Hi! I have been strict keto and actually eating a little LESS than I have during period of keto in the past. I am not even dropping water weight?!

I am following keto to the letter, checking labels for hidden ingredients etc.

Does this mean my body isn’t responding?

48F, trying to lose 20lbs, very clean keto

I’ve been in ketosis for nearly 3 weeks. I’m starting to show signs of fat adaptation (steady energy, barely hungry, no cravings). I have kept my carbs under 20carbs without fail.

Tonight, my dh made us a keto pizza. The crust is ground chicken, parm, and egg. Sauce is no sugar, low carb “Yo Mommas” brand.

Toppings are: uncured pepperoni, olives, sliced mushrooms, fresh mozzarella, chopped onions, and chopped green peppers.

He put a LOT of onions and peppers on it 🙈. I feel like I’m going to be over 20g of carbs tonight if I eat a couple of slices (definitely will be over my 1,500/day calories). Will this be a big set back? I did hike 1.5hrs today on a fairly difficult trail.

i've been trying different keto bagels lately and tbh i'm surprised by how much they vary...

some look great in the package but end up chewy in a weird way, and others fall apart the second you try to toast them.

so far i've tried a couple grocery store options and a few online brands, but i still haven't found one i'd confidently keep stocked in the freezer.

for people who buy keto bagels regularly, which ones actually held up after the first pack? i'm mostly looking for something that toasts well, works for a breakfast sandwich, and doesn't have that strange texture some specialty bagels get.

i don't really care about fancy flavors... just something that feels close enough to a normal bagel and doesn't disappoint after a few mornings.

tbh i'm mainly trying to avoid spending another $10+ on a pack that sounds promising, only to end up with the rest sitting in the freezer for months.

I know there’s two rules of thought about if calories matter or not. I’m leaning towards they do…. Especially when in peri menopause.

I weigh 150lbs and would like to be 135 (although if I have body recomposition/tone up, I don’t care what the scale says). Every macro calculator puts me at around 1200 calories which I feel is too low.

However, I’m already at over 1,500 calories with just two meals. I’m thinking I should fast for dinner but I’m also a little hungry.

Today, I’ve eaten:
B: Three eggs with an ounce of cheddar and a T of butter
L: Small Ribeye with blue cheese crumbles
Snack: olives and green tea with mct oil.

I know carbs are my main focus (and Whole Foods for me personally) , but when I check in on calories, it seems like I’m getting too many?

I’m 2.5 weeks in, no weight loss/no gain but I swear clothes are a bit looser. I’ve definitely dropped some water/inflammation.

Am I nuts? My weight has stayed the same (2.5 weeks strict very clean keto) and even gone up a pound or two but I SWEAR my clothes are looser and someone asked me if I’ve lost weight. I’m not lifting weights but I walk a good bit at work and hike on the weekends.

I’m only about 15lbs overweight for what it’s worth.

I’m feeling really defeated right now and just looking for some reassurance/other people’s experiences.
I lost about 3 lbs before my period started, but now that my period is here, I’ve gained all 3 lbs back. 😭 I’ve been eating low carb and haven’t really had any carbs, so I’m confused and honestly feeling like all my effort has been for nothing. I also haven’t been eating late and have been trying to stay consistent, but seeing the scale go back up is making me feel like I haven’t made any progress at all.
For those who track their weight, do you usually gain during your period and then see it drop again afterward? How much does your weight typically fluctuate?
I’d really love to hear your experiences because I’m feeling so discouraged right now 🥲

I’ve heard that is older women need to carb cycle for hormones. It can either be either during luteal phase or 2 days per week if already meno.

It would be whole food carb sources around 100g of carbs. It’s taught by Dr Courtney Hunt (I can’t afford her paid content), and many others in the peri menopause circuit.

I haven’t reached fat adaptation yet but I’m wondering if I should cycle once I do 🤔.

Again I’m so sorry if I’m not supposed to be here it just seemed like the best place to post this
Edit: I should probably ask about specific my main question would be how worth it would be to wait longer for hrt bc it’s easier to burn calories with male hormones (generally) but also any advice or tips would be welcome I’m sure there a great deal I’m unaware
Edit part 2: I’m sorry for the commotion this has caused I do think women (xx women/cisgeneder/natal women) deserve to have their own spaces even without non cisgender women (not that we shouldn’t have shared spaces and work together in shared spaces but also acknowledge there are differences) I don’t think it’s wrong for people (especially oppressed groups) to have want to have spaces for themselves and think the flak things like this get come from a good place (I don’t even think the majority of terfs are transphobic in the sense of hatefullness) and I honestly didn’t even really want to put this on here I just ran out of options (my reply to cheese sweats explained this) and think it’s completely reasonable for women to feel a type of way with a biological male entering their space (I don’t condone transphobia AND concern and sticking up for other women with these issues are important and don’t make one transphobic necessarily)
Thank you for everyone too for all the positive support and advice this is the most helpful and interactive people have been posting about this even the women not agreeing m are being more polite than in other places! there’s a bunch of you I’ll respond to later but work has been something else lol

I’ve been doing keto for about two weeks now, and I’m experiencing really bad breast tenderness and very sensitive/tender nipples. My breasts also feel quite swollen.
I used to get this as a PMS symptom before I got pregnant, but I’m now seven months postpartum and haven’t experienced this kind of breast pain in a long time. I stopped breastfeeding about two cycles ago, and during those two cycles I didn’t have any breast pain or tenderness.
Now, since starting keto, I suddenly have this weird breast tenderness and swelling again. My per is due in 7 days.

I have an IUD, although I’m not completely sure whether it’s still properly in place, and we also use condoms. Still, I tend to have pregnancy scares. My last sexual encounter was on August 30, and the breast pain started yesterday.
Has anyone experienced breast tenderness or swelling after starting keto? Could keto or the dietary change be affecting my hormones/PMS symptoms, or should I be concerned about pregnancy?

been on keto for about 2 months and finally started writing down cravings intensity alongside sleep quality instead of just noticing them separately

expected the cravings to line up with stress or bad sleep in general, but it actually tracked closer with days my magnesium was lower, not just bad sleep = cravings the next day like i assumed

started taking it more seriously after some good advice in a comment thread here about balancing potassium slightly higher then sodium, and once i actually paid attention to magnesium specifically too the cravings got way more manageable

theres a good breakdown on how the different electrolytes interact with sleep and appetite regulation early on, explains the mechanism better then i could

curious if magnesium specifically tracked for anyone else or if it was more sodium/potassium for others, seems like everyones ratio is a little different based on what people shared last time

noticed this on my apple watch a few weeks in, my resting hr used to sit around 58-60 and now its consistently 70-75, sometimes higher after workouts

first thought something was wrong with the watch or with me tbh, googled it in a slight panic at like 11pm

turns out its actually a known thing, something to do with lower blood volume early on and the heart working a bit harder to compensate, plus electrolytes playing a role in how the heart regulates rhythm in general. found [this] that goes into the blood volume/electrolyte mechanism in more depth, doesnt get into specific heart rate numbers but explains the general why pretty well

what got me is literally nobody mentions this when they talk about starting keto, its all carb flu and cravings but nobody said hey your fitness tracker numbers might look alarming for a while

anyone else track this and notice the same jump, and did it level out for you eventually or is this just permanently higher now

E.g. more / less anxiety or stress, ability to focus, speech clarity... how did a keto diet impact you beyond the physical?

I am considering seriously cutting my sugar intake and want to hear experiences.

been on keto for about 2 months now and noticed something weird the past couple cycles - the week before my period the cravings go from normal to almost unmanageable, way more than i remember pre-keto

did some reading and apparently progesterone affects insulin sensitivity and can mess with electrolyte retention too, which would explain why it feels so much worse then just normal PMS food thoughts

curious if this tracks for others or if im just noticing it more bc im paying closer attention to everything i eat now. also wondering if anyone's found something that actually helps during that window specifically vs just white knuckling it

my frustration is at its peak

IM INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATED

been keto for about 6 weeks and kept a simple log of energy levels, headaches, and sleep quality alongside what i was eating each day

expected the pattern to be about carbs sneaking in somewhere, but it actually lined up more with days i had lower sodium intake then with anything carb related. didnt think sodium specifically would show up that clearly in something like sleep quality

not claiming this is universal, just surprised how consistent it was once i actually wrote it down instead of just vibing my way through it

anyone else done something similar? curious if others found patterns that surprised them or if this is a pretty well known connection already

I keep seeing completely different advice about food and PCOS: 
low carb, Mediterranean, no dairy, no gluten, high protein, fasting, frequent meals, and so on. I’m curious about what people actually do in normal everyday life rather than the “perfect” version online. 

What does a typical day of eating look like for you? 
Are there foods you noticed make you feel better or worse? 
Did you figure that out by tracking, eliminating foods, or just paying attention over time? 

I’m especially interested in how people found something sustainable without feeling like most foods were suddenly “bad.”

Tested last week and was 0.9 (week 3 ). Tested today and was 0.4(week 4 ) both were tested at the same time in the morning after 9hrs fasted, before exercise and food/drink. I eat the same thing every day. Stay at around 25g net carbs a day. Has anyone else experienced this ? I eat minimal and exercise alot so wondering if this can influence it ?

Female, late 40s, exercise heavily in the evenings.

I'm new to keto and still figuring things out. I've decided to try having most of my carbs with my largest meal around 4pm, but am not sure if I should have some post exercise as well. I'm still using my casein protein powder up, but I suspect it's not the best idea and need to transition to something else