Hi All
Help! lol

Sure you've heard all this before but I need to write it and I can't face searching for a similar thread after all the reading I've done recently trying to find an answer. It's my first time on a forum as I need to connect with people doing the same thing.

I'm from the UK and a newbie to high fat eating having been indoctrinated with the low fat/fat free regime for the past 30 years as I'm of that generation.

I'm on the LCHF plan after finding Diet Doctor online.
Been doing really well on it, but seem to have stalled and I don't know why.

Started on Feb 28th 2016 and so far have lost 2st 07lbs (35lbs), but I reached that weight 9 weeks ago and nothing since. I've read so much on different websites and blogs and I'm none the wiser, just got more confused. I did go down to 16st 04lbs about 10 weeks ago, but then I put 3lbs back on and it's not moved since.

I read that cutting out dairy may help, fasting, cutting back on protein, no nuts, practically zero carbs, tried all this and no change. I don't understand why the weight loss should just stop? Is this normal for so long a time? Not even a pound!? Nor have my measurements changed.
I do understand that you can reach a plateau, but I've made the recommended changes to try and kick start it again, and now I'm getting disheartened and worried I'll fall off the wagon. I've still got so much I need to lose.

I'll be 60 next April. Cutting a very long story short, started with medical problems approx 6 years ago which is when the weight started piling on.
Had major surgery and treatment, including weight gaining drugs, and my weight has doubled. Now I've had enough of the medical experts and their drugs and their diets (which, by the way, did not work) and I want to lose this weight, eat healthily and get myself well.

I'm 5'2", started at 266lbs and now weigh 231lbs, so as you can see, I have a very long way to go. I knew I would stall at various points, but so soon and for so long? Is 9 weeks with nothing happening normal? After 5 weeks I started to worry and started researching and changing what I was eating. Or am I doing wrong by changing what I was doing?

Before starting low carb, I used to have a light lunch and a main meal in the evening, but now realise I was eating the wrong things, even though I thought I had a healthy diet, it was all low fat or no fat, plenty of fruit, wholemeal bread, fat free yoghurt, skimmed milk, rice, pasta etc. As this is what I was recommended to eat by dieticians once my weight became a problem.

Since starting LCHF, I haven't counted calories or carbs or anything. It's great. A normal day now is to eat one meal a day around 4pm. Very happy doing that as I've never been one for breakfast ever and I'm really not hungry the same any more. I did have a BPC in the morning, which I loved, but read that it spoils the IF and can stall weight loss, so I stopped that about two weeks ago (really miss it too). I also read you can eat too much protein, so I halved that and stopped dairy. I also used to enjoy a few berries with a little heavy cream, but stopped that as well. No cheese, cream, berries, no veg that grows below ground, it's really not leaving me much to keep me on track. Am I really only to have meat, salad and limited kinds of veg? I've tried fasting for two days at a time, but even though I felt well whilst doing that, it did get boring and I didn't have any change in weight or measurements.

I want to do this for life, and honestly know it wouldn't be a problem if I get results, losing the weight, and maintaining a good weight would be all I needed to keep me on track, but to try and stay on this when I'm so fat and not getting any rewards, just makes me think I may as well be eating the rice and pasta! lol.

Has anyone any advice or ideas other than the ones already tried please? My willpower is getting to an all time low and I'm starting to crave bread and roast potatoes! I weighed myself today, the first time in 2 weeks and...........no change again. I ate a biscuit and came on here. I don't even like biscuits.

Hi, Tay! Welcome! This is a very supportive and friendly group. If you post your daily menus you will get some advice for changes that could move you forward.

My first impression is you aren't eating enough and changing it up a bit might help.

Hi Ccat69

Thank you for replying. I'll try to not go on so long this time, just needed to vent, lol.

I used to have a BPC in the morning, then drink water all day for the rest of the day. I usually have my main meal made up from finding low carb recipes found on the net from various places. It would either be meat, i.e. steak or pork or lamb, fried in butter with a couple of mushrooms, and veg, such as asparagus, or cabbage, or spinach, or cauliflower, or broccoli, or sprouts, whatever I have in or fancy, cooked in butter. I may have one or two types of the above veg. Often I would make a cream sauce to go with it.

Another meal would be low carb version of a pizza with mixed cheese and a green salad with oil dressing.

I have low carb chilli with cauliflower rice.

Omelettes (spanish, cheese etc).

Chicken with the skin cooked various ways, with spices fried, or in casserole in the slow cooker with cream and stock.

Bacon and eggs with a tomato and mushrooms.

Fried bacon with lots of things. Sprinkled on buttered cabbage, on salads etc.

I make my own burgers with cheese topping. Plus a low carb veg side dish or salad.

Meat pie made with fat head pastry plus a side of veg.

Cheese filled meatballs with a low carb tomato sauce and zucchini noodles.

Peppered mackerel with salad and home made cabbage coleslaw.

Meatloaf with bacon and cheese topping. Plus one of the above veg's.

Cauliflower and bacon bake with broccoli cheese sauce.

Soups. With whatever veg I have in. Cauliflower and broccoli with blue cheese is a favourite. With cream swirled in and cheese chips.

Those are just a few of the main meals, I love this way of eating! lol. To follow I had a few strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, with a dollop of heavy cream or I have made a low carb chocolate (85%) brownie batch and have one with cream. I'm more of a savoury person so desserts don't really bother me, but I have made a couple of chocolatey things like mousse and easy bake brownie recipes. I usually have a taste of something following my main meal.

As you can probably tell, I love cheese. All cheese, so I thought it may be that, but I've practically cut it out and still no change, same with the cream.

If I have a steak or chicken breast I cut it in half now and make two meals out if it, and increased my veg. Because I read that the protein may be too high.

Anyway, you get the picture, i only have the one meal but I do eat well. And the one meal does satisfy me. I don't have any problem with hunger at all. But am I eating too much? As I said, it worked great up until about 10 weeks ago. Then the weight loss stopped although I wasn't doing anything different.

Hi Tay;

First of all I'm going to be light-hearted and tell you that since you started LCHF on my birthday YOU WILL SUCCEED
OK, back to more concrete indicators for success, you have lost 35 pounds? That's awesome. Congratulations! Sounds like you might have hit a plateau (any stall 6 weeks or more) and maybe you tried to cope with that stall by cutting even more out of your diet. You stopped the dairy, stopped the berries, and the BPC. Okay. And as you say, what you're left with is starting to feel boring. I don't blame you for wanting to throw in the towel in a scenario like this. Anything that feels boring is not sustainable.

So my suggestion is to start a journal on this site in the BootCamp/Journal forum. Just start a thread, give it a title and just keep replying to that thread every time you want to add to your journal. Post your daily food intake. Every single thing that passes your lips. The reason I suggest this is because it's very hard to help a brand new poster without seeing daily food intake.

The 2nd thing I think you need to do is eat more often. I have a friend at work who eats only one meal per day so it's not like I think it's bad or doesn't work for some. It's totally cool. But I don't think it's working for you.
You read that your protein may be too high? From only one meal per day, I highly doubt that. Stop reading. Take a breath. At 200+ pounds at your height you should be eating at minimum 1600 calories per day. Are you getting all that in one meal? I realize most don't like talk about calories on a LCHF woe however ... if we eat too little ... our bodies will hang on to every little morsel of energy it can.

You might have not lost weight for 2 weeks (which many of us do) and then panicked and started cutting food out of your diet which further spun you into a real stall. Anything up to six weeks might not be a stall. Your body might just need a wee rest before it gears up for it's next loss of 35 pounds. I think you can do this. I think you can take it all the way. You need to have patience and realize the weight loss journey is constantly changing as the months roll by and sometimes we need to tweak but more often than not, we just need to be patient. Good luck!!

Hello Tay123; I am so glad you are getting great advice from our experts. I just wanted to give you my best wishes. (Also in the UK and over 60 and eating in a short window.)

Welcome Tay
It is great that you found DietDoctor, he provides good advice for general Low Carb diets and has guides and introductions to Keto, Fasting and other options you may consider for jump starting weight loss. But having already lost 35 pounds, your body may just be taking a breather. First check some basic stall tips. http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=460202. The most common being carb creep..some people are very carb intolerant and must keep total carbs low. If you are starting to crave carby foods, then you may have been eating more carbs than your body can tolerate. The simplest way to know you have a LC diet that works with your body and you are eating the number and types of carbs for you...is not being hungry and not having cravings.

Did you start DietDoctor with the Two Week Challenge? That has no fruit, nuts, and limits cheese to 4 oz, cream to 2T, etc. It is the diet used in the Duke Lifestyle clinic and to treat obesity, that clinic keeps the total carbs under 20g until you reach goal. There is no "ladder". And many people in the support group are not hungry and like you, eat one meal a day.

Some post-menopausal women have long plateaus. Consider accepting that LC is very healthy way to eat, you love the food, and just continue on. Are you still on any medications? Steroids, beta-blockers, even some OTC? http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=453311 are you now healthy? How much do you exercise, walk, etc? What about stress levels?

Dr Westman had some good Advanced LC Tips on DietDoctor you may want to consider as well. https://www.dietdoctor.com/member/i...ews/westman-lcc He covers what i mentioned above...better to hear it from an expert than me.
The most important is that we don't count calories, but calories do count. He does not support the use of BPC, fat bombs, or any liquid oil fats IF you have fat on your body to lose. Cheese is tricky for that calorie reason. It is hard to limit it to 4 oz, and when I was stalled, the suggestion was to drop it to 2 oz or eliminate completely. This is a good explanation of weight loss and why you should not Force the Fat. https://lowcarbrn.wordpress.com/201...-force-the-fat/
When you were eating a lot of dishes with cheese, having cream sauce on vegetables (that 2 T cream limit is for the day) you may have exceeded the amount of calories needed for your expenditure. Age and lack of activity do need to be considered...he mentions that sedentary, obese women have the most problems. And dropping cream and cheese from your diet was relatively recent?..give it more time without those.

My suggestion is to just Keep On keepin on. You have found a healthy and satisfying way to eat. You already have had good success and know LC works for you., though You may need to tweak the diet some more. You didn't mention it, but I assume you have had some health improvements and are happy with the food, and don't want to go back to eating LF yoghurt and cardboard tasting LF breads. Hang in there

Hi GreekRibs

Thanks for replying. I must admit I have read a lot this past couple of months and got very confused.
The main thing being, eat until you're satisfied (the right food of course) and don't eat if you're not hungry. Which is what I do. I just loved the simplicity of it and been really happy eating fat and it was working.

But then, when I stalled, it started getting complicated. lol. It’s been 10 weeks now and nothing. I didn’t think eating one meal a day would put me over the limit on anything, but have stalled none the less unfortunately. Hand on heart, I don’t snack. I only start to think about food around 2pm which is when I start to prepare my meal. Should I start snacking do you think? Thing is I’m really not hungry, I don’t want to eat just for the sake of it. Maybe if I try 2 small meals or something. Just that I’m happy eating once a day, just stopped losing weight. Will definitely think on what you’ve said though. Many thanks for the suggestions.
Tay


Hi Ambulo, nice to hear from another Brit! lol. I’m up North too! Thanks for the good wishes and well done to you. Must feel good when you reach your goal weight!
Tay


Hi Janet

Thank you for all the info, I’ve read through the links you provided. I’ll try and answer your points. as best I can.

Diet Doctor has been my main source of info regarding this WOE, and that’s where I got confused. I’ve watched and listened to nearly all the videos and experts on there and I started with all the meal menus on there. I didn’t do the 2 week challenge, but started on low carb with the recipes I liked. I have so much to lose that the first 20lbs just dropped off, which was probably fluid, but I was ecstatic! lol, Then I slowed down to losing about 2 or 3lbs a month. But I was happy with that as it WAS moving and in the right direction. Just this past 10 weeks have gotten me down as I still have so far to go. When you are so big, 35lbs doesn’t make you look that different.

If I eat when I'm not hungry, I just feel bloated and sickly, the same if I eat more at my meal than I need to.
I've never been a breakfast person, ever, so that's not changed. The main thing that's changed is what I eat.
Then I found I wasn't as hungry at mealtimes and was going longer and longer before wanting to eat. Then I started eating too late at night and didn't sleep well, but if I didn't eat at all, I found that I was starving about 9 or 10pm.
So it took a while to settle into a routine that suited me, but I found that eating about 4pm everyday really worked for me. It was only when I stalled that I started finding different information on why it happens and what to do to get it started again.

The main things seemed to be dairy, too much protein or too many calories, so I tried to address them all. But that's not worked so far either, lol. i suppose I should be glad that at least I’m not gaining at present, but this last month has gotten really disheartening after cutting out more of what I really enjoy and not seeing any results. I don’t exercise as such, but I do a dog walk everyday for 30 to 45 minutes and longer at weekends usually. I live in a rural area so walk often in good weather, but it’s more of a gentle ramble rather than a power walk. lol.

just read through the thread on med’s and OTC drugs and well believe it. I was put on steroids and other med’s more than 2 or 3 years ago, that’s when the weight really piled on. I felt dreadful but every time I went to the doc about this, she just added another pill to the list and advised I join Slimming World.. It’s only since I went into what I was actually taking that I realised all my symptoms tied in with the side effects of the drugs and read they also caused weight gain and prevented weight loss.

When I went to the Dr’s for a routine blood test earlier this year, she put me on iron tablets as she said I was bordering on anaemia but never mentioned the med’s. I’d had enough then.

I don’t advocate this for anyone else, but at the beginning of this year, after researching what I was taking, I stopped cold turkey. I found one tablet I was taking severely depleted iron and magnesium if taken long term, I’d been taking it for over 3 years, but no one told me about this. 3 weeks after stopping them all I began to feel so much better.

Now all I take is, VIT C, D3, B12 and Magnesium tablets and oil, as I found out that one tablet I was on caused severe Mag depletion and huge weight gain. I also had all the signs for this too. I take potassium in the form of himalayan pink rock salt in a glass of water late morning and try to eat spinach, sprouts and other green veg. I also incorporate Golden Paste (turmeric) every day. That’s it really.

I did watch the Dr Westman videos on Diet Doctor as well as nearly all the others, including Jason Fung on IF and Jackie Eberstein on post menopausal women and LC, and that’s where I got to thinking about the BPC and dairy I was eating, as I’m aware of the calorie aspect. But as I only eat once a day, I sort of thought it wouldn’t be a problem. I also get confused with the difference between starvation mode and fasting? I did post questions on the DD site regarding all this but never got any replies. That’s why I’m so glad I found this site.

I read the lowcarb wordpress article and that’s what I’ve been trying to do but it looks as though I’m going to have keep on tweaking until I start losing again. ……… hopefully.

I’m just getting worried that the last few years have messed up my metabolism for good, and as we all know, stress is not helpful lol.
Thank you all for taking the time to reply though, I feel better just being able to discuss it. No one else I know is interested or doesn’t agree with what I’m doing.

Tay

Tay,
Please stay and talk with us when ever you want. You are so smart to have actually looked at the "fine print" on the drugs you were taking and understand the side effects, and determine which ones were unnecessary for your current health situation. You really have to give yourself time just to undo some of that. I had the opportunity to speak with Jackie Eberstein personally when I was coming off a cancer drug...she was so gentle about understanding the side effects that impact weight loss may linger. Do your best with your diet, eat healthy real foods, eat only when hungry, but please don't stress when you will hit plateaus that a 30 yo male will not. Walking the dog outside everyday is perfect to appreciate the beautiful countryside you have.

I had lunch yesterday with a dear friend from the LC support group, 70 yo, a former diabetic on large doses of insulin, who has been at the same weight since Christmas. But now she is glowing, takes no medications for anything, all her blood work recently checked perfect, is full of energy and still working a full-time job. She's not thin but is vibrantly healthy, we talked about acceptance of our weight when we both feel so good compared to other friends our age. Speaking of weight, a healthy weight for 5’2” is about 140, and the merely "overweight" range about 160. 120 might be ideal for a school girl, but let's be real.
A 2-3 pound a month loss is good for a post-menopausal woman and you may have hit one of those frustrating, no reason at all, stalls. Keep an eye on the calories and increase the exercise the days you feel able, but know that you have improved your health with this satisfying way of eating and taking control over it. Cheers,

may I ask what is BPC?

Hi bcbeauty

BPC = Bullet Proof Coffee

There are several recipes, but I just used organic ground coffee, coconut oil and kerrygold butter. Make the coffee as normal, in a deep jug I add butter and coconut oil then pour on the hot coffee, blend with a hand blender until it's all creamy and frothy and serve up in my favourite coffee cup. Oh my. Nothing like watching the sun rise with a cup of that in my hand........alas, no more for the time being.

Hi Janet

" Speaking of weight, a healthy weight for 5’2” is about 140, and the merely "overweight" range about 160. 120 might be ideal for a school girl, but let's be real."

Ha Ha..........love it. Had to laugh when I read that. Of course I'll never see 120 again! lol. That's just my way of pushing myself which is how I've always been. Sort of the 'Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.' attitude.

If I can reach 150 I'll be more than happy believe me. Then I'll take it from there.

Thanks for all your help and advice so far and of course I'll be back. Love this site.

Tay

Could you try this? Patience.

I know, I know. It is NOBODY's favorite word. But the reality is that if you start messing around with your eating, you could stall longer.

I absolutely endorse Janet's idea: accept that LCHF is a very healthy way to eat, and that, because of the damage done to your body by all the meds, along with being post menopausal, this may take a lot longer than you want it to.

There is another poster here who had a terribly long stall, after losing less than 10 lbs. But she has a very stressful life, takes NSAIDs, does not get enough sleep (nor will she, for the foreseeable future) and works both a tough physical job and a tough desk job.

She stalled for as long as you---then suddenly lost five more pounds.

We don't damage our bodies overnight, and they don't heal overnight, either. All those meds, especially the steroids, do cause long term damage. It's not irreversible. But it does take time.

If you are enjoying your WOE, just continue on, and give your body time to heal. If it's of interest to you, try, for a week to count your nutrients: carbs, fats, proteins on a daily basis. You can count calories, too, just to see if you are eating too many or too few.

Living with too much weight is so challenging, and we want it to get better quickly. But sometimes, our bodies need to make internal changes that we can't even see, before they allow us to continue on.

While I had less to lose when I started this WOE, still, I am not yet at my goal, and I've been at this for 38 months: with a 12 lb gain when I allowed stress to get me eating dried fruit by the bagful, I've lost a total of 47 lbs in 38 months. Not exactly speedy, is it? But, as Janet commented, I've had to learn that danged patience, and realize that my choices are the eat this healthy way, and watch the fat ever so slowly melt away, or go back to where I was.

It's no contest, really.