Has anyone tried a low carb diet and it has not really worke

malejo01
malejo01 Posts: 6
edited September 28 in Food and Nutrition
It may be my fault but I was hoping for better results. I started last Wednesday and I did loose 2 lbs in 7 days...I was hoping for more. However I gained 6 oz from yesterday till today. I think yesterday was my fault...I had some cherries and then a handful of popcorn at night. Can someone tell me what I am doing wrong. Here is what I usually eat...
Breakfast:
one serving of cereal or low sugar oatmeal with unsweetened soy milk
Lunch:
2 egg omelet with veggies (spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms)
Sugar free pudding

Dinner: Chicken breast with salad

I am eating around 1200-1300 calories and exercising. Since I have no clue what to eat for snacks I usually just eat my calories during my meals...I drink tea and water in between. Oh not sure if this is bad but I do drink diet soda with meals.

Replies

  • lisology
    lisology Posts: 6
    how about some baby carrots to snack on? or some fruit :)
    when i was going to the nutriologist he recomended to not eat the middle part of the eggs haha cant remember the name tho :/
    Good luck :)
  • DonnaLFitz
    DonnaLFitz Posts: 270 Member
    Oatmeal isn't low carb. It's considered a "good" carb, but still it is a starch.
    Replace that with your omelet in the morning.
    Eat lean chicken, turkey, or fish for lunch and dinner.
    Reduce tomatoes -- they have sugar.
    Stick with veggies that are low-sugar: broccoli, green beans, onions, squash, celery, spinach, lettuce, asparagus. No beans.

    When you are on low-carb, you're only allowed about 45g of carbs per day -- that isn't much. Milk and yogurt don't fit (they have milk sugars-- lots of them).

    Hard cheese, lean meats, poultry, and fish work, cleansing vegetables.

    For the initial phase, no fruit or juice.
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
    2 lbs per week is good. You shouldn't expect to be losing 5-7 lbs per week or anything like that. It's a slow process.

    I'm also on low carb with high protein, and I've been at a steady 2lbs per week rate for the last 5 weeks. I don't eat any rice or rice products or potato products. I also don't eat any pasta. I do eat some breads, but only whole wheat and only 1-2 servings max per day of the lightest bread I can find. I also watch my sugar intake and try to keep that to a minimum as well. I fill in my calories with veggies and a lot of meats (lean mostly). Usually, my carbs are under 70 but over 20 and my proteins are 70-80, all natural (no protein supplements). Sofar so good.

    Remember you didn't gain this weight overnight, so don't expect it to come off overnight.
  • meganc813
    meganc813 Posts: 5
    A few suggestions, First, I would suggest is to stop doing your low carb diet. Your body needs carbs to function. If it doesn't get enough, it slows you down.

    If youre trying to keep your calories between 12-1300, try looking at the lifestyle of "eating clean" You can google Clean Eating Magazine. Or even Tosca Reno (she pretty much founded the "diet") THen again, I wouldnt call it a diet, because i havent really eliminated anything from my diet. If i want pizza, I have pizza if I want chocolate cake, I have chocolate cake. (but all made according to the clean rules of eating!)

    Sometimes, if your body is in working mode, and you are not eating enough, your body will store what you have consumed for fear of not knowing when its going to get fed again! Try eating every 2-3 hours. I find it helps the best! I start eating at 8am when I wake up, and continue eating every 2-3 horus untill I go to bed. (i usually stop around 9, or 2 hours before i plan on going to sleep!)

    you want to eat your carbs in the morning, but HEALTHY carbs. Like old fashioned oats, or Ezekiel bread! i usually taper off my "carbs" between 2-3pm. taking in my last dose of carbs about an hour before I work out!

    Try eating Higher protein snacks/meals. Like instead of eating a regular yogurt, switch to Greek style. It has almost double the protein (and protein keeps you fuller longer)

    I try to pair every protein with a vegetable or fruit.

    Good luck! and HOPE that helped!!!
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    2 lbs a week is about the max you should aim for - less if you dont have much to lose.

    The diet soda wont be helping.

    Give it a bit longer - at least a month - before deciding whether its working or not.

    Your food intake looks not too bad (apart from the soda) - try for protein based snacks such as cheese, nuts, a hard boiled egg (the yolk is good for you, even though it's where the calories are!), humous and carrots etc.
  • kaytedawg05
    kaytedawg05 Posts: 209
    2 lb in a week is rockin! that' is just what u should expect... because low carb life style allows for muscle growth, sometimes u might even find an increase in weight... but decrease in clothing size...
  • meggonkgonk
    meggonkgonk Posts: 2,066 Member
    I'm not going to lie, it doesnt sound like you are eating enough. At all.

    I'm going to throw out some likely unwanted advice and tell you that 1lb a week is a generally safe and healthy pace. 2lbs a week is the maximum safe pace, but even that is stretching it unless you are quite overweight.

    Take a little mental downtime and readjust your expectations and try to come up with a diet plan has variety and plenty and works for you, as in you can see yourself eating like that long term. Slow seems like it sucks, I know, but I've found people are exponentially happier setting realistic diet and weightloss goals rather than eating like a bird and working out like a beast.

    Best of luck on your journey.
  • SMJohnson27
    SMJohnson27 Posts: 146 Member
    I would eliminate the cereal and oatmeal and soda and see how that works. 2 pounds a week is great. I have been low-carb for several months and usually lose 0.5-1.0/week. And some weeks lose several inches and no loss on the scale. Here is an idea of what I eat some days.

    Breakfast- 3-4 whole eggs (scrambled in coconut oil or bacon grease w/ salsa or hard-boiled), with 2-3 slices of bacon. Or a fritatta made with bacon, ham, onion, green peppers, mushrooms, broccoli and cheese and a couple slices of bacon.

    a.m. snack- cottage cheese

    Lunch-giant lettuce/spinach salad topped with meat (ham, turkey, bacon, or chicken-usually two of these), feta cheese, 2 slices strawberries, 8 grapes-halved, tomato, balsamic vinagrette dressing

    p.m. snack- can of tuna with 1 tsp mayo and 1 tsp mustard

    dinner-endless possibilities of meat and veggie recipes. I don't eat pasta, bread, rice or white potatoes. I only have sweet potatoes maybe once every three weeks (mashed or fries).

    Make sure you find a lot of different recipes and new low carb ways to make the foods you love. And give it some time. I agree- you didn't put the weight on overnight, so don't expect it to come off overnight. But, Low-carb is more of a permanent lifestyle change, not for quick weightloss and then stop. If you are not fully committed to doing this forever, you will gain the weight back when you stop.
  • DonnaLFitz
    DonnaLFitz Posts: 270 Member
    2 lbs per week is good. You shouldn't expect to be losing 5-7 lbs per week or anything like that. It's a slow process.

    I'm also on low carb with high protein, and I've been at a steady 2lbs per week rate for the last 5 weeks. I don't eat any rice or rice products or potato products. I also don't eat any pasta. I do eat some breads, but only whole wheat and only 1-2 servings max per day of the lightest bread I can find. I also watch my sugar intake and try to keep that to a minimum as well. I fill in my calories with veggies and a lot of meats (lean mostly). Usually, my carbs are under 70 but over 20 and my proteins are 70-80, all natural (no protein supplements). Sofar so good.

    Remember you didn't gain this weight overnight, so don't expect it to come off overnight.

    Vegetables are carbs. Starches are NOT necessary. Your body will pull energy from fat when starches and simple sugars are not available... and that is the point of the low-carb (not NO carb) diet.
  • malejo01
    malejo01 Posts: 6
    Thank you...I got some good ideas.
    :( I love my diet soda...its like my desert...but I will give it up and see what happens.
    I always thought calories in calories out...carb or no carb...I am going on vacation in 13 days and would of loved to have lost 5 lbs. But that does not look like it will happen.
    It looks like I have to pick a plan and stick with it for the rest of my life. I love to eat and that is my problem....especially on vacation lol.
  • TK421NotAtPost
    TK421NotAtPost Posts: 512 Member
    However I gained 6 oz from yesterday till today.

    There will always be minor variations in weight from day to day...most of it involving water-weight. It's possible that you took in slightly more sodium that day (like perhaps the handful of popcorn?). I wouldn't fret over 6 ounces.

    But I agree with some of the other posters. The diet you described doesn't resemble anything close to a low carb diet.
  • amyradelle
    amyradelle Posts: 20
    Be careful with low carb diets, yeah yeah yeah. They work so fast, but the moment you start eating carbs again you will gain most of that weight back. The "weight loss" is from losing water retention, you do lose fat as well. You would be better off changing your entire eating program and just stick with that instead of always changing diets.:smile:
  • robertf57
    robertf57 Posts: 560 Member
    Quite frankly, I don't see that you are doing a lowcarb diet. Perhaps uoushould adopt a specific plan and follow it!
  • mapexdrummer69
    mapexdrummer69 Posts: 445
    Low or restricted carb diets yield no special or accelerated effect on long term weight loss.


    When it comes to losing weight, it's all about energy balance, calories taken in vs. calories burned.
  • robertf57
    robertf57 Posts: 560 Member
    Low or restricted carb diets yield no special or accelerated effect on long term weight loss.


    When it comes to losing weight, it's all about energy balance, calories taken in vs. calories burned.

    There is mounting evidence from controlled trials to refute this blanket statement. I suggest you read the A to Z diet study publish in JAMA (the Journal of the American Medical Association" in February of this year and the European "Diogenes" study published in the New England Journal Of Medicine on November 25, 2010 as just two very recent examples. I do agree that in the long term, it is calorie in vs calories out. But, the macronutritient choices can have an impact on weight loss and maintenance.

    What I think the data DOES allow to be said is that individuals are all different. Personal preference and social norms will impact whether a specific eating style is successful for a given individual. . But you can't call a low carb diet un-successful if you didn't do a low carb diet.
  • mapexdrummer69
    mapexdrummer69 Posts: 445
    Please post a link to the studies.



    And I never stated that a low-carb diet wouldn't yield results. I just stated that those results would not be any different, in the long term, over an isocaloric diet.
  • l3ugjuice
    l3ugjuice Posts: 233
    Your weight is going to fluctuate naturally, sometimes significantly. I would not fret too much over any one day (or even one week) period. Weight loss is a long process.

    That said: I'm not touching the whole 'low carb: GOOD vs low carb: BAD' argument. Go grab some popcorn to see what becomes of this thread once the more militant low-carbers get wind of it =/
  • robertf57
    robertf57 Posts: 560 Member
    Please post a link to the studies.



    And I never stated that a low-carb diet wouldn't yield results. I just stated that those results would not be any different, in the long term, over an isocaloric diet.

    A to Z http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17341711
    DIOgenese http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21105792

    In the A to Z trial there was no significant difference in the caloric consumption in any of the 4 diet groups at any time point in the study More importantly, this was a real world application of the diets. Not people cooped up in a metabolic ward; just real folks following a diet as instructed. The low carb group had the greatest weight loss and the best metabolic profile.

    With that said, every person is an individual and personal preferences and social norms with have a big impact on whether a specific eating style is successful for a particular individual.
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