So fed up with Lowcarb/Atkins what am I doing wrong?

[Marthamoo123]

I've been sticking to Atkins to the letter for five weeks. Only eating unprocessed meat, so I know there isn't any hidden sugars/salt/carbs. No milk etc. Checking everything for hidden sugars.

I initially lost 4lbs of water weight very quickly but since then, nothing. I've been measuring waist/thighs/arms too and not a cm gone.

Daily diet is what is recommended. Eggs/meat/cream/oily fish/small amount of allowed salad and veg. I was eating 100g of cheese as recommended but cut it put last week incase it was causing a stall. No tea or coffee, no fizzy drinks, just lots of water.

I don't know what I am doing wrong and I'm getting fed up of spending a lot of my pretty abysmal weekly food budget on it!

I have two and a half stone to lose to get down to my target weight (BMI at my target would be 23) and have an op coming up which ideally I need to lose weight for (it's for nothing which would cause probs with weightloss, totally unrelated).

I feel like I am banging my head against a brick wall. I don't know what to do now in terms of diet.

Martha - come over to my Bootcamp threads, and we'll help and support you.

Can you list out for me what your meals have been over the last few days? See if I can spot anything?

Otherwise, other immediate questions:

• How much fat are you eating?
• How much water are you drinking?
• How much cream/dairy are you eating?
• And are you eating/drinking any artificial sweeteners?

I found Atkins toooo harsh - have you tried the low-carb bootcamp on here? Rules v similar, BIWI v knowledgable and everyone v helpful.

I lost 2 kg in the 1st 2 weeks, lost 0.5 kg this week, but don;t really have too much to lose.

What have you been eating - breakfast,lunch, dinner?

Latest Bootcamp thread is here, by the way!

Breakfast is usually omelette made with two eggs, two tbs double cream and if having cheess about 30g mature cheddar.

Lunch is always some kind of meat (chicken/lamb/pork) with 1 cup of dark salad or broccoli. To add fat I will have a tbs of sugar free full fat Mayo. Or tuna Mayo and a cup of salad.

Dinner is usually a couple of boiled eggs with Mayo and half an avocado, maybe a few floretes of broccoli, or meat and avacado or meat and veg. Or oily fish to even out fat.

Everything cooked with unsalted butter.

How do I change my diet to just low Carb? I'm not fussed on bread, potatoes, pasta etc so it's not that difficult for me.

Am drinking about 4 Ltrs a day, no sweeteners, no alcohol. Don't have a car so walk about 2 hours a dayferrying ds around.

Are you snacking, martha?

Martha, approx how old are you, how overweight are you & how tall are you? You don't have to be very specific - but just roughly?

Is it possible you;re eating too much fat? Cream with eggs and cheese and cooked in butter for breakfast, mayo with lunch and dinner, and all cooked in butter - i know we have to eat more fat on low-carb, (no more low-fat crap!!)but too much will surely negate the effects?

I'm 32, I weigh 12 stone at the mo, but want to get down to 9.7

I was 9.7 for years but have recently been through a shit time so comfort ate for most of last year and gained the weight.

And no, I dont snack. I'm in ketosis as not hungry. I am honestly not one of those people who secretly eats crisps and in in denial! I can't understand why it's not working for me.

Dh is also doing this. Eating the same, he's lost a stone and a half and is at his goal weight and moving up the Atkins programme. I k ow I can't compae to him, but I'm at this 100%.

It really shouldn't be the fat. I find the more fat I eat, the better I lose, because it means I'm eating less protein.

Everything I've read about Atkins says to eat fat as that's what you burn?

I've cut out cheese now. And the Mayo is two 15ml tables spoons a day. I fry in a very small amount of butter. I grill most meat - but read on other forums I should fry to addmore fat??

Am so confused!

It could be that you have an issue with dairy - try cutting out the cream and the cheese for a while.

But it does sound like you're not eating enough fat. Are you putting an oily dressing on your salad? Are you adding butter to your veg? Why are you only frying in 'a small amount' of butter? Are the cuts of meat that you're using fatty cuts, and are you eating the skin on the chicken?

Forget what's happening to your DH - men lose weight more quickly than men anyway.

How tall are you?

Sorry for all the questions, but hopefully we can find a way to sort it out for you!

PS - it's hard to accept that 'fat is good' because for so many years we have been told that it's bad - but honestly, you do need to make sure that you are eating fat/protein/carbs in that order. As opposed to carbs/protein/fat, which is what we're advised to eat.

I think you should try cutting down the protein a bit & upping the fat. You are eating about 4 eggs a day by the sounds of things, so how about sticking with the eggs for breakfast, but try to avoid them for dinner if you can.
Butter is your friend - so use loads of it for cooking. Salads should have lots of olive oil on them. Mayo is great for adding to cold meat and tinned fish. Stir in a bit of mustard or curry paste or pesto to give it a different flavour.

Small amount of butter as I don't like the taste!!

I am 5' 6" (just slightly under)

I'm medium build, at 9.7 I am a comfortable size 10.

I sometimes put olive oil on salad, but that's been hard for me as I don't like greasy feeling food.

Do you think it's a fat issue? I thought I was doing ok. I don't generally eat that much, but I'm eating more fat than carbs for sure, I'm way under the 20g of carbs from veg and I only eat unprocessed meat so no hidden carbs lurking.

Would it be easier just to do low carb? But then surly I'd be burning protien, not fat.

Could someone help me work out a plan?

I will stay away from cream and cheese for now. I've read that some people do have huge problems with dairy.

Breakfast - two boiled eggs with a tbs of Mayo

Lunch - some kind of meat with salad or veg

Dinner - half an avacado with????

I've seriously run out of ideas for Atkins. I don't know what I am doing now. Was also concerned about eating too much tuna incase the salt stalled me?

The fat bit is important Martha - otherwise you are just eating a low calorie diet (albeit low in carbs) and your body will just do that thing where your metabolism slows down because you are basically starving it.

Eating fat means you keep the intake of calories up & it makes you feel full and that (plus not eating carbs) helps you keep your insulin levels really low (insulin is one of the most important hormones for storing fat). In some people dairy foods (milk, cream, yoghurt & cheese) will trigger insulin production & so you have to keep an eye on how much dairy you are consuming.

If you have an Atkins book, have a look at the section of fat fasting for very resistant weight loss. He advocates this only in extreme cases - but it is basically just eating very fatty foods for a couple of days to get the body out of a stall.

Come and join the Bootcamp, Martha, and you'll find an easy plan!

Fat is important as it doesn't trigger an insulin response - so you won't lay down fat.

Protein does trigger an insulin response (albeit a lot smaller than if you had eaten carbohydrate), and excess can be converted by the body into glucose.

You aren't following Atkins to the letter if you're not eating the fat! As PBB says above, you are essentially now eating a low calorie diet and this will not benefit you in the long term. Even in the short term it's not benefiting you.

If you don't like the taste of butter ) how can that be? !) then how about using coconut oil? It has a lovely, very, very mild coconutty taste - perhaps not surprisingly - which can be great on veg.

I've had a look at the fast fast online. Will have a proper look later and think about doing it.

Am just feeling so despondent at the moment. And I am sick to bloody death of eggs. I threw my breakfast in the bin after two bites this mornin as the thought of it was making me feel sick.

So essentailly I am eating too much protien and too little fat?

Back to the drawing board then.

Don't do the fat fast. You don't need to. And if you don't like fat, you'll hate the fat fast!

Seriously. Come over to Bootcamp. There is also a fab recipe thread to inspire you. It doesn't have to be eggs all the time!

Yep will do, Thankyou!

Oh my goodness, I certainly didn't mean for you to do the fat fast Martha - I was just trying to show how essential fat is to the low carb WOE.
Definitely check out the recipe thread & bootcamp, some great ideas there.

Don't do the fat fast. You don't need to. And if you don't like fat, you'll hate the fat fast!

Seriously. Come over to Bootcamp. There is also a fab recipe thread to inspire you. It doesn't have to be eggs all the time!

Ooops, sorry I meant I'd come look at the bootcamp!

I've had a major wobble this morning actually. I am 32 now, and until I was 23 I was always overweight. At the age of 22 I was size 24 and weighed 19stone. I lost almost ten stone in just over a year doing slimfast and I managed to stick between 9.7 and 10 stone for all those years, but going back to slimfast for a week or two if I gained a few pounds.

I cocked it all up last year. Dh wanted to lose some weight so I thought I'd try Atkins with him. I don't know if I should just go backto slimfast now. It suited me because there was no thinking involved. Two shakes and then just a healthy meal for dinner (pretty much just meat/fish/salad/veg, like I said I've never been fussed about carbs). Very confused now!