New here, not losing and frustrated

lsgmsu1

Hi! I am new to MFP but have been low carbing for about a month and grain free since January. The scale just isn't budging and I am getting so frustrated. I am also doing an email nutritional consult with Maria Mind Body Health. She had me on a week long pure protien plan and I've been eating only real foods. This week I have really tracked and eat around 30 carbs per day. She has me doing one pure protien day a week and I'm doing mine Mondays. My starting weight in January was 139.8 and since then I have been as low as 133 but I keep gaining and losing the same 6 lbs. I have tried supplements such as L-Cartenine, Zinc, HTP 5, fish oil, Vitamin B 12 and calcium. I take .1 mg of Synthroid. When I did pure protien I got down to 135.2 and have been stuck there for almost 2 weeks. This morning I was up to 136. I am doing everything right. I have only had 2 cheat days since January. I am about to give up. I am 4'10 and would like to be in the 120s. I just don't know why I can't lose. I'm ready to cry.

LowcarbNY

I lost 30 lbs on Atkins a decade ago but then went off the wagon and gained it all back over 3 years and then some more.
During that time restarted Low Carbing several times sometimes for months but could not repeat the great progress I had the 1st time nor the great feeling I had back then.

Recently, the start of May, I discovered LCHF (Low Carb High Fat) as being practiced in Sweden. Low car but focused on Real food. Was gradually adopting that and feeling good about it, not much weight change though, when I discovered Fast-5.
The story resonated with me (the same way reading the 1st chapter of Atkins New Diet Revolution did a decade or so ago).

Anyway, I combined Fast-5 with my LCHF limitations and WOW ! the results have been fantastic and I feel very good and positive about it, I've lost 15 lbs in 3 weeks, on my way to my goal of losing 50, getting back to wearing Medium Shirts and 34 inch pants, vs Large to Extra Large and 40" pants.

A few years ago when I heard about General Stanley McCristal had how he only eats once a day I thought "How Crazy is that?"
Don't get me wrong, I'm not comparing myself to the General or to his intense dive, conviction and commitment, but here I am limiting my eating to inside of a 5 hour window each day and getting to there was easier than I thought possible (indeed entill recently I thought doing something like that would be impossible.)

In the USA we have a lot of forces working against us. We have a food industry focused on enticing us to consume Junk Stacks. We have an the ADA, the USDA and even teh 1st Lady pushing High Carb, Low Fat and genetically modified grains.
Even many "low carb" foods in the US are fake foods with phony claims about the carb counts.

Corresponding with people from Europe has opened my eyes as to how poor our public policy on obesity really is in this country. It has been an abject failure and it sure has not worked for me. I'm doing 100% the opposite now and it is working great. Call me a food radical if you want.

Hope you can get on track, would be happy to be your friend. LowcarbNY

hummingbirdxss

Can you open up your diary so we can take a peek and maybe spot some "oops" areas ?

nstratton_1

For me, I've found that not only do I need to limit carbs, but I also must have an overall calorie/day goal (MFP helps alot with that) AND I need to be drinking plenty of water AND I need to increase my activity level (I use a FitBit to help me with that). For me, there is no such thing as a "free" food - I have to ruthlessly control my portion sizes for everything.

In the past I would often "plateau" - but now I know I was sabotaging myself by eating too many fat calories, not drinking water, or not being active enough to keep my "metabolism fire" burning. Since I've implemented the above things, I've consistently lost weight (9 weeks and counting...35 pounds lost so far).


Good luck.

lsgmsu1

Diary settings changed to public. I also changed my settings today and lowered my calorie intake by 200.

skinnyeascolady

I stalled for three weeks. My gains were usually caused by sugar. whatch for hidden sugar.

ZipperJJ

I took a quick look at your diary. From an Atkins standpoint (that is what I do and what I am familiar with) you are eating some stuff that would not be considered "induction friendly" that would not kick-start you into losing.

You're eating this banana cereal that I can't find the recipe for but unless it's imitation banana extract, protein powder and flax meal I can't think of anything that has real bananas and real grains that would be in the low glycemic range you'd be aiming for. You made another of Maria's recipes, a "shamrock shake" that has a lot of sugar alcohols and almond milk. It's not very induction-friendly either.

You've got strawberry lemonade on there which is 9g of carbs. Does it have real sugar in it or is it 9g of sugar alcohols? If it's real sugar/honey/nectar/corn syrup then get rid of it. Even if it's jut 9g of it, it's contrary to low carb. Same deal with the chocolate you're eating - I can't tell if it's sugar alcohols or sugar. If it's actual sugar, switch to something else for your chocolate fix.

I see you made salad dressing with honey, yet it has no carbs listed. How does that work? Honey is 100% carbs. Are you sure you're putting in your recipes right?

From my perspective (again, and Atkins perspective) you need to do a couple weeks of very clean eating and give up some of the "treats" for now. Just for now. Confirm that they are low glycemic and then add them back in later after you've gotten the weight loss ball rolling.

Meats, low-starch veggies (lettuces, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, tomato, asparagus), eggs, cheese. If you must have sweet (and we all do!) mix Splenda with cream cheese.

Don't watch calories for the first couple weeks, just eat until you're full. Make sure you get ENOUGH calories. Drink tons of water. Get moving.

If you don't want to change what you're eating, because of that the nutritionist says, then ok. Drink more water and exercise more. Log your water and exercise - it helps!

lsgmsu1

A lot of my log I did close fits because I didn't have the actual recipe. I have been using Swerve and Xylitol as sweeteners. The Shamrock Shake is just avocado, cream cheese, natural artificial sweetener, Jay Robb whey protien powder (2 carbs), unsweetened almond milk and ice cubes (the conversions to calculate recipes on MPF are very tricky). The salad dressing is a local brand, no honey but it matched close enough for tracking-it's ingredients are olive oil, lemon juice and mediterranean spices. The cereal is actually another close one that wasn't in the database, that was Jay Robb protien powder, almond flour and almond butter (again figuring out conversions, such as how many tsp = a cup was too difficult). Maria Emmerich puts the cereal at 7.5 carbs per cup and I have about 1/2 a cup so around 4 carbs. The lemonade is just crushed ice, strawberry tea bag, Swerve and the juice of 1 lemon.

SRH7

If you can't find an exact fit for the food you are eating it would be worth inputting them on to the database (anyone can add new items and recipes - have a look at the tabs on the Food section). That way you can be absolutely certain what you are eating.

Also, I'm not sure what weight you are or what you want to lose, but how have you calculated your daily calorie intake? MFP usually sets it too low and it may be that you need to alter it. Setting calorie intake at my BMR then eating back 50% of exercise calories has helped me break a plateau.

Also, MFP usually massively overcalculates exercise calories, so unless you are logging using a heart rate monitor, I'd be very cautious about believing how many extra calories you have 'earned'.

In terms of low carbing, I'm not familiar with the plan you are doing but I do know that when I introduce processed foods (even low carb shakes and bars) my weight loss stops. It might be worth considering buying one of the Atkins books and switching to completely fresh food (so instead of cereal and processed meats, having flaxmeal porridge and grilled chicken etc).

Hope you manage to find an answer.

Chokis

Here's something that just stands out:

1. Ditch that Banana something cereal, just don't eat it. There are so many alternatives of a healthy breakfast! Why eat that fake stuff?
2. Strawberry lemonade? 9 grams of sugar! OMG! Throw it out!
3. I see very, very little veggies in your food diary. You have to eat more veggies, preferably with every meal!
4. Dark chocolate - leave it until you lose all the weight. Right now it's a luxury. Sorry.
5. I don't see any eggs. Are you allergic to them? I highly recommend adding eggs. They are full of nutrients, protein, fats, etc.

lsgmsu1

Do not like eggs. And the lemonade was made with Swerve, which is a zero calorie, low carb sweetener. My nutritionist had me on a pure protien plan for a week and then 1 day a week for a while. When not doing pure protien, I have a lot more veggies.