I am in a huge stall, plateau, or whatever else it is called. I can not seem to get past it. I considered going on a fat fast or an egg fast, but my husband had a fit.

Here is my average day...
Breakfast - 4 sausage links, 2 eggs, over medium
Mid-morn - 1 ounce cheese stick
Lunch - 2 c lettuce with cucumber and bleu cheese dressing
Mid-day - Pria bar (2g carb)
Dinner - steak or chicken with 1/2 c green beans or celery sticks
Evening - Boiled egg or home-made beef jerky

What do you think? I need help, I am getting discouraged.

More info please.

What have you tried? Upping carbs? Lowering carbs? Upping calories? Lowering? How long have you been stalled? Doing anything different?

The fat fast is supposed to be a great tool, it's too bad your husband is so dead set against it. If he won't allow that, will he be okay with you just decreasing your calories to 1000 for 3-5 day? Maybe a few days of very low calorie will help even if it's not all fat.

Wish I had more ideas for you.

I do congratulate you on your weight loss so far! You have done so well. I hope you find your answers.

Valerie

The only thing that has worked for me, stall-wise, is cutting back on calories. I've been experimenting with seriously cutting calories back for a few days (3 or 4) a couple of times a month. The rest of the month I eat normal lowcarb. So far, I have lost a couple of pounds each time I have done this. At this point, I could not lose weight eating the quantity of food you describe above. If you want more details, I've been chronicling it in my journal starting in late February.

Are you on Induction? Are you adding fats - olive oil, butter, mayo?

Have you tried entering your menu into Fitday.com to see if you're getting a good fat/protein/carb ratio?

Have you tried cutting back on the Pria bars, cheese, sausage, etc. in other words trying KISS? Maybe that would be better and not as drastic as Fat Fast (and get husband approval?).

Good Luck!

Are you exercising? If so, how long have you been exercising and is it resistance training? The reason I ask is that my weight loss has slowed down over the last 2 months as I got more into exercising. I was doing the training as you read most people do with increasing the weights to build muscle. I've been tweaking my exercise so that I'm doing some resistance training, but just increasing the reps without increasing the weights. Doing it this way burns more fat, but still maintains my current muscle mass. I'm also increasing the cardio just a bit, adding 7-8 minutes more than I was doing. I just started making these changes this week and already I can tell a big difference.

I also think eating a wider variety of foods and an increase in fiber is helping me. I've been adding in some strawberries, lc bread, different veggies, etc. I've also been eating lc oatmeal for breakfast everyday this week. My weight is down 2.8 lbs since Monday, so something is working. If I look at my average on Fitday over the last 2 months, it is .889 lbs per week.

I really do think we each have to try different things to find what works for us. We all react differently to foods and exercise. By experimenting, you may find the right combination for you.

Good luck!

Oil of Oregeno! The stuff works wonders to clean my clock.

Valerie - I have not lost any real weight since January, and have actually gained 5 pounds in the last month. I don't really count calories, I just try not to eat too many carbs.

Liz - I will come and check out your journal.

Becky - What is KISS, I know I have have heard it before but my puny little brain is not registering it today.

Dianne - I go to Curves three days a week, and I walk on my lunch hour 2 days with some friends. (The walking is new since Feb, 12.)

Teresa - Where do I find Oil of Oregano.....I live in Idaho, not exactly the health store capitol of the world.

I'm not real familiar with the program at curves, but I understand it is circuit training. If they are having you increase the weights each time, see if you can just keep at the same weight for a bit and just do more reps. So if you are doing curls with 5 lbs, then don't increase it to 6 or whatever their next level is. Try just doing that for a week or 2 to see if that helps.

If you still need to build muscle mass, then do it slowly if you also want to see the scale weight go down. Most gyms think you want to build it quickly...

Here's where I found a great link for this recommendation. On the Q&A page at that BFL site, I found the following:

Q I am 5'6" and weigh 193 lbs. Since beginning BFL I have gone from 41%BF to 30%BF. When the figures were broken down I ended up at 135lb lean and 58lbs fat. I am small boned. I am very proud of that muscle. At 57 years of age I never had any muscle before. However, I really think I need to lose the extra body fat and I don't believe I need to gain more muscle. What modifications should I make to my program to reach my goal? I am diabetic, now controlled by diet and exercise most of the time. I have doctors approval for this program. My doctor is supportive but not knowledgeable about the program. He is just delighted that after 2 years of working hard with me to change my body things are finally happening again. Before that I would get someone to drive me to the Y and they would lower me into the pool with a sling. Now I can do the BFL program. So what do I do? How can I dump the fat without increasing the muscle? Thanks, this old lady appreciates your input.

A Here's my take. First of all, it's GREAT that you've been doing this program. I have another section in my Q&A page on diabetes & BFL too. Now, as far as the muscle gain is concerned, I think it's still essential that you get part of your intensity from weight training, as it will accelerate the fat loss even if you think of it purely as an exercise (not to mention the metabolic requirements of the muscle). But since you don't want to add significantly more mass, we want to shift your training toward higher repetition and lower weight, so you're training your "aerobic" slow-twitch muscle fibers, rather than causing hypertrophy (excessive growth) in the "fast-twitch" ones. So when you weight train, I want you to change those sets of 8 and 6 into sets of 10 repetitions. And rather than focusing on maximal contraction and "burn", I want you just to focus on breathing deeply and aerobically while you do those sets. That will emphasize the fat loss more than the fiber growth. Finally, remember that pound-for-pound, muscle is about 5 times more compact than fat, and rather than being a weight that your body has to carry around, muscle helps to support and strengthen your posture and bone density. So don't be scared of muscle growth, but we can attenuate it by focusing on higher repetitions and lower weights. Hope that helps! Good luck - John [Back to Q&A Index]