Help!! Stalled?? i havent even taken off!!

[EdCarlsson]

I have twice started low carbing and i have had the same problem on both occasions, including now..

I go into the induction phase, and eat all the things i should, and avoid those i shouldnt.. Drink up to 3 litres of pure water a day.. I always go into STRONG ketosis according to the ketosticks, breath smells of peardrops etc.. i lose 7lbs then stop.. From this point on I gain nothing and lose nothing regardless of what or how much i eat..

My diet mostly consists of meat (usually from a joint, steak or a whole chicken) or salami, german or dutch sausage (always under 1% carbs), eggs (either fried or boiled), a little cheese (quoted as zero carb on the label by EU standards.) after a few weeks I take on a small amount of olives, (3g carb per 100g) nuts (brazil or macadamia) and berries (usually blackberries from the garden) and a little wheatbran... I always check and count my daily carb intake and i always measure strong on the ketosticks... I dont drink caffiene, just water, a decaf coffee with cream and 2 saccharin tabs every other day and maybe have one glass of wine every fortnight. But the weight just doesnt come off.

I work nights.. so eat little but often on my breaks.. But I am very active during the shift.. could seratonin be the problem??

My doctor suspected very borderline hypothyroidism a couple of years back but was not concerned enough to refer me any further.

Has anyone any suggestions?

[tofi]

Hello and welcome. I can feel your frustration and I certainly sympathize. May I ask why you stopped the LC the first time instead of keeping on? Perhaps, as our Moderator wbahn says, you need Patience and Persistence beyond the first few weeks.

Then I wonder about the salami & sausage. Despite the low carbs, they may have lots of sodium.

And your doctor's opinion may be the real cause. Can you go back and ask to have it checked further? People can be in the low end of normal and NOT be normal at all. Several blood tests can help. Not just TSH, but T3, T4, and maybe Free T3 and Free T4.

If you have previously been on low cal or low fat, your body might be very short on needed protein to make muscle repairs and you could be gaining muscle while losing fat. Did you measure many body parts when you began? And then compare the measurements at the end of Induction? You could lose inches while staying a "no loss" of pounds.

If you are exercising a lot during Induction, you might also have this "muscle on/fat off = no loss of pounds" thing happening.

Do keep on for a few more weeks and see how things go. It is worth the time because there are health benefits beyond losing weight: better blood numbers and pressure, no desperation to eat, decrease of hunger, decrease of indigestion and gas of all kinds :p and many other things.

:wave:

[orchidday]

:rolleyes:

Hi Ed and Welcome! Just glancing at your menu I wonder if you are getting enough variety. I notice that you don't include any fish or seafood. Do you like it? I believe that one aspect of success with this plan is variety. Variety is also the healthiest. I would add fish and shellfish and broaden the other types of meats you are eating. Liver, lamb, duck, turkey, etc. could be excellent additions. I would ax the wheat totally. I know you are counting the carbs in that but that means you are leaving out other carbs that would be better for you. Also, are you taking any supplements? I use the Atkin's Dieter's Advantage and swear by the stuff. Hang in there! This forum is great for ideas and tips! Cindi

[EdCarlsson]

Thanks for both your replies.

I tend to eat one portion of fish a week either salmon, smoked mackerel or tinned skipjack... It does makes a change to meat... although i do have as varied a type of meat as possible... Im afraid im not squeamish about that sort of thing!

I know i dont eat much veg because im not confident about portioning them with regards to limiting my carbs... It normally is limited to a small amount of lettuce or some carrot sticks... Hence the need for bran as the highest fibre/lowest usable carb combination... i think we all get the idea!! :rolleyes: But i will try to increase my veg portion.. if only for variety.

Is sodium another stalling culprit?? Even with the amount of water i am taking in? (and passing!)

I have found my trousers waistband are easing off somewhat... but i cant believe the muscle on/fat off would be so perfectly proportioned that i stay exactly the same weight after my initial 7lb loss..

I will keep trying...

[rtjdk2]

On the vegie department you can have 2 cups salads a day or salad vegies and up to 1 cup of vegies a day... i usualy love green beans, artichokes, brochlie, cauliflower, and other green vegies... most are pretty adiquite in fiber.. salads dont hve to consist of just lettuce... 1 cup cucumbers, mushrooms, spinach instead of lettuce or other dark green leafy lettuces.. you would be surprised how much fiber you will take in during the day.. a 7lb weight loss is great... keep up the good work.. you will hit spells where you dont loose any lbs off the scale but dont be discouraged... just keep plugging along you may be loosing inches instead.. and later add in another cup of vegies extra.. there are time when i can go a couple of weeks with no weight loss and boom it hits.. but during that time i will loose some inches instead.. do you use fitday.com? its a great way to track your foods you take in and also will count the fiber you take in daily as well.. Good luck and dont give up

Tammy

[agonycat]

Originally posted by EdCarlsson


I know i dont eat much veg because im not confident about portioning them with regards to limiting my carbs... It normally is limited to a small amount of lettuce or some carrot sticks... Hence the need for bran as the highest fibre/lowest usable carb combination... i think we all get the idea!! :rolleyes: But i will try to increase my veg portion.. if only for variety.


Yet you drink wine?

Alcohol will take you out of fat burning mode mainly because the body would rather use alcohol as fuel than fat.

The bulk of your carbohydrates should come from veggies. Pure and simple.

[peterj]

All foods are made up of 3 components:
protein/ fat/ carbohydates.

The proportion of each of these 3 varies, depending on the food.

If you want to figure the proportion of calories in any food contributed by protein/ fat/ carbohydates, you need to use the following:

1 gram of fat = 9 calories
1 gram of carb = 4 calories
1 gram of protein = 4 calories

Example:
1 egg = 90 calories (average sized egg)
Since the egg contains 6 grams of fat, 54 out of the 90 calories are fat calories.
As eggs are virtually zero carb, the remaining
36 calories are protein (9 grams).

Another example:
1 slice of bread = 89 calories (thick slice)
Since the bread contains 1 gram of fat, 9 out of
the 89 calories are fat calories.
Since the bread contains 14 grams of carbs, 56 out of the 89 calories are carb calories.
The remaining 24 calories are protein (6 grams)

So if you want to follow a high fat diet, look up the protein/ fat/ carbohydates values for the foods you are including and make sure the total calories values for protein/ carb are as low as possible when compared to the total fat values.

Hope it helps ...

[Marlaine]

Ed.......

There are a few things that I think you could do.

Make yourself a list of veggies that you enjoy and look them all up on FitDay.com and make note of carb counts. Eliminate the higher carb ones. Make yourself a hard copy list. Put the list in a small notebook or an index card, so that you can carry it with you as a handy reference for when you need to make food decisions.

Start a journal, here on the forum and record your daily menus. This will allow the "eagle eyes" around the forum to look them over and offer you suggestions to get your plan tweaked to suit you best.

Consider this an opportunity to strengthen your character and develop your patience. It's a success to not be gaining weight even if you aren't losing.

Last year at this time, I was pretty much where you are. After a nice drop at the beginning, I actually gained back about 6 pounds and then held there for more than a month, in spite of eating to the letter of the plan. Believing that I am worthy of making the commitment to myself to give LCing an honest try, I decided to give it until December 31st. That's how I got to where I am today.

You can do it if you just start acting like you believe you can.

Marlaine