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Old 10-19-2016, 10:43 PM   #1  
In the plateau from ****
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dachsluver's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Winthrop, Maine
Posts: 1

S/C/G: 346/250/200

Height: 5'8"

Default The Plateau From Heck

I started losing weight in January. I weighed in at 346. By August I was 250. I lost the weight doing Atkins. The problem is that I have been anywhere from 246-251 ever since. I cannot seem to lose any more weight. I am currently only eating 1000-1200 calories per day and at most eating 15-20 carbs per day (which is what I have been eating since January). I have severe osteoarthritis in both of my knees so most exercising is out of the question, unfortunately. I don't know what else I can possibly cut out to get out of this 4 month plateau. My doctor seems to think that my body may have hit its "level" and this is just where it wants to stay. I find it very hard to believe that my body is happy being 250 lbs.

Any advice would be so greatly appreciated. I am so frustrated.

Thank you!

Deb
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Old 10-26-2016, 08:40 AM   #2  
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Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 226

S/C/G: 214/160/140

Height: 5'4

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I've been on a plateau for the last two weeks. During this plateau I've been following my plan to the T. No cheating. 1200 to 1500 calorie days. Sunday night my husband and I went out to dinner and I had 3 glasses of wine. Monday morning I got on the scale and I was 7 pounds lighter than I was the night before. (Normal overnight weight loss for me is 1.6 pounds, so this was an extra 5 pound loss). As I began to drink water, the weight kept coming back on until I was at a normal 1.6 loss for the night. Then as I ate breakfast, the 1.6 came back on and so on. Anyway, I began researching like crazy.

Here's what I think happened. It's all a theory but if you stalk low carb forums you can see that what happened to me is actually pretty common. The theory is that your fat cells have already given up some of their fat but in the absence of their fat, they're trying to maintain their size and so they take in water. A larger than normal meal can release the water. I didn't have that but I did have 3 glasses of wine. Alcohol is a diuretic and so the weight whooshed off. Unfortunately, my fat cells weren't really ready to give up their big size yet and so as I drank water, it went right back into them. From the anecdata I've read, a lot of times that big loss is permanent.

How do you know if this is what's going on with you? Well, there are signs. If your fat starts looking more dimply than normal. If you look in the mirror and look more saggy than usual. For me, my stomach fat is very squishy to the touch right now while it's normally more firm. Apparently, these are signs that your fat cells have taken on water and are just waiting for the right time to whoosh out. Once it whooshes out for good, the fat will firm up again (as much as fat does).

You are doing so well. My advice is to start looking at signs beyond the scale to find your motivation. If you look a little worse right now even though you've been sticking to plan, it's a sign your body is getting ready for a flush.

The only other thing I'd say is don't put your calories lower than 1200. You don't want to put your body in starvation mode. Doesn't Atkins recommend 1500? I know it's a struggle to keep your calories that high when you're eating low carb, but I figure people who've gone before us know what they're doing.
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