Can somebody please give me some guidance as to where I am going wrong with this woe.

I started this in February 2001 at 238 lbs and got down to 210 relatively easy over six months or so. Since then, nothing! I lose and gain the same 2/3 pounds.

The following is what I am eating:

B: Usually a large frankfurter when I am on the run to work! or bacon and eggs at the weekend.
L: 2 chicken breasts with salad and mayonnaise.
D: either 1 chicken breast with vegetables/lamb chops with veg/steak or gammon steak with eggs.

I usually have sugar free jelly with cream at weekends when I also indulge in my only cups of coffee - 2/3 cups with cream.

Also, sometimes have sugar free polo mints.

I drink at least 3 litres of water a day and am 5'2" tall.

Any ideas?

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I do not want to change to a low fat diet but feel I may have to at this rate.

Hi, there - you didn't mention whether or not you get any "planned exercise" - not just the day-to-day living kind. Regular aerobic and weight workouts help.

The only thing that stuck out I didn't see you mention exercise. How much are you exercising?

I am new at this so others may have a better answer. You may try increasing your exercising in the number of minutes per day you allow for exercise. If you increase the exercise 10 minutes per day, that is an extra 30 to 50 minutes per week.

Just my 2 cents.

Hang in there.

Are you using Fitday? Perhaps you should, and enter what you are eating for nutritional counts. Sounds like you might be eating enough calories to stay at your weight, but not enough to lose any. You should try to make sure, and also add exercise.

People see the calorie thing as controversial, but I've done low-carb for years (lost 35 lbs long ago), and I never lost weight unless my calories were around 1500 a day (with exercise). But everyone is different...

hello, I am so sorry you have not seemed to make any progress,

I am about your weight and height,

although I do not know how old you are, I am 55, female,

have you tried fitday.com to track your food?

I have found that when I stall or gain it is because of sneaky carb creep,

an extra mouthful here or there,

are you testing for ketosis?

what are the stats on your frankfurter? some have fillers, all are sodium laden,

a cup of coffee with cream can add up to 2 or 3 carbs alone,

while it looks like you are only eating legal foods, until you track for a few days on fitday.com with actual amounts etc can you solve this question,

let us know what you find,

julienne

Hi hdempsey:

Are you on medications and have you had your thyroid checked? Specifically, reverse T3? Primary hypothyroidism won't tell the whole story. In "perceived starvation" (when your body mistakenly thinks it's starving), there are elevated levels of reverse T3.

Only problem is, you might have a hard time getting your doctor to test for this. It's a more expensive test than the traditional thyroid test. But anyone going through weight loss stalls like this would do well to get it tested.

--edit--
Also, have you been under a lot of stress, physical or emotional? Do you have fibromyalgia? These can also stall weight loss.

These are all good suggestions but I think it would be wise to check out any systemic problems, first. Such as thyroid, medication and/or perimenopause. All of these can have very significant ill effects on wieght loss.


Black57

I have a lot in common with you in that I just went 5 months without losing. I played with about 3 lbs up and down that whole time.

It dawned on me that the calories I consumed were really high for me. I have just started an experiment to reduce my calories but still stay on low carb. I am tracking this to make sure I am doing it right.

I've pulled this quote off of Atkins site:

"Although there is no need to count calories, they do count. Gaining weight results from taking in more calories than you expend through exercise, thermogenesis (the body’s own heat production) and other metabolic functions. Research has shown that on a controlled carbohydrate program, more calories are burned than on a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet, so there is a certain metabolic advantage to the controlled carb approach. But understand that this does not give you a license to gorge.

If you are used to counting calories and it makes you uneasy to not do so, know that women usually can safely consume 1,800 calories a day and still lose weight; men can typically take in 2,000 calories, and in some cases more."

Since each of us is different, we need to find what level is best for us. I averaged about 1300 calories over the last 5 months, and so that number is too high for me. Your number will be different.

Bottom line is I've finally started losing again. In 10 days I'm down 3 REAL pounds. I've decided to do this for only a couple of weeks, and then start tweaking my calories back up to find my ideal number so that I can continue to lose.

Sorry this was so long. Good luck to you.

Good for you - glad you found your way! I think that 'stalls' can be helped by tweaking of calories, or upping exercise without upping calories. A calorie is a calorie, but if you want the metabolic advantage to work, you've got to give it a chance to create a little deficit.

I did the Zone a few years back and lost a lot of weight, but then stalled out, because my calories were at a level that would maintain my weight, not drop it. Atkins is giving me the lack of hungries that is allowing me to take in fewer calories than before...