I haven't seen a post like this before but I'll try it out. I've been stalled for the last two months at 130-134 lbs after losing pretty steadily for 6 months on a low-carb diet (The Belly Fat Cure). September involved a lot of traveling (messing up my tracking a bit) and cheating on my plan with peanut butter (my chief weakness! not in my home at the moment.). I decided to stay strictly on plan for two weeks and then post EVERYTHING on my blog (I usually only post summaries) for my diet and exercise and ask for constructive criticism. If you have the inclination to read the post you can find it here and I would love for you to comment your suggestions. If you don't want to read the post I'll summarize a few of the observations I made and I would appreciate feedback here as well.
My plan was to follow the BFC (< 6 servings carbs/day, < 15 g sugar/day, > 25 g fiber/day) plus hit a calorie range of 1200-1500 and drink 112 oz of water each day. I followed that exactly except I exceeded my calorie range twice. I also did 6 New Rules of Lifting for Women workouts (I recently started the program) and 3 short interval workouts on the treadmill. Even though I was strictly on my plan (no peanut butter whatsoever!) I didn't lose any weight or inches or body fat over the two weeks. So clearly something has to change - please tell me what you think!
These were my averages for my nutritional data tracking:
1493 calories
96.8 g fat
2743 mg sodium
67.6 g carbohydrate
28.4 g fiber
9.2 g sugar
102.7 g protein
Even though I track daily, it was really eye-opening to look at the food I ate over an entire two-week period instead of just day-to-day. I tend to eat the same thing for a few days at a time (it's just me and my husband at home, so it takes a while to get through food).
In this period I ate hardly any vegetables! Like, a few servings of spinach and a couple of mushrooms over two weeks! It's not that I don't like vegetables, just that our CSA stopped and I haven't started buying them from the grocery store yet. Do you think this factor alone could be responsible for my stall? What are the fall vegetables that you think I should add in?
I did have an okay amount of fruit for being on a low-sugar diet - lots of tomatoes, avocado, and some others. This was a pleasant surprise.
I eat a LOT of bacon. Like every day. In fact, my main protein sources at the moment are pork - pork shoulder, ground pork, ham, bacon. Is there anything wrong with getting so much meat from one animal?
I eat cheese very frequently and basically no dairy (unless eggs count) otherwise. Are there any low-sugar dairy foods that I should add?
On many of the days in the two-week period I had a low-carb tortilla (12 g of fiber!) but I had no other grains. Should I add in some other whole-grain foods (earlier in my weight-loss project I ate pasta and oatmeal with fair frequency) or go the opposite direction and lose the tortillas and grains entirely?
As for my workouts, I was pleased with them! I plan to keep on doing the New Rules of Lifting program unless I hear a lot of objections. I'll also keep doing 15-20 minute intervals (1' fast 2' slow) for cardio but I'm going to follow them with some steady-state cardio, as suggested by NRLW.
I was a bit surprised to see that almost 60% of my calories come from fat. Does anyone think that is too high for some reason? I eat about 100 g of protein per day - should I increase that (or increase carbs) to lower fat? Or is the fat OK?
I know that most people suggest increasing or decreasing calories to break a stall. My inclination is to increase. Do you think I should increase or decrease?
Thanks so much for reading all of that! Even though this was very long there is, believe it or not, more detail in the blog post I linked. I would so appreciate any constructive criticism you can give from your wealth of knowledge and experience. I want to make it to my goal!
I would tend to think that is a lot of fat, also a lot of salt. Pork may not be the best as a main source of protein (and is probably your main source of fat and salt). Fat's not bad, but you want to get better fats from things like fish, avocados, nuts. Cutting out just bacon or switching to a turkey bacon might make a difference.
Less vegetables during that time might be responsible for your plateau. Veggies fill you up on less calories and have vitamins and minerals that your body needs.
You may also want to cut calories for a few days or practice calorie shifting to get off a plateau. You're close to goal as well so it's harder to lose as you're in a healthy weight range for your height. Your body will resist losing at this point.
I'm going to offer some feedback, but please know that all of this just my opinion and nothing more. I have no scientific data to back up my suggestions, just my general thoughts. Please take what is useful for you and ignore the rest.
In response to a few of your specific questions:
Do you think this factor alone could be responsible for my stall? What are the fall vegetables that you think I should add in?
I personally don't think that the lack of vegetables would be the reason for your stall, but you should definitely add them in anyway. As PrairieGirl mentioned they provide a lot of nutrients your body needs, and they add bulk to your diet without a lot of added calories. One of my favorite vegetables is squash; acorn squash is awesome just quartered, seeded, and brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt, and roasted in the oven. I scoop it out of the "shells" with a spoon. I eat a lot of spinach as well - it can be added to wraps in place of lettuce, or wilted (even without any added fat if you'd prefer) and added to just about any dish. I also love to make spinach and strawberry salads (berries are one of the fruits with the lowest glycemic index) with 1/2 ounce of goat cheese, lightly dressed (a bit of homemade balsamic vinaigrette, or a light bottled vinaigrette). Red and yellow bell pepper wedges are also great tossed with just a bit of olive oil and then grilled or roasted in the oven. I do asparagus and mushrooms on the grill a lot as well.
Is there anything wrong with getting so much meat from one animal?
I don't think it's a big deal to get so much of your meat from one animal, but I agree with PrairieGirl that the sodium could be a factor - you're getting a lot of it in the ham and bacon. Some people are more sensitive to sodium than others.
Are there any low-sugar dairy foods that I should add? Should I add in some other whole-grain foods (earlier in my weight-loss project I ate pasta and oatmeal with fair frequency) or go the opposite direction and lose the tortillas and grains entirely?
I don't really know much about low-carb diets, and so am hesitant to offer an opinion here. My instinct would be to tell you not to eliminate grains entirely, as that doesn't seem sustainable to me long-term (i.e. beyond just getting these last few pounds off). But, you know your diet and your body best. If you were to add additional grains back in, I'm sure based on your goals you'd go for those that provide the most nutritional bang - things like oatmeal, quinoa, etc.
should I increase that (or increase carbs) to lower fat? Or is the fat OK?
I agree with PrairieGirl; 60% of calories from fat seems like a LOT of fat to me. I eat a relatively low-fat diet (20-25% of calories from fat), but I know that's not for everyone. I know many people eat quite a bit more fat than that each day and still successfully lose weight, and are very healthy. I have a hard time imagining though that having more than half your daily calories from fat could be good long-term for heart health, etc. Your protein intake seems pretty good given your calorie intake (~25% calories from protein), but I would probably suggest choosing lean protein a little more frequently to reduce the fat %. You can make up the calories in veggies.
As to whether you should increase or decrease your calories... to be honest, my best guess would be that your stall is due to some combination of a) already being within a normal weight range for your height and close to your goal weight, b) sodium, and c) the recent addition of weight lifting. At your current height, weight and activity level (and with a guess at your age), you *should* lose, on average, about 0.5-1.5 lbs per week with your calorie intake of ~1500/day. But already being at a healthy weight, you're probably looking at the lower end of that range and might only expect to see 2 lbs per month. It is certainly feasible that a pound of water weight from sodium and the weight lifting (and hormones if it's that time of the month) is hiding any fat loss you've seen over the past two weeks. It's probably equally likely that the loss will show up on the scale some weeks and not others. That is: this might not really be a stall at all. If you would really like to see a faster rate of loss, I'd probably suggest dropping your calories slightly... maybe so that your average comes out to more like 1350/day.
Again, these are just my personal thoughts based on my own weight loss experience, and we're all so different that they might not be worth much. I definitely do feel for you right now and your desire to change something up to see movement on the scale again... after months of consistently losing my weight loss has been stalled for a month, and it's taking all my determination right now to stay completely on track despite the lack of reward on the scale (or in measurements or otherwise) for my efforts. I hope that whatever changes you make (or don't), that you'll see your goal soon. Good luck, and congratulations on the huge loss you've already achieved!
I hate to mention this, but I think you may need to lower your calories. What worked for you at heavier weights may not work for you now that you are much smaller. I started my loss about the same size as you are now (5'2, 134) and I was on 1200 calories. I lost about 1.5- 2 lbs a month. It looks like you are eating around 1500 a day. That's about my maintenance range.
I disagree only slightly with chickadee in the reason for lowering your calories- it's not to speed along a loss, it's to generate a loss. I think it's possible that between dieting for so long and becoming such a small size that 1500 is closer to maintenance for you as well, and eating at around 1500 isn't really creating much of a deficit for you.
Your tracking is awesome and I think you are doing your body a world of good by cutting out sugar and carbs. Ultimately of course, loss is all about calories, and as you get smaller your body needs fewer and fewer. Maybe try eating at 1200-1300 for a month and see what happens. It's hard to do with such a high-fat diet (1 small piece of cheese can be up to 20% of daily cals!) and you may have to adjust your macronutrient ratios to feel like you're eating enough.
I agree with Indiblue. My weightloss tracker Myfitnesspal.com suggests I adjust my calorie/carb/fat/protein settings everytime I lose 10lbs or so, because as you get smaller your body needs less calories. I also tend to avoid meat like pork, and go for low fat options like quorn or chicken. I avoid cheese as its very high fat and one of my trigger foods. I tend to keep my diet low salt as well, as salt causes me to retain water like theres no tomorrow.
I also change my diet every now and again. If I feel myself stalling I tweak it, so sometimes I calorie cycle, eat more carbs for a week, then reduce them again in the next week, change my work out routine and do something different. It generally helps to shift me out of a plateau.
That's a very high level of fat indeed. People who are low-carbing seem to go for 30/40/40 quite often, so why don't you give that a try. That isn't a low-fat diet, that's still a relatively high-fat diet as a matter of fact. Low-fat is about 10-20% of calories from fat. So 40% seems like a reasonable compromise for you. Since fat is far more calorie-dense than other nutrients, you'll find that you have a lot more calories to spare for vegetables and the like, and could even try dropping your calories quite easily later on (get used to the other changes first). And yes, of course you should be eating vegetables! Lots of them! I'd suggest adding in some wholegrains as well, yep.
Two weeks isn't enough of a stall to be worrying about, incidentally, but I do think you're right to reevaluate your diet.
Thank you all so much for responding! I have a couple clarifying comments/questions:
Sodium (PrairieGirl, chickadee32): I listed my average daily sodium intake as 2700 mg, which I actually didn't think was that high. I thought the current RDA was like 2400 mg, 1500 mg if you're high-risk? I haven't found that I am sensitive to sodium but I've never really tried to control that level, just tracked it. Where do you cap your sodium intake?
Calories (basically everyone): The low-carb school of thought is that calories matter way less than carbs - for instance, neither the BFC (what I'm doing) nor Atkins requires calorie-counting. I actually used to eat 1200-1300 calories/day but added more when I started working out more, and I think the high fat levels that I'm eating are directly related to me trying to increase my calories. However obviously I'm looking for new ideas because what I've been doing has stopped working. I'm kind of curious what you guys think about BMR as a guideline. My BMR is currently supposedly at 1400 calories/day and with my activity level maintenance is supposed to be at 2150 calories/day. If those values were correct I would be seeing at least a 1 lb/week loss right now, which I'm obviously not.
Stall (Esofia): I have actually been stalled for 2 months! This two-week period was for me to stay strictly on plan as I had hoped the stall was from cheating.
Lifting (chickadee32): I didn't mention this, but I was lifting light weights before I switched to the heavy lifting of the NRLW program. I'm not feeling sore much the days after my workouts any more.
There is a broad consensus here to add vegetables and to at least try lowering calories by reducing fat. I'll wait for some more input and then probably give that a shot. Reducing my prodigious cheese consumption alone should get me into the ranges you've suggested, while retaining avocados, nuts, eggs, etc., and certainly if I mixed up my meat selection more.
I think you aren't eating enough veggies. Squash,pumpkin, etc are full of carbs, so they can be a trigger food for folks (like me) and they are hard to fit into a low carb diet. But you should be able to find some lower carb cruciferous veggies (cabbage, broccoli, brussels) this time of year and they are super healthy. Did I mention that I'm a huge fan of frozen veggies? Also, can you bring yourself to buy some fresh salad greens? Those are a mainstay of Atkins and will help round out your diet.
I think that if you bulk up your foods with lots more low calorie veggies, you will have an easier time staying near the low end of your calorie range (I'm not in the camp that says you should increase calories to break a stall) and your diet will be healthier (more nutritionally dense). Your fat levels might fall a little as a result of eating more veggies since some fat will be replaced with (good) carbs. Most low carbers do not try to reduce the fat in their diets (but I personally find it hard to be satisfied with the amount of food I am eating if the percentage of fat is too high).
I don't have a huge problem with eating a lot of your meat from the same animal, but I do think there are reasons to avoid processed meats and eat them only as a treat. I eat a lot of chicken myself. For a very healthy meat source, you might want to consider grass-fed beef/poultry, but those are through the roof in cost. Instead of going that route, I eat primarily chicken but I also eat a fair bit of wild salmon and take fish oil supplements (to bring my omega 3/6 back into balance, which is the main nutritional difference between grass- and corn-fed livestock).
Regarding the grains, I am eating very very little as well, and when I eat more my diet slides downhill fast. By little, I mean that *some* days I will eat a small tortilla wrap or a very small serving of brown rice (mixed in with veggies & meat). I doubt that eating low levels of grain is causing you a problem for losing weight. You need to decide if you want to incorporate more grains for other reasons, but my own experience is that they seriously handicap me in losing weight or even maintaining.
Despite following a lowish carb (I don't count carbs any more, but I know which foods I need to avoid) I am a fan of dairy (low fat in my case). Yogurt and cheese are fairly low in sugar, high in calcium and protein, and dietary dairy calcium has shown some benefits for weight loss.
For a very healthy meat source, you might want to consider grass-fed beef/poultry, but those are through the roof in cost. Instead of going that route, I eat primarily chicken but I also eat a fair bit of wild salmon and take fish oil supplements (to bring my omega 3/6 back into balance, which is the main nutritional difference between grass- and corn-fed livestock).
Just want to take a moment to mention that if you're in the US, there are several grassfed beef ranches that are small, family-owned operations that do mail-order/internet ordering as their primary way of business. The place I use, since it's relatively local, is actually cheaper than the factory-farmed grainfed feedlot beef at the discount grocery store here.
Do some googling, it's definitely worth it! Obviously this doesn't work if you're someone who hates meat that's been frozen (though things like ground beef and bacon seem to hold up pretty well to freezing), but it's something to consider.
I'm very sensitive to sodium. I don't add salt/sodium to anything and I don't eat much packaged or prepared foods. I get about 500mg of sodium a day from things like dressings, protein powder, and almond milk. It just hides in everything!
In terms of calories I stay under 1500 3 days a week, under 1200 3 days a week, and don't count at all one day a week. I don't eat whatever I want (because I want to eat a bunch of crap like chips, pizza, take out, and candy), but I take one day off from counting and probably get close to 2000 calories on that day and I always make that the day preceding a long run so that I have the energy to run 20-30km.
Getting better quality/more sustainable meat is definitely on my list to figure out how to do. One of the reasons we ate a lot of pork this summer (the ground pork) is because it was available through our CSA and it was hormone/antibiotic-free and pastured. I'll try to look into sources for beef and chicken soon. I definitely don't mind frozen meat.
I looked up the calorie suggestions in the workout plan I'm following (New Rules of Lifting for Women) and it recommends (as a starting point, based on my BMR) 1950 calories on a non-workout day and 2200 calories on a workout day. It doesn't not recommend drastically cutting calories from that level (500 cals/day is drastic) but rather eating nearly all the calories and a lot more protein (probably 50% more than I'm getting now).
I also talked with my friend who is a paleo diet coach. He said I'm very active and "chronically undereating" and he pretty much never wants to see his clients below 1500 cals/day.
I know it sounds like I'm looking for a reason to increase calories! I guess I can try cutting cals to about 1300/day for a few weeks and if that doesn't work increase them to about 1800 cals/day.
I know it's very frustrating to spin your wheels making a huge effort to do something that turns out not to work (for me, high carb eating was a decades-long disaster). But we are in this for our whole lives and in the grand scheme of things, a few months spent experimenting is time well spent.
Getting better quality/more sustainable meat is definitely on my list to figure out how to do. One of the reasons we ate a lot of pork this summer (the ground pork) is because it was available through our CSA and it was hormone/antibiotic-free and pastured. I'll try to look into sources for beef and chicken soon. I definitely don't mind frozen meat.
I looked up the calorie suggestions in the workout plan I'm following (New Rules of Lifting for Women) and it recommends (as a starting point, based on my BMR) 1950 calories on a non-workout day and 2200 calories on a workout day. It doesn't not recommend drastically cutting calories from that level (500 cals/day is drastic) but rather eating nearly all the calories and a lot more protein (probably 50% more than I'm getting now).
I also talked with my friend who is a paleo diet coach. He said I'm very active and "chronically undereating" and he pretty much never wants to see his clients below 1500 cals/day.
I know it sounds like I'm looking for a reason to increase calories! I guess I can try cutting cals to about 1300/day for a few weeks and if that doesn't work increase them to about 1800 cals/day.
Thoughts?
I won't lie and say I am familiar with low-carb diets, as it wasn't really an option for me. What I will say is this: I agree with your friend (I know that goes against what most are saying on here). The reason I say this is because of your activity level, you are active and working out regularly and that means your body is requiring more fuel. My nutritionist would jump all over me to keep veggies up and proteins up as I increased the amount of exercise (especially strength training). Whenever you "up" the amount of weight you are lifting, your body is taking from sources to build up more muscle mass...that takes fuel. This is just my two cents, but I also speak as someone who has gotten countless lectures about her lack of caloric intake from nutritionist (I know that's an odd problem considering my overweight issues, but...)
Major Help Needed with Major Data - LONG
