I don't understand what I have to eat!

[ilovemyhens]

I am totally pissed off

I've lost 10lbs straight off with healthy eating and cutting out sugar/junk etc.

I've joined the gym, but have only been three times due to having a minor op on my toe.

I have now stuck at 11stone 11lbs and I can't get any lower - a week now and I've lost nothing. I'm not due on or anything and I haven't been cheating.

My typical day is as follows:

Small bowl of porridge made with skimmed milk and nothing added for sweetness.

Small tin of mackerel or a boiled egg for lunch with 2 Ryvita and lots of leaves. Perhaps a bit of cottage cheese if I have any in.

Evening meal is something low fat - stuff like mince and some pasta and vegetables etc. My servings aren't large and I don't feel full after I've eaten. I'm not stuffing on pasta/potatoes/rice etc.

Piece of fruit - no bananas

Supper is 150mls of skimmed milk with a teaspoon of Options Chocolate Orange powder.

If I find myself starving I just eat 2 Ryvita with no spread or anything.

I don't eat any spreads or sugars or fried food etc.

I've been really good, but no further weight loss.

What am I doing wrong? I think my average calorie intake each day is about 1200. If I eat more than 1500 I gain weight. I'm quite active throughout the day with looking after the kids and going to work part time. I'm not a couch potato.

The bloke at the gym who did my induction said you have to eat fat to lose fat.

I've tried going carb free/very low carb, but I just end up feeling weak, disorientated and starving. However, if I do eat any carbs, I just don't seem to lose anything.

Please help as I'm sick of being this weight and need to lose about 2 stone.

I haven't been eating any cheese or anything with any 'hidden' calories in either.

I can't identify what's wrong other than perhaps body is going into 'starvation mode', but what are you meant to eat to take away the hunger instead of carbs.

I do sometimes feel very weak due to lack of carbs, but what can you eat for an energy boost instead?

You could well be right with your body going into starvation mode. It could be that you are not eating enough calories (I know it sounds daft) in order to lose weight, so your body is holding onto fat. If you are exercising too then you need to eat more. Try an online calcualtor like this one
''Look at www.diet-world.co.uk/calorie-calculator.php''
Good Luck

You dont say how quickly the first 10lbs came off but i think everyone reaches a weight loss plateau after the first big drop off. I cant believe that on a diet of 1200 calories a day you wont continue to lose but it will be at a slower rate. This is the really tough bit of dieting - sticking with it long term.

Think of it this way: when you are bigger, your metabolic rate is higher because you have more living cells to support, so {cruelly!} as you lose weight, your metabolic needs go down too, hence initial weight loss might be fast but as the intake of food and metabolic needs come closer together, loss slows down (hence last few [pounds most difficult to shift).

I like to remember this: celery has 7 cals per 100g, that means just 70 cals in a kilogram. If you are eating celery alone you would need to eat 17kgs to reach 1200 cals!

Of course i am not suggesting a celery only diet, but keeping your metabolism working by eating a giant plate of veggies is almost certainly better for weight loss and health than starving yourself.

I guess this is what your instructor was getting at. I wouldnt phrase it the way he did, but a bit of fat is better than no fat, and some vitamins need fat to be absorbed so an extreme low fat option could be unhealthy.

HTH

ooh also, instead of refined (i.e processed) carbs such as wheatflour in pasta and bread etc go for unrefined carbs such as pulses and beans and oats. These tend to be low GI so fill you up for longer and don't give you a blood sugar spike when they're digested (which leaves you feeling hungry again when it falls - this is why a bowl of pasta stuffs you up but then leaves you starving about 2 hrs later)

thank you for your advice

Final suggestion - to be a bit more specific:

Replace ryvita with oatcakes for snacking.

Have a big bowl of porridge in the morning!

Replace pasta and bread with pulses and beans and lentils.

Eat as much fruit and vegetables as you can until you are stuffed to the gunnels.

Snack on unsalted nuts or oatcakes.

Don't feel hungry - then your body will slow down its metabolism.

Protein triggers fullness feelings so don't skimp on it, as long as its healthy protein.

i think you must have been doing lcing wrong to feel hungry, you can feel weak but that should go after a week to ten days

i have a blog if you need more info

custardo, are you following the Atkins Diet?

i am low carbing atkins is one way of low carbing

Custy - what do you snack on?

I don't need to lose weight particularly but am at the age when my weight seems to be transferring from my arse to my middle. The general consensus for peri/menoapausal women is to eat more protein and less carb. My snack of choice has always been a banana or a loaf slice of fruit bread. I'm struggling to find suitable protein snacks.

Sorry for hijack hens. Keep at it.

I've bought myself some nuts which the trainer at the gym told me to get. Also, some pumpkin seeds and flaxseed oil capsules.

Today, I have had a very small amount of unsweetened porridge made with skimmed milk.

A boiled egg. An ounce of low fat cheese and some salad with no dressing.

For my snack I had some blueberries and two walnuts, two almonds and some pine nuts (tiny amount)

For evening meal I plan on having some baked haddock and vegetables/salad.

I am trying to avoid carbs, but I think the nuts have some carbs in. Don't know how good/bad porridge is. Also, bought some oat cakes instead of wheat crackers.

Are you allowed to eat fat free natural yoghurt?

I can't face doing the Atkins Diet - had a friend who ended up with severe gallbladder problems after following this and I just don't like meat that much tbh, although I did have some steak last night.

"Today, I have had a very small amount of unsweetened porridge made with skimmed milk."

carbs with carbs

... and two walnuts,CARBS two almonds CARBS and some pine nuts CARBS(tiny amount)

--

RE sNACKS, the aim is not to snack but i have a few tips on my blog

Now when I did my O Level Home Economics milk was considered essentailly protein not carb. Tis no wonder I'm confused.

I was told that nuts have beneficial fats in and that it was better to eat little and often to keep energy levels in

We can be confused together ilove

You haven't lost weight for a week? That's hardly stalling.

It is for me I always lose weight really easily and steadily. I'm not used to stalling. It's been years since I was dieting though, so perhaps I'm just getting old

Food Item: Skimmed Milk
Food Quantity: 1/2 cup (250ml)
Carbs: 12g
Dietary Fiber: 0g
Net Carbs: 12g

i wouldn't consider it low carb

What can you use instead of milk?

Im also at the same weight as you and struggling, im finding it best to have dinner as lunch and lunch as dinner, i know its hard to sit down in the middle of the day and eat a proper meal with kids etc but find that i dont snack as much either. Also some people use the no carb after 4pm rule so if you do want pasta then have it at lunch. Im trying to have cereal for breakfast, meat/fish with veg in the afternoon and then a salad for tea. If i need a snack i have avacado on oatcakes with some tomato. hope you get the weight lose you're after this week! [simle]

full fat cream if you are ow carbing - but that still has a carb value.

this is if you are low carbing, don't mix and match it wont work, so dont count calories and watch fat intake as essentially LCing being high protein can be high fat

But if you can't have milk then how can you have cream? . I don't feel that I can go high fat or my cholesterol levels will rise.

I just thought that low fat, but with the right types of fat like omegas etc. and low carbing would be okay.

I had 3 stone to loose. Was doing tesco diets, 15 totals, around 1200 calories. Lost the first 2 stone very easily (2lbs a week, didn't cheat) but then reached plateau. Was doing 3 (hard) gym trips a week - including running 5km, spin class etc. but also some wii stuff like ea sports active.

I have now gone low carb and another half stone has come off - in the FIRST week on the new regime. This was with a week on dukan but I can't cope with the every 2nd day of no vegetables so will do something else low carb instead. Dukan is low carb and low fat, its just a bit hardcore...

I think on 1200 calories with carbs your body eventually goes into starvation mode unless you are working out really hard.

Alternatives to milk - non sweetened soya milk, lactose free milk, cream (if not worried about fat).

My DH had just bought "the 4 hour body" by timothy ferriss and apparently in an experiment with one group eating 1000 calories of fat, one 1000 calories of protein and one 1000 calories of carbs, both the protein and fat group lost weight (the protein group lost most) but the carbs group gained weight.

Also good to make sure you have 3 meals and 3 snacks a day to keep metabolism ticking over.

Low fat, low carb sounds okay to me. I would rather do this than have high fat because I want to make long term changes to my diet rather than follow something that's going to raise my cholesterol.

Why aren't vegetables okay? Are you allowed to eat salad?

I will google Dukan and see what it says.

essentially its about the sugar - lcing can be as high or low fat as you want it to be - you really need to read a book - or blog