There are so many factors that play into weight loss...not only food and water intake, but sleep cycles, medications (if I take ibuprofen, I hold water for 3-5 days after), changes in activity levels, monthly cycles, etc. Stay the course...the whoosh fairy will visit you eventually.

AreteAndWhimsy wrote: »

Budget is a huge concern here as well. Don't worry about specifically getting fatty meats, just add more straight fat. As I said elsewhere, I struggle with getting enough fat, and I finally just started drinking a cup of broth with a huge knob of butter in it whenever I knew I was going to be too light on fat for the day. Sodium and fat and yum. I've also started buying very inexpensive blocks of cheese and cutting them in to string-cheese sized snacks and just eating them. String cheese is just too expensive here even though I adore it. I don't really have any dairy sensitivities, so this is working for me. I also dip cold roast chicken into mayo, which is a treat I've enjoyed since I was a kid and packs a good dose of fat onto an otherwise leanish meat. There are a lot of other things out there, but these are the most inexpensive ones for me.

I was going to suggest adding butter to things. I also add sour cream, cheese, mayo, Ranch dressing, guacamole, and other fatty condiments to my meats. Because, frankly, I just don't like fatty cuts of meat.

SazzySuze wrote: »

Every week I lose 1-2 pounds and every weekend I gain it all back. I'm beginning to really hate weekends. I thought it was the restaurants we were going to so we stopped going out and started grilling on the weekends so I know for a fact what I'm eating and nothing is hiding in the sauce, so to speak. Still gained my weight back. So then I thought well maybe it's the alcohol that is ruining me. So yesterday not a drop of that lusciousness, either. And I still gained my weight back. Those were the two things I looked forward to on the weekends, eating out and alcohol. Now they are both gone and it's not helping. Wtf am I doing wrong? Yesterday I weighed all my food, logged it, etc. Was under my calories, under my carbs...all good things. And I still wake up to a pound gain which is what I averaged losing last week. I have been doing low carb for about a month but didn't start logging til a few weeks ago. I have no problem losing through the week but weekends somehow screw me over every time. I hate weekends now. I'm not even kidding. Feeling like I don't have much to look forward to, not even a permanent loss. Can anyone help me?

The other major thing I always ask is whether you're getting enough water. Most low carb "rules" suggest having 100 oz of water a day, but I prefer going by the weight rule. I think I read above that you weigh 165, so to calculate your water is 165 /2 = 82.5 ounces of water minimum daily. That is just under 10.5 glasses of water a day or if you drink "standard 16.9 oz water bottles," it is about 5 water bottles a day. Whether or not you drink the wine or anything else, your body needs this water to flush the toxins, burned fat, and such from your system. If you are consuming wine on the weekend, you should be drinking one additional ounce of water for each ounce of wine, so it would be your 82.5 ounces of water, plus for this example 12 oz of wine (a glass is 6 oz, right, so 2 glasses?), so 12 additional ounces of water, making that 94.5 ounces of water, about 12 glasses of water, or at little over 5.5 water bottles...

I know that aside from my problem with eating more dessert-y options than fat bombs on weekends later is killing my progress, that water gives me far more problems on weekends than the food. On a day I drink 40 oz. or more less than my goal, I can gain over a pound of water retention the next day. I work short days on Fridays, so if I do this 3 days in a row, I can retain 3-5 pounds just from not getting enough water!!! So please check into your water and see if that might help - because your wine may or may not be the problem - and when we are forced to give up the things we look forward to doing - it is harder to stay on our health plan. Another option might be to switch to spirits with unsweetened juice if your preferred wine is carby. Something like vodka with unsweetened cranberry juice or crystal light might be an option.

And if you are eating out and choosing your food options well, that should not be the problem, unless there are a lot of hidden carbs in preparations and sauces and such. Try to check out any restaurant's nutrition information online...