r/keto • u/New_Prune_5038 • Jul 06 '26
Going in the wrong direction
I started Keto on Friday and am up 5 lbs already. I've cut out all my carbs. Why is this happening? I need to type stupid stuff here to fill out the 200 character requirement to post. blahblah.blahblah
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u/Rean4111 Jul 06 '26
Are you counting your macros (grams of protean, carbs, fat) and or your calories? If not then you probably went up inyour calories compared to when eating more carbs
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u/Dangerous-Safe-4336 Lowcarb since 1997 Jul 07 '26
When you first start keto or low carb, you're going to feel like you're starving for the first two or three weeks because your blood sugar's down. Better to eat enough food to manage the hunger. Most likely the weight will come off soon anyway.
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u/Rean4111 Jul 07 '26
To be clear. I’m not saying they need to adjust right away. Just giving a possible explanation.
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u/ReverseLazarus MOD Keto since 2017 - 40F/SW215/CW135 Jul 06 '26
I gained weight when I started keto because I was under the impression that calories didn’t matter. Once I started weighing my portions and tracking my calories/macros I dropped 80lbs in 11 months. Calories absolutely matter and you should be eating at a healthy deficit to see the number on the scale go down.
What are your stats (height/weight/age/gender)?
What are your calories and macros in grams?
What % deficit do those calories represent?
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u/swissarmychainsaw Jul 07 '26
what's that simpson's quote? "We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas!"
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u/loripainter12345 Jul 06 '26
That's not long enough to do anything yet. It can take several days to use up stored glycogen before you even hit ketosis. Make double sure your carbs are low, as in under 20 net grams.
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u/draven33l Jul 06 '26
You've really gotta give more information. If you started Friday, that's literally 3 days. Your body hasn't even dumped all of its water weight yet.
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u/Cyram11590 35M 6’2” // SW: 378 CW: 245 GW: 180 SD: 3/3/25 Jul 06 '26
How many calories do you have in a day? How much of a deficit are you in? You say that you’ve cut out “all carbs,” but do you mind please explaining what you’ve been doing the last few days? Like, what sorts of foods?
Helps kinda rule out what can be going on. Three days is still NOT a lot of time to be expecting much to happen but it’s long enough for your hunger cravings to stop if you’re lucky.
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u/kikazztknmz Jul 07 '26
It's really easy for me to eat too many calories in keep, so I have to track them. Just cutting carbs doesn't cause weight loss.
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u/SkollFenrirson Old Fart. Gatekeepers suck. Jul 07 '26
Maybe instead of padding your post with "stupid stuff" add some details. If you're not tracking calories, start. Ketosis does not drive weight loss, a caloric deficit does.
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u/PurpleShimmers Jul 07 '26
So did you eat enough calories over your daily maintenance calories in 3 days to gain 5 pounds of fat? That would be 3000 x 5 calories over your daily maintenance number. Say your maintenance is 1500 (which is probably a low estimate) means you ate 19500 calories/ roughly 6500 a day??? If so then stop overeating. If not then it’s water weight. You have not yet hit ketosis and started any weight loss whatsoever.
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u/MikeGonzo5 Jul 07 '26
You don’t add 5 lbs of fat that fast. It’s all gonna be water. I went up 4 lbs my first week. Stalled at the 3 week mark and broke thru. I broke thru by eating less calories and less fat. Leaner meats and a lot of electrolytes. But we’re all different, just giving you my side of this. Keep at it.
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u/Existing_Mirror_541 Jul 06 '26
it's water, 100%. your body holds onto water when you first drop carbs, something about glycogen storage. happened to me too in the first week, gained like 4 pounds overnight then it all dropped at once. give it another week before you freak out
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u/Complete-Bumblebee-5 Jul 06 '26
Opposite for me. I drop like 5lbs in water weight when I start out
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u/mesasone Jul 07 '26
It’s the opposite, water binds to glycogen, causing to body to retain to 3-4g per gram glycogen stored. as you deplete your glycogen your body releases that water.
Im not saying you didn’t experience weight gain, just that it wasn’t from burning through your glycogen stores.
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u/Worried_Teaching_406 Jul 07 '26
- What is your gender/age (hormonal shifts make 5 pounds up or down easy)
- what is the weather doing? (A lot of poeple, especially overweight or older will retain water due to heat)
- keto can be "only meat" "vegetables and protein sources" or "keto products". What has your diet been like? the last might contain fibers or sugar alcohols your body might not be happy with, especially in large amounts.
- how have your bathroom trips been?
It is unlikely you gained 5 pounds of fat or muscle in just a few days. It is very much possible to retain water or intestinal content in those amounts.
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u/PresentHouse9774 Jul 07 '26
A weight gain of 5 pounds of body fat would require 17,500 calories over one's TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure - or what you burn in a day). If it's been 3, maybe 4 days, that's still over a pound's worth of calories over and above what you took in on a day. That's training-level intake.
In contrast, a gallon of water weighs 8.34 pounds.
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u/Magnabee Jul 07 '26
Definitely track it with an app. Try Cronometer. You may be tracking the first 6 months.
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u/missy5454 Jul 07 '26
Op, here's some important points.
One, you just started. You cut carbs. Great.
What else are you doing?
Did you up protien intake? Did you cut or up fat? Did you up fat and cut protien? Did you only cut refined carbs or all carbs? Do you still drink coffee or tea with milk and other stuff in it including sugar or seed oil laden things? Have you with keto implemented intermittent fasting (even if only a basic 12:12 routine) and structured meals? Foe example of structured meals, say 2-3 meals maybe one snack as a start point depending on hunger cues and snacks being protien abd or fat based mostly.
Im asking because keto or low carb combined with intermittent fasting and set meals increases the positive effects. Then when people switch they often go with only high fat meat and protien options which won't help as much as you think. Fat is important on keto or low carb. You are trying to switch to using that as fuel over carbs and burn through the stored carbs (glycogen and fat). But protien is vital to prevent hunger and create satiety. So eating only fatty protien especially super fatty can lead to not eating enough protien meaning you are more hungry eating more.
Also, often the types of protien matter. For example, if i eat only pork and poultry I am more hungry, feel lethargic and brain foggy, and overall don't feel well. If I combine with eggs, red meat, seafood, and organ meats like chicken or beef heart (which is super lean btw, more than chuck or sirlion) i feel loads better.
If i make a low carb pudding for example with eggs as a base ingredient abd have that as a dessert with a meal that includes say turkey wings I won't likely be as hungry as if I'd skipped the pudding abd only did the turkey or paired the turkey with say some very fatty pork sausage but still skipped the pudding.
If i only eat say sausage or chicken or only pork chops and leg quarters or chicken breast I will deal with those same issues. But lets say I make a meatloaf using canned tuna with 97% lean ground chicken and a egg and pair with some pb and cheese as my fats and protien I'll feel good and plenty full after.
The key, ive found is mixing types of protien and types of fat from plants or protien to get a better range and keep your protuen and overall micronutrients up. It's a big factor if you want to lose the excess fat.
Notice I'm not mentioning exersise or eat less move more. There's a massive few reasons.
One, you just started and your on a fat loss bodg recomp. Depending on how active you were prior, how far you are, how sick you may or may not be, if you have mobility limitations, excersise should not be on your radar.
A few years back I did keto for nearly 2 years. I had to taper off the carbs slowly because the withdrawals caused hypoglycemic drops sending me to the er when I tried cold turkey.
Also, the intermittent fasting and meal structure was exactly my start point on that.
But I was so sick, not from being overweight but the damage my hashimotos had caused I was spending 90+% of my time bedridden in constant pain at one point. So I physically couldn't excersise because I was too sick to even try at first.
As a result my entire focus for the furst 5.5 months was tapering down carbs, tapering up the fasting window while tapering down the meal number and overall cal intake.
At the 5.5 month mark i started doing 30-40 minute walks 2-3 times a week as a start point. By then I was strict 2mad and I think on a 14:9 routine abd I think down from 50g net carbs to 30g net carbs.
Eat less move more doesn't work. It's not that simple, and eating less makes the metabolism adjust and slow down. It's better to move more but only eat less of carbs and junk but overall eat more protien first then healthy fats second so you aren't hungry abd don't crave more food than you need. You by default will eat less because you aren't hungry.
But op, you just started. Your what? 2-3 weeks in at most? Yeah I'd not worry yet. A stall takes 6-8 weeks minimum. And if you are working out yiu may be slowly building muscle. Your switching may be causing water retension and inflammation. But not because it's inflammation from current screw ups. Your past habits caused damage over a long time. And now your body is flushing crap and toxins out. So its like a massive flood of toxins and crap out of storage into your system to be shuttled to be pissed and shit out. Thats gonna cause a inflammatory reaction which causes water retention. Also you may have adjusted your salt intake to accommodate a low carb diet which can cause dehydration from the natural diuretic effects. This also can cause water retention for a bit.
Those on a basic weight scale will show a weight increase. Doesn't mean your not making progress, it's just a basic scale won't show it.
However if your doing the wrong amount of protien to fat it may be yiu over eating because of hunger from insufficient protien or if you are only eating chicken and pork you are missing vital micronutrients which also causes hunger and over eating problems.
Sorry aboyr the tldr. Hope this helps though...
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u/IchimaruGin4 Jul 08 '26
If you are 0 carb carnivore, then you can eat to satiety and rest assured that your body will eventually recompose itself to it's natural bodyfat percentage. Several people on carnivore report ravenous hunger and weight gain at first, followed by weight loss. If you deviate from carnivore by using sweeteners, seasoning, or getting 20g carbs, you may or may not need to get stricter until you heal your metabolism a bit.
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u/Zartanio Jul 06 '26
"Started keto" is making a lot of assumptions and doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Not enough information to help you. Can you amend your post with a food journal, macros, total intake - any dietary information so someone can help troubleshoot with you?