looking for some help
 

I have been stalled for 8 months. I was losing at a very steady rate until the last. I increased my carbs to about 50-60 a day, mostly peanuts. I maintained over the summer. Come fall I tried to lose again. I began induction all over again. Nothing happened. I went very deep into ketosis but no weight loss. At this time, I was also running 8 miles per week which I have gradually increased to 19 now and plan to get up to 40-45 by the end of the summer. Also, I was and still am lifting heavy weights 5 days per week. I called 800-2atkins several times for help and tried all of their suggestions. Just 2 weeks ago I tried a fruit fast, yuck, I gained 6 pounds in 3 days and hated the food. I was always hungry. I started induction again after the fruit fast and lost the 6 pounds and maybe 1 more, 1 week ago.

I eat eggs, bacon, decaf cofee(16oz), heavy cream 2 tbs, splenda 1 tsp, rib eye steak and chicken. I eat salad and brocolli. I weigh everything and count calories which equal 2400-2500 per day.
I drink in excess of 10 16 oze glasses of water a day. I take atkins vitamins 3 per day.

I dont know what else to do...I could cut calories to 2000 or less butr I really want to do this forever and dont want to start a habit I will have a hard time maintaining over teh long term.

I read in atkins new book about hypothyroidism; he suggested taking your temperature 3 times per day is less than 97.7 you may have a problem. Mine was never more than 97.7 and ranges from 96.6-97.7. After my fruit fast and during I actually measured at 98.6?

Could I be doing to much exercise? I do not think so. My resting heart rate is 44 and has not gone up. I had my body fat tested it was 10% +/- 3%, it was done with calipers. I realize the fat % is great but the problem it is all in my stomach and sides. My chest measures 47.5, arms 16.2, thighs 26, calfs 16, my waist is 39.2, my hips are 41.

Also, with all the exercise I do I do not reap the typical benefits. I am usually tired, I wake up 4/5 times a night. My thoughts are cloudy, I am sluggish at times. However, my work outs are okay. I have no problem completing my runs which I do 5 days per week, 3 miles for 4 days and 6 for 1. I am on a 3 on 2 off routine, that allows my body to recover and either increase my strenghth from workout to workout or increase.

Should I take some kind of a supplement? which one?

I am really frustrated and desperately want to lose my final 20-30 lbs.

Where do I go from here? More carbs? less? more food? less? thyrodi medicine? Less exercise?

I am open to anything. I appreciate your support


General info: I am 32, I started atkins in October of 2000. I lost 55 pounds, I currently weigh 224 and have been at that weight for 8/9 months. I am 5'11".

thank you

Have you been exercising the entire time you've been LCing? The thought of overtraining occurred to me when I read just how much you're working out. Have you had more than your normal bouts with a cold/flu?

Does your rising body temp get higher as the day progresses? I too had underactive thyroid worries and started taking my waking temp. The key is that it doesnt rise much during the day (as it should, reaching a high around late afternoon then going down again in the evening). I started taking an ECA stack and it solved my problem. As part of a self defence mechanism your thyroid will slow down when you're losing a lot of fat - to prevent 'wasting away'. Have you had your Free T4 and HST tested?

With all the excercise you are doing cutting back on calories probably isnt a good idea, you're right. Maybe a break from the exercise might help?

I'm sure Dan will have some good advice for you. Hang in there.

Nat

Hi,

No I have not had any colds or flus. My temperature in the am is usually less than 96.3 and rises to about 97.7 absolute peak, usually is around 97.3. I read about Wilsons thyroid syndrome and it makes sense. So you have any comments on this syndrome?


thanks for your earlier reply!!

I am not overly familiar with it, but I can point you in the direction of some top notch info about thyroid disease in general. I used this resource when searching for information last November.

http://thyroid.about.com/cs/hypothyroidism/index.htm

You should also try a search on this site (little globe icon in the upper right corner of every page) for Hypothyroidism and for Thyroid AND low there have been a few discussions that could help.

Nat

hmmmm
 

Hey #1 ...

Before I get deep into it, I would like to point out that your goal weight seems unattainable, unless you sacrifice lean mass.

I say this, because you stated that you are 220 at 10% to 13% bf. (198 lbs lean mass/22 lbs fat to 192 lbs. lean mass/28 lbs. fat, respectively)

This means you have anywhere between 22 and 28 pounds of fat on your body. Obviously, you can't lose ALL of your fat.

And your body is REALLY gonna resist you dropping under 10%. You will have to use some trickery, which I will be posting soon ...

To be 195 and at 10%, you would have to get down to 175 lbs. lean mass and 19.5 pounds fat.

To be 195 and at 5%, you would have to get down to 185 lbs. lean mass and 10 lbs. fat.

That's alot of lean mass to lose just to satisfy a "magic number".

My thoughts on this are that you shoot for 210 lbs., at 8% bodyfat. This is an aggressive goal, which involves you getting to 193.2 lbs. lean mass and 16.8 lbs. fat mass.

This allows for a certain amount of lean tissue loss (5 pounds), which may be anticipated in getting your bodyfat very low, and also involves a good bit of fat loss (5.2 lbs - 11.2 pounds).

Just an observation. I'll get to the good stuff soon.

thanks Dan, I look forward to your pending posts.

Another quick question about what you wrote. The calipers, they pinched an area between my shoulder and chest, my thigh and an area between ab and oblique, which was about 18%. How accurate is this test? I am doubting my results now, In a mirror, around my waist, you would never say I was lean, my abs are pretty tight but the area obligues and rear hips are a good handful. Do you think it is possible to be so low overall and have such a storage of fat? thanks again Dan.

Dan,

Oh yeah, my magic number is flexible, I could care less about a number. It is making those love handles disappear that is important to me. and I know spot reducing doesnt work. I just assumed that weight around my waist is about 20-25 pounds maybe less I cant tell for sure.