Slow losses while in keto?

[calutaxi]

Hey everyone I'm pretty new to keto. I've been in keto about a month now. I haven't really been having good losses on it so far.

I'm 5'7, started at 220, with about 30% BF. Initially I was eating at a deficit (500)to lose about 1lb per week. I'm lifting 3 days per week heavy, 3x5 sets (after warmups).

Week 1- 220 (first week lifting, and dieting)
Week 2- 223
Week 3-219
Week 4-218.5 (cut an additional 200 per day)
Week 5-217.5

After having only lost 1.5lbs at week 4 I decided to cut another 200c per day to bring my deficit to 700 (eating about 1600 per day). I'm not losing nearly as much as I should though. First 4 weeks were below 1/2 of what I was supposed to. I've also had no noticeable difference in clothing fit.

I've been doing 5%c/30%p/65%f. I'm just doing standard keto because I have a decent amount of fat to lose, not worried about carb cycling yet. I want to cut the fat first.

As of right now I'm not doing any cardio, but I'm thinking about adding it in on my off days from lifting. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

[rob2093124]

Hey everyone I'm pretty new to keto. I've been in keto about a month now. I haven't really been having good losses on it so far.

I'm 5'7, started at 220, with about 30% BF. Initially I was eating at a deficit (500)to lose about 1lb per week. I'm lifting 3 days per week heavy, 3x5 sets (after warmups).

Week 1- 220 (first week lifting, and dieting)
Week 2- 223
Week 3-219
Week 4-218.5 (cut an additional 200 per day)
Week 5-217.5

After having only lost 1.5lbs at week 4 I decided to cut another 200c per day to bring my deficit to 700 (eating about 1600 per day). I'm not losing nearly as much as I should though. First 4 weeks were below 1/2 of what I was supposed to. I've also had no noticeable difference in clothing fit.

I've been doing 5%c/30%p/65%f. I'm just doing standard keto because I have a decent amount of fat to lose, not worried about carb cycling yet. I want to cut the fat first.

As of right now I'm not doing any cardio, but I'm thinking about adding it in on my off days from lifting. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

losing 1 - 1.5 lb a week after water weigh is dropped is good! says u started at 220 but ur prof says 198... whats the issue? im about 180 and i'm eating 2000 calories a day. seems like ur calories are actually too low. did you just start lifting? you probably are building a significant amount of muscle during ur cut if this is true.

put the scale away and watch your body composition instead.

[calutaxi]

losing 1 - 1.5 lb a week after water weigh is dropped is good! says u started at 220 but ur prof says 198... whats the issue? im about 180 and i'm eating 2000 calories a day. seems like ur calories are actually too low. did you just start lifting? you probably are building a significant amount of muscle during ur cut if this is true.

put the scale away and watch your body composition instead.


Rob I've only lost 2.5lbs in 5 weeks. My profile is old I haven't been around here in a while so I'll update it.

I've been lifting for 5 weeks now, I didn't think I'd still be getting "newbie gains" after this long.
I've been using myfitnesspal.com for my tracking and stuff so that's where I adjusted my deficit to reflect 1lb/week, then bumped it up a little more.

[shadowwalker021]

usually people lose a bunch of water-weight in the first week. are you in ketosis?

[rob2093124]

Rob I've only lost 2.5lbs in 5 weeks. My profile is old I haven't been around here in a while so I'll update it.

I've been lifting for 5 weeks now, I didn't think I'd still be getting "newbie gains" after this long.
I've been using myfitnesspal.com for my tracking and stuff so that's where I adjusted my deficit to reflect 1lb/week, then bumped it up a little more.

are you doing carb ups? with that much of a deficit, you should be getting fat loss. have you seen any measurement changes? waist, arms, legs, etc?

[calutaxi]

Shadow, yeah I check every morning. I've been peeing moderate on the ketostix for 3 weeks straight. Not to mention the physical hell I went through (headache, insomnia, feeling like a zombie)I definitely know I'm in ketosis.

Rob, not doing any carbups at all. I haven't cheated at all either. I've not gone over 20g of carbs since I started.
I haven't been taking my measurements weekly, but is that a good way to start? Like I said my clothes haven't changed at all. Don't feel any looser/tighter or anything.

This is basically why I started this topic. Just seems like I'm pretty much doing what I should be, but not getting the results that I should be.

[rob2093124]

Shadow, yeah I check every morning. I've been peeing moderate on the ketostix for 3 weeks straight. Not to mention the physical hell I went through (headache, insomnia, feeling like a zombie)I definitely know I'm in ketosis.

Rob, not doing any carbups at all. I haven't cheated at all either. I've not gone over 20g of carbs since I started.
I haven't been taking my measurements weekly, but is that a good way to start? Like I said my clothes haven't changed at all. Don't feel any looser/tighter or anything.

This is basically why I started this topic. Just seems like I'm pretty much doing what I should be, but not getting the results that I should be.

very weird situation. but as far as the headaches, etc. saturated fats definitely help with that. i sup mostly with saturated fats.

maybe shadow has some more ideas, because at 217ish, and anywhere under 2000 calories, you should be losing fat. are you sure you are counting calories correctly. every extra. can you give us an example of a days worth of food.

[shadowwalker021]

assuming that you're doing everything correctly, the most likely cause of this is that your scale is inaccurate or your methods of measurement are non-comparable. gaining 3 pounds after 1 week of keto at a caloric deficit just is not going to happen. impossible.

what type of scale do you use? when do you weigh yourself? do you wear anything when you weigh yourself? have you recently eaten before weighing yourself? etc

[calutaxi]

very weird situation. but as far as the headaches, etc. saturated fats definitely help with that. i sup mostly with saturated fats.

maybe shadow has some more ideas, because at 217ish, and anywhere under 2000 calories, you should be losing fat. are you sure you are counting calories correctly. every extra. can you give us an example of a days worth of food.

Well all the keto side effects are gone now. Sleeping well, no headaches, and generally feel great ( much better then on a carb based diet).

Typical day goes like this... ( this is from yesterday)

Breakfast
Egg - 1 Whole Egg , 3 egg 162 1g 11g 14g 0g
Generic - Kraft Singles, 2 slice 120 2g 9g 6g 0g
Generic - Butter, 1 tablespoon 100 0g 11g 0g 0g

Lunch
Dole - Chopped Romaine Salad, 2 cups 15 3g 0g 1g 2g
Margherita - Italian Style Pepperoni, 16 slices 140 0g 13g 6g 0g
Hidden Valley - Original Ranch Dressing, 2 tbsp 140 2g 14g 1g 0g

Dinner
Generic Steamed Brocolli - 35 7g 0g 2g 3g
Generic - Kraft Singles, 2 slice 120 2g 9g 6g 0g
Prairie Ridge - Beef Patty 1/4 lb, 1 Patty (113g) 310 0g 26g 17g 0g

Snacks
Eas - 100% Whey Protein, 2 scoop (30g) 240 6g 4g 46g 2g
Valu Time - Sunflower Kernel, 1/4 Cup 180 4g 17g 6g 2g

TOTAL: Calories-1,597 Carbs-27g(18) Fat-115g Protein-108g Fiber-9g

[calutaxi]

assuming that you're doing everything correctly, the most likely cause of this is that your scale is inaccurate or your methods of measurement are non-comparable. gaining 3 pounds after 1 week of keto at a caloric deficit just is not going to happen. impossible.

what type of scale do you use? when do you weigh yourself? do you wear anything when you weigh yourself? have you recently eaten before weighing yourself? etc

I figured week 2's gain was due to fluid weight gain since week 1 is the first week I'd lifted in maybe 6+ months.
Using a digital scale, first thing whenever I wake up monday morning. After peeing, and only wearing my underwear.

[rob2093124]

Well all the keto side effects are gone now. Sleeping well, no headaches, and generally feel great ( much better then on a carb based diet).

Typical day goes like this...

Breakfast
Egg - 1 Whole Egg , 3 egg 162 1g 11g 14g 0g
Generic - Kraft Singles, 2 slice 120 2g 9g 6g 0g
Generic - Butter, 1 tablespoon 100 0g 11g 0g 0g

Lunch
Dole - Chopped Romaine Salad, 2 cups 15 3g 0g 1g 2g
Margherita - Italian Style Pepperoni, 16 slices 140 0g 13g 6g 0g
Hidden Valley - Original Ranch Dressing, 2 tbsp 140 2g 14g 1g 0g

Dinner
Generic Steamed Brocolli - 35 7g 0g 2g 3g
Generic - Kraft Singles, 2 slice 120 2g 9g 6g 0g
Prairie Ridge - Beef Patty 1/4 lb, 1 Patty (113g) 310 0g 26g 17g 0g

Snacks
Eas - 100% Whey Protein, 2 scoop (30g) 240 6g 4g 46g 2g
Valu Time - Sunflower Kernel, 1/4 Cup 180 4g 17g 6g 2g

TOTAL: Calories-1,597 Carbs-27g(18) Fat-115g Protein-108g Fiber-9g

your calories may actually be too low. might be one of the cases where, its so low that your body is preserving fat.

[calutaxi]

your calories may actually be too low. might be one of the cases where, its so low that your body is preserving fat.

This is only my 2nd week at 1600. I was at 1800 before, and that's when I was only losing .5 per week. When at 1800/day I should have been losing 1lb per week. Instead over the first 3 weeks of the diet I only lost 1.5lbs.

[shadowwalker021]

I figured week 2's gain was due to fluid weight gain since week 1 is the first week I'd lifted in maybe 6+ months.
Using a digital scale, first thing whenever I wake up monday morning. After peeing, and only wearing my underwear.

true. do you have body-fat calipers? measure your progress with body-fat percentages or tape measurements instead of masses since you have so many different variables going on with your weight.

[Rugger7]

Hey everyone I'm pretty new to keto. I've been in keto about a month now. I haven't really been having good losses on it so far.

I'm 5'7, started at 220, with about 30% BF. Initially I was eating at a deficit (500)to lose about 1lb per week. I'm lifting 3 days per week heavy, 3x5 sets (after warmups).

Week 1- 220 (first week lifting, and dieting)
Week 2- 223
Week 3-219
Week 4-218.5 (cut an additional 200 per day)
Week 5-217.5

After having only lost 1.5lbs at week 4 I decided to cut another 200c per day to bring my deficit to 700 (eating about 1600 per day). I'm not losing nearly as much as I should though. First 4 weeks were below 1/2 of what I was supposed to. I've also had no noticeable difference in clothing fit.

I've been doing 5%c/30%p/65%f. I'm just doing standard keto because I have a decent amount of fat to lose, not worried about carb cycling yet. I want to cut the fat first.

As of right now I'm not doing any cardio, but I'm thinking about adding it in on my off days from lifting. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

great news, you're most likely adding decent amounts of muscle. Start doing your cardio, it's good for you and will speed up the fat loss. You can even do it on days you lift *gasp*

[calutaxi]

Shadow, No I've used a tape measure in the past. I'll check out the calipers though.

Rug, I've basically been looking at starting the couch to 5k right now. I'll do HIITs outside once it warms/dries up a bit. Only have a treadmill at home though.

[Rugger7]

I've basically been looking at starting the couch to 5k right now.

what does this mean?

[Atavis]

I'm 5'7, started at 220, with about 30% BF. Initially I was eating at a deficit (500)to lose about 1lb per week. I'm lifting 3 days per week heavy, 3x5 sets (after warmups).


TOTAL: Calories-1,597 Carbs-27g(18) Fat-115g Protein-108g Fiber-9g

220 lbs * (1 - .30) % = 220 * 70% = 154 lbs lean mass

I would suggest increasing the protein intake to 154 gr a day and adjusting fat down if you really want to keep the daily kcal's at 1600.

[neverwinter]

do you look any different in the mirror? if you do, that's all that matters, i went from being 170 lbs fat to having a 6 pack at 170 lbs in 14 weeks. My weight hasn't fluctuated at all and i'm guessing is due to fat loss + muscle gain.

[calutaxi]

what does this mean?

It's a running program. From just looking around at it, it seems like an interval program designed to ramp you up to being able to run a 5k. All of the workouts are about 30 minutes, and that's about the most I can stand for cardio anyway.

Atavis, Just do this by switching to leaner meats?

Never, not that I've noticed unfortunately. I have pictures I took on 4/4, I wanted to wait a full month before comparing so.