Stalled

Astroprojector

Hello,

Please bare with me, the post a little long. I want to provide useful info.

I am new to Cronometer (converted from MyFitnessPal). I am also have been little more than 2 month on the Keto diet. I stalled in wait loss and not sure if I have the calories information setup correct.

I am not new to exercising and weight management. For several years I was following basic diet plans for weight loss and muscle gain. In fact when I started several years ago I was over 200 lbs and after just controlling the diet and doing lots of cardio I was able to get down to 150lbs after 6 month. However, I looked to skinny and need to gain some muscle. I started doing weight lifting and change the diet. As I gained more muscle, I gained more visceral fat. my BF% was about 18% to 20%. once again I changed the diet to reduce the BF%. When I switched to KETO diet my BF% was at about 15%. I started KETO diet so I can reduce the BF to 10%.

I used several different TDEE calculators to find out what my number should be and all gave different results. Initially I used standard KETO micro-nutrients percentage F: 70, P: 25 and C: 5, but I was not making any progress. I did more research. Some suggest to use 1g of protein for each lbs, other suggest using 1g of protein per lean muscle mass in Kg (Cronometer uses this method).

The confusion for me comes in the amount Kcal I need to consume.

In Cronometer I set to use Mifflin St. Jeor equation for BMR and that number for me it is 1635 kcal. The Activity level is set to None. The Carb set to 20 gr and Protein set to 1.2 gr per kg of lean body mass, which is 79 gr, the fat comes out to 82.2 gr. If I do not workout on a certain day I set the Activity Level for that day to Sedentary. That change will set my fat intake to 118.6g and the total Kcals to 1962. I set weight goal to lose 1 lb per week. If I do workout, I set the activity level to None. I used HR chest monitor to calculate kcal burned, which is updated through Google Fit into the Cronometer. In that case the carbs and protein stays the same and only fat changes. Whatever the number comes up after the counting in any activity I should it 500 Kcal less.

I exercise in the evening between 5 and 7pm. esides weight lifting I do HIIT at least 2 -3 time per week. I do intermittent fasting (16:8). I eat between 11am -12pm and then between 7 - 8pm.

The longer fast, from evening to the next day, I can handle, although I do feel somewhat hungry by the 15, 16th hour. I feel more hungry between the meals and most of the time get a snack (mostly nuts).

So far I lost about 4 pounds, but for the past month it been the same weight. I am stuck at 172lbs. I want to make sure that I eat enough and not starving the body, which make the metabolism to slowdown and prevent weight loss.

I understand everyone is different, what works for one person may not work for the other. I also understand that it possible that my body is conditioned to the point that it does not want to give much of the fat, but still I should be able to see some progress.

Any ideas what adjustments I can make.

Thank you

Susan_RD_101

Hi @Astroprojector

A few things to discuss....

First, I think you should visit a Registered Dietitian skilled in weight management who can help determine your specific nutrient requirements and get you on a plan. Not all dietitians use keto diets in their practice, so it will be helpful to ask them if this is something he/she does.

Accurately determining calorie requirements is just as much of an art as it is a science. Ideally, I love having access to complicated technology used with elite athletes and in hospitals, but these tools aren't available to the public, which is why we have to rely on equations. Mifflin St. Jeor is one of the more reliable equations we have.

In practice, I generally don't like to see someone eating less than his or her calculated BMR (in your case 1635 kcal) if they are at a healthy BMI. Doing so can negatively impact your metabolic rate and make it challenging to feel fueled for your workouts where there is a potential to up the intensity and duration to burn more calories.

Also, note that as we get closer to our weight loss goal, it gets more challenging to actually SEE that weight loss. When people are eating less than they need to maintain their weight, they will lose weight. What changes is how quickly the weight is loss. I usually weigh people every 7-10 days but prefer to look at 4 week trends to get a picture of what's really going on.

Finally, it's really, really difficult to increase lean mass without also seeing some increase in body fat %. BIA scales are also notoriously inaccurate for calculating lean vs. fat mass. If you can get skin fold measures done from someone with ISAK certification, this would be better.

Hope this gives you some more direction!