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  #1   ^
Old Thu, Jan-23-20, 07:59
W33blegurl W33blegurl is offline
Registered Member
Posts: 60
 
Plan: IPD/general low card
Stats: 202/196/140 Female 5' 3''
BF:
Progress: 10%
Location: London, UK
Default Help needed - no losses

I’ve been on a low carb way of eating for three weeks now. This is not my first low-carb rodeo and I’ve successfully lost weight previously doing this. However, this time I lost the usual whoosh of water weight in the first week (5lb, great!) but not a thing since. My measurements are also static. Where am I going wrong?? I know this is a marathon and not a sprint – I have around 4st to lose but I’m a bit flummoxed by the lack of loss.

As an example, this is what I’ve eaten the last couple of days:
B – scrambled egg (made with butter) with a tomato and an avocado
L – leftover quorn and veggie curry with saag paneer
D – turkey chilli with lettuce wraps, cheese and avocado.


B – scrambled egg (made with butter) with a tomato
L – Aubergine parmigiana with green salad (dressed with olive oil)
D – Chicken shwarma with roasted peppers and broccoli

I had until today also been having the slightest dash of milk in my coffee, but have now stopped that and will have a dash of heavy cream when at home and black when elsewhere. I also wonder if my water intake was a bit on the low side so I’ve upped that.

Can anyone suggest where I might be doing something else that I might have missed that could be affecting my weight loss. I’m so motivated to stick to this at the moment, I just cannot understand why I’m not seeing a result!
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  #2   ^
Old Thu, Jan-23-20, 08:21
Benay's Avatar
Benay Benay is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 876
 
Plan: Protein Power/Atkins
Stats: 250/167/175 Female 5 feet 6 inches
BF:
Progress: 111%
Location: Prescott, Arizona, USA
Default

W33blegurl (sp?)

Welcome to the Turtle club. Your experience is an exact duplicate of mine.

I started back on Nov 21

Commiserations!
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  #3   ^
Old Fri, Jan-24-20, 01:47
s93uv3h's Avatar
s93uv3h s93uv3h is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 1,662
 
Plan: Atkins & IF / TRE
Stats: 000/000/000 Male 5' 10"
BF:
Progress: 97%
Default

While LCHF / Ketogenic diets / Paleo / Carnivore / etc. focuses on what to eat, the other piece of the puzzle is when to eat. Try to compress your eating window. Skip a meal on the ends: i.e. either skip breakfast or dinner. Many people are night owls (sleep late, wake up late) or morning larks (sleep early, wake up early), so the former may find it intuitive to skip breakfast, while the latter dinner. OMAD (one meal a day) is an option now and then. Eliminate snacks. You can count carbs until the cows come home, but you will maximize your efforts by extending your fast from your last meal of the day to the first meal of the day.

One Meal a Day (OMAD) [ dietdoctor ] 1-21-20

Time-Restricted Eating [ Dr. Rhonda Patrick ]

excerpt:

Time-restricted eating is a form of daily fasting wherein the time of the day during which a person eats is limited, or compressed. People who practice time-restricted eating typically eat during an 8- to 12-hour daytime window and fast during the remaining 12 to 16 hours. Unlike intermittent fasting, which involves caloric restriction, time-restricted eating permits a person to eat as much as they want during the eating window. Time-restricted eating aligns the eating and fasting cycles to the body’s innate 24-hour circadian system.[1] Within the scientific literature, time-restricted eating primarily refers to human trials, while time-restricted feeding primarily refers to animal studies; however, both terms are occasionally used interchangeably.

more...

Human trials are now demonstrating the potential of time-restricted eating as a novel means to prevent or reverse metabolic diseases. A recent study implemented both "early" eating (starting at 8 a.m.) and time-restricted eating strategies to investigate whether meal timing influences energy expenditure. When the study participants ate three standardized meals in a 6-hour window per day, they experienced decreased appetite and increased fat metabolism, compared to when they ate three standardized meals that were similar in calories and composition during a 12-hour window per day. These combined strategies may serve as a means to facilitate weight loss in overweight adults.[13]

Another study, which involved obese people who followed an 8-hour time-restricted eating regimen for 12 weeks, found that participants experienced a 3 percent weight loss, compared to the control group, whose weight remained stable.[14] In addition, men at risk for type 2 diabetes who adhered to either a 9-hour "early" time-restricted eating window (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) or a "delayed" window (12 p.m. to 9 p.m.) experienced a 36 percent reduction in their glycemic response to a meal as well as reduced fasting triglycerides. These findings suggest that there is likely some flexibility in determining the window during which a person eats when practicing time-restricted eating.[15]

Studies also show that time-restricted eating improves circulating insulin and blood pressure independent of weight loss. For example, in a small study involving eight overweight men with prediabetes who were randomized to early time-restricted eating (a 6-hour eating period, with dinner before 3 p.m.) or a control schedule (a 12-hour eating period) for five weeks, the morning systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings of the participants in the 6-hour time-restricted eating window decreased by 11mm and 10mm, respectively, which is comparable to the improvements commonly observed with anti-hypertensive medications such as angiotensin-converting enzyme, or ACE, inhibitors. In addition, the fasting insulin levels of participants in the 6-hour window decreased by 3.4mU/L, and plasma levels of 8-isoprostane, a marker for lipid oxidative stress, decreased by 14 percent.[16]

Last edited by s93uv3h : Fri, Jan-24-20 at 01:54.
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  #4   ^
Old Fri, Jan-24-20, 02:52
W33blegurl W33blegurl is offline
Registered Member
Posts: 60
 
Plan: IPD/general low card
Stats: 202/196/140 Female 5' 3''
BF:
Progress: 10%
Location: London, UK
Default

Thanks, s93uv3h that's interesting! I probably eat over about 12 hours at the moment but snack rarely. Although I'm very much a morning person, I think I'd be better at skipping breakfast (or eating it much later) as I'd prefer to be sociable and eat dinner with my husband (and kids on weekends).

I'll give it a go extending my fasting time! I usually have coffee with cream first thing in the morning - does that count as breaking my fast, would I be better to skip the cream and just have black coffee (or worse no coffee...!)
Thanks!!
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  #5   ^
Old Fri, Jan-24-20, 07:48
bkloots's Avatar
bkloots bkloots is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 10,147
 
Plan: LC--Atkins
Stats: 195/162/150 Female 62in
BF:
Progress: 73%
Location: Kansas City, MO
Default

Same here. Started December 1. Lost a whoosh--yay!! And up-and-down ever since. Aiming to lose about twenty--or what, two stone?

I'm doing keto, and have been in keto (urine strips only) the whole time. That's a good thing. I don't enjoy skipping meals. However, I don't snack.

My strategy? STAY OFF THE SCALES.

Even though I'm not losing weight in a steady downward trend, my body definitely feels different. Looser pants, for one thing. I "feel" that my food processor has switched, and the fat-burning effect is occurring.

For now, this has to be enough. Even a peek at the scales once a week, for accountability, can be discouraging. I have to give myself that lecture over and over and over. "It's a way of life, not a diet...not a diet...not a diet."

Best wishes.
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  #6   ^
Old Fri, Jan-24-20, 10:11
WereBear's Avatar
WereBear WereBear is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 14,602
 
Plan: EpiPaleo/Primal/LowOx
Stats: 220/125/150 Female 67
BF:
Progress: 136%
Location: USA
Default

Looks good, except for the quorn: I'm not sure what "meat substitute" does to/for you, but it would definitely work against me

If you are spreading your eating over 12 hours, that could be an issue where your insulin stays high. Low insulin literally releases fat for your body to burn. I found great success with an eating window more like 4-6 hours.

Also, because I had great success with previously unknown food sensitivities, it's worth wondering if certain foods get along with you as much as you think they do. By thinking about these common triggers:
  • gluten
  • dairy
  • soy
  • lectins
  • histamines
  • fiber
  • nightshades
  • legumes
  • eggs

To give you an idea, I did a meat-only diet for almost a month, and eliminated all but the foods in bold. This can interfere with weight loss through inflammation and water retention, to say the least.
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  #7   ^
Old Fri, Jan-24-20, 12:19
Grav Grav is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 1,469
 
Plan: Banting
Stats: 302/187/187 Male 175cm
BF:
Progress: 100%
Location: New Zealand
Default

I agree with everything everyone has already said. Sometimes it's a matter of personal experimentation to discover certain foods that you may have a previously unknown intolerance or reaction to.

I remember as part of my regular meal rotation I used to have a simple can of vege soup, with chunks of meat added in instead of traditional croutons. However I found that the scales would always rebound a little the next day. It was a surprise to me at the time that food so "healthy" would do that to me.

Later I realised that even though that meal was technically low carb at about 5g carbs per 100g, there was even less protein and fat in it. So in terms of a percentage of total energy, the carbs were closer to 50%. I get a similar reaction with too much fruit as well, even berries. Yes there aren't too many carbs there, but there's even less of everything else so it soon starts to add up.

So for me it wasn't so much a reaction to anything unknown as it was coming to realise that my body is just so incredibly intolerant of carbs, and I just have to stick to food sources that are primarily protein and fat, even to the exclusion of other things like fruit and veges sometimes.

Think of this aspect of your journey as a series of experiments. Try changing one thing and see how that goes for a while, then try something else and so on. Trial and error can go a long way over time.
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  #8   ^
Old Fri, Jan-24-20, 18:57
JessAus's Avatar
JessAus JessAus is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 691
 
Plan: Primal/IF
Stats: 220/165/176 Female 5'10"
BF:~40%/26.3%/29%
Progress: 125%
Location: Western Australia
Default

Totally agree with everyone. The only thing I would add is give it time. I bounce around the same weight for 3-4 weeks and then woosh lose a pound or two.

There was a post a while back about how the cells in your body lose weight - Basically, the individual cells lose the fat but fill with fluid (Nothing will change on the scale) and then it takes time for them to collapse and to see a drop in weight on the scale. Maybe someone has the link?

Here is a snap of my weight loss - You can actually pick a period of 4 weeks where I haven't technically lost any weight, but it is a downward trend where my body is going through that fat losing process.

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  #9   ^
Old Sat, Jan-25-20, 06:28
JEY100's Avatar
JEY100 JEY100 is online now
Posts: 13,368
 
Plan: P:E/DDF
Stats: 225/150/169 Female 5' 9"
BF:45%/28%/25%
Progress: 134%
Location: NC
Default

Welcome back,
Your stats appear you are not far from goal weight, consider updating your profile if you have 4 stone to lose. Also the Plan reads Atkins, which has a two week Induction phase of less than 20g carbs. You don't list amounts, but your sample menu appears higher in carb than that. Quorn, many vegetables (there is a 3 cup limit) and those sauces may be loaded with carbs. There are LC recipes to make your own curry type sauces but check the label if purchased. https://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=236482 A strict Induction phase helps overcome cravings and lose hunger. There is a classic Mike Eades article on why the second time around is harder...a number of reasons; people remember the later stages and not the induction rules. https://proteinpower.com/why-is-low...nd-time-around/

And as others have suggested, also reducing your "eating window" has benefits to keep insulin low. Ditto everything Don and others wrote about WHEN to eat. DietDoctor is a great resource for all low carb and fasting. ps: I will never give up coffee Black is preferred but I use 1T of cream and do OK. Some say 100 calories breaks the fast..but nobody knows. And pps: hate to mention this, but you are a decade older than when you joined this forum...women go through hormonal changes that make weight loss more challenging. Sorry. You can still lose weight, I'm almost 69, but it will be slower.


https://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=483500

Last edited by JEY100 : Sat, Jan-25-20 at 07:32.
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  #10   ^
Old Sat, Jan-25-20, 07:28
Benay's Avatar
Benay Benay is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 876
 
Plan: Protein Power/Atkins
Stats: 250/167/175 Female 5 feet 6 inches
BF:
Progress: 111%
Location: Prescott, Arizona, USA
Default

s93uv3h

The article on time restricted eating by Dr. Rhonda Patrick is great! Thanks for posting it.
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  #11   ^
Old Sat, Jan-25-20, 10:55
WereBear's Avatar
WereBear WereBear is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 14,602
 
Plan: EpiPaleo/Primal/LowOx
Stats: 220/125/150 Female 67
BF:
Progress: 136%
Location: USA
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by JEY100
And pps: hate to mention this, but you are a decade older than when you joined this forum...women go through hormonal changes that make weight loss more challenging. Sorry. You can still lose weight, I'm almost 69, but it will be slower.


I didn't reach goal until last year, and then I blew past it. Because I was in the mood for whatever it takes...

and that's what it took!
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  #12   ^
Old Tue, Jan-28-20, 00:29
W33blegurl W33blegurl is offline
Registered Member
Posts: 60
 
Plan: IPD/general low card
Stats: 202/196/140 Female 5' 3''
BF:
Progress: 10%
Location: London, UK
Default

Thanks all for taking the time to reply and I'm definitely going to look at everything in more detail.

I am definitely going to give the time restricted eating a go. I skipped breakfast yesterday and only ate between 12-8. Hungry for sure by late morning, but nothing that was too hard to cope with.

Interesting comment about the quorn Werebear. Someone else mentioned that they didn't get on with it, so I think I might skip eating more of that for now and try and figure out further down the line if it really does stall me. I guess that goes for other foods too, being more conscious of what I'm eating. I don't want to have to track though if I can at all avoid it, I don't have time and I find it actively demotivates me to stick to a way of eating.

JEY100 - I've finally figured out how to update my profile now. I totally get the decade older thing. As I've gotten past 40, I find the weight goes on quicker than ever but takes considerably longer to shift! Its a long game and I need to remind myself of that!

Finally...I'm going to try and only weight once per month and see how I get on with that. It's going to be a huge challenge!
Thanks all!!
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  #13   ^
Old Tue, Jan-28-20, 05:56
Benay's Avatar
Benay Benay is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 876
 
Plan: Protein Power/Atkins
Stats: 250/167/175 Female 5 feet 6 inches
BF:
Progress: 111%
Location: Prescott, Arizona, USA
Default

What does "quorn" mean?
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  #14   ^
Old Tue, Jan-28-20, 06:42
W33blegurl W33blegurl is offline
Registered Member
Posts: 60
 
Plan: IPD/general low card
Stats: 202/196/140 Female 5' 3''
BF:
Progress: 10%
Location: London, UK
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Benay
What does "quorn" mean?


Benay it's a meat substitute brand that we have in the UK. Think it's made of a mycoprotein. Comes in lots of different forms, we use the "chicken pieces" and mince a lot.
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  #15   ^
Old Wed, Jan-29-20, 04:00
Benay's Avatar
Benay Benay is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 876
 
Plan: Protein Power/Atkins
Stats: 250/167/175 Female 5 feet 6 inches
BF:
Progress: 111%
Location: Prescott, Arizona, USA
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by W33blegurl
Benay it's a meat substitute brand that we have in the UK. Think it's made of a mycoprotein. Comes in lots of different forms, we use the "chicken pieces" and mince a lot.


Thanks - I have often wondered
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