Could calorie counting and reducing carbs at the same time be slowing weight loss?
OK,
I'm getting sick of being in the low 190's and want OUT!!!
I started my journey in July 2010. By Xmas, I was at 214lbs. So I dropped a big amount of weight by then. Working out DAILY, counting calories, only eating the good carbs. I guess kind of like South Beach but I'd eat fruit. So I don't know exactly what type of "plan" I'd fit under.
Anyways, I hit Onderland in March and have been working to get to the 180's ever since. So, I decided to try and keep the carb count pretty low. I track my calories on the daily plate and keep the ratio where my carbs are at 30% in the pie chart. So it was going good here, then I had Kashi for breakfast, a little more carbs than normal, and bam, the scale is up 2lbs from yesterday, which was 192. So now I am 194. Anyways, I know that this is because I ate more carbs than I normally do.
So here is my question: Is this trying to limit carbs and count calories causing me to stall out? Should I just stick to calorie counting and up or lower the calories and see how that works? I know as I get closer to goal, that the loss is going to be slower, but this is a darn snail's pace.
I know the scale is not the only indicator, my body is changing, and I have lost an inch or so, but not much. My workout routine is running on a treadmill MWF, then doing Jillian Michael's Quick Trouble Zone video which is a mainly weight-lifting routine with a little cardio built in, but it kicks my butt! I usually take one day off from working out on the weekend. As far as the calorie count, I'm keeping it what the daily plate tells me, which is about 1544 or so per day.
First, congratulations on your weight loss to date -- you've done a FANTASTIC job!!! So don't sell yourself short!!
Second, just want to clarify... South Beach doesn't prohibit fruit except in Phase I. In Phase II, fruit is permitted on a limited basis. Personally, I think a combination of South Beach foods along with calorie counting is the best and most realistic way to eat for the rest of my life.
Third, throw the scale in your closet and forget about it for as long as you can stand it! Seriously!
I just came off a 2-month plateau where I was doing everything right: Staying within my calories, working out regularly, eating the right foods. Made no difference. The same regimen that was allowing me to lose 1 1/2 - 2 pounds a week was suddenly doing NOTHING. The scale just kept bouncing between the same 2 numbers! I knew that was simply not possible. So I just stuck with it. Wwwhhhooooossshhh!! At last. But while I was waiting for that whoosh, I noticed some interesting stuff... my clothes were getting looser and looser. My body looked different. The scale suddenly didn't mean much anymore!
Sometimes your body just needs to take a break. Those fat cells fill up with water, trying hard to stay big in your life. You're losing fat, you're doing great. But those cells are not your friends, all puffed up with water. Just tough it out... do what you're doing. You'll win eventually -- I promise!
Don't see any reason counting calories and limiting carbs would cause a stall. I've been counting calories and watching my carb intake for years and have had no problems.
Thanks Rae,
And I'll be the first to admit that I do not know much about South Beach at all, just from things I've read on here. I can't ditch my scale. That is what got me to 260+
I'm a daily weigher, so I take the fluctuations with a grain of salt. I guess I should keep going and hope for that woosh!
So here is my question: Is this trying to limit carbs and count calories causing me to stall out?
No, I don't think so... I think it might be the couple of 'bad" weekends you reported a few days ago. If I remember correctly didn't you say you just came back from vacation and over did it some? In my humble opinion, that is why you stalled. Not because of what you did yesterday, but what you did the last couple weekends. Just keep on a trucking. Rome wasn't built in a day!
Lower carb, lower calorie plans tend to be more resistant to "stalls," than other plans - but what's true for most people isn't always true for everyone.
Still I don't think what you're describing is a stall at all. Instead, it sounds like the normal and inevitable slowing down of weight loss. The closer you get to your goal weight, the slower weight tends to come off.
There may be a plan you will lose faster on than the one you're following, but there may not be. And even if there were, faster isn't always better. And even if you find a difference, the difference is likely to be small. In other words, in all probability you're going to have to work a whole lot harder to see slightly better results. It's a recipe for more frustration, not less (that's been my experience anyway).
Yeah, my bad weekends were last month. I've been pretty strict with myself since. And I wasn't bad as far as food goes, but with wine...
Yes.
The vacation was at the end of April. But Lori, I bet you are right, I just need to give myself more time and keep doing what I was doing. And you are right, Kaplods, slower weight loss is better.
But my inner brat child wants to be at goal already! LOL!
Yeah, my bad weekends were last month. I've been pretty strict with myself since. And I wasn't bad as far as food goes, but with wine...
Yes.
The vacation was at the end of April. But Lori, I bet you are right, I just need to give myself more time and keep doing what I was doing. And you are right, Kaplods, slower weight loss is better.
But my inner brat child wants to be at goal already! LOL!
I'm not even saying that slower is better, just that sometimes slower is just your only reasonable option, and sometimes it's your only option.
Right now, what I'm eating - the calorie level it's taking to maintain my weight or to lose a pound or two a month - is a calorie level on which (at this same weight, but 20 years younger) I once lost 5-8 lbs per week.
Even on zero carbs and 1000 calories, I can't lose what I used to (at this weight). I'm much less active than I was in my 20's, and I have mobility and health issues and medications that further mess with hunger and metabolism (diabetes, metabolic syndrome, borderline low thyroid, an autoimmune disease that requires periodic courses of steroids - and steroid hunger is horrendous, I can't eat enough to get full on prednisone).
Sometimes it is, what it is. You might be able to do more to lose more, but if you can't you've got to find a way to be ok with that, otherwise the frustration makes giving up seem like the only bearable option.
We don't quit diets because we're stupid, we quit diets because we've made them more miserable than being fat.
What you're experiencing is totally normal- and not "real" weight. When I stick to my plan closely (I follow SouthBeach, though I've been wandering through a rough patch lately) I lose fairly easily. However, if I go a little carb crazy (even with good carbs) and have more than normal, I will gain 1-2 pounds overnight. Every single time. The only thing that keeps me from going up is if my exercise level is significantly higher than normal.
The way it was explained to me is that carbs require more water to digest than other foods, which is why low carbers will almost always experience a jump when they add in carbs, and why people on low carb diets tend to drop a few pounds almost immediately.
Hi Fattymcfatty,
I too have stalled, but for years! I haven't lost weight for a long time! What do I know? I'm not a professional trainer or anything; however, I do a lot of reading and research, I follow Denise Austin's advice, she has the most easy and realistic plans.... now only if I could follow those again!
You shouldn't cut out carbs, Denise Austin says any diet plan that tells you to cut out certain healthy foods is not a life plan! Example, the South Beach Diet tells you to NOT eat fruit...what plan does that? This is not a healthy one to follow. Read a Denise Austin's book she has GREAT easy meal plans for the entire week. With real foods too, not frozen full of chemicals. And Denise does not believe in cutting out any food group what so ever, as long as its healthy.. And she has great recipes for sweet tooth too!
Now I sound like a hypercrite because I am considering doing the medifast plan LOL., but only to get my butt in gear...then I will follow Denise Austin again.
For me, as I reached my forties, I no longer have discipline or willpower; I eat tons of junk food though I know I shouldn't. So… medifast has a structured plan that tells me what to eat when and I don't have to prepare meals except 1 per day.
Whew! Now that I wore out your eyes...to answer your question why you think you are stalling, I read somewhere if you hit a plateau, you need to increase your calorie intake then weight will come off again. Because when we eat less calories then we burn we are actually putting our bodies in a starvation mode...thus, it hangs onto the calories we do eat. And because you have reached a point that your body is needing more energy for fuel…thus you need more calories. Hope this helps!
Hi,
Denise Austin says people don't lose weight just because they cut carbs down or out...it's because they are actually eating fewer calories.
Plus our bodies need carbs for fuel, it's what gives us energy to work out...Just a few thoughts.
PS. Moreover, our bodies do not differentiate a candy bar from an orange. However, one has more nutrients then the other. And one has tons more calories!
Hi Fattymcfatty,
I too have stalled, but for years! I haven't lost weight for a long time! What do I know? I'm not a professional trainer or anything; however, I do a lot of reading and research, I follow Denise Austin's advice, she has the most easy and realistic plans.... now only if I could follow those again!
You shouldn't cut out carbs, Denise Austin says any diet plan that tells you to cut out certain healthy foods is not a life plan! Example, the South Beach Diet tells you to NOT eat fruit...what plan does that?
South Beach doesn't forbid fruit except duirng the first two weeks (Probably more than anything to provide that head start that everyone wants). To become popular, a diet needs to provide a "quick loss" phase or no one is interested. While every diet author gives a different rational for the head start phase (detox or craving elimination are the most popular), I suspect the real reason is that people want a quick start phase or they lose interest.
But as to carbs, even the lowest carb plans do not eliminate them, they only limit them, and most (including South Beach and Atkins and many other similar plans) start gradually adding higher carb foods back into the diet almost immediately.
Even Atkins, one of the lowest carb of the legitimate plans, starts adding carbs back in after the first two week. They add back in 5g of carbs per day for a week - then adding another 5 per day the next week, and each week they keep adding 5g until the weight loss stops. Atkins never tells you how many carbs that will be. It could be 60 or it could be 200. Once you stop losing, you "back up" 5 ot 10g of carbs, to continue losing at a slow, reasonable pace. If a person has a lot of weight to lose, Atkins does allow a person to stay on induction longer, but it's not mandatory. Even someone my size can start adding back carbs (5g at a time) after the first two weeks.
Most people think of Atkins as the all meat and egg (and nothing else) diet, but I don't know how anyone can believe that if they've read the book.
Personally, I prefer a moderately low-carb exchange plan, instead of a very low carb plan, but the misinformation about low-carb plans is what prevented me from learning that I do better on a somewhat reduced carb plan. Too low and I get unpleasant side effects, and too high and I'm hungry 24/7, and have a hard time staying on plan. Finding my personal best carb plan wouldn't have been possible though, if I had believed half of the myths about reducing carbs.
If you can lose weight without cutting back on carbs, especially the high glycemic ones, more power to you, but a lot of the prejudice against low-carb plans is unwarranted - especially since most are not the "no-carb" plans they are often accused of being.
Could calorie counting and reducing carbs at the same time be slowing weight loss?
Just keep on a trucking. Rome wasn't built in a day!
