I was very low carb a few months ago but was hit with illness and had to eat more for energy and gained about 30 pounds. I need to lose that now and am trying low carb but it's been 4 days and I am actually gaining weight. If I was stalled thats one thing but I'm worried about ballooning and if this isnt for me i'd rather jump ship than gain more than I started with!

I eat total all day:
4 small tuna cans
3.5 oz cheese
6-8 tbsp. butter in various uses
atkins sugar free syrup
lots of water
3-4 cups salad
vegetable oil
small servings of spices

Ive cut out any beverage but water but i am seriously gaining here. how much protein is too much? i feel nauseous and sluggish. thanks so much

Calories Eaten Today
source grams cals %total
Total: 1910
Fat: 119 1070 57%
Sat: 72 652 35%
Poly: 6 58 3%
Mono: 33 301 16%
Carbs: 7 13 1%
Fiber: 3 0 0%
Protein: 199 794 42%
Alcohol: 0 0 0


I can see a couple of things wrong. It looks to me like your protein/fat/carb ratios are all off. You're only eating 4 carbs.
Can you maybe cut down to two cans of tuna and get a higher fat cut of meat for other times of the day? Bacon, eggs, sausage maybe?
The other thing is, maybe your calories are tad high. Might be from the butter. Looks like you just need to fiddle with your menu.

I plugged just the tuna, cheese, butter, and lettuce in fitday, and that's what I came up with. I didn't have amounts for other things. It doesn't look to me like it would take much to get you on track, good luck!

In case you didn't catch it, http://www.fitday.com is a free food tracking program that takes the guess work out of figuring you food intake along with other records it will keep for you.

It takes a little bit to figure it out, so ask it you have problems with it & someone will come on with the answer.

Just curious -- what are you putting that butter on? The tuna? It just seems like an odd fat to eat by itself, and it doesn't really go with anything you mention! Did you leave something out?

Selena - I was wondering the exact same thing...tuna in salad makes sense, but what does the butter go on? You may want to cut out unecessary excess fats like that and substitute them with some kind of protein like Rosie mentioned....some chicken maybe.

http://www.ecybex.com/education/cal...s/bmr_calc.html
Check out your Basal Metabolic rate. Your resting rate for calories assuming you are 30 year Female 5'2" 140 pounds
your BMR is 1406 calories a day. In order for a diet to work you need to creat a caloric deficit. I know on Atkins you can get away with about 300 more calories than BMR. If you are active and are working out you can multiply your MBR by 1.2 or 1.3 to get a new level. The BMR is what is reqwuired to run your body. In order to lose weight you need to cut your BMR by 10%. One pound of fat is roughly 3500 calories.
Jag

thanks. the butter was with cream cheese which was part of my cheese so it does make sense. i dont eat meat though short of fish so thats why

I agree, go to fitday.com and figure out how many carbs you're eating and protein...it explains everything to you...good luck
Desi

i went to fitday but i was wondering what the ratios should be for me day to day??

I try to keep ratios at: fat 70%, protein 25%, carbs 5%. This usually has carbs showing at about 17 to 18.

I am unsure as to poisonivy's suggestion to cut out or replace the butter (fat) with protein as this IS a higher fat WOE, and the fat speeds up weight loss for most.

Good luck.