You've lost weight VERY quickly, 3.5 lbs per week. Without your stats and goal weight it's hard to know if that's appropriate.
You also don't mention how many calories you're eating, are you counting calories?
What was your weight loss rate the 4 weeks before your 'plateau'?
Without the answers to my above questions, the only thing I can say is that stalls are normal, weight loss is not linear due to fluctuations in water weight and food waste in your system. And it's too early to consider it a real plateau (4 to 6 weeks at least).
Options are to:
- wait while your body sorts things out or
- the option I'd propose considering how much weight you've lost in a short period of time, taking a maintenance break: eating at maintenance for a week to give your body a break from the stress of being in a calorie deficit11 -
I'm with @Lietchi, including the questions. (If you were losing fast and stopped rather suddenly, vs. loss tapering off slowly over many weeks, that suggests to me that "cut calories further" may not be the right answer.)
Also, 3 weeks is only minimally reaching the point where it might be a plateau, vs. just the normal non-linearity many people see during weight loss (the "stalls and whooshes" experience is not universal, but it seems pretty common.)
Among other things, very fast loss is a pretty major physical stress. Not only can that increase health risks, it can be counterproductive for weight management:
For one, it can cause subtle fatigue that bleeds calorie burn out of our routine (including purely physiological adaptation like slower hair growth, even thinning longer term; slightly reduced base body temperature; etc. - not just doing less, resting more, reduced exercise motivation or intensity).
For two, stress related physiological changes can trigger creeping water weight gain, masking continuing fat loss on the scale, potentially for weeks at a time.
So, diet break could be a good idea. If there's weird water retention going on, that should help reverse it. More science-oriented run-down is in this thread, for your consideration:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1
For sudden weight stalls, waiting it out, or taking a diet break, can be a decent approach.
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I would fast for 16-20 hours to shock your immune system. That's what I do when I plateau.2
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Ritagettinfit wrote: »I would fast for 16-20 hours to shock your immune system. That's what I do when I plateau.
that is complete and total BS
OP - 3 weeks is NOT a plateau. See what others have said regarding that.
this is what weight loss looks like on a chart. this is my OWN weight loss over the past year.
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Ritagettinfit wrote: »I would fast for 16-20 hours to shock your immune system. That's what I do when I plateau.
Wait.
"Shock your immune system"? What even does that mean?
Just no on the statement. Fasting for 16-20 hours is fine, but it's not the answer to a weight loss stall, and weight loss isn't about the immune system.
To the original poster: Are you logging your CALORIES? I mean, I could over-eat before lunchtime on keto quite easily.8 -
Are you weighing and measuring all your food and drink and logging the calories? Keto, paleo, or whatever diet you choose to eat all comes down to calories in vs calories out.5
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When I did low carb dieting in the past (Atkins), I would often lose a lot in a short time and then wouldn't lose anything for a few weeks. It was water weight. Low carb eating makes water fluctuations really obvious. It can make you feel great when you drop a bunch, but then there is the frustration when the scale doesn't change or you seem to be gaining weight. For me it was made worse because I would have cheat meals every once in a while because i really didn't like low carb. So after a high carb meal, the scale wouldn't budge.3
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Are you counting cals? What is your weight now vs your goal/healthy weight?
Assuming you are counting, so it's not a situation where you might have increased cals without realizing it, I'd wait it out. As others have said, you have lost quickly, it's normal for weight loss to slow as you lose a bunch of weight, and periods of non loss on the scale as you adjust (due to fluctuating water weight and so on) is also normal. If you have made other changes, like adding in/increasing exercise, that also can cause a temporary and normal stall on the scale.0 -
Ritagettinfit wrote: »I would fast for 16-20 hours to shock your immune system. That's what I do when I plateau.
Shock your immune system???? WTH does that do for weight loss? You can't "shock" your immune system. Totally bad advice. I intermittent fast/do OMAD and I can tell you, it does nothing to shock anything into doing anything.5 -
Ritagettinfit wrote: »I would fast for 16-20 hours to shock your immune system. That's what I do when I plateau.
LOL WUT?
This is utter nonsense. But since you brought it up, the burden is on you to substantiate your claims.
Please provide even one (!) peer-reviewed study that shows that:
A. a fast "shocks" your immune system*
B. your immune system being "shocked" would in any way solve the issue of a fat loss plateau
Hint: you won't be able to find either. Because they don't exist. You've been reading too many BS women's magazines with the likes of Dr. Oz on the covers...
*for even half a second, consider the evolutionary implications of someone's immune system being SHOCKED by food deprivation? DOUBLY SO if it resulted in FURTHER WEIGHT REDUCTION. You're literally saying that people who went without food for less than a day would have a sudden, otherwise inexplicable drop in bodyweight? Sweetheart, our species would have died out LONG AGO.7 -
Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and suggestions!1
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Intermittent fasting is what has helped me get through a Plateau. Read Dr. Jason Fung's book titled The Diabetic Code. I'm currently reading that. It talks about intermittent and prolonged fasting. I'll be reading the Obesity Code when I'm finished with this one. He is also on Youtube. Look him up he is a very good speaker. He is very knowledgeable and entertaining.1
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