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I have been in ketosis for about a week and a half now and rapidly lost about 7-8lbs during the first 7 days. However, for the past 3 days I haven't lost much and have not experienced a boost in energy. I have moderate amounts of ketones in my urine (40 mg/dl) and seem to have plateaued here. Is this normal? Anything I can do to resume weight loss?

What should I be experience as the level of ketones in my urine continues to rise? Is there a point where it could get too high? Anything to watch out for?

Thanks for the help!

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Actually, as you become keto-adapted, your urine ketones will fall, not rise, because your body will use them efficiently and stop wasting them in urine. A better test is the blood meter - they're only about $20, altho' these strips are always expensive. – Wowza Jun 11 at 3:32

13 Answers

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This is where most diets nail people (some doing so on purpose). 7-8 lbs in the first week = water weight. After that, it will slow substantially as you start working on fat. A lot of people don't understand the water loss thing, and think the diet's working great since they lost so much weight so fast. Then when it slows, they freak out because "something's wrong" start shotgunning "solutions", then get depressed and fall off the diet.

Understand that odds are slim that you will continue to lose 7-8lbs a week on ketosis alone. More likely a 2-3 lbs a week with various plateaus. You'll need to work in some calorie deficits and weight lifting to push it higher.

As long as you are registering on the strips, you're in ketosis. While it's cool to see dark purple on the strips, it doesn't really mean anything. There's not really "more" or "less" ketosis. Darker colors on the strips usually = dehydration vs "more" ketosis.

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Great answer. I agree that ketostix are a pretty poor indicator of ketosis, but there are definitely different "levels of ketosis". I test my blood everyday and with effort, I can get my ketones up from 1mmol/l to over 4mmol/l. RobS has got his over 7mmol/l. – borofergie Jun 20 at 19:40
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the initial weight loss was probably due to water weight.

it is also important to understand that being in ketosis means that you are burning more fat for energy, but it doesn't say whether these fats are coming from your diet or from your body fat stores! Calories still matter to a certain extent!

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well said . – foreveryoung Jun 12 at 3:26
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eat less would be the first thing to try, you've dropped the water weight from the loss of glycogen. now it's time to make that difference between calorie intake and expenditure

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I am in the exact same spot. Lost weight week one none the second. Adjusted diet by getting rid of copious use of heavy cream and peanut butter or nuts. I started to measure my food, and the weight loss kicked back in so I lost 7 lbs first week, none the second and 4 days into week 3 (after the adjustments) have lost about 1 lb. I was pretty much overeating in the process of learning to eat keotgenic. In the end my sweet spot is less than 25 net carbs daily, not more than 80-90 grams of protein and the rest fat. I usually eat no more than 1800 cal a day. (I only counted cals to be conscious of the volume of food I was eating) So stay sated by eating enough fat and not overdoing protein and carbs. (You may fall out of ketosis if you eat too much protein)

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BTW- I lost 3 pounds last week because of governing my portions more closely. Was NOT hungry at all. This really works. – Boogiemaam Jun 15 at 5:50
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Could you share a bit of what you're eating? For me, I can be in ketosis, but even an ounce of almonds will stall me, and dairy could cause stalls too (when I used to eat it more).

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This happened to me when I started eating paleo -- lost 6 lbs the first week and then was bummed when I "only" lost 1.5-3 lbs/week thereafter. Couldn't figure it out. Yep, it's water weight. Stick with it, there's no prize for speediest weight loss -- slow and steady is where it's at, and is most likely to be sustainable.

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im in the same possition i lost up to 8kg the first 2 weeks got my period put on a lil weight even though i still followed the diet procedure correctly and was stil in ketosis when my period finish i thought id weigh myself and see if id lost any weight i did but only very minimal and this is depressing me it shouldnt because ive done so well ive limited my carb in take from veggies to 22 carbs a day and my protein is only 4 servings of protein a day sometimes 3 at least 3 litres of water a day too. i work in cleaning the trains for the government so i am very active for at least 6 hours of my day my body shows hey your lossing weight as im fitting in smaller sizes but those damn scales are struggling. This is were we are all wrong scales shouldnt be relied on due to the fact that they dont know if your muscels weight alot they dont know if your big boned they dont know if you have fluid retention all they can tell you is how much you weigh wholey when you step on them. i should be taking my own advice here and i usually give up on diets as soon as i see im doing it 100 percent but very slow results but this time im persistant eating only up to 1000 calories a day is not alot of calories so the bar should eventually drop on the scales. im hoping what do you guys think?

STAMI

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When I stalled I adopted this approach http://perfecthealthdiet.com/2011/02/perfect-health-diet-weight-loss-version/ and began losing again.

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I was the same way as well! Lost a lot of water weight the first two weeks and then normalized after. I only knew this because of all the research I did prior to starting Paleo. Because I like graphs and charts I tracked my weight loss but also my fat loss in Excel and found out that I was steadily losing about 1-2lbs of a week. That's normal people! Remember that this is not The Biggest Loser tv show and you're not working out 12 hours a day and have personal chefs to keep you in check! As someone else noted here, you'll also have a few plateaus. I found throwing in a cheat day helped reignite the burning process but there will come a point when you'll reach your body's homeostasis. I've gone from 180 lbs to about 150 lbs give or take 2 lbs on either side. It may not appear ideal visually but I've come to terms with mine. I know that I could start to really push myself in the exercise department but that's a whole other post. Just remember, slow and steady is the way to go. Crash dieting is not sustainable or healthy.

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This is hands down the best thread I've come across! Thanks everybody for your input. Lower cals it is.... I'm going to stick with it for the long run :)

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I have been Paleo for 2 months and so far, my experience has been similar. In the beginning (first week or so), I lost weight fast (like someone else mentioned, probably just mainly water). Now, I lose about 2/3 pounds in a week, then stall for a week and then lose again - what has worked to start losing again has been some fasting during the days I don't workout (usually around 18 hours). I am still experimenting with fasting, so I can't give much advice on it but even when I didn't fast, I would break through the plateau eventually on my own (but I wasn't snacking and was counting EVERY calorie eaten).

I stopped paying so much importance to the scale and more importance to measurements and body fat %. Even when my weight isn't dropping, my body fat drops. I can feel it in the way my clothes fit, the way my watch becomes loose, and of course this is proved every 2 weeks when I get measured at the gym and my % of fat is down and my inches are as well.

Good luck, I know how frustrating it can be, but just push through and keep going! :)

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Are you guys actually working out? You have to start working out and make sure you burn those stored fats and not rely in ketosis itself.

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Hi all. Great thread. I'm doing ketodis now 4 weeks. Down 14lb and 20 inchs. Just wondering is this ok?

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