Need alot of help, struggling...

[gus_man_007]

Hey everyone my name is Dan and this is my first post on the site.
When i started eating low carb i was 100kg's( sorry for the metric!). I was eating fairly low carb and dropped about 5kg's until i stalled.

I then became stricter with the carbs and limited the amount i ate and dropped another 5kg's, followed by a stall....I further restricted my food intake and carb levels to the point where i am barely eating anything at all.No weight loss at all for over 2 months.

I then bought a road bike and started cycling 3 days a week still eating hardly anything. This yielded results for a while , then a stall. I have been stepping up the exercise regime every 2 weeks.

I am now at 85kg's but have been on a stall for neary 2 months. Clothes still fit the same, no difference in weight and i'm struggling to beleive i will ever reach my goal weight. I cannot possibly eat less , a typical day for me not riding would be no breakfast ( i never eat breakfast and cant remember when i last did ) 2 cans of tuna for lunch and a chicken salad for dinner. Thats it. The only difference on a riding day would be a protein bar 3 hours before i ride. Currently i ride 4 days a week between 1-2 hours per ride.

I know the way i am going about this process is wrong and i need some help from people with experience to get me back on the right track and feeling good about myself again.I fell into a habit of just reducing things whenever my weightloss would slow and need to correct my life...

Hoping people have some advice for me because i feel like i am fighting my own body 24/7 and feel like giving up.

[Antigone]

You need to eat more. Please read the book.

[micki641]

Dan

Sorry you are frustrated..

I agree with Antigone. It sounds like your body has kicked into it's protection mode...the less you eat, the more your body will resist...it thinks you are starving... My personal preference for reading is DANDR but I'm sure there are other books out there with good info too. You are very active, which is great, that's usually what most people have the hardest time with. If you don't have access to the book, there are some really good "newbie" threads here that can get you started....but it is still good to read the book.....and by all means, keep posting....there are so many people here with really great info... Good luck to you, you seem to be very motivated!

Michelle

[andreachurch]

I hear you Dan and I hope to offer some advice for you to consider. I'm no expert in weightloss and don't profess to be, but I have lost 90+ pounds so I guess I've learned a thing or two. I myself began the journey with a diet similar to what you described. I lived almost entirely on tuna and chicken with very little veggie. I lost a lot of weight very quickly eating this way, but at a certain point my body went "Ahhh.. I see what you're doing... uh uh, ain't gonna work anymore." Basically I was eating below 1000 calories a day, often well below, less than 10g carbs a day, and also very low fat. I never ate breakfast and would often go 8 hours or more in the course of a day without eating often even feeling stupidly proud of myself for ignoring my hunger. I stalled out completely for months and months. I added in exercise and started hitting the gym hard for at least an hour a day 7 days a week.. still nothing. I kept that up for another few months and lost virtually nothing, not on the scale and not in inches.
Then I found this site..
posted a thread almost exactly like yours...
got some advice...
changed my approach...
began to see almost immediate results...!!
What everyone will probably say when they read your post is that you're not eating enough, and while it may seem so contrary to what we believe about weight loss, it IS true that you need to eat to lose weight. Starving your body of food can work in the short term (I am NOT advocating this by ANY means..) but eventually your body will catch on and go into protection mode. Your metabolism slows to a crawl and every single thing you put into your mouth no matter how low fat is sucked up and stored.
So, like I said, I'm no expert, but I can tell you what has worked for me in a very similar position. I still aim for less than 15g of carbs (usually under 10 even) and follow Atkins Induction. I now make sure that I get around 1300-15 calories every single day, NEVER less than 1200. There are many schools of thought among low carbers as to the number of calories and are many who will say even that is too little, but I find in my experience that more than that slows my loss to practically nothing. the biggest change in mindset is that FAT is good for you! The right fats will help you lose weight. Changing my diet by upping my calories and significantly upping the fat has changed everything and I am now back to steadily losing again. I still occasionally eat chicken, but I always combine it with a fat whether its a lovely fat laden mayo dip or some sesame oil.. and I've replaced the tuna with salmon which is more fatty and more satisfying. I also enjoy a lot of red meat (think steak dinners, pork chops, LC meatloaf..yum). I also made whole eggs a staple of my diet. I used to use eggs a lot when I was doing low carb low fat, but I always used the whites only and tossed the yolks straight into the trash! Now I eat whole eggs like nobody's business. I still eat my salads pretty much every day, but now they are made up with chopped steak and drizzled in sesame oil and spices. oh yummy fat. Another big change to mention is that I started eating breakfast always within half an hour of waking (usually a couple of eggs in an egg cream) and then make sure to eat small mini meals every three hours or as close to that as possible. I also stop eating at night and set a cut off for myself of three hours before bedtime. As for other things that can contribute to a stall, I also cut my diet pop and coffee addiction (I had previously been a happily overcaffinated consumer of 8-10 large coffees and a good 2 litres of pop every single day... when I worked two night jobs!) Since I was changing everything else about my approach, I also changed that and cut out every beverage other than water and tea. I guzzle water throughout the day and either sweetener or unsweetened green tea when I want something more than water.
Anyway, I know that it can sound so crazy to be told that you need to eat more and eat way more fat, but from my experience that has been the change I've made for myself and it has broken my stall and allowed me to keep moving down towards goal. I have no doubt that at some point I'll probably stall out again as is pretty normal in ongoing weight loss, but I now know the most effective way to lose and will stick with it all the way.
Anyway Dan, welcome to the boards and I wish you the best
-Andrea

[suzanneyea]

Wow. I do not mean to judge, but that is really unhealthy to eat so little and so low fat on top of everything. Just to give you a marker, I am 5 5 female, age 37 and never fall below 2000 calories a day. I am usually closer to 3000. How do you feel? The best thing I learned from Atkins is to never be hungry, ever. Some days I eat 1500 calories ( a guess) at 9 am, other days I do not eat a thing until 2 pm, but I never walk around hungry.

[JuliaL]

Dan: Here is a great article written by a British Nutrionalist about why it's important not to starve your body when you're trying to lose weight:

When we're bombarded with images of gorgeous celebrities who seem to lose weight in the time it takes us to eat a Danish pastry, it's no wonder we're often tempted to cut our already low calorie intakes in an effort to shift an extra pound or two each week.

But surprisingly, rather than helping us to reach our target weight more quickly, severely restricting calories actually prevents our bodies from burning unwanted fat stores effectively - and unfortunately, this means that weight loss slows down.

Why does a very low calorie intake slow down weight loss?
Quite simply, your body goes into 'starvation mode'. This mechanism, which is thought to have evolved as a defence against starvation, means the body becomes super efficient at making the most of the calories it does get from food and drink. The main way it does this is to protect its fat stores and instead use lean tissue or muscle to provide it with some of the calories it needs to keep functioning. This directly leads to a loss of muscle, which in turn lowers metabolic rate so that the body needs fewer calories to keep ticking over and weight loss slows down. Of course, this is the perfect solution if you're in a famine situation. But if you're trying to lose weight, it's going to do little to help you shift those unwanted pounds.

So how many calories should I have to prevent starvation mode?
Unfortunately, there's no single answer to this question. As everyone's metabolism varies in the first place, so too will the point when the body starts to use muscle to provide it with calories in a 'famine-type' situation. That's why WLR works out suitable calorie intakes for each member on an individual basis and never lets you opt to lose more than 2lb a week, which would require a severely restricted calorie intake. In other words, if you stick to the calorie intake recommended by WLR, you can be sure your body won't go into starvation mode.

As a general rule though, most nutrition experts recommend never going below 1,000-1,200 calories a day if you're dieting on your own. It's also worth bearing in mind that the body doesn't suddenly 'enter' and 'leave' starvation mode, like crossing the border from Devon into Cornwall. It's a gradual process - so you don't need to panic if you do go below your calorie intake very occasionally.

What's the link between muscle and metabolism?
The metabolic rate - the rate at which the body burns calories - is partly determined by the amount of muscle we have. In general, the more muscle we have, the higher our metabolic rate; the less muscle we have, the lower our metabolic rate. This explains why men, who have a high proportion of muscle, have a faster metabolism than women, and why a 20-year-old has a higher metabolism than a 70-year-old - again, they have more muscle.

Ultimately, muscle burns a lot more calories than fat so when we lose muscle, our metabolic rate drops and we burn fewer calories. In fact, research shows that the body loses a proportionately high amount of muscle with a very low calorie intake and this may considerably suppress metabolism by up to 45 percent.

This explains why it's crucial to do as much as you can to protect your metabolic rate, especially when you're dieting. And this means dieting sensibly with a suitable, rather than a very low calorie intake so that you lose fat rather than muscle.

Is there anything else I can do to stop losing muscle when I'm dieting?
As well as making sure you have sufficient calories to burn fat rather than muscle, it's also possible to build muscle, which in turn boosts metabolism. And the way to do this is, of course, to increase the amount of exercise you do. While aerobic activities such as jogging, swimming, fast walking and aerobic classes help to tone muscle and burn fat, strength or resistance training in particular will increase the amount of muscle you have in your body. And this is good news because for every extra 1lb of muscle you have, your body uses around an extra 50 calories a day! This means an extra 10lb of muscle will burn roughly an extra 500 calories a day without you doing anything - and that's a sufficient amount to lose 1lb in a week.

But doesn't your metabolism drop when you lose weight anyway?
Yes, your metabolic rate naturally slows down a little when you lose weight, but this isn't automatically because you've lost muscle. It's because when your body has less weight to carry around, it needs fewer calories. This means if you weighed 13st to start with and now weigh 9st, you need fewer calories to maintain your new weight than you did when you were heavier. Simply put, there's 4st less of you to carry up and down the stairs, into the bath, around the supermarket and to the bus stop - and because your body doesn't have to work as hard as it did in the past, it can survive on fewer calories! This is why you should regularly update your Goals and Results - as your weight drops, Weight Loss Resources will recalculate how many calories you need to keep losing weight at your chosen rate.

Will yo-yo dieting have damaged my metabolism permanently?
Fortunately not! The idea that yo-yo dieting permanently lowers your metabolism has been relegated to the archives. However, if you've frequently crash dieted and severely restricted your calorie intake without exercising, it's likely you'll have a lot less muscle now compared with the very first time you dieted. As a consequence, it's likely your metabolism will also be lower so that you need fewer calories to maintain your current weight. This is because when you follow a very low calorie diet, you lose muscle as well as fat (see above). But when the weight goes back on, you usually only regain fat. This means, your metabolic rate is likely to have dropped a little every time you've dieted, making it slightly harder each time for you to lose weight. The good news is you can increase the amount of muscle you have by increasing the amount of exercise you do. This in turn will rev up your metabolism so that you can lose weight one final time on a slightly higher calorie intake than you've perhaps been used to.

[maria40nc]

Dan,

1. Eat breakfast whether you want to or not. It gets your metabolism started for the day.

2. Add conditioning exercises, such as the YOU On A Diet 20-min workout. Cardio is great, but conditioning exercises help boost your metabolism.

RealAge Workout -- Find fitness with walking and simple exercises

3. Drink water, water, and more water.

4. Get your thyroid checked by your doctor. An underactive thyroid affects your metabolism.

5. Don't give up!

[texasfirefighterwife]

i agree with all of the above, eat more just plan your menu and eat, your body is on the defense

[Tooter]

You are getting good advice.


I know that in your head you have the concept of "Calories in and Calories out".

Meaning if you burn more calories then you take in, you should lose weight. This theory isn't true and doesn't work. If it did, you wouldn't be at a stall, would you? Gary Taubes talks about this in his book "Good Calories, Bad Calores".

To lose weight, you actually have to eat right. When your body thinks it's starving (and it is) it holds on to everything that it can.

You also need fat in your diet. Fat helps make us feel full, it's an important nutrient to help us process certain vitamins and minerals. It's an important part of a low carb diet. It does need to be good fats. Olive oil, fat from meat, coconut oil and butter. Slowly start adding these into your diet and improving how, what and when you are eating.

[Nicolope]

Ditto!

It takes fuel to rev up your metabolism and a lc diet is intended to be higher calories, fat and protein but low carbs. Your body can't function properly with no fuel. My dad tends to do what you're doing and gets to the point where he is hardly eating anything at all. He loses for a while but then crashes to a stall and gets lethargic and wants to sleep all day. He can't see the pattern and is too afraid to add calories but eventually winds up binge eating for a few months until he wants to lose again and the cycle starts all over.

Do yourself a HUGE favor and read the book, add in lots of lc-friendly calories and just wait to see the pounds fall off. Be prepared for the possibility of a few days of perceived gain as your body takes in what it needs as far as fluid, etc. Then you will start to melt and it will be soooo much more fun than what you've been doing. KUP!

[HezzieLee]

What eating plan are you following? If it's atkins, you need to eat more. Fuel the fire!

My best advice... READ THE BOOK!

[Tommyswife]

Awesome advice by everyone. I agree, you need to eat more, especially if you're working out.

[Sarajewel]

Hey Dan - No advice, just welcome!

[SlimMoeDee]

Check out the thread "Eating to your BMR" on this forum. I was stalled for over 3 weeks. Increased my daily calories to my BMR and within 1 week was down several pounds. I also increased my daily water to the minimum 64 oz, working toward 1 gallon. Don't know which worked but was glad to see some movement.

Good luck to you.

[virgobaby]

Hey Dan ~

You've already gotten lots of great advice so I don't have a lot to offer. I do want to congratulate you on your loss so far. 1kg = 2.2 lbs. I believe. If so, you have lost about 33 lbs. so far which is wonderful!

I'm not big on breakfast either but I had a personal trainer tell me it was crucial to get something in the morning to get my metobolic 'fire' burning for the day. She suggested I mix up a quick protein shake in the morning. There are lots of protein powder mixes and ready to drink shakes on the market. Better yet, why not try one of the egg creams that are so popular here and you can control what goes in?

The lunch of two plain cans of tuna defintely needs work. Mix in some fat (mayo or olive oil) at the very least! Throw in a couple of snacks like some nuts, cheese, peanut butter or cream cheese on celery, etc. Basically try to make sure you eat something every few hours like has already been suggested here.

And I don't really need to tell you that you need more veggies do I?

You're working really hard at this and deserve the results for your effort. Change a couple of things up and see how it goes. Just don't give up!

Good luck to you ~


Terri

[gus_man_007]

Ok so step 1 i think is to go buy a book and find out the facts!
For the mean time i will increase my calorie intake. Should this be done gradually or just over night?? Just worried about stacking pounds back on.....

[WenB]

Hi Dan,

I would recommend going to Ad libris dot com or amazon dot com and by Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution - 2002 edition, or Dr Atkins Diet Revolution - 1972 edition.

The books put out now by Atkin's Nutritional are a bunch of bunk - they've taken the proven diet and are trying to "mainstream" it.

[Sarajewel]

Maybe try calculating your basal metabolic rate and using that as the minimum calories you eat. You can google several metabolic rate calculators. You can also do a search for a thread on this board - something like "eating to your BMR."

[andreachurch]

Dan when I made my switch from low cal low fat to upping both I increased them both gradually over 3-4 days or so. I didn't gain any weight and during the transition and it didn't take long to start seeing results after I got my numbers where they should be. So yeah, I'd recommend step 1 be buying the book. Also you can do a google search for the Atkins website. From there you can read and even print off some very useful information. I personally follow the Atkins Induction plan and from the Atkins website you can print off an official 3 or 4 page list of allowed foods, their carb counts, and quantities. Print the list, stick it up somewhere in you kitchen, and eat nothing other than what's on that list. This was all my first step as well, so that is what I would recommend. Best to you

[virgobaby]

Hey Dan ~

Check out the link to one of the stickies from this forum. I think there is some good info for you there.

Atkins Nutritionals Interview (Repairing your Metabolism and more)


Terri

[FloridaShell]

No advice here either Dan, but

[LCdreamer]

Originally Posted by virgobaby

There are lots of protein powder mixes and ready to drink shakes on the market. Better yet, why not try one of the egg creams that are so popular here and you can control what goes in?

Terri

I am intrigued..... what is an egg cream???

oh... and Hello to everyone!

[jacksmixedtape]

Good luck making some changes to your plan and getting those last few pounds off, Dan!

Originally Posted by LCdreamer

I am intrigued..... what is an egg cream???

oh... and Hello to everyone!

It's just raw eggs added to a shake or a smoothie for a protein boost. You can use cream, flavored sugar-free syrups, coffee, whatever you like for the liquid part.

[oobladee]

Hi dan

first off, don't give up - change up!

Atkins is not the be-all end all. It is one more way to approach weight loss.

I would add in some more high quality carbs like barley, quinoa, veggies.

Add in some healthy fats like butter, olive oils, ricebran oil, walnut oil.

Consider eating one day "normally". What i mean is include pastas, rice, potatoes, but do that in reasonable portions (no bigger than your fist at one sitting).

My biking buddies eat far less meat and lots more of the aforementioned fare. I've landed somewhere in between with a good amount of high proteins, good fats, moderate amounts of high quality carbs.

I'm far from skinny (30 bmi), but way happy and know this is soemthing i can stick to for a very long time.