Suggestions to get past this stall....

[Zoso]

I've been stalled around 220 for about 5 weeks now and it is bothering me. In the first week of this diet I lost 10 lbs but that's it. This isn't the first time I've been on this diet and I've read a lot of information on how to do this diet correctly.

I have been strict and have been eating just the basics to avoid hidden carbs. My typical diet consists of a small salad and some leftover meat for lunch and meat for dinner with some sort of small vege dish (such as cauliflower with pepperjack cheese). I also will have some nuts for a snack but I carefully look at serving sizes. My typical day consists of 15 to 25g or carbs. I'm very careful at looking at labels and weigh my portions to assure that I'm not taking too many carbs in. Even more, I stay away from those low carb luxury foods to avoid these stalls.

My only luxury is some no sugar added Breyers vanilla ice cream that I'll have about 2 times a week. According to the package there are 12g in 1/2 cup. All I have is 1/2 cup and I'm sure of this because I use a measuring cup to make sure I don't have too many carbs.

With such a basic diet, how can I be stalled for this long? While I know I need to use the exercise bike and the bowflex more, I'm thinking that maybe I need that exercise to jump start the weight loss.

I need to go out and get more of those ketostix. My last batch seemed to get ruined by the steam from the shower in the bathroom. I'd be surprised if I wasn't in ketosis based on how many carbs I eat and my girlfriend says she smells it in my sweat after physical activity and breath in the morning.

I don't drink coffee and have been drinking water instead of diet soda. I try to stay away from even artificial sweeteners.

Is it possible that my body is not really in ketosis since I consume 12g of carbs from one small meal after I have very little carbs the rest of the day?

I'm confused and getting discouraged from seeing no results in the past 5 weeks. Thankfully, this board gives me the support to continue as my girlfriend can be less than supportive of this diet at times. She is supportive of my weight loss goals but can be insensitive and tempt me with junk food and the high carb pastas that she eats.

Any suggestions?

[Josiemk]

Then it slows down, I stalled for about a month & then drop another pound then another the next week.
Yes you should do some exersizes at least 45 mins for 4 to 5 days a week. Drink lots of water. Do you take any supplements, try L Carintine or some green tea. You may want to add some fatty acids as like Omega 3 fatty acid.

Good luck
Josie

[MamaSara6]

You don't even mention breakfast in your post---are you eating? And you're a big person, your meals shouldn't be that small. Try eating more in general. YOur body may think it is starving.

[Cinderella]

I find the only things that get me moving again are.....

*my body has to be ready, it does take time to become use to new weights.

*up my water...REALLY up the water. Keep this up for at least a week. I even go through 2 large mugs during the night.

*I try to eat my largest meal at noon and a smaller meal for supper with no snacks before bed except for green tea and water.

*No salt or high sodium foods...they make me retain water. I use no-salt for my food so i really don't miss a thing.

Now...this is just ME. Everyone is different. If I could follw these rules I would be at my goal weight by now as it melts off me. I don't have alot of self control.....but when I do use my "rules"....I get over whatever slump I'm in.

Hope this helps...cin

[fridayeyes]

Hiya, Zoso,

Here are some pointers from my experience. I started at about the same weight you did, and I lost the first 20 easily enough and then stalled hard. Here's what I learned:

1) My carbs were fine, but I wasn't eating enough calories. I can eat up to 3000 (no, that's not a typo - three thousand) calories and still lose. From what you posted about your daily food intake, I suspect you might need more calories. Remember that you can subtract fiber from carbs, so if you add more veggies and your carbs get to 30 or 40, you'll still be around 20-25 once you subtract the fiber. If your body is reacting to perceived starvation, upping the calories will convince it that everything is ok and it can let go of the fat stores. At your weight, unless you have a severe history of diets under 1000 cals, you should try for at least 2000 cals, more like 2400 or more if you're exercising.

2) You MUST take measurements! For 8 weeks of my 'stall' I lost not a pound, but dropped two entire dress sizes. I was gaining muscle at almost precisely the same rate as I was losing fat - about 2 lbs a week.

3) Weight training. Lifting, not aerobics. If you do cardio/aerobics, keep it under 40 mins to avoid activating a body chemical called cortisol which will strip muscle tissue. At this stage of the game, muscle is your friend and you need all you can get. :)

4) If the stall hangs on for another 3 or 4 weeks, and you get really desperate, go over to CKD forum and have a good long read. You need to know what you're doing with LC, carbs, calories etc to do a CKD well, but it worked wonders for me.

Good luck!

Friday

[Josiemk]

I just read your reply to Zoso. I was wondering if I should be doing the same. I really don't have that much to lose but I like for my waist to get a little smaller, I'm one of those women that is shaped more like a boy w/ breast then a woman my waist is 28 inches. I would like to tone up some. I exersize for 2 hours a day : I walk for a hour & then I do an hour of resistance. I don't know how many calories I am takin in. I don't even know how many caleries I should be getting. I know I'm getting a lot of fat & protein & water though.
I don't want to lift to much because I'm afraid I'll bulk up because of my shape it seems easy for me to get bulky. But I don't want to strip muscle tissue either.

Thanks
Josie

[fridayeyes]

Hi, Josie!

I can't give an opinion on calories as you didn't post how many you're eating on the average day. I can tell you, however, that an hour of walking is likely to be catabolic (meaning you will lose muscle), especially if you follow it immediately with another hour of resistance. My suggestion would be to cut the walking to 40 mins or under, separate the resistance by several hours and keep that under 40 mins, too. Think of what marathon runners look like. They're an extreme example, but that's what catabolic levels of cardio will do.

If you want to check your calories, go over to fitday.com and play around with it. They have a whole database of foods that are pretty much 'plug and play', or you can enter the data from the nutrition panel of the exact thing you're eating. Be careful about their default portion sizes tho. For things like cream and mayo, the default is a whole cup instead of the ounce or tablespoon you're probably eating.

The general guideline for calories for women (and this is a guideline - not a law, and some people disagree with it) is that 10-12 times your bodyweight is good for losing, 15-18x your bodyweight is good for maintenance. If you do lots of exercise or have a more active job, you may need more than this. Also, dropping below 10x tends to provoke a starvation response. Many people who work out a lot find that the feel better and lose better on a slightly higer carb level; an ECC of 40-50 instead of 20-30.

Since you're so close to your goal, you might play around with cal and carb levels and see what works for you. You're close enough to maintenance that it would be a good idea to know what your limits are so you don't regain once you hit goal, too.

As far as 'bulking up', that's a fear that a lot of women have but it's not one we really need to worry about. Estrogen limits the amount of muscle we can put on without getting into really wild (and possibly illegal) stuff. Also, pound for pound, muscle takes up a lot less space than fat so if you trade one pound of fat for one pound of muscle you will be significantly *smaller*. How else could I weigh just under 200 lbs and wear a size 12? *grin* I have the measurements of a woman 20 lbs lighter and it's all due to the muscle I've put ON more than the fat I've taken off.

Hope that helps!

Cheers,

Friday

[suze_c]

There are many reasons for stalls, and there have been many threads and posts here asking the very same question as you...
Search for Posts on Stalls (click here) (http://forum.lowcarber.org/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=114604&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending) As you can see, my search for stalls gave me 1397 posts! There are many reasons for stalls... I would not get discouraged, sometimes the body needs time to catch up... and during that time, why not take your measurements and go by that? I am going by measurements rather than a scale, because I don't want to be jumping on that beast all the time,letting it determine what sort of day I am going to have... :lol: I laugh, but it is true.. and weight CAN and DOES fluctuate, so I won't let the scale be the deciding factor on this journey. As far as the ketostix go, mine have never gotten past the light pinky color, and I know I am losing weight... and yes, moisture of ANY kind can futz them ketostix up, even having damp hands when you get one of them out,can damage all of them! Cap them VERY tightly should you decide to get any more... And I beleive with the exercise, that you are also gaining muscle,while at the same time losing fat... And I am glad that you are getting support here. Isn't it wonderful to find a place where you don't have to explain about carbs and the addiction to them? I think it is fabtabulous!:spin: But anyhow... consider what I and the others have said, check out some of the other posts on stalls for references, and hope you are soon on the losing side of the scale AND measurements! Ciao for now~ :wave:

[Zoso]

thanks for the replies everyone! I'm still sticking with it. I hope you are right about gaining muscle at the same time as losing fat ... but I haven't been weight lifting or doing much other physical activity that is out of the ordinary.

Regarding my calorie intake, I'm pretty sure that I am getting a enough calories. Trust me, I do eat :-)

I'm going to try to eat breakfast, eat dinner earlier (this start-up company combinded with my TOUGH grad class makes my hours strange and long), and exercise with my bowflex and exercise bike.

[fridayeyes]

FYI - on many LC plans you can gain muscle without a change in activity simply because you are eating more protein. It's called 'partitioning' and it's the idea that if you simply give your body the proper building blocks for muscle rather than fat, it will make that instead.

Cheers,

Friday

[Josiemk]

Thanks I'll have to check that out.

Josie

[MamaSara6]

Friday, I was just wondering......what do you do to work out????? I weigh a little less, but am 3 inches taller and I am still a 16! I've been lcing for a year or so, but not working out regularly until about 6 months ago. Let me in on your secret! :D

[tigersue]

How tall you are really plays into what size of clothes you are in at weights. I'm only around 5'2 and I'm still in about a 1x although I'm close to 18's, if I go into petites then I'm back up a size, just barely into 18wp. My measurement are smaller at about 195 than I was at 173, and I have done The firm for 18months now. So it all depends on how fast your body puts on muscle which for most women is a very slow process, only about 5 lbs or so in a year. I agree that weight training is so vitally important, most people will not have Friday's results, just in my experience.
Tanya

[fridayeyes]

I lift weights. :D Big, heavy ones. Over and Over and Over. :D :D

My bench is a wussy 90-95 lbs, bicep curls at 75 on an ez curl bar, calf press is 4-something (425?) and so is leg press. For a buff guy, a lot of those aren't too impressive. For your average chick, they're pretty awesome.

Which, btw, is why I keep telling women that even if they get nice and strong, they won't bulk up. I have a very feminine, even hourglass, shape. If I flex a bicep, people will notice, but I don't look like a female version of Arnold just standing around. I probably need to post some new pictures..... Let me rephrase that. I probably need to take some new pictures. Then again, go look at Nat. We have a similar height and LBM and she looks mighty fine - er, nice and feminine, too. :)

I can't stand your average cardio, but I'll do aikido or bellydancing in a heartbeat.

Cheers,

Friday

P.S. If you want specifics, I did BodyRX Cycle 3 for quite awhile, and I always lifted hard, heavy and to utter failure. Before that it was a lifting schedule for CKD.

[MamaSara6]

I think you're numbers are pretty impressive, Friday. But you lift real weights! I just do Firm videos. I used to circuit train in college and loved it, but a weight bench is not on my horizon! Ijust started the FIRM a few months ago and love them for a home weight workout.

[DebPenny]

Sara, I need something for resistance training at home. What is "Firm"? Is it tapes? And what other supplies do you need.

My biggest problem is that I have absolutely no space. I am very interested in Pilates, but I don't have space for the equipment.

;-Deb

[Zoso]

Originally posted by fridayeyes
At your weight, unless you have a severe history of diets under 1000 cals, you should try for at least 2000 cals, more like 2400 or more if you're exercising.
Good luck!

Friday

Friday,

Just one question... is that calorie goal for men or women?

I joined Fitday.com and have been counting other stats besides carbohydrates... in the last two days I've had about 2400 calories each day.

Also, you're definately right about weight lifting... a few years ago when I was in college, a friend and I started weight lifting at the campus jym to get in better shape and to help relieve the heavy work load and emotional drain of the Electrical Engineering workload. About three months later I started seeing big results. My friend is a smaller guy and he had trouble adding the muscle mass, but I've never had a problem with that. I gained a lot of muscle and over doubled the amount of weight I could lift in many of the exercises I did. Along with the muscle, the fat went away.

After I graduated, my friend and I kept the routine going. Unfortunately I ended up hurting both my rotator cuffs and had trouble moving my arms. I lost a lot of my muscle mass and gained a lot of fat.

Lifting weight does so much for your body... It's fantastic, because not only do you add shapely muscle, but the muscle helps raise your metabolism which leads to more fat burning.

[MamaSara6]

Deb the FIRM is videotapes. They seem to have started in the '80's. I believe they were originally cardo w/ weights segments. I bought a 4-pk set at costco that is called FIrm Parts. They appear to have put together the weight segments from old routines to make just body sculpting tapes. There is a 5 day abs, Upper body, Standing Legs, and Tough Tape 2 (total body). These don't have cardio segments, but they'll get your heart pumping!

There are also FIRM cardio/sculpt tapes out there. I picked one up at a yard sale but have only done it once.

You need a set of dumbells in different sizes--Start out with 2-3 that you can handle. You also need a Fanny Lifter, which I think you can get online or on HSN. It's a sturdy stool to step up and down off of to tone the fanny. It's 12" high. I just bought a sturdy, 10" rubbermaid stepstool at Target. Much cheaper--same result. These tapes really tone. They guarantee results in 10 weeks (or workouts?). My dh complimented my arms and I lost inches everywhere. You don't need much space for these!

[DebPenny]

Thanks, Sara. I actually have a step platform that I use to give my dog help getting onto the bed (he's getting old and can't always jump up ;)).

I'll look for those Firm tapes. After reading TSPII, I realize I really need to start some strength training. And my one foray into the local 24-hour fitness was way too intimidating, especially when they insisted that I had to talk to a high-pressure sales person and didn't have a brochure.

Thanks again,
;-Deb

[Sydneynoel]

I have been on Atkin's for several year's now and I can tell you that the BEST way to break a stall is to do Stillman's for a week or two. Eat only lean meat, eggs, cottage cheese and LOTS of water!!!! Trust me it works like a charm!!!! It's tough and is not good to use for long term but it defintely breaks a stall.

[suze_c]

Just wanted to make note of Stillman's Quick Weight Loss diet or QWL DIET for short. You can have the following:

1. Lean meats: with all possible fat trimmed off and have it broiled,boiled,baked or smoked. No fats, butter,oil, margarine or other fats or greases in preparation of it.

2. Chicken or Turkey: With all skin removed,Broiled, roasted or baked and same rule as above in regards to preparation.

3. All Lean Fish, such as haddock,cod,flounder,perch.SEAFOOD:,shrimps,scallops,lobsters,oysters,clams,crabs,.... again broiled,baked or boiled... same rules apply to preparation of meats.CANNED TUNA MAY BE EATEN,BUT ONLY IF WATER PACKED.

4. EGGS: Hard boiled preferably,but you can eat them anyway you prefer, just prepared the same as meats,that is, without any oils.

5. Cottage cheese,farmer's cheese,pot cheese and other cheeses made with skim milk in moderation, and not made with whole milk.

6.At LEAST 8 glasses of water per day,ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL to this diet (10 oz. glasses).You are also allowed, coffee,tea, and any non-caloric beverages on this diet....IN ADDITION to the water requirements.

7. BROTH,CHICKEN CONSOMME,BEEF BOULLION: Check labels for low calories,and to make sure no fats are used in preparation.

8. LOW CALORIE ARTIFICIALLY SWEETENED GELATIN: May use ONLY if limited to 1-2 average servings per day. No toppings allowed,

9. HERBS AND SPICES: OK if used in moderation.

10. CATSUP,COCKTAIL SAUCES: Use in moderation IF they contain no fat!NO MAYONNAISE,SALAD DRESSINGS,NO OILS OR FATS,NOT EVEN "LIGHT" SALAD DRESSINGS.

It is desirable to take vitamins with this diet also.

This is the newest version of this diet that I have. It has a few added items that the original QWL diet, does not have. But it is still Dr. Stillman's QWL diet, I got it out of his book THE DOCTOR'S QUICK INCHES-OFF DIET
A main difference between this diet, and Atkins is food preparation, no oils or fats are to be used AT ALL, and lean meats are allowed,not fatty ones, in fact they are highly discouraged. You can have no-cal. sodas on this, altho I think I would heed Dr. Atkins advice about aspartame re: this. NO VEGGIES WHATSOEVER, NO EVEN LETTUCE!
I done this diet when I was younger, and lost 26lbs. in 4 weeks, and I followed it to the *T*, and that was even the original one that did not allow the gelatin and the soup! It does work, BUT a person has to be willing to stick to it strictly. Falling off of it, will greatly slow down the fatburning process.

[GatorGal93]

I assume the cottage cheese is low fat. Am I correct?

Can you purchase farmer's cheese in a regular grocery store or do you have to go to a specialty store.

Are the amounts of the above (except where noted) unlimited?

Thank you for the advice.

Julie

[suze_c]

Julie, when I done it, I used 4% creamed cottage cheese. and yes, the amounts are unlimited. If you try it... I wish you success~!

[GatorGal93]

Thank you. Starting today. I stocked up on broth, cottage cheese, eggs and tuna last night.

I am not a quiter! I will try anything. :wave:

Julie

[Julianna]

I think I may have tried that diet 4 weeks ago. I took out all the fat and ate pretty much what you wrote. I lost 3 lb in a week and then no more for another week so I went back to Atkins.
Isn't this diet opposite of what Atkins says (he says not to try to do low fat version of Atkins because it will slow down the proceess of loosing weight). Also in order to get enough calories one has to eat a lot of protein. I am just curious about this. But still, IT WORKS!

Are low fat/no fat protein shakes allowed on that diet? And What do you mean by "creamed" cottage cheese, I don't recall see it at the grocery store.

[suze_c]

Like he said... if it ain't on there... don't eat it :lol: You have dry cottage cheese and creamed... I guess regular cottage cheese is what I call creamed. This diet is different than atkins... his allows for some carbs also... this diet is as high protein as you can make it... I am not saying it will work for all... it did for me.

[Barbiedoll]

Hello I stoped losing on Atkin's so I switched to a low carb WW plan. I have lost 3 punds this week. I am going back and forth until I get what I like. As long as I do low carb it wil not hurt. Maybe that will help you out Good Luck! :daze:

[Josiemk]

Is it Weight Watchers?

[suze_c]

is the evil nemesis.... weight watchers :lol: Many might like it... but I had a bad experience with it, as have many others on this forum~ different strokes for different folks tho~ and whatever floats your boat~ :spin: