Group LLC Holiday Challenge!

profjan6

Everyone is really doing well! I like the positive energy. I try to exercise when I have any free time. I usually do it when I get home from work (if it is early enough) or just whenever I feel a little motivated. If I wait too long, the moment has passed. Basically, I try to get it out of the way ASAP! Bad attitude toward exercising. I should work on that. Happy Wednesday to all!

saverys_gal

Thanks ladies for the positive energy and well wishes!! :smooched:

Today I'm doing so so with my eating so far...
Breakfast was a banana, a granola bar and a latte.
Lunch was a couple of bites of fried rice, general tso's chicken and vegetable egg roll from Whole Foods.
Dinner is to be grilled chicken wings and some veggie of some sort.

Not the best but better! I've been working on my resume almost all day and gathering my references and getting some letters of recommendation together. I'm just so ready for 5 PM to roll around so I can go home and try to relax!

VJ150

OK LLCers - I'm in a funk and I'm getting annoyed!!!!

I have been living the low carb lifestyle for years, though I wasn't totally low carb. In the past few months I renewed myself to the low carb lifestyle and have stuck to it. One of my huge down-falls is sweets, but I have maintain my strength and have resisted. I exercise daily for at least an hour. Some times I walk and jog in the park, other times I put in a DVD and work out. I walk on my lunch hour on most days which includes climbing the steps on the Arch grounds (57 steps down and 61 step up)!!! Why in the name of all that is good I haven't lost any weight since August 22!?!?!?!?!? As a matter of fact - my scale is saying that I have gained weight. It's like a roller coaster and I'm tired of the ride.

Usually I don't have a pity party but I'm feeling pitiful today. So this morning I wanted to eat foods or food like substances that I have deprived myself for over a year.

Can anyone give me some suggestions as to what I may be doing wrong?
I keep my carb intake low, I drink my water (though I don't always log it), I exercise. WHAT IS WRONG!?!?!?!

Reading Res earlier post, maybe I never went into ketosis. That's a thought.

saverys_gal

*HUGS* Man oh man, the lack of weight loss seems to be haunting a few of us here lately.

My 2 cents worth:
1) make sure you are faithfully and accurately logging every SINGLE carb, just to make sure you aren't getting any surprises
2) go back and re-read your faithful Atkins book and read the parts on plateaus
3) now this is coming from MY experience with my plateau: I too was sticking my the very low carb eating and was working out daily and not losing at all. I finally UPPED my carbs to match my increased workouts and started to lose again. Of course, with all I have going on right now, I've made bad food choices when I have eaten and haven't worked out, so I'm back up 2lbs, but that's neither here nor there.
The point is, that maybe you're not giving your body enough to support those workouts. That's at least what was going on for me. It is something to think about!

Just remember that no matter what, you WILL break through this plateau!! And we'll all be here for you through the worst of it and when you do start dropping again!! :flowerforyou:

Resalyn

VJ - I agree with what Savery said, definitely. If you're still doing low carbs, like induction of 20 NC a day, this may be your body telling you it's time to move into Phase 2 - OWL, where you add in some additional carbs, certain types of food each week, as listed on the ladder in the OWL chapter of the book.

Savery's also right about re-reading the Plateau section....

Also, here are some interesting posts I found about plateaus on the Atkins website...

"PLATEAUS: Nutritionist's Blog from Colette:

Areas to Explore if Your Weight Loss Has Stalled
It’s perfectly natural for you to lose weight in fits and starts. Usually, if you stick with the program for a few more days—or even weeks, in some cases—weight loss will resume. You may just need some minor adjustments to get the scale moving in the right direction again. Here are some trouble-shooting questions that should help you get back on track.
1. Have you altered your activity level or made any other significant lifestyle change? Non-exercise activity is the not-so-secret ingredient in ongoing weight management. If you've decreased your activity level, you may have noticed your weight loss has stalled. Simple lifestyle changes are a great way to speed things up. Increasing your activity will jumpstart your metabolism and will also allow you to consume more carbs without gaining weight. Simple changes that include taking the stairs, avoiding moving platforms, parking far from your destination, pacing while talking on phone, fidgeting while sitting at your desk, and the utilization of exogenous weights, such as ankle and wrist weights, during activities of daily living will help you burn more calories.
2. Are you taking in more grams of net carbs than you’re aware of? Carbohydrates are a component of so many foods that it’s easy to surpass your recommended net carb level. Don’t forget to count artificial sweeteners (see No. 8 below). Be sure to read labels; salad dressings, condiments, sauces and other convenience items vary dramatically in carbohydrate content. Always select the lowest carb version of a food.
3. Are you consuming excess protein? Keep your portion sizes reasonable. You should feel satisfied, not stuffed after a meal. Try this: Don’t eat as much as you normally do at a meal or snack. After 30 minutes, if you’re no longer hungry, you’ll begin to recognize the difference between habit and real hunger. You’ll then be able to stop eating when you’re full, which promotes weight loss.
4. Are you eating at least three meals a day? Skipping meals will cause your blood sugar level to drop and may slow your metabolism. You’ll be more apt to overeat at your next meal. One of the benefits of the Atkins program is its ability to stabilize blood sugar and control appetite. Don’t skip meals!
5. Are you drinking enough water each day? In addition to helping prevent constipation, water helps keep your body functioning properly in other ways. On any dietary regimen, a minimum of 64 ounces, or eight 8-ounce glasses, of water per day is the usual recommendation. Many people suffer from inadequate hydration, so it's important to be diligent about drinking throughout the day. Water consumption will also help flush toxins from your body and combat bad breath. You're also better able to discern true signs of hunger when you’re hydrated.
6. Are you constipated? Be sure that you’re taking in at least 12 to 15 grams of net carbs in the form of vegetables, and not using most of your carb allotment on other foods. After the first few days, your body should adjust and constipation shouldn’t be a problem. When you begin to add more carbohydrates as you advance through the phases, your first choices should be more vegetables, followed by seeds and nuts and then berries— all good sources of fiber.
7. Have you started new medication? Talk with your doctor to find out if any of your medications affect weight gain or make it more difficult to lose. Medications can alter appetite, metabolism and water retention. If this is the case, work with your doctor to find possible substitutions.
8. Are you overconsuming artificial sweeteners? Try to limit your intake to three or fewer packets of sweeteners a day. Count each packet as 1 gram of net carbs. For some people, using artificial sweeteners makes it more difficult to break the carbohydrate addiction.
If these suggestions aren’t enough to get the scale moving, you may be stranded on a plateau. A plateau—meaning an inexplicable pause in weight loss that cannot be traced back to dietary misdemeanors or lifestyle changes—can happen in the later stages of weight loss, after the first, “easy” pounds have slipped away. Fortunately, plateaus are seldom permanent and usually yield to certain strategies. First, figure out if you’re really on a plateau.
What Is a Plateau?
To be a genuine plateau, the pause in weight loss must meet the following criteria:
• No weight loss or loss of inches for at least four weeks.
• You haven't altered your exercise regimen or made any other significant lifestyle change.
• You’re not taking any new medications (including hormone therapy) that may be interfering with weight loss.
• You can honestly say you’ve adhered to all aspects of the program.
How to Handle a Plateau
First, stay calm. Don’t give up and return to your old way of eating.
Remember two things: First, your body is not a machine. Nor is it a clone of anyone else’s body. It has its own system, its own agenda and its own timetable. In the long run, your body nearly always responds to sensible management by the person in charge. That’s you.

But in the short run, your body may decide to go its own way, for its own reasons that we may not be able to understand. Don’t get mad at it—or yourself. It’s a good body or it wouldn’t have gotten you this far. Be patient; you can afford to outwait it."

Resalyn

VJ, here is another post that I thought might help - this isn't my info, this from another Atkins person who experienced a stall....

"One of the issues when your body plateaus is that it can get locked in to a predictable routine. It starts to think, "I need to be prepared for this level of exercise and food intake." Sometimes something as simple as varying the # of calories eaten each day up and down a little and/or exercising lighter one day, heavy the next, take a day off etc. can get you body jarred loose. "

saverys_gal

@ Resalyn: I'm glad you posted that! I read that article I don't how many times when I first hit my plateau back in August! I wanted to post it myself but couldn't find it (my brain is so fried).
Going deeper into adding carbs back in: adding back in GOOD complex carbs seems to have done my body a world of good! Not only did I finally start to lose again but I was no longer crazy ravenous and I felt fantastic, like I did when I first started Atkins! Now, on that note, if I eat the bad carbs, I will maintain my weight but I just don't feel as good. So it may take finding out what carbs your body reacts to best. Add in a piece of fruit daily, some good whole grains, a sweet potato a couple of times a week, etc etc. Add in some of those higher carb veggies!! Remember, those foods are GOOD for us, just not at the onset of Atkins.

Resalyn

VJ- here is a post from Atkins WhyGuy - he had an EIGHT MONTH stall!

How can a person be in ketosis and not lose weight? To understand this we need to understand what ketosis is. I'm sure most of you know this already, but as "Captain Obvious", I'm going to explain anyway.

The food we eat provides the fuel used by our bodies for everyday activities; it also provides the raw materials to manufacture and replenish the body itself. The three main types of fuel for the body are carbohydrates, fats, and protein.

The fuel of choices for the body are carbohydrates, fat, and protein, I’m leaving out Alcohol here intentionally, which when consumed becomes the bodies fuel of choice. Typically, carbohydrates will be used within a few hours of eating, which is why we eat, and get hungry every few hours; when the engine is running on low, the body sends us hunger signals to replenish our energy stores.
Carbs are the first choice for fuels, they are converted to glucose, stored in the cell walls, and are drawn upon when energy needs demand them. If they are not used, they are turned to fat.

Fats primary role is to store energy, and when our primary source of fuel runs out our body turns to this stored energy for fuel.

The third fuel, protein, is primarily used to build and replenish body materials, such as our organs, tissues, and muscles.

On Atkins, our job is to deplete the bodies’ first fuel, carbs/glycogen, and turn out bodies into fat burning machines, either using stored fat, or dietary fat as fuel. This is called a ketogenic state, or diet, which we all know as being in ketosis.

Ketosis simply means we are burning fat for fuel, this fat can come from stored body fat, or from dietary fat*. I read that, “In the absence of substantial carbohydrates your body will burn any fat you digest before it touches your body fat. So if you are eating a moderate to high fat diet (even if it is still low carb) then you are going to test positive for ketosis.”

However, in the book it states that we are not using either or, but rather a blend of dietary fat and stored fat, but if you are not losing weight after a long period of time it is obvious you are not burning more stored fat than you are putting back into the body.

Thus you are technically "in ketosis" but it's not from using your body's fat. *The only thing ketosis really tells you is that you aren't taking in too many carbs. Being in ketosis does not mean you are doing Atkins correctly, losing stored fat, or whether or not you are losing weight, it only tells you that your body is using fat for fuel instead of carbs/glycogen.

Note: A ketogenic diet gets 80 percent of its calories from fat and forces your body to burn fat. Some of our energy does come from protein, and from the canabiliztion of our muscles, this is why it’s important to eat good quantities of protein, as we canabilize our muscles we can also repair those muscles through adequate protein intake, add in a little exercise and there will be no significant muscle loss, as in other diets.

So, back to the original question, how can you be in ketosis and not lose weight? The answer is obvious, if you don’t have carbs/glycogen in your system, and your body is burning fat for fuel in the form of *dietary fat*, or stored fat, you are in ketosis? But it doesn’t mean you are going to lose pounds.

This is why restricting your carb intake further than needed to past the point of ketosis is not going to do much good. When you restrict those few precious carbs that we are getting you are taking away vital nutrients from the body in the form of vitamins and minerals. If you go down 5 net carbs, and are eating 50 fewer calories, those calories are not going to make a difference, the only reason to go down in carbs is if you are metabolically resistant, or you suspect you are not in ketosis. There are exceptions to this, that I will get to later.

VJ150

Thanks guys - I will take another look at the book and re-examine myself. One change I have to make immediately is reduce the sweetener. I am using too many. I like my coffee and I like my sugar free hawaiian punch but if those "luxuries" are sabotaging me - then they are gone!!!

I'll keep you posted. Thanks again.

saverys_gal

Sweeteners can be the culprit for so many people! Definitely a good thing to reevaluate and see if those are causing you harm! I know you'll get some resolution soon! Just keep searching and don't give up!! :drinker:

SassySouthernGirl

WOW! Such great information here!! Thanks!

I'm about to call it a night! On track today and feelin' good about it. This is a great, supportive bunch of people -- thanks! :bigsmile:

Resalyn

Ah, I see Joy has her Halloween costume on! It's time to put mine on too - I'm gonna go change my profile pic....

Happy Thursday everyone. Last night was exhausting - daughter ended up with lice, so last night was spent treating all the furniture, beds, pillows - and washing all the bedding, and treating her and myself. Hubby's hair is buzzed, so he was okay. Oh, crap - I need to spray my car seats too, need to remember to do that today! I didn't have any - I"m guessing she got them at a friend's house while we were in Florida. Dunno - but it's gonna take several treatments for her - she's got a TON of hair! It makes my head itch just thinking about it, UGH!

I'm posting pretty early today from home - I've been spending too much time surfing while at work, need to focus to get some backlog caught up. So today my pledge to myself is that I will only get on MFP to log my food. Actually, I may just use my iPod instead and upload when I get home.... We'll see, MFP is addictive!

Ok, gotta get ready for work. I was happy to see the scale move again this morning, hope it keeps moving in that direction! Y'all have a WONDERFUL day!

saverys_gal

Happy Thursday ladies! :flowerforyou:

I don't know about y'all but I am so looking forward to the weekend. I'm so exhausted this week and can't wait to sleep in!!

@ Resalyn: oh no!! So sorry to hear about the lice incident!! That's definitely a bummer! Hope you get it all taken care of soon!

So yesterday was only slightly better for me in the eating department, and I didn't get in a workout. Blah. Today I've started the day off on a better foot, so I'm really trying! I hate falling off track with my exercise because for some reason it's so hard for me to work up my enthusiasm for it again. I know I'll feel so much better if I do it, heck, I'll probably even sleep better! But I just can't seem to talk myself into it right now...

VJ150

Thanks saverys, I won't give up. My weight has been a challenge for a long while and I have no thoughts of giving up because to do so would balloon me back up to my highest weight of 290. There is no way I wish to revisit that person!!!! My heals are dug in for the long haul!!

saverys_gal

Thanks saverys, I won't give up. My weight has been a challenge for a long while and I have no thoughts of giving up because to do so would balloon me back up to my highest weight of 290. There is no way I wish to revisit that person!!!! My heals are dug in for the long haul!!

WOOT WOOT!! :bigsmile:

That's the attitude I want to hear!! We're all here rooting you on VJ!!

SassySouthernGirl

Res: What a pain that must be!! Good luck with it all. And, your black cat is awesome! lol

Hi to everybody else too!! You girls have such great attitudes .... I know we can all do this. Seems as if we are having a great week, so let's keep it up through the weekend! :bigsmile:

I'm down again today, for a total of 3.8 since my big weigh in on Monday!! I'll take it ...not too bad. I really think the healthy supplements are helping me. I know for a fact it'sboosting my energy...even with my Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, I've been really energetic this week -- gotta be the supplements. These Fizzle tablets are really good -- I put them in my water and they're full of B vitamins and taste like a crystal light. A little treat! The detox tea I drink at night is pepperminty and has milk thistle in it and detoxes the liver and body. Feelin' good!

You all have a great day, and I'll check in later. Thinking I'll take the grandbaby to the pumpkin patch thisafternoon. :bigsmile:

saverys_gal

I think we made a great choice in combining the two threads: everyone seems to be checking in a whole lot more and we seem to have way more activity!! it!

That's great sassysouthern!! You're doing fantastic! What supplements are you taking? I take a whole handful every morning!
I love tea!! What detox tea do you drink? I have Yogi Peach Detox and Yogi Skin Detox and both are fantastic.

CALIECAT

Fantastic Sassy. Gotta" love it.I am off to the store to pick up some,no carb bbq sauce to go with my cold chicken legs for lunch.
where do you get these supplement??

tammietifanie

Do you think bringing your own meal to a bbq would be rude ??? This weekend it's my nephew's birthday and they are bbqing and of course it's hamburgers, hotdogs, potato salad, chips, beer, soda!! And I was thinking of bring a salad along so i stay away from the other foods they will have there. The burger won't be bad since i eat those plain but im worried about snacking on chips and eating junk. But i didn't want to be rude towards my sister if i brought a salad and maybe some baby carrots to snack on .. What do you all think ???

saverys_gal

I'm kinda surprised that they're not having salad and veggies at the bbq!! :huh: I thought most did!! Why not give her a call and ask if it will bother her at all? I personally wouldn't consider it rude, but that's me, and I also understand that people want to eat certain foods, not everyone gets that.