A normal part of ketogenic is losing weight in fits and starts rather than in a regular pattern. These "stalls" often cause frustration and can lead to becoming disillusioned with keto.
A stall is generally understood to be a plateau that lasts several weeks. I was losing weight daily so even a one-week stall challenged my patience. (The reddit keto community is an invaluable aid in understanding keto and stalls.)
What follows is how I broke my keto stall. What works for me may not work for you. Also, consult a physician.
To lose weight one has to simultaneously and continuously:
- Eat less calories than you burn AND
- Eat less carbohydrates than the amount that'll trigger an insulin response (which blocks fat cells from releasing fat for use)
Let's examine these requirements.
Your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is the count of calories your body uses to keep you alive and moving around.
The CICO (Calories In, Calories Out) model posits that as long as you eat fewer calories than you burn -- your TDEE + daily exercise -- you'll lose weight.
We now understand -- through the writings and research of Dr Stephen Phinney, Dr Jeff Volek, Dr Eric Westman, Dr Jason Fong, Prof Tim Noakes, and Gary Taubes -- that we have to attend to more than just calories; not all calories are equal.
Fat cells hold on to fat in the presence of insulin, generally regardless of caloric intake. That's why you'll have to ensure that you eat less than 20 mg of carbohydrates daily.
You can get values for your TDEE and appropriate macronutrient requirements through a keto calculator. (It's suggested that you specify "sedentary" for lifestyle, a caloric deficit of 20 percent, and a maximum carbohydrate intake of 20 mg/day.
Despite months of good progress, solidifying my confidence in my ability to choose and log my food, I realized something was wrong.
It wasn't exercise (a consistent 15,000 steps daily) or calories (I log everything before it goes into my mouth) so it must have been carbs sneaking in somewhere. My solution was to figure out how to skate as close as possible to zero carbs.
Here's what I changed:
- Started drinking my coffee black. The carbs in Trader Joe's coconut creamer (a lesser-carb whitener) must have been adding up. I've substituted two pinches of salt for every pot I've brewed. Zero carbs!
- Changed my food to be mind-numbingly simple through this transition period; options result in errors. I can stand the food boredom for a while :-)
- Instead of my usual intermittent fasting one-meal-a-day I nibble when I'm hungry, from waking to bed-time.
- Make sure I eat my calorie allocation (with my caloric deficit set at 30 percent).
What am I primarily eating for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Well, mostly chicharrón con carne, pork rinds with meat still attached. (Buy these from your local Mexican grocery store; they may know it as chicharrón carnada or chicharrón Colombiano.) This is what I see at my mercado:
The best thing about chicharrón is that I can space bites around the clock (if I'm bored) or wait until a mealtime. It's also very filling; some days it's hard to eat all my calories.
Here's the basic nutritional information for the chicharrón con carne:
| Calories | 151 | serving size | 1 oz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Fat | 11 g | Sugars | 0 |
| Sat. Fat | 3.8 g | Fiber | 0 |
| Cholest. | 30.8 mg | Carbs | 0.4 g |
| Sodium | 647 mg | Protein | 10.4 g |
I also make one-egg omelets with soppressata salami; close to zero-carb.
Other options, to which I might switch next week or the one after that, are
- 3-ounce hamburgers with cheddar or blue cheese
- steak pan-seared in oil and finished in butter
- chicken breast pan-fried with a sprinkle of Parmigiano-Reggiano
- fish with butter and lemon juice
or some similar super-simple, easy-to-replicate meal.
In the weeks before I started this stall break my weight was bouncing up and down (with no obvious correlation to the keto-friendly food I was eating).
The stall break was immediate and obvious, losing between 0.3 and 0.5 pounds daily.
Yes, this monotonous diet is boring but easy to follow. Since my short-term goal is to get close to my target weight I'll suffer the success.
With an eye towards getting to the keto maintenance phase, I'm making this "strict September" stick.
I'll update the graphs and menu choices as things progress.
You may also want to see my keto overview and tips and tricks page.