Went low carb, gained 4 pounds

I tried that too and my body didn't like all the extra meat I was eating. I saw keep your carbs low but manily eat veggies, fruits and more fish then red meat or chicken.

In my opinion your sodium levels are really high.. you may be retaining water, especially if you aren't drinking enough water to offset the sodium levels. CDC recommends 2300mg/day and MFP sets theirs at 2500mg. I set mine at 2000mg and try not to go over too much.

I agree with this and the sodium... I had a peak at your diary too and it doesn't show the 50g of carbs the last few days? Unless you did it a different time?

Nearly everyone can lose weight eating a balanced diet instead of severely restricting one thing. Did you try that first?

Edit: Sorry, yes you did. Are you sure you were measuring and weighing everything, not guesstimating portion sizes, things like that?

It takes your body a while to adapt to low carb eating, try and remember that. You need to give your body a few weeks to adapt. But I do agree with everyone else that says keep that sodium in check!! You could easily be retaining 4lbs of water!

Cuz a good chunk of the time you're eating insane amounts of salt?

Do you have a medical condition?

Your sodium is too high. You are most likely retaining water.

Agree on the sodium. Also, your coconut water does not have fiber and has almost 30/g carbs. I'd drop that right away.

Water retention. The end.

low carb can result in very high sodium if you're not careful of that. might need to change the sources of your protein (i.e. cut back on the bacon and jerky, fresh fish instead of canned tuna, soups can be killer as well.) keep your water intake high and make sure you're getting enough veg and good fats.

So 5 days ago I started a low carb (50g) per day plan, as the last 7 months of working out and watching my calories has resulted in no scale change, or even body change. 10 years ago I lost 180lb on a low carb diet so I thought I'd try that route again.

Day 5 is here and I am up 4lb without having changed anything else, and while keeping my calories at a deficit.

Can anyone tell me why this might be?

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, hormones, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You cannot make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

To say eat more is wrong.

To say eat less is wrong.

To find the exact calories needed for YOU to be in a healthy sustainable calorie deficit is the right answer. Wait, if you need to adjust by 100 do it, wait, adjust, wait, adjust wait. The tortoise wins this race.

All that matters is calories. Not carbs. Of course carbs can keep your calories high, but so can protein. You just need enough protein, not extra. You just need enough carbs, not extra. Carbs are not bad. A healthy balanced diet within a calorie budget for a deficit that is right for YOU is all that matters for weight loss. Don't make it so complicated.

Some people can eat at a big calorie deficit and some people can't. Everyone is different. Even a small calorie deficit puts your body in a state of flux with hormones as such, add a new workout routine, and those will make more spikes. This is a huge waiting game and requires much patience. Add in emotional eating issues and then you have more complications.

Also people play mental accounting games with calories just like with finances. Make steps to make sure you are making accurate measurements. Packaged foods can have MORE than they say but not less (they get in trouble if less so they would rather error with MORE).

If you typically intake sodium and a certain rate your body adjusts, but if you make a sudden change then you will see a spike.

Exercise is for making your lean body mass pretty (especially lifting weights) for when the fat is gone. Losing fat with no muscle is ugly and cardio alone will not make you pretty. You can not out exercise too many calories.

What is the exact number of calories for you?

We’ve been trying to figure out an exact NUMBER of calories that everyone should be eating, without recognizing that everyone is slightly different. In truth, the calories aren’t the end game. Your body is. So the EXACT amount of Calories that are right for you is the EXACT amount that will allow you to maintain your ideal bodyweight no matter what some calculator or chart says.

In other words, an online calculator might tell you that you need to eat 2,500 calories
per day to maintain your ideal bodyweight. But the only way to know for sure if this is
the right amount for you is to test it out. If you gain weight or can’t lose weight eating
that much, then you know you need to eat less to lose weight no matter how many
calculators and text books say otherwise.

This doesn’t mean your metabolism is broken, it just means the estimate of your needs
was just a bit off.

-John Barban (The Body Centric Calorie Guide from the Venus Index and Adonis Index Manuals)

The good thing is you don't have to worry about the starvation mode myth if you are fat. Only skinny people have to worry about starvation mode. It does not mean you have the capability to eat at a large calorie deficit if you have emotional eating disorders or other issues going on, but at least you don't have to be afraid of it anymore.

The Theory of Fat Availability:
•There is a set amount of fat that can be released from a fat cell.
•The more fat you have, the more fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•The less fat you have, the less fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•Towards the end of a transformation, when body fat is extremely low you
may not have enough fat to handle a large caloric deficit anymore.

At the extreme low end, when your body fat cannot ‘keep up’ with the energy deficit
you've imposed on your body, the energy MUST come from SOMEWHERE. This is
when you are at risk of losing lean body mass during dieting (commonly referred to
as ‘starvation mode’). This happens at extremely low levels of body fat, under 6% in
men and 12% in women [Friedl K.E. J Appl Phsiol, 1994].

-Brad Pilon and John Barban (from The Reverse Taper Diet in The Adonis Index and Venus Index manuals)

Short answer: your doing it wrong. Longer answer: what exact type of low carb diet are you trying to go on? Or are you just guessing if you lower your carbs and don't adjust anything else that you'll lose weight? Because that's not how it works at all. I'm on a keto diet (one of many forms of low carb). Keto diet is low carb, high fat, moderate protein. You can't just lower your carbs and not replace that energy source else where. From what I can see you have lowered your carbs, but you still have low fat, and moderate protein....You also eat ALOT of sugar, no one on a real low carb diet would consume as much sugar as your diary is reflecting. And I saw above you are counting net carb (carb-fiber) that's fine but if all your carbs are simple and not complex I really fail to see the point. Please do your research before you jump on the band wagon and give low carb a bad name because I've seen too many threads like yours "I went low carb for only a week and did no research, and am just calling it low carb without actually knowing what I'm doing isn't low carb, and I'm completely shocked it's not working".

Agree with others - you should plan on two weeks minimum to adjust, and you need to be strict. NO CHEATING if you want your body in nutritional ketosis. I think your sugar is too high, causing insulin spikes. I'm okay with the higher sodium. Be sure you're drinking 64 oz water per day minimum. Your protein sounds about right. I was having trouble for a while and for me I had to stop all alcohol (I like wine, but apparently it had enough sugars to get me out of balance). I figure I'll add it back in when I reach my goal

I recently plateaued with a low-carb diet and P90x. Just wasn't losing anything and couldn't seem to add muscle. After reading "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance" I've tweaked my plan to this:
75% good fats (55% Mono, 20% Poly, 25% Saturated)
20% protein (.6-1.0 x body weight)
5% carbs (and going for 20g of sugars or less)

I started stronglifts 5x5 about a month ago. I wanted to find a low carb program since popular culture seems to say you should carb load before and/or after lifting which I didn't want to do. The past couple of weeks have been fantastic. More energy, lifting more weight every session, Better sleep, and more energy in the morning.

Best of luck!

So 5 days ago I started a low carb (50g) per day plan, as the last 7 months of working out and watching my calories has resulted in no scale change, or even body change. 10 years ago I lost 180lb on a low carb diet so I thought I'd try that route again.

Day 5 is here and I am up 4lb without having changed anything else, and while keeping my calories at a deficit.

Can anyone tell me why this might be?

I think you might just need to give your body time to adjust. Any change in diet can do that. Do you get in a good amount of water? I found when I changed my cals to higher setting, I didn't gain, so I contributed some of that to my large consumption of water lol I do low carb, but not that low, like around 130, but netting below with fiber taken out. I really just think it is an adjustment period. I think if you stick with it, it should start going down