Agh! I've hit a plateau in weight loss.

Looking for encouragement, experience and your wisdom!

Can you tell us a little more? How long have you been plateaued? How are your blood glucose levels? What does a day or two of eating look like? Any new stress? Exercise?

I'm type 2 also. I'll help any way I can. I'm glad you reached out.

We'd be happy to help if you share more. You have been LC since 2006, on Dr. Bernstein's plan the whole time? Have you just re-started or changed plans for weight loss? A plateau is two months with no loss of weight or inches..have you been measuring too?

Thank you, Lorelai and Janet! Yes, I started the Dr. Bernstein plan about 6 years ago and lost weight and had 'normal' blood sugar, my best A1c of 5.5. Then about 3 years ago I was hit with hip bursitis and my daily exercise (walking and ET) was derailed. Had therapy and cortisone shots and slowly got back to exercising. Then, last year was hit with bursitis again and was on prednisone and more therapy - and during the past holidays I went off my food plan, so this all resulted in higher A1c results (6.1 and 6.3) and now am on metformin 500 mg/day.

I know the steroids raised the blood sugar while I was on them and going off the plan during Thanksgiving and Christmas along with no cardio all have contributed to this plateau and rise in blood sugar levels.

I'm back on the food plan but have been lazy with the exercise (I blame winter...).

I eat a lot of veggies (no carrots or potatoes) and a small piece of protein at lunch and dinner. Snacks are nuts or cheese sticks. Breakfast has been tricky. I was eating a low carb yogurt but even with about 8 gr carbs, I saw higher readings later in the morning, about 130 - so I think that needs to change.

In answer to your questions: I've plateaued for about 2 years. I haven't measured in inches but I do think I've lost an inch or two because of how my pants are fitting.

My doctor (who is new to us in the past year) referred me to a RD last month and she gave me handouts from the ADA - 45 gr. carbs per meal. I told her I've been doing low-carb but she said that was not healthy. Well, I did follow a meal suggestion three times and recorded blood sugar over 200 each time, so I'm taking these results to her this week. Not sure if I'm going to smack her or not but there's no way I'm going back to her.

Sigh.

While Dr. Bernstein's plan says you can eat nuts... I found myself... That they are so small and pack so much carbs, that I avoid them because I will take like 8-12 at a time. And you do that 4-5 times a day and it windes up being alot of carbs.

When doing his plan he is very specific about the type of carb. Not just the count of carbs.

I would question the low carb yogurt... You might want to read over his book again...

Here is an exerpt I qouted from his book, about artificial sweetners and the so called "low carb" or "sugar free" products..

Look for my post in this thread.

Yes, about the nuts! I eat about 10 of the mixed nuts a day. I cannot find any of the Splenda or Equal tablets in my supermarket and he's absolutely right about the stevia containing sugar. I have packets of PurVia whose first ingredient is dextrose and then stevia extract. One packet says "<1g" but I count it as one gram. In fact, all of the stevia products I've found are like this. I have not looked online for the other sweetener tablets, however. Does anyone recommend a good source?

My Albertson's just started carrying liquid forms of Stevia and Splenda. I believe these are dextrose free, and should truly be zero carbs. But then who knows...

You can get stevia, sucralose and monkfruit extract on Amazon in liquid form, the liquids in grocery stores sometimes have the sugar too so always read.

I get EZSweetz from Amazon.com or stevia glycerite (netrition.com). Neither contain bad fillers.

Maybe you should concentrate on losing the weight through diet instead of exercise? At least exercise that stresses your hip, increasing probability of another flare up of bursitis and another round of steroids.

Dr. B doesn't go for yogurt at all, I can't remember his instructions about nuts, but I found they are too high carb for me, not to mention being a trigger food.

What kind of veggies are you eating? Some non-starch green vegetables can be surprisingly high in carbs - tho it depends on amounts. I eat a lot of lettuce & other leafy greens - they are the only really safe veggies for me.

As far as I've been able to find out, ALL powdered low-calorie sweeteners have sugar to bulk them up. The only ones that don't are the liquid. Which is probably why I can drink diet sodas (with aspartame) just fine, but Splenda-sweetened goodies can set off cravings for me.

The other thing, is I found as I get closer to my weight. That intake of diary does matter... It can throw off my weightloss.

I make my own yogurt from thai kitchen full fat coconut cream and probiotics... You can find it in the recipe section under desserts I think or sweet treats...I posted it.

Once that is made I use Davinci's Raspberry (made from splenda) sugar free to give it sweetness and flavor.. I mix a little in with 3 ozs of the yogurt... And I really like it... that will give 100% fat plus 2.5 carbs and about 175 calories. Took me a long time to research and find a way to make coconut cream yogurt and what artifical sweetner to combine it with...

I also use the coconut yogurt to make revolution rolls and it turns out good!

Three things about that yogurt, 1. Milk can be "insulinogenic", a high insulin response even though little impact on BG 2. Gluten and casein share a similar amino acid sequence and 3. If you are talking about something highly processed like Carbmaster yogurt, it could be loaded with stabilizers and additives made with wheat.
Here is a long thread on dairy, but has many good links and discussions in it http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=450127

Why am I going on about this beside your BG? Wheat and Dairy can be inflammatory, and many people, including me, see resolution of joint pain with a wheat and dairy free diet. http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/category/joint-pain/
I had arthritis in the knees which went away in about a month, and bursitis in one hip that took much longer, but now haven't had any pain in almost three years. If you haven't read Wheat Belly, highly recommend it, also it has a list of the many names wheat hides under in processed foods.
Full disclosure..I also stopped doing yoga. Have a hip joint that genetically is more limited in range of motion than others, and opening the hip movement was more aggravating than helping.

Trader Joe's carries a liquid extract stevia, just a few drops, one drop can make the difference between sweet and yucky.

You should at least give the RD a piece of your mind. Have you heard about Diabetes-Warrior.net? Check out the diabetes forum too.

One other thought with Dr B. he says in his diabetic solutions book if you stall or aren't loosing weight. Look at your protein intake... because too much protien will have a similar affect like carbs.

Thanks to all of you for your replies! I went back to my Diabetes Solution and found that he says plain full-fat yogurt is ok and he gave an example of an 8 ounce container of Erivan (never heard of this) containing 11 grams of carbs (p. 155). I think my own blood sugar reaction to the artificially sweetened yogurt I've been eating for breakfast is the problem. Even though it has just 8 g. carb, it's been spiking my blood sugar up about 30 points. So, could it be the dairy as some of you say? I don't know but I stopped eating it this week.

I am concerned about calcium intake, though, which is why I was eating the yogurt, that and the probiotics. Lovinita, I will look into your recipe and see if I can make it.

I am trying to get back on a regular routine of stretching in order to avoid a recurrence of the bursitis. The last PT explained that stretching is vital and that's what I wasn't doing. That, and using the elliptical trainer the wrong way.