INTRO Hello from South Italy

[giuseptid]

Hi all,

I’m a 26-year-old from Southern Italy - a place where good food and huge meals are a huge part of the culture!

Growing up and until I turned 18 and got my driver's license, I was always very thin. However, once I gained more independence and started earning my own money from work, my weight went up significantly, moving from 73 kg (at 173 cm height) all the way up to 130 kg.

Over the years, my weight has been quite a rollercoaster. I managed to drop down to 100 kg naturally using a ketogenic diet. Later on, following a tough breakup last year, I dropped down to 85 kg. Unfortunately, the weight crept back up to 105 kg.

Eventually, I started my journey with Reta. It helped me get down to 94 kg, but I’ve been stuck in a frustrating stall for months now. Despite hitting the gym regularly, the scale just won't budge and I’ve been feeling constantly tired lately.

I decided to join this community to learn more from experienced members, understand how to overcome stalls, optimize my routine, and safely navigate my journey.

Glad to be here and looking forward to connecting with you all!

 

[bare_essentials]

Ciao, where in southern italy? My partner is from Calabria so we have traveled a lot around there and Sicily. Food is in the DNA so I understand about the weight yo-yo. We too did keto for years but would put it on. Eventually we both got the gastric sleeve (this was pre-ozempic etc).

Are you eating enough and drinking lots of water? It sounds strange but especially as female, if we don't eat or drink enough, our body can hold onto weight. I experience this now but making sure I get enough protein really helps. The other one I found through trial and error was stress. I have always been guilty of not eating much when stressed or eating and I found it caused my body to "hold on". Sometimes the scales don't change but I look more rounded. This though also happens when it is close to my period.

I now try to set a timer to make sure I am eating small bits of protein as I still have days where I my appetite is blunted. I hate protein shakes so i try to snack on things like babybel cheese, ham and cheese rolled up (habit from keto days).

Have you taken any measurements? Maybe the scales are not moving but your shape may be changing.

 

[giuseptid]

bare_essentials said:


Ciao, where in southern italy? My partner is from Calabria so we have traveled a lot around there and Sicily. Food is in the DNA so I understand about the weight yo-yo. We too did keto for years but would put it on. Eventually we both got the gastric sleeve (this was pre-ozempic etc).

Are you eating enough and drinking lots of water? It sounds strange but especially as female, if we don't eat or drink enough, our body can hold onto weight. I experience this now but making sure I get enough protein really helps. The other one I found through trial and error was stress. I have always been guilty of not eating much when stressed or eating and I found it caused my body to "hold on". Sometimes the scales don't change but I look more rounded. This though also happens when it is close to my period.

I now try to set a timer to make sure I am eating small bits of protein as I still have days where I my appetite is blunted. I hate protein shakes so i try to snack on things like babybel cheese, ham and cheese rolled up (habit from keto days).

Have you taken any measurements? Maybe the scales are not moving but your shape may be changing.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply!

Calabria and Sicily are great places, but yeah, the food culture down here makes managing weight pretty tough. I am from Naples!

I’m actually a guy so no period cycles to factor in, but everything else you mentioned about stress and body weight fluctuations makes total sense since I think to soffer of water retention and sometimes I only hit 800-1000 kcal/day but seeing less benefits than a 500 kcal/day deficit plan and thats sound still strange to me.

It's funny you mentioned the ham and cheese rolls like sottiletta because that used to be my go-to keto snack too. But I’ve been trying to cut back on processed meats for general health reasons. I also used to dislike protein shakes, mostly because of bad quality powders that wouldn't dissolve. Switching to a good quality one fixed that. Right now I usually mix Greek yogurt, protein powder, some fruit, and nuts, which works well as a filling meal. Still, I prefer savory food, so eggs remain my main staple.

Regarding water intake and retention: I work a desk job and keep a 5-liter water bottle on my desk, which I finish every single day. So if anything, I might actually be drinking a bit too much water! But you're right about taking body measurements instead of just relying on the scale. When going low-carb, the weight drops fast mainly due to water loss, but finding a way to keep things stable long term is still the tricky part and its frustrating not too see that magic number not going down.

Thanks again for the feedback, appreciate it.

Lets stay in touch!