Gaining weight and clothes getting tighter having started LCHF - why?

[willitbe]

I posted this question on a different thread, but have been pointed here to post.

I started with the Uber boot camp meals last week for the three days, then switched to standard boot camp rules after. However I am increasing in weight and waist size and it is putting me off this WOE.

I increased water as necessary (although I only drink water normally anyway, so I just increased it as required)

My fat intake has increased hugely, my carb intake reduced dramatically, a slight increase in protein on some days, but less on other days, so in other words overall similar to previous to stating LCHF.

I did have stock on a couple of occasions in case it was my salt levels too low. But I seem to be hugely retaining water, which from my understanding means that over the last 5.5 days this diet is not working for me as I expected.

Does anyone have any explaination or solution? This bloating is getting me down.

[TheHappyCamper]

Could you maybe post exactly what you ate & drank for the whole 5 days? Some experts will be along shortly I'm sure.

I'd guess it's either not enough fat, too many carbs, or not enough water.

[willitbe]

I can post what I ate when I am on the computer rather than mobile, but basically it was the uber menu for day one first menus, days two and three from the second set of menus but on day three I was feeling rough and had a full fat yoghurt in the evening.
Day four
B omelette from day one uber,
L one sausage and some pan fried chicken (no skin) with cabbage in a stock.
D smoked salmon, cheese

[willitbe]

Today was
B two egg omelette with double cream, mushrooms and bacon
L Roasted pork belly (all the fat) with cauliflower sautéd in butter, with swede with butter.
D Turkey and smoked salmon with blue cheese.

I am having difficulties in the last two evenings as not particularly hungry feeling sick and bloated so more picking at bits as can't face a whole dinner.

[TheHappyCamper]

We need BIWI! I'm no expert but that all looks good .

I have read that some people stay the same weight for a few weeks and then it all comes off one night with a "whoosh" ! (a few kg at least).

I'd say stick with it because you've hopefully broken your carb cravings once and you don't want to have to do it again. Do you think you could give it another week or so?

[willitbe]

Thank you, yes I don't have any cravings for bread, rice etc now, I thought I would but nope it has gone completely. Unfortunately I do still want fruit on occasions or chocolate. But not as much as I thought, so I will stick with it a bit longer and see how it goes, if I wake up one morning soon and get a whoosh away, then I will be happy!

I wanted to do this for the health benefits as well as getting rid of a few pounds. If I start seeing some positive effects I will be relieved.

[ImGoingForATwix]

Just want to mark place as I'm in a similar position. No weight loss, I'm 2 weeks in and feeling chubbier around my waist (but thinner in the face). Sticking to around 20g carbs a day, drinking water, eating lots of fat etc. I'm giving up on Friday and trying something else if I don't see any real weight loss. It's so demotivating!

[BIWI]

OK - a couple of questions for both of you - let me see if I can help.

Firstly, how much did you weigh at the start and how tall are you?

Second, are you a serial dieter or is this your first time trying to lose weight?

Third - OK I lied about it being a couple of questions! - how much water have you been drinking daily?

And finally - have you been following Bootcamp or just doing your own thing?

I would say, willitbe that if you haven't been doing it for a week yet, then you're really being rather impatient! And there's a lot of processed food and dairy in your menus that you've listed, which might not be helping you.

You've obviously been weighing daily, so can you list your daily weights for me as well?

[BIWI]

I'mGoingForATwix (you'll have to change that name ) list out for me what you've been eating and drinking over the last 3 or 4 days.

[ImGoingForATwix]

Hi BIWI, I'm somewhat of a serial dieter but have 2 stone to lose to be at a BMI of 25. I've been on this 2 weeks and lost not one pound.

I'm not sure exact quantity of water but having a large glass every time I remember so quite a lot more than usual and peeing frequently!

I'm following the rules except I've not given up my 1 diet coke a day yet. (It's not giving me sugar cravings though)

Food diary:

Breakfast - always eggs, usually a 2 egg omelette cooked in butter every day, with cheese or mushrooms.

Lunch - salad (rocket/cucumber) with something like salami and mozzarella or chicken thighs or smoked salmon and Mayo. Added olives today too.

Dinner - tonight was a chicken thigh bake with veg and spices. Last night was chicken curry with cauliflower rice, night before was Nandos ?? (butterfly chicken fillet on its own). Have steak a lot with mashed swede and mushroom sauce (cream and butter!).

Maybe around 3/4 coffees a day with double cream. Today I just had 2. One cup of tea a day with a dash of whole milk. No snacks.

[BIWI]

OK - in general, it looks good. But these are things to consider (if you're doing Bootcamp anyway!):

• you need to be very clear about how much water you're drinking, not just be vague about it. It's a minimum of 2 litres per day; don't know what your weight is, but if you look at the Bootcamp spreadsheet at the tabs at the bottom you'll find the rules. The rule about water gives you a list showing how much water you should be drinking based on how much you weigh
  

• it could be that there's a bit too much dairy in your day; some people find that it impedes weight loss, so it might be worth cutting that down/out for a while to see what happens
  

• it's difficult to tell, but it could also be that you're not eating enough fat. Are you frying your food? Are you adding oily dressings to your salads?
  

• it's also definitely worth giving up the diet drinks. It's not so much about them setting off sugar cravings (although that's definitely part of it), but that for some people it might be the case that their bodies deal with artificial sweeteners as if they were sugar. I have a poor internet connection here, so I can't access the link, but Google 'Diet Doctor Pepsi Max' and read about his experiment with it
  

If you're a serial dieter, then it does appear to be the case that your body won't immediately shed weight when you switch to low carbing. I don't know why, but it's almost as it's waiting to see what you're going to do before it trusts that this is a WOE you're going to stick to!

And also, sometimes it's a matter of tweaking until it starts to work for you.

Above all, though, I'd ask you:

• are you enjoying your food?
  
• do you feel deprived?
  
• do you feel like you're on a diet?
  
• do you feel like you could carry on eating like this for another few weeks?
  

If you've answered YES, NO, NO and YES, then why not give it a go for a bit longer?

The next Bootcamp starts on 11 May, so there'll be loads of us around to help and support you.

[willitbe]

BIWI - thank you for your reply, in answer to your questions:

I currently weigh 164lbs, and going up and down a little but basically been that since January. I don't weigh daily, but sporadically. This last week I weighed three times, 164lb, 166lb 166lb, and today 164lb again. I am 5ft2in.

No I am not a serial dieter, the last time I was dieting was over 18 months ago, when I was on a low calorie diet for a year and lost 2 stone, a stone of which I put back on since August last year, hence the desire to get rid of some excess again.

I have been drinking in excess of 2 litres daily, according to the boot camp rules I should be drinking 3 litres of water daily. I have probably been managing that as I stop counting each day when I reach 4 pints, and I drink another pint before bed and more glasses of water at other times when not thinking about it.

I have not been on any of the bootcamp threads, as have been waiting for the next bootcamp to start, but

Rather than the processed food and dairy - what would you recommend, I can't find any recipes that appeal to me on the first half of the recipe thread (stopped reading at that point).

So I have been doing this for 9 days only, but when I read other peoples experiences they initially had a big loss (that being mostly water). So my expectations might be a little off. I am dairy intolerant and this may be affecting me, because of all the dairy I have been eating. If I cut out dairy what is the alternative please??????

Also you said it was alot of processed food in my list, one sausage and four rashers of bacon, what else is in the list that you would consider processed please, as I am confused?

Thank you for any help you can offer, I would like this WOE to work for me, but not sure if it will yet.

[willitbe]

Sorry with regards to dieting, I wrote it so it is misleading, I started my last diet 2.5 years ago, and stayed on it for a year, so it has been 1.5 years since I was last dieting/trying to lose weight.

[ImGoingForATwix]

Thanks for this BIWI, eating plenty of fat but I will look more closely at my water intake, thank you.

[BIWI]

If you aren't losing, then could I suggest that you try eating more fat?

Your ratios should be around 65:20:15 - fat:protein:carbs. Some people would say your fat should be even higher.

[Romeyroo]

I am dairy intolerant though okay with hard cheese in v small doses

Alternatives - you will find in the chiller section of your nearest big branch of most major supermarkets, usually next to the milk or cheeses, a part with all the non dairy alternatives. Coconut milk, almond milk, soya cheese etc though the plain soya yogurt is with the plain yogurts - that section will give you alternative choices (be aware that the Lactofree stuff still has quite a bit of sugar, there are lower carb alternatives)

Canned coconut milk (in the noodle stuff and curry section) is a good alternative for some cooking too.

[Romeyroo]

Check sugar content of canned coconut milk too, they vary, ditto almond and coconut milk etc in chiller section

[willitbe]

Romeyroo - thank you, I will go and check them out today. Very helpful, I will be careful to check the carb levels on them.

[BIWI]

willitbe - there are over 800 posts on the recipe thread - I can't believe you couldn't find anything appealing there!

[willitbe]

Thanks BIWI, I finally got around to the second half of the recipe thread yesterday, boy does it take a long time to get through the whole thread. And I was pleased that in the second half I found a few different recipes, that would work for me, so I have noted them and will be trying them out soon I hope!

I have also taken Romeyroo's advice and bought some almond milk today that is low carb, so that I can use instead of the cream.

[nappyaddict]

When you first change your WOE your fat cells start to empty. However your body is not sure if you are going to stick to this way of eating. It does not want to shrink your fat cells to have to stretch them again if you come off this WOE so it temporarily fills the fat cells with water.

Water weighs more than fat so if your cells replace the exact volume of fat lost with water you could put on lbs and your measurements could stay the same.

Because water weighs more than fat, the same weight of water would take up less room than the same amount of fat. This is why often if the scales are staying the same you will have lost inches as your cells have a lower volume of water in them compared to the volume of fat lost.

[BIWI]

Good explanation, nappy!

[ImGoingForATwix]

I've cut back on fat slightly (particularly cream, butter and cheese) and dropped 2lbs. I think I was possibly taking in too many calories.

[ImGoingForATwix]

Thanks again for the help

[BIWI]

If you're doing low carb, it should be HIGH fat. However, if you've cut out cream and cheese and lost weight, you could be right that it's a calorie thing - it could, though, also suggest that you have a problem with dairy. Worth keeping an eye out for that in future.

But good news that the scales are moving for you!

[nappyaddict]

As BIWI says some people have a problem with dairy impeding weight loss. It sounds as though unfortuantely you are one of these people. Most people find butter doesn't impede their weight loss though so you could try reintroducing the butter but steering clear of any other dairy products.