Should I eat less carbs?
 

Hi all,

I eat <50 net carbs per day, <20 per meal mostly coming from nuts, beans, and veggies. I have a square or two of 85% dark chocolate sometimes at night. I know I'm in ketosis because the hunger cravings are gone, I have endless energy, I sleep amazing, and my sticks have been pink for 2 weeks. I have a pretty active job and do 1-2hrs light-moderate exercise about half the days I don't work.

However, besides the initial 3lbs of water weight I have not lost anything (I restarted 16 days ago and am not new to LCHF). I usually have a pretty steady loss of ~1.5lbs per week using the same diet & exercise.

Is there any reason I should lower my carb count even though I'm in ketosis? Should I just be more patient? ;) What's been your personal experience?

It says in your profile you are a nursing student, so I'm assuming you are young enough that hormones could be the issue? Is your cycle due?

Another thought is that you might be in the infamous 2-3 week stall that hits after water loss in initial entrance to ketpsis, as body refills glycogen stores (even though you are losing fat, bc you are refilling water, you won't see loss).

And yes, 50 net be too many for you... But I would wait another week before changing a thing.

Thanks for responding. Yes I'm pretty young so it's not hormones, no it's not my TOM either.

I've been reading about the insulin response and know this occurs when we consume either carbs or proteins to a lesser extent, and also that if the insulin response is low enough fat cannot be stored.

I was assuming that if I'm in ketosis that the insulin response is suppressed enough to where I could eat whatever at night. And since fat could not be stored I would get the benefits of fat burning in the day and the conversion of all this fat into ketones at night. I think I am making too many assumptions and not completely understanding the specific biochemistry of it. If anyone has some good info on this or links I'd love to read it :)

I also completely realize I may be burning fat but retaining water. Just frustrated I guess that the results I've had in the past aren't what I'm seeing now. Oh well, I suppose that's what I get for straying!

Amy Berger has a good newish summary post of what is means "being in ketosis" for fat loss. http://www.tuitnutrition.com/2017/0...ng-ketones.html
It is a recap of her earlier three part post on the topic.
http://www.tuitnutrition.com/2016/0...-a-ketard1.html
But net down (her caps)

The sticks can be useful for a few reasons she explains, but not telling you if you are burning Body Fat. Personally I would reduce carbs to 20 total grams a day, a level Dr Westman finds that most everyone, no matter their metabolic derangement can lose weight. But I’m older and less active, and as Robin mentioned you may be in that dreaded week 2-3 pause, especially with not many pounds to lose. You also have room between <50 net and <20 total to pick a middle ground. Another idea, to follow a simple list of foods, and nix the beans completely and reduce the nuts, something like this brochure. https://www.dietdoctor.com/wp-conte...folder_1803.pdf

Thanks JEY100 - clears up a lot.

:)

Thanks JEY100, I've read a lot of Amy Berger's stuff and she's always good about presenting real science in an approachable way. I'm definitely a journal junky and sometimes rely on the theories behind our biochemistry when I really need to listen to the people with experience in the practical application of those principals.

I'm not ready to give up my small portion of beans or hummus quite yet...I'm trying to find something that I can stick with for good and too often I've found <20 carbs/day so restrictive (I don't eat a lot of meat) that I give up within the first two weeks, only to binge on junk and end up worse than I was before. I think I need to realize that this may be slower than I want but if it's something I can stick with then it will still be faster, in the long run, then anything I've ever tried before.

My goal for this week is to keep everything the same (cals & macros) and just finish eating 4 hours before bedtime. I say to myself "well, at least I'm not gorging on high carb food" and give myself permission to late-night-snack on 85% dark chocolate and peanut butter. And then sometimes another serving. Or two. I'm good at justifying things like that ;)

for what its worth, the old DANDR recommends up to 20 carbs for two weeks, eval weight loss and make a desicion from there. He recommends, if there is appreciabl loss, moving up one level for a less restrictive variety of foods.

perhaps two weeks at 20 carbs is worth a try?

^^

Hi K8

What Ms A said. :D
That's what I'd try.
Best to you!
jams

Yeah that may be what I end up doing. I'm just afraid if I go down to <20 I'll end up giving up after a few days like I have in the past. I'm going to give it a little longer and see if I'm just retaining water...

Really hoping that this time I create good lifelong habits not just do what I have to do to lose x pounds

I think that you are doing fine for low carb, but I think you should give it a full month before deciding to do any huge adjustments. If you change it up right now by a lot, you will never really know if it was the change or it was just working anyway and you finally lost.

We all know weight loss is not linear - I typically only lose weight one to two weeks out of the month. The other time I stay the same or even a tiny gain if I am retaining water.