I generally can only get 1500 calories in per day if I eat 4 times per day.  I can't really afford to eat a bunch of meat.  I'm eating a lot of salad and avocado,  eggs, that disgusting  bulletproof coffee, and cheese wit sandwich meats.

My lifts are going up,  but I'm not on a SS, or SL, or 5,3,1.  I'm on a general whole body routine.  

I'm 6', 232 pounds since thanksgiving (and I haven't lost a pound) and my body fat hasn't been measured.  I know I'm obese though, probably over 35 BMI.  I've added more cardio and completely cut out booze.  I just want to get to 200.

Cardio sucks for losing fat. It also makes you hungrier. It makes your body want to hold on to fat. There are studies out there that corroborate this. Just google cardio does not help you lose weight or burn fat.

What is a general whole body routine? That's what ss and sl are. It's a hell of a lot easier to focus on a real program like that build muscle and be able to burn more calories when you are sitting on your ass because you have increased muscle mass.

Either lift heavy or do high intensity interval training. Steady state cardio sucks ass

So I've been trying the Keto diet for a little over a month now and I have a question. Is it normal to not feel hungry and not eat for several days? I haven't had any appetite for going on 4 days now and I haven't been able to eat more then half a cheese stick at a time.

I'm trying to figure out if it's something about the diet or if my Crohns is acting up. I feel great besides having no appetite. I can't remember the last time I've felt this good. Up to this point the diet has been fantastic and my Crohns has been under control. 

yes



no

Squats

Deadlift

Farmers carry 20 ft

Pull ups

Dips on 2 benches

Dumbbell raises

Calf raises

Bench press

Burpees 10

Preacher curls


3 sets of 10 reps

I work out with two other guys who are more experienced and have taken me under their wing.  We do that routine then Insanity cardio for 20 minutes.  That's three days.   The other two are straight swimming for a minimum of a mile.

A couple days tends to be about my limit for fasting but everyone is different.

If you are trying to eat and can only eat a half a cheese stick that doesn't sound normal at all.

Damn, Looks like I need to call my GI specialist on Monday.  Odd, I feel better then I've felt in a long time just not hungry at all. 

That's a hell of a long routine 3 days a week, pretty much just sounds like cardio. If you are doing sets of 10 then you probably need to up the weight. Starting strength is only 3 exercises a day for 3 sets of 5 (plus warmups).

It took me a long time to realize that sometimes less is more. Especially if it lets you up the intensity and avoid burnout.

It's normal to not feel hungry.

It's easy to not eat for a while because you don't feel hungry and your body converts to using stored fat for fuel. That's the whole point.

Four days without eating more than cheese sticks seems excessive, but I don't have the expertise to say it's bad. I can do a 48-hour fast easily ever since getting into ketosis and I always feel like I can keep going. But I eat after 48 hours because I enjoy fat rich keto friendly food and know think I need it to keep from going into starvation mode and slowing my metabolism.

ETA: edit to clarify that I really don't know anything with scientific certainty.

Look in to dr jason fung if you want to learn more about fasting. He talks about some of his clients going on very long fasts like over a month. If you are seriously overweight there is very little downside to a long fast like that. You probably would want to have some bone broth or something to get a bit of protein but more importantly some sodium and potassium. A multi vitamin wouldn't hurt either.

You may be perfectly fine. If you just don't want to eat more than half a cheese stick it's probably no big deal. If you physically can't there may be a problem

I am lifting heavy, I usually fail to complete the second and third sets of 10.  

So why can't I lose weight?  That's my real issue.  If keto is the magic bullet that everyone loves here, why doesn't it work?

I keep reading here to go on keto and do SS.  Okay, I'm lifting to failure,  and I'm on keto.  It isn't working.  I tried low fat and low calories, and that didn't work.  The gym said more cardio,  and that isn't working.  Now what?  I've been trying to break under 230 for 3 months.  I can't get past this wall.

I keep hearing that weight loss happens in the kitchen.  So I'm trying to figure out how to make that happen  This is the keto thread.   I'm trying to find out what I have to do to make keto work.  My carb intake is low, my starch intake is low, my sugar intake is low, my booze intake is zero.   I'm working out, even if it isn't Arcf.com approved.  

I'm not losing weight.  

WTF

Give it time. Like i said it's not all about that number on a scale. Give yourself some other metrics. Measurements, photos, bodpod etc.

A week and a half isn't enough to say something isn't working. There is really no reason you shouldn't be losing weight if you are actually only eating 1500 calories and working out that much. My suspicion would be that you are just pushing it too hard and your body is fucking stressed and holding on to it. You should be able to eat that many calories or more on keto with no exercise and lose fat.

Are you really high on the protein? That just turns in to sugar in your liver you know. It would also explain why you are still having such high carb cravings

make an honest list of what you consume in 1 day and post it here. my guess is you need to fast or follow a strict cal deficient keto diet

If you're looking for magic bullets you're doing it wrong.

Keto is not a fad diet promising overnight results. It's a lifestyle/health improvement and it takes time. I don't think you'll find anybody in this thread claiming that keto is a magic bullet.

A week and a half is nothing. If you don't have the patience to wait for metabolic adjustments over a longer period than that, you will never be satisfied. Real change takes real time.

I usually don't hit protein or calorie goals. I only get some sort of meat or eggs at dinner.  I eat that gross bulletproof coffee for breakfast,  and a salad for lunch.  I cut more protein all I'll be eating is salad.  

So why am I stuck for 3 months?  Should I add more sets at the gym?   Eat less than the 1500 calories I get now?

I would also be failing to complete second and third sets of ten cause i'd be fucking gassed doing all those exercises.

It also sounds like you are trying to follow info from several different sources.

Gym bros are probably telling you that you need 200 grams of protein a day and a billion exercises and more cardio.

If you want keto and muscle mass gains eat bacon and don't jog. Around 100 grams of protein a day is plenty. Eat more fat. Try actually doing starting stength for a couple months rather than whatever gym bros made up.

I don't know why you have been stuck for 3 months. You have only been doing keto for a week and a half.

You don't need more sets if anything you need less sets and reps with more weight and some actual rest days.

If you were 400 lbs id say stay the course but you are just a little chubby and overstressing your body and fucking up your metabolism.

If bullet proof coffee is gross eat bacon eggs and avacado for breakfast. Stop overexerting yourself.

Protein shake after workout
Bulletproof coffee
Salad for lunch (lettuce,  cucumber,  some but not much tomato,  broccoli, califlower,  pepper, olive oil,  vinegar)
Usually egg and cheese omlet for dinner.  Sometimes a chicken breast or pork chops. More broccoli and califlower.
Mixed nuts if I need a snack.
Water and black coffee is all I drink.

Also, the guy that came up with out work out is a cardiologist.   I work out with him and his father in law, who has been lifting for 25 years.  I've only been going for 7 months.

You certainly aren't eating enough fat. That is probably why you are fucking miserable

My recomendation for any adult male is less than 20 grams net carbs, 80 to 100 grams of protein and around 150 grams of fat. 3 days a week high intensity workout. Sprint intervals, hard biking or heavy compound lifts.

I'll shut the fuck up now and let some others respond

You're being helpful.  That's why I'm in this thread.

On that note, if I could chime in- if it's ultimately calories in calories out why would he need more fat?

That just more calories right?

Once your body enters ketosis it goes looking for available fat for energy, right?

That you are still buying chicken breasts is the issue.   Change your thought process; thighs are better; skin is better than skinless; fat is good.

Forget about all those veggies at lunch; spinach greens with olive oil, then dump a scoop of egg salad on top.

Shitcan the protein shakes.

It's not ultimately calories in v calories out. That is certainly a part of the equation which you can't ignore but in his case he's probably using something like 3000 calories a day and only eating half that. Putting his body in a stressed out hold on to everything mode and ultimately his body is probably just getting more efficient at doing the exercises and damaging his metabolism.

It's hard to tell if he is actually in ketosis. There has been no mention of keto strips or a blood monitor. I am not even sure if he is actually weighing and tracking things to know how many grams of what he is getting.

It sounds like he is basically on calorie restricted diet with too much exercise rather than a keto genic diet with a muscle mass building routine...

The idea is to get your body in fat burning mode. You do that by eating fat for fuel.

I have more odd ketosis behavior.  Last week I was having a really sweet taste in my mouth for several days.  As if I had just taken a swig of a drink with a strong artificial sweetener even though I hadn't.  That went on for days.  I had also hit another plateau but wasn't really strict on my diet so I hadn't been expecting much anyway.  My weight started to come up about a pound even though the less strict diet wouldn't have affected it.  Then on Thursday a terrible day at work which had me fuming mad and stressed.  I ate some sandwhich meat from left over meeting sandwiches, I never eat at work.  I went home and picked up some sushi plus calamari salad.  Then fried up a pound of bacon and made two double bacon and cheese burgers, eating only the bottom bun, and drank loads of water.  I felt stuffed and bloated.  The next morning, Friday, I weighed 3 pounds less.  I had just eaten 2 pounds of meat before bed, so how is that possible?

The sweet taste also went away and I felt satisfied in the morning, the first time in a while, even though I hadn't eaten any more.

Friday I had stuck with the my typical calorie restricted keto diet plus intermittent fasting.  I generally fast from dinner to dinner.  Saturday morning I weigh myself and I am down another 5 pounds.  That is an 8 pound drop in 2 days.  The sweet taste has not come back.  I fasted all day and knocked out a ton of physical labor outside and was sweating.  I weighed myself Saturday afternoon and I was down another 2.5 pounds.  That is 10.5 pounds in 2 days.  Granted I wasn't drinking water while working so the last bit is dehydration.  I will have a better idea of where I am really at in the morning.  Unfortunately mut gut isn't shrinking as fast as the number on the scales, which means I am losing muscle mass too due to the intermittent fasting.  That is ok though, I can put that back on.

The best part about ketosis is the unlimited energy if you move at a mild pace.  For example, I split 80% of the wood pictured in about two hours today and I was 14 hours into a fast.  I didn't tire, except when a piece wouldn't split and it required repeated strikes.  At the end I felt just as strong as I did when I started.  I followed that by running 4 batches of branches through the wood chipper for mulch and then mulching the flowers.  Then I got the chainsaw and procceded to cut more wood, clear more brush, climb a ladder and prune some trees, sharpen the saw, and cut more brush.  I got a boat load of work done today and never tired.  At work I sit at a desk all day.  I finally ate for the first time at 9:00pm today, another round of sushi at a sit down place in stead of take out at the grocery store.  Plenty of fish and avocado with very little rice.  I'm still feeling great and not tired but I can tell my legs will be sore tomorrow.

I'm about 6 weeks in now.  Started at 243 and after all the work today I was 212.5.  This morning I was 215. Hopefully tomorrow I will hold at 215 or lower.  I would like to know what was going on with the sweet taste and if that was a precursor to the massive drop in weight or was due to my diet missing something.

Who the hell knows what the sweet taste was about.
Sounds like you are doing great.

You may not be losing much muscle mass. See how much fat you can grab on your arms leg but etc. The gut is the most stubborn area to actually drop fat from.

Figured id post a couple food and mfp screenshots for today.

Breakfast was espresso a cup and a half of half and half and walden farms calorie free chocolate sauce.

Lunch was pancetta, arugala parmesan and balsamic

Dinner was an elk burger home ground with bacon, pepperjack cheese a couple tablespoons of kerry gold arugala parmesan amys goddess dressing and balsamic.

Snacks were around a cup of chili peanuts, about 6 oz of bourbon and 2 cans of hansens diet gingerale and a multi vitamin.

I also did a half hour jog despite my advice to others because my cardio sucks

I found various articles online that said the sweet taste can occur with the Keto diet but they weren't able to describe why.  Others freaked out as sometimes diabetics get that before they have an episode.  I'm not diabetic but I am taking metformin for all the health benefits.  I've been doing that for over a year and the sweet taste only happened with the intense Keto diet.  I was getting plenty of salt in the diet which the lack of is something they say could cause it.  So I'm at a loss as to why and if it was a good symptom or an indicator of something bad.

I've lost a ton of fat on my legs.  That a very noticeable loss.  The last 6 months of last year were very stressful due to a job change.  My weight on the scales didn't change but my pants got very tight.  So clearly I was losing muscle mass back then.  Perhaps I'm not really losing it but just seeing the damage I did to myself last year.  Four years ago at this weight I did not have a noticeable gut.  Now I can still grab a good 2.5 inches of fat and have a very noticeable gut.  Age is playing a part of that too.  Going from age 37 to 41 makes a huge difference.

Did a dr diagnose you as pre-diabetic to give you metformin?

That lunch looks great.  I might have to try it.

Are you from the government?  If so, then yes.   I did have a doctor tell my blood sugar was staying on the high end of the scale and could be an indicator.  I bought a glucose meter to watch it and I am/was near the top of the range but hadn't crossed into pre-diabetic.  I looked up metformin because of that and once I started reading on it one has to wonder why everyone isn't on it just based its other health benefits.  

Dinner was better but doesnt photograph as well.

I usually have a much more nutrient dense smoothie for lunch and eat less bourbon and peanuts but i'm tired of my smoothie and wanted bourbon and peanuts

The dinner looks good and looked like something I would already eat which is why I didn't comment.  The lunch looks simple yet would have plenty of flavor.  When/if I get the point of eating lunch that would be a good thing to have on hand.

I've been telling myself "one week at a time" when it comes to meals.  I'm ok with eating the same thing 5 out of 7 nights knowing that the next week I will change it to something else.  Otherwise like you experience you get tired of certain foods.  One of my on hand meals is a Cesar salad with just dressing and a ton of Parmesan.  If i have no food ready or what I ate didn't fill me up I chop up some romaine coat it in dressing, then cover it in freshly grated Parmesan and then slice off a dozen very thin slices of Parmesan for flavor and texture.  It keeps me from eating something I shouldn't or going to the store and buying way too much of stuff I don't really need.  

It was wonderfully flavorful bit at 210 calories it could use a bit more substance

Damn Swire....30 lbs in 6 weeks...that's awesome...

How many calories on avg are you eating?..

My fat ass needs to drop at least 50.....and realistically 65...

I've been back into this for about 10 days and i'm down a legit 7-8 lbs.

I'm eating what's in the freezer.  I haven't bought more meat for this.

I can drop the protein shake.  I didn't eat anything yeaterday but coffee.  I was in the garage all day and focused on tasks, so I didn't stop until late.  

How do I add fat to this?  I have high LDL cholesterol and I don't want to put myself at more risk.  

Reading that someone has dropped 30 pounds in 6 weeks is what makes me frustrated that I can't lose even one.  Still 232 today.

Serious question, have you seen an endocrinologist? At that activity level, that level of calories and your stated size I don't see how it's possible for you to have not lost at least a couple/three pounds.

1500 calories of 70% fat 20% protein and 10% carbs is not enough to sustain you at those levels at the same weight. Even if Keto was BS, the calories in/calories out proponents should be satisfied with your efforts.

You might want to talk to a doctor, because the math doesn't add up.

seems like a bad idea on the surface. have any links to what you're reading?

I had blood work done at a physical two weeks ago.  All thatv was outb of range was my high cholesterol.

I'm not really trying to build muscle as most people are.  I'm 99% trying to not be such a fat ass. If I get stronger,  then fine.  But my main motivation is losing fat.

Not trying to be a dick, but have you read this thread or any of the keto guides? First of all one of the major benefits of keto is lipid profile improvement despite 70%+ of your calories coming from fats. You cannot do this way of eating, will not be in ketosis, and will be miserable if you try to limit or manage fat.

When you remove carbs you need to replace that with something. You cannot replace it with more protein. The gym-bro diet of greens and lean protein will cause your body to convert protein into sugar via glycogenesis.

 70% of your calories need to come from fat so your body prioritizes fat and enters ketosis. Period. 9 calories in a gram of fat, 4 in a gram of protein, do your calculations that way.

Secondly you're going to need to buy food. That doesn't mean it has to be expensive. Chicken thighs, beef shank, 70/30 ground beef.

Veggies get sauteed in butter. If applicable add heavy cream I.e. creamed spinach. Buy nothing advertised as low fat.

Eta: And follow some of the links and read up on how keto works, because you're not eating keto at all currently. You're eating low fat low carb high protein. Check out Ruled Me for recipes, or just search "keto recipes".

Go buy bacon and more bacon. Cheese. Ect

I'm not scrounging up links right now but it's been touted and a longevity drug as of late, lots of evidence starting to show up.

How much of that is due to glucose regulation in "normal" individuals or due to its secondary effects is the question.

Maybe shake up your diet a little.  Is bulletproof coffee all you have for breakfast?  Maybe try some eggs and cheese instead. I'm one of those people who eats breakfast every day, unless I am fasting or I ate a very large meal later than my usual evening meal time.

What is your LDL number?  I have been doing a lot of research on the cholesterol issue (but hey, I'm not a doctor.) My first 7 months of doing this I ate way more carbs than can be considered true keto.  I still used the strips and made sure I was in ketosis though.  My total cholesterol went down from 205 (about what it has been for years) to 175.  During the second six months, it went up to 258.  But with all the research I can find we really don't know if that is good or bad for someone on a keto diet (according to Dr. Peter Attia.)  From what I understand from my reading it is only small particle LDL that is a problem, and even than it is only a problem in the presence of inflammation in the arteries, and keto is a low inflammation diet.  Also, there could be any number of reasons why mine went up. I was fighting some kind of cold virus at the time, and according to Dr Rhonda Patrick being sick can change your cholesterol numbers. I was consuming MCT oil, something I never used during the first 7 months. I had increased my strength training but reduced the amount of walking I was doing.  Of course my doctor wanted me to come back right away with the pretense of getting me on some kind of statin. I did not go back. I have cut out the MCT oil, gone back to my old walking schedule and will see where my numbers are on my next regularly scheduled appointment.  If they are still high I will ask my doctor to test the LDL for small particle percentage and am already considering a DNA test through 23 and me to see if I am apoe 3 or 4/

If you are not measuring and tracking your food odds are you are not eating as cleanly as you think you are.

I eat breakfast in the car on the way from the gym to work.  I have not eaten breakfast during the week in at least 15 years.  Adding protein shakes or or that gross coffee is a change over just a thermos with a pot of plain black coffee.

My LDL is 274.  

I am measuring and using a Keto tracker app to be sure I'm in line.  I know I'm not eating enough fat, but I don't know how to get more fat into my diet.

Duke's mayonnaise was a big discovery for me, as was sour cream. We make fat bombs now, and I tend to eat one or two of those as dessert quite often.

I no longer use Dukes due to the soy content.  There are alternatives that use avocado oil instead of soybean oil and they taste just as good as Dukes.  Sir Kensington's is one I found at my local Whole Foods and the also have a generic copy of it.  For some reason it is way cheaper at Whole Foods then through Amazon.

Vegetables like broccoli can absorb a lot of fat.  I always add olive oil or butter to my broccoli.

You might try adding a whole food chromium supplement to your diet.  Chromium is one of those minerals used in the metabolism process.

Well the last 10 came in the last 3 days and I doubt it will stay off.  Something odd was going on with the sweet taste, stress, and possibly a shortage of salt or water.  This morning I'm up from yesterday but sore from the physical work, so inflammation and retaining water.  Tomorrow morning will give me a better idea of where I"m really at.  I'm down 23 to 25 pounds though.

Typical day calories would run between 800 to 1,200 a day, usually consumed in the evenings over an hour or two period.  Then 1-2 days a week I will go up to 2,500 calories just to make sure I'm getting enough and to feel a little more satisfied.  

I'm taking a very hard core approach to the weight loss and I've adapted a very disciplined approach to my daily life, after a recent conversation I had with FNBrowning about a post I made from back in 2004 of all things.  He was checking up and asking how things had turned out for me.  The more I thought about his question the more I realized that the things that didn't work out were due to me not being disciplined and sticking with my own plan.  So not being a fat ass any longer is my goal and I'm determined and disciplined to make that happen.