FUSTRATED FUSTRATED FUSTRATED

[KyliesMom]

I have only lost 1 lb since 8/19/09!! 1 little significant lb! I am doing Atkins Nutritional - can anyone out there help me!

[peanutte]

Okay, deep breaths, Kim! I need more information from you before I could possibly give you any helpful feedback.

You're hypothyroid. Are your meds optimized? Do you know whether your levels are looking good recently?

You have about 30 pounds you want to lose. Often it seems that people with lower starting weights and less to lose do not see quite as dramatic of results during Induction. Having said that...

I am not sure what you mean by "doing Atkins nutritional". What book are you following? Have you done a full two-week Induction?

What are your menus like? Can you give us an idea of what you've been eating? At your starting weight, I don't think you can eat the way some Inductees do...without any regard for portions and calories, I mean.

Are you getting some exercise/physical activity?

[KyliesMom]

:::::::::::::Huhhhhhh::::::::::::


I started my med's on 8/23/09. I won't get my additional blood work (FT3/FT4 etc) until next week. So I am not sure on the med's part as far as doing Adkins - I am following his book and staying strickly with induction for almost 3 weeks with no budge only 1 lb!

[KyliesMom]

Typical Induction menu

2 eggs scrambled with avocado
3 slice nitrate free bacon
coffee w/cream

lunch -
roasted chicken on top of ceasar salad

dinner -

hambuger no bun
steamed spinach or sauteed/ or cauliflower

snacks consist of things like - jalapeno peppers w/ cheese
or zucchini and salsa (great for dipping)

Before Akins

Bagel w/ cream cheese

lunch

McDonald's happy meal

Dinner

Baked chicken breast on a hard roll w/ cheese
mac n cheese

[peanutte]

I started my med's on 8/23/09.

Well, that's only a few weeks ago. Hang in there. May I ask, before you were diagnosed with hypo, had you gained weight unexpectedly fast (as happened to so many of us)? It's pretty demoralizing, I know...but the fact that your weight has held steady for three weeks and you've lost a pound might be just the very tip of the iceberg, as far as not gaining, and starting to lose!

You're sticking to the book; that's great. Try to keep the faith and not get discouraged...I hope you see some results soon. Your menu looks fine to me. I assume the dressing and the salsa both have about 2 grams or less per serving?

Since you are hypo, you probably want to stay away from soy, and make sure that when you eat broccoli, cauliflower and other veg from that "family", you eat them cooked, not raw. You don't have to be afraid of those vegetables or stop eating them--no, just make sure to cook 'em.

[KyliesMom]

This is what happened I quit smoking back in 2004......and since then I have gain about 6 lbs per year every year. I had been trying to lose 5 lb which quickly became 10 etc.

I spoke with my Gyno he says oh although I don't think you are having any gland issues I want to make sure because as with mmost Hypo patients I could sleep um 10+ hrs and still be exhausted --- not lose any weight at all and I have a weird one....... I don't know when I am hungry........ it's like my stomach doesn't warn me - I'm just never hungry I just eat because I feel mentally I should want to does that make sense?

[peanutte]

Loss of appetite can be a symptom of hypo. That's what seems "off" to a lot of us: we don't think we could possibly be eating enough to warrant the ease with which weight piles on. But 6 pounds a year isn't that drastic of a gain. I know it's more than you would have liked, but it could have been way worse!

[2big4mysize]

welcome. I can relate to your frustration. Every time my thyroid meds got out of whack I had a long atkins stall. It can take months to find the right combination of meds for your body.

As your meds are being titrated be sure you are eating consistantly from the types of induction legal veggies as you don't want to have 3 cups of a thyroid interferring veggie likw broccoli for a week and then none for another week.


Which book are you using DR ATKINS NEW DIET REVOLUTION OR ATKINS FOR LIFE? also which version the 1992 or the 2002 if it is DANDR?

are you eating bars and other atkins products that have those net effective carb boxes on them? if so stop using them for a week and see what happens to your body fat loss.

Have you been measuring? if you were adding weight and not exercising before you started you could be now adding lean body mass scale weight AND burning off body fat scale weight and not seeing a scale number change but tape measures can show you your shrinking body fat stores.

Hang in there

[KyliesMom]

DR ATKINS NEW DIET REVOLUTION - 2003

I'm not eating the bars - so that's not it

I do Pilates and Yoga - but I have been doing that for a few years

I wonder if cheese could be my issue - I eat a LOT of cheese.......My Favorite

[peanutte]

How many ounces a day, Kim? 'Cause as I'm sure you know, cheese is a very calorie-dense food. It's not that hard to add 400-500 calories to your daily intake if you aren't watching your cheese portions and quantities.

[KyliesMom]

It's about 4 ounces a day..........I also drink Diet Soda will this slow it down?

[peanutte]

I don't know, Kim--artificial sweeteners and diet sodas seem to slow some people down and not others. Four ounces of cheese might slow some people down and not others.

I can't tell you one specific thing for sure that is slowing you down. You can try eliminating one or more things if you want to, like cutting your cheese down, or limiting your sodas, or giving them up entirely, but there are no guarantees. I just don't know! I am hoping it is thyroid related and once your meds are fully working, you will start to see a downward trend.

Do you happen to know how many calories you eat on a typical day?

[KyliesMom]

Calories can run between 1600 - 2200 depending how well I have planned out my day

[KyliesMom]

I put my menu for tomorrow into fitday and here's what it looks like:

Grams Calories %-Cals
Calories 1,252
Fat 80.3 718 57 %
Saturated 28.3 252 20 %
Polyunsaturated 9.3 84 7 %
Monounsaturated 34.3 307 25 %
Carbohydrate 17.0 65 5 %
Dietary Fiber 2.5
Protein 111.2 468 37 %
Alcohol 0.0 0 0

Maybe I need to up my fiber? and cut down on my fat?

[peanutte]

No, your fat percentage looks fine to me. Calories look fine to me, too, for that day. If anything, I might try going higher on your fat percentage and a little lower on your protein. There's nothing authoritative I can point to to back that up; it's just anecdotal from myself and other people I see around here who like to keep their percentages more like 60-65/25-30/10.

Personally, at your current weight and with hypothyroid, I think 1600-2200 is way too much for you to lose on, unless you work out vigorously and frequently for substantial lengths of time. That's just my opinion, but it's what's worked for me (keeping a tight rein on calories, and also not overeating my protein).

Try to just relax a bit. Get those blood tests done, give the medication a little time to build up, and let's see what another week brings. I don't want you to stress yourself out over things you can't control.

[peanutte]

Hey wait a sec--how come your three different fat percentages don't add up to 57%? They only add up to 52%. wha?

[KyliesMom]

I don't know I copied and pasted directly from fitday?

[2big4mysize]

actually if you are doing induction your fats are low and your proteins are too high. try cutting down your protein foods by a few bites and adding a teaspoon of healthy fat to each meal.

Atkins is a ketogenic diet, high fat moderate protein and low carb.

About 25% of the stalled folk who contacted the atkins center back when Dr Atkins was a live had a diet soda issue and when they gave up the soad things moved again with their weight loss. Those were aspartame sweetened sodas though. Try it and see what happenes for you.

Cheese has a 3-4 ounces a day limit so you are fine with that amount right now.

if you have been doing your current exercise program for yrs it is time to step it up a notch or add a new one as the body can adapt easily to muscle work and you don't get the same cal burn after adaption as you do when you start. That is why the first awkward day of any exercise program you feel tireder then you do a week later doing it easily.

One other thing you could try changing is moving to OWL chaptewr 14 of your DANDR as adding back 5 more net carbs of the yummy induction legal veggies can give you any vits and minerals you are lacking in your induction eating. Beeing low in some of them can slow metabolism.

Whatever you decide to change test it for a week or two and then if your weight loss didn't improve or you don't feel okay put it back and change something else.