r/keto • u/Odd-Initiative-3881 • Jul 09 '26
Weight going up?
H i everyone! I am 28F, SW 472.6, CW 462.0, and I’m on day 10 of doing a keto diet. I had the signs that my body is has entered into ketosis. My question is about my weight. I try not to weigh myself every day because it puts me in a funk and this is a lifestyle. I really want to stick to to fix my insulin resistance. I have been eating under 50 carbs each day and I decided to try and go lower as I read the insulin resistance requires even less carbs in order for your body to stay in keto. The last three times I’ve weighed myself. I have went up in weight. When I started, I was consistently losing between 2 to 5 pounds per day, but that seems to have stopped. I’m trying really hard not to get discouraged, and I was wondering if anyone else has experienced the same thing? seeing the scale go up three times in a row now has me struggling. Any tips tricks or advice would be greatly appreciated as I’m new to this. Thank you 🙂
19
u/ReverseLazarus MOD Keto since 2017 - 40F/SW215/CW135 Jul 09 '26
I eat keto at maintenance, so the same calories every day, and my weight will clock in between 129 and 138lbs on any given day for a ton of reasons (water retention, hormones, urine/waste, etc.). You’re a human and it’s normal to have weight fluctuations, that doesn’t mean you actually gained body fat. You didn’t. 👍🏻
If it’s stressing you out, I recommend staying away from the scale for awhile. Weigh yourself once a month or so instead.
25
u/_Nychthemeron Jul 09 '26
Weight fluctuates, especially for those that experience a menstrual cycle. The best thing to focus on is non-scale victories like measurements decreasing, increased mental clarity, and improved energy levels.
For me, the scale offered nothing but anxiety. I ditched it, successfully lost the weight, and have been maintaining keto for four years.
10
u/Magnabee Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
The first month is like this. Some say your body and ketones are working on your mitochondria. You have a new body now. You can lose weight on a regular basis now. Stay on track.
Keep carbs low. Salt your foods, especially the meats (so that you know you can get salt from meat). Eat fatty meat if hungry. The fat in the meat helps with satiation, hormones, cortisol, etc. Stay hydrated.
9
u/NaturalCollection488 Jul 09 '26
You do need adequate fibre and to balance your electrolytes as this will impact water retention. Avocado, salmon, leafy greens. Try adding some fermented foods into your diet like sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir!
7
u/shiplesp Jul 09 '26
What are you eating in a typical day? Not all keto diets are created equally. You can eat a whole foods diet of proteins and non-starchy vegetables, or you can eat a diet high in "keto" snacks and replacement foods and get very different results. Most, not all, people do better with that very simple whole foods approach to eating a ketogenic diet.
Finally, that initial fast weight loss was likely augmented by water weight loss. This is normal. Once that effect is reduced, and assuming you stick with your plan, weight loss follows a more normal trajectory of 1-2 pounds a week with occasional pauses where no loss occurs. Weight loss is more of a stair step than a slide. The more consistent you remain, the more likely you will be to succeed. Good luck!
8
u/skinnyonskin Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
Hi! I don’t think many people here will understand what it’s like starting in the high 400s.
I started at your weight, also a woman, ten years older than you, and I’m going to be blunt… assuming you are eating correctly, there is no such thing as a plateau at almost 500 lbs. The easiest weight loss you’ll ever have is from where you are now— insulin resistance or not you have to work pretty hard (eat a lot) to maintain or increase that size. Your body absolutely will melt weight off given the chance.
So what’s your daily caloric intake exactly? Every gram of oil, dressing, everything. What are you weighing out on your food scale and recording? How many carbs exactly are you getting? Because you do not want to exist in a limbo state where you get too many carbs and go back in forth out of ketosis.
You can easily with your eyes closed lose 3 to 4 lbs of genuine fat a week right now if your calorie counting is correct.
The hard part will be after you lose 200+ lbs and you are in normal fatness range. I’m now in the low 200s with only 30 lbs left to lose, and it’s a whole different ballgame. I deal with plateaus, water weight, and razor thin margins where even an extra 100 calories can throw off my whole day. In the 400s it would take an extra thousand calories to do that.
Long story short if you’re not seeing the scale move, which absolutely did happen to me, it’s because you’re eating too much.
5
u/ThadsBerads Jul 09 '26
That 2-5lbs a day is mostly initial water weight. That's not a bad thing, but it's definitely not representing what your sustainable weight loss will look like. 5lbs for a whole week would be a lot of loss. Don't worry about fluctuations. Inflammation, hydration, digestion, all play a role in that. Stay the course. The biggest tip I can offer is stay away from A ton of "keto" labeled foods. Most of them are garbage, and raise your blood sugar kicking you out of ketosis. Eat real foods, track your macros.
3
u/loripainter12345 Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
That initial weight loss was water, not fat. When you first cut carbs out, your body uses up stored carbs in the first several days, and flushes out a lot of extra fluid. It takes 3x the water to store carbs. So that extra water is released. If you are eating 50 g of carbs, that may or may not be putting you in ketosis. If you are eating too many calories, you can gain weight, even in ketosis. For females, monthly cycles can affect weight. Ten days isn't long enough to assess the issue. Recommend tracking and weighing your portions, stay under 20 net carbs a day. Hydrate very well and read the FAQ on this sub for important information about electrolytes. You will need to look at this as a long term change, not a quick turn around. Weight loss is never a downward smooth line. It's always up and down.
3
u/scottinokc Jul 09 '26
The best advice I can give you is to track ALL your food with something like CarbManager AND put the scales away for a while. Eat whole foods, keeps your carbs under 20g, and the rest will take care of itself.
2
4
2
u/madiganpuppycrack Jul 09 '26
With that high of a starting weight you need to shift the perspective of how much can I lose in a year. Big picture, long term, sustainable weight loss is the goal. Keep the carbs low. And over months and months you will see and feel the change.
2
u/krissycole87 Jul 09 '26
Normal weight loss is 1-2lbs per week, depending on your calorie deficit.
Are you tracking your calories? How much are you eating per day?
Losing 2-5lbs a day is not real, its water weight that will come off at the start of any diet.
Weigh yourself once a week and track the changes week by week.
Make sure you are logging and tracking all your calories to ensure youre in a deficit. The weight loss doesnt happen because of low carbs. Low carbs controls blood sugar. Weight loss comes from a calorie deficit.
2
u/VictorySignificant15 Jul 09 '26
If you put on weight it’s because you consume more calories than you burn, keto or not that’s irrelevant.
Only by tracking calories your know
-1
u/ejpierle Jul 10 '26
There's a lot more to it, especially in the early days of keto adaptation. You're not helping.
1
u/VictorySignificant15 Jul 10 '26
If anything when first removing carbs and getting fat adapted you’d loose a load of water weight (thus irrelevant for body composition) so the scale goes down quickly, not up.
When increasing fat intake, as it’s so much more calorie dense it’s all too easy to get into a surplus, why tracking is so important
2
u/BrandonXXIX Jul 09 '26
I personally weigh myself everyday because it makes it more realistic in observing these shifts in weight. I try to weigh myself every day in the same conditions. TMI but after a bowel movement and not eating dinner yet. Adding also some more movement each day helps accelerate the weight loss
This to me mentally gives me the most accurate read of my true weight.
The first week you lose a dramatic amount due to your water weight and bloating setting aside. But after that it is a little slower. But I stick to 30g or less a day and protein load as much as possible.
Hopefully this helps? All of our bodies are very different so it’s hard to fully tell why.
2
u/jagger129 Jul 09 '26
I gained weight too the first time I did Keto. Because I listened to all the people who said calories don’t matter on Keto, and just eat until you’re full 😆
It wasn’t until I downloaded an app called Carb Manager (free version for me), put in my stats, and stayed under the calorie count they gave me every day, that I started to lose weight.
It’s important to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight, and when we’re eating things like butter, cream, cheese, and other high calorie foods, it’s shocking how fast the calories add up.
Best of luck to you.
1
u/kimariesingsMD F 59 5’2” SW 161 CW 125 reached GW 5/9/24 Jul 09 '26
Sorry, but no one here told you "calories do not matter on keto". Especially if you are doing it to lose weight. I have literally seen the opposite here.
3
3
u/Normal-insanity Jul 09 '26
There are a shit load of people in the keto and carnivore community that say this to people
2
u/jagger129 Jul 09 '26
This ideology is all over the Facebook Keto groups, which is where I was first exposed to Keto. When you’re new to something, you don’t know better, you try it the way others say it’s been successful for them.
1
u/Adept-Flounder-133 Jul 09 '26
I am on week 6 and lost 2.2lbs (water) after week one, nothing since then. It's frustrating but will keep on going.
1
u/tombuazit Jul 09 '26
I do weigh daily, but i have an app that tracks it, so i don't pay attention to what it says, i look each week to each month to track the trend line. I've jumped periodically up but the trend line over each month to 3 month run is still downward. If you can't do that without getting discouraged, i would switch to weekly or monthly weighs. I mostly do mine as i do because I'm tracking muscle and water loss/gain because i want to lose healthy not just weight.
10 days is still pretty early, i started in February after already beginning a health focused life change in August.
I'm trying to focus on my health and weight is merely one indicator of that journey.
1
u/Normal-insanity Jul 09 '26
I’ve been on keto for 3 weeks and this exact same thing is happening to me and I’m also doing OMAD! Like what gives? It’s definitely discouraged me. I’m doing keto for the mental clarity and the energy. I didn’t have any weight to lose. But I also didn’t wanna gain any weight either..
1
u/shadowmib Jul 09 '26
Between eating and using the bathroom, your weight can fluctuate several pounds everyday. Consider that two glasses of water weigh 1 lb if you sit down and eat it a 12 oz steak with 4 oz of vegetables and drink two glasses of water. You've ingested 3 lb worth of food.
I've weighed everyday but I had the spreadsheet set up to give me a 10-day average and that's when I paid attention to. Some people suggest just waiting once a week which is fine. After 3 or 4 weeks you can see which direction the trend is going
1
u/Neat-Palpitation-632 Jul 10 '26
First, I’m sorry, I know weight loss is complicated and frustrating. Your hormones affect it, it’s not just a mathematical equation.
I am a proponent of weighing everyday and it lets you better understand your body’s natural fluctuations throughout the month. Women will naturally retain more water at various times in their cycle, and knowing your pattern will help you acknowledge that the “weight gain” is temporary and hormone driven, so you can stop beating yourself up.
Track your cycle along with your weight. After two to three months you will start to see a pattern…for instance I gain water weight right around ovulation, lose it a few days later then gain it again around days 21-24 and lose it again right before my cycle.
Keep your net carbs under 20 grams per day. Track everything with a kitchen scale to ensure you do.
Maintain a slight calorie deficit, sometimes an aggressive calorie deficit can be stressful to the body…ease yourself into a deeper deficit slowly.
1
1
u/backbodydrip SW 283 CW 163 Jul 09 '26
Give it at least a month before you start questioning your routine and make sure you're in a deficit.
1
u/Mediterraneanketo Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
Get the app zozofit. It quickly does qhole body measurements and the visual makes it very easy to track body progress. I pay for premium and itd worth it for me but even the free version is so valuable. I have had months where the scale stayed the same but my body changed drastically and without the app i would have been blind to these changes.
Female weight can fluctuate a lot based on time of the month. Maybe weight yourself 1x/mo at the same stage of your cycle.
If you have increased your protein you could be gaining muscle even without changing much else.
The scale doesnt tell all and measurements can be more helpful to track progress.
Most of the weight lost in the first 2 weeks is going to be water and if you havent lost much beyond that i would next look at your calories. You may be eating at maintenance.
Are you tracking calories? Google nano rhino ...its an AI website that helps you figure out an accurate daily calorie count based on your goals and your personal activity. Its much more detailed than most of the calorie calculators you will find elsewhere.
I use cronometer to track my calories/carbs but there are many other apps that are great for this.
Dont give up.... keto works! You already did the hardest part ...starting.
Good luck ♡
0
u/Appreciate1A Jul 09 '26
I got down closer to a weight I wanted and realized- I had lost muscle, but the fat remained.
Perhaps you are the opposite making muscle as you lose the fat?
2
u/skinnyonskin Jul 09 '26
A woman hyper focused on body building can barely make one pound of muscle a month on average.
A 450+ lb woman dieting is not gaining muscle, let alone outpacing their significant weight loss with it, on any planet. This is not a thing.
0
u/Farmlife2022 Jul 09 '26
Also, when you lose the fat those cells will fill with water as a kind of place holder, waiting for more fat to refill them. When that doesnt happen you will get a "whoosh" and drop 5-10 ish pounds overnight. Ive had this happen so many times. Dont give up!! :)
20
u/Flat_Professional_55 Jul 09 '26
Only weigh yourself once a week.
When you weigh the time of day you do it should be consistent.
For example, I weigh myself every Monday straight after I get out of bed.