Is my keto working or not?

[Corto]

I’m 64 yo, exactly 6 ft tall and currently 173 lbs. Why would I go into keto? You may say I’m paranoid, no surprise here, my wife says it too.

During the last 2-3 years I slowly went up from size 32 to 33 and recently even 33 started to feel pretty tight. My belly acts like a magnet. All the fat accumulates there and I hate it. I’m not even a beer drinker.

So I said I will try the keto for two months. After 3 weeks I lost around 4 lbs. I really expected more, but what concerns me is the loss kind of happened during the first 2 and since then I’m stagnant at 173 +/- a fraction.

On average I get 1500 cals per day: 60% from fat / 30% from protein / 10% from carbs. Net carbs average is 35 g per day.

Checking my status with keto strips shows moderate, maybe slightly under moderate.

On top of that I start my morning with 15 min of light workout followed by 30 min of brisk walking on the treadmill.

So am I doing this wrong? I know excess proteins may get converted into glucose, but I thought staying under 100 g protein is good enough for my weight.

Feedback is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[TJustice]

ideally net carbs should be under 20 grams a day.

I lost weight like mad being ultra low carb. eggs, steak, burgers, salads, avocados...( broccoli sometimes) and chedder cheese. Water or coffee. ... almost exclusively during my best fat melt.

When I added in nuts or more vegetables... the weight loss was slower.

However... I had much more fat to lose.

So 2 things come to mind.

1. It may be difficult to get cut the last pounds of fat using keto..

2 Or. perhaps you are not dropping into keto because you don't have a lot of fat to lose and your body is making do with the carbs your are giving it.

When I was in (and had fat to lose) it was easy to tell. you can do fasted low intensity cardio for days... you just don't feel any drop in blood sugar levels... no bonking... for me anyway.
I also had keto breath and body order.


2. .. one other point. confining you eating to just a few windows during the day prevents spiking insulin all day long. So two big meals is much better than many little meals for keto.

 

[Corto]

You're right. Carbs have to be below 20 g. I was under the impression below 50 is good enough. Will need to fix this.
I also read that eating more small portions rather that 2 large ones prevents the body from getting into that storage mode.
Thanks!

 

[TJustice]

Although I am no well studied on this aspect... I would bet people who were not overweight have different optimal approaches. I could see frequent smaller meals being the best way to go for those who have kept slim and have not been gorging on bad carbs.

But... I also believe, if you got somewhat fat from carbs or worse, you want to limit the amount of insulin spikes you have. You may also want to separate the veggies (carbs) from the protein during your eating periods... and you should definitely have some cheese or avocado at the same time as the protein.

There is a chiropractor on you tube named Dr. Berg who is awesome on this subject. . And if you wish to see the studies... a guy name Thomas DeLauer also has a great channel on keto and fasting and weight training.

You're right. Carbs have to be below 20 g. I was under the impression below 50 is good enough. Will need to fix this.
I also read that eating more small portions rather that 2 large ones prevents the body from getting into that storage mode.
Thanks!

 

[Corto]

Thanks, will have a look.

 

[HobbyTrading]

So I said I will try the keto for two months. After 3 weeks I lost around 4 lbs. I really expected more, but what concerns me is the loss kind of happened during the first 2 and since then I’m stagnant at 173 +/- a fraction.

How many weeks is your weight stagnant?

I know excess proteins may get converted into glucose, but I thought staying under 100 g protein is good enough for my weight.

A rule of thumb says that one should count 1 gram of protein for each pound of body weight. So you might be a bit on the low side here.

 

[Corto]

Roughly last week seemed to show no change day to day. I should have written down every day, but haven't. Will do from now on and also plan to stay below 20 g carbs.

I don't know where I got this from, but the rule of thumb I knew for proteins was 0.5 - 1 gram / pound body weight. Looks like I need an update on these things.

 

[NQurious]

Keto urine strips can be misleading. Get a blood glucose/ketone meter and test the ketones in your blood. Once you are fat adapted you can be in nutritional ketosis .5 to 3.0 MM or even slightly higher and yet nothing shows on the urine strip. The urine strips work so long as your liver is producing ketones but your cells are not burning them. Thus you piss them away - which isn’t bad because they are fat and right now you want to get rid of fat.

Intermittent fasting is best - one or two meals a day, within a 4 to six hour feeding window. You do not want to eat a bunch of smaller meals as that will simply serve to keep your circulating insulin high. When insulin is high, your liver will not produce ketones at the level required to induce ketosis.

If you are just starting, some have found going as close to zero carb as possible for the first 30 days is helpful to induce ketosis. I do not eat hardly any veg at all, and no fruit. Mostly meat. I am usually between 1 to 3 MM ketones when I test. Ketones lowest in the morning for me, highest in the afternoon. Low after exercise (which I guess makes sense as I am burning the energy more while exercising).

Do not fall into the keto trap of drinking butter and coconut oils etc. Eat fatty meat, drink water, and you will get the results you are looking for.

You mentioned all your weight is around the middle. That is visceral fat, not “belly” fat. You need to bring your insulin levels down to burn it. Once insulin is down, ketones up, it will melt away. However, you are already a decent weight for your height. Do not be surprised by weight stalls or even weight gain. What matters most is that your waist circumference as measured just about an inch below your belly button is getting smaller. Your body is going to start healing by using your protein to rebuild lean body tissue. This may cause weight gain during fat loss. It sounds as though you are already experiencing this.

 

[Corto]

Very interesting. And you may be right unless what I see is just temporary. Despite weight not dropping as expected, two days ago I started to set my belt one hole tighter and feels OK. Yes, I'm old fashioned, use a belt...

 

[Frederick Foresight]