Need some feedback from women in particular, this much flucuation normal?

[VladTepes]

I'm trying to help my wife out a little bit, she's wanting to lose some extra weight before we have a baby. I would estimate her at high 20's bf and she's trying to get closer to 22 or 23. Right now she's doing a keto diet. I started her out at an average of 1800 cals a day and she didn't budge much with that, at 2000 she gained slowly. So I have her set up going between 14-1600 cals now with an occasional spike to 1800. So she's been doing that for 3 weeks, I had her do her first carb up on Saturday which hit about 1900 cals for the day.

Leading up to now she had dropped 10lbs so I thought we were moving along well. Obviously I expected an increase on Sunday morning and there was one of 4 lbs. She checked again today to see how she responded to carb loads and how quickly she'd drop it back again, and there was an increase of 1 lb from Sunday. I'll also add she just finished up with her time of the month over the weekend so that probably has contributed some increase. I'm just looking to see if maybe something should be changed or if it's probably nothing to worry about. I've done keto and I've never gained 2 days in a row after a carb day so I wasn't expecting that but I also have a much faster metabolism.

So some feedback from other female members in particular would be helpful, I'm hoping it's just water weight or else I'm worried she's going to get discouraged from trying.

 

[sassy69]

Can you give some stats? Age, height, weight, and what the current diet looks like?

Also is she finding this diet easy to follow? The successful diet is the one that is easy to incorporate into the lifestyle, esp for people who are not really deep into the fitness lifestyle. I would more likely go w/ a carb rotation just because it tends to be a little closer to 'normal' eating and doesnt' require going thru the 'entering keto' phase that often leaves you lethargic for at least a couple of days and can be the point of failure because it affects your daily life & ability to function.

Also is she training / cardio at all?

 

[squigader]

It may just be water weight. Make sure to check she's not getting kicked out of ketosis because of carbs from sources you wouldn't expect - some vegetables, for example, have a very high amount of carbs. Sugar with coffee might ruin it too.

Otherwise, keep salt intake low, water intake high and keep doing what you're doing. Check back in a week. The only thing that's important is progress, not the specific numbers (you're still 5 pounds net). If there's forward progress then, keep at it and don't sweat the small stuff.

 

[Jodi]

I wouldn't lower the salt too much in a low carb diet. Your kidneys excrete a lot of sodium when you are low carbing. If you don't add some salt to your diet your body will hurt and from the diuretic effects of low carb diets.

I find it usually takes a couple of days after TOM for my body to regulate it's water levels as well so I wouldn't worry about it much for a few more days.

 

[VladTepes]

Thanks for the feedback, sorry for delay, I was out of town. Anyway, yeah she's finding the diet relatively easy to follow and seems to be having an easier time with it than previous diets. Also has been making continual progress so turned out it was just water weight, she apparently just holds onto it a bit longer than I ever have. Only veggies she really eats are broccoli, asparagus and spinach and carbs stay under 30g a day so I really doubt that would kick anyone out. Anyway, progress is moving and she's satisfied with it once it was obvious it was all water and glycogen so compared to previous diet plans keto seems to be working best for her at this point anyway.