Need Help!!

Facelious

Hello my name is Steve, I'm new to these forums. Here's a little about myself, I'm a 24 year old male (6'3") and I am a fairly active person. I started dieting after I found out that I was 25 lbs over my usual weight! I weighed in at 245 lbs, and my target weight is around 220 lbs.

I chose a low carb diet from a referral. I did some research about it and I have a firm grasp on it but I still feel like there is something that I am missing. I lost 15 lbs in 2 weeks on a Ketogenic style diet paired with frequent exercise, and it was working great until I recently hit a plateau. I have been swaying back and forth around 230 lbs and I'm not sure why I am not still losing weight. I didn't lose any weight last week, and this week is turning out to be the exact same.

I moderate my carb intake to around 50-100g, and I eat lots of ketogenic approved foods. I don't really monitor my calorie intake but from my "myfitnesspal" app I am usually around 1200-1800 calories per day. I only drink water and occasionally milk (in small quantities). I feel sometimes I don't get enough water, but I'm usually around 8 glasses per day. My app tells me that I am usually about 1000 calories short of my "target" for each day, but sometimes I do reach my target (rarely). I completely ignore my diet on Saturdays, because I find it easier to diet when I give myself at least one day to cut loose. And Saturdays I like to drink alcohol, it sounds bad when I say that but hey I'm young and I like to have fun so I'm not going to stop!

My exercise is running on an elliptical for anywhere from 30-45 minutes 4 times per week (M,T,W,Th). My elliptical gives me a carb burn count and I usually aim to hit 100 carbs burned per day before I decide to go further or stop.

I'm not sure what I am doing wrong, but I think my weekends are hindering my progress. Anyone have any suggestions?

dangerxbadger

I would say that your weekends are definitely hindering your progress. It only takes a few screw ups to throw your body out of ketosis. Also, 100g seems like a lot. Are you following any specific diet plan? I know that on the Paleo, when cutting you're supposed to stick between 30-40 net, and on Atkins AFAIK it's the same. I personally stick to 20 net every single day, but that's due to a medical need from insulin resistance. I also have a hard time hitting my target calories, particularly if I exercise because it kills my appetite. However, not eating ENOUGH can also throw your metabolism out of whack, and that will change with the more muscle you build. I plateaued after losing about 17 lb, upped my calories by 150 and dropped 4 pounds the very next week. You really have to play with the numbers and find out what works best for you. I would also recommend starting a strength training program to increase your losses and avoid plateaus.

kristafb

Have you tried doing strength exercises as well? that might help. Also I agree the alcohol isn't helping.

Bill_from_Philly

Your initial weight loss was just water weight dropping, that always goes first. The closer you are to your goal the slower the weight loss will be too. Also, remember that while alcohol you're drinking might be low carb it still has to burn out out of the body before anything else will burn. I would try to up your water just a little, drop your net carbs down closer to 30 and just 1 weekend try no booze to see if that jump starts it again for you.

strawmama

While the cheat day and alcohol consumption isn't helping, neither is your calorie consumption. You need to eat MORE. With your activity level, you are way low on calories. To stay low-carb and add calories, eat some eggs, butter, mayonnaise, plain yogurt, and LOTS of meat.

Plus, if you opened your diary, we might be able to see if something else is hindering your progress

agatasz

I'm on Atkins (which is low carb as well). Im having max of 2-30g of carbs a day but i know what you mean.. Ive lost 12pounds and for the last week ive lost absolutely nothing It is so annoying...
Someone before said that your weekend eating is bad- do not agree. Ive been told to eat everything what i want ones every 7-14 days for the metabolism to speed up.
But I have the same problem with weight ...

Facelious

I don't have a specific meal plan that I follow. I just aim to keep my carb intake under 100g. I was told that was too big for ketosis so I am going to limit my carbs even further. From what I recall I was a lot stricter about my carbs when I first started. I kept my daily carb intake around 30-40g. But that was before I started exercising harder. I have a friend that is a nutritionalist and he recommended the same thing that all of you are saying... To limit my carbs further, and start strength training exercises. I have always been a muscle building type of guy. I followed a strict weight training regimen weekly. I thought the best way to lose weight would be to stop weight training and focus on diet and cardio. I was told to not do so much of muscle building exercises, but to stick to free weight exercises.

And to clear up any confusion, I was specifically told by my friend (the nutritionalist) that having a diet free day is recommended. Like agatasz said, it speeds up your metabolism. He did however say that alcohol is an extreme diet inhibitor.

So I'm going to hit my diet hard next week, continue my cardio, start strength training, drink more water, and not drink on Saturday. If that doesn't kick start my weight loss again then I will be back for more help! Thanks for all the input!

graysmom2005

You don't need to go lower than 100g if you don't want to. Super super low carb for me personally would be impossible to keep up long term. I agree that you need to eat MORE. You are a dude. Congrats...you can eat! LOL! The alcohol will kill you. Your body thinks alcohol is a toxin. A poison. It wants it GONE when you consume it. So it will metabolize alcohol before anything else...it doesn't care about burning fat at that point. If you are going to have a drink try and make it low carb...a clear liquor (usually) and club soda/diet coke etc. Good luck!

BeautifulVirgo

I'm on low carb too. I started at 60 carbs a day, then I hit a wall with my weight loss I drop my carbs to 25 to 30a day and in a week and loss 9 pounds. so try to lower your carbs.

kiramaniac

There's a pretty broad spectrum of low carb diets. It sounds like you're just trying to lower and moderate carbs. The 100g of carbs per day coupled with a cheat day allowed every week, is definitely a loose approach to low carb. On the other side of the spectrum, where it gets hardcore, is Keto and Atkins Induction - targeting 20g carbs or less per day; eating high fat and moderate protein; and focused on staying in ketosis. On this side of the spectrum, cheat days are reserved ONLY for a plateau situation, and even then, are approached cautiously.

You can definitely stay with what you're doing, but you won't see the same results as the hardcore low carb approach. My guess is that your nutritionist wants you to eat lower fat items with lean meats - more of a modified Standard American Diet, rather than true low carb. It doesn't look like you have a lot to lose (20 pounds?) so this approach may be good for you. Just set your expectations for slow and steady progress, and don't stress it if you don't see the number drop every week. It's not consistent though with how many of us approach low carb. If you want to try to accelerate your progress, lower those carbs, and increase your fats (keto standard targets are 65% fat, 30% protein, 5% carbs - with many people ramping their carbs up to 70% or higher).

My husband usually has alcohol on weekends, and this hasn't impacted him for staying in ketosis. He usually sticks with whiskey and diet coke (or straight bourbon). He often has 3-4 drinks on a weekend night, and has been OK.