Hello...it's been awhile since I've been here....

Re-discovering my fluid retention difficulties helped me find a major cause of my turtle-ism....but, how to "tweak" my diet into being more effective in this manner has been an ongoing problem. Essentially, I was stalling until I added more L-Taurine, B6, and an herbal complex....after which I dropped about 3 lbs. That was more than a month ago; I've only dropped half a lb. since. My left ankle is still swelling occasionally...not much, but enough to cause pain when I wear one shoe...and socks with a little elastic in the band. I drink so much water I think I could become a fish!! The only thing I can find to add that might help is dandelion leaf...and maybe yerbamatte'....the dandelion leaf is too difficult to locate and keep on hand. It doesn't seem right to have to go through all this just so I can stay off my prescription diuretic.

My question: Since I do have a sluggish metabolism...like probably all of us turtles....do you think maybe if I took one day....ate a meal of essentially anything I want...fruits, veggies, breads, pasta, the works.....and the very next day go back to the low carb woe, as strictly as I had been doing, .... might it stimulate the metabolism to eliminate a little faster...perhaps trigger a "whoosh" at the very least?? I've heard that it's a principal espoused by (or at least hinted at) some diet gurus.....a kind of a "rotation" style diet... I was on CALP before Atkins, and it seems to me this would be a bit similar to the "reward" meal...only that I would do it only once.

I have reservations about doing this....I think it might be a real shock to my blood sugar......and I'd be afraid that I wouldn't be able to return to my present woe. What do you all think about this???

Thanks

May 15th....no suggestions.....maybe I'm posting in the wrong category. I guess this really wasn't a turtle question.....

Sorry that your post wasn't answered. I don't really have any idea about the question nor what to advise you. You are more likely to get an answer in the CKD area.

Hi I also have a water retention problem in fact if I eat to many salty things. I can gain up to 5 pounds over night. There are a couple of things I have heard of lately and plan on trying. One is tea made out of freeze dried Parsley and the other is eating celery raw up to 9 to 10 stalks. I know they sell Parsely Tea at the health food store. Sorry I can't answer the other part of the question.
Pat S.

Well...I am a turtle...I lose on avg 1lb/wk. Well that was until 3 weeks ago. I lost 4 lbs in one week and since then I have been bouncing back and forth between 2lbs. I am doing WW's like diet for a week then going back into induction tomorrow. My weight didnt really change when I started the higher carb low fat diet...still spinning between 191.5-193.5.

In November...out of frustration with the whole water retention thingy I did WW's for a month and half through the Holidays. Lost 4lbs but gained 2 back. When I returned to induction on Jan 1st I lost 8 lbs in 2 weeks. Of course nothing afterwards but I do think the higher carb thingy did help. Not sure what the appropriate amt of time is to remain high carb.

U can check on me next week to see if higher carb for a week helped.

Good luck to you all,

Thanks everyone...

I saw someone yesterday who was supposed to have some ideas about breaking this turtle pattern....she told me to eat 200 calories 7-8 times a day.....and when I told her my schedule doesn't often permit me to eat that often...besides I'm on Atkins and I don't usually count calories like that....she gave me a puzzled look...and told me that Atkins was just a bunch of crap....I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not taking ANY advice from ANYONE who says that kind of stuff about Atkins!!!

I'm not sure there really is a way to "break" a turtle pattern after the initial period of loss has tapered off. I've tried a lot of things and I stay in the pattern of 3-4 pounds a month. It is adding up over time and I make sure to eat LC foods I like so I don't feel deprived. Slow loss will reduce problems with excess skin, I hope (doing well on that so far).

It seems like I'm stuck again....or, rather....back UP FOUR POUNDS...without any reason other than starting to wean myself off caffeine.....and spreading out my carbs a little more evenly during the day. Everything else is the same. I've got to do something soon....nothing is right; everything is wrong.....

I feel best when I take my oil based supplements and flax oil but I will try to add the l-carentine too . Do you need it 3 times a day.?

Forgot to update about my progress. I did WW's for a week to help break my 3 week stall. The week I returned to induction I lost 6lbs. I have been the same weight ever since but at least I got the scale to move in the right direction at least once in the past month. :-)

I'm getting the impression that going off for a short time might help temporarily in breaking a stall...but afterward we usually end up back where we started from....turtledom.....

btw...I take essential oil supplements that include flax and borage.....and take L-Carnitine 500 mg 3 times a day. I take a lot of other supplements as well, and I'm always trying to find a new or different one that might help me in some way. If I find one that seems to help more than the others, I'll mention something. Carnitine is one of the substances that contributes to having better energy...at least that's how it affects me.

I am soooo new at this... I have had a weight problem most of my life. through high school I had an eating disorder thus.... no metabolism. I have been Lcing for 3 .5 weeks.... haven't lost but 1 lb..... However, I have lost 5.5 inches through the hip and waist.... when will the scales begin to drop?

numbers have started dropping... 2 lbs//// I started taking L-carnitineand AZO Yeast... I have been pushing water... maybe I have hit on something!

As long as the numbers are moving downward, even if very slowly, you are doing something right!

I have found that when I do eat a few more carbs once in a while then get back on track I do loose a couple of more pounds. I don't know why. I have been very slow at loosing the pounds too. It seems like sometimes it has been maybe a pound every two months. It has been very slow going. Then you have people tell you that it is better to loose it slowly. That is nice but I sure would like to get under that 200 pound mark a little sooner.
I know how frustrating it is to get on the scale and it hasn't dropped any or it has even went up 5 pounds.

Well there was my complaining.... sorry..

Have a great day!!