midwesterner85 wrote: »

So for most of the first month, I lost about 2 lbs./week (according to trendweight). Then my losses dropped off sharply over the past 1-2 weeks to now being at 0.8 lbs/week. I was so happy and now I'm getting discouraged. I realize this is somewhat normal, but I really need to keep losing.

Prior to going low carb, I was at a deficit based on the MFP calculators for 1 lb./week but I wasn't really losing any weight with that calorie range. My experiences thus far over the past 2+ years with MFP is that I'll lose at times and not lose at other times. I've had some really long plateaus (5+ months) followed by large whooshes as well... just experiences that most MFP users don't understand.

What do I do now to prevent my loss from going any further below 0.8 lbs./week?

Edit: I've been doing low carb for just over a month, been trying to lose weight since 1/1/14.

I understand the desire to keep weight loss rate steady. But, that's an impossibility. We are taught to believe that weight loss is a mathematical equation that we can completely control. That is just not the case.
You are still losing. So the first bolded comment is not an actual concern. It's your frustration speaking. It's your disappointment speaking. You are still losing. You have not stopped. You are still completely on the right path to your goal. Give yourself some credit and don't let a slow down in rate make you think you're doing something wrong. Could each of us do something slightly better for our goals? Probably. Is attaining perfection in your plan necessary to reach the goal. Absolutely not. Can striving for perfection and trying to achieve a certain weekly or monthly loss rate actually hinder our success in achieving it. Absolutely. The best thing anyone can do when hitting this inevitable feeling of disappointment and frustration in not getting the result we want when we want it, is not stress about it. Progress is being made. We always want more than what we have. We're human. That's a good quality that drives us to succeed. But, if it causes too much stress or worse, causes us to give up because we decide "it's not working anyway" just because its not working the way we envisioned... That's a travesty.

Your body has multiple health concerns right? Probably lots of unknown healing going on in there that you didn't even know was an issue. When healing is needed and the resources (energy... Calories from compatible food) is provided, it can do what it needs to do. And if the body holds on to fat or even gains fat because it needs the security of it while healing is done, then progress is being made. With health comes fat loss. I know we believe that with fat loss comes health. But I just don't believe that's true at all.

It's hard to be patient because we "plan" how to achieve our goals. But the body has its own plans.

Get out of your head about it. It's like the stock market: fluctuations happen but the general trend is upward.
It's all about the trendline ... if it's trending down, you're doing good.

Stop looking at scales, math, trends.

You are not a stock index, you are a human being.

You can control eating right, focus on that. Numbers are NOT in your control!

Sunny_Bunny had an amazing post and your response was "Yeah but...". Your challenge is mental and emotional and wanting to control what you can't control, your challenge is NOT weight loss trends!

You are being robbed of joy in the great accomplishment that is, by looking at that which is not, and it WILL derail you!

Ask me how I know....

I'm not meaning to be glib here. The "keep calm and keto on" slogan has been really meaningful for me in times when it looks like things are slowing down. I just keep doing the things I committed to doing as part of my LCHF plan and then I focus on other areas of my life for awhile, trusting that everything will turn out fine with the scale later. I've been at it for just over 3 months and it's gotten me through 2-3 minor slowdowns.

I'm glad you are sharing your frustrations here, I wish I had done that last June. I was within 6 lbs of goal and felt like I was doing EVERYTHING right but when the scale didn't reflect my hard work, I let my negative self-talk derail my efforts. I went way out of ketosis & LCHF and had food party that lasted all summer.

Do you know when I picked my goal weight? January 3, 1993! Some of you were not even alive then!

Happy to report that I'm finally at goal, but it's taken patience and a lot of learning. I also broke up with the scale for MONTHS at a time, which was very helpful.

@Sunny_Bunny_ wrote a post about being on a stall, and I hope you can find it - it's really worth reading.

Eat what you know is right, exercise, and the numbers will follow. I PROMISE.

I've been on a diet since I was 7 years old and 60 lbs, so I know how this works. Yet I'm still learning, and it's mostly mental at this point. I was my own worst enemy for years. Catch yourself now and read these posts & have patience.

I saw in another thread that you're having quest bars for breakfast at least sometimes. Try switching those out. Have a fat/protein (veg) breakfast for a few weeks, with no quest bars or the like. See what happens.

Not sure what specifically could be stalling you, but stay strong! From personal experience, I had a few stalls. Keto didn't work as well for me for weight loss (getting off those last few stubborn pounds) until I cut out processed foods: especially diet sodas, artificial sweeteners, Atkins shakes/candy, etc.

I don't care what the Atkins candies say about "net carbs," I checked my blood glucose before and after consumption and it shot from 70 to over 140! I don't trust sugar alcohols. Now maybe not all of these are created equal, but for me personally, when I acculturate my taste to frequent sweetness, it increases my appetite and promotes overeating of even ketogenic foods.

Additionally, I avoid processed oils, like seed oils, which you do see frequently in low carb processed foods. I'm not sure if this makes a big difference in weight loss, but it at least helps lower inflammation by helping me balance my omega 3 to omega 6 ratio. Plus I have seen research that links excessive omega 6 to obesity in animal studies.

Lastly, have you ever tried intermittent fasting? I also started doing this naturally. I don't usually get hungry until about 3pm and then eat until about 6pm. I think this practice has made a big difference in boosting my metabolism and suppressing my appetite.

These might be the last few tools that pushed me over the edge. Now I have found myself thinner than I've ever been. Not sure if I could loose anymore weight. I haven't really been exercising at all, just working and keeping up with 4 kids. However, I feel muscular, or at least I can see more muscle definition for no good reason, lol.

Some people don't do well with artificial sweeteners and sugar alcohols which Quest bars have in abundance. Also the satiety/nutrition/calorie ratio may not be the best for long term health.

I'm new to lchf and this post is so helpful. I thought with my new way of life weight would be falling off and it's a slow go. I feel great though. Now that I know I'm not the only one, this definitely keeps me from throwing in the towel. I thank all of you for that.

midwesterner85 wrote: »

Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »

I saw in another thread that you're having quest bars for breakfast at least sometimes. Try switching those out. Have a fat/protein (veg) breakfast for a few weeks, with no quest bars or the like. See what happens.

It's an idea... would you share what you are thinking, though? Are you suggesting lower fiber? I'm not sure if I understand what that could accomplish.

I'm not suggesting lower fiber, ever.
I am suggesting that some people stall when they eat sugar alcohols etc.
I have known people to stall from eating quest bars.
Your post said you were having quest products for both breakfast and lunch. That might be part of why your losses are slowing. Mix things up and see what happens.

midwesterner85 wrote: »

Right, so about sugar alcohols... while many companies argue they are not to be counted in net carbs, most of us type 1's calculate at least something for them in our bolus calculation because a portion (not all) are still absorbed and digested as carbs. So about 50% of them are carbs.

@aqsylvester Long before trying low carb, I tried a version of IF that had me at 500 calories every other day and as much as satisfied me on alternating days. Apparently, there were some things I later discovered I misunderstood about this diet (such as every other day should have been 600 calories for men, 500 was for women). The reason for trying that diet is that I had stopped losing weight for months, despite eating at a deficit. I had felt like I was starving for almost a year at that point, and it was acceptable to be hungry if I was getting some losses. But I wasn't getting any losses any more. Someone suggested this diet so I didn't feel like I was starving at least every other day. The problem is that I have an insatiable appetite, so I would eat 10K calories every other day and that wasn't at a deficit. I did this for 6 weeks, but didn't gain because I was in a plateau. My day-to-day fluctuations became larger, but centered around the same base weight. So it just didn't work (but I didn't expect it to). A couple months after I stopped and returned to a normal daily deficit, I had a whoosh - so 5 months of a plateau and ended up losing about 7-8 lbs. at the end.

@midwesterner85 I don't know what diet that is, but with intermittent fasting with a LCHFMP dietary plan, you still eat all or most of your calories every single day. You just only eat during certain time windows or stretch the distance between meals to give your body a break from constant insulin. With you being a double diabetic, I don't know how that would work...like at all. But I would imagine that once you figure out the logistics of how to balance the insulin with the eating windows/fasting windows, it would be good for your body, too.

midwesterner85 wrote: »

So it sounds like the suggestion is to try cutting out sugar alcohols. I'll admit it is tough because Quest bars are a nice portable low carb meal, and I'm always on the go. I'll try replacing that with cured meat sticks, jerky, cheese (to some extent, refrigeration could be an issue here), and nuts.

Cheese will get a bit greasy (if it is warm out) - but will not go bad in a single day. There are also cheeses that are designed to be portable. Mini-baby bells, for example. Eat cheeses and nuts during the day and have a giant salad and a real meal when you're back home.

As much as I resent the time eating now takes, my health is important enough to me that I am figuring out how to make it work with a minimum of processed foods. If you are starving and are overeating because you are constantly hungry, you need to include something that satiates you - for most people eating a ketogenic diet that is fat. For some it is protein.

A ketogenic diet is not a magic weight loss pill - it largely works because feeling full/satiated helps reduce the amount of food you put in your mouth (and the need to have a 10,000 calorie day every other day). If all you have done on this diet is substitute Quest bars, without increasing your fat content, you are likely still eating close to the same number of calories as you did before and are continuing to put the same quantity of energy into your body will keep you at roughly the same weight.

At a minimum, I'd suggest that you closely track your calories to see if that may be the issue.

I think everyone else has made really great points. I'm going to ask the obvious, have you recalculated your macros since your initial loss? If you lost a goodly amount of weight, you may want to check the keto calculator and see if it suggests a change.

I do understand the mental game for sure. Those initial quick losses are addicting but like the others have said, you have to shift your mindset or you'll get unnecessarily frustrated.