Carl,

Two weeks ago I had been in a stall for two weeks. Went on a five day vacation to Las Vegas. Tried to behave while on vacation but ended up failing miserably and put on 12 pounds. Thankfully, all that came off in five days so I'm back where I started. And again in a stall.

How often do you do your Beer Day/refeed and for how long? A whole day? Just an evening?

I'd like to do something to start losing again but am unsure how to go about it.

Thanks!

Hi Carol

I have tried this twice , all I did was of an evening behave as I used to do (lots of beer
I have been on atkins diet for 8 weeks and got stuck twice , the weight I put on just after the naughty days was probably water being stored by increased carbos ( somebody correct me if I am wrong!)

I have since worked out trhe reason for my stalling and seem to be back on track - it was the half a bar of diabetic chocolate i was eating a day.

I have since discovered an excellent UK brewed low carb beer that knocks your socks off at 4.7% and tastes great , its called marstons low C , but when your out on the tiles you dont have that option , I try and drink wine when I go out but in some of the low life dives & hovells I frequent here in south Wales people look at you as if you are dressed up as a ballet dancer with a sign on your back saying "HIT ME!" ( Wales - where the men are men and the sheepo and just worried)

I would still recomend refeeding if your stall isnt caused by anything else you can think of and they do say that after 5 or so weeks your leptin levels need replenishing to get out of starvation mode ,

I went for 6 pints of strong european lager , a large bagguette for lunch and a chinese takeaway with rice for dinner , basically one day , tried to keep the fat down.

worked for meeeeeee! and Ill do it again if the need arises

good luck carol , let me know what happens

carl

G'morning, Carl (or afternoon, as the case may be...)

Wouldn't you know it? As soon as I start complaining about stalling I get a 3 pound, overnight whoosh!

Thank you for the details on your beer refeeding program. I will surely remember, and use, this plan the next time I seem to be stalled. A friend has little get togethers on Sundays to watch the car races. These include mass quantities of alcohol and yummy food, so I could refeed (party-style) on just about any given Sunday.

Best of luck to you and thanks for the words of wisdom from someone who's been there.

P.S. The line about the worried sheep made me laugh! A very different image of Wales than one got from watching "How Green Was My Valley".

i'm confused about this refeeding part, as I also had
to give up beer on the weekends. does this mean
doing it once a week? is bacardi ok instead of beer?

Hi, Milca

According to the carb counters beer has carbs while hard liquors don't. I'm not sure on the advisability of alcohol on a regular basis on a low carb diet. Seems I remember something about alcohol turning into a sugar while digesting.

I'm not going to tempt fate. I'll only consume beer and liquors if I'm trying to bust a stall. Or if I'm on vacation.

As for the refeeding, I'm just learning, too.

Good luck to you, Milca.

tasche, check out this post in the Research Forum ( http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...ighlight=leptin ) - it's a little old but the information is still accurate. If you try googling Leptin and refeed you'll find tonnes more information.

Readers digest version; it works because you trick your body into thinking it's getting more calories than it is. You overfeed for a specific period of time relieving the stress placed on your body by dieting / restricting calories/macronutrients and you change the hormonal balance. It's really very fascinating.

Cheers,
Nat

I'll tell you one thing, you get drunker way faster when you're on a low carb diet.

Emily
(Low Carb Cheap Date)

Wahooo! I know what you mean. And I was a "cheap date" before low carbs. Now, it's almost "show me the bottle" and I'm everyone's best friend.

Now I feel pratically tame for only having a slice of pie last night for my planned high carb meal to break my current stall...I should have really gone all out!

Hi, Sango.

How does one go about plan a high carb meal? DH's birthday is Friday and I know we'll be going out to eat. It would be nice to eat carefree like the other.

Any tips you can give for planning for high carbs would be appreciated.

Oh...I am not sure that I'm the person to ask. I just knew that the pie was made especially for me, since we'd talked about it for months (before I was LC) and I wasn't going to turn it down.

For me, I made sure that I hadn't cheated at all for at least a couple of weeks beforehand. Some people plan them every week, every two weeks, or every month. I think eventually, if I can just start losing a bit more weight, I will probably try to plan a "refeed" every two or three weeks but we will see. First I really want to see some definite weight loss.

The general idea is that you are flooding your body with carbs to try and provoke the insulin response and stimulate the production of leptin, getting your body out of "starvation" mode. The best way to do this is high-glycemic carbs, all of the stuff you've been avoiding like the plague. One important thing to note is that you're also supposed to try and eat LOW fat while doing this refeed, as high carb and high fat is a bad combination for weight loss.

I found two weeks before this that a late-night cheat of waffle house waffle and coffee w/sugar actually made my weight drop to 158 (the lowest point ever) but that making the mistake of also having pizza the next day brought me back up to 162 and I didn't lose that water weight completely for a week. So apparently there is a threshold for me, I think one cheat meal, or maybe a cheat day would work, but a whole weekend is too much.

This pie was kind of my test to see what would happen...it wasn't even a huge cheat as the rest of the meal turned out to be LC.

Well guys I must say that I have found the information that I have been YEARNING for lol... I have been reading up on these refeeds for 2 days now...wondering if it works or not... Most people are saying nope don't try it...don't risk it... But I haven't lost a pound in 2 weeks..and this is frustrating... So this weekend I thought that I would just eat what the heck I wanted for 1 day and go back on plan the next with exercising, aerobics 3x week...

You guys have given me the green light to try this, I will post my results...next week.... Pray for me lol...

Terrific thread....I'll refer others here..

Well day 1 after REFEED...full of energy...bloated though.... Stuck mostly to simple carbs.... My hips have definited expanded...that's usually where my weight shows up first.... Didn't get on the scales though...will wait until tomorrow...

But, I'm going to eat right today, exercise, and follow my weekly goals... Will post later this week on my progress.... Also, I don't have any cravings today...I do notice I get cravings when I consume Stevia and am trying to find a substitute for that.... Also rethinking my smoked sausage and smoked turkey lunch meat...that might be contributing to my stalls...

Anyone know of any alternatives to my loves....Stevia....smoked sausage, and smoked turkey...

Sango,

Thanks for the basics on planning a high carb dinner, but I behaved at DH's birthday dinner. One glass of white wine (wheeee!), salad with cheese and bleu cheese dressing, filet mignon stuff with bleu cheese (yes, I like bleu cheese) and passed on tasting anyone's dessert.

Thanks again and I'll keep your hints in mind for next time.

Congratulations on sticking with this WOE.... I have been on plan for 2 months with no cheating.... I'm not suggesting it every day or anything....I'm in a 3 week stall and felt a little desperate.... Other than that I don't cheat....

Also, I'm not suggesting it as the first solution....I think one needs to check the caloric intake, whether they are sticking to plan, sweetners, sodium, and other things first...because cheating doesn't work for everyone...

Good Job...on surviving the test...I'm sure it feels good...