Hi I'm doing Keto IF and I can't believe that I only lost 3 lbs in a month. This is my 5th week and so absolutely frustrated. I make sure I drink 4 liters of water, I make sure I have salt. I keep carbs below 20. My fat is about 80% now.
I even started walking at school.

A couple of things may be going on. When bloodsugar is high and presumably insulin is high, your body has trouble accessing fat to use as fuel. It may still be trying to store it.

Do you have a sense of how many calories you are eating in a day? How many grams of carbs and protein?

I think you said you don't have a scale at home....did you use a new scale today? Maybe it is not accurate?

I know you've made huge improvements this month and are having steady success with your blood sugars. Significant weight loss is sure to follow. Keto on!

Oh and one more thing....according to your stats, you've already lost over 100 lbs. That's an amazing accomplishment! The downside is that your body (and mine) will never behave like a body tht has never dieted. It may be stubbornly clinging to every ounce.

I lost 85 lbs 14 years ago. the rest is recent. I don't own a scale. I do have some good news thanks to a friend on facebook who asked if I measured myself. it just so happens I had measured myself for clothing January 10th and when i remeasured myself I was 1 inch from bust, 2 inches from waist and hips.

as for calories I don't for two reasons: 1) I do IF and I eat normally on eating days so I don't eat as much. 2) I focus on %fat and carbs. right now I'm close to 80% fat.

Well, I am in total awe of you that you have maintained a loss of 85 lbs for 14 years. And how great that you've lost some inches - that's better than lbs any day.

The reason that I ask about calories is that as we get older we need fewer calories per day and as we lose weight our metabolism usually slows. For me it's not enough to just watch carbs, I must be attentive to calories as well. And if you are overeating protein ( I don't know that you are) and then basing your 80% fat on that, you may be overeating fat as well.

Teaser explained something similar very nicely the other day. Taking his approach: Say you're eating 20 grams carbs per day and 80 grams protein, that's 400 calories total. If it represents 20% of your calories (and fat 80%), then your total calories are 2000 for the day.

But what if you keep your carbs the same and up your protein to 100 grams per day, and still maintain your 80% fat ratio? Now 480 calories represents 20% of total calories, with total cals being 2400. That may be enough additional to slow weight loss or even change it to weight gain. Calories are never the only thing, but they do count in the end.

Anyway, you are losing inches and that is wonderful! And as your blood sugars come down and stay down, I bet your weight loss will accelerate.

Thank you Liz My last blood sugar before going to bed is 107

WOW! That is fantastic!

You have been around this forum long enough to know "the Scales Can Lie". In five weeks you are getting normal blood sugars, have lost 2” from your waist and hips in 18 days, you said before your skin is better and can now see your ankles and face is thinner (because the inflammation is going down). Your body is going through a huge transition from being inflamed with sky high blood sugars to settling down with normal blood sugars and a functioning metabolism, give it some time to heal. And also remember when you started five weeks ago, you were "lower" carb but still eating nut flour muffins, and other items that can slow weight loss. It wasn't until maybe three weeks ago that you really tightened up the diet and only two with fasting? You are doing great! Don't forget you wrote you committed to LC to reduce blood sugars, not necessarily lose weight...I'd say you are already successful and will have a positive meeting with your doctor next month.

I totally agree with you Janet and yes I am still not using nuts and using fats from butter, coconut oil and my spray oil is oil. I eat saturated fats with bone broth and with cuts of meat. I am weakest with veggies and I'm trying to increase it. Spinach in quiche was awesome. I try to bring green onions, white onions, zucchini every week. Oh found out Cauliflower can be chopped up and hold for a week in my fridge without spoiling so I can make just enough (I prefer roasting) for me. The multiple meal thing works great just not the veggies.

I've been aiming to eat my minimum protein requirement every day so I don't lose any muscle. Is this what the rest of you do? or do you eat less than the minimum protein on fast days and more protein on non-fast days, looking for a reasonable average for the two days?

This is a very good question, one that I hope Dr Fung will address at some point. We're probably all approaching it somewhat differently. I generally eat 2 meals a day when IFing (I really just skip breakfast), so I don't think I undereat protein.

But, here's the sticky part....what IS the minimum protein requirement? There are so many opinions on this. I've calculated it according to many different systems and come up with widely differing amounts. In the name of science, what do YOU consider the minimum amount and I'll tell you if I meet it on a daily or a weekly basis.

For my height and activity level, Protein Power and The Zone calculators put my protein requirement at 77-81g. I've tried higher and lower levels, 46g when I was on low fat diets and as much as 100-120g after Mike Eades blogged about Scandinavian studies that said middle-aged women lost faster and felt less hungry on higher protein. For me, the higher protein left me hungry and dehydrated no matter how much water I drank, and the hunger may have been triggered by excess protein undergoing glucogenesis. On LCHF, I do feel best and maintain my lean mass at 77-81g protein per day.

But now that I've added IF (Fung style), it is hard to eat that much protein in one or two meals on fasting days. I don't know if protein usage is different on LC IF, but when I was eating only 46g of complementary proteins in my low-fat high-carb days, I did lose muscle as well as fat and often felt weak. I don't want to lose any muscle on IF, so I'm wondering if I should aim for 100g on eating days and 60g on fasting days, averaging 80g.

As luck would have it, I recently calculated my protein needs with the Protein Power formula (and even kept a record of it since it was a bit complicated). My activity falls somewhere between active and very active and so I consider my range to be 65-75 grams per day. Most days I can hit 65 with no problem. On the 4 days per week that I eat 3 meals I usually eat 70-80 grams, and occasionally if I snack on nuts, a bit more.

I'd be interested in how others are approaching this as well. I know as a post-menopausal woman who is "naturally" losing lean mass, I want to hold on to as much of it as possible.

Oh, and I agree with you on "excess" protein fueling hunger. I have much diminished appetite on lowered carbs AND lowered protein (until 8 or 9 months ago, I tried to get 90-100 g per day).

I am encouraged by this post on Mark's Daily Apple for those who are eating a ketogenic diet while IFing - once you are fat adapted, protein intake is not as critical.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fast.../#axzz3QHKNNkWR

Another "I don't know" here. Have been surprised how low my protein is on the one meal days. Besides not eating leftover proteins for lunch as much, I rarely have eggs..and I love eggs. Just no time to fit them in. Personally I wouldn't mind having omelets but am usually making a full dinner (to get more protein in with chicken or beef)

Diedra, thanks for the MDA link. Apparently should not worry about these lower protein levels since I am a "fat-burning beast"