So i have been a devoted calorie counter for a long time. I have generally been successful, assuming i stay within the appropriate level of calories. I decided to try a low carb / high protein approach to the last 10 pounds since I understand this can aid in fat loss and I am trying to lose some stubborn post-baby fat deposits (hips, thighs, love handles, belly).
Anyway, I have been keeping a food diary and the calorie counting alone shows that I should be losing anywhere from 1 to 1.8 pounds per week. Not every day is the same, not every day is great, but the net result is that there should be SOME loss and I think it should be around 1 pound per week. Also, when I was doing well on the low carb thing, I will be in ketosis which should add additional calorie / fat burn.
Despite all this, I gained 2 pounds and then have been stuck for a month. I am frustrated and confused.
I have tried increasing my calories and decreasing them, increasing/decreasing exercise etc. but am at a loss.
By any chance, is the low carb diet causing constipation? Are you retaining water from the heat? Are you consuming more sodium by any chance? Are you sure you're counting your calories correctly? Do you eat back calories you burn? Those counters are notoriously inaccurate.....unless you haven't heard about it, Google net calories burned. Other then that, I really don't know. Maybe you just need to be extra focused for a month....no slips....and see how it goes. The last 10 lbs. can be super tough for some. Congrats on your progress though!
Also, have you measured your inches? I know at times even if I gain weight I still have lost in inches. Just an idea.
I hope things workout, you may need to up your calories a bit. I know some people will eat at maintenance for a few weeks to kinda jog their body a little bit and then go back down. It may be worth a try.
thanks for the feedback. Though I have struggled with constipation on the low carb thing, that hasn't been a factor lately. I eat 1200 calories + I eat back what I burn in exercise. Lately that number is around 1400 net calories or so. Because of the low carb thing, I have eased up my exercise and just been doing fitness classes that are lower impact so I am not trying to burn the candle at both ends. I also try to slightly underestimate my exercise calories since i know that online calculators are often too high.
As for inches, I was losing those but have also been the same on inches for about 6 weeks :/
Yesterday I ate too much and not great, got sucked in my some trail mix and a piece of kids' cake so it blew the lower carb approach too. I have read that doing that (though high quality carbs is what I should've used) can jump start things as well. This is the 3rd try of that, though, so we shall see. I am sure the sodium (with the trail mix) is high and can help explain the jump in scale today even so I still netted an eat to lose of 1 pound per week.
I have been a lower weight and don't think I am striving for something too low either . . . I still have plenty of fat deposits to work off!!
A month isn't too long to be stuck in one place, especially when you're at a healthy weight.
As I see it, you have 2 options: keep doing what you're doing and wait for your body to get over the plateau OR eat maintenance calories for a couple of weeks (keep exercising!) and then drop them again after the break. That might confuse your body enough to let go of some of its extra fat stores!
ETA: Have you thought about adding weight training to your workout regimen? Lifting heavy weights is a great way of throwing your metabolism into a tail spin, it can take the form of HIIT, and it helps you to swap out some of that fat for much smaller and more compact muscle. Also, it's fun.
Also,
Do you want to post what you've been eating while following the low carb? I "should have" lost 1.5lbs two weeks in a row and stayed at the same weight. When I looked I what I was eating I realized it was SUPER high in sodium (but still low cal...dang soups..) I cut out the sodium and was able to get back to losing. Sometimes it's nice to look back at what we've been eating and make some changes.
On a second note, I too thought I would try the "low carb" thing to lose some extra weight since I'm close to goal. After a week and some slight binging I changed my mind. If CC'ing has worked this long why change it? In the end when we reach goal weight it's not going to matter how long it took us to get there, it will just matter that we did. So maybe try going back to CC'ing and change up your workouts. For my last 10 or so lbs I started following the Jillian Michaels' ultimate slimdown where you alternate her workout videos. They are pretty fun to do and I burn about 200-300 a day with those. Well, hope this helped. Good luck and hang in there!!
Oriana
Well the low carb thing lately has been very boring! Today, for example, is:
BF: Protein Drink "Latte" made with EAS Carb Advantage Vanilla
Snack 1 (preworkout): Pure Protein Protein Bar
Lunch: Romaine Salad with celery, cucumbers, asparagus, Walden Farms Dressing. Another Protein Drink Latte.
Snack 2: Romaine lettuce, baby spinach, 2 ounces reduced sodium roasted turkey slices, 10 almonds
Snack 3: muscle milk light 100 cal RTD,
Dinner: 1 egg, .5 cup all whites, 2.5 cups baby spinach, romaine lettuce, frank's hot sauce.
Totals: 1100 calories, 36 fat (9.8 saturated), 79 carbs (34 fiber), 116 protein, 3600 salt (not exorbitant I don't think - my rings slip on/off easily . . . ). I met my daily minimum of Vit C, A, Iron, Calcium. Took supplements typical of low carb diet plans. Drank 4 liters of water. Did 45 minutes body sculpt class.
As for the weight training, I do a little here and there. I got bored a few months ago of running and the elliptical and started taking classes. Right now, in a week I have been doing 1 day of JM Shred, 1 day of cycling, 2 days of Zumba, 1 day of nautilus, 1 day of body sculpt or some other cardio/sculpt class. None of it is particularly intense, but I have been enjoying it more =)
I guess I was trying the combo of both - low carb and calorie counting. I try to eat low carb within my caloric range. I did some of the ultra low carb, ketogenic dieting but I am not that disciplined so I don't have much luck staying there!!
I was going to say the same thing about the protein shakes. They are "low carb" but have a lot of extra things in them. I don't know if you've tried the South Beach diet, but I have followed that for a bit (and use their recipes a lot actually). It is still a bit "low carb" but you can eat beans, and I think the second phase you add fruit back in. It would probably be more interesting than what your diet looks like now. Other than that I would say maybe your calories are too low for exercising on top of your calorie cutting. Good luck, and I hope we've helped
Could you eat more real food? I'd get bored too if I was pretty much only eating salad and protein shakes!
Totally agree. I would encourage you to, as DietVet suggested, use more natural protein sources than artificial/processed ones. Meat, fish, eggs, lentils/beans, soy, etc. Even though I do take protein powder, it only comprises no more than 25% of my daily protein, and I'm still skeptical about how effective and good for me it is.
Thanks everyone. I realize that the packaged foods aren't great and that was just a single day example of my calories / protein / fat. I do have real food as well, just some days are busier than others. Even so, cannot imagine that they would stall my weight loss as I have read of others using them in lieu of more expensive commercial protein diets. Perhaps it is something in those, though . . .
I was on a 7 month plateau when i ate a lot of processed foods...when i cut them out the losses happened instantly. They may not affect others...but you are very close to your goal so your diet probably will need to be fine tuned and also all our bodies work differently.
One thing to consider is that you can't really force your body to lose weight at the rate you want it to (though don't we all wish we could ). So it doesn't really seem productive to talk about what you "should be" losing - your body determines that, no matter how many calories you consume or in what way. A million little things could be going on that your body is taking care of and that you have on control over. So maybe focusing less on how much you feel you "should" lose as opposed to how you really do feel (how your clothes fit, how much energy you have, etc) is more important, especially if you really only have 10 pounds left to lose.
Another thing to just think about - low carb doesn't necessarily guarantee fast and effective (and even safe) weight loss. I used to be a huge believer in low carb diets several years back and lost 35 pounds on them. Then I became a vegetarian and then a vegan, life pressures and stress took over, went into binge eating mode, and gained the 35 plus 30 more back. Since I am now a vegan, going low carb isn't an option, so I started exploring other vegan options and came across the other end of the spectrum - the very low fat (10-15% of calories) vegan diet of veggies, fruits, whole grains, and beans.
Since starting the McDougall diet (which I call the anti-low carb diet because it does everything that low carbing does not - centered around whole grains and potatoes and veggies, limited fruit, no added fats at all) in June, I've lost 12 pounds. It took some getting used to and I am not 100% compliant (I add a teaspoon of flaxseed oil once a day to salad), but I like it a lot and plan on sticking with it for the long term. My calorie count is actually around 1200, not because I'm consciously counting them, but because, with no added fat, the food I eat simply comes up to about that.
My point here is not that McDougall is better than low carbing or that low carbing is bad. It's more that different diets work for different people and it's not a given that every diet will work for everyone even if it has a reputation for fast weight loss .
When It's Not Working...
). So it doesn't really seem productive to talk about what you "should be" losing - your body determines that, no matter how many calories you consume or in what way. A million little things could be going on that your body is taking care of and that you have on control over. So maybe focusing less on how much you feel you "should" lose as opposed to how you really do feel (how your clothes fit, how much energy you have, etc) is more important, especially if you really only have 10 pounds left to lose.
