HELP!!! Still nothing!!!

[Lottie]

Well guys. Still no loss, and looking like a 3lb gain! I was advised to eat only meat, fish, fowl and eggs (plus the water of course) for 2-3days to see what that does, and still nothing. I have now been advised to do the fat fast that Atkins recommends.

The one thing I am still confused about is that throughout all of this I have been in moderate-large ketosis according to the sticks. Why am I not losing? Has anyone else ever experienced this - and what did you do?

Am terribly demotivated, although I will still continue on with this WOE because I think it is my only option left.

Please help!

Lottie

[Natrushka]

In order to help more info is needed, Lottie.

How much of the foods listed are you eating? You've only been LCing since Sept 29th, Meat fast and Fat fasts are for stalls where you've been stuck at the same weight for 6 weeks and have lost no inches. Generally speaking when eating only meats and eggs you're not consuming many calories, its tough to do without the fat. How much are you eating? 10 x 12 times your body weight?

Do you have a history of yo-yo dieting? This could be the reason for your slow start. I'm just curious, who advised that you do a fat fast after only 2 weeks? It's more than likely that a fast of anykind will only slow down an already sluggish metabolism.

This WOE does work; some people are just slower to get started than others... give it time. Follow induction to the letter and keep a food journal, we are willing to offer advice, but need a little more to go on.

Best of luck,
Nat

[Lottie]

:wave: Hi Nat

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I know I didn't give you that much information - I always feel that until someone asks for it, I will be flooding the forum with LONG messages that noone will read... but since you have requested it, here goes:

OK, when I was about 14 years of age (I am 29 now), I was 7 stone over weight (err, that's about 100lbs for you guys). I was terribly depressed and picked on at school, so decided to lose weight. Did the "right" thing, so I thought, and went on 1000kcals per day. Over a period of about 1 year, I lost about 28lbs, but found it harder (and I was getting more paranoid), so cut back further and lost the rest of the 100lbs in a further year. From here on in, right through until I was about 20 years old, I was eating very little (prob no more than 1000kcals per day) to maintain this weight.... and it did JUST maintain it.

I then met my fiance, and I found it very hard to not eat more when I was cooking for him aswell. He also thought my restrictive diet was very unhealthy (which it was) and kinda made me eat more. So I did, and within a few months, I moved up to 10stone 3lbs (about a 10lb increase). I plauteaued here for quite a while, although I still missed meals (usually lunch) to do this (and developed an eating disorder) - and exercised real hard.

After a few years with Ian, I got kinda lazy, and started to lose that will of iron I had had about food... and the pounds came back on until I was about 11stone7lbs. At this point in time, I found the hip and thigh diet, and started to go on a 96% fat-free diet, with lots of aerobic exercise. This worked, and I got back to 10stone3lbs in about 6 months. However, I soon discovered that without the exercise, this WOE DID NOT WORK! - weight crept on a little.

In 1999, Ian and I moved to Australia, and with the stresses of this, going back to University and finding it harder to find the range of low fat foods out here, I have put on weight to my present size. I tried going back to low cal, with no result. Then I really tried to see what was going on and for a week ate nothing more than 2 pieces of bread per day.... end of week: no weight loss. This alerted me to the fact that something was wrong! I was also generally feeling run down, stressed, depressed etc, so eventually went out looking for a specialist nutritionist doctor, who I have found.

He ran some in initial tests and found my insulin levels to be high, a yeast (Candida albicans) infection in the GIT, and a deficiency in Mg (alongside a general hormone imbalance and slightly high blood pressure). He immediately ordered a 2hr Glucose Insulin Tolerance Test (including thyroid, thyroid antibodies, LDL, FSH), and faecal microbiology. I will get the results of these tests on 23rd Oct when I see him next. However, he said that the upshot of it all is that he would be putting me on a low carb diet and prescribed: lactobac, magnesium chelate, indolplex, psyllium husk, L-glutamine.

So, I decided to try Atkins - being the one that I could find most info about. I started induction on 29th September. A daily menu went something like this:

2 eggs fried in olive oil with 2 rashers of bacon
2 dsp mayonnaise
4 oz of brie
50g lettuce
2oz pate
Lamb panfried in butter with 1 tbsp of red peppers, herbs & fresh garlic
2 tbsp Fauxtato - made by boiling cauliflower, then blending it with cream, garlic and butter
20g lettuce
SF jelly
3L of water
2-3 cups of decaf coffee with 2tsp cream in each

I subscribed to the low-carbdiet.uk newsgroup and posted this on their site. It was calculated as being within 20g (which I thought) and was also OK calorie wise. I got into ketosis within 3 days from the start, and have maintained a moderate to large reading ever since.

2 weeks of this and a 3lb gain.

So, I was advised (by the LCDUK newsgroup) to cut down the veggies, cream and cheese to nil and just eat meat, fish, fowl and eggs for 2 days. I have done this - no change in weight. Next step apparently is fat fast.

During induction, I did start aerobic exercise - not much, about 30mins per day speed walking on a treadmill. But I have stopped that for a few days now as a control measure to check it is not muscle mass increase that is fudging the scales!

Well, that kinda brings you up to date! :) I can't think of anything else to tell you - other than the fact that I am on no other meds at all.

Hope you can help! Look forward to hearing from you.... and sorry this is SOOOOOOO long! ;)

Lottie

[tamarian]

Lottie, have you considered joining our bootcamp/journal forum? It may help you if you get feedback on your daily log, much better than listing one day for the entire few weeks, which really doesn't say much.

Have you tracked you measurements (not weight)?

Wa'il

[Lottie]

OK - have done! Started a journal - its there under L!

Lottie

[Holly]

Hi Lottie:

Have you been measuring yourself? I have found that when I am following the diet faithfully and the scale isnt moving, that the tape is. Apparently when fat shrinks and new muscle grows instead you can actually gain weight but lose inches. How do your clothes feel?

I cant imagine having the will power to just eat two pieces of bread per day. I would have thought that your body would rev into survival mode and hold on to any calories that it could. That might explain no weight loss back then. In my non-medical opinion of course.

How do you feel with this diet?

Holly

[Lottie]

Hi Holly :wave:
Yes I did measure myself and nothing has changed anywhere - and my clothes are still fitting the same way as they did. I still feel the same with regards to energy levels etc (if anything I am a little more tired than usual) - although my skin appears clearer, so something must be happening along the way somewhere.

I cant imagine having the will power to just eat two pieces of bread per day. Yeah - I know, I can muster incredible willpower on diets when I put my mind to it! :) I think that might be part of my problem now - I've had too MUCH willpower in the past! My fiance (who is also overweight and on a calorie controlled diet) hates my willpower capabilities, cos he finds it a lot harder. With the Atkins WOE the most difficult thing I have to come to terms with is the only place I need willpower is with carbs - I have to admit that I do tend to occasionally lapse into the "less is more" mindset... although I am simply not hungry most of the time, which doesn't help.

Oh well, gotta keep goin'!! :roll:

Lottie