I'm low-carbing but I'm not losing!! help!

[NikkiSix]

Been on a diet loosely based around the atkins induction for a week. When I say loosely - I mean I'm still drinking small amounts of milk (in tea and coffee), I'm drinking diet coke and my carb intake is probably more towards 30g a day rather than 20g.

However last time I did this low carb thing using the same method, I was losing around half a stone a week!! this time - I've lost 1lb

I am in ketosis though.

I'm thinking it's down to the fact that I don't seem to be eating enough calories. I checked yesterdays food into myfitnesspal yesterday and my carbs were 27g but my calories were only 780. This isn't enough is it? Could this be causing me to horde fat?? How can I bumb the calories/fat up a bit?

Give us an example of your daily menus.

ok so yesterday:

2 pancakes made with almond flour (around 1g carb each)
2 boiled eggs and salad leaves with mayo for lunch (around 3 carbs?)
Smoked haddock fillet topped with cheese and garlic, broccoli and mash (made with cauliflower rather than potato) (I'm guessing around 6g carbs)
2 almond slices (2g each)

But then I had around 5 cups of coffee, 2 cups of tea and quite a lot of pepsi max throughout the day too.

Maybe the coffee and diet drinks are knocking you out of ketosis? Are you drinking lots of water. I would cut out the almond flour as well to kick start the weight loss.
Are you eating enough fat??
Protein, fat and green for each meal and lots 'o water

where do I get my fat from? All I can think is cheese, butter etc?

dukan diet would not have the fat in it
I ma no expert on it as have only started today but I have been on atkins and had quick loss initially then nothing . I think it was too low calorie and too high fat.
You could try drinking more water , people are always saying that helps.
I would bump up the pure protein and fluid and cut the fat if I were you.

Btw dukan allows diet drinks and recommends simmed milk in tea and coffee.

Replace the pepsi max with AT LEAST 2 litres of water.

What colour are your ketostix? If they are dark pink you are not drinking enough water, if they are pale pink you are okay. The Citric acid in diet drinks knocks you out of ketosis. Replace the milk in coffee/tea with lactofree milk.

What are the almond slices? Are they cake? Cut them if you can.

Cut out the diet drinks (or stick to one can per day only) and the coffee and tea. Some say that drinking diet drinks can halt weight loss. Drink more water. Almonds contain carbs as well as protein & fat.

Replace milk with cream for extra calories?

Eat more good quality protein eg eggs for breakfast, fish for lunch, meat for dinner.

780 calories is far too low, your body thinks it's being starved, you will make yourself ill. I know you want to be slim, but please don't harm yourself in the process.

Could it be PMT? Just wondering if you are naturally gaining water weight. This skews my results some weeks ameboid hard to remember.

I've done Atkins and it goes best IME with lots and lots of protein. Milk is quite high in carbs too if you are having more than a splash. I've always had diet drinks I rely on those for a sweet fix.

Just to add. Eat as soon as possible after you wake. Kick starts your metabolism I believe.

How much do you have to lose?

Half a stone a week is unsustainable. Even if you've done it before in one week, you're not going to continue on that rate of loss, and 1-2lbs per week is the best way to lose weight and keep it off.

Agree with the others - knock the almond flour on the head as well as the diet drinks, and drink more water.

And it's only been a week!

Also they say in P2T that each time you do a low carb diet your body is a little more resistant so its a bit harder....

Thanks for the advice.

My ketostix are pale pink but to be fair I've only just gone into ketosis.

I'll knock the diet drinks on the head and buy cream for my coffee, it tastes gorgeous with cream anyway , I'll also knock the baking on the head. I just get a bit sick of eggs for breakfast.

What do you all do for snacks? I find it hard to resist snacking and I think that is where the almond baking came in, I wanted a "sweet fix". Would grabbing a handful of cheese be better?

I've just eaten 2 sausages (3g carb each) with two fried eggs for lunch.

For dinner I'm having home-made bolognese with "butternut squash spaghetti".

Does this sound ok? Or am I not going low enough on the carbs?

o btw, I've just come off the pill (mini) so that will be playing havoc with my weight as I hadn't had a period in 2 months.

You probably lost a lot of weight before due to water. If you have come off the pill you might be retaining water. Also caffeine in the diet drinks and tea/coffee might make you retain water. As well as the increase in water try and switch to decaf.

Agree with knocking the baking on the head, a little is okay but not everyday. Instead of eggs for breakfast, why not some pate and celery, some Peanut Butter and celery, scotch egg, meats and cheese, smoked mackerel fillets, cooked salmon fillets, some good quality sausages, eggs and bacon, frittata, omelette (okay still eggs but a smoked salmon omelette is delicious)

The whole point of the initial two weeks of Atkins (and any other low carb diet that has an initial, intensive phase) is to firstly get you into ketosis, thus suppressing your appetite, and then to break your addiction to sweet things.

By continuing to eat the sweet stuff (and the artificial sweet stuff) you're actually sabotaging this.

See if you can go without for at least 3-4 days, by which time ketosis should have kicked in and then you won't want to snack. If you are hungry, cheese is definitely better - and you don't need much to satisfy any hunger pangs.

(BTW I think butternut squash is quite carby, from what I remember - would be better to have bolognese sauce on thinly shredded cabbage).

Snacks as you are hungry or snacks because you feel like eating?

If hungry: cheese / slices of turkey / smoked salmon.
If feel like eating: drink yet another cup of water!

Diet Coke contains caffiene which is a big no no on a LCD, change to "caffiene free diet coke"