Carolinebee999's Journal, 19 September 2014

Having a gain doesn't necessarily mean you are doing anything wrong. We gain (water weight shifting) for many reasons. If you eat too much sodium the day before, hormones, lack of sleep, the weather, stress, medicine, inflammation, sore muscles from exercise and many more factors can cause our water weight to shift masking our losses. Gooogle "why the scale lies" for insight. And you are right, weight loss is more than just calories in and out (although that is very important.) 

thanks so much for your kind words will look into that book <3 sweet dreams <3 

I know the feeling. Everyday I hop on the scale & move it into 3 different positions. If they all say the same thing then I believe it. However, many days (eg. today) I move it & get many different answers. Today the first 2 positions said 79.5. Then it started saying 79.7 & 79.8 - I was putting on weight by the second!!! I settled on 79.8. But this is so frustrating. I also struggle with the protein/carb ratio. I try keep carbs under 5% & proteins under 20% but fail most days. Its only when I have really stressful days & maybe eat only 1 meal that I nearly get this ratio correct. & then the sore boobs which I just want removed from my body as they drive me crazy. Today is the first day they are only remotely sore in the last 4 weeks. & blow me down I'm back under 80kg. I've named them Simon & Garfunkel-off!!! 

Thanks for your comments everyone! Pixipi, do you think the boobs thing is hormonal, and is it related to your diet? Is there anything to suggest it might be the result of ketosis? Asking because I'm having a similar problem. I was happy to wait a week or two to see if the weight gain was fluid or hormonal, but after 3 weeks and still up nearly 2kg, I'm prepared to admit that I am/ was probably actually gaining weight, and certainly NOT losing weight. I'm happy to say the scales dropped today, and sad to say that I think I am back to my old premise that exercise is the key (I did a decent bike ride yesterday). I was hoping I'd be like so many people on keto that love to boast how the weight just drops off regardless of exercise. But at least I am feeling a lot more energetic and less achy after 3 days on lower protein, higher fat. Hoping I'm in ketosis now (no meter or strips, so guesswork is the key). Btw, I use a Wiifit board to weigh myself and it doesn't seem to have that same temperamental thing that the scales did- it's very accurate, and it records every time you step on it! I also found digital scales far more consistent than the old-style moving gauge.  

I gained 2lbs during the week, and I had been good too. I felt so miserable, but then I remembered I've been here so many times and in the past gave up my diet. This time I'm going to work through this. Last week I had a very good weight loss. So after my gain I had a Google and came across a site that mentioned that when a fat cell has been emptied (as in weight loss) it can fill up again with water. To me this makes sense as water is quite heavy. I know I'm having water problems (or is it salt, or potassium? ) because if I move my head quick I get dizzy, so I've been having a qtr teasp of lo-salt in the morning in a glass of water which had helped. LCHF can be deficit in salt. You are doing so well, and I know we're on the right keto clarity path. 

BTW http://www.flexibleketogenic.com is a good way of checking if you are in the ketosis ballpark. Just add how much fat/carbs/protein you've had in a day. 

nbgirl, I also have given up in the past when I've plateaued for a week or two. It's easy to get discouraged, especially if you're not enjoying the diet you're on. I do realise now that part of it is because I am soooo goal-oriented. I find it hard to revel in the moment and am just so impatient to get to my goal. Any interruption I find very annoying. My husband is different, and is happy to accept that his reaching his goal will happen when it happens. There's disadvantages to each personality type- I'm more likely to get irritated by slow progress and give in, he's more likely to lose sight of his goal and gradually drift off the path. Like you, though, this time I seem so much more focused. Despite a 3-week plateau, I'm sticking at it and determined to see this through. And I'm not cheating at all- when I do mess up my macros, it's because I HAD to eat out and the best choice I had turned out to be not-so-good. I have only once since starting this diet had a strong urge to just go and eat stuff that's not on the diet, and I didn't actually do it (I had a sugar-free ice cream and a rack of pork ribs without chips). Yay me! 

Please keep in mind that Keto Clarity is more of a "fat loss" diet than a "weight loss" diet. The average weightloss after the initial drop is 1 pound per week. But you will be losing so much more inches than the scale would have you believe. So one should guage their success by how their clothes fit. 

So I went to flexibleketogenic.com & entered yesterday's food. Apparently I am "very ketogenic" with a score of 2.27. How is it possible that I put on 100g since yesterday? I'm so confused & frustrated!!! Carolinebee999, I don't know if the boob problem is caused by the diet or hormones. I suffered with sore boobs for most of my adult life & ever since I was on the pill (which I stopped in my 20's). They are normally sore a week before that time of the month & then, after the first day of the Russian mother-in-law, all is wonderful. Also, I haven't had sore boobs at all for about a year. The difference now this last month is that they were sore for about 3 weeks before & are still sore, although not as sore as before the Russian mother-in-law. So I can't say whether it is the diet or hormones. Also, with LCHF I cannot say that I'm seeing any inch loss at all. I started on 8 July &, as at today's date, have only lost 3.8kg. I'm not impressed. The thing I really like about it though is my hunger is controlled, I don't feel so tired & I love the food. But if I don't start losing weight soon I will have to trade this in for something drastic. I have been very stressed - writing exams at the end of Oct/Nov & have a very hectic job. Also, I'm not getting enough sleep as I wake up at about 3 to 4am every morning. So don't know if this something to do with the lack of weight loss. 

Pixipi, Those tiny fluctuations can be caused by so many things- temporary fluid gain or loss, failure to poop (a big issue for all three of us here that are doing this diet), muscle gain, hormonal changes, etc. That's too small to be concerned about, and in a talk that Jimmy Moore gave in December 2012 that I was watching last night, he warns not to be a scale whore. He says weight losses are pretty sporadic, and shows his graph which is all over the place like mine. It makes me feel better to hear this, as the 3 of us have found this too, plateaus and even 2kg weight gains while being 100% faithful, then massive drops which translate in the big picture (with the gains) into moderate losses. It's frustrating but it helps to expect it. We are also in early stages (8 weeks now) and are still finding out more about the diet and tweaking. I remember when I first started on keto, I saw this man's before and after here on FS and when I looked at his graph, his weight loss was so consistent. I recall thinking, "he must stick perfectly to his diet, so impressive". I know now that people who lose consistently like that are probably more the exception rather than the rule. Especially before you get your macros worked out properly, though Jimmy Moore even jumped around (including gains) despite having his macros down pat, despite having a blood keto meter and glucose meter, despite exercising regularly, and despite being religious about his adherence to the eating. And I think as women we are more prone to sporadic loss, and definitely smaller losses. 4kg in 2.5 months isn't too bad, but I can understand your frustration, especially because there are so many (mostly young men) out there telling us of the amazing results they had. Has the loss been consistent, or have you been plateaued for a while? How much do you have to lose? Your profile is closed so I can't see any of this. Controlled hunger is a good sign, and flexibleketogenic says you are highly keto, but have you checked your calories are not too high? You can be eating too much and still highly keto if you increase your protein and fat simultaneously. But you won't lose weight. I was eating way too much protein, I think. Since I dropped my protein from 100g (flexible)a day to 60g (strict), I started losing again almost immediately. My current protein intake is way lower than I thought I ought to have. Jimmy (in the talk I mentioned) said he is on 90g, and he is over 6 foot tall and male! The suggested MAXIMUM is half a gram per pound of LEAN BODY MASS so I'm hoping to drop my protein even lower. If it's not protein and your weight loss is plateaued, you probably need to do some more reading. There's a lot of useful stuff on the reddit group about kick-starting after a plateau. The suggestions I remember are intermittent fasting and high-intensity interval training. I'm going to get a blood keto meter so I can keep a better track of my ketosis and if I fall out of keto, I will be able to rectify sooner next time. Also, stress and lack of sleep are both shown scientifically to interfere with weight loss. Don't be too hard on yourself or give up too easily. Some of those dumb suggestions for improving sleep and stress actually work. I don't know about you, but waking up at 4am with me is usually a sign that I'm stressed. And then the lack of sleep makes me more stressed! With ketogenic diet, sometimes being less hard on yourself works better. From my short experience, it has nothing to do with the calories (I have lost 2kg this week despite INCREASING my calories by an average 300)but more to do with getting the macros right, plenty of fat intake (absolute minimum of 75% daily energy, preferably closer to 85-90%)and looking after yourself (not being hungry, good vitamin and mineral balance, good oils,keeping energy levels up by staying in ketosis etc). If you do more reading and are still dissatisfied with your weight loss, is there anyone you can consult? If you don't have someone in person, why not try the Reddit (www.reddit.com/r/keto) page? People are very willing to help and offer suggestions. I do find it very time-consuming working out how all this keto works, but it's for my long-term health, right? I hope you get it all worked out! Caroline 

Caroline, thanx so much for caring. Before I read your comment & thought stuff all this effort & had a cuppa coffee with 1 slice of white bread & cheddar cheese. I haven't had white bread in ages. Delicious. But now I feel really bad. I am very stressed at the moment & can't get any decent sleep 'cos I don't have a button on the back of my head to turn my brain off. I am stuck to me desk all day & then studying most of the night & all weekend. Exams are at the end of Oct/beginning Nov & I just want them over but then I also need more time to study. Work is so stressful. Once exams are over I will need to rethink my whole daily routine. How do I make my profile open so you can see what I'm eating/doing? XXX 

Accept my buddy request, then I can see your profile stuff. I already sent it. You can make it open to everyone- I did- so that others can see your journal entries and weigh-ins, and look at your weight loss chart etc even if they are not your buddies. It's in your settings somewhere. But if you buddy me, then I'll be the only one who sees it. Maybe you just need to reset your goals with the fact in mind that you have a difficult 6 weeks coming up? When you're so busy it must be difficult keeping a decent track of your macros. I found when I was going through a time like that, that to spend a little time before I went to bed would be of great benefit to me. I'd tell myself how good the sleep would be, how good it was for having a productive day tomorrow, that I deserved it because I had been so productive today (and I would try to make sure I WAS productive, so I could believe it). It helped me to fall asleep, but not necessarily with the 4am waking thing. Other people just go to bed earlier and get up at 4am to study- for some, they sleep longer because they are wired to wake at a particular time, but I find it hard to wind down to sleep if I don't feel I've done enough that day. The other thing you could try is to get up at 4am instead of dozing. It might make you so tired that after a few days you do get a decent night's sleep. Or at least you'd have extra study time! PS Did the bread make you feel sick, or just guilty? I've been wondering, hehe.