Advice for my teen daughter?
 

Hi, I've been lurking here and finally want to ask for some advice for my daughter:

When my daughter was about 12 we started eating very-low-fat nearly vegetarian (previously SAD). After several years we were all doing poorly and she had poor growth (narrow body & face, no menses). This was a high-carb diet.

One year ago (age 15) we added animal fats to the high-carb diet (now a high quality "balanced" diet) and my daughter's growth exploded. She began to develop a strong skeleton, her figure filled out, she began menstruating... But she also started gaining quite a bit of weight, especially on her hips and thighs. She started getting stretch marks and jumped 4 pants sizes in a year.

January this year (3.5 months ago) due to my continued poor health and her weight gain we went low-carb with the Kwasniewski ratio. The first 6 weeks was tough adapting and getting comfortable with the ratio.

I'm having fabulous results. I had a metabolic problem and an intestinal problem, both of which are improving markedly. I shed about 5 pounds (revealing my sadly underdeveloped physique).

My daughter, however, has not lost any weight and is not feeling very well on the diet. At first she was eating 1800 c/day with about 60g protein and was still gaining weight - she has since cut back to 1600 c/day with about 45g protein.

She is still constipated frequently and feels out of sorts with a grumbling, queasy stomach much of the time.

There is a lot of stress in her life (16 y.o.) and in our lives at the moment that should ease in the coming months. She feels very unsettled and "disordered" about food, thanks to my tinkering over the years :(

Her age is 16, she's 6'6" tall, she weighs about 140, heavy on the hips and thighs but otherwise evenly distributed. She lifts weights and walks about 1 mile a day. The ratio she's following is 45g protein (1 : 3 : .8). Food staples are raw egg yolk, olive oil, cod liver oil, ghee, sardines, liverwurst, smoked salmon, goat cheese.

Does anyone have any insight or suggestions?!

I'm sorry to hear that your daughter is going through this. It's difficult for you as well, I know.

First, you meant that she's 5'6" tall, right? Not 6'6". Depending on how she's built, 140 isn't really that heavy for someone 5'6". It may be cosmetically more than she prefers, but in my opinion it's a mistake to base diet on purely cosmetic considerations, which are way out of whack these days. The "ideal figure" is just too slender for most of us to attain. I would attempt to move her focus away from her looks and onto her health and well-being.

I'd also double-check the amount of protein she's getting. It sounds far too low. There are various ways of estimating a person's protein requirements, but the lowest I calculate for someone weighing 140 pounds is in the neighborhood of 52 grams/day. I would guess that an adolescent needs a fair amount more than that. My method of choice is Protein Power, and here is a direct quote from Michael Eades's website, specifically the page at (http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/...es-lean-mass/):

" ... let’s take the so-called average person who weighs 70 kg (154 lbs) and calculate daily protein requirements based on the protocol of this study. 70 kg X 1.6 g/kg/day = 112 gm protein per day."

Good luck to both of you.

Yes, 5'6" !

We lowered the protein twice because she was still gaining steadily. She's on target for the Optimal Diet recommendation, though it's true that is for a mature adult and not a youth.

This is a complex issue, you're right. Most of her peers (male and female) are living on breakfast cereal, pizza, and 100-calorie cookie packs and are literally emaciated. I spent most of my life doing the same and I'm rather emaciated too. Yet it's nearly impossible not to compare oneself with others. I'm doing my best to inspire her - I say she's "robust and strong" and I'm "underdeveloped." I try to put images of healthy women in front of her. There are so few role models. :tears:

But she and I both think that she is carrying too much fat in her hips and thighs...? Her skin there is "cellulite"-looking. She looks quite a lot like the woman in the middle on this photo ("pear"):

http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/...ttomheavy-1.jpg

I thought a healthy-weight body shape would be more like this?:

http://www.hemingways.org/GIDinfo/bodycontourF.gif

Or do she and I both have skewed body-image?!

I'll take another look at the protein allotment. Thanks for your kind words.

Really depends on what type of body shape she is. I have cousins that carry all their weight on their hips and thighs, others that are top heavy, a few that were rail thin. I remember my pear shaped cousin starving herself and trying every fad diet under the sun, pressure and belittling from her mother, only to learn that it is her body type she can't change. Because of her body shape, she wears a bigger size than i do, but she weighs LESS than i do.

You are best to keep doing what you are doing. Most "role" models for teenage and preteen women are waif girls, tiny even. They do not eat healthy. I have two daughters that eat almost nothing but refined carbs and prepackaged foods..they are rail thin wear a size small. Then my other daughter, who at only 12, is taller than i am-shes just over 5'6, and her bone structure is very very "robust" She takes after her Grandmother's side, very tall, big boned, and flat chested. She doesn't have any "role" models to compare herself to. I do not want to stress size on her, try to feed her healthy foods. I am also stressing that people come in all shapes and sizes and for some..trying to look or conform to everyone else standards, just impossible. Like trying to put a square peg in a round hole.

Good luck. I wouldn't worry given your daughters height and body shape at all.

What Mainecyn said.

Regarding cellulite--I'd like to point out that upwards of 90% of women have at least some. I've had the opportunity to observe a number of elite, Olympics-track female gymnasts close up. Even on the semi-starvation diets they follow to stay tiny, some of them develop cellulite, too. And when they start to eat normally, all hell breaks loose. Remember Mary Lou Retton?

There's one other thing. I hesitate to mention it, because I don't know you or your daughter, and this is such an individual thing. I hope that you take this in the helpful spirit in which it's offered. But are you sure that you are giving your daughter a level of autonomy about her diet that's appropriate to her age? Perhaps we're a bit unusual, but at 16 my daughters would have laughed in my face if I'd presumed to calculate and then attempt to manage their protein intake. They'd have outright rejected any interventions beyond simply offering them, with little or no comment, what they need. And, after I'd gotten over my hurt pride, I wouldn't have blamed them.

Well, this wouldn't have come around if I hadn't decided back in 2005 that I was going to get serious about healthy eating and proceeded to axe all fat and most meats from our diet. I initiated a disastrous eating plan and now I'm responsible for fixing it. She's confused about what to do - as I have been...

From low-fat-high-fiber-spinach-salad-hold-the-dressing to buttered-bacon-side-of-cream? We've both been bewildered.

I wanted to give her the ratio and let her figure it out, so I bought and installed Calculus Victus (Optimal Diet meal planning software) and she plans her own menus. She's been pretty needy about reassurance, and hasn't been entirely happy with the results of the diet, as I indicated. I think she also gets pretty discouraged and doesn't have the time to do the research, so I investigate and pass suggestions along. I try to stay out of it as much as I can.

We have a very good relationship (most of the time). Your point is a good one; trust me, it's no fun talking to a teen girl about her body.

I hear you. I've posted elsewhere about my own tribulations with my daughters, who are, like me, prone to obesity. Unlike me, they haven't yet grasped the usefulness of the low-carb way of eating. As a child, I watched several family members grapple with obesity and its physical and social complications, and I have plenty of my own issues about it. So sometimes it's hard for me to know when to step back and let them learn as they seem to need to do. I don't claim to have found the magical solution.

At the moment, my health and weight are pretty much under control, and the dear girls choose to regard me as a genetic freak--they definitely don't take after me, you see! Evidently they think I was born without the potato chip-craving gene! :lol:

That does describe the change in her physique quite well. In looking again at the "pear" body image, I would say that my daughter actually has broader shoulders and more substantial arms than the model... but her hips do seem to be somewhat disproportionately large (for our current mindset, anyway).

Her face in particular has changed so much that people who haven't seen her in awhile do a double-take. Her inspirations have been the photos in Weston Price's and Pottinger's books. She had braces on her teeth and felt her nose was prominent, but now she has wide cheekbones, a solid jaw, and her face is beautifully proportioned. Last time I gave her a facial I was amazed at how solid and broad her skull has become. I think if she hadn't noticed these changes herself she would never have stuck with the nourishing food we are now eating.

I appreciate all these comments, and welcome any others!

I may be misreading what you're saying, but I think that is a huge problem. Her body type is her body type. There is no *should* involved. I think labelling it as wrong and trying to change it will not only fail, but cause unnecessary pain, perhaps lasting body image problems. Carrying more weight in one's lower body is a very common, feminine body type, and is generally considered more healthful than carrying it in the middle.

I think the fact that this body type developed when you changed her diet may be coincidental, given her age - she's at the age where those features develop. If anything, perhaps better nutrition just allowed her body to do what it was meant to do, rather than causing her shape to change.

I empathize with trying to help a teenage girl with food and body image, I really do. It's tough in this day and age.

You're not misreading me. It seems from the responses that she and I both have an idea what she should look like as she matured that doesn't fit what is happening. Because she seemed to have disproportionally heavy hips and thighs according to our current mindset, we both assumed that she needed to lose some weight.

We've been playing both angles - both attempting to effect some weight loss (8 pounds, maybe?) and also accept the reality of her curvaceous figure even though it doesn't fit with our preconception.



That's my thought on the matter, for the most part... I was just surprised, and dismayed, yes, at the weight gain and didn't want to ignore the situation until she'd gained *too much* (whatever that is)

I clearly need to address the body image issue.

It's hard especially since presumably her dad is not a woman where you could tell where her body type might be coming from, eh :) ? I just wanted to add to the discussion that it is widely accepted that being a a pear is usually a good indication of a heart-protective body type, so even if aesthetically it looks out of sync with current ideas about what women should look like, healthwise cellulite and being a pear are just dandy. I kind of wonder if she needs more protein, not less - 45g seems a little low - and less fat than maybe is good for you? I just am thinking of this because people who are sensitive to carbs often develop a "wheat belly" and narrow hips. She might not need low carb as much as you do given her body type?

The Calculus Victus software was shown not to give the same results as Dr. K's original formula. If I recall correctly, it was developed by a fan,... but is not based on anything from Dr K's books or teachings.

Protein calculation on the Dr K plan does not have decreasing rungs, and is easily calculated like this:

height (converted to cm) - 100 = protein foundation in grams

It can then be adjusted +/- 10%, if, when, or however needed.

5ft 6 is 167 cm, so your daughter's daily intake of protein would be 67. I would DEFINITELY add the +10%, being that she is a growing teen, working hard at school and needing optimal brain function, and so on.

Do you have Dr K's books at all? I know they can only be ordered from Poland; but the Optimal Diet site, once again, was developed by a fan.

Also, the correct ratios for weightloss on Dr K's plan are as follows:

0.3-0.5Carbs : 1Protein : 1.5Fat

It only goes up to the 2x Fat ratio and higher for health during maintenance, for example.

Lastly, I wonder if you're not putting too much emphasis on your daughter's body shape/8lbs? I ask only because, of all plans, Dr K is probably one of the very slowest to lose on. Furthermore, at 16,... your daughter still has several more years of growth and development ahead of her. You may be surprised that she becomes leaner once again later after her development isn't at the height of a proverbial battleground, that a teenager's body often is - for a multitude of different reasons.

I think at 16, if you encourage her to eat whole, unprocessed foods, and encourage consistent meal times and reasonable portion sizes, - this will already be all the you have to do to set her up for a successful and healthy attitude and foundation, from which she will then be able to successfully manage her own health, for the rest of her life.

In other words, particularly during such formative years; ensuring she understands the value of whole, natural, and unprocessed foods from a nutritional standpoint... WILL be worth it's weight in gold, compared to calorie counting for instance, or switching between various plans and tweaking, tweaking, tweaking them all (as we might be inclined to do ourselves when we are say, much older and already well out of our teens)

And finally; she is also at the right age to encourage a healthy and active lifestyle - which for many people, teens included, is the key to getting the last few pounds off. Does she already do this? I wouldn't encourage a teen to try and spend robotic time in the gym; but is she involved in absolutely as many sporting activities at school as she can be, for example? Because this is definitely what should be the case, at this age.

Ultimately, the weight loss ratios on Dr K's plan DO mean it is a low calorie plan; and perhaps if she is only looking to lose a few pounds, she might be happier to increase her activity level and be "allowed" to keep the extra calories.

As an active, growing, busy teenager who needs to really be excelling at so many different things at this stage in her life, she needs calories from fuel. 45g of protein is completely off (by a whopping 35%), and the fat is 3x what it should be - for a loss.

Good luck with everything & all the best!!

Hi, I agree with the others on the protein. I'm a Kwasniewski fan myself and I use Fitday for reality checks. That has American food.

Body shape - can you identify family members she resembles? I appreciate she can still grow but a lot of girls have reached their adult height at 16. From here on the added weight is in bone mass and increasingly dense muscle (just like the guys). This increases through the 20s.

Can you measure inches as well as pounds? When you do both you get a better picture of lean body mass.

What do her meals look like?

Just some thoughts -

Her protein range is 60 -75 g per day. 45g could be slowing her down by sending signals to the body to conserve energy because not enough is coming in. As a teen I would encourage her to have the upper range too.

Her carb range would be 30 - 50. Yes, 50. I have the book and he says different things about carbs in different places. He says in one place for example, that 50 is okay for most people. Particularly if she gets wonky energy at the lower carb levels. If she's doing sports and things, she could go up to 50 a day and stay healthy. (that is net carbs)

Is she getting carbs from starchy veg? This is not a sweet plan.

And finally, yes, for weight loss, her fat range would be about 100g - 150 g a day.

The other thing is meal timing and composition:
A good breakfast with at least 1/3 the day's protein.
No snacks.
Have enough at dinner so she can not eat between dinner and breakfast. This is the old fashioned poor man's intermittent fasting.

I split my carbs up like this:
not much at breakfast
2/3 at lunch
1/3 at dinner

For some reason it feels good to have my heavier meal in the middle of the day.

OK, more protein... But she was still gaining weight when she was eating more... Nevertheless, it's obviously most important to meet one's energy & health needs... I'll talk to her about increasing the protein.

I have Homo Optimus; Optimal Nutrition is on the way. We use Calculus Victus for ratio calculation, not for the gram recommendations, which in the software are incorrect. In terms of the weight loss ratio vs maintenance ratio, I gave her the maintenance ratio because I hoped the switch to low-carb would be enough on its own to correct any weight and metabolic issues. That's what happened to me - I lost dumpiness in the amount of about 6 pounds even though I was underweight to begin with... (Now I hope to gain muscle and bone mass.)

The tweaking is completely undesirable; I just want to get on with life! However, my daughter and I both want to learn how to nourish ourselves for a lifetime. I'm finally very comfortable with my diet, but she is not, yet... It seems my comfort zone is not working for her - totally fine and to be expected - but I'm out of ideas! Good advice here.

I've been encouraging her to be active. We walk daily and have no TV. She lifts and rides horses, but we could probably all use some more cardio. Her school work sometimes ties her to a desk for another 3 hours after sitting all day at school :( I'll keep this in my sights as well.

YES! We are both eating twice a day only. That was a big improvement in the comfort with the diet. Our only carb-y foods are oranges and 1 daily slice of Ezekiel bread as a ghee-vehicle. I checked a few of my daughter's menus and she's eating about 45g protein, 140g fat, and 35g carbs daily, about 1600 calories daily.

I will suggest that she check her BMI for another point of view.

Thanks for the info on the pear shape. She'll be happy to hear that!

JKstyle, it sounds like you're both really on the path to health and your daughter is lucky to have a mom like you behind her, who will really support her and help her find the tools she needs.

But what do you mean when you say you use calculus invictus to calculate the ratios? You mean in the same way you would use a calculator I assume?

In any case however, 35C : 45P : 140F is a ratio of .77 : 1: 3.5

This IS why she is not losing. If she is not losing on the standard JK ratio, he recommends that the ratios should be 0.3-0.5C : 1P: 1.5F. for best results.

The protein you have +10/-10% leeway with; but in percentage terms, the ratios you are currently giving her mean that:

- her carbs are potentially as much 50% higher than they should be (if they were kept at the most conservative end of the ratio range Dr K gives for weight loss
- her protein is still 45% lower than it should be
- and her fat is 133% higher than it should be, if you were once again, to go by the most conservative end of Dr K's recommended ratio range. (This would be based on the premise that sticking to the conservative end of his range on Carbs and Fat is what he reccommends people do if they 1) have a lot to lose, or 2) are not seeing results. Clearly, your daughter does not fall into the first category; but this again illustrates the point that even Dr K himself would only ever tweak Carb and Fat numbers downwards in order to encourage weight loss in any difficult cases, and never the protein number; due to the fact it is already calculated to reflect the ideal amount we should be eating for our ideal size - at our current and respective heights.


It is far more obvious from a mathematical standpoint and just by looking at the percentage over and under, that according to the ratios you are currently using, her numbers are actually completely out of anything that would even be the Dr K ratio ballpark.

However; please note that the percentages calculated above are based on the protein amount you are currently giving her; not on what it should be, for her height. In other words, the Fat and Carb numbers on this plan ALWAYS change in relation to what the amount of protein being eaten is, and not vice versa. So you would never be able to just raise the protein for example. Because all of the numbers would change according to how that protein amount changes, due to the sheer fact that it is a ratio relationship between the three.

If you change Protein AND Fat AND Carbs to what they should be (in order to reflect Dr. K's reccommened ratios for weight loss), she will see a loss. (And please bear in mind that these are in fact, Dr K's true ratios for best fat loss, and not some kind of manipulation by me.)

Raising her protein alone will not help her start losing. If you want to use Dr. K ratios for weight loss, you have to actually use the ratios he gives for weight loss. Which means you need to adjust and completely correct all three.

Best of luck to you! I am wishing you both much success from now on, and a great weekend!

honey

Both of those are on the list of foods to avoid eating regularly. Oranges have fructose and Ezekiel is grain. Could you switch to carrots and potatoes?

Also, JK uses NET carbs. That's how they list them in Poland. I know Ezekiel has lots of fiber, so are you getting enough net carb? It makes a difference. JK says it's mistake to go too low in carbs, unlike other low carb advisers.

My daughter is 13 and very overweight. I caused this by what we ate. If she is on genuine low carb (<35 carbs/day), avoiding grains and fruits, emphasizing meats and animal (or coconut/palm) fats, she loses weight. Anything else we have done, and those options have been many the last 3 years, she is miserable, obsessed with food, and gains weight. Bottom line: meat/amino acids are food, she is growing, she NEEDS the "building blocks of life." If she gets any less of them than she needs, she will want to eat or be unhealthy and unhappy. My rule to my daughter is this: eat all the meat and eggs you want. No limits. Eat all the lettuce, tomato, onion, pepper, salad you want -- but limit the ranch dressing. Take these vitamins. And we will eat together whenever possible, where we often add cheese or dairy in various forms to things. Lots of burgers with cheese (dipped in something like ranch), or taco plates, or scrambled eggs with veggies and cheese. She likes the food ok, and she is not hungry even though we recently shifted to eating only twice a day. If she is hungry I tell her to have coffee with cream, or meat, or eggs. This seems to be working for her. Fwiw.

Yes, as a calculator. It's the gram recommendations based on the data for each person that are incorrect (for maintenance ratio, at least) in the software.



Good point, I think we are... We also eat nuts and some vegetables. I know bread and oranges are not recommended. They are the least desireable foods in our diet. I've tried several times cutting them out and it seems too difficult for now - ghee consumption falls off and honestly I don't feel so good without .5 orange / day. Don't know why. Some days my daughter doesn't eat any oranges at all. Some days no bread at all (true for both of us).

I'm seeing from the feedback that I have 2 other biases beyond the body image issue that may be getting in the way. First, we are 80%+ raw and have been for years. Meaning no one cooks anything in the home (except toast). The occasional hot breakfast comes from a local cafe, and meats are precooked/smoked. We like living this way and feel best on raw food. But it limits our options.

Second, I personally have skepticism about high(er) protein consumption. When I first started low-carbing my protein was pretty high and it was intolerable (kidneys aching, foaming urine, nausea, cravings). I know of several other people who have had issues with protein. This is a key point that JK makes in Homo Optimus: "Compared with other types of diet, human protein and energy requirements are the lowest when on the optimal diet. For an adult person, these requirements do not exceed 50 grams of protein and 2000 kcal for a 24-hour period." BUT I have not been a well person; my daughter isn't me; she is not an adult person.

I will talk to my daughter about the weight loss ratio and see if she wants to try it, keeping her protein level above 65g / day.

Thanks for all the great feedback!

I have some weeks with no cooking too. Hard boiled eggs, raw milk cheese, and meat cooked elsewhere. I see how pleasant it can be. Maybe you can eat out for some suchi or steak tartare too.

JK's practice was older and sick people too. it does seem as if a teen could do the 67 g + 10% and be fine. He also doesn't address an active life except to say that manual laborers need the max protein.

Oh I just realized! JK would say she's already at goal weight.
Maybe it's time for re-shaping. Like T-Tapp, one of my favorite programs for getting tight (the opposite of fluffy?) and strong and shapely in very little time.

Thanks, Seejay, and everyone.

I just talked to my daughter about everything that was said here. She was deeply appreciative of the thoughtful, detailed, and supportive feedback that everyone provided. She was genuinely touched by the care that you all showed in responding!

She's decided that she will increase her protein to 70g and follow a ratio of 1 : 2 : .5 (p:f:c). That seems reasonable to me, it's somewhere in between the maintenance and weight loss ratios. Most important, it's her educated decision.

She also agreed that she needs to tone up and said she knows that she's fallen off the wagon (we both used to do a lot of fitness tapes but when my health declined and I was unable, she slacked off). We are both intrigued by T-Tapp and will investigate!

Finally, she said that she's really been thinking about her body image over the past week and has realized that a negative body image remains even if even if a person can lose weight or tone up, and further, that it demotivates a person to make any improvements.

She's very happy to hear that her body shape is desirable from a health standpoint, and that she's not really overweight. She said that these opinions you've offered makes it easier for her to accept her body.

So this is all good! I will report on her progress after a while. The biggest and best changes are already firmly rooted, it seems.

:)

Wow, I am impressed at both of you. Does my heart good to hear of a youngster getting such good stuff at a young age. Maybe we can collectively make a difference and blast into the past, our own rotten teenage years with bad info.

thank you!

Hi everyone,

My daughter went into / intensified ketosis within 24 hours after increasing her protein and adjusting the ratio to 1 : 2: .5 (p:f:c)

We were both very surprised because she has been eating under 40g carbs / day for months but apparently failed to maintain a good fat-burning metabolism during that time.



Perhaps that it why.

Anyway, she is miserable with induction flu but is losing a little weight and her digestion is moving again.

She's only eating 1800 calories / day and I worry it's not enough. Sometimes she feels really shaky and loopy. Twice now I've insisted she have a little snack: 3 orange slices and a few nuts once and an extra piece of meat another time. :( Maybe that's wrong for the weight loss but I worry about her becoming sickened. We both can't figure out why she's having such extreme discomfort unless it's due to an insulin imbalance / metabolic problem.

I definitely have either Type II or something similar (in addition to another health problem) and I had the most awful time with induction. I had to ease into it over weeks; I could tell that it was possible that this could go seriously wrong. I didn't think my daughter had Type II or similar, but maybe she does.

She's committed to stick to this until she drops soem more weight. She's also gotten more active (tough to do when you're weak). I bought her some new clothes and scheduled a massage, and that seems to be boosting her confidence.

That all sounds like an abrupt and rocky transition from predominately sugar-burning to fat-burning. It takes a few days or weeks to get the fat-burning enzymes fully on board, and in the meantime, there is no energy unless it comes from carbs. Could she stand going from .5 to .8 of carbs just during transition? Even JK says adding just 10-15 grams can alleviate the shakes etc.

i honestly think it's a bad idea to do things that make you feel bad. That's why I disrespect giving oneself the induction flu. That's like the Stalinist central control model of healing the body - the body protests, but your central brain ignores the peasantry? Sorry if this is muddled - I'm sort of thinking out loud.

Well, it's good to know that this sounds "normal," though harsh. I frankly couldn't stand this process and though I stuck to the diet I supplemented with decreasing amounts of orange slices for many weeks to get me through it. It helped lift my blood sugar when I was doing very poorly.

I agree that she shouldn't feel so bad. I'll recommend an increase in carbs. Maybe she could just do it as a snack like I did, only when needed. Or some steamed carrots that can be eaten with butter. A better way to get a little more carbs than eating orange slices?

She seems to be calming down in the last week or so too. We've had a few long talks about letting go of the old and being able to welcome the unknown. She can see that she will be leaving home very soon and it's got her very rattled. She's been walking around like an angry knot for quite awhile now. I think we've now both committed to finish this childhood phase with grace and appreciate the closure. In addition to the diet I think she was basically shut down from stress.



Great support here, thanks!

Gosh yes. My DD wasn't ready to leave home after high school either - she stayed a couple of years while going to community college. She's a homebody for sure. In fact she wasn't really ready to go until she said, people start to look at you funny if you still live with Mom, like you live in the basement or something and have no friends. She is out now but the whole thing left me a big fan of slow transitions... hm a pattern - no catastrophic changes for me.

Steamed carrots sound great.

I can't stand feeling bad any more either!

This morning my daughter told me that she has lost about 8 pounds since April 1!

Her induction symptoms faded away without much alteration in her carb intake. She's been feeling just fine.

I had been noticing that she seemed "trimmer" and less "puffy." I'd describe it as her metabolism seems to be working again. She has better color in her face, a smoother complexion, and seems to be less bloated in the mid-section and upper arms. She said she hasn't been constipated and has been feeling "better:" more energy, freer respiration, calmer, better sleep...

She's been following the ratio of 1 : 2 : .5 (p:f:c) with 70g protein.

We're both very happy! :)

Wahoo!!! Thanks for letting us know! I am smiling big.

Yay! That's awesome!!! Tell her the folks at ACL say congratulations. :-)

That really is fantastic! And well done to you both!

Update 04/11
 

Hello, I wanted to follow up on this thread for any parents who may come upon it:

It's been a year since we've been *comfortably* lo-carbing - since I came here looking for advice. My daughter is now 17 and has been following a basically LC diet for a year on her own (since the last post).

I didn't mention before (didn't quite realize) that I raised my daughter on a LC diet by instinct alone until I "thought the better of it" and followed the popular lo-fat hi-carb advice in order to "preserve her health." So the baby who happily sucked down 3 "dippy eggs" and a buttered toast point re-emerged last year as a young lady who ate liverwurst for breakfast and took weightlifting in high school!

I'm not involved in her diet since this situation when we she and I had become concerned and I posted here. I have noticed since last year that she is careful to minimize carbs and that she exercises more. But also critical is that she has continued to grow! She is now what can only be described as statuesque. And even yet I can see how her bone structure, in her face, for example, will become even more defined as she matures. Sixteen is awfully young to place expectations on a body, I realize it clearly now as I see my daughter becoming an unmistakably adult human being.

To her credit, rather than wishing to "become small" like her peers, over the last year she learned to "be big" and enjoy the feeling of female strength. She said once, after school, "The other girls slip behind their desks, but I have to shove them all aside to get down the aisle!" And I boomed out: "Queens do not slip! The queen moves the desks aside and strides forth!" We both laughed, and I've kept that message up front for her, but on her own she's made wellness (strength, health through traditional low-carb eating, affirming accepting body image) her own and I couldn't be happier. No parent would wish for more!

!Best to all!