Vegetarian girlfriend is having low carb diet troubles

AsaThorsWoman

CICO= Calories In Calories Out

PinkyFett

Gf sounds cuckoo. Suggest she see a doctor, nutritionist... maybe they'll help her more with the eating disorder.

neandermagnon

It's not completely accurate but I like to go by the 5 pound rule (for women). That means that someone who is 5'0 is trim at 100 pounds and then you add 5 pounds per inch. So for someone like me who's 5'4 I should be good at 120. And it's more or less true. When im around 115-120 I feel best. So someone at her height of 5'1 could be ok at 105. It sounds like has some disordered eating habits though for sure.

I'm 5'1 and my lean body mass is 107lb........ at 105lb I'd be in minus numbers of body fat (or in reality, I'd have to lose about 20lb of lean mass to be that light, which would be extremely unhealthy)

Be really cautious of any one size fits all metric. The above is fine for small-framed people... large framed people will be underweight at those weights (sometimes dangerously so), and would be better aiming for the high end of the BMI range for their height... and someone who's large framed + lifts heavy (or other strength based sport) may be in the overweight category of BMI while their body fat percentage is in the healthy range. Regarding the OP's girlfriend, unless she's small framed then losing more weight isn't going to improve her health or her looks.

Body fat percentage is a much more accurate way to determine how much you weigh, and it's pretty common for women who've dieted down to a particular weight, who look slim, but are still not happy with their body, to like how they look better after gaining lean mass through strength training, and actually end up heavier, but with a more firmed-up appearance due to having stronger muscles. Simply losing more weight is rarely the answer in this situation.

Caeyla

I didn't see anything in your post that indicated an eating disorder. If she wants to do low-carb/keto, I think she needs a bit more information to do it properly and in a healthy way. Here's some good info: http://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq

Keto, and any other diet, requires sufficient water intake. For me, insufficient water has always been the root of any sluggish bowel movements/constipation issues. I don't mean gallons a day, for me the standard 8 glasses is tough to reach sometimes and that's the only time I have any trouble.

She should also eat her veggies! There are lots of low-carb/keto-friendly veggies. Personally, I tend to eat more veggies now than I did before keto. All the green leafy stuff, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, cabbage, and more are all good on keto. Here's a partial list of foods that are low carb: http://www.ketogenic-diet-resource.com/low-carb-food-list.html

To get an idea of where her macros should be, she should check out something like this: http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com/

To help constipation issues, many people resolve them by increasing water intake and having some flax meal, psyllium husks, or chia seeds.

Overall, it sounds like she may have just gone into it without enough information or a solid plan. If she wants to join and post, she can join one of the low-carb/keto groups for help with it.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/1160-keto
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/1511-reddit-keto
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/411-low-carber-daily-forum-the-group-

SLLRunner

Pescetarians eat fish but no red meat or poultry, vegetarians eat no flesh, vegans eat no animal products.

Thank you for the clarification!

WalkingAlong

If she's eating than it's not an eating disorder,

Are you saying you think all people with eating disorders don't eat?

I don't know if this girl needs to see someone for an ED but she sounds like she's got some body dysmorphia, which seems to be almost the norm in young women these days.

I remember that 'brick' feeling from low carb. Ugh. I hope she finds a way of eating that works for her soon. I sure wouldn't want to be a low carb vegetarian.

Dinosaurus112

I very much appreciate all the responses and input from everyone! she IS actually a pescetarian, (i should have just said that) but like someone posted, just says "vegetarian" to spare the explanations.
after weighing herself yesterday and being back down to 111 she felt a bit better about the whole thing and finally decided that everything i read and showed her was right about it being water weight and not fat. from here i hope her mind is a little more at ease. it seems she needs to discover something on her own, even if i or someone has already told her.

the ED explanation and dysmorphia both would make sense to me, she has seen a doctor/nutritionist for the issue before, but that was years ago. so i dont know if id like to bring that back into the picture just yet before exploring other options/explanations. i want her to do this if she feels she has to, but i will also be keeping an eye on her to make sure she goes about it in a healthy way. and of course not starving herlsef! im no expert, but common sense led me here and confirmed much of what i suspected. i hope i can help her get back on the track of eating proper so the issues go away.

anyway, i like the idea of going for more the gaining muscle/ changing body comp. vs dropping fat route, so i think this is something i will definitely bring up to her. even exercising and working out together is something i would be more than willing to do, we've both talked about wanting to get into it but just havent buckled down or found enough time. i do think this is something that would make her feel much better about herself knowing that is indeed muscle and not fat that makes up the weight there.
i do believe the conversation about sticking with the low carb lifestlye vs finding an alternative is worth having, considering how much difficulty she is having so far and will undoubtedly have in trying to keep up with it, plus all the worry and anxiety attached.
i will also try going about in a different way of telling her what she should do to get back on track, as far as calories carbs and fiber and proper amounts of it all. water isnt an issue, she drinks at least 2 liters a day. again thankyou all for the input, i think i have enough to go on to sit and talk to her about it.

jimbmc

my girlfriend is 21, 5' 1" roughly 110 lbs, and vegetarian. she is fairly active, jogs on occaision and works as a valet attendant at least 3 days a week, so is always running around there. she is not satisfied with her appearance or number on the scale no matter what i tell her. im sure you can imagine how it goes. shes had some weight issues in the past, mostly troubles with weighing in too often and some other misconceptions about her appearance, saw doctors, etc. it was rough.

about a month ago she started on a low carb,high protein diet plan after trying hyrdoxicut which gave her headaches and made her sick. prior to that was a low calorie diet.

she started this low carb, high protein diet about two weeks after the hydroxicut, weighing about 120 lbs. she has a goal of 105 or 100. personally i feel as though thats a bit excessive, given her height and already very slim appearance but am doing my best to be supportive of her without letting it get out of hand. her total daily carb intake has been less than 20 grams.
the first week in she dropped about 2.5-3 lbs and was feeling great. her diet consisted (and still does) largely of eggs and tuna, occaisionally some cheese. with very little else in between since, being vegetarian her menu choices were already quite limited.
by the second week she was down to about 115lbs but hit a roadblock, as it was "that time." when it passed, she was about the same but quickly dropped another 1-2 lbs, still feeling excellent. good energy level, good moods, low stress, etc.
at the beginning of the third week she went on a week long dig (shes an archaeology student) and after expressing many concerns decided to shelve the diet for the week. her meals consisted mostly of fast foods on the road trip, snacks, nuts, restaruant food, and of course a few beers with the crew every night. so needless to say, carbs abounded that week.

upon returning home at the end of the week she immediately began the low carb eating again, keeping the numbers very low, still less than 20g and weighed in at just over 111lbs, much to our surprise. throughout the course of this diet there have been noticeable changes in her appearance, mostly in the hips/thighs/butt area and in her shoulders.
all seemed to be going wonderfully until this past week when some problems started.
-she weighed in on tuesday at about 110 lbs, but was having some trouble getting accurate readings from the scale.
-wednesday she was up to 111 lbs.
-between thursday night to friday morning, she weighed in at 113.
-she has been feeling sick, complains of an "i just are a brick" feeling.
-she seems fatigued
-she has had some issues passing foods, i found out today that on the entire week long dig, she did not pass foods even one time.
-she is very stressed and frustrated at this point, feeling like it was a waste of the month.
-she cannot stay away from the scale, which only stresses her more seeing the numbers go up.
-i KNOW she is not eating enough. she wanted to try to increase calorie intake, closer to 1200 or slightly higher.
-she currently does not caluclate off of net carbs (total carb minus fiber and sugars)
-regardless of feeling sick and having issues passing foods, she wants to continue with this diet plan.

ive been reading tons of forums and researching, trying to find some answers to ease her mind a little or help her get back on track. i spent some time reading here and based on all of that i have some questions for those who know more than i:

-what might be causing her weight gain this week?
-should she have more than 20g of carbs a day and will more cause her to gain more weight again?
-is her goal of 105 or 100 lbs unrealistic or unhealthy?
-what can she do about the issue with passing the food? i thought some more fiber, since those carbs do not matter anyway, right?
-is it possible to get back on track with her low carb diet and what can she do?
-is it better to calculate net carbs and omit fiber and sugars for a low carb diet?
-SHOULD she even be on a low carb diet?
-how can i put her mind at ease over what she sees on the scale and what she sees in the mirror?
-what are possible causes of weight gain on a low carb diet? i have read sodium, water retention from exercising, too few calories, not eating enough..

i cant stand to see her do this to herself, feeling sick and wanting to lose weight that just.. doesnt seem to come off or even be there in the first place. i am trying my best to be supportive of her. no matter how good i say she looks or how great the progress is, she still sees "rolls" or "too large a butt" among other things, and as i said, she seems to have hit a standstill in weight loss and is slowy gaining some back! any help and adive you can offer me to pass on to her is greatly appreciated.
thankyou.

HI there,

I hope you catch this reply.

Basically, in a High Prot/Low carb diet, the body processes food in a different way.

Because Protein is a GOOD food source, the body likes it. However, it takes the body alot longer to process it. If you eat 100 cals of protien, the body has to use 30 cals of energy to process it. If you eat 100 cals of carbs/fat etc, the body only has to use 7-12 cals of energy to process it, so it happens faster. This is one of the reasons that Bowel movements are reduced when your on a High Prot diet. Also, there isnt much waste product from protien, whereas there is more from Carbs/Fats/Sugar etc.

Using High Prot/Low carb can be a good way of reducing your weight, but it has to be controlled. Ideally, you should only be on "Pure Protein" for a maximum of 4-5 days, along with 3 litres of water a day, minimum. After that, you NEED to introduce carbs into the diet. Most people do this with Green Vegetables. These should be introduced in a "day on-day off" routine, but again, this should only be maintained for a couple of weeks. After that, then you need to introduce other carbs, like pasta, rice, potato into the diet, alongside the Veg and protien. Meals can still be Protien heavy, but they must have an element of carbs in them, to help the processing of food/waste etc. Water must still be at a level of 2-3 litres a day.

You say she is tired. That is common on a Protien diet. Carbs DO give you energy, and the lack of them will make you feel tired. This is more prevalent in Women.

Your best Source of information, is The Dukan Diet. Please read up on this. It will help alot.

missiontofitness

I very much appreciate all the responses and input from everyone! she IS actually a pescetarian, (i should have just said that) but like someone posted, just says "vegetarian" to spare the explanations.
after weighing herself yesterday and being back down to 111 she felt a bit better about the whole thing and finally decided that everything i read and showed her was right about it being water weight and not fat. from here i hope her mind is a little more at ease. it seems she needs to discover something on her own, even if i or someone has already told her.

the ED explanation and dysmorphia both would make sense to me, she has seen a doctor/nutritionist for the issue before, but that was years ago. so i dont know if id like to bring that back into the picture just yet before exploring other options/explanations. i want her to do this if she feels she has to, but i will also be keeping an eye on her to make sure she goes about it in a healthy way. and of course not starving herlsef! im no expert, but common sense led me here and confirmed much of what i suspected. i hope i can help her get back on the track of eating proper so the issues go away.

anyway, i like the idea of going for more the gaining muscle/ changing body comp. vs dropping fat route, so i think this is something i will definitely bring up to her. even exercising and working out together is something i would be more than willing to do, we've both talked about wanting to get into it but just havent buckled down or found enough time. i do think this is something that would make her feel much better about herself knowing that is indeed muscle and not fat that makes up the weight there.
i do believe the conversation about sticking with the low carb lifestlye vs finding an alternative is worth having, considering how much difficulty she is having so far and will undoubtedly have in trying to keep up with it, plus all the worry and anxiety attached.
i will also try going about in a different way of telling her what she should do to get back on track, as far as calories carbs and fiber and proper amounts of it all. water isnt an issue, she drinks at least 2 liters a day. again thankyou all for the input, i think i have enough to go on to sit and talk to her about it.

She's lucky to have you in her life! I wish you both luck. :drinker:

unfurling_red

She should also eat her veggies! There are lots of low-carb/keto-friendly veggies. Personally, I tend to eat more veggies now than I did before keto. All the green leafy stuff, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, cabbage...

YES. As you have already observed, a diet consisting of mostly or all animal products can quickly wreak havoc on the body. She - everyone - needs the bountiful fiber, nutrients, and general life-giving goodness of veggies. Leafy greens and other cruciferous veggies take the cake in terms of fiber : sugar and nutrient : calorie ratios, but all veggies are anti-trouble. The more, the better.

lc_norah

First off, I seriously believe your girlfriend is suffering from some type of eating disorder. Not because she's low carb as I follow low carb also. She seems to have a seriously unhealthy outlook on her weight and appearance though.

Secondly, what she's experiencing is what some people in the LC community call 'carb flu'. Here's somewhat of an explanation from the Paleo Leap website:


'What is “Low carb flu”?
If you’ve ever dramatically reduced your carbohydrate intake, you might have felt it already: it’s that first few days of headaches, brain fog, crankiness, and constant, dragging exhaustion. At some point, you know the magic is going to happen and you’ll start feeling like a human being again, but the transition period is really rough. It feels like having the flu (hence the name), only you’re not sick; you’re just cutting carbs. Low-carb flu can include any of the following:
You feel fuzzy and foggy, like your brain just isn’t working right. You might have a pounding or throbbing headache.
You’re exhausted, cranky, and irritable for no reason.
Going to the gym feels like an insurmountable challenge. If you do make it, your performance is completely down the drain.
You’re ravenously hungry, tearing into everything in sight.
You’re craving anything with carbs – bagels, pasta, pizza, sandwiches, mashed potatoes, candy…'


I keep my carbs at about 23g per day, and have never experienced carb flu. But I lowered it over the course of about a week or so. I imagine if she just changed overnight, this is what has happened to her.

Besides suggestion that she might need a bit of counseling, I'd suggest that she add a bit of carbs back into her diet. Also, if she's experiencing muscle cramping and leg pain, she's not drinking enough water. She should be drinking about half her body weight in ounces. So, about 55 ounces of water a day.

I know many people don't agree with low carb for one reason or another, and I'm not trying to start a controversy or anything. I follow low carb and it works for me. I'm just trying to help the OP with what is probably going on with his girlfriend.

PRMinx

I wouldn't necessarily call this an eating disorder. I would call it disordered eating. There's a big difference between the two.

What are her reasons for being a vegetarian?

It sounds like the diet she "thinks" is going to work best is too restrictive, which is going to cause her to cycle through periods of being on it and then periods of being off of it. Classic yo-yo dieting. I would tell her to drop specific diet titles (low carb, keto, etc.) and just focus on hitting healthy macros with a reasonable weight loss goal (ie. not two pounds a week).

Dinosaurus112

we talked yesterday.
her originial reason for becoming vegetarian revolves around a diet issue a few years ago. she would starve herself for days on end, and then have a huge craving for sprinkles.. the ones you put on ice cream or a cake. it sounded bizzarre. but yes, she would STARVE herself for sometimes 5 days at a time to try to lose weight. which is another issue in itself.
as a result her parents took her to a nutritionist and doctors, after making a deal with them to only check her scale once or twice a week because she was so focused on the numbers, which only led to more starving in hopes of bringing the numbers down.
after a while of them all trying to get her to stop this and eat more, she became a vegetarian as if to say "HA, now i cant eat as much! what are you gonna do about it?"
she is well aware of this and other behaviors but feels as though there is nothing to be done. she has since found legitimate reasons for being vegetarian and only lately seems to have started turning back towards that mindset, which worries me.

i spoke with her about building muscle while burning fat, which would result in less of a loss and maybe a hjigher end weight than she hoped, BUT she would feel so much better, and LOOK so much better. her response was, i cant do that, i know thats a good way to go about it, but the NUMBER needs to be low.
she is so focused on that..

i really at this point want her to just eat healthy and start over for a time. get everything normalized again. and then get back into some sort of diet, but do it the best and healthiest way.

PRMinx

we talked yesterday.
her originial reason for becoming vegetarian revolves around a diet issue a few years ago. she would starve herself for days on end, and then have a huge craving for sprinkles.. the ones you put on ice cream or a cake. it sounded bizzarre. but yes, she would STARVE herself for sometimes 5 days at a time to try to lose weight. which is another issue in itself.
as a result her parents took her to a nutritionist and doctors, after making a deal with them to only check her scale once or twice a week because she was so focused on the numbers, which only led to more starving in hopes of bringing the numbers down.
after a while of them all trying to get her to stop this and eat more, she became a vegetarian as if to say "HA, now i cant eat as much! what are you gonna do about it?"
she is well aware of this and other behaviors but feels as though there is nothing to be done. she has since found legitimate reasons for being vegetarian and only lately seems to have started turning back towards that mindset, which worries me.

i spoke with her about building muscle while burning fat, which would result in less of a loss and maybe a hjigher end weight than she hoped, BUT she would feel so much better, and LOOK so much better. her response was, i cant do that, i know thats a good way to go about it, but the NUMBER needs to be low.
she is so focused on that..

i really at this point want her to just eat healthy and start over for a time. get everything normalized again. and then get back into some sort of diet, but do it the best and healthiest way.

Ok, I take it back. She has an eating disorder.

Is there something in her life lately that is making her feel like she is no longer in control? Stress?