getting discouraged
 

Hi - I am getting a little discouraged :( . And need some advice.
I started the low carb diet a few weeks ago and don't seem to be doing too well on it.
After the first 2 weeks - I had lost 4 pounds.
Well, then Thanksgiving came and I cheated a little - but the next day I weighed myself and had only gained a half pound back. Started trying to do the 20 carbs a day again, and weighed my self 2 days later and had gaind another 2 pounds.
I have one of those scales that you put in your height and age and it gives you your weight and body fat.
My weight had went up and my body fat down.
If that makes any sense :confused:
Now I have always been a person that my weight goes up and down very easily!!!

I posted the other day asking what to do about BM's - having trouble in that area - So I am now taking psyllium husks. Which have helped a little .
But have only been taking it for 3 days.

This is a sample of my daily intake.
pysllium husks - 1 tbs
breadfast - low carb tortilla wrap with 1 scrambled egg and 2 strips of turkey bacon
lunch - normal serving size of turkey breast and slice of cheese
snack - 1 atkins peanut butter cup (package contains 3 - the total effective carbs for all three is 2 grams) so this would be 1/3 of 2 grams carbs.
dinner - taco salad - consisting of 1 cup romaine lettuce - ground tukey with a little bit of taco seasoning - with a small amount of canned tomatoes - topped with shredded cheese
evening snack - made myself a cup of hot chocolate - using heavy cream and water (label on heavy cream says no carbs) chocolate syrup which says no carbs and no calories (bought this at the low carb store) topped with just a squirt of whip cream (also says no carbs)
This was what I ate yesterday. And pretty much what I ate the day before.
It seems as though I am definetly staying in the low carb range.

I tried this diet about a year ago and didn't stick with it - but I really want to this time - Just feeling a little discouraged here.
I am only 4'10 - and do not carry my weight well at all - My sister who is same height as me can weigh10 pounds more that I do, and wear a smaller size -
I have always had trouble being overweight - and a year ago I was in a car accident - had a broken foot and ankle - Needless to say packed on 20 more extra pounds on an already overweight body - Just layed around with my foot up in the air and ate.

I would appreciate any help you can give me!!
Thanks !! Sharon

I am relatively new to this, but here goes, how much do you drink during the day ? (water that is), I had a similar problem but I dropped a meal in itself and started using one of the protein shakes you buy from health food shops, no carbs or very little and up to 40g of whey protien. I now use these shakes twice a day and I feel more full up than before, maybe worth a try. Dont lose heart though, come on stick at it.................

Tony, What type of protien shakes do you drink??
Name brand, etc.
I have been trying to drink more water - I got down about 6 glasses yesterday.
Wouldn't mind trying the shakes if that would help.
If you could please send me the info, I would sure appreciate it.
Thanks Sharon

Hi Sharon!

I don't think there's any need for you to go on a liquid diet just yet. From what you posted, I do see a couple of possible problems. First...where's the fat??? You do know that Atkins isn't a low fat diet, right? Strange as it sounds, you need fat to lose fat and on Atkins induction at least 60% of your daily calories should be coming from fat. Second, you may not be getting enough calories. The goal to shoot for is about 12 times your goal weight or no less than 1,200 calories a day. If you aren't getting enough calories, the body has a tendency to not want to let go of its fat stores as it thinks a famine has begun. Cheese is limited on induction to no more than 4 ounces a day and liquid cream is limited to no more than 2 fluid ounces a day (4 tablespoons). Despite what the package says, heavy cream has 6.5 grams of carb per cup and whipped cream has about 1 gram for 2 level tablespoons. If the carb count per serving is less than 1, they can legally lable it as zero in the united states; this doesn't mean that there are no carbs in the entire package, just that there is less than 1 gram of carb per serving. You should also make an effort to drink at least eight 8 oz. glasses of water a day. You also seem to be needing more veggies. On induction, you are allowed 2 cups of salad veggie and 1 cup of cooked veggie. Eating your veggies also adds fiber along with vitamins and nutrients that you need and will help with the constipation too.
When you cheat, it may not necessarily show up on the scales the next day; it could be 2 or 3 days before you see the results which is what I believe happened in your case. Constipation can also cause you to retain water, so keep up with the psyllium husks and make sure you are drinking plenty of water; both of these should help.
If you find tracking calories, carbs and fat grams difficult, you can register for free at a site called www.fitday.com; it's a great tool to help you see how you're doing! HTH

I love all the support and help you get from this forum :rheart:
Lisa and Tony thank you for the replies.
I was even more discouraged this morning - Weight was down 1/2 pound yesterday - today up 1 1/2 pounds.
Ate the same exact thing that I posted yesterday.
I must be doing something wrong.
Lisa I will try to eat more veggies. And what would be a good way to increase the fat intake??
Tony I am going to try one of those protien drinks instead of my low carb hot chocolate. I wonder if there is one you could heat that would be similar to hot choc?
:help:
Thanks again!!! Sharon

OK by no means am I an expert but I can tell you this from reading these forums and my personal experiences it takes about 3 days for a "cheat" to show so while the scale went down the day after it went up the next day or so...also stay away from those "frankenfoods" they are loaded with hidden carbs (i found this out the hard way)...use the hidden carbs calculator on the side bar to check the accuracy of the label and believe me you will fall out of your chair....That could be part of the problem...another suggestion, as someone else stated is you might need more calories and more fat I keep mine at 70%...also if I am not peeing at least twice an hour I know I am not drinking enough water to lose weight....anyway I hope this helps also use fitday.com to track your foods and think about starting a journal...trust me it all helps when you have to tell the world what you ate etc...
Good Luck !!

Good fat sources are:
1. butter - enjoy it on all your cooked veggies
2. olive oil - make a vinaigrette dressing for salad with vinegar(not
balsamic) and herbs & garlic powder. Also tastes good on some
veggies.
3. mayonnaise - NOT Miracle Whip or anything like that. I brush it on salmon
steaks before broiling. Good on any fish or in tuna or chicken salad
4. creamy bottled salad dressings - but count the carbs, usually 2 in a Tbsp.
5. avocado - fill the pocket with real crab meat & mayo, or chicken salad.

And these are all "good fats" - no transfatty acids.
:wave:

:wave:

Hi there! The above posts offer some terrific suggestions. I just wanted to add a couple of things. I only lost 5 pounds during the two week induction. It was discouraging to see other people lose so much more! But my weight has slowly and steadily come down.

Weighing yourself everyday can really be counterproductive. Your body naturally goes up and down several pounds each day. Mine is famous for this! You might try weighing yourself just once a week, as soon as you get up, to get a more accurate reflection of how you are doing. You are a pretty small person, and I imagine your frame is small - weighing every two weeks (I know how hard that is) might actually work better for you.

I got real obsessive about weighing myself everyday and if I went up a pound or two it would wreck my whole day. For nothing really. Weight fluctuations are normal and are affected by so many things. Good Luck to You!!! Cindi :wave:

:wave: Hi
Thanks so much everyone for your support!!
I am going to try and do induction again. Because I really didn't do it very strictly. I ate the low carb candy bars (just a bite after meals), and also ate the low carb tortilla wraps (3 effective carbs) every morning for my breadfast with a scrambled egg and two strips of turkey bacon.
Also I drank the low carb hot chocolate that I made from heavy cream. And carb free chocolate.
I was below the 20 carb every day - but not in the right way.
So I think this may be what my problem is - I may have never reached the right ketosis level to make this work right.
Also my system if probably really out of wack - I'm going through menopause right now. And I know this can make your estrogen levels go wacky!
Two weeks without something sweet will be really hard for me, cause I am real a sweet-aholic.

Is there anything sweet you are alowed to have on induction??

I have always have to just a bite of something sweet to eat after a meal. Thats why when I found the Atkin's candy bar - I was thrilled - Thought I may be able to do this diet afterall.
Hopefully, I can make it through 2 weeks with nothing sweet to eat :daze:

Thanks Again For All The Help :)

I think you are doing the right thing here - the closer you stick to induction (if it isn't on the list, don't eat it!), the easier the transition into low carbing will be for you.
Don't forget to drink your water - it sounds so simple but is very important. It will also help with the regularity issue. Along those lines, are you taking any supplements? I have found when I take a chelated magnesium supplement the irregularity dissappears. Hope this helps in some way!
Atriana

Doing a strict induction will be very helpful, I think. I only lost 4 pounds in induction, but that was still 10% of what I wanted to lose. It cleared me of many of my carb cravings and helped me get into the right frame of mind. Now any carbs I have feel like a massive treat!

One thing to be aware of is that you might shrink without weight loss. You mentioned that your body fat went down-to me that is more important than the scale actually moving. Have you been taking measurements? I only religiously take my waist measurement, but if that is going down, I don't really care about what the scale says. For example, I have only lost 15 pounds in almost three months, but I have lost 4 1/2 inches in my waist. I am in jeans I haven't worn in four years.

Take measurements!

Paleoanth

Thanks Again!! For the help.
I haven't taken any measurements yet - It doesn't really feel like I am losing inches yet - but I will start keeping track.
I am trying to drink more water - didn't do too good today - hopefull tomorrow will be better.
Thanks :daizy:

:) To answer your qestion about sweets, sugar free jello is a great sweet. When I started i ate it everyday for the first 2 weeks. You'll find that as you go on, you don't crave sweets as much except before the dreaded TOM.

Good luck, it was my life saver.

Kathy

Thanks Kathy - I have couldn't find any jello without aspartame - Does anyone know if there is a brand that uses splenda??
:wave:

Hunt's Juicy Gels are made with Splenda. they come 4 cups in a pkg. I've only found strawberry/orange flavour so far.