What am I doing wrong? Please help

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TXBelle1174
TXBelle1174 Posts: 615 Member
First of all let me tell you a little bit about my situation - I have PCOS with insulin resistance and I am hypothyroid. My endo put me on a low carb "diet". I am allowed 50 net carbs per day and he told me to keep it around 1500 calories. I have my diary set to 1550. Will someone please take a look at my diary and tell me what I am doing wrong? I lost 25lbs pretty quickly and now I am stuck. If I step outside my goal ranges for my food intake (calories and carbs mainly), I gain weight. This weekend, I was pretty bad with logging - I forgot to log dinner Friday night but I was within ranges that day. Saturday I celebrated Mother's Day and Sunday, I logged everything but was way over carbs. Please take a look and let me know where you might see any weak spots, etc. Thanks!

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  • shar140
    shar140 Posts: 1,158 Member
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    I am PCOS/IR as well...the one thing that stuck out to me, is the lack of veggies. I know that helps me - they fill me up! I do see some veggies, but you can always have more (I try to get 4-5+ servings a day). Unfortunately, I, too, have been falling short on my veggies lately.

    A couple other questions - how long have you been stuck, and what kind of exercise have you been doing? All I see are the calories logged for it.
  • ultrahush
    ultrahush Posts: 23 Member
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    You may want to try to limit your grain/bread intake. I find it pretty difficult to get to 50 carbs/day when I choose to not have any grains/flour-y things. Those things add up extremely quick and I personally don't find them to be very sustaining. Do you bake? I know there are recipes out there using almond and coconut flours that may be a good substitute for when you have those cravings. That being said, I completely understand how hard it is to suddenly have to change your lifestyle. Best of luck!
  • jelam913
    jelam913 Posts: 6 Member
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    If you are hypothyroid that can really make losing weight difficult. I would recommend getting a copy of your most recent TSH test. A lot of doctors will want to keep your TSH in the 3 -5 range, but I have found that is way too high. I find I don't really do well / feel good unless my TSH is under 1. I went to a bunch of different doctors until I found one who was willing to listen to how I feel instead of looking at the numbers on the test. As a result, he keeps me at a range where my TSH is close to 0. Once this happened, the pounds literally started to melt off and I had way more energy. I also recommend trying Armour Thyroid or one of the other natural thyroids instead of the synthetic. These still require a prescription, so you will have to work with your doctor.

    Feel free to friend me or contact me if you want to discuss. I have been hypothyroid for 10 years now and it doesn't have to be bad as long as you find a doctor you can work with.

    Sorry for the long post. Stepping down from soap box now. :)
  • TXBelle1174
    TXBelle1174 Posts: 615 Member
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    *I have been stuck for about 6 weeks. Not that I havent lost ANYTHING but I seem to lose and gain the same three lbs.
    *I do try to get in enough servings of veggies but know I am lacking in that area sometimes. I do try to eat a lot of fruit (berries)
    *As far as exercise goes - I dont do enough. I am so freakin exhausted during the week that once the kids go to bed, I straighten up a little and get things ready for the next day and then I crash. I do walk a couple of times per week. On the weekends - I ride a lot, work in the yard a lot and clean. They arent really conventional "exercise" but those things burn calories and they def give me a workout.
    *I dont eat a lot of bread and grains - they add up way too fast. I do have low carb tortillas and just found a great lavash bread that is low in carb and high in fiber and Omega 3's. I tend to save my carbs for fruit, veggies, and those carbs that are in the little bit of dairy I that I have, nuts, and nut butters. I LOVE baking with almond flour! I made a fabulous sugar free/low carb chocolate pudding pie (I use almond milk instead of regular milk and a little whipping cream) and the almond flour makes a great crust. I am looking for more recipes using almond flour but a little tiny bag is like $13.
    * My thyroid - is an issue in itself. I am right around 2.8 at present time but I am still displaying a lot of hypthyroid symptoms. I have multinodal goiter so my thyroid gives me a lot of issues. I am currently taking Levothyroxine. I am hoping my endo will let me try something else. I feel like I am getting closer to being where I need to be, but not quite there yet. When my endo first bumped up my dosage, I felt really good for about two months, then all of a sudden it was like it stopped working and that is right about the same time the weight loss started to stall out.

    I also think my protein levels were set too high. How come nobody tells you these things. They just tell you not to have more than XX carbs and send you on your way. They dont tell you that too much protein is not good for you either and that you need to have more fat in your diet. Ugh! Thanks everyone for your ideas!
  • hummingbirdxss
    hummingbirdxss Posts: 87 Member
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    Ok...looked at your diet diary. Hmmmmmmm

    I'm no expert but here's my opinion for what it's worth :

    Carrots ??? No no. very high in sugar. Try brocolli and cauliflower. Google "Faux Potatoes" they are amazing !!

    Salads ? Need more greens. Will help keep you full and with digestion.

    Stay away from low carb packaged foods such as Atkins shakes and bars. Although they are low carb, the are notorious for causing stalls.

    Hope this helps !!
  • cramernh
    cramernh Posts: 3,335 Member
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    Ok...looked at your diet diary. Hmmmmmmm

    I'm no expert but here's my opinion for what it's worth :

    Carrots ??? No no. very high in sugar. Try brocolli and cauliflower. Google "Faux Potatoes" they are amazing !!

    Salads ? Need more greens. Will help keep you full and with digestion.

    Stay away from low carb packaged foods such as Atkins shakes and bars. Although they are low carb, the are notorious for causing stalls.

    Hope this helps !!

    Im going to 'second' this reply..... You dont take in enough vegetables daily at all. Carrots are in fact creeping on the medium glycemic index - and too much of that will then become a high glycemic food.

    Dark leafy greens - give me a big honkin' huge salad of baby spinach, colorful peppers, broccoli florets, red onion thinly sliced, baby bella mushrooms, sliced almonds for the crunch-factor, cucumbers... ohhhhhhhhh its heavenly! Ill just do a little fresh squeezed lemon right on top, throw some freshly grilled chicken slices and some feta cheese crumbled...ohhh baby!!!!

    Those Joseph's low-carb bread products are great, but consider limiting them.... anything packaged/processed should still be limited.

    As far as your thyroid goes... you never mentioned the last time you had a TSH done so, you might want to consider discussing things with your Endo or PCP, or whomever is performing that on you for your medication. While the other poster recommended Armour, I would only 'ask' the physicians if that would be right for your individual situation. If it is, let them evaluate you to determine if its right for you....

    Embrace the rabbit food, just not the carrots so much... 8-)
  • busywaterbending
    busywaterbending Posts: 844 Member
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    hi mindy,

    I looked at your food diary and here's what I suggest:

    1 - you are not doing really good on the carb intake - you are keeping it low on some of your meals. However, your meals are all of very high GI (glycemic index) foods. Your insulin is spiking every meal. You are still sugar addicted. I suggest getting herbal supplements Fo-Ti and Gymnema in you . Get your carbs below 10g a meal for at least 40 days to kick your sugar addiction and yes, IT WILL BE HELL.

    2- when you are able, do not eat unless you are hungry. That will naturally and easily occur (I SWEAR!) once you are in fat burning mode and past your carbohydrate / sugar addition.

    3 - add more potassium, copper, magnesium, silica to your diet. MSM and folate, biotin are also excellent for your problems

    4 - breathe and do some wonderful exercises that oxygenate you and make you feel less stressed. That will drop your cortisol levels and help regulate your hormones. Mediate on happy and good things while you are out exercising.

    5 - Eat more raw dairy creams, cheeses, coconut oil, coconut milk. avacado, eggs, salmon, bass, baramundi, tilapia, chicken, beef liver, beef heart, for your EFAs and complete proteins. Start to make meals. Real meals from real foods. Get away from packaged snacks and easy premade stuff. If you have a grill, use it! Bake your foods, or microwave your foods. Keep it simple and fun.

    6 commit. That means no peanut butter (it is a pea not a nut!), no nuts, no veggies, no baking until you are in fat burning mode. Seriously. You need to go completely low carb. Right now you are not at all low carb. You do have some days where you have, so go for a full and solid month.
  • starrygirl82
    starrygirl82 Posts: 76 Member
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    bump
  • skinnyeascolady
    skinnyeascolady Posts: 287 Member
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    You may need to get your meds adjusted if you say you have lost already 25 pounds that maybe enough to change the doesage as most times it's adjusted by your weight. Some people when they are on to high a dose gain weight. Nothing worked for me until I go on the amour type med. dicuss it with your doctor take in info for him. there is alot of info on a sight called Stop the Thyroid Madness. It has been my life raft.

    I agree with one poster if you are using Atkins prepackaged bars or such stay away from them. If you are insulin resistant this will affect your sugar levels and keep you from losing weight it has me. So I stoped using them.

    Make sure you are drinking at least 10 8 oz glasses of water a day and that is the very least if you are low carbing. Watch the sugar levels in foods can be a problem.

    There is a tool in the reports where you can track different things in your foods weather it be carbs, sugas fiber etc. Take a close look at the days during the weeks you lost and compare with the weeks you didn't and find out what are the changes couls be maybe over a surtain carb level you stall instead of lose etc.