Help being "regular"
 

Hey guys, its me again - sigh.

I have been in Atkins induction (with an occasional 1/2 teaspoon of peanut butter) for the past 6 weeks or so.

I've lost 10 lbs, but the weight seemed to be coming off better when I was "regularly" expelling my body waste daily. Now, that happens maybe 1-2 times a week, and I feel that lack of regularity may be the reason why the scale isnt moving much.

Do you have any suggestions for regularity? I've read taking laxatives all the time is a bad move. Im taking the psyllium seed husk pills daily, once a week I take Bowtrowl colon cleanse, and I eat my specified daily salads and green veggies.

Please help! :help:

I make sure I have plenty of fiber. Especially if I am just eating meat or cheese, I double the fiber.

I was suffering from the same problem! So i decided to start introducing some flax seed in my diet (which is allowed during atkins induction) in the form of one minute muffins. They taste soooo good and keep you regular!

http://www.atkins.com/Program/Phase...lAboutMIMs.aspx

Making sure your fat percentages/ratios are high will help. Making sure you are drinking enough water also tends to help.

That said, it's normal to not go as much. There isn't going to be as much waste as before being created, so there is less to come out. Sometimes the added fiber can slow people down, even though that seems counterintuative. It acts like cement in their system and actually makes things worse.

I was having the same problem until today. Drink plenty of water! Strive for 1/2 your body weight in ounces and it will help. Good luck!

I've been actively trying to drink more water than normal. I feel like Im going to turn into an ocean.

I heard the psyllium husks can slow things down when it comes to being regular, so now Im confused.

Im taking a sugar free benefiber-like chewable, but it has 4 grams net carbs per serving so Im trying not to overdo it and make my carb count too high.

I'll go to Trader Joes this week. Do they sell the flax meal? Or can I get it from whole foods?

I'm not sure where you are located, but around me (Texas), flaz is available in all the supermarket chains, Walmart, Target, and the whole foods. We don't have a TJ near me, but I know they do carry it. It's really easy to find.

I'm in Maryland and I've never seen the flax in Walmart or Target, but trader joes isnt far from me at all. I've been there since I started low-carbing so I'll have to head over.

Thanks again!

I eat the MIM occasionally, but more often I add 2 tsp of ground flax seed to my omelet (4 grams by weight, 0 carbs). I also sprinkle it on my salad at about the same ratio. It definitely helps. Coffee also helps me.

Coconut oil....I will repeat this so it's understood..:)
Coconut oil coconut oil coconut oil. :lol: ....Cook your eggs in it ...saute your veggies in it....Take a tablespoon in the morning..Make chocolate with it...oopsies with it. :yum: ..It is one of natures miracle foods...Also too much fiber irritates the intestinal lining causing it to secrete a mucous to protect itself,so those who eat too much are scraping their intestines...Ever have a BM and the stool looks like it has snot in it??? :exclm: That's intestinal mucous from the linings being damaged. :eek: ..Dangers of too much fiber!
I eat mostly a carnivore diet...Meat,eggs,some cheese...but I get plenty of fats..Bacon drippings,olive oil,coconut oil :yum: ...I have a large firm BM every day like clockwork...Whatever I eat,passes thru my system in 24 hours :thup: ..So that's my 2 cents.. :agree: :wave:

Apart from just having enough good fats, magnesium has been a 'lifesaver' for me. I started at 500mg. daily, and now tolerate 700 on a daily basis.

:agree: :thup: ^^^^This!

I now take 800 mgs of Magnesium prior to bedtime and its great for this! Look for mag oxide as that is what does the trick for regularity. :idea:

Cut back on the cheese and dairy. It once was common knowledge that, at least in my family, that cheese "binds you up". People seem to have forgotten that.

I think people going low carb tend to eat a lot more dairy, at least at first.

for me, fibre makes no difference/make things worse in the long run and laxatives - again - my bowels appear to become dependent, so that I only "go". Upping my water helps stop me getting contipated but does nothing to resolve a problem (but it's a good idea to keep it high anyway)

the things that work for me long term are 1) a high fat ratio - without being too crude, this makes my stools less bulky and more fatty, they are easier to expel and more regular - it's a fallacy that you need to bulk your stools out with fibre to make them move along your gut.

2) the supps I take are vitd3, mag glycinate and a pre/pro biotic - I take this every morning and "go" within half an hour, if I don't take them I go every other day - I don't take them for this reason, but it clearly affects things.

3) realising that I don't have to go everyday - constipation is defined by the hardness of the stool not the frequency. if I am eating less stuff that my body HAS to eliminate (grains contain mostly useless/toxic bulk that my body needs to get rid of), then there's less need to move my bowels.....

I've been trying consciously to increase the fat that I eat. Im so used to cutting the fat off of my meat, or not eating the fat at all. I stopped eating red meat and pork about 4 yrs ago and since Atkins I've been VERY SLOWLY adding it back to my diet, but it feels so foreign to eat it. I'm a poultry girl, so eating red meat feels wrong. I pan-fried some chicken in leftover bacon grease yesterday, it felt so crazy but I knew I needed that fat - but I still found myself trying to pat the chicken pieces with a paper towel to absorb the grease - SMH.

Ok I've added coconut oil, magnesium, and flax meal to my shopping list for this weekend.