Ketone question

[justchecking1]

I've been in ketosis according to urine dip tests for over a month, but haven't lost any weight.

The ketones in your urine indicate you're burning predominantly fat rather than carbs, but do they discriminate between burning fat from your diet and fat from your fat stores?

ie could I be in ketosis and yet only be burning fat that I'm eating and so be having sufficient calories so as not to be burning any of my body fat? Or would I not be in ketosis without burning body fat?

My TDEE is very low and so I'm wondering if I do need to start counting calories properly as well. I don't eat that much but with fat as my major source it would be easy to eat around my TDEE without eating a lot of food.

Just to add, I'm counting grams of carbs per day (under 50g) rather than counting total calories

In order to lose weight on any sort of diet, you need to be in a calorie deficit. If you are consuming more calories than you are expending you will not lose weight.
If weight loss is the goal, you should definitely base your calorie intake from your TDEE and meal plan to ensure your macros are in line

Grand, thank you

I suspected this was probably the case but people are adamant you don't need to count calories on a low carb diet, so I was hoping it was true!

I think the reasoning behind that is because you tend to feel fuller on a keto diet so tend to eat less but that isn't always the case.
I'd also try 25g carbs rather than 50g

@justchecking1

Just to add, I'm counting grams of carbs per day (under 50g) rather than counting total calories

You would be better to stick to 20g total carbs or lower.

Thank you both. Will try getting the carbs down a bit more

Hi, there actually isn’t any real scientific evidence that calories in calories out works. As the body has no system to count calories ... have you tried watching Dr Jason fung talk about this on YouTube. Very helpful. Also keto strips do not work as they are counting excess ketones being excreted.

How tall are you @justchecking1 and how much do you weigh?

I'd agree with PP and say that it could be for you that 50g carbs is too high, so you may need to tweak that a bit.

I'm 5'7" and my BMI is around 28. I'm 42 though so my TDEE is pretty low. Plus years of yo yo dieting seems to have knocked about 20% off that.

Have tried cutting the carbs and it is better, but still veeeery slow.

Was just wondering whether the ketone strips could distinguish between ketogenesis from fat stores vs fat intake, but I can't find anything online!

I'm definitely in ketosis, but it might be that I'm burning the fat I'm eating and making ketones from that (which would be great for maintenance) rather than making ketones from body fat stores (which would be the aim in weight loss). I'm not sure there's any way to distinguish between the two though?

How much do you weigh though? If your BMI is 28 you're probably not that much overweight, and so weight loss will be slow. But if it's a loss, it's still a loss!

And if you've already cut the carbs, what have you cut back to, and when did you cut back?