Am I losing it? Is it just me, or do I have a right to be a little ticked off here??? (not at anyone here) Let me explain:

I've been trying to find out why I wasn't losing, why it was that no matter what I tried, no matter when exercise plan, no matter what advice I was given----i wasn't losing...for the longest time.

I've had a couple of days of feeling down-right FAT..bloated, puffy, sluggish, you name it. Anyway, I dug through the archives of "golden advice" from "veterans" and "experts" from another board (an Atkins board), advice which had me running for the fat every time I'd turn around.

"You're not eating enough fat," said one, "Up the mayo," said another, "and add olive oil to your salads," said yet another. Okay, I thought. Maybe they're right. So this is what I did, and this is what I've been doing. MAN! I could just scream!

I went to fitday and discovered that I've been taking in about 2500cals a day!!!!!! SHEESH! But wait, it gets better....

So here I am thinking it will be better, but I was having trouble getting in enough meals a day...so someone else said, "On Atkins you should at least eat something if you can't make a meal, so try adding macadamia nuts and almonds." Okay, so I did that... for a few weeks. Yikes. But wait.. it gets EVEN better.....

I get this great idea to do BFL. I love the workout, the philosophy/theory...all of it. But I feel FAT, and I'm thinking... what gives? So I look at my diet (and this is BEFORE going to fitday.com). Doesn't look all that ominous, no cake, candy, cheating, etc. THEN I go to the CKD forum...just to read up (still haven't gone to fitday at this point). I see a sticky on the calculator. Cool.. I'll go see what it tells me.

So I get this calorie amount and I'm curious. Wonder how close I am to that? THAT'S when I go to fitday and have the wind knocked out of me right then and there.

But wait...it gets better.....

So I look at that number and think "My God! How could ANYONE eat that much and NOT gain weight??" Then it dawns on me... Oh no! I've been taking in 3 meals a day in EAS shakes, etc.!!!! Good grief, I wonder how many MORE calories I've been adding??? My guess is 600-800?? I wont go look at the packages because I'm absolutely sick to my stomach now.

I'm SO mad! How could I have been so stupid?

Everyone just shrugged off my questions regarding "how much fat?" on that other board. I didn't know, and when I asked about calories, no one said anything but "On Atkins you don't count them."

No, I'm not blaming them for my screw ups, but I surely wish someone would've at least let me know that there IS a limit to how much fat you can take in..and that nuts DO count VERY MUCH on the fat scale. Most of them were just looking at almonds and macadamias as "carbs."

I'm so depressed. I feel as if I've wasted months of not losing. I may even have reached goal by now. But instead, I'm gaining. I can FEEL it, and it doesn't feel too good either.

I'm sorry to whine, but I've been banging my head against the wall for 2mos now trying to figure out WHY I've not been losing.

I wanted to try CKD, but now I'm not so sure I can do it. I mean, you know how some people have no internal concept of "time?" Well, I've no internal concept of how much fat is too much/enough. LOL. I know it sounds silly, but dang.

IF i were to try CKD, or stay on Atkins, how in the world do I do this without gaining or stalling????

Doing BFL is important to me, so I want to actually 'get somewhere' with it in terms of results. I'm willing to work hard, and I do, but I'm afraid I wont lose at the rate I'm eating now, and I'm afraid I'll become lethargic again if I let my carbs go down to 20g, 30g a day.

Any help, encouragement, etc. would be SO greatly appreciated.

First calories. To lose you should be eating about 10 to 12 calories per pound that you currently weigh. This is for the average person, you are very active, so you might need a little more.

Carbs. I usually lose when eating between 20 to 50 a day. But with that everyone is different. On BFL I've been told you might want to increase it to as much as 100 carbs a day.

Protein. You should eat a LOT of protein, at least 1 gram per pound of body weight. Especially with this much excercise. More if you are more active, less if you are sedentary.

Fat. Keep in mind that while carbs and protein have 4 calories per gram, Fat has 9 calories per gram.

So let's do some calculations here. You should be eating between 1580 and 1896 calories per day.

You should be eating at least 158 grams of protein a day which makes 632 calories worth of protein. Leaving you 948 to 1264 calories left to divide between carbs and fat.

If you are eating 50 to 100 carbs per day that will take up between 200 to 400 calories in carbs. leaving 548 to 748 (if you are eating fewer calories) or 864 to 1064 (if eating the higher range of calories) to do with as you like.

If you eat 20 grams of fat per day that is 180 calories. 40 grams would be 360. That still leaves some room for extra carbs or protein.

How much fat should you eat? I don't know. Fat does NOT spike your insulin levels. If you are doing Atkins fat is neutral to your progress. BUT it still is high in calories. You obviously can get too much. On the other hand fat is essential even on BFL, Good fats that is. Olive oil, Avocados etc, are good fats.

I've seen different percentages listed as to how much you should eat of each of the macronutrients. 40/30/30 comes to mind as one of the ones I've seen, the 40 being the protein portion. But I've seen other ratios too, and I don't know which one is right.

I think CKD has you eating equal amounts of fat and protein and keeping the carbs low (ratio of 40/40/20?). But only you can decide what you can handle as far as carbs and excercise. I really think if you want to do BFL your carbs will need to be a little higher than Atkin's level. especially if you are thinking of Atkins as under 20 grams.

I don't think you are doing yourself any favor by confusing yourself by thinking of switching back and forth between the Atkins idea, the CKD idea and BFL. Pick one and stick to it. Stop second guessing yourself.

You sound like me, you worry too much. Relax and enjoy this, and stop stressing so much. Stress actually works AGAINST your weight loss.

People CAN eat 2500 calories a day and still lose weight. I am supposed to be eating 2700 calories a day, (at my weight times 12).

I don't, and was actually stalled for a long time for eating too few calories. When I forced myself to increase the calories, I started losing after a stall. I couldn't continue to eat that much, it was difficult for me (I'm used to eating between 1300 to 1700 a day), so I just increased my excercise level instead. That reved up my metabolism.

Well, I'm not exactly switching between eating programs, but considering which one I will choose to use, which is why I'm doing all this reading up.

I hear LC is the best for everything, but I don't lose anything.. not even on Atkins. I got to a certain point, then stopped. I've tried so many things to get it going again, all but for going back to induction----and I'm not willing to do that again because I was just too sick for too long eating low-low carbs.

Because of the time restraints on my schedule, I don't have time to work out those calculations, percentages, etc., which is one of the reasons I chose Atkins to begin with---it was easy and made sense for the most part. Counting carb grams is one thing, but counting everything would drive me nuts----and I'd be back to my old habits in no time.

I know the BFL eating plan is low-fat----and I've been through the LF thing before and hated it because I was always fighting cravings and hunger. ALWAYS---from beginning to end. But at least there's no measuring, but for using the fist example for portion size. CKD is WAY more complicated from what I've seen and read, and keeping carb grams at 20 M-F would be REAL hard for me.

I'm just confused. Probably will be for some time. I just feel so disheartened about the bloat and the tighter clothes, knowing that it's either diet, lack of aerobics, or both.

Thanks again, Sherry.

That you count all of that. I agree, it is much too complicated. But it wouldn't hurt to familiarize yourself with how much of each thing you are consuming. That way you will have a "ballpark" idea when you are getting too much or too little.

I counted calories fat grams, carbs and protein grams for about three days when I was trying to figure out why I wasn't losing. I have a "Complete book of food counts" so it was easy, made up an Excel spread sheet and just looked up my foods that I ate for the day and put the various values in the different columns.

Excel will add it all up for you at the end, so you don't have to do the math.

It helps to have a clear picture of what you are doing, or else you get surprises like you did at fitday.

I don't like "low fat" but then I don't think I eat high fat either.

You say you "don't lose anything even on Atkins". Hmm. Have you calculated your fat to muscle ratio? Maybe you are already at your goal without realizing it?

As active as you sound, you probably have a lot more muscle in your body than most people. Could it be that you are aiming for some imaginary number (for weight) when in reality that number would be an impossibility for you?

I've been forever thinking that I wanted to weigh 130 pounds, but after checking my fat percentages I realized that I already have a lean body mass of 141 pounds. Since women need at minimum about 15% body fat that means my goal weight should be more like 160 something.

Maybe you are already there?

Oh God I hope not! I still look QUITE "chunky." I want to look like some of the pics in the BFL book.. you know? Not overly skinny, but close to what those folks look like.

Right now I wouldn't DARE wear shorts, much less a swimsuit, because the "fat" is VERY VERY noticeable. No.. not enough lean mass to make up for the weight. LOL. I'm still wearing a size far bigger than I've ever worn, too, so I'm still safely about 22-23lbs away from goal.

I lost on Atkins at first, but REAL slow. Induction showed only a 5lb loss, and I started at 180lbs. It got to the point where it was taking 2mos or more to lose a pound, and that was SO boring, and wasn't really very encouraging. It got hard listening to folks who weighed more than I did, but not by much, go below me and reach goal..when i was still waiting to lose another pound or two. At first I kept telling myself that it would happen any time now...but it never did. The weight loss just slowed, then stopped. Everyone said, "increase your carbs!" so I did... and it didn't take long before I went out of ketosis and stayed, and I was raising them by 5g each week.

If I was "seeing" or "feeling" something different, the weight wouldn't matter at all. But I'm not (but for the day I was dehydrated). So I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong at this point.

Oh boy....I just found out that we're broke for the week, so no supplements. I'm not sure how well I'll do not eating much, but I'm fixing to find out real quick.. LOL.

....things just seem to get better by the minute. (((sigh)))

fitday makes it incredibly easy to track your calories/fat/protein/carbs. All you do is enter the food you ate and the quantity, it calcuates the calories and all the percentages.

For me doing CKS without Fitday would be next to impossible,

Also there is a calculator linked on the CKD board that tells you exactly how much of each macro nutrient to eat based on your body weight.

I hear ya! I use fitday too... and yes, it would most definitely be impossible for me to keep track otherwise.

The calculator---I think I've already used that one. It's the one that gives you "CKD Parameters," right?

I got some interesting feedback from that thing:

145g protein
141g fat (for first day), then increases to 213g by friday.
20g carbs

and on carb-up phase:

119g protein
53g fat
556g carbs (day 1) and 334g carbs (day 2)

Of course there's other info, too.

Interesting.

I think you are looking at the parameters incorrectly.

the five columns are not equal to the five days of the week, they are just to give you a wider range of caloric intakes to choose from. I use 10 cals/lb each day.

Ketogenic Phase Parameters
Cal/lb./day
10 cals/lb./day|11 cals/lb./day|12 cals/lb./day|13 cals/lb./day|14 cals/lb./day

Would you indulge me...a fresh set of eyes looking at your situation?

According to your profile, you've lost 32 pounds since March 2002. If you started at the beginning of March, then that's a bit over 6 months. That would be a bit over 5 pounds a month including induction. From where I sit that's pretty good. Even if you lost 10 pounds on induction, you're still above average in the progress department.

The body can only stand so much change before it decides it needs time to rethink what's going on. Slowing down is a normal part of the cycle, if you feel you are slowing down. I slowed down for just over 5 whole months before things started to move.

3 key things to keep in mind...
1. Are you measuring yourself? The scale can be disappointing. The tape measure or pant-o-meter are better gauges.
2. You really need to keep track of what goes in your mouth, especially when you get into a tough spot. Fitday.com can become your friend real fast.
3. Water? How much? It doesn't work without water.

Everything is relative. Your progress is looking pretty good to me!

Angela and BigDog:

Thanks for the advice, guys!

The parameters on my sheet----they're five of them, with each one increasing in fat and calories a little each day. That's not what that is? I guess I'm still confused about this.

So, we just choose of of those colums and follow it for the whole week? See, this confuses me because the lower table is split in two: first 24hrs of carb up phase and second 24hrs of carb up phase. Why would they show that table as something to follow exactly, and not the top one? The two tables combined equal 7 days.

AngelaR:

I started "dieting" at 190lbs, but I lost the first 15lbs on SlimFast ((ducking)). The majority of the weight was lost early, then it seemed to hit a brick wall. I was lucky to lose a pound a month, then lucky to lose 1/2lbs a month. I know when you average it out it looks better, but my loss had come to a halt pretty quickly, then didn't budge for a while---not even inches lost.

I'm SO careful about what I eat that most people think my diet is HORRBLY boring, and it probably is. Plain grilled (on outdoor grill) chicken beef, etc. NO sauces, NO condiments, No fancy recipes. PLAIN meat and ALWAYS raw veggies in the form of salads. I don't eat much cheese (if at all), and have just added a little back into my diet again (recently). On salads I use olive oil and a little sea salt. No dressings of any kind.

I did add nuts to my diet, but it didn't affect anything either way (hadn't lost anything in forever, and didn't gain any either).

I mean, lots of Atkids eat stuff like pepperoni, slimjims and tons of pork rinds-----I eat pepperoni about once every 6-8 weeks, NEVER eat slimjims (blech!), and pork rinds about once or twice a month IF that, and I do the math for hidden carbs for those pork rinds, too, and add them to my daily count.

I drink a diet rite (made with splenda) about 1-2 a week IF that.

Pretty much it.

I did start the CKD using the parameters...which is exactly like being on induction, and FEEL as if my body's changing already. Of course, I did a "free day" ala'BFL on Saturday-----which is when I found I wanted to try the CKD because I liked the principals, though weird some of it may be! LOL

Oh yeah.... water: I drink 128oz (sometimes more) every day. I have 2 64oz jugs that I fill and keep in the fridge. My goal every day is to drink both---most times I go over! LOL.

Thanks for the help.

Have you been doing the Body for Life program since you started low-carbing? Sometimes with BFL it takes a while to see results. Your % of bodyfat may be decreasing and lean mass increasing and it won't show on the scale.

Hi, Kathy!

I'm finishing up week 3 on BFL. I've been doing Atkins since about mid-March.

But with my dance practices, etc., I was exercising a LOT.

3hr practices/5 days a week (includes ab work aside from dance)
Teaching dance 3 nights a week, 1.5hrs per night
Private dance instruction, 1.5-3hrs 1-2 days a week.

I don't know my LBM at ALL... except for what the CKD parameters gave me, and it asked for information I didn't know.

I don't have the fat calipers, etc., so I think I just input my waist size and something else. Going to go back to that site again and look it over.

MAN I'M HUNGRY and I've eaten TOO MANY Skittles already. I did have my protein, though. But I'M HUNGRY!