Have been stuck for a long time

Seraphine

Full Member
Hi everyone

I'm in a rut. I got to my 50 pound loss goal back in November, and have been losing and gaining the same 5 pounds ever since then. I had cheats over Christmas and January, but other than that I've been eating pretty much what I'd been eating last year when I lost the majority of my weight.

It doesn't seem to matter if I eat poorly or live the diet to the letter... I can't seem to break 158 pounds.

Can anyone make any suggestions? Is there something I can do to kickstart the losses again? I'm happy with the losses so far, but would really like to get to the 140 pound mark. Why does this last stone seem so hard? It's just occurred to me that I've not really had any decent losses in 4 months.

Do I have to cut back portion sizes? I'm usually happy with 2 bigger meals a day (usually early in the day... I'm not usually hungry at night). I worry that I'm eating too much.

I admit I'm not exercising much. Sorry! I will try to work on this.

Help?
 
Hi Sera,

I'm in a similar position to you - looking to lose the last few pounds. Have to admit that this is the hardest part of the diet so far! Compared to the start there when there are so many big losses for so little effort it now feels like you have to really push to lose each pound!

I'm kind of in the middle of a final push. I've found over the last 2 weeks or so I've lost more by really restricting what I eat, unfortunately in both carbs and calories. I probably have btwn 1200-1500 calories per day (which is unsustainable in the longer-term).

I've also cut 99% of the goodies out - you know Coke Zero, diabetic choc, alcohol (mostly). As a result, I lost 2lb last week. Not great but at least it's in the right direction. I think there's also something to be said for your body needing to get used to the weight lost so far.

Not much help I'm afraid, sorry!

People do seem to say that you should eat several times per day though so perhaps you should spread your two meals out over the course of the day?
 
Hey Sadieley,

Yeah I've had a look at the fat fast...I'm not sure it's for me! I've read it works wonders for some tho, so maybe worth a try Sera!
 
Hey Ber,

I don't know all the details but it's basically following a low calorie, high fat diet for a few days. I think it's about 1000 calories and 80-90% fat for a week or two (as opposed to 'normal' calories and 70%-ish fat).

It's all about kickstarting your body back into Ketosis. :)
 
And it's described as dangerous for anyone not metabolically resistant in the old Atkins book & was removed from the new one. However as you're not meant to do more than 3 days I don't see how dangerous it can be - in the article I read the woman doing it put back on at least 2 of the 5lb she lost once she started eating induction foods again though.

Basically you eat 5 very small portions of food made almost totally from fat with very little carbs or protein every day. The ideal food for it is macademia nuts and cream cheese, so as an example you'd eat about 14 macademia nuts, 5 times a day for 3 days and that's it. Although there are some other options like 2oz cream cheese or 1/4 a cup cream. It's supposed to be dangerous, I believe, because you get very little protein, which your body and muscles need to function. Atkins used it to break very long stalls (of months with no loss) or for people who lost nothing on induction, and I think he had them do it once per month.

I'm going to use some of the ideas from it to up my fats a bit because I keep coming out way under the ratio, but the diet itself is quite extreme. Maybe though upping fats could be something you need to look at, Sera? Michael I'd say cutting out all polyols and occasional slip up days is definitely a better first start ;) but your bmi is very low Michael so too many fast losses just wouldn't be expected. 2lbs a week is more than good. Going onto owl might even help.
 
Hi Ser,
You are a bit like me at the moment, only since starting i have only lost and put on 2lbs, however i am looking at it as i am maintaing really so cutting the carbs is helping keep things pretty much stabilized.I was thinking that maybe its either not enough fat intake or to many calories. You and I can have a good ole chin wag when I come over on tuesday.
Chin up chuck.
:)
 
The last stone or so is the hardest to lose, are you in OWL, have you gone through the stages properly?
 
Hi Jim - no, I'm not really doing the stages properly. I've never been this close to goal before, and I guess I just assumed that I could plod on til I got there. It worked for the last year, so why not now? I gave my book away ages ago so I may have to go invest in another one.

I think it may be a calorie thing. I'm eating about the same level as I was when I was 50 pounds heavier. I am loathe to count calories, but I'm guessing maybe my portions are now too big.

I've heard of a fat fast, but wasn't sure how to go about it. I'm allergic to nuts, so they aren't an option for me - you can also use eggs, I think? I wouldn't try it without more research.

At least I feel like I know how to eat for long term maintenance... it doesn't seem to matter what I eat these days, I just fluctuate between that same 5 pounds!

I'm not giving up, but it just got to me a bit when I realised I'd not made any progress in 4 months. I don't want my SIL and MIL to think that I'm failing, and that I'll have to join them on their low-fat plan :(
 
I'm the same Sera. I haven't put any one, but it just won't budge. I know my appetite has dropped so much now & I sometimes can't eat anything. I know this is wrong, but I try really hard to eat. In my low fat high carbs days I could have eaten nonstop. I it was the carbs that made me like this.
I've got some low carb bread & pasta coming tomorrow so that might kick start me into eating again.
I am doing a lot of walking & exercise so it might all be muscle ;)
 
Hi everyone!!

Well, I'm back again - I've been staying the path for the most part this past month (and still weigh 158!!!) but have been ill with a chest infection. I'm back on my feet and am ready to jump back in, and think I'm going to do 3 days of Fat Fast to get started. By next week, my lungs should be rested enough to get going with some exercise.

I've found a few Fat Fast articles, and think it will be okay for 3 days. I'm kind of looking forward to it - the discipline of it is a bit intriguing. We'll see how long I last. Then, back to induction levels, and watching portion sizes. I will cut back on my Diet Coke habit, and start adding exercise.

We are going on another cruise in September, plus, I bought a "boudoir photo shoot" package in Glasgow and am hoping to do it sometime this summer - this is my motivator. I really want to look good for this holiday and for these pictures :) I want to tone up the flabby bits and be a bit stronger.

I've had recurrent lung problems since a bad chest infection after my daughter was born. The doctors now think it's chronic asthma and I think now more than ever it's more important for me to be fitter. I need to have something strong to fight with, you know?

Wish me luck with this fat fast, and with getting back on the program!
 
good luck with your fat fast ............... hope it goes fast !! xx
 
Good luck! I'd just like to add, seen as you mention Diet Coke, that I started drinking Diet Coke after a month or so of induction. Once I started drinking it I stopped losing weight immediately.

Will be interesting to see how your fat fast goes - it's one of those things I've read about but never really looked into people's experiences thereof.
 
are you doing owl?
 
are you doing owl?

No, I don't count everything but I tend to keep things to around induction levels. More out of habit, I guess.

I drank diet coke all the way through my weight loss until my "stuck" point, but realise it might be adding to the stall so I'll back off it. It's just hard to let the caffeine go when I've got two small kids to chase :)
 
You're close to your goal Sera, you should be in OWL by now love
 
Think I might have to do the same darling. I lost weight with lipotrim, I can't lose any on atkins, nut am in ketosis, strange.
 
Sera as Jim says - OWL really helped me lose the last lot and im up to around 40-50g carbs and still losing!!!!
 
You guys are probably right.

Right now, I feel like I have food paralysis. The last few days I've eaten rubbish, and have been looking forward to the good food I eat on low-carb. Yet this morning, I feel like I can't decide what to eat. Do I do the fat fast? Do I just plunge back into LC like I was doing it before?

I decided on 2 eggs and half a Mattsons, and yet I looked at the calorie count on the sausage and started to panic. Why is this happening now? I haven't looked at calories in ages, but I think I'm overeating and just don't know how to gauge a proper portion size anymore.

Okay, for a couple of days til I get back into ketosis I'm just going back to the induction list of foods and try not to worry about portions, and then maybe you all can help me get back on track. I'll actually do a food diary and we can pick it apart.

I'm just so frustrated - I want to get on top of this so bad.
 
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