Discouraged and Confused...

[Resolved2Achieve]

I've been working on a six week workout plan with my local gym (Golds). I went in this morning for my body comp test to see how far I've come. The trainer only did the caliper measurements to measure fat. And he didn't have my previous stats. I was so discouraged. All that work and he's not motivated enough to make a folder for me. He print out my new stats and I knew I had my written down my previous bmi or total body fat at home.
Six weeks ago it was 36% today it's 30.69%. That's incredible difference but I gained three pounds and after measuring myself this morning with tape I haven't lost any inches anywhere! When the trainer asked about my diet I told him I was low carbing (you can imagine his reaction) when asked what do i typically eat after a workout I said it's always scrambled or fried eggs and turkey. He said where's the carbs? I told him I eat carbs around lunch and dinner when I need the energy but I haven't eaten more than 25 carbs a day. HE SAID~ if my body doesn't get carbs after an intense workout (i do 40-45 min of elliptical/cardio3-4 times a week) then my body will eat my muscle! I said but I'm gaining muscle I feel it! He replied...it doesn't matter you build you loose.
So here's my where my confusion lyes...I'm attempting Induction, I workout 3-4 sometimes 5 days a week at a high intensity interval on the elliptical machine, and keep my carbs to 25 or less. Am I consuming to few carbs?
Should I reduce fat intake? I need to hear from the exercising low carbers...I'm also attaching a sample daily diet. Thank you so much for your help...I'm so discouraged.
WEEK 6
Sunday May 1, 2005

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs w/crème (3)
Total: 3

Snack: 1mozelrella string (1), 4slices of pastromi(0)
Total: 1

Lunch: 2hamburgers 1/2 cuke(2), 1/2 tomato(2)
Total: 4

Snack: 1 mozerella string (1)
Total: 1

Dinner: 1 container of special turkey cabbage (6)
Total:8 1 cup of whipping cream stawberry/cinnamon(2)

Daily Total: 17 total daily carbs
Induction:6th 37min elliptical 6300strides 500 cal, 40g ketosis

[IDT]

Your trainer is probably not trained in nutrition, and is sadly out of date. get your workout advice from the trainer but for nutrition- Go back to the Atkins book!

There is a journal on the atkins site that is good for keeping your stats but by far the best thing is the workbook at sugarfreesheila.com I am not affilliated so this is not an ad! I am just a fan!

[40winks]

Don't be discouraged by your misguided trainer. (If anything be annoyed that he's dishing out such crummy misinformation.)

Congrats on the BMI success stats!!!

Remember that stress causes a hormonal release that causes weight gain, so strive to not be distressed! And TOM causes annoying weight fluxuations. Also, many are alergic to dairy (or the cr@p they inject into cows these days), so you may want to check your food log and see if dairy is related to weight retention or gain.

You're doing great! Congratulations!

[Diana]

The gym I belong to also does not like Low carbing, though impressed with my sucess. Go figure..

[Resolved2Achieve]

Thank you everyone!!
IDT! I checked out the site you mentioned and I was taken aback by SugarfreeSheila's site. Thank you so much for sharing, but I haven't found the workbook yet. I'm still looking though.
40Winks~ what is TOM? You're right about dairy...I am allergic to milk and have been consuming a little heavy whipping creme. I guess I should cut it completely out.
I want thank you guys again and share that I'm over my upset from yesterday and back on track today. I love this site!!

[nonstickpam107]

Sorry, I don't think the trainer IS dishing out crummy information. I work out, and then I eat my higher carb meal of the day (doesn't that make sense?).

Would suggest you read Body For Life (and I'm not saying you have to go lowfat and up your carbs drastically.....I'm lowcarb and still doing BFL) or BFFM (Burn the fat, feed the muscle).

Yes, I started burning my MUSCLE (including the heart...your biggest muscle) when I started working out and still kept my carbs very, very low. Heck, they are still "low"....I'm eating five small meals a day, every three hours (to feed my muscle). I'm eating the bulk of my 55 NET carbs in the first two/three meals, and the last two meals of the day are the lowest carb ones (just fibrous veggie carbs). Doesn't that make sense? Do you need the carbs at the last two meals for "energy" to 'sleep'? I don't.

I was really scared when I realized I would have to eat more carbs while working out (and weight lifting is REALLY a workout as those of you who do that know)...but when I found out that each pound of muscle burns 35 extra calories a day....and if I put on ten pounds of muscle I'm burning and extra 350 calories a day just breathing...well, that's a whole different story.

Wait till your third or fourth week.....I was about dragging and every joint was aching trying to stay ultra lowcarb....and still workout. You will find YOUR way....but muscles are the same all over (lol) and they need to be fed in order to make your workout something that helps your body and health.

Pam

[Resolved2Achieve]

I too eat the 5-6 small meals a day. I'm going to switch my carbs around and eat the majority of them in the morning after my workout (I workout at 6AM on an empty stomach and drink water) and carbs for my snack and lunch and decrease for second snack and dinner.
But here's another question: protein builds mucle so if I eat 5-6 small meals and weight lift and continue cardio won't I build muscle? And wouldn't I be able to do Induction which is 20 carbs or less a day?
This is a critical question for I want to be healthy but there is conflicting information out there...ie: magazines and books.
Thank you for your advice.

[nonstickpam107]

I think everyone should arm themselves with information, lol. You should be reading about how to lose fat and build muscle. There is a lady over on the Body for Lifers boards (right here at LCF) that is over 150 lbs. and wears a size six. Muscle is so much more compact that it takes up much less space. When I lost the 'majority' of my weightloss, I didn't exercise much. I wish I knew then what I know now.

But, through reading about building muscle and 'how' to eat, I eat differently now. I still stay pretty low in 'good' carbs' but I still eat lower carb. I'm not going to let a machine run my life.....the machine being the scale. You can lose muscle by working out and not feeding the muscle.

You can completely change the way you look if you put the right fuel in your body at the right time. Take a moment and go here: GULP! Paula's Before/After Pix, Large Images Inside

Pam

[Resolved2Achieve]

Thank you, Pam. Very insightful.

[sky75]

Hey Resolved, I just wanted to jump in because I also work out with a trainer at Gold's who told me the same thing. I really thought he was full of sh*t at first...until I found out he was one semster away from a bachelor's degree in Kinesiology. So, I figured, he might know something about nutrition.

I realized I would have to figure out something that made sense and would work for me, based on the fact that I know low-carb is the best way for me to eat. It took me a while - but I am so happy with my progress now, both losing weight AND building muscle. And even my trainer is much more low-carb friendly than he was at first.

Here are just a couple of suggestions:

Try a carb cycle - I started out doing 20g/day on non-lifting days, 30g/day on lifting days. Now I'm working on trying to get it around 4 0/60.

Eat a snack before, and immediately after, you lift. When I say immediately I mean like RIGHT NOW, like have it in your gym locker. When your muscles are spent, they use the carbs you ingest for repair. Studies have shown that carbs ingested right after lifting do not go to dietary fat. I shoot for about 10-15 carbs.

Remember that WHAT you increase your carbs with is more important than how much. Eating veggies did not make you gain weight. Once I started focusing on veggies, I discovered - go figure - I could eat more carbs.

I hope that helps.

[nonstickpam107]

Very good post, Sky....I don't eat before I work out (it would come back up), but I hit the oatmeal and egg whites directly after. This is kind of fun actually...being able to eat oatmeal (as long as I put a protein with it). I've been trying different variations with the recipes on the Body for Lifers board...the one for litecakes/Shannycakes....you can make it into muffins...they are toooooo good!! And portable, too.

Pam

[sky75]

Thanks, Pam! I thought I would have that problem with eating before working out, but as long as I give myself at least 45 min., I'm ok. My favorite is a low-carb peanut butter & jelly sandwich...oohhhhhh so good!

[H20girl]

Should I wait until induction is over to add BFL to my WOE. I realized when I started Atkins I could barely run 1 mile when I used to be able to run three a day. I really think that carbs around my workout would help me out a bit in attaining muscle, which is my main goal. Any ideas??

[Cosmo35]

One of the Atkins goals is to find your critical carb level (CCL), right? Maybe if you add in some good carbs (veggies, fruits, maybe some whole grains) you'll find that your body can handle the higher carb count balance with the intense exercise. Sky75's advice about carb cycling sounds right on.

[nonstickpam107]

Many of us doing BFL and BFFM are doing lower carbs, higher fat...and they are doing just fine, and most of us use carb/calorie cycling also. My energy has really come back eating this way and doing BFL (now you KNOW I can't do full BFL nutrition...I can't have any gluten, wheat, and about 110 other foods, lol).

Pam

[sky75]

H20girl, how far into induction are you? I've heard some people say the first few days are rough (I never experienced that, but I can see how it might happen). I have always exercised, even during induction, and never had a problem with endurance. I would say go ahead & start the exercise program now and just do what you feel you can. Once you're ready you can start adding in more carbs & see if that helps.

One thing I wanted to say to those who thought the trainers gave bad advice about adding carbs after lifting - read this article from the Atkins site about carb loading. It specifically mentions eating post-workout carbs as a good thing.

[Resolved2Achieve]

NOW THIS IS WHAT I NEEDED TO KNOW!!! SKY!!! You're AMAZING!!
Thank you
Thank you
Thank you
Thank you
Thank you

[meme0]

atkins diet says to have only 3 to 4 tablespoons of cream per day. There is one place in the book that is a mistake and says 3 to 4 oz talked about here and clarified that it is in fact only 3 to 4 tablespoons of cream per day. Have some more veggies and get rid of that cup of cream.

[meme0]

atkins diet says to have only 3 to 4 tablespoons of cream per day. There is one place in the book that is a mistake and says 3 to 4 oz talked about here and clarified that it is in fact only 3 to 4 tablespoons of cream per day. Have some more veggies and get rid of that cup of cream.

[meme0]

atkins diet says to have only 3 to 4 tablespoons of cream per day. There is one place in the book that is a mistake and says 3 to 4 oz talked about here and clarified that it is in fact only 3 to 4 tablespoons of cream per day. Have some more veggies and get rid of that cup of cream.

[meme0]

atkins diet says to have only 3 to 4 tablespoons of cream per day. There is one place in the book that is a mistake and says 3 to 4 oz talked about here and clarified that it is in fact only 3 to 4 tablespoons of cream per day. Have some more veggies and get rid of that cup of cream.

[meme0]

atkins diet says to have only 3 to 4 tablespoons of cream per day. There is one place in the book that is a mistake and says 3 to 4 oz talked about here and clarified that it is in fact only 3 to 4 tablespoons of cream per day. Have some more veggies and get rid of that cup of cream.

[H20girl]

Originally Posted by sky75

H20girl, how far into induction are you? I've heard some people say the first few days are rough (I never experienced that, but I can see how it might happen). I have always exercised, even during induction, and never had a problem with endurance. I would say go ahead & start the exercise program now and just do what you feel you can. Once you're ready you can start adding in more carbs & see if that helps.

One thing I wanted to say to those who thought the trainers gave bad advice about adding carbs after lifting - read this article from the Atkins site about carb loading. It specifically mentions eating post-workout carbs as a good thing.

I'm in my 10th day of induction. At first I was unable to workout because I felt so weak so I thoguht I would need to add in more carbs. But now I am feeling a lot better and can workout. I think I am going to try adding inthe excersize regime on day fourteen of indcution. Plus I want to read about it first lol. Thanks for the advice!!