I started SBD on 10/3/05 and initially only lost 8 lbs I thought ok, so I just need to exercise more. Well, I have totally stuck to plan and started jogging farther and more days a week (up to 3.5 miles 5 days a week from 2 miles 2-3 days a week) and I gained 5 lbs!! I HATE having a scale! I went out and bought one so I could progress my massive weight loss, only to be saddened by gain?! I dont understand. I eat at least 1000 calories a day sometimes as many as 1200, eat egg beaters instead of regular eggs, soy sausage instead of turkey, all whole wheat tortillas or slice of bread etc etc. Sugar free EVERYTHING. What is the problem? Have any of you been where I am? How did you get back to losing weight, I just dont understand. And when I gain weight it really makes it hard to drag my butt out of bed at 5am to jog!

Thank you for the chance to vent.

Hi Heather, and welcome to the Beach! I fully commiserate with you, I've been there too. I've been on the Beach almost 2 years now, and I've found that if I stray too far off Phase 1, that I won't lose or even show a gain. I have the most success with limiting my grain carbs to 1 every other day, and having a small piece of fruit occasionally. If I happen to eat more than 1 serving of grain in a day, I know I will gain weight. Try to eat as many veggies as you can. Also, it's not unusual to have a weight gain when you begin exercising. You are turning fat into muscle, which weighs more. After your initial gain you will probably see a dramatic weight loss. That's what happened to me. I hope this helps you, don't give up!

Heather I understand!! Since Sept I was STUCK! I thought I was going everything right too! I wasn't eating enough veggies & enough calories. Try zig zaging your calories (monday - 1200 caloires, tues. - 1400, etc) it might help. SOme folks like to write everything down - that might help too. Are you drinking your water & taking vitamins? Post a sample menu - we will try to help.

that's definitely muscle gain. Don't go by the scale when you're exercising. Go by how your clothes feel and you'll feel much better about it. I'd rather weigh 150 and look and feel good than 130 and still be flabby and out of shape.

you aren't eating enough calories. Try eating more around 1400 and I bet you will start losing.

Hi Heather--

There could be another--medical--reason you're not losing weight. It's a condition called Metabolic Disorder and you might want to consider going to your doctor and having some bloodwork done. Do a fasting blood glucose, a complete lipid (cholesterol) panel and check your thyroid as well.

I suffer from this and was on SBD for a year, kept to the program religiously, exercised every day for at least 45 minutes and I only lost 8 pounds total. I was so frustrated I was ready to throw in the towel. Thank God for my wonderful, understanding doctor who figured out what the problem was.

I'm now on a medication that sensitizes my body to the insulin I produce, which helps me to more efficiently metabolize the food I eat. I still lose slow, and my doctor has even added a second med to help me along more.

The bad thing about this condition is that if it's not addressed and dealt with, very likely you will end up with Type II diabetes at some point.

Good luck to you and I hope you can get things moving in the right direction soon!

I also think you are not eating enough calories. Here is a great article that explains How Calories Work http://www.hussmanfitness.org/html/TFCalories.html Here is a quick quote from the article-
"severe caloric restriction triggers a fasting state that slows your metabolism down, and also causes muscle loss. Moreover, it causes your body to increase the level of "fat storing" enzymes (lipoprotein lipase) in the body. Exactly what you don't want."

If you aren't getting enough calories, you'll go into "power saver" mode, and your body will hold on tight to any calories you eat. Try using Fitday to see how many calories you are consuming and how many you are burning, and make sure you consume enough for your body to run on. For weight loss, probably somewhere in the 1200-1400 range is good. What I did was figure out how many calories I would need to maintain my goal weight, and made that a kind of ideal model for my daily consumption. It's a lot less than I need to maintain my current weight, so if I'm closeish to it, I'll lose weight. I don't really count calories religiously or anything, but it gives me a guideline to go by. Most importantly, learn to hear what your body is telling you, and when it says it's hungry (as opposed to bored or unhappy!), then eat - and eat the foods it needs to fuel it, not just the foods your tongue tells you it wants to taste! Good luck!

Prettty much all has been said so I am going to close this thread. Echocreek has not been back int eh Forum since she posted.

Here's some clarification from one of the very experienced MODs in the Forum.
Please don't stop jogging because you think it's making you fat.

I just wanted to thank you all for your replies. The thread was closed. I dont have access to the net at home, so I have to post from work. Sorry for taking too long to get back to thank you all!