Posted on 10/11/2023 5:13:19 AM PDT by IamConservative
I've recently lost 42 lbs on a "clean" keto diet. By clean, I mean no processed "keto" processed foods. I have 30 pounds to go! Anyone who has tried losing weight knows about weight loss stalls. They can be devastating to your will power.
I wanted to share what I've learned and what has worked for me.
The short of it is, lettuce causes weight loss stalls for me on the keto diet. Same is true for my wife. Eating salads will stall our weight loss even though there are no significant carbs in lettuce or the salad toppings.
If I stay under 1800 calories, 20 carbs and eat cooked low carb veggies plain or swimming in creamy, fatty, bacony, cheesy sauce and 6-8 ounces of protien at a meal, I lose weight at 2-3 pounds per week. If I eat lettuce at any meal 3 or more times per week, my weight loss will stall indefinitely.
I don't understand why, but I have observed this 3 times in my journey. I can turn weight loss on and off with lettuce. My wife can too.
Interesting, I have a feeling the same thing happens to me. Have you done any research as to why? Is it all salads? What about cooked leafy green veg?
I call them “plateaus”. I just consider them my bodies resistance to losing weight. The plateaus last generally from 4-6 days. I know they happen and just accept that it is part of the process and don’t get frustrated with it. My body loses weight in a stepwise function.
Interesting. I will have to be more aware of this. Went from 216 to 160 on KETO. I’m happy there and have maintained it for about 2 years. At this point I am no longer KETO, just low carb, doing the best I can.
I love salads when I’m keto. If I get a salad at a restaurant or a market, it makes me feel like I’m eating my veggies and I don’t even have to put prep work into them. But I fear the reason I love salads is that it’s an excuse to sneak in higher carb stuff. If you are strict, you don’t want the fruit, and definitely no croutons. There are also few dressings that work. Ranch and bleu cheese are good, but you have to check the labels.
I easily could be wrong, but i suspect that if you ate nothing but plain lettuce, you wouldn’t stall your weight loss. But who eats plain lettuce?
I would take a closer look at what you are eating it with
Sounds likely, also salsa (10-20 cal) is a great substitute for salad dressing.
Lettuce pray.........................
I never noticed the lettuce thing where when I did Keto. But it never occurred to me to check.
I lost 25 lbs. in 6 months on Keto. I did it for glucose numbers more than weight. Lost the weight easily but it wasn’t a significant help re glucose.
I went off the Keto, gained a little weight back, BUT glucose went from 104 to 95 — off Keto. It makes no sense.
Gonna go back to it ‘cause I liked the lower weight.
You are not a cow.
Cows eat lettuce.
Cows are fat.
Do not eat like cows..................
I am a Second-Hand Vegan.
Cows eat veggies.
I eat cows.......................
I love keto too (lost 50!) but you should realize that 1800 cal/day is probably a large caloric restriction (CR).
On of the big advantages of keto is that being metabolically flexible (fat burning) makes it much easier to tolerate CR. If you decrease carbs but consume too many calories from fat and protein, you also stall. That was my M.O.
My goto lunch is salad with meat. Sometimes 3-4 different meats. So YMMV. Key thing is to track what works for you.
My formula is time restricted feeding (10-6), keto <50 carbs, moderate CR, exercise. Now that I’m at goal weight I shift to keto <100. I can stay in mild ketosis (0.5-1.0 mMol) at <100 because I’m very active.
It’s not a diet; it’s who I am.
When you are eating salads, do you keep up your level of protein intake .... steak (ha ha $$), chicken, fish, shrimp? If you are not keeping up your protein, that can cause issues like ‘stalls’.
Someone I follow on a podcast (’The Healthy Rebellion Radio’ with Robb Wolf & wife Nicki) was talking about not getting enough protein - she uses shrimp, very low carb, little protein ‘packages’. If she’s having trouble meeting her protein goals, she’ll add 5-10 shrimp to bump it up.
I lost 65 lbs (no processed food, no refined sugar, no vegetable seed oils), but it was slow go (over 2 years) ... guys definitely lose faster/easier! I’ve had to cut the dairy down, especially cheese, but I do heavy whipping cream in my coffee & use ghee for cooking. I also do not gorge on fat ... bacon is still good, but for example, I don’t eat all the fat when I’m having chuck roast. Overall, weight loss got me OFF the track for T2D and I have also enjoyed the benefits of greatly reducing inflammation - arthritis is gone, for one thing. I had surgery spring before last for a broken knee cap - the ortho said I will never need a knee replacement because I have no arthritis/inflammation in my knee - he was surprised. I also looked up good dietary inputs for healing bones - I was happy to learn I was already eating/supplementing what I needed to do ... bumped up the protein some, but that was it. The ortho also told me “you are a speedy healer!”. :-)
Actually, you are now a part of my trying to figure it out!
In my sample of 2, lettuce stalled us both. Wanted to know if lettuce effected others the same. Or, if anyone else even had a similar notion. I've verified it on myself, but 3 times can still be a coincidence. KETO diets seem to either be an unqualified success or abject failure for people. Surely it can't be as simple as whether adherents eat too much lettuce?
On Monjourno now...lost 20 lbs. Long term adding 2 veggies and one lean meat to meals. I LOVE KALE and Bok choi. Maybe better subsitutes? Shrug.
Here’s my bumper sticker diet:
“Moderation Protein Vegetables”
It’s all you need to lose weight and stay healthy...
BTTT
Kudos on your success. Everybody’s microbiome is different, as are everyone’s caloric needs. Every regimen - regardless the name/label - eventually finds a plateau. You may want to consider fermented foods to modify/improve your microbiome; you may find the ‘lettuce effect’ will change with time. A Naturopath may be useful in advising you on your microbiome (an aspect about which most people are blissfully ignorant and which mandates carbs for proper function).
3 pieces of advice:
1. Pause your regimen and adjust your dietary habits to be both well balanced and maintain weight, then later engage a stage 2 (and 3 if desired. I’m in stage 3, albeit NOT keto).
2. Do not engage keto as a lifestyle.
3. Do not use metabolic activity (exercise) as a weight loss tool (it should be a lifestyle activity; ceasing exercise for a week should never result in tangible weight gain, sans athletes).
“Anyone else experience this? Other tips for stalls to share?”
First that I’ve heard with lettuce. Lettuce should be fine up to moderate quantities, as it’s a green vegetable, good fiber, and relatively low in carbs.
But we’re still trying to crack the 10% barrier as far as understanding how the human body works, so who knows, maybe some trace chemical in lettuce triggers some trace hormone that messes with the keto diet?
Lettuce has zero nutritional benefit anyway, so eliminate it.
Use spinach and cabbage instead.
My journey sounds very similar. High cholesterol and A1C creeping toward T2D and aging joints. I’m a year into sobriety and 6 months low carb life. Cholesterol is down to 88, A1C down to 5.7, BMI now “overweight” v “obese.” My PCP has agreed on eliminating meds if my numbers hold. The statins have taken their sneaky toll on me.
It is really amazing looking back how much disinformation there is about food out there. Vast majority of it stemming from the FDA!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.