Could I get a few expert opinions?
 

I've been doing Low Carb for 4 weeks. I have been very, very strict.
No alcohol.
Only drink sparkling water.
No artificial sweetener apart from a couple of low sugar jellies a week.

Week 1: -4lbs
Week 2: -4lbs
Week 3: +0.5lb
Week 4: +0.5lb

This is a typical day:
Breakfast: Coffee and single cream
Lunch: Bacon, eggs and 4 fried tomatoes
Dinner: Meat and veg (mushrooms, broccoli) sometimes cheese sauce made with mascarpone, cheese, one tsp mustard.

That's it. I feel like I can't cut back any further and there really isn't anything I'm not including.

My portions are not particularly big.

Why am I not losing weight anymore? It's very disheartening.

My first expert opinion is that you are loosing weight at an average rate of 1.75 lbs/week. My second is to continue to do what you are doing, maybe even eat more.

My expert questions:

1) Are you hungry all the time?

2) You state "Atkins" as your plan. What "phase" are you in.

Last expert opinion, RELAX (sorry all caps ;) ) You will do well.

The only thing I would add to what Thud has said is that tomatoes are not the best choice of vegetables. They are relatively high carb and 4 in one meal, depending on what size tomato it is, could easily be 10-15 net carbs. I would switch to green leafy above ground vegetables. Also cheese can be a problem for some people. You might do well with more protein and fat and less carbs. Then again weight loss is not linear and does not depend only on what you are eating any given day. Your losses still outweigh your gains so there's no reason to get stressed about it. You're doing well.

Jean

1) No, I'm hardly ever hungry
2) I don't think I have a plan, just trying to stay below 20 net carbs

Thanks, I'm a bit disheartened - it's good to hear this. I will cut out the tomatoes.

Yeah, fwiw, my plan says 1/4 of a tomato max. If I want one I will usually just eat one cherry tomato, or a slice. But agree, easier for you to just cut out for your approach.

How are you preparing your meat? I find I lose best with chicken, and fish, and I am exquisitely careful that any prepared meats (sausages, hot dogs, deli meats) don't have sugars...i.e. honey ham. I go far enough that we cure our own hams, and now are beginning to make our own sausages. I buy plain ground pork and have various recipes to make it into whatever we want.

Eggs are your friend - I make a "breakfast" casserole that we eat Monday-Wednesday. It has a layer of homemade breakfast sausage, dozen eggs, goat cheese, and I do include veggies allowed on my plan. You would just omit, or use very low carb ones instead (I use mushrooms, scallions and some peppers.)

Don't be discouraged, and consider picking a plan you can live with, it will guide you and reassure you.

Thanks very much

Don't give too much weight to what I say, I'm still sort of a newb - been on low carb almost 8 weeks and I'm probably doing a lot of stuff wrong.

A couple things I learned is that my weight can fluctuate 2-3 pounds a day just based on salt and carb intake. I check the scale 2-3 time a day, (I know that's bad to do lol), but I force myself to loose weight every week. Salt makes your body retain water and so do carbs. Every time you cheat, every molecule of carb that gets stored, stores 3 molecules of water along with it. Also, I can very easily lose 2-3 pounds just soaking in a hot bath for 30 minutes.

Carbs count and so do calories. The thing that amazes me most about this low carb diet is how much my appetite has diminished. At 4 weeks I was usually skipping one meal a day, last week I had 2 24 hour fasts by only eating dinner two days in a row, and this week I've mostly skipping breakfast and lunch. I'm probably down now to less than 1000 calories a day, and less than 20 carbs (I don't do the "net carb" thing - I count all carbs).

I was in bad shape with edema and lost nearly 18 pounds of water weight the first week and since then I have been averaging more than 3 pounds per week with no stalls so far.

EDIT: Also I try to weigh myself at the same time and under the same circumstances every Sunday morning. I go zero carbs and almost zero sodium on Saturday and make sure to get in a good long walk and / or a good low impact cardio workout on Saturday so that I minimize extra water weight Sunday morning.

That's a good idea but I might change the day. Friday is my weigh-in day so will try to minimise carbs and salt on Thursday.

Weirdly, I just tried on my trousers that wouldn't fit when the scales said I was a pound lighter. They fit now. How does that work?

Baffled by all this.

1) this is good.
2) this might be good as well

3) keep on!

The only thing I would add is to eat fat with your nightly meat. Skin on chicken and beef with fat, not lean meat.

I also would say that low-carb makes you loose electrolytes with the fat loss and also you are not eating processed foods anymore so therefore aren't getting the salt you use too so don't go low salt, you need it.

I think you're doing fine well! As others have said, weight loss isn't linear and try not to be disheartened if it gets slow, or by the eternal puzzle of a pound up or down, here or there - far better are long term weight trends, how you feel, and your clothes fit.
I think skipping breakfast (black coffee) has been one of the most powerful tools for me. I'm sure it doesn't suit everyone, but now I rarely get hungry till after noon, although I think it took a week or two of stretching it out, a few hours a day. (Following the 'eat when hungry' idea rather than just having my creamy coffee first thing.)
Perhaps you could try dropping the cream in your first coffee and try to stretch out your 'breakfast' till later on?
Wishing you all the best with it!

How it works is explained in this article under Patterns of Weight Loss:
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...99&page=1&pp=15
Throw out the scale and go by your pants waist size. :wave:

Or as Phinney & Volek say....

Listen to the these experienced people, above!
for example, I ate chinese food last night with my DD.
I had spicy beef, I knew there was some sugar in it, could taste it.
I had spicy cabbage, probably no sugar but very salty. But i had lots of this.
I had 2 glasses of wine (first in a month).

This morning I am 4 pounds up. But it is water retention and the fact that the alcohol had to be burned first over the night. My experience is that I will be back down those 4 pounds in about 3 days, with lots of water and walking.

For me, after 9 months on low carb this is ok. I am making permanent lifestyle change. I will occasionally eat higher carb or have alcohol. but overall, low carb, Atkins OWL, and see where i end up in a year or two. (this is my approach, i know others feel that they must be absolutely strict or else they fall of the plan too far.) YMMV

Some days I feel like I could do the diet forever and some days I don't think I could manage another single day. I've managed another pound weight loss but it seems precarious. Too frightened to weigh myself even though I've been amazingly good.