Has anyone lost weight on a keto diet?

[Tootytata]

I recently started Couch to 5k and have reached week 5. I'm surprised I have gotten this far! This is probably the most amount of regular exercise I have ever done in my life so I'm proud of it.

I really want to lose 3 stone. I've been flirting with a low carb diet. Stick to it Monday to Thursday and then I eat what I like Friday to Sunday (watching calories but I will have sweet treats so not watching carbs). During the week I'll have meal replacement shakes for breakfast and lunch to ensure I remain within my calorie allowance.

I lost a few pounds initially, then I stayed the same the next week. This week I've gained a few pounds! I'm so tired of going up and down like a yo yo all the time. I really want to take advantage of the fact that I'm exercising regularly and lose the weight for good.

Has anyone lost weight by sticking to a keto diet? Did you pay for it? I will happily pay for something if it will aid my weight loss.

Thought about doing something like Jane Plan but the food doesn't look that great. And it's expensive.

I feel like I'm all over the place food wise. Why am I finding it so hard to lose weight?!

[ChinWhiskers]

For keto to work you need to track your net carbs and stay under 20g. You can't keep cheating as it gets you out of ketosis. You lose a lot and quickly if you really stick to it.
You put weight back so quickly if you cheat on it.

[ChinWhiskers]

You dont need to pay. There are loads of instagram accounts to show you what to eat and free websites.
Essentially its all fats, dairy, eggs, meat and dark and low carb veg like courgette, lettuce

Sample menu
Eggs with cheese, coffee with cream

Tuna mayo with lettuce and black olives

Fried or grilled chickken or fish or steak with buttered broccoli and cauliflower.

[KetoPenguin]

I'm losing weight on keto but I'm doing it fairly slow 🐌. I'm looking on it more as a lifestyle change. My advice is to really do some research before you start so you know what you are doing and what you can and can't eat.

[SallyWD]

The one time I tried low carb (not as low carb as keto) I became so horrifically constipated I thought I'd die! I felt AWFUL. After 2 weeks I'd lost 2lbs. It just wasn't with the misery so I stopped. I did everything you're supposed to to avoid constipation - flax seeds, lots of veg, gallons of water. My body just couldn't cope with it.

[hamstersarse]

The majority of people lose weight and feel better on keto.

You don’t need to pay, there are loads of free resources...

Diet doctor
Ruled me
Facebook - keto UK community
Reddit r: keto

Apps: carb manager or MFP to track your carbs

You need to commit to it and go under 20g of carbs for at least a few months. You are changing the way your body fuels itself so expect some bumps in the first few weeks as it adapts. If you get through the first few weeks of ‘keto flu’ you’ll never look back

Get electrolytes in! You lose water weight initially (carb bloat) and this is what can make you feel quite ill, it’s having a dieuretic effect so you need your salts

[BIWI]

The reason it's not working is because you're only flirting with it! Low carb doesn't work like low calorie diets do - you can't compensate one day for eating too much on another.

Why not come and join us on the Low Carb Bootcamp here? We're in week 6 now, of 10, but it doesn't matter - we're always there, chatting about low carbing. (Oh, and it's free! )

[Shedtheload]

Yeah agree with others here that you can’t cheat on a low carb diet as it undos all the work you did. I can’t handle low carb.
I am aiming to lose 3 stone just eating healthy and exercising. No meal replacements or anything. I am nearly two thirds there (almost 27 pound off - yay!). It is possible to do it. However, what I have found is that you can’t cheat. I have been doing this for 14 weeks now and haven’t had any cheat days or cheat meals. I think that while you are losing weight, cheat days do too much damage. That’s why I had to make sure that I was eating a diet that I wouldn’t want to cheat on - ie one that didn’t cut anything out really.

[FizzyPink]

The reason it’s not working is that you’re not doing it right. You really can’t cheat on keto, the idea is that you’re in ketosis and the minute you cheat you’re out of ketosis. You really need to educate yourself on what a carb is.

I promise you (if you can stick to it) in my view it’s one of the most effective ways to lose weight without feeling like you’re on a diet. With keto you eat fat to make yourself feel fuller for longer rather than carbs/sugar so you shouldn’t be feeling hungry. Plus you’ll gradually find you don’t need huge portions to feel full.

I’m not very big (size 8-10) and I lost a stone in a month doing keto last summer.

[Tootytata]

Thanks everyone.

You're right. The cheat days are causing my weight to go up and down. Overall I haven't lost anything!

I've always struggled with food. I lost weight through meal replacement shakes and low carb dinner once. Also lost weight once through strict calorie counting. Need to find something I can do every day...not just on weekdays!

If I manage to lose 1 stone, I would feel so much better about myself. Losing baby weight is so hard. She's not even a baby anymore...nearly 2!

[BIWI]

Come and join us!

[Lottieskeeper]

I did really well eating keto last year, lost 2 stone in 5 months and felt amazing so full of energy. Really enjoyed the food too.
I thought I'd relax a little for Christmas and now here I am as fat as I ever was.
I just can't seam to get back into it. I can't seam to PUT THE BREAD DOWN & STEP AWAY FROM THE CAKE.

But yeah I totally recommend keto but you can't have cheat days. You're cheating yourself out of achieving what you want.

[hamstersarse]

thought I'd relax a little for Christmas and now here I am as fat as I ever was.
I just can't seam to get back into it. I can't seam to PUT THE BREAD DOWN & STEP AWAY FROM THE CAKE.

I think keto does show you the addictive qualities of sugar and refined carbs. I often think about the Pringles strapline “once you pop you can’t stop” and feel it is a bit sinister now because it’s actually true!

The body prioritises energy from carbohydrate, it’s easy and fast, and knowing that ‘once you pop you can’t stop’ really does keep me away from sugar / highly refined carbs. I suppose I liken them to other addictive substances - you want more if you start and they are really bad for your health

[AWryGiraffe]

It's the only thing that makes me lose weight, I only did low carb though not strict Keto. It just takes a lot of meal planning as it's not our usual way of eating. Once you're in the mode it's quite easy.

I'm veggie so it's a bit harder and currently not on it as I feel quite frazzled at the moment but planning on starting again soon, got about 2 stone post baby to shift.

[Malahaha]

I started couch to 5k and got up to week 6! Was very proud when I managed 20 minutes running. But I had to stop. I have knee pain which was getting worse and my ortho surgeon told me to stop. I started swimming but now the pool is in lockdown again!

Anyway, I started keto on Friday and love the recipes. I won't have much of a problem following it, and lost almost a kilo since then.
My weaknesses were always sweets -- not cakes and stuff, but a really fruity breakfast with oatmeal and milk, lots of tea throughout the day with honey, coffee with sugar. I've cut it all out. Hopefully I can keep it up, not just for the two months needed to reach my ideal weight, which is 65kg (I started ay 75kg) but forever.

[OatcakeCravings]

I lost weight on Keto and felt a lot better on it. However it caused me to lose a lot of hair and a year on from stopping it’s only starting to come back. For that reason I couldn’t do it again which I’m sad about. Just do calorie counting now which I seem to cheat on so much more, I think it’s because with keto there were strict rules and I knew exactly what I couldn’t eat, with calorie counting anything goes within a set number. The other joy of keto is that you are never hungry, so less likely to cheat.

[PixieBest]

Another cautionary tale here. I lost weight for a short while, but major stab of depression out of the blue, which lifted immediately I ate some (healthy) carbohydrate. No-one talks about this side effect. I never normally suffer from depression btw.

I think excluding a whole food group can cause more harm than good, personally.

Read Matt Stone's "12 Paleo Myths" about people who did hard core Low Carb and ended up messing their mind and bodies up - you can read the testamonies are free on the internet and make sobering reading!

[PixieBest]

P.S. I think it might be effective short-term, slowly bringing healthy carbs back in. But anything long-term, I'm suspicious of.

[PixieBest]

Hair loss is also a reported side effect!

[ScarMatty]

Lost 1 stone very quickly on it but you can't have cheat days unfortunately as then it'll take at least another 48 hours to go back into ketosis, by which point you're nearly at another cheat day

[PixieBest]

[EightToSixer]

I’ve just completed 12 weeks on keto and I’ve lost 38lbs. I lost a lot very quickly (12lbs in week 1) and now averaging at a healthy 2lbs per week.

For me it’s the lifestyle change that’s working. On keto in never hungry until lunchtime so I tend to eat two meals a day, one at 12ish and the second at 6ish. That means I’m intermittent fasting for 18 hours a day too. I feel really great, almost euphoric.

I’ve got a long way to go as I’m morbidly obese but it’s working and I love it.

I have targets every 25lbs which keeps me going. Once I’ve lost 70lbs (5 stone) I’m getting a golden retriever puppy. I can already walk so much better and one I’m lighter it’ll be the right time to mix in even more exercise out with the dog.

Keto has literally changed my life.

[Spring2021]

Hi @EightToSixer just wondering how you are doing now with keto and weight loss please. I have a mammoth amount to loose and can’t get going. Also what did you find most useful in terms of as a guide so you knew what you were doing i.e. books or anything online etc? Thanks

[TinySongstress]

Keto absolutely works but only if you stick to it and stay in ketosis.

You haven't been doing and are regularly blowing your carb limit.

[EightToSixer]

@Spring2021 I’m still doing well and loving keto. I’ve lost 5 stone now (in 7 months). I have at least another 5 or 6 to lose but I feel so much better already. There is no denying that it is hard. You have to be committed to the fact that it is a permanent lifestyle change if you want to lose weight, you can’t dip in and out of it. However it is the easiest to stick to in my opinion because ketosis changes your appetite and taste buds so it’s easier not to cheat on it than on other diets I’ve been on.

[Spring2021]

That sounds fab @EightToSixer what did you find to be the best source info when you first started out?